American Modern Ensemble: In Real Life

American Modern Ensemble, Steven Osgood, Marnie Breckenridge, David Cote, Robert Paterson, Jorell Williams

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About The Album

In Real Life is a new album that combines three witty, contemporary pieces for solo singer and ensemble: In Real Life I (for soprano), In Real Life II (for baritone), and Extraordinary, an operatic scene for soprano and baritone. The beloved musicians on this album are Marnie Breckenridge, soprano, Jorell Williams, baritone, and American Modern Ensemble, one of America’s most admired new music ensembles, conducted by Steven Osgood.

In Real Life was originally conceived by composer Robert Paterson and lyricist and librettist David Cote as a set of dating app songs for a soprano and piano called In Real Life (retitled In Real Life I), commissioned by Austin Chamber Ensemble Artistic Director Martha Mortensen Ahern, in honor of its 35th season. Getting into the heads (and hearts) of five different women looking for romance was so fun, Paterson and Cote wondered, what would a similar cycle for baritone sound like? The result was In Real Life II, songs that dramatize the romantic quests of five different men. As a full program, In Real Life consists of these two song cycles (interwoven for variety) and Extraordinary, an operatic “date” for soprano and baritone.

Mingling comedy with pathos through a lively range of character types, In Real Life is a chance for a soprano and a baritone to show off their versatility, and for an audience to enjoy a delicious, theatrical revue about love, romance, and second chances.

In Real Life was produced by Grammy® winning producer and engineer Adam Abeshouse, and recorded live at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music’s Mary Flagler Cary Hall in NYC.

About Robert Paterson

Described by the press as “a modern day master” (AXS.com) and the “highlight of the program” (The New York Times), Robert Paterson has won awards for his music in virtually every classical genre. The Classical Recording Foundation at Carnegie’s Weill Hall named Paterson Composer of the Year in 2011. His works have appeared on National Public Radio’s Best of the Year lists for classical music and regularly appear on radio playlists across the United States.

Paterson’s music has been performed by hundreds of outstanding ensembles, including Nashville Opera, Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Delaware Symphony, Austin Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, Oratorio Society of New York, Musica Sacra, Chamber Choir of Europe, Atlanta Master Chorale, New York New Music Ensemble, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, American Modern Ensemble, BargeMusic, Imani Winds, Euclid Quartet, Indianapolis Quartet, and Paris-based Ensemble Aleph.

Recent commissions include Ghost Theater, for the Albany Symphony, Shine for the American Brass Quintet, Moon Trio for the Claremont Trio and new works commission by the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Gulf Coast Symphony, and numerous choirs, including the Ember Choral Ensemble and The Esoterics. Paterson’s debut choral album, Eternal Reflections, was released by Musica Sacra and Maestro Kent Tritle in 2015.

Paterson has received awards for his works in virtually every classical genre, including a three-year Music Alive grant from the League of American Orchestras and New Music USA, the American Composers Forum Jerome Composers Commissioning Program, the Utah Arts Festival Commission Competition, Cincinnati Camerata Composition Competition, and fellowships to Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, Aspen Music Festival, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and the Copland House.

In 2018, Paterson founded the Mostly Modern Festival (MMF), an annual, three-week summer music festival that highlights contemporary music, which takes place at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. In 2005, Paterson founded the New York City-based American Modern Ensemble (AME), which spotlights contemporary music via lively thematic programming. He serves as artistic director for both MMF and AME as well as house composer, frequently contributing new pieces for the festival and ensemble. In 2005, he also founded American Modern Recordings (AMR), an affiliated record label that is distributed by NAXOS. Paterson’s recordings are also featured on the Capstone, Centaur, Summit, and Riax labels.

Born in 1970, Paterson was raised in Buffalo, New York, the son of a sculptor and a painter. Although his first love was percussion, he soon discovered a passion for composition, writing his first piece at age thirteen. In the late 1980s, Paterson pioneered the development of a six-mallet marimba technique, and he has written numerous pieces utilizing this technique. He released the first-ever album of six-mallet music, Six Mallet Marimba in 2012 (AMR) to a sold-out crowd at the Rubin Museum in Chelsea, NYC.

Paterson holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (BM), Indiana University (MM), and Cornell University (DMA). Paterson gives master classes at numerous colleges and universities, most recently at the Curtis Institute of Music, Aspen Music School & Festival, the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, New York University, and the Cleveland Institute of Music. He resides in New York City and Saratoga Springs, New York with his wife, Victoria, and son, Dylan.

For more information, visit robertpaterson.com.

About David Cote

Playwright, librettist, and theater critic David Cote’s operas include Blind Injustice with Scott Davenport Richards (Cincinnati Opera), Three Way with Robert Paterson (Nashville Opera and BAM), The Scarlet Ibis with Stefan Weisman (Prototype and Chicago Opera Theater), and We’ve Got Our Eye on You with Nkeiru Okoye (SUNY New Paltz). His plays include Otherland, the solo drama Saint Joe, and a collection of satirical shorts called Fear of Art.

The live recording of Blind Injustice was recently released by Naxos. Cote also wrote the text for Okoye’s Black Lives Matter piece for baritone and orchestra, Invitation to a Die-In. Choral works with Paterson, Did You Hear? and Snow Day, were sung by Musica Sacra and conducted by Kent Tritle on Eternal Reflections (American Modern Recordings). AMR also recorded and released the cast album of Three Way.

Cote was the longest serving theater editor and chief drama critic of Time Out New York. His reporting and reviews appear in 4 Columns, Observer, and American Theatre. He’s the author of popular books about the hit Broadway musicals Wicked, Jersey Boys and Spring Awakening.

As an actor and director, Cote worked with avant-garde legend Richard Foreman, exiled Iranian auteur Assurbanipal Babilla, and Richard Maxwell. He directed Robert Honeywell in Matthew Freeman’s The Sea The Mountains The Forest The City The Plain at the Brick in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Alumnus of Bard College, Cote was born and adopted in New Hampshire.

For more information, visit davidcote.com.

About Marnie Breckenridge

American soprano Marnie Breckenridge has won acclaim internationally in a vast repertoire spanning from the Baroque to the Modern. She is continuously praised for her grounded storytelling and known for her deeply expressive score interpretations, layered characterizations, and her beautiful pure soprano. A favorite among some of the most gifted composers of our time, her excellent musicianship and technique have established her as a go-to performer of critically acclaimed new works with her “lovely soprano” voice (The New York Times), “lyrical poignancy and dramatic power” (The Chicago Tribune) and singing as “resplendent as always” (The San Francisco Chronicle).

Marnie’s passionate interpretations of contemporary works include: Jacqueline Du Pré in Jacqueline created for her and Matt Haimovitz by Luna Pearl Woolf & Royce Vavrek (Marnie won the 2020 DORA award for “Outstanding Individual Performance in an Opera”) with Tapestry Opera, Mother in Dog Days by David T. Little with Los Angeles Opera, the Prototype Festival in NYC and at Ft. Worth Opera with its premiere at Montclair Peak Performances (voted Best Opera 2012 by Time Out New York), Sierva Maria in Peter Eötvös’s Love and Other Demons at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, La Princesse in Philip Glass’ Orphée, the title role in Milhaud’s Médée, Margarita Xirgu in Golijov’s Ainadamar, and Beck Strand in Kaminsky’s Today It Rains with Opera Parallèle, a Washington National Chorus debut as Ruth Madoff in Luna Pearl Woolf’s The Pillar, her Berkeley Symphony debut in Chin’s Cantantrix Sopranica with Kent Nagano, her Ravinia Festival debut in Jake Heggie’s To Hell and Back with Philharmonia Baroque, co-staring Patti LuPone and Cunegonde in Robert Carson’s Candide with English National Opera, Prague State Opera and on tour in Japan deemed “simply terrific” (Opera Magazine UK) and “note perfect” (Prague Post).

Recent favorite concert work includes Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and roles in L’enfant Et Les Sortilèges with the San Francisco Symphony, In Real Life and Summer Songs by Robert Paterson at Weill Hall/Carnegie Hall with American Modern Ensemble, Teach Your Children by David Lang, Ein Deutches Requiem and Carmina Burana with the SF Choral Society at Davies Symphony Hall, Canteloube’s Chants D’auvergne with Brooklyn Art Song Society, Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and Mahler’s 4th Symphony with Napa Symphony and Pacific Symphony as well as the Bachianas Brasileiras and Chicago Songs (written for her by Kurt Erickson) with the Sacramento Philharmonic. Breckenridge is a featured soloist on the 2012 New World Records’ album of Victor Herbert songs, and can be heard on Dimitri Hvorostovsky’s Heroes and Villains, countless other recordings by American composers, and more recently her 2020 album debut of Holiday tunes; Happy Golden Days on all streaming platforms.

For more information, visit marniebreckenridge.com.

About Jorell Williams

Jorell Williams is an American operatic baritone with a wide variety of experience from standard repertoire to premiere pieces, performing in collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center Theater, Seattle Opera, New York City Opera, Atlanta Opera, On-Site Opera, Urban Arias, Opera Columbus, Caramoor International Music Festival, Fort Worth Opera, and Finger Lakes Opera. Jorell is widely recognized for his concert work, having performed as soloist with Carnegie Hall, Omaha Symphony, South Dakota Symphony, Orchestra of St. Lukes, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Philharmonic of Southern New Jersey, Juneau Symphony, Eugene Symphony, Geneseo Symphony, The Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra, Caelis Academy Ensemble, Essential Voices USA, The Little Orchestra Society, Hudson Chorale, National Chorale, and the Harlem Chamber Players.

His career has brought him on tour with the Mark Morris Dance Company, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Chorale Le Chateau, and the Brooklyn Art Song Society. He has also worked alongside some of today’s most versatile artists, including Wynton Marsalis, Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Damien Sneed, Jon Batiste, David Lang, and most recently, Jennifer Higdon, for the world premiere of her 2017 Grammy nominated opera Cold Mountain with Sante Fe Opera. Winner of the 2018 Rochester Classical Idol XII Prize and Audience Choice award, Jorell garners top awards from some of the most prestigious competitions in the world, including the American Traditions Competition, Gerda Lissner International Competition, Schuyler Foundation for Career Bridges, Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation, The American Prize, Serge Koussevitzky Foundation, David Adams Art Song Competition, Civic Morning Musicals Foundation, Harlem Opera Competition, National Association of Negro Musicians, and the Liberace Foundation.

He is an Alumnus of the Composers and the Voice Program at The American Opera Project, Caramoor International Music Festival’s Bel Canto Program, Ravinia Steans Music Institute, and Songfest at Colburn in Los Angeles. He also trained at Santa Fe Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, and holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music. He is an advocate for artist rights and is a newly appointed artistic council advisor for On-Site Opera and the new music board for the Brooklyn Art Song Society, using his experience to consult with arts organizations on their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives.

For more information, visit jorellwilliams.com.

American Modern Ensemble – Album Musicians

Steven Osgood, conductor • Marnie Breckenridge, soprano • Jorell Williams, baritone • John Romeri, flute • Keve Wilson, oboe • Nuno Antunes, clarinet • Matt Ward, percussion • Blair McMillen, piano • Robin Braun, violin • Peter Sachon, cello

About American Modern Ensemble

American Modern Ensemble (AME) spotlights contemporary music via lively thematic programming. AME performs a wide repertoire, using a varied combination of instrumentalists, vocalists, and conductors, and the ensemble often highlights AME's house composer and founder, Robert Paterson. Since its inception in 2005, AME has performed hundreds of works by living composers, and has received critical success in The New York Times, Time Out, the New Yorker, among others. Sold out crowds at BAM, Merkin Hall, Lincoln Center, the Rubin Museum, Dixon Place, and National Sawdust are a winning testament to AME’s fifteen-year track record as to what is 'right' about classical music today.

AME includes on-stage chats with composers and the creative team, allowing audience members to learn even more about the creative process. AME provides a welcoming environment for audience, creators and performers. Over 95% of the composers we program participate and attend our shows, including luminaries such as John Luther Adams, John Corigliano, David Del Tredici, Aaron Jay Kernis, Libby Larsen, Steven Mackey, Paul Moravec, Christopher Rouse, Steven Stucky, Joan Tower, Chen Yi, and countless others. AME also enthusiastically performs works by America's most talented, emerging and mid-career composers.

AME produces stellar recordings via its house label, American Modern Recordings (AMR), which has received fantastic reviews in Gramophone, the LA Music Examiner, The New York Times, Sequenza21, and New Music Box, and our albums have made it to the Grammy® Ballot in past seasons.

AME’s summer home is now at the Mostly Modern Festival (MMF), located in Saratoga Springs, New York. This festival celebrates the music of our time. It is educational, with robust outreach initiatives. Other residencies include Princeton University, James Madison University, Keene State College, the CUNY Graduate Center, Adelphi, Rutgers, and many more. AME is deeply invested in collaboration. Some examples are On Site Opera, Cutting Edge New Music Festival, Prototype Opera Festival, American Opera Projects, and the Dance Theater of Harlem.

Tracks

In Real Life I
Marnie Breckenridge, Soprano
1. 1. A Regular Woman
2. 2. Late Bloomer
3. 3. Anastasia
4. 4. Collateral
5. 5. Rewind

In Real Life II
Jorell Williams, Baritone
6. 1. Ain’t No Frog
7. 2. Sola Fide
8. 3. Die With Me
9. 4. Still Vamping
10 5. Nice-Plus

11. Extraordinary
Marnie Breckenridge, Soprano; Jorell Williams, Baritone

TOTAL TIME: 60’30”

Recording Date: October 27, 2020 | Release Date: July 8, 2022

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