A 2020 GRAMMY Nominee for Best Contemporary Classical Composition!

World Premiere Recording! The Florentine Opera brings Carlisle Floyd's daring new opera, "Prince of Players", to life! Floyd is one of the foremost composers and librettists of opera in the world today, and is considered the "Father of American Opera." During his long career, Floyd has composed 13 operas. His most recent, "Prince of Players", which premiered in March 2016 at the Houston Grand Opera, is based on the true story of the Restoration-era actor Edward Kynaston (1640–1706). The plot centers on the crisis faced by Kynaston when, by royal decree, he is prohibited from plying the craft that made him famous—playing female roles. With this Milwaukee production, the Florentine Opera gives Prince of Players its world-premiere live recording.

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REVIEW:

The full-orchestral version of Carlisle Floyd’s Prince of Players does full justice to the sexual tensions of the historical period it adores, if less provocatively so without the visuals. Floyd and his collaborative team also gnaw at the relationship between words and music or, as in this case, between music and words. The structure is signposted by three fragments from a truncated version of the death scene from Othello during which Edward Kynaston (Keith Phares) segues from being strangled as Desdemona to strangling as Othello. The dramatic impact is heightened by Phares’s unswerving classical line and intense underlying emotion set against Kate Royal’s stunning portrayal of the era’s first female superstar, moving from the music hall to starring with her lover. The Florentine Opera production features Alexander Dobson’s powerful, compassionate Thomas Betterton, tenors Chad Shelton, Frank Kelley and Vale Rideout as the King and his courtiers, and Rena Harms as Nell Gwyn, each of whom give full reign to their key roles. The participation of the Milwaukee Symphony further justifies the decision to record the full-orchestral version, to which Reference does its usual audiophile justice.

– Gramophone