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North American Works Directory Listing
| Composer: |
Jacob Cooper
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| Composer Bio: |
Jacob Cooper’s diverse compositions have earned him a Morton Gould Award from ASCAP, a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a grant from the American Music Center’s Composer Assistance Program. He has held fellowships and residencies at the Bang on a Can Summer Institute, the Banff Centre for the Arts, and twice at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, as a composer and most recently as a video artist. His music has been performed by several ensembles across the continent, including the JACK Quartet, the NOW Ensemble, and the Minnesota Orchestra, and his works have appeared at the Wordless Music concert series at the Miller Theater in New York and at the Harold Golen Gallery in Miami.
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| Librettist: |
Yuka Igarashi
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| Librettist Bio: |
Yuka Igarashi earned a B.A. in English literature from Yale University and has worked as a researcher, a copy writer and a book reviewer. She is currently pursuing an M.F.A. in fiction at Columbia University, where she also teaches undergraduate writing. Her work has been published in Quick Fiction and Gigantic magazine. She lives further out than you do in Brooklyn, NY.
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| Other Artistic Personnel: |
Jaime Casteneda (Director)
Switch Pictures (Video Design)
J.J. LIND (Director Emeritus)
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| Original Cast: |
Mellissa Hughes (Britney)
Ted Hearne (Justin)
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| Premiere Date: |
November 18, 2010
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| Producing Company: |
Incubator Arts Project
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| Description: |
Timberbrit gives pop star Britney Spears the extra push she needs to enter the fictional realm, imagining an ultimate twist in her well-known saga: a new downswing has triggered her to stage a final concert, and her ex-lover Justin Timberlake rushes to her side to express his undying love and try to win her back.
Composer Jacob Cooper slowed the pop stars’ original songs down to a fraction of their usual speed and wrote new music based on the resulting characteristics. Slurs between notes, for example, are tossed out in favor of extravagant glissandos; vibrato is stretched into repeated awkward pitch bends; simple backing interjections surrender to prolonged wails. All in all, songs about teenage crushes become statements of mortality and supreme love, much like those common in traditional opera. Live video projections accompany the actors onstage, creating a markedly public performance out of their intimate actions. An examination of voyeurism and an exploration of musical transformation, Timberbrit is sometimes beautiful, sometimes haunting, and always a bit deranged.
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| Character List (Major): |
Britney
Justin
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| Reviews: |
Britney and Justin: The opera - Toronto Star 8/11/2009
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| Total Acts: |
Not Available
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| Orchestration: |
guitar, keyboard, bass, drumset, electronics
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What is OPERAAmerica.org?
Spring 2013 Magazine Issue
- Letter from the President/CEO
- Of One: The Quest for Asian Fusion in the Opera House
- Vancouver: Where Nature Nurtures Art
- Inheriting the Wind
- My First Time
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From Airport:
The easiest way to reach the OPERA America offices is to get a cab at the airport. Cost is $40-45 (not including tip).
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JFK -
Take the AirTrain ($5 - approx. 15 minutes) to the Jamaica Street Station and transfer to the Long Island Railroad (LIRR).
Take the LIRR to Penn Station ($12 - approx. 35 minutes). See Penn Station directions below.
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LaGuardia -
Take the M60 Bus to the Hoyt Ave/31st Street. Get on the
 or  Train and take that to 42nd/Times Square Station.
Follow the Times Square Station directions below.
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Newark - Take the New Jersey Transit train to Penn Station ($15 - approx. 45 min). See
the Penn Station Directions below.
From Penn Station/Madison Square Garden:
Leave the station through the 7th Avenue/33rd Street exit and walk south for four blocks. The building is on the right hand side.
From Grand Central Station:
Take the  Train to the 42nd/Times Square station and transfer to the  Train.
Take the Train to the 28th Street stop and walk north on 7th Avenue.
The building is on the same block as the train stop.
From 42nd Street/Times Square:
Take the Train to the 28th Street stop and walk north on 7th Avenue.
The building is on the same block as the train stop.
For more detailed directions, most up-to-date pricing or to specify a different starting location, please visit the MTA Web site.
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