TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS
PRESENTS

THE TEXAS PREMIERE OF
RAPPAHANNOCK COUNTY
A NEW MUSIC PIECE ABOUT LIFE DURING THE CIVIL WAR

SEPTEMBER 21 & 22, 2011, 8:00 P.M.
IN MCCULLOUGH THEATRE

Ricky Ian Gordon, composer
Mark Campbell, lyrics and concept
Kevin Newbury, director
Rob Fisher, musical director
Ricky Ian Gordon & Bruce Coughlin, orchestrators
Robert Wierzel, lighting designer
Wendall Harrington, scenery and projection designer
Edward L. Ayers, creative advisor

Co-commissioned by Texas Performing Arts, the Virginia Arts Festival, Virginia Opera,
and the Modlin Center for the Arts at the University of Richmond

CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EVENTS LISTED BELOW

PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE HARRY RANSOM CENTER AND THE DOLPH BRISCOE CENTER FOR AMERICAN HISTORY

“…A work of great economy, but immense emotional breadth – and depth.”
– Opera Today

In conjunction with the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War, Texas Performing Arts presents the Texas premiere of Rappahannock County, a new music theatre piece about life during the Civil War, September 21 & 22 in McCullough Theatre. This new work has been co-commissioned by Texas Performing Arts, the Virginia Arts Festival, Virginia Opera, and the Modlin Center for the Arts at the University of Richmond.

Rappahannock County is a fictional song cycle inspired by diaries, letters, and personal accounts during the period of the Civil War, and explores the war’s impact, from secession to defeat, on a community of Virginians—black and white, rich and poor, soldiers, nurses, widows, and survivors. The production is a multi-media event, enhanced by projections of Civil War photography, illustrations, documents, and other moving visuals and features five principal singers performing more than 30 roles, backed by an ensemble of 15 musicians.

Composer Ricky Ian Gordon is equally at home writing for the concert hall, opera, dance, theater, and film, and his songs and song cycles have been performed, as well as recorded, by many internationally acclaimed singers. As part of The American Songbook Series, the composer’s Bright Eyed Joy: The Music of Ricky Ian Gordon was presented at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in 2001. The New York Times wrote, “If the music of Ricky Ian Gordon has to be defined by a single quality, it would be the bursting effervescence infusing songs that blithely blur the lines between art song and the high-end Broadway music of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim…It’s caviar for a world gorging on pizza.”

Mark Campbell’s career as a librettist and lyricist has successfully bridged the worlds of both opera and musical theatre. Since 2004, four of his commissioned operas received enthusiastic premieres: Volpone (Wolf Trap Foundation for the Arts, 2004 and 2007, music by John Musto); Later the Same Evening (National Gallery of Art/University of Maryland, 2007, music by Musto), Bastianello/Lucrezia (New York Festival of Song, 2008, music by Musto and William Bolcom.

Mark’s awards include: First recipient of the Kleban Foundation Award for Lyricist, two Richard Rodgers Awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a New York Foundation for the Arts Playwriting Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts grant, 3 Drama Desk Award nominations, a Rockefeller Foundation Award, a Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award and a Grammy nomination.

Serving as creative advisor to the production is Edward L. Ayers, president of the University of Richmond. A historian of the American South, Ayers has written and edited ten books. The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In the Presence of Mine Enemies: Civil War in the Heart of America won the Bancroft Prize for distinguished writing in American history and the Beveridge Prize for the best book in English on the history of the Americas since 1492.

Campus & Community Engagement Events:
A River Between, the making of Rappahannock County
Film screening and discussion
· Running time: 45 minutes
· Tuesday, September 13, 6:30 – 8:00 pm
· McCullough Conference Room, 3.614

Post-Performance Talkback
With panelists Ricky Ian Gordon, composer, Mark Campbell, lyricist, and Professor Jacqueline Jones, Department of History
· Thursday, September 22, Immediately following the performance
· McCullough Theatre

Youth Performance
For students in grades 7–12
(Reservation required – email bsimms@texasperformingarts.org for more info)
· Friday, September 23, 10:30 am
· McCullough Theatre

Reflections on Rappahannock County and the time
Community discussion
· Tuesday, September 27, 6:30 – 8:00 pm
· Carver Museum and Cultural Center, 1165 Angelina Street

CALENDAR LISTING
Thursday, September 21 & 22, 2011, 8:00 pm –Texas Performing Arts presents Rappahannock County – A New Music Theater Piece About Life During The Civil War in McCullough Theatre (2375 Robert Dedman Dr.) A map of the campus: texasperformingarts.org/visit/maps_directions. Tickets ($28 / Limited $10 student tickets / discounted tickets available for UT faculty & staff, seniors and Military) are on sale now at authorized ticket outlets, which include the Bass Concert Hall Box Office, most H-E-B stores and all Texas Box Office outlets, online at TexasPerformingArts.org, or by calling (512) 477-6060 or (800) 982-BEVO (2386).

PRESS CONTACT:
Gene Bartholomew
512.471.0632 gbartholomew@TexasPerformingArts.org