AS ONE: THE WORK CONTINUES…
presented by AOP and The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center of NYC

March 31, 2022 at 7pm ET
at The Center
208 W 13 St
New York, NY 10011

Moderated by Rahzé Cheatham
Featured panelists: Kimberly Reed, Lucas Bouk, and Heather Jones
Announcement of the True Voice Award by Washington National Opera’s Francesca Zambello

Written by composer Laura Kaminsky and librettists Kimberly Reed and Mark Campbell, As One is a chamber opera in which two voices—Hannah after (mezzo-soprano) and Hannah before (baritone)—share the part of a sole transgender protagonist. Fifteen songs comprise the three-part narrative; with empathy and humor, they trace Hannah’s experiences from her youth in a small town to her college years—and finally traveling alone to a different country, where she realizes some truths about herself. Commissioned, developed and premiered by The American Opera Project at Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2014, the opera has become a unique and remarkable success story in the world of contemporary opera with over 50 new productions around the world.

In honor of International Transgender Day of Visibility, As One’s co-librettist Kimberly Reed and As One singers Lucas Bouk, Heather Jones, and Rahzé Cheatham reflect on transgender and nonbinary representation in the arts since As One was created in 2014, how increased visibility has changed the conversations we are having, and what the near future holds.  

The evening will also feature an announcement by Washington National Opera's Artistic Director Francesca Zambello of the True Voice Award, a new initiative created by the As One creators, and overseen by WNO to help create opportunities and support training for a transgender singer.

The event will culminate with the premiere of the newly commissioned song “A Brighter Light,” marking the recent 50th production of As One. The choral work will premiere as a video, edited by Emitha LLC, featuring over 36 members of the As One family, including 29 singers who have embodied the role of Hannah in productions of As One across the world. 

FEATURED ARTISTS
Hover over photo for more information

Librettist and filmmaker Kimberly Reed was commissioned by a consortium of opera companies led by Santa Fe Opera to write Hometown to the World, along with composer Laura Kaminsky. With Mark Campbell she co-wrote the libretti for Today It Rains (Opera Parallèle, 2019), Some Light Emerges (Houston Grand Opera, 2017), and As One (the American Opera Project, 2014), which is the most frequently produced new opera in North America, according to Opera America magazine. Her film projections have been called “worthy of Fellini or Bergman” (SF Classical Voice). Ms. Reed’ s song cycle Fierce Grace: Jeannette Rankin premiered at the U.S. Library of Congress in 2017. Her nonfiction writing was published in “The Moth,” a New York Times best-seller. Kim’s documentary film Prodigal Sons won 14 awards and was released in theaters and broadcast worldwide, and her Sundance award-winning 2018 documentary Dark Money was promptly named by Vogue magazine as one of the 66 Best Documentaries of All Time and shortlisted for the Academy Awards. She is a fellow of Yaddo and New York Foundation for the Arts.

Kimberly Reed

An internationally recognized director of opera and theater, Francesca Zambello's work has been seen at the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, the Bolshoi, Covent Garden, the Munich Staatsoper, Paris Opera, New York City Opera, Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and English National Opera. She has staged plays and musicals on Broadway, at the Royal National Theatre, BAM, the Guthrie Theater, Vienna's Raimund Theater, the Bregenz Festival, Sydney Festival, Disneyland, Berlin's Theater des Westens and at the Kennedy Center. In May 2011, Zambello was appointed Artistic Advisor to Washington National Opera, and became Washington National Opera's Artistic Director January 1, 2013. She received the San Francisco Opera Medal for Artistic Excellence for her more than 30 years of artistic contributions to the company, including serving as Artistic Advisor from 2006-2011. In 2020, she received the Knighthood of the Order of the Star of Italy for her contribution to the promotion of Italian culture and heritage.

She has been awarded the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government for her contribution to French culture, and the Russian Federation's medal for Service to Culture. Her theatrical honors include three Olivier Awards, two Evening Standard Awards, two French Grand Prix des Critiques, Helpmann Award, Green Room Award, Palme d'Or in Germany and the Golden Mask in Russia. She began her career as the Artistic Director of the Skylight Opera Theatre and as an assistant director to the late Jean-Pierre Ponnelle. She has been a guest lecturer at Harvard, Juilliard and Yale. An American who grew up in Europe, she speaks French, Italian, German and Russian. She is a graduate of Colgate University in Hamilton, New York.

Her directing work at Glimmerglass includes: Iphig&eacut;nie en Tauride (1997); the world premiere production of Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori's A Blizzard On Marblehead Neck and Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun (2011); Verdi's Aida (2012); Wagner's The Flying Dutchman and David Lang's the little match girl passion (2013); Strauss' Ariadne in Naxos and Puccini's Madame Butterfly (2014); Bernstein's Candide (2015); Robert Ward's The Crucible (2016); Gershwin's Porgy and Bess (2017); Donizetti's The Siege of Calais (2017); Bernstein's West Side Story (2018); Rossini's The Barber of Seville (2018); Kern and Hammerstein's Show Boat and Verdi's La traviata (2019).

Francesca Zambello

Baritone Rahzé Cheatham is praised as a “wonderfully sensitive” performer with “crystalline diction” and a strong foundation in music, theatre art, and dance applications. An emerging new music artist in both concert and operatic repertoire, notable roles include Hannah before (As One), Brennan (Mallory) Blues Soloist/Street Singer (MASS), Betto di Signa (Gianni Schicchi), L’Aubergiste (Chérubin), Bob (Old Maid and the Thief), and Bernardo (Westside Story). They have been featured in numerous projects, including opera scenes, performing as: Sam, Trouble in Tahiti; Dr. Pangloss, Candide; and Figaro, Le nozze di Figaro. For five years, Rahzé served as a Section Leader and soloist for the Sanctuary Choir of First and Franklin Presbyterian Church. Armed with the perspective of the intersec­tion of mis- and underrepresented communities, Rahzé seeks to break through an otherwise homogenous music scene. In addition to performing original works, Rahzé enjoys learning and performing works from 1900-forward, by little-known and unknown composers and poets, especially artists of color and LBGTQ-identified artists. While hosting a private voice studio of beginner, intermediate, and advanced students across multiple genres, they currently main­tain teaching positions at the Baltimore School for the Arts and the Baltimore School of Music. Rahzé holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and a Minor in Music Theory from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University where they studied with American baritone William Sharp.

Rahzé Cheatham

Possessing “an ear for the new and interesting” (The New York Times), Laura Kaminsky frequently addresses critical social and political issues in her work with music that is "full of fire as well as ice, contrasting dissonance and violence with tonal beauty and meditative reflection. It is strong stuff.” (American Record Guide). Her first opera, As One, (2014; co-librettists Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed) is the most produced contemporary opera in North America, with 50+ productions to date in the U.S., Europe, Canada, South America and Australia. The As One team has since been commissioned twice—by Houston Grand Opera for Some Light Emerges (2017) and Opera Parallèle/American Opera Projects for Today It Rains (2019). Hometown to the World (libretto: Reed; Santa Fe Opera) premiered in 2021, Finding Wright in 2022 (libretto: Andrea Fellows Fineberg; Dayton Opera). She is co-librettist (with novelist Lisa Moore) and composer for February, commissioned by Newfoundland’s Opera on the Avalon for 2023. Awarded the 2016 Polish Gold Cross of Merit (Zloty Krzyż Zasługi RP) by the President of Poland for exemplary public service or humanitarian work, Kaminsky has also been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, Koussevitzky Music Foundation, Opera America, Chamber Music America, USArtists International, CEC ArtsLink International Partnerships, Likhachev-Russkiy Mir Foundation Cultural Fellowship, and has received six ASCAP-Chamber Music America Awards for Adventuresome Programming, and a citation from the Office of the President of the Borough of Manhattan. Head of composition at Purchase College Conservatory of Music, she leads The American Opera Project's Artistic Advisory Council and sits on the boards of Opera America and the Hermitage Artist Retreat. Her music is recorded on the Affeto, Albany, Bridge, BSS, Cedille, CRI, Capstone, Mode, MSR, and Navona labels and is published by Bill Holab Music. 

 

Laura Kaminsky

In 2021 Lucas Bouk made his baritone debut with On Site Opera, and joined the ensemble of New Amsterdam Opera’s I Vespri Siciliani and Opera Theater of CT’s Barber of Seville. This April he sings Masetto in Camerata Bardi Vocal Academy’s Don Giovanni and in May creates new roles with the NYU/Tisch Opera Lab and AOP. Prior to the pandemic, Lucas used his “silky mezzo” (New York Times) to perform roles ranging from Lucretia to Carmen to Komponist to Cherubino. In the 2019 season he made his Lincoln Center debut with New York City Opera as Sarah in the World Premiere of Stonewall and performed Hannah-after in As One with Alamo City Opera and again at Alchemical Studios in NYC. During the COVID pandemic Lucas decided to begin his physical and vocal transition with testosterone and has been retraining with Katherine Ciesinski and Michael Chioldi. www.lucasbouk.com

Lucas Bouk

Heather Jones (they/them) is a mezzo and crossover artist performing classical and contemporary repertoire with “mischievous freshness and enthusiasm.” A 2021 finalist in the American Traditions Vocal Competition and winner of the Sherrill Milnes American Opera Award, Mx. Jones is gaining recognition for their interpretation of American works, notably for their portrayal of Hannah After in As One with Opera Maine. Heather also appeared in Opera Company of Middlebury’s film production of Candide (Paquette) which Opera News called “superb” and will soon join Opera Fayetteville for Matthew Aucoin’s dystopian opera Second Nature (Lydia).

The 2021-2022 season also includes: La traviata (Flora), solos in Bach’s St. John Passion and Verdi’s Requiem, and appearances at Spoleto Festival USA. In addition to performing, Heather has produced two short films featuring Britten’s Abraham and Isaac and Weill’s Lost in the Stars and wrote and starred in an all-queer adaptation of R&H’s Cinderella titled “Happily Never After.” heatherjonesmezzo.com 

Heather Jones

The Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award-winning work of librettist/lyricist Mark Campbell is at the forefront of the contemporary opera scene in this country. Mark has written 40 opera librettos, lyrics for 7 musicals and text for 8 song cycles and 4 oratorios. His works include Silent Night, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, The Shining, Elizabeth Cree, As One, Sanctuary Road, Stonewall, The Nefarious, Immoral but Highly Profitable Enterprise of Mr. Burke & Mr. Hare, Dinner At Eight, Rappahannock County, Later the Same Evening, Volpone, Approaching Ali, Bastianello/Lucrezia, and Songs from an Unmade Bed. Mark mentors future generations of opera composers and librettists at the American Opera Project and American Lyric Theater. In 2020, he also created and funded the first award for opera librettists in the history of the art form: the annual Campbell Opera Librettist Prize, administered by OPERA America. With his fellow As One collaborators, he also recently helped create the True Voice Award to help fund the training of transgender opera singers, administered by Washington National Opera. Premieres in 2022 include: A Sweet Silent in Cremona for Teatro Comunale Ponchielli, Unruly Sun for Orchestre Classique de Montréal, Edward Tulane for Minnesota Opera, A Year to the Day for The Violin Channel, A Thousand Acres for Des Moines Metro Opera, and A Nation of Others for the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall. www.markcampbellwords.com

Mark Campbell

 

AS ONE CREATIVE TEAM

Music and concept by Laura Kaminsky
Libretto by Kimberly Reed and Mark Campbell
Original film by Kimberly Reed

PRODUCTION

Emitha, LLC Production Services
W. Wilson Jones, Stage Manager

TRUE VOICE AWARD
Presented by Francesca Zambello
Overseen and administered by Washington National Opera

Presented by The American Opera Project and The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center of NYC

 
 

All donations towards this event will be split between The Center and AOP.
AOP will use these funds to support LGBTQ+ artists and the creation of LGBTQ+ operas.

AS ONE - Performance Excerpts

AS ONE - Interviews and Conversations

AS ONE - Promos and Previews

AS ONE...

Is a chamber opera, created by Laura Kaminsky, Kimberly Reed and Mark Campbell, for string quartet and two singers about a transgender woman named Hannah.  
  
Was developed and produced by The American Opera Project (formerly American Opera Projects) and premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Fishman Space in 2014, featuring Sasha Cooke and Kelly Markgraf as Hannah before and Hannah after, in a production directed by Ken Cazan, with Steven Osgood conducting the Fry Street Quartet.  
  
Is one of the most produced contemporary American operas of the last seven years, having been performed in 28 of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. in the U.S., and in 4 continents.  
  
Has been performed by 68 singers in 7 years. 

Has featured Blythe Gaissert as “Hannah after” 9 times (with the production at The Atlanta Opera in June 2022 being her 10th). 

Has been conducted by Alexandra Enyart 6 times (and will be 9 times by the end of 2022).  

Was recorded with the original cast and ensemble and released on the label Bright Shiny Things in 2019. 

Is increasingly involving the transgender community in productions: Lukas Bouk performed in As One in Alamo City Opera (San Antonio) and at New York’s Alchemical Studios in 2019, Lucia Lucas will play “Hannah before” at The Atlanta Opera in June 2022, with set design by Erik Teague, and an all-transgender production comes to Opera Steamboat in September 2022 with Lukas Bouk and Nikola Printz; directed by Eden Lane and conducted by Alexandra Enyart. 

Motivated the opera’s creators to conceive the True Voice Award in 2022 to help with the training of transgender singers, overseen by the Cafritz Young Artists program at Washington National Opera.  

Received its 50th production at Opera Santa Barbara in March 2022.  

Inspired the opera’s creators to write “A Brighter Light,” a choral work commemorating the 50th production of the opera, the International Transgender Day of Visibility, and the announcement of the True Voice Award; the work is performed virtually by 36 artists, including 29 singers who have performed the role of Hannah, and is conducted by Alexandra Enyart with piano by Mila Henry. 

Is published by Bill Holab Music.  

As of March 2022, As One has been produced 50 times around the world:

ABOUT THE AMERICAN OPERA PROJECT

Founded in 1988, The American Opera Project (AOP) is at the forefront of the contemporary opera movement through its commissioning, developing, and producing of opera and lyric theater projects, training programs for student and emerging composers and librettists, and free community events. AOP is recognized around the country for numerous groundbreaking works on LGBTQ themes like Paul’s Case (Spears/Walat, UrbanArias, 2014), A Letter to East 11th Street (Hennessy/Campbell, AOP, 2004), four mini-operas about the Stonewall Uprising made in its opera training program at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Patience & Sarah (Kimper/Persons, Lincoln Center Festival, 1998), the first major opera about a lesbian relationship, and As One (Kaminsky/Campbell/Reed, BAM, 2014), the first major opera about transgender issues and one of the most widely-produced contemporary operas written in the 21st Century. Current LGBTQ-themed works in development include House of Legendary (Rubinstein/Kim), a love story set in NYC’s 1980s drag ball scene, and The Night Falls (Ludwig-Leone/Russell/Schumacher), a dance-opera premiering Spring 2023.
www.aopopera.org

ABOUT THE LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL & TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY CENTER OF NYC

Established in 1983 as a result of the AIDS crisis, New York City’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center has grown and evolved over the last four decades, creating and delivering services that empower people to lead healthy, successful lives. We currently operate in-person and virtually, providing recovery and wellness programs, economic advancement initiatives, family and youth support, advocacy, arts and cultural events, and space for community organizing and connection.
www.gaycenter.org


ABOUT AS ONE

Written by Laura Kaminsky, Kim Reed, and Mark Campbell, As One is a chamber opera in which two voices—Hannah after (mezzo-soprano) and Hannah before (baritone)—share the part of a sole transgender protagonist. Fifteen songs comprise the three-part narrative; with empathy and humor, they trace Hannah’s experiences from her youth in a small town to her college years—and finally traveling alone to a different country, where she realizes some truths about herself.  
www.aopopera.org/asone

RESOURCES FOR THOSE IN THE TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY, AND THOSE WHO WISH TO LEARN MORE:
https://www.asoneopera.com/community

As One was commissioned and developed by The American Opera Project (formerly American Opera Projects) in part with funds from OPERA America's Opera Discovery Grants for Female Composers Program, supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Art Works. 

Subsequent productions of As One have been made possible in part through the generous contributions of the following: 

PNC, Ambridge Regional Distribution and Manufacturing Center; the Carol Franc Buck Foundation; the Cooke Foundation; OPERA America Innovation Grant; the Ann & Gordon Getty Foundation; Anchorage East Rotary; Atwood Foundation; Richard L. and Diane M. Block Foundation; ConocoPhillips; Municipality of Anchorage; Alaska State Council on the Arts; National Endowment for the Arts; Carr Foundation and Matson; Jane A. Gross; Bob Jeffrey; CTA Pathology, Curtis Thompson MD and Associates; Elk Cove Vineyards; Pride Foundation, Oregon; National Endowment for the Arts; The Oregon Cultural Trust; Boise City Department of Arts & History; Pride Foundation, Idaho; Susan May & Andrew Owczarek; James F. and Marian L. Miller Foundation; Silva Endowment; Haugland Family Foundation; Nils and Jewel Hult Endowment; Oregon Cultural Trust; Oregon Community Foundation; Oregon Humanities Center; Oregon Arts Commission; Zegar Family Fund; Bob Weinman; Dana White; Bella Domani; Mosher Foundation; Nicholas and Jessie Burlett; Towbes Fund for the Performing Arts; 26 Health; State of Florida; Orange County; City of Orlando; United Arts of Central Florida; Cardinal Health; The Columbus Foundation; Greater Columbus Arts Council; Nationwide; Ohio Arts Council; The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Voice Center; CULT Marketing; Sunday’s Child; Union Bank; Qualcomm; Sigrid Pate Butler; The City of San Diego; CA Arts Council; San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture; The County Board of Supervisors; Opera America. 

STAFF

Matt Gray General Director
Mila Henry Artistic Director 
Meagan Brus Director of Marketing and Communications
Takesha Meshé Kizart-Thomas Director of Development
Joel Kalow Associate General Manager
Charles Jarden Director of Strategic Planning 
Yuriko Shibata Administrative Assistant
Rosamund Dyer Administrative Assistant
Jay St. Flono Administrative Assistant
Naomi Ramirez Accounting Consultant
W. Wilson Jones Resident Production Stage Manager and Database Administrator
Caitlin Mead Grant Writer
Alexa Dexa Grant Writer
Adrienne Danrich Executive Producer and Creator of Music as the Message original series

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Anthony Roth Costanzo, Sarah Moulton Faux, J. David Jackson, Charles Jarden, W. Wilson Jones, Mark Kalow, Emily Manzo, Christina B. Murphy, Kevin R. Myers (President), Norman Ryan

ARTISTIC ADVISORY COUNCIL

Mark Campbell, Thom Collins, Sasha Cooke, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Alexandra Enyart, Susan Gonzalez, Briana Hunter, J. David Jackson, Laura Kaminsky (Chair), Jessie Montgomery, David Michalek, Ravi Rajan, Kimberly Reed, Huang Ruo, Craig Zobel

The American Opera Project’s current season is made possible by generous support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, Amphion Foundation, The BMI Foundation, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

AOP is a member of OPERA America, Fort Greene Association, the Downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance, the New York Opera Alliance, and Alliance of Resident Theatres/ New York (A.R.T./NY).

The American Opera Project (American Opera Projects, Inc.) is an IRS recognized 501(c)3 non-profit corporation.