Encompass New Opera Theatre
138 S. Oxford Street, Suite 1A
Brooklyn, NY 11217
718.398.4675 tel.
718.398.4684 fax
encompassopera@yahoo.com
Nancy Rhodes
Artistic Director
Mara Waldman
Music Director
Jazz Gala!
Save the Date! June 23rd
Click here for info and take a peak at our past galas.
Touring available for a Gertrude Stein musical trilogy. Click here for more information
"The most distinctive music heard all season."
—USA Today (for Only Heaven)
"An inventive and most pleasing triple bill."
—The New York Times (for Miss Havisham's Wedding Night, Ocean Dream, and I Will Wait)
"[Nancy] Rhodes is one of the most inventive directors of the theatre."
—The (Bergen) Record (for Elizabeth and Essex)
I TRE COMPAGNI (The Three Companions)
An Opera in Two Acts based on “The Pardoner’s Tale” From Chaucer’s THE CANTERBURY TALES
Greed Is The Root Of All Evil A Tale Of Lost Friendships Set In Spain Against A Backdrop At The End Of The War Between The Moors & Christians
Music and Libretto by Composer Louis Gioia
WORLD PREMIERE
The Gerald W. Lynch Theatre FEATURING Conductor: Glen Cortese • Director: Nancy Rhodes • Associate Music Director: Mara Waldman
ORCHESTRA SEATS $65.00 BOX OFFICE $55.00 ADVANCE
BALCONY SEATS $45 BALCONY ADVANCE $35 STUDENT/SENIOR ADVANCE $25 THE BALCONY RUSH at 15 MINUTES
Tickets: SmartTix 212 868-4444
Critical praise for Louis Gioia’s Un Racconto Fiorentino: Encompass New Opera Theatre assembled approximately one hundred of New York City’s most accomplished and dedicated musicians to participate in the world premiere at Alice Tully Hall. The result was a glorious, impassioned performance of a composition of great beauty and sincere interest... the forces on the Tully Hall stage performed with transcendent concentration, exemplary preparation, freedom and commitment. Donald Westwood, Opera News, January 2001 I TRE COMPAGNI (The Three Companions)
All Advance Ticket Buyers Will Receive A By Invitation Only Offer to THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING Piano Reading of New Opera This Fall |
Noah Stewart & Shannon DeVine 
A WINNER INDEED!! Nancy Rhodes with baritone Michael Anthony McGee, First Place Winner in the 2008 Marie Kraja International Singing Competition in Tirana, Albania. The competition was aired live on Albanian National Television.
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Encompass Hosts Jazz Singer and Pianist from Istanbul
Turkish jazz singer Ece Goksu and pianist Can Cankaya delighted audiences at the Encompass annual holiday concert, Sunday, December 14th at the National Arts Club.
Ece is part of the Encompass Family. Her father Murat Goksu, a prominent opera singer and director for the Turkish State Opera, played Petruchio in Cole Porter’s KISS ME KATE when Nancy Rhodes directed this American classic at the State Theatre in Ankara. Later, Mr. and Mrs. Goksu, and their daughter Ece were on sabbatical in New York City when she was 10-years-old. Mrs. Goksu, a harpist for the State Symphony in Istanbul, thrilled Encompass audiences with a beautiful harp concert at sunset in Riverside Park. Now, some years later, Ece is a Fulbright Scholar and Can Cankaya, classical trumpet and jazz pianist, are both at William Patterson University in their prestigious Jazz Music Program.
Encompass New Opera Theatre’s Newest Work-in-Progress
Notes from The Theory of Everything by Nancy Rhodes
Physics and science have been interests of mine since childhood, inspired by long walks through nature with my grandfather, a physics teacher. He taught me how to observe and analyze, to appreciate the invisible forces, and unleashed in me an insatiable curiosity to explore the grand design of our universe.
In 1987, I read an article in The New York Times about an astounding new physics theory postulating the simultaneous existence of at least ten dimensions, known as superstring theory. Pushing the envelope of the mind to embrace multiple dimensions, sister universes, and the possibility that everything from our bodies to the farthest star, is made up of vibrating strings, fascinated me.
During this time I was working in different countries; while riding on trains, I read metaphysical literature, Eastern philosophy, science, and poetry. Turkey was one of the places that resonated deeply within me, the ancient city of Ankara with its Hittite Museum, and Istanbul, the crossroads of Europe and Asia. I found layers of history everywhere, sensed ancient voices, as I walked through the ruins of Ephesus.
Upon returning home, it came to me in the middle of the night: Act I, Scene 1, a Planetarium. Thus began The Theory of Everything. The story revolves around the lives of 8-year-old Cassy, her mother Rachel, a documentary filmmaker, and her father Tomás, a quantum physicist from Brazil. A series of dramatic events catapault a scientific and metaphysical search into other dimensions and alternate universes.
Further research led me to the writings of physicist David Bohm and his ideas of a holographic universe, to Native American spiritual conferences, healing seminars, and the laboratories of physicists at Columbia, CUNY, and Princeton.
The Theory of Everything’s composer John David Earnest has written extensively for orchestra, chamber ensembles, chorus, solo voice and opera. He writes, “in my conversations with Nancy over the past 2 years, I was immediately drawn to her concept of exploring the connection between spirituality and the physical world. In order to find a musical voice for these themes and Nancy’s libretto, I have chosen several eclectic sources ranging from tonally based melodic ideas to non-traditional musical structure and vocabulary.”
Look for new scenes in 2008!
Encompass is grateful for commissioning and development funds from Opera America’s Opera Fund, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, and the National Endowment for the Arts, Access to Excellence.
Encompass New Opera Theatre is dedicated to creating a new home for American opera and new music theatre.
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© Encompass Theatre Company
138 South Oxford Street • Suite 1A • Brooklyn, NY 11217
(718) 398-4675 • encompassopera@yahoo.com