Hailed as “a rare and moving opera about women in love” by New York Magazine, the opera PATIENCE & SARAH makes a comeback for staged concert performances with the new seven-piece orchestration and seven singers on June 23 and 24, 2016 at The Players Theatre, 115 MacDougal Street in New York City.  Check out our new website at: www.patiencesarah.com

Tickets available at: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/957183.

Celebrate Pride Week NYC!

Patience & Sarah is the first opera by composer by Paula M. Kimper. Set in Connecticut in the winter of 1816, the opera tells the powerful story of two young women who meet, fall in love  and resolve to devote their lives to each other. The artist Patience White, sister to a middle-class Connecticut landowner, and tough-minded, adventurous Sarah Dowling, the daughter of a poor farmer, share a mutual dream of leaving behind their repressive lives to go pioneering together, defying their families’ attempts to prevent it.

The libretto by Wende Persons is based on the 1969 novel by Isabel Miller, which in turn was inspired by the true story of two 19th-century women, the painter Mary Ann Willson and her companion Florence Brundage. Today Willson is recognized as an outstanding primitive artist; her paintings may be seen in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, and the Folk Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York.

Commissioned and developed by American Opera Projects, the opera’s sold out premiere at the Lincoln Center Festival, July 1998, was lauded by The New York Times, Opera News, New York Magazine, The Village Voice, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Out Magazine, The Advocate, and others. The musical style is richly lyrical, with soaring vocal lines that have been likened to Richard Strauss and Puccini, and beautiful, evocative orchestral colors.

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The PAULA KIMPER ENSEMBLE's mission is to use the expressive power of opera to bring about civic transformation by bringing American Chamber Operas that resonate with today's most important issues to alternative audiences around the world.

The PAULA KIMPER ENSEMBLE is a sponsored artist of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization.  More at: www.fracturedatlas.org/site/fiscal/profile?id=8721

“A rare–and moving–opera about women in love.” –New York Magazine

“Kimper’s music recalls Richard Strauss in its soaring vocal lines.” – USA Today

“The opera bubbles with glorious vocal writing.” – Opera News

“There was a soaring affirmation in this music of the transcendent beauty of life and love.” – The New York Times

“Wende Persons’ libretto is a masterpiece of economy.” – The Wall Street Journal

“The delicate, chamber textures of the score allow the text to emerge with uncommon clarity amidst shimmering, Ravel-like harmonies.” – American Record Guide

“It is an opera that sings.” – New York Post

“A charming folk opera that companies around the country would be wise to add to their repertoire.” – New York Blade News

NYTheater.com
"TRUTH, An American Opera About Sojourner Truth is a...fascinating, entertaining and heartfelt show. The powerful orchestration combined with the saga of our American history make for a wonderful opera.”

“Mari-Yan Pringle as Truth uses her majestic soprano voice and charismatic stage presence to show us all the facets of the fiery preacher, religious zealot, fierce woman and mother suffering the unspeakable heartbreak of losing her child. The ensemble cast is equally great.

 “The powerful orchestration combined with the saga of our American history make for a wonderful opera.  Go see it!"

Time-Out NY
"Kimper’s score is accessible: tonal and rich, blending gospel with Copland-like swoops of grandeur."

". . . the majestic Mari-Yan Pringle carries the show with grace and plenty of charisma, her velvety soprano finding notes of pain but also wryness in Truth’s journey."

Theater Reviews Ltd.
“Mari-Yan Pringle delivers a perfect portrait of Sojourner Truth… with a beautiful soprano voice... which resounds with power and dignity throughout the theatre. Ms. Pringle brings Sojourner Truth to life with an honest and heartfelt performance.”

BSonARTS.com

“Kimper’s score has great variety with rhythms and styles that fit the moment.”

 “A truly remarkable music drama . . . filled with engaging and frequently powerful music . . . that deserves further development and a full-scale production in a major venue.”

Blog Critics
“From the blue notes in the overture to the spiritual at the finale, this new opera acknowledges centuries of African-American cultural tradition as it presents a capsule biography of Sojourner Truth, abolitionist and activist for women’s rights. With music by Paula M. Kimper and libretto by Talaya Delaney, TRUTH is musically appealing, with a smart balance of melodic friendliness and rhythmic complexity. And the composer is a master of delicate interplay among musical voices and timbres, both instrumental and vocal.”

 “The greatest joy of this production comes from the performers, led by the charismatic and fluid-voiced soprano Mari-Yan Pringle, who endows Truth with an earthy spiritedness.”

CEOExpress

“The cast of TRUTH manages to bring Sojourner’s life to the stage with near perfection.”

IBR News

“The score by Paula M. Kimper is impressive.