VEILS FOR DESIRE

ANTHONY ROTH COSTANZO, countertenor
PAUL APPLEBY, tenor
MATTHEW AUCOIN, pianist

and special guest
WAYNE KOESTENBAUM, narrator

Program:
BRITTEN Abraham and Isaac (Anthony, Paul)
MONTEVERDI “Possente spirto,” from L’Orfeo (Paul)
AUCOIN This Earth (Anthony)
BRITTEN “Veggio co’ bei vostr’occhi…”, from Michelangelo Sonnets (Paul)
AUCOIN Selections from Eurydice (Anthony, Paul)
BACH “Ich will bei meinem Jesu wachen,”
from the St. Matthew Passion (Anthony, Paul)
AUCOIN Tony: Ending the Life (Paul)
MONTEVERDI “Oblivion soave,” from L’incoronazione di Poppea (Anthony)

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 singers ANTHONY ROTH COSTANZO and PAUL APPLEBY are joined by MATTHEW AUCOIN at the piano, as well as special guest WAYNE KOESTENBAUM, celebrated poet and scholar, whose playful, multi-layered texts – newly written for the occasion – will weave these works together. Join us for this intense, intimate journey!

TICKETS / $40 AND UP