VEILS FOR DESIRE
Featuring AMOC* Members:
ANTHONY ROTH COSTANZO, countertenor
PAUL APPLEBY, tenor
MATTHEW AUCOIN, piano
With special guest:
WAYNE KOESTENBAUM, narrator
The history of music is full of gorgeous expressions of hidden desires, from Beethoven’s longing for his “immortal beloved” to Tchaikovsky’s tortured expressions of his sexuality. Veils for Desire, an inventive new recital program, is a gathering of music that “veils” or transforms unspeakable desires into new, mysterious forms.
The program includes music by Monteverdi, Matthew Aucoin, and Benjamin Britten, whose Abraham and Isaac, an unforgettable rendering of the Biblical story of a father commanded by God to slay his young son, serves as the program’s heart.
AMOC* artists are joined by special guest WAYNE KOESTENBAUM, celebrated poet and scholar, whose playful, multi-layered texts weave these works together.
Premiered at Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, Katonah, NY, July 25, 2019
Photos by JJ Geiger
“…intensely personal and charged with a sense of ritual and sacrament”
SF Chronicle Datebook