Postindustrial Players

Left to right: Augusto Bittencourt, Marie Mascari, Angelica de la Riva, Mozart de Oliveira, Peter Stewart.

The Rise and Fall of the First World
A Ascensão e a Queda do Primeiro Mundo

Concert previews at the
Renee Weiler Concert Hall
46 Barrow Street, NYC

April 22, 25, 27, 2010
October 27, October 30, & November 2, 2011

Chamber Music Drama in Two Acts
sung in English and Portuguese

Text by Michael John Kowalski and Helena Soares Hungria
Music by Michael John Kowalski

Praise from the New York audience . . .

“It was fresh and great! Great music, good story and great voices. We are not musicians and I think this makes our opinion matter. My wife and I enjoyed every minute of it.” (4/30/10)

“ . . . the music was really fine, a current of several lines of feeling emerging and breaking, a real composition instead of a series of nods to other composers, as one so often hears in contemporary work. Very strong, and it should go somewhere.” (4/23/10)

“Our little boys liked hearing an opera - quite good barometers, actually. They were still and closely attentive!” (4/26/10)

“I did enjoy the piece a lot . . . it's quite spectacular and worthy of notice.” (5/4/10)

“Thank you for sharing such a wonderful evening of music with us. Please be sure to send a copy of the performance to us so [we] can share it with the musical powers that be in Michigan.” (4/28/10)

“Several of the dance and special numbers had a nice swing to them and were quite catchy. But I especially liked the feel to the music that was interwoven through the rest of the scenes. I thought it held a nice balance between being musically interesting/challenging and setting a tone for those scenes.” (4/30/10)

“Enjoyed the opera a lot last night. Looking forward to a time when I can see it staged. I thought the Brazilian touches were very effective, especially the ending of the second act.” (4/26/10)

“Quite the fantastic piece — needs more than a single hearing of course, to say nothing of hearing the whole piece. Nonetheless, a splendid evening and so glad I was able to hear it.” (4/25/10)

. . . and from the professionals:

“I hope there are enough people who see the promise to step forward and produce the full staging of this opera, because it so deserves it. It was so much fun finding Paula's wacky spirit and ebullient if somewhat war-torn heart.” (M. Mascari, soprano, 4/29/10)

“Está sendo um prazer trabalhar e aprender tanto com você!” [“It’s a pleasure working with you and learning so much!”] (G. Bittencourt, tenor, 4/23/10)

“It was an immense pleasure to work with all of you on this! Michael and Helena, thanks for the beautiful material! I had a blast!” (M. Zottarelli, percussionist, 4/29/10)

“Parabens pelo excelente e interessante trabalho musical . . . concordo que os textos deram certo. Ao ouvir e ler a ópera pude perceber uma grande coerência entre o texto e música . . . O caráter e a atmosfera brasileira também ficaram evidentes no segundo ato que se passa no Brasil . . . Meu bravo pelo libreto e pela música . . . “ [“Congratulations for this excellent and interesting musical work . . . I agree that the text really works. On hearing and reading the opera I sensed a profound harmony between the text and music . . . The Brazilian character and atmosphere were evident when the action moves there in the second act . . . Bravo for both the music and libretto.”] (Priscila Bomfim, vocal coach, Rio de Janeiro, 2/27/14)

Press Release

Portuguese-English chamber opera stakes out new dramatic and musical territory.

What is the First World? Where is the First World? Where is it going? These questions are never far from the minds of American composer Michael Kowalski and Brazilian writer Helena Soares Hungria as they tell a story of star-crossed international love in their new bilingual chamber opera, "A Ascensão e a Queda do Primeiro Mundo" ("The Rise and Fall of the First World").

The second installment of concert previews of the work will be presented by Michael Kowalski's ensemble, the Postindustrial Players, at the Renee Weiler Concert Hall of the Greenwich House Music School, 46 Barrow Street, in New York City, on Thursday, October 27th and Wednesday, November 2nd at 8:00 P.M., and on Sunday, October 30th at 3:00 P.M.

"Rise and Fall" tells the story of a sister and brother from Chicago in love with a brother and sister from São Paulo, Brazil. As the story opens in the run-up to their extravagant double marriage ceremony, it's unclear which family is more upwardly or downwardly mobile. Neither is it clear which of the four ambitious new in-laws is most deluded by cultural stereotypes. The confusion only increases during their first year of marriage until financial and romantic problems, piled on top of the trivial aggravations of living abroad, become too much for either couple to bear. In the aftermath of the wreckage of her marriage and the loss of her best friend, the Brazilian heroine of "Rise and Fall," Filomena, closes the opera with a powerful twenty-minute declaration of emotional independence to rival that of Wagner's Brunhilde.

For the upcoming concerts at Renee Weiler, the Postindustrial Players will be performing the second scene of act one, sung in English, and the first scene of act two, sung in Portuguese. The Players have assembled a distinguished North-South cast which includes the Brazilian/Cuban soprano Angelica de la Riva, the Brazilian tenor Augusto Bittencourt, the American soprano Marie Mascari, and the American bass Peter Stewart. Vocal preparation is under the supervision of Mozart de Oliveira, vocal coach at the Manhattan School of Music. The pianists and opera veterans Christopher Berg and Audrey Saint-Gil will be backed up by a stellar Brazilian rhythm unit consisting of percussionist Maurício Zottarelli and bassist Itaiguara Brandão.

The music of "Rise and Fall" is in constant turmoil, reflecting the emotional states of the four newlyweds. It turns out that turmoil, however, can include moments of great lyricism. The music of "Rise and Fall" is neither atonal nor neo-Romantic, but it does allude, as one might expect, to the great traditions of twentieth-century North and South American pop—to samba, bossa nova, Argentine tango, Cuban rhumba, and jazz ballads. It's a world of emotional and musical ups and downs, sideward glances, heroic perseverance—and occasional violence.

In the end, everyone involved with "The Rise and Fall of the First World," including the audience, gets to feel like a foreigner for at least part of the time. In the words of the French-Romanian critic Julia Kristeva, "the foreigner lives within us: he is the hidden face of our identity." (Étrangers à nous-mêmes)

The Postindustrial Players have released two of Michael Kowalski's previous chamber operas on CD: Still in Love, with lyrics by Kier Peters (Equilibrium EQ6), and Fraternity of Deceit (Equilibrium EQ36). http://www.equilibri.com

Resumo em português . . .

Ópera de câmara brasileiro-americana explora o mundo escondido das políticas íntimas de amor norte-sul.

O que é o Primeiro Mundo? Onde fica? Aonde vai? O compositor americano Michael Kowalski e a escritora brasileira Helena Soares Hungria não deixam de meditar sobre essas perguntas nas letras para a nova ópera bilingue do Kowalski, A Ascensão e a Queda do Primeiro Mundo. É a história de dois amores mal-fadados—mas não necessariamente por serem internacionais.

A Ascensão e a Queda descreve a história de dois irmãos paulistas, que se apaixonam por dois irmãos americanos de Chicago, Illinois. A ópera começa no meio das preparações para o casamento dos quatro nos Estados Unidos. A festa chiquérrima acaba custando mais do que os dois casais podem, apesar do americano Mark ser o famoso negociante suburbano, conhecido como o "Rei das Pizzas de Cicero, Illinois". Na hora da festa fica claro que os noivos continuam presos a seus preconceitos culturais e preocupações econômicas. A confusão só piora durante a lua-de-mel no Brasil. Depois de apenas um ano, os problemas emocionais e econômicos, além das irritações da vida cotidiana, acabam se tornando insuportáveis, cada um pelas suas próprias razões. Depois do fracasso do seu casamento, a brasileira Filomena, a mais forte dos quatro, encerra a ópera, cantando a sua declaração de independência numa ária de vinte minutos, como uma Brünnhilde de Wagner, a la brasileira.

A música da Ascensão e a Queda mantém um movimento tumultuoso que quase nunca para, refletindo as emoções mutáveis dos noivos. Mas para quem quiser se aprofundar, esse tumulto também contem momentos líricos e até mesmo frágeis. A música da ópera não é nem atonal nem neo-romântica, mas alude a várias tradições da música popular do século XX: samba, bossa nova, tango argentino, rumba cubana e canções de jazz dos anos 30 e 40. Essa é uma música que pertence ao mundo de emoções instáveis, onde as coisas vão para frente e para trás quase simultaneamente, o mundo de relances furtivos e uma certa constância corajosa, de onde surgem relâmpagos sem advertência.

No fim, quem compartilhar da Ascensão e a Queda, inclusive a platéia, aproveitará a oportunidade para exercer o papel do estrangeiro, pelo menos por uns minutos. Como escreveu a crítica francesa-romena Julia Kristeva no seu livro Étrangers à nous-mêmes: "o estrangeiro mora dentro de nós: ele é o rosto escondido da nossa identidade."

Synopsis

The Rise and Fall of the First World is an evening-length, bilingual chamber music drama set in the United States and Brazil. It is the third part of a trilogy of chamber music dramas written by composer Michael Kowalski for his music theater group, The Postindustrial Players. The first part of the trilogy, the one-act Still in Love (1996), was a collaboration with Los Angeles-based playwright Kier Peters. The second part of the trilogy, Fraternity of Deceit (1998), was an evening-length piece set to a libretto by the composer. Both works had their Off-Off Broadway premieres in New York City and are available on commercial CDs from the Equilibrium label.

The libretto of the current project is a collaboration between the composer and the Brazilian writer Helena Soares Hungria. It is a major work in two acts of approximately 150 minutes total duration, scored for soprano, mezzo, tenor, and bass, accompanied by a virtuoso chamber ensemble consisting of string quartet, acoustic piano, synthesizer, multiple percussion, and winds.

The plot traces one year in the lives of Paula and Mark, siblings from Chicago, Illinois, and César and Filomena, siblings from São Paulo, Brazil. Filomena and Paula, who were roommates and best friends in graduate school, have introduced one another to their respective brothers, and a double marriage ensues. The first act concludes just before the couples' very expensive double wedding reception in Chicago, hosted by Mark, who, in addition to being Paula's brother and Filomena's new husband, is the quite prosperous and equally ruthless "Pizza King of Cicero, Illinois."

The second act picks up the story six months later on the Brazilians' family farm in rural São Paulo state, where the two couples were to have spent their honeymoon. The honeymoon has turned into a self-imposed exile, with Mark fighting a case of income tax evasion in the US, César vainly trying to hatch schemes to rescue the family farm from bankruptcy and confiscation by the land reform movement, and the two women fighting frustration from having abandoned their careers. The newly sour relationships among the four friends are further aggravated by Mark's sudden interest in a shady business deal in northeastern Brazil. Suspicions that Mark also has a new romantic interest cause a rupture between him and the two Brazilians. Meanwhile, Paula's disenchantment with Brazil leads to her gradual estrangement from César. The last scene shows Filomena back in her São Paulo city apartment, preparing to return to work as an industrial designer. In spite of, or perhaps because of the calamitous events of the previous year, she has achieved a new level of self-possession and wisdom.

The first act is sung in English with Portuguese surtitles. The second act is sung in Portuguese with English surtitles. This is more than a bow to current fashion. The piece is very much about the problems of being a foreigner, about linguistic fogs, and about the confusion of image and reality which confronts anyone who tries sincerely to comprehend a new culture. It's also a head-on encounter with issues of gender, marriage, family politics, and the struggle to make a living in a not-quite-globalized world.

The music is in perpetual flux between brief flirtations with atonality and passages of melodic churning that call to mind Richard Strauss, Puccini, and Kurt Weill at their wilder moments. The relentless forward thrust of the music and action is resolved in climactic arias, duets, and quartets based on Brazilian and North American pop and jazz. Brazilians will be able to spot stylistic nods to Tom Jobim, Ary Barroso, Jacob Bittencourt, and rural emboladas. North Americans will pick up various shades of the blues and fleeting references to Old Hollywood.

Epigrams in lieu of a program note . . .

Étrangement, l'étranger nous habite: il est la face cachée de notre identité, l'espace que ruine notre demeure, le temp où s'abiment l'entente et la sympathie. De le reconnaître en nous, nous nous épargnons de le détester en lui-même.

Strangely, the foreigner lives within us: he is the hidden face of our identity, the space that wrecks our abode, the time in which understanding and affinity founder. By recognizing him within ourselves, we are spared detesting him in himself.

Julia Kristeva, Étrangers à nous-mêmes, translated by Leon Roudiez

A vida real é um sonho, só que de olhos abertos (que vêem tudo destorcido).
Real life is a dream, just with the eyes (which see everything distorted) wide open. —mk

Mas, mesmo fragmentário e dissonante e desafinado, creio que existe em tudo isso uma ordem submersa. E! Existe uma vontade.
But however fragmentary, dissonant, and out of tune, I believe that there exists in all of this an underlying order. And! There exists the will. —mk

Clarice Lispector, Um Sopro de Vida

But just as personal egoism, when it transcends a certain limit, begins to devour itself, so too does the egoism of a conservative class.