ABOUT ENCOMPASS NEW OPERA THEATRE
Over 38 Years of Excellence
| OUR MISSION | OUR HISTORY | VIRGIL THOMSON | ENCOMPASS ARTISTIC STAFF & BOARD OF TRUSTEES |
ARTISTS | THANK YOU TO OUR FUNDERS & PATRONS |
ENCOMPASS ARTISTIC STAFF
Nancy Rhodes (Artistic Director/Librettist), a champion of American Opera, staged the world premiere of Kirke
Mechem’s Tartuffe for San Francisco Opera, Virgil Thomson’s Lord Byron at Alice Tully Hall, new operas for the Brooklyn
Philharmonic Orchestra and Pittsburgh Opera Theatre. Internationally, she directed Death In Venice (Stockholm), Carmen (Oslo), Happy End (Finland), Kiss Me Kate (Ankara, filmed for TV), West Side Story (Istanbul), and Eccentrics, Outcasts
and Visionaries: A Century of American Opera for the Holland Festival (Amsterdam). At Encompass she staged over 50 operas,
including Virgil Thomson’s The Mother of Us All, Blitzstein’s Regina, Britten’s Phaedra, and Antheil’s Transatlantic.
She co-conceived/directed Only Heaven with composer Ricky Ian Gordon, with poetry by Langston Hughes. Her acclaimed
production of Grigori Frid’s opera The Diary of Anne Frank toured to Cleveland Opera. As Vice President/U.S. Delegate
to the International Theatre Institute, Rhodes has conducted workshops and been a guest speaker in Italy, Sweden,
Germany, Venezuela, Argentina, Korea, Holland, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Estonia. In June 2004, she was invited
to direct the first American musical ever staged in the country of Albania at the National Opera House and filmed for
television. She is currently the commissioned librettist of The Theory of Everything, a new opera inspired by physics’
superstring theory of multiple dimensions and alternate universes. The Soul of the American Actor refers to Nancy as "a champion of American Opera". Read the Full Interview.
Mara Waldman graduated from the Manhattan School of Music with a Master’s
degree in piano and made her Carnegie Hall debut to critical acclaim. She was a winner in the New York Chopin Foundation
Council International Auditions, the International Piano Recording Competition and recorded the solo piano music by
Vittorio Rieti for Columbia Records. She made her conducting debut with the Bel Canto Opera Company and was Artistic
Director of the company for two years. Ms. Waldman has been a cover conductor for the New York City Opera, and for the
national tours of Il Barbiere di Siviglia and La Traviata. She has been a guest conductor and teacher with the New
Operafestival di Roma since 1999. She has appeared with the New York Grand Opera in concerts, opera productions, and
prepared the chorus for several operas in the Viva Verdi Festival in Central Park to critical acclaim. She is president of
the Leschetizky Association and past president of the New York Singing Teachers’ Association. She was a coach at the AIMS
program in Graz, Austria, and the Southampton Chamber Festival, and has been Music Director for the Black Hills Festival on
the Arts Vocal Program.
Encompass New
Opera Theatre
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EVENTS COMMITTEE 2016
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Encompass Advisory BoardSheldon HarnickJohn Kander Maury Yeston Chairmen |
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Suzy Bassani |
Tania Leon |
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Encompass Founding Advisory BoardJack Beeson (1921-2010) |
