Alvin Singleton's Brooklyn Bones Given World Premiere in Fort Greene, Brooklyn
November 11, 2008
The Fort Greene Park Conservancy and American Opera Projects present the world premiere on November 15 of Alvin Singleton's Brooklyn Bones, commissioned by the Conservancy with generous support from Partnerships for Parks, a joint program of the City Parks Foundation and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, as well as the Brooklyn Arts Council, the Department of Cultural Affairs, the Independence Community Foundation, and Meet the Composer, Inc. The performance takes place at 7:30PM on November 15, 2008 in the auditorium of Brooklyn Technical High School located at 29 South Elliott Place in Ft. Greene, Brooklyn. Admission is free. Setting an original text by Patricia Hampl, the work was written in commemoration of the Fort Greene Park Prison Ship Martyrs Monument and is performed by the Monmouth Civic Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Mark Shapiro.
The City of New York and Fort Greene Park Conservancy are commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Prison Ships Martyrs Monument, which historian David McCullough has called one of the most sacred Revolutionary War memorial sites in the country. The Stanford White designed monument rises above a tomb containing the remains of more than 11,000 soldiers who died aboard British prison ships in New York’s Wallabout Bay during the American Revolution. The Martyrs Monument and plaza have been meticulously restored, the bronze eagles returned to their original places, and the eternal flame atop the monument will be once again lit on this occasion after being extinguished for 71 years. The City of New York in coordination with the Conservancy has planned a full day of events in Ft. Greene Park and the surrounding area. Singleton comments on the occasion:
In November, the Fort Greene Park Prison Ship Martyrs Monument in Brooklyn turns one hundred years old and my work, Brooklyn Bones for tenor, chorus, and orchestra and based on a wonderful text by poet Patricia Hampl, was created for the centennial celebration and rededication of the Monument Plaza. Brooklyn Bones draws its inspiration from the story of the thousands of American Revolution victims who perished aboard the British prison ships between 1776 and 1783.
For more information on the Centennial, please visit www.centennial2008.org.
Alvin Singleton
Brooklyn Bones (2008)
Requiem for the Revolutionary War Prison Ship Martyrs
for tenor, SATB chorus and orchestra
111.bcl.1-1110-hp-str
18'