San Francisco composer Kirke Mechem will attend the New York City Opera's
May 9 concert performance of a scene from his new opera, "The Newport
Rivals." The performance of the excerpt is part of NYCO's Showcasing
American Composers project, organized by the company's
composer-in-residence, Mark Adamo.

The new opera, according to the composer, is "a very free Americanization
of Richard Sheridan's 1775 play, `The Rivals.' I have changed the action
from Bath, England to Newport, Rhode Island in its gilded age, about 1900."
Mechem is also attending the May 2 opening of the Wiener Kammeroper's
month-long series of performances of his "Tartuffe," a rare contemporary
opera with scores of productions and more than 200 performances.

Company director Paul Kellogg originated the NYCO American Composers
series, administered by special projects assistant Matthew Price and
artistic planning director Keith Viagas.  There will be six evenings of
half-hour excerpts from the works of three composers each between April
30 and May 9.

Janos Gereben/SF
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