![Center for Contemporary Opera presents "Jane Eyre" -- A World Premiere Opera by Louis Karchin and Diane Osen](https://www.newjerseystage.com/events2016/LouisKarchin.jpg "Center for Contemporary Opera presents "Jane Eyre" -- A World Premiere Opera by Louis Karchin and Diane Osen")
(NEW YORK, NY) -- Two longtime New Jersey residents are the creative force behind a new World Premiere opera. Louis Karchin’s Jane Eyre, a full-length opera in three acts with a libretto by Diane Osen based on Charlotte Bronte’s novel, will receive its world premiere on Thursday, October 20, 7:30pm with a second performance on Saturday, October 22, 8:00pm at The Kaye Playhouse (Hunter College). Jane Eyre is Karchin’s second opera, composed in 2014, following his critically acclaimed one-act comic opera Romulus. The work draws on a cast of 9 singers, an orchestra of 34 musicians, and chorus. The production coincides with the 200th anniversary year of the birth of writer Charlotte Bronte.
Jennifer Zetlan sings the title role, with Ryan MacPherson performing the role of Rochester. Tom Meglioranza joins the cast as Roderick Ingram and St. John Rivers; Kimberly Giordano sings the role of Mrs. Fairfax; Katrina Thurman performs Blanche Ingram, and Adam Cannedy joins the cast as Mr. Mason and Mr. Briggs. The cast continues with David Salsbery Fry singing the role of Mr. Wood and Jessica Thompson as Diana and Mrs. Ingram. The ensemble includes Marisa Karchin, Michelle Kennedy, Caitlin Mead, Rachel Rosenberg, Alize Rosznai and Abigail Wright.
The artistic team includes Kristine McIntyre, Stage Director and Conductor Sara Jobin. Costumes are by Rachel Townsend, lighting is by Burke Brown and the scenic designer is Luke Cantarella. W. Wilson Jones is production manager and Isabella Dawis joins the production as rehearsal pianist.
Jane Eyre is part of the CCO’s fall festival of five operas, this season created by, led by or about women, to take place in October throughout New York City and Brooklyn. Jim Schaeffer, the Center for Contemporary Opera’s General and Artistic Director says about the CCO’s upcoming performances, “I am delighted that our upcoming performances will be created by, led by and/or about women. Center for Contemporary Opera has always quietly supported female conductors, directors, and composers whenever possible, but this year we will put our commitment to creating opportunities for women in the classical music field front and center as we present a festival which centers around female contributors and performers.”
Over the course of a career spanning more than three decades, composer Louis Karchin has amassed a portfolio of more than 75 works, encompassing virtually every genre. Andrew Porter, writing in The New Yorker, hailed Karchin as a composer of “fearless eloquence,” and the American Academy of Arts and Letters singled out his vocal writing for its “unprecedented fusion” of poetry and music. Paul Griffiths, writing in The New York Times, noted Karchin’s enthusiasm for exploring “wide harmonic worlds, but with precision and determination.” Mr. Karchin’s many awards and honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, three awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, three National Endowment for the Arts Awards and Koussevitzky, Barlow and Fromm commissions. The British music journal, Contemporary Music Review, cited Karchin as one of twenty-five of the most exciting American composers born in the 1950s, and he was selected as one of 53 composers to represent New York at the turn of the millennium in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s “Great Day in New York” Festival at Alice Tully Hall. Karchin (b. 1951 in Philadelphia) studied at Eastman School of Music and Harvard University with additional study as a Leonard Bernstein Fellow at Tanglewood. He is Professor of Music at New York University. His works are published by C.F. Peters Corporation and American Composers Alliance, and are available on Bridge, Naxos, New World, and Albany labels.
Librettist Diane Osen graduate from Vassar College and earned an MA in English from Rutgers University before embarking on a career as a writer, consultant and teacher. Her writing talents emerged against a background of immersion in the world of opera: her father, David Osen began his career as a baritone at New York City Opera, singing in productions including The Student Prince and Der Rosenkavalier. One of Osen’s four books, The Book That Changed My Life, is a collection of interviews she conducted with prize-winning novelists, historians and poets including John Updike, E.L. Doctorow, Don DeLillo, Diane Johnson, David McCullough and Philip Levine. In fashioning the libretto for Jane Eyre, she felt she was adapting the book that changed her own life, and took great pleasure in re-introducing to 21st century audiences an iconic figure of 19th century literature.
The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College is located at 695 Park Avenue (68th St. b/w Park & Lex.) in New York, NY.
Photo of Louis Karchin by J Henry Fair
