Music as the Message: Fall in ❤️ with Love Digital Program

ARTISTS

Hosted by Adrienne Danrich, and featuring a stellar cast of artists:

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Guest Soloists:

Marsha Thompson, soprano
Blythe Gaissert, mezzo soprano
Andrew Garland, baritone
Chris Shelton, Broadway Presbyterian pastor

MaM Ensemble:

Victoria Davis, soprano
Patrice P. Eaton, mezzo soprano
Cameo Humes, tenor
Scott Tomlinson, bass

Instrumentalists:

Brian Shankar Adler, percussion
Dwight Howard, arranger
James Moore, guitar
Peter Seidenberg, cello
Violetta Zabbi, piano

Creative team:

Adrienne Danrich, creator, host, & executive producer
Alex B. West, associate producer
Jascha Narveson, audio engineer
Paul Moravec, commissioned composer
Drew Hemenger, composer of MaM original theme song

Creative Content Producers:
Meagan Brus
Anne Hiatt
Emily Manzo

Creative Consultants:
Joelle Lamarre
Victoria A. Davis

Production:
Patrick Mahaney, technical director

The Music as the Message series is presented by The American Opera Project and Opera On Tap, in association with Broadway Presbyterian Church.

ABOUT MUSIC AS THE MESSAGE

Created and hosted by Emmy Award-winning soprano Adrienne Danrich, Music as the Message (MaM) is an interactive, virtual series that has been newly reimagined as a hybrid performance experience. Streamed live, MaM celebrates the power of music to unify and to inspire healing, joy, laughter, love and most importantly, community. Adrienne, along with guest artists, the MaM Ensemble, and commissioned composers, leads a program of uplifting songs and spoken word. As we commune through music, attendees are encouraged to sing and speak along, with strong and joyous voices, whether in the Zoom room or in the Sanctuary! Following this musical catharsis, the audience is welcome to speak with the artists, and reflect or listen in support of their fellow participants.

Free to the public, goodwill offerings accepted. Held via Zoom and presented through AOPTV. The Music as the Message series is presented by The American Opera Project and Opera On Tap, in association with Broadway Presbyterian Church.

ABOUT ADRIENNE DANRICH

As an award-winning singer, writer, composer, and educator, Adrienne Danrich is redefining what it means to be a creative performer. The voice of EMMY® award winning soprano Adrienne Danrich has been described as “fresh liquid-silver”, “radiant”, and having a “sensual timbre and dramatic truth” by Opera News. She has performed at major opera houses and art centers around the United States as well as appearing in the NBC broadcast of The Sound of Music, Live! In addition to singing operas, concerts and recitals around the country, Danrich performs her one-woman show, This Little Light of Mine: The Stories of Marian Anderson and Leontyne Price, which she wrote under a commission from Cincinnati Opera. This Little Light of Mine was nominated for an EMMY®, and, additionally, Ms. Danrich was personally nominated and subsequently won an EMMY® for on-camera talent as performer and narrator. Recently, Ms. Danrich debuted her new concert From Aretha to Aida, An Autobiographical Musical Journey. Distinctive in her talent and charisma, Adrienne is known for going places other artists have not yet ventured.
www.adriennedanrich.com

ABOUT THE AMERICAN OPERA PROJECT

The American Opera Project (AOP) is a non-profit organization based in Fort Greene, Brooklyn whose mission is to develop and present new and innovative works of lyric theater, provide resources and opportunities to emerging and established artists, and engage contemporary communities in a transformative operatic experience. The American Opera Project is an unending experiment in storytelling with the central premise that each life is an operatic story waiting to be told, each telling of that story an operatic experience waiting to happen. The American Opera Project’s programming serves the goal of diversifying the operatic canon by investing in emerging creators and centering the process of creation rather than the product. Ongoing programming includes First Chance, AOP’s opera development incubator; Composers & the Voice, AOP’s free, in-house composer and librettist training program; and community-oriented events such as “Music as the Message” that reimagine how to reach the 21st century audience. www.aopopera.org

ABOUT OPERA ON TAP

Opera on Tap (OOT) was born in 2005 in Brooklyn and operates with the vision of making the drama, beauty and exhilaration of opera truly accessible to new communities everywhere. What began as a small monthly gathering of ambitious, classically trained singers looking for more performance opportunities, has grown into a producing and community-based organization that has gained a broad audience base and national recognition as an innovative force on the classical music scene. Through its Chapter program, which now has twenty-eight vibrant national (and international) chapters, OOT has created a large network of performers, creators, and supporters. A predominantly women-led organization, OOT’s mission is to engage and enrich communities through culture and the arts, and to empower singers, instrumentalists, composers and other artists through opportunities for paid performance, commissions, leadership, and safe creative practices.  

Opera on Tap continues to be headquartered as a national organization in Brooklyn and in NYC presents four programs intended to adhere to our practice of community engagement through opera: PLAYGROUND OPERA/OPERATRONICS, BAR SHOWS/ NEW BREW, OPERACADES, and THE IMMERSIVE OPERA PROJECT (IOP).
www.operaontap.org

ABOUT BROADWAY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Broadway Presbyterian Church is a progressive community that welcomes all people regardless of ethnic heritage, national origin, age, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, or socio-economic standing. Though we may read the Bible with different eyes than our ancestors, we continue to believe that it is the foundation of our faith. Guided by the Spirit, our encounter with Scripture calls us to be people of justice, loving-kindness, humility, and joy in all that we do. We are a part of “the Church reformed, always reforming” – and we look forward to all the ways God will continue to lead the Broadway Presbyterian Church.
www.bpcnyc.org

ABOUT BROADWAY COMMUNITY

The seeds that would become Broadway Community were planted in 1982 with the creation of the Community Lunch program – a combined effort of volunteers from Broadway Presbyterian Church, Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University, and other neighboring organizations. Meals were prepared and provided to the hungry three times a week. In 1992, the organization formally incorporated so that it might expand its reach. For the next decade “BCI” developed as an addiction recovery program, with a variety of companion programs, including support groups, a women’s shelter, arts education, and more. All the while, the soup kitchen continued, serving lunch on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Thousands of people have been fed and nourished at Broadway Community – in body, mind, and spirit.

Broadway Community provides a soup kitchen, community table, food pantry, shelter, showers, clothing, health care, and much more to people in need. All are welcome. www.broadwaycommunity.org