Earlier this month, Albany Records released CCM alumnus Evan Mack’s (DMA, 2008) new American opera Angel of the Amazon for worldwide distribution.
Recorded live at premiere performances held on May 6 – 22, 2011 in New York City after preview performances in Cincinnati, Angel of the Amazon depicts Sister Dorothy Stang’s lifetime of work with the Brazilian peasant farmers in the rainforest.
At age 75 two gunmen hired by a head of a logging firm murdered Sister Dorothy. Her last words were the beginning of the Beatitudes, which she recited to her killers before being shot six times. Mack’s lush dramatic score and Encompass New Opera Theater’s production received critical acclaim by the Daily News, the Epoch Times and Command Opera. The recording features two CCM alumni in the lead roles: Caitlin Mathes, mezzo-soprano and winner of the 2011 Lotte Lenya Competition (MM, 2008; AD, 2010) and Jose Rubio, baritone (MM, 2008, AD in progress).
Evan Mack is a composer, librettist and pianist. As a performer, has toured the United States, Barcelona and South Africa. As a composer, he produced five full musicals as well as numerous popular songs and numerous classical works. His choral suite, Langston Hughes’ Dream of Freedom is a selection winner of the National Association of Composers, San Francisco and the UCM New Music Festival. He is currently published with Hal Leonard.
Most recently, Evan has performed in the Kentucky Symphony, the Dayton Philharmonic and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, including a performance at Carnegie Hall. He is on the faculty of the College of Saint Rose and Skidmore College.
The two-CD set for Angel of the Amazon can be purchased online at Albany Records, Amazon and Best Buy.
For more information, visit Evan’s website or the Angel of the Amazon website.
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Great Evan. I will buy the CD set. Loved the performance in Cincinnati and sorry not to get to the East Coast. Best wishes, John Quigley