2008-09 Season: Nov | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May

Opening Night: Cool Jazz, Hot Romance
November 14, 2008
Friday, 8:00pm, Paramount Theatre, Oakland
Michael Morgan, Conductor

"Stookey stokes up some steam for Oakland East Bay's
new season" - click here to read the Contra Costa Times
article about ZIPPERZ.



7pm: Pre-concert talk about ZIPPERZ by the composer, Nathaniel Stookey, and librettist, Dan Harder

ZIPPERZ deals with adult subject matter and
may not be appropriate for younger audiences.

Program

George Antheil
Jazz Symphony (1925)

Nathaniel Stookey
ZIPPERZ: a soapopera
with a zippered libretto by Dan Harder
(World Premiere) with vocalists
Eisa Davis and Manoel Felciano

"Nathaniel Stookey writes beautiful music about
real life. Zipperz is the perfect project for him:
intricate, entertaining, sexy and smart."
~ Conductor Edwin Outwater

Sergei Prokofiev
Suites from Romeo & Juliet (1935)

Opening Night will sizzle, with explorations of love and lust taking center stage. The orchestra will give its first performance of the famous suites from Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet, the lush ballet score originally commissioned by the Kirov Ballet.

A contemporary look at lovers less ill-fated, inspired by the "zipper" poetry of Dan Harder, is offered by local composer Nathaniel Stookey. Stookey describes ZIPPERZ: a soapopera as "a story of love and sex, a breathless affair for two singers and orchestra." The singers, who meet for the first time on stage and are drawn into a series of romantic encounters, come to the Paramount straight from Broadway.

ZIPPERZ: a soapopera, with the passion of opera and the sizzle of pop, will feature singers Eisa Davis and Manoel Felciano, who come to the Paramount following starring roles on Broadway. Singer, songwriter, actor and playwright Eisa Davis was recently in the Tony Award-winning rock musical Passing Strange, and will be seen in the upcoming film of that work directed by Spike Lee. Manoel Felciano was nominated for a 2006 Tony Award for his portrayal of Tobias Ragg in Sweeney Todd and is currently starring as Jan in Rock 'N' Roll at A.C.T.

A short, jazz-influenced piece by avant-garde composer and classical music "bad boy" George Antheil will round out the program.