Young Artists of America’s 2013-2014 Season: ‘Show Boat’ & Jason Robert Brown Conducts ‘Songs For a New World’

Our 2013-2014 season is called “Breaking New Ground” for various reasons. Our two main productions will feature two groundbreaking works by two iconic composers that completely turned the musical theatre world on its head with their innovative creations. In 1927, Jerome Kern created a new genre with SHOW BOAT, that paved the path for serious musicals as we know them today. Likewise in 1995, Jason Robert Brown changed how we view musical theatre by introducing SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD, using unrelated songs tied together by a universal theme to create a new musical beast.

In November 2013, YAA will present excerpts of the quintessential American musical, SHOW BOAT in concert, featuring YAA instrumentalists and singers alongside Guest Mentors.When Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein II’s SHOW BOAT premiered in Washington, DC in 1927, it was a watershed moment in the history of American musical theatre. Compared to the trivial and unrealistic light musical comedies and “Follies”-type musical revues that defined Broadway in the early 20th century, SHOW BOAT was a radical departure in musical storytelling, marrying spectacle with seriousness. SHOW BOAT was the first American musical that openly depicted and addressed large social issues like inequality, alcholism and racism. This iconic score rooted in opera and operetta, which features such timeless numbers as Ol’ Man River and Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man, was the major turning point for theatre in America.

Auditions for SHOW BOAT will be in September 2013. Performance will take place in November 2013.

In March 2014, we will continue our tradition of presenting a large scale production that highlights the musical aspect of musical theatre with SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD by Jason Robert Brown.Jason Robert Brown created a new genre when he created this work in 1995.  SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD sits on the boundary between musical theatre and song cycle, but it is neither; it is an abstract musical, a series of songs all connected by a theme: the moment of decision. Considering that the music completely carries the show, it’s almost like this work was created for YAA! Our production of SFANW will be the Washington, DC premiere of the fully orchestrated version of the work that Jason himself recently orchestrated.

In addition, when we contacted Jason about doing SFANW, he was so impressed with YAA’s work in providing students with high quality educational opportunities to work with top tier professional mentors, that he immediately said he wanted to come to DC to be a part of it!

So we are pleased to also announce that Jason Robert Brown will be joining our students on stage as Guest Conductor and Pianist, performing side by side with our YAA singers and instrumentalists, and mentoring them in rehearsal. This is clearly an amazing and once-in-a-lifetime experience and we are thrilled to be able to offer it to our students!

Auditions for SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD will be in November 2013. Performances will take place in March 2014.

In April and May 2014, we will have a new educational offering for our students called AUDITION INTENSIVES. Parents and students have been asking us for some time now for assistance in preparing for auditions for youth orchestras, college and summer programs. Since YAA is primarily an educational organization, we want to be able to also provide this service to our students and parents so that they can enter their auditions feeling prepared.We will be offering full day Audition Intensives which will consist of workshops and masterclasses with professionals and college professors. Students will work not only on the repertoire they are preparing, but also on audition skills and tactics.The full day Intensives will culminate in a performance at the end of the day where students can put the lessons they learned that day to work in front of an audience.

There will be Intensives specifically in:

• Instrumental Performance
• Classical Voice
• Musical Theatre

More information on our Audition Intensives in the coming months!

We will again be offering our hugely popular Summer Institute in Summer 2014. More information in the coming months!

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As always, tuition for students will be kept as low as possible to allow all students the opportunity to take advantage of our educational offerings.

In an effort to expand our students’ interactions with Guest Mentors, during each production, participating students will be provided sessions with our Guest Artists to discuss what it’s like being a professional musician as well as to work in a Masterclass setting on their repertoire.

Thanks for your continued support of Young Artists of America! We hope to see you at auditions for our exciting season in the fall!

Rolando Sanz               Kristofer Sanz               Jennifer Boudrye
Artistic Director           Music Director               Interim Executive Director

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Read DCMetroTheaterArts’ coverage of Young Artists of America.

https://youtu.be/qcJ_EUfLFy0

https://youtu.be/6D5GbkGX5fo