Friday, August 27, 2021 at 2:34PM I am so grateful that Kathleen Roland-Silverstein has reviewed my song cycle The Imaginary Photo Album in the September/October 2021 issue of The Journal of Singing. Thank you, Kathleen!
Sunday, July 25, 2021 at 8:15AM I'm pleased to announce that The Scarlet Letter, my opera with David Mason, will have two productions in 2022:
at The University of Oklahoma: February 10 - 13, 2022, in a production directed by Beth Greenberg
and at Wichita State University: April 7-10, 2022.
The opera was commissioned by The University of Central Arkansas through Robert Holden and the UCA Opera Program and premiered at UCA in November 2008. Opera Colorado presented the professional world premiere in May 2016. The live recording of that production was released on Naxos in 2017 to critical acclaim:
The first thing that leaps into one's ears is the sheer beauty of the music. Laitman has devoted much of her career to the art song, and her ability to meld words with lyrical, often soaring lines is on abundant display in her opera. (Gramophone Magazine)
The recording was also named a Critic’s Choice by Opera News and one of the top 5 CDs of 2018 by Fanfare Magazine.
For a "Behind the Curtain" look at the Opera Colorado production, please click here.
Saturday, July 24, 2021 at 4:50PM In conjunction with filmmaker/tenor extraordinaire Dan Norman of Positive Note Productions in the UK, I am making films of two of my songs:
The Apple Orchard, composed in 2004 to a poem by Dana Gioia
and
Sarong Song to David Mason’s poem, from The Soul Fox cycle commissioned by ROKI in 2013.
I feel so fortunate to work with such great artists: tenor Dan Norman, mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately and pianist Simon Lepper. We filmed and recorded at Radley College in Oxford on July 6, 2021 and I am currently editing the audio.
Director Jeremy Bidgood is overseeing the film production, and artist Ian Beck will be creating the illustrations.
So excited about this creative adventure!
Monday, June 7, 2021 at 5:34PM Independent Opera Company, based in LA, has made their wonderful documentary about my Holocaust-themed song cycle, The Seed of Dream, available.
The work was commissioned by Mina Miller and Music of Remembrance, and sets five poems by the pre-eminent Yiddish poet Abraham Sutzkever.
I am so grateful to director and baritone Aaron Ball, cellist Thomas Lovasz and pianist Galina Barskaya for bringing my work to life with an amazing performance filled with such a deep understanding of the work.
Monday, June 7, 2021 at 5:24PM I am thrilled that the Emergence Music duo, comprised of soprano Nadine Be and pianist Nicole Panizza, will be performing my Mary Oliver song cycle Early Snow on June 11, 2021 at 6 pm to a live audience and at 8:30 pm BST for a virtual audience (1 pm and 3:30 pm EST).
The concert is part of the Saint James Piccadilly Piano Series, and will also include works by Samuel Barber, Undine Smith Moore, and Leslie Adams.
For more information and/or to purchase tickets, please click here.