Prototype Festival 2020, January 10 & 11, 2020
JEREMY SCHONFELD, Composer, Creator & Performer
is a singer/songwriter, composer/lyricist, producer, mentor, teacher, and actor. His concept album “Iron & Coal”, produced in Vienna, Austria with producing partners Beat4Feet, was nominated for several Amadeus Awards, and in May of 2018, a multimedia concert-event based on the album, featuring Jeremy, received its two-night World Premiere at The Strathmore in Bethesda MD. Recently, Jeremy’s earlier concert-theatrical piece Drift, was revived in events both in London and in Lancaster, PA. In June of 2019, Calling All Kates will open the Adirondack Theater Festival. Previously, Jeremy created the album 37 Notebooks, featuring noted Broadway veterans Adam Pascal, Tracie Thoms, Julia Murney, and more. Interesting note: “House of Love,” now featured in Spun, was also originally recorded for the 37 Notebooks album (vocals by Shoshana Bean and the Broadway Dreams Chorus). Additional Jer albums include “Drift”, “Iron & Coal”, and “Blue Skies” and All. Jeremy wrote and performed two songs for the “Clear Blue Tuesday” film soundtrack, and penned two featured singles for the Broadway in South Africa campaign. Recently, Jeremy scored a Billboard Top 25 hit with his song “Queen” recorded by Frankie Grande. Jeremy lives in Beacon NY with beautiful wife Sarah-Jane, young kids Gus and Frances, older daughter Alexandra, and hyper dog, Lily Bunny (Gus named her. Don’t ask.)
KEVIN NEWBURY, Director
is a theatre, opera and film director based in New York. Kevin has directed over sixty original productions including engagements with Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, the Ravinia Festival, the Park Avenue Armory, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, The Santa Fe Opera, Barcelona Liceu, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Minnesota Opera, The San Francisco Symphony, L’Opera de Montreal, The Prototype Festival, Bard Summerscape, Portland Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Philadelphia Orchestra, Seattle Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, and The Wexford Festival in Ireland, among many others. Recent world premiere highlights include Rodewald/DiNovelli’s The Good Swimmer (BAM Next Wave Festival), Spears/Pierce’s Fellow Travelers (Cincinnati Opera, Prototype Festival/NYC, Lyric Opera of Chicago), Bates/Campbell’s The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs (Santa Fe Opera, Indiana University; upcoming: Seattle Opera and San Francisco Opera), Almond’s Kansas City Choir Boy (starring Almond and Courtney Love: Prototype/NYC, ART/Boston, CTG/LA, Maimi), and Lopez/Cruz’s Bel Canto (Lyric Opera of Chicago, PBS’ Great Performances). Theatre work includes the GLAAD-winning play Candy & Dorothy. Kevin’s three short films, “Monsura is Waiting”, “Stag” and “Epiphany V” are all available online.
IRON & COAL
January 10 & 11 at 8pm at Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College of Criminal Justice
90 minutes, no intermission
Jeremy Schonfeld, composer, creator & performer
Kevin Newbury, director
David Bloom, music director & arranger
Natalie Lomonte, choreographer & associate director
FEATURING:
Rinde Eckert, Daniel Rowan
Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Contemporaneous, MasterVoices
ABOUT:
A searing rock-opera, Iron & Coal zeros in on the relationship between a father and son in the shadow of the Holocaust. Taking inspiration from his father, an Auschwitz survivor, composer Jeremy Schonfeld weaves together his personal experiences with excerpts from his father’s memoir Absence of Closure. The ghosts of a vanished world mix with the present, brought to life through animation, a rock band, an orchestra, and multigenerational choruses, to celebrate the indomitable spirit of our ancestors and the legacy we carry with us.
Produced by Beth Morrison Projects
Commissioned and developed by Strathmore and Beth Morrison Projects
Iron & Coal is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and by public funds from The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council
Photo Credit: Jill Steinberg