The vibrant early music ensemble New York Baroque Incorporated will collaborate with the music department of Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania on Friday, October 14, 2016, for two operatic realizations concerning the ancient Roman goddess, Proserpina. The concert’s first half will feature the modern-day premiere of Karl von Seckendorff’s 1778 score, the second half the world-premiere of Paul J. Botelho’s 2016 multi-media interpretation. The libretti of both works are taken from Goethe’s retelling of the Proserpina story. The semi-staged performances will take place in Bucknell University’s Weis Center, and will feature soprano Tiffany DuMouchelle and Bucknell’s Director of Choral Activities Beth Willer conducting the Bucknell Camerata.

The story of Proserpina has been interpreted often throughout the centuries in various artistic guises. Dating back to ancient Roman times, the allegory tells of Pluto’s kidnapping of Proserpina, entrapping her in Hades, forcing her to become his queen, and her eventual reunion with her mother. Goethe’s adaptation of the story was written specially for the premiere of Seckendorff’s opera at the Weimar Court. The Bavarian composer’s Proserpina explores a wide range of rhetorical expression, from spoken text to fully accompanied operatic singing. New York Baroque Incorporated’s performance with the Bucknell musicians is the modern-day premiere of this previously lost work.

Paul J. Botelho's Proserpina II is a one-act opera for solo voice, chorus, and electro-acoustic media. Botelho's work acknowledges and extends the spirit of vocal experimentation that pervaded Seckendorff's piece. Like Seckendorff, Botelho, who is Assistant Professor of Music at Bucknell University, uses Goethe's text and explores Proserpina's “voice” both sonically and metaphorically.

Preview videos of Seckenforrf’s and Botelho’s Prosepinas can be viewed here.

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For further information about New York Baroque Incorporated’s performance of Prosperpina, please visit http://www.bucknell.edu/x94107.xml

For further information, image or interview requests please contact Melanne Mueller, MusicCo International, +1 917 907 2785, melanne@musiccointernational.com

PERFORMANCE INFORMATION
Proserpina: Two One-Act Operas
Texts by Goethe set by Karl von Seckendorff (1788) and Paul J. Botelho (2016)
Tiffany DuMouchelle soloist
Bucknell Camerata
Beth Willer conductor
Annie J. Randall artistic director
New York Baroque Incorporated

Friday, October 14, 7:30 p.m.
Weis Center, Bucknell University
Lewisburg, Pennsylvania 17837

New York Baroque Incorporated (NYBI) is a conductorless orchestra on performing on period instruments in New York City, bringing vital, informed, and fresh performances of a wide range of 17th and 18th-century repertoire, and creating a vibrant landscape for collaborations between historical performance and living composers. Since its creation, NYBI has received critical praise for its energy, virtuosity and entrepreneurship, and was lauded by The New York Times for its “do-it-yourself spirit.” Highlights of the 2016-17 season include the modern-day premiere of Santa Rosalia (1687), one of four surviving oratorios by Bonaventura Alliotti.

The players of NYBI include winners of the Early Music America/Naxos Recording Competition, Audience Award winners of EMA Baroque Performance Competition, finalists of the York Early Music Competition, and recipients of the Jacob K. Javits and Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships. Members have recorded for Avie, Naxos, Sony and Decca, and have appeared at festivals from Marlboro to Mostly Mozart to the Boston Early Music Festival. Teaching positions held by NYBI musicians include Stony Brook University, Temple University, Connecticut College, Ithaca College, University of Delaware, and Peabody Institute.

Soprano Tiffany DuMouchelle is praised for her musical versatility, an electric stage presence and exceptional dramatic sensibilities. Recognized for her fearlessness in exploring new and challenging repertoire, she ushers the voice into new realms of expressivity, including a vast array of musical styles and languages and exploring the genres of classical, world, contemporary, cabaret, and theatrical works.

Recipient of the Richard F. Gold Career Grant for American Opera Singers, DuMouchelle has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Center for Contemporary Opera, Yellow Barn Music Festival, Skalholt Summer Music Series in Iceland, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and American Composers Alliance, and in such prestigious venues as Lincoln Center, Disney Hall, The Consulate of the Republic of Poland, The New York Historical Society, The Ukrainian Institute, the residence of the United States Ambassador in Cairo, and the Acropolium in Carthage. Recent collaborations include the Australian premiere of Stockhausen’s Sirius with Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music, the west coast premieres of Roger Reynolds’ Justice (Clytemnestra), and Pasqual Dusapin’s To Be Sung (Voice Two), along with residencies at Yellow Barn and Songfest. An active chamber musician, she is the co-founder of Aurora Borealis, a voice and percussion duo with Stephen Solook. They frequently commission and perform new works, expanding the repertoire for this combination.

A frequent collaborator with the cultural diplomacy organization Cultures in Harmony, DuMouchelle has served as an instructor of voice, musical outreach specialist, and performer for projects in Cameroon, Tunisia, Egypt and Papua New Guinea. DuMouchelle is on the faculty at University at Buffalo, where she serves as the director of the voice program.

Paul J. Botelho is a composer, performer, developer, and artist whose work includes a series of one-act operas, acoustic and electro-acoustic music, multimedia installation pieces, visual art works, and vocal improvisation. He performs as a vocalist primarily with extended technique and incorporates the voice into many of his pieces. His work has been performed, presented, and exhibited in concerts, festivals, galleries, and museums across the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

Botelho received an M.F.A. and Ph.D. in Music Composition from Princeton University, an M.A. in Electro-Acoustic Music from Dartmouth College, and a B.F.A. in Contemporary Music Performance and Composition from the College of Santa Fe. Currently he is Assistant Professor of Music at Bucknell University where he teaches music composition.