Episode 10: Kevin Maynor Is Creating Pulitzer Prize Winning Opera in Newark, NJ
Declared as, "one of the very greatest bass voices of the century", Kevin Maynor has sung throughout the world in both opera houses and concert halls, from Carnegie Hall to The Beijing Concert Hall in China. As a recitalist Maynor has received praise throughout North America, South America. Europe, Australasia and Africa as well as Asia including India and China. Maynor has scored success in over 65 operatic roles in five different languages.
Kevin is the founder and Artistic Director of Trilogy: An Opera Company, which began in 2004. The inception of Trilogy: AOC followed a conversation between Sharpe James, former Newark mayor and Kevin Maynor. It was to be a cultural gift to the people of Newark, New Jersey. Initially developed as a one-off festival, Trilogy: AOC's success led to the formation of a committee and its continuing productions. Trilogy: An Opera Company is a 501c3 company. Trilogy: An Opera Company made its debut at The New Jersey Performing Arts Center on November 23, 2014.
The World Premier of FIVE was presented by Trilogy at NJPAC on November 12, 2016. Five, the three-act opera by internationally acclaimed composer Anthony Davis, with libretto by Richard Wesley, premiered at The New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, NJ. It is based on the story of the infamous 1989 Central Park Five case in which five teenagers were wrongly accused of molesting a woman jogger in New York City’s Central Park. It was later renamed The Central Park Five and premiered on June 15, 2019, at the Long Beach Opera and went on to win The Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2020. Again, by composer Anthony Davis, with Libretto by Richard Wesley.
Trilogy productions include, among many others, Nat Turner, Frederick Douglas, Harriet: A Woman Called Moses, Robeson: The Opera, Emmett Till, Othello, Nat Turner and Blake.
Maynor has a diploma from the Manhattan School of Music, a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Bradley University, a Masters degree from Northwestern University and an Honorary Degree from the Moscow Conservatory. While in Bologna, Italy he studied with Paula Molinari at the Teatro Communale di Bologna. He is currently a Doctoral Candidate at Indiana University in Bloomington.
https://www.trilogyaoc.com
Guest Co-Host: Dr. Ashley Jackson enjoys a multifaceted career as a highly sought-after musician and collaborator in New York and beyond. She’s the daughter of a Newarker. As an orchestral harpist, Ashley performs with the New York Philharmonic, Metropolis Ensemble, the Qatar Philharmonic, and is the principal harpist of NOVUS NY, the contemporary music orchestra of Trinity Wall Street. She appears regularly with the Harlem Chamber Players.
She is currently an Assistant Professor of Music at Hunter College. Dr. Jackson holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Juilliard School, a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University.
http://ashleyjacksonharp.com
Check out the images in this episode on: What’s Newark To Do With It?
The Trilogy’s Opera FIVE opens as the story’s mysterious narrator, The Masque (Kevin Maynor) — in his trench coat, hat, and red and white-painted face — surveys the neighborhood of Harlem, NY.
Left: Kevin Maynor. Right: Maynor as Hunding in Trilogy Opera Company’s presentation of Richard Wagnar’s "The Valkyrie”.
Kevin Maynor as OTHELLO in Trilogy Opera Company’s production.
Trilogy Opera Company’s production of Richard Thompson’s SASSY based on the life of Newark music icon, Sarah Vaughan.
Album cover, featuring Kevin Maynor, singing the repertoire of famous American bass baritone, film actor and civil rights activist Paul Robeson.
In 2017 in Central Theater, at Central High School, Trilogy Opera presented NAT TURNER by composer, librettist, and pianist Michael D. Raphael.
Trilogy Opera Company presented this production of BLAKE, by H. Leslie Adams, on April 30, 2021.
The many operatic roles performed by Kevin Maynor.