Black Water is a one-act opera, a monodrama for Soprano and piano by Jeremy Beck. The opera
is based on a novel by Joyce Carol Oates, which is a slightly-veiled fictional account of the
incident at Chappaquiddick Island, Massachussetts, in the summer of 1969. That summer, the dead body of a young woman, Mary Jo Kopechne,
was discovered inside an overturned car in a channel on the island. The car belonged to Senator Edward M. Ted
Kennedy, who did not report
the late-night incident to police authorities until the following morning.
After the discovery, Kopechne's body was recovered from the submerged car and Kennedy gave a statement to police saying that during the previous night, she was his passenger when he took a wrong turn and accidentally drove his car off a bridge and into the water. After pleading guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident after causing injury, Kennedy received a suspended sentence of two months. The national scandal that followed may have influenced Kennedy's decision not to campaign for President of the United States in 1972 and 1976.
While performing this contemplative piece, the soprano and the pianist assume multiple roles and states of mind (following the variety of levels created by Oates). The work is presented almost completely from the point of view of the drowning woman: in reality, in flashback, in dreams and in hallucinations. This dramatic production premiered in 1995 at the University of Northern Iowa, and has been performed in the United States as well as internationally.
[This] American composer knows the importance of embracing the past while also going his own way... [In] Beck's forceful and expressive sound world...
the writing is concise in structure and generous in tonal language, savouring both the dramatic and the poetic.
– Donald Rosenberg (Gramophone, Dec. 2013)
Called an original voice celebrating music
by MusicWeb International (2009), Jeremy Beck's music has been described by NewMusicBox (2012)
as rhythmically intricate, and [making] nods to the past while sitting squarely in the present... Though architecturally rigorous, Beck writes
clearly and without pretense[.]
Based in Louisville, Kentucky, Beck's music has been presented by New York City Opera, American Composers Orchestra, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Iowa, the Albuquerque Symphony Orchestra, Portland (Maine) Symphony Orchestra, Center for Contemporary Opera, Peabody Opera, Yale Opera, the Dallas Festival of Modern Music, IonSound Project, Pacific Serenades, and the Nevsky String Quartet, among others.
Soprano Monica Harwood is an emerging young artist among local and international opera talent. Recent highlights include her performance of the role, Zerbinetta in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos, Maria in West Side Story, and as a soloist st the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage. With an affinity for German repertoire, she attended the University of Miami Salzburg Summer Voice Institute in 2013.
Monica began her vocal training at Salisbury University, where she performed in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, and competed in the first National American Spiritual Competition. She completed her Bachelor of Music at Catholic University, where she performed as Monica in Menotti's The Medium, and as Papagena in The Magic Flute.
Monica works as a private piano and voice teacher in the D.C. area. She peviously worked at St. Bartholomew Catholic School, where she taught general music, chorus, drama, and initiated a musical theatre ensemble. She founded the Youth Summer Performing Arts Camp, which provided young students with an interactive and engaging introduction to the world of opera. Monica is also the accompanist and music director for Poolesville Presbyterian Church, where she directs the choir and provides music for weekly services. Monica currently resides in Gaithersburg, Maryland with her French bulldog, Chloe. She studies with Jennifer Casey Cabot as a part of the Potomac Vocal Institute.
The current focus of Mr. Kraus' solo work is a series of programs featuring pieces from The Golden Age of the Piano
to be performed
in recital as well as recorded. In his own words, I was extremely fortunate to have been accepted as a student by David Saperton in
the last months of his life in New York City. I absolutely loved his playing. Experiencing it in the intimacy of his studio was, for me,
an initiation into a way of playing the piano that had been lost as well as an introduction to a genre of wonderfully beautiful and
interesting music that had fallen out of fashion. I want, as much as it is possible, to bring the experience of that type of music and
music making to contemporary audiences. I truly love that music, and when and wherever I share it with people, they have responded with
great enthusiasm.
Mr. Kraus has performed as a soloist across the U.S., Europe, and Asia in recitals. He has been a performing participant in master classes with Peter Feuchtwanger and Leon Fleisher. In Spring 2009, he performed as featured soloist with The Mantovani Orchestra on their Spring tour of China.
Mr. Kraus is recognized for his work as an accomplished and sensitive collaborator, working with singers and instrumentalists in concerts around the greater Washington, DC area as well as for his work coaching emerging performers. In July 2010 he returned for his third year on staff as a coach at the Crittenden Summer Opera Studio in Chevy Chase, MD, and in April 2011 he joins Soprano, Mary Gresock, in an opera outreach program for Ash Lawn Opera.
Mr. Kraus holds degrees from Boston University (B.M.) and East Carolina University (M.M.), and has studied with Peter Feuchtwanger, Lily Kraus, David Saperton, Ward Davenny, Bela Nagy and chamber music with Artur Balsam.
Mr. Kraus is former Instructor of Music and Staff Accompanist at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia where he accompanied recitals and appeared as a soloist with the University Wind Ensemble playing George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and Igor Stravinsky's Concerto for Piano and Winds.
© 2016 by Monica Harwood