Where cabaret meets classical, the mixed-media company ENAensemble tells stories through staged theatrical performances, using film, cabaret, classical works, and opera. On January 30th, members of the ensemble performed musical highlights from their upcoming program, Chasing the Moon at WRTI. Susan Lewis was host.
Watch the performance recorded LIVE on WRTI's Facebook page.
ENAensemble's Chasing the Moon Performance is on February 16th at 7 PM, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Chestnut Hill
In 1912, Schoenberg's melodrama, Pierrot Lunaire, premiered in Berlin; a dramatic musical setting of 21 poems, written for voice and an ensemble of flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano. The unusual work "inspired a new approach to the use of voice in music," says ENAensemble co-founder, composer Evan Kassof.
In 1914, Stravinsky and Ravel each responded with pieces of their own, for similar instruments and voice.
As part of Philadelphia Theatre Week 2019, ENAensemble presentsChasing the Moon, a theatricalized interpretation of these works by Schoenberg, Ravel, Stravinsky along with Three French Songs, a new composition by Evan Kassof, inspired by the earlier three works.
On Wednesday, January 30th at 12:10 PM on WRTI 90.1, an ensemble of voice, flutes, clarinets, string quartet and piano perform musical excerpts of Chasing the Moon.
WRTI Program:
Ravel : Trois poèmes de Mallarmé, M. I (Soupir)
Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire, parts 6 (Madonna), 8 (Nacht), and 21 (O Alter Duft)
Evan Kassof: Three French Songs, M. III (Le Soir)
Stravinsky: Three Japanese Lyrics, M. I (Akahito)
ENAensemble's Chasing the Moon Performance: is on February 16th at 7 PM, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Chestnut Hill
Learn more aboutChasing the Moon.
ENAensemble Biography: Philadelphia-based ENAensemble (pronounced "eh-na ensemble") is a group of performers specializing in mixed-media music-theatre, including performances of film, opera, and cabaret. Founded by Evan Kassof, Nicole Renna, and Anaïs Naharro-Murphy in the summer of 2018, ENAensemble's first performance was The Propaganda Machine Show, featuring the 1939 propaganda film Refuge, Kassof's 2015 opera Greenland in a fully-staged production, and a cabaret by Renna that addressed cultural propaganda aimed at women. ENAensemble's 2019 productions include: Chasing the Moon - a staged performance of Pierrot Lunaire, a multi-month serial opera, and a major work for the 2019 Fringe Festival.
Evan Kassof is an opera maker, composer, conductor, and former physicist based in Philadelphia. Evan's music has been performed around the world, from Tenerife to Yerevan and by groups such as London's Ensemble x.y, New York's ensemble eise-en, and Boston's Sound Energy. His operas "Colony" and "Greenland" - libretti by Aleksandar Hut Kono - were performed in London at the Royal Opera House, and "Greenland" was revived in 2016 in London and Budapest, and again in 2018 in the Philadelphia Fringe, part of ENAensemble's "The Propaganda Machine Show". He studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Royal Academic of Music before coming to Philadelphia to pursue his PhD from Temple University.
Nicole Renna is a Philadelphia-based singer, actor, teacher, and NOW director. She earned her master's degree in voice performance from Temple University and currently is on faculty at the Betsy Daily School of Performing Arts in Berwyn, PA. Favorite roles include Fiona in Brigadoon, Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls, and Sylviane in The Merry Widow. See her next as Amalia Balash in She Loves Me at the Candlelight Theatre in Arden, Delaware.
Anaïs Naharro-Murphy is a classically trained soprano active in the Philadelphia area as a soloist, choral singer, and chamber musician. Recent highlights include performances as Suor Genovieffa with Opera Delaware, concerts with the Princeton Singers and the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, and soloist with the ensemble Capilla Pérez Gaya. This year, she will be joining Opera Delaware as a Young Artist, performing as Angelina in Trial by Jury. As an avid proponent of music in contemporary culture, Anaïs focuses on premiering new works, making music inventive and interactive, reviving unknown works, or performing works that have been recently re-discovered- more at.www.anaisnaharromurphy.com.
