2024 Resident Artist Coach

January 15, 2024 - March 11, 2024

Info / Tickets

Description

I am honored to be engaged as the 2024 Resident Artist Coach for Opera Naples. I will be heading down to Florida in mid-January for two months to coach the young artist program and serve as the principal rehearsal pianist for the company's production of Puccini's masterpiece Madama Butterfly with musical direction by maestro Ramón Tebar. I will also assist rehearsals as needed for their production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe. Additionally, I will program and perform concerts throughout the region with the resident artists that I will coach. 

Don Giovanni

March 18, 2024 - April 15, 2024

Description

 I will head to Memphis, Tennessee for a month to serve as the rehearsal pianist and guest coach for the University of Memphis’s spring production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. 

210 Festival

June 03, 2024 - June 27, 2024

Description

Vocal Collaborative Piano Fellow (Teaching Artist Fellow) for the 210 festival with OPERA San Antonio for the month of June 2024.

Pompadour Porcelain

July 25, 2024

Info / Tickets

Description

In Pompadour Porcelain, my 12th opera and second drag work in the genre, I brings the audience into a fantasy fiction world of 1750s Versailles during the time of Louis the Beloved. Madame de Pompadour is throwing one of her fabulous parties in the gardens, but a warning during a late night visit from her fortune teller Madame de Lebon threatens to uproot her festivities. The king’s obnoxious daughter, Princess Adélaïde of France, is planning to embarrass Pompadour at her latest party. Fate now lies in the hands of Madame de Lebon and the fabulous porcelain statues Pompadour collects, which under de Lebon’s spell magically come to life. Can these dancing porcelain pieces vogue and catwalk their way to a win for Pompadour against the conniving Princess Adélaïde during a showdown in the gardens?

2024 Summerfest

June 27, 2024 - August 04, 2024

Info / Tickets

Description

I am thrilled to announce my summer engagement as the 2024 Resident Artist Pianist & Coach for Opera North’s upcoming Summerfest. I’ll serve as the rehearsal pianist for Offenbach's Orphee aux enfers, Verdi's Rigoletto and Sondheim's Into the Woods (Keyboard Artist in orchestra)

Industry presentation of new opera Kindred by Billy Childs and Sara LaBrie

October 18, 2024

Info / Tickets

Description

I am thrilled to announce my next engagement as Music Director/Répétiteur for the workshop of Kindred, a new opera by six time Grammy Award winning composer Billy Childs and librettist Sarah LaBrie at NYC’s historic Apollo Theater.

Apollo New Works invites you to be among the first to hear excerpts from a new opera by Grammy Award winning artist Billy Childs. Commissioned by Apollo New Works In Process Series, Billy has adapted Octavia Butler's Kindred with a musical score rooted in the historical traditions of opera, while at the same time representative of Black American Music.

Libretto by Sarah LaBrie, Directed by Kimille Howard, Musical Direction by Felix Jarrar and featuring Alex Richardson and Krysty Swann

Presentations October 18th and 19th

Apollo's Victoria Theater 1

233 W. 125th Street, 3rd Floor

RSVP HERE 

We look forward to seeing you!

Sanctuary Road

January 28, 2023

Description

Collaborative pianist for rehearsals of Penn Square Music Festival's production of Moravec/Campbell's "Sanctuary Road".

STUYTOWN SALON

February 26, 2023

Description

February 26th, 2023 7:00pm
location: Stuytown in NYC (address sent to everyone who RSVPs via Groupmuse)

Join pianist/composer Felix Jarrar for his first concert of the year in New York City with Groupmuse in the city's Stuytown neighborhood. Tenor Douglas Sabo, soprano Caroline Maria Spaeth, and violinist Adam von Housen join him and perform an evening of music by Schumann, Brahms, Mozart, and compositions of Jarrar.

The concert features the world premiere of “You can’t get it up” and “Twerking near the paella”, for which Jarrar wrote both the music and text.

The concert takes place on Sunday, February 26th at 7:00pm. Door opens at 6:30pm and the suggested donation is $20, which all goes directly to the musicians.

Purchase tickets here: http://grpm.us/5afxXw

Liederabend with Felix Jarrar & Friends

March 03, 2023

Description

Join composer/pianist Felix Jarrar, mezzo-soprano Jessica Trainor-Tasucu, contralto Allison Gish, tenor Ryan Mangan, and baritone Miguel Angel Vasquez on Friday March 3rd at 7pm in the Charles MacKay Studio in Opera America as they live world premiere 14 songs that Jarrar wrote in the pandemic with various collaborators. 

The program features the world premiere of "Wild West" and the song cycle French Kisses with texts by Bea Goodwin, the 2020 song cycle Happy (texts by the composer) and the cycle Sea Boy Barcarolles with texts by Ryan Mangan (who will also premiere them). 

Tickets are $10 for this limited, one-night only engagement.

Così fan tutte

March 15, 2023

Description

Women + Life + Freedom: a concert to benefit Amnesty International

Join the Jarrar and Brea Duo (Maria Brea and Felix Jarrar) and guest artists for a concert to benefit Amnesty International's campaign to raise money to investigate the violence currently happening in Iran.
The concert takes place on Wednesday, March 15th at 7pm in Stuytown. It is free to attend and all donations go to the following beneficiary through Amnesty International's website. 

The program will feature music of Donizetti, Massenet, Leoncavallo, as well as premieres by Felix Jarrar and lyrcisit/librettist Bea Goodwin.
Please DM us for the address of the concert and how to attend.

Guest artists:

Caroline Maria Spaeth
Miguel Angel Vasquez
Adam von Housen 
James M. Brown

Songs from the 40@40 Project/Laura Strickling and Daniel Schlosberg

April 14, 2023

Description

Join Grammy-nominated soprano Laura Strickling and pianist Daniel Schlosberg for a program of songs from her 40@40 Project, which will feature the NYC premiere of Jarrar's "Sun of the Sleepless" (text by Lord Byron). This song, written on commission for Laura, will be featured alongside new works by Tom Cipullo, Juliana Hall, and Lori Laitman, among other significant contemporary composers of song. 

OFF WITH HIS HEAD: a concert of excerpts from Donizetti's Roberto Devereux

April 21, 2023

Description

Join composer/pianist Felix Jarrar for "OFF WITH HIS HEAD: a concert of excerpts from Donizetti's Roberto Devereux". 

Donizetti's Roberto Devereux is the last work he wrote as part of the so-called 'Donizetti Queens' trilogy, a series of three operas that dramatize important icons in Tudor history. One of his finest operas, this work is a dramatic (and mostly ficticious) representation of the downfall of the Earl of Essex and the love triangle that leads to his tragic fate.

Acclaimed soprano Natalie Polito takes on the mantle of the notoriously challenging part of Elisabetta opposite rising tenor Gabriel Hernandez, who stars as the tituler Roberto. Joining them in this concert are bass-baritone Andrew Dwan as Nottingham and mezzo-soprano Rebecca Sacks, who will portray Sara. Felix Jarrar will accompany from the piano and serve as the music director/coach for this production. 

"OFF WITH HIS HEAD: a concert of excerpts from Donizetti's Roberto Devereux" goes up at St. John's in the Village on Friday, April 21st, 2023 at 7pm.

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/off-with-his-head-a-concert-of-excerpts-from-donizettis-roberto-devereux-tickets-494215390537

Symphony no. 1 "Banishing Grief" by Felix Jarrar

May 13, 2023

Description

SYMPHONY NO. 1 - BANISHING GRIEF by Felix Jarrar
May 13, 2023 at 7pm
​
Shea Theater Arts Center
Turners Falls, MA
The New England Repertory Orchestra (NERO) continues its work championing the voices of diverse composers and performers with a world premiere symphony by acclaimed pianist and composer Felix Jarrar, with soloists soprano Maria Brea and tenor Gabriel Enrique Hernandez, followed by one of the most moving symphonies of the 20th Century, a true celebration of the victory of the human spirit against oppression. Cailin Marcel Manson conducts.

Felix Jarrar
Symphony No. 1, "Banishing Grief"
​
Dmitri Shostakovich
Symphony No. 5
​
Maria Brea, soprano
Gabriel Enrique Hernandez, tenor

Felix Jarrar & Friends present Music for a Better Tomorrow

May 19, 2023

Description

Join acclaimed pianist/composer Felix Jarrar alongside soprano Caroline Spaeth, tenor David Rivera Bozón, and violist Justin Ouellett on Friday, May 19th at 7pm in Church of the Good Shepherd for a concert to support gun control and LGBTQIA+ rights. 100% of funds raised will go to Everytown and NAGLY. 

The program will feature standard operatic repertoire by Meyerbeer, Puccini alongside the world premiere of Felix's solo viola sonata "Bye, Felicia" and a brand new viola + piano piece called "A Happiness to Dream". The program also features "There was a little girl" from Felix's second opera The Fall of the House of Usher and "Love Like Ours" from Felix's tenth opera Washington Square (libretto by Thomas Barrett Blakeley).

The concert is free to attend and there will be QR codes to donate to our selected beneficaries.

FOREVER IN A DREAM (Josephine’s Composer Showcase of music by Felix Jarrar)

May 28, 2023

Description

On May 28th at 6pm, join rising composer/pianist Felix Jarrar for an evening of works that celebrate love, madness, happiness, and finding your own voice. Jarrar is a composer of over 200 art songs and 13 operas and has premiered work he wrote all across the world the past year from Italy to LA. He now brings these programs of new works to Boston in a concert that solely consists of his original works. FOREVER IN A DREAM will feature Jarrar’s song cycle Mermaids Who Sing and Eclipse (with text by Bea Goodwin), in addition to his fiendishly disorientating Mad Song on a poem of William Blake. Featured guests are acclaimed sopranos Caroline Spaeth and Cynthia López Pérez.

There is NO cover or cost to attend, and all donations go to the artists on the program.

More info can be found here: https://www.clubcafe.com/club-events/josephines-composer-showcase-052823/

Speak of the Devil: a concert version of Meyerbeer's Robert le diable

June 10, 2023

Description

​On Saturday June 10th at 7pm in St. John's in the Village, join composer/pianist Felix Jarrar for an abridged concert version of Giacomo Meyerbeer's Robert le diable. Premiered in 1831, the work was one of Meyerbeer's most successful and popular operas and catapulted him into considerable international fame. 
After neglect from the repertoire during the 20th century, the opera is now making a return to stages around the world as Meyerbeer's work goes through a period of critical reappraisal. "Speak of the Devil" is a concert presentation that highlights some of the most famous and greatest parts of the work - such as the Evocation Scene - and brings it to audiences in an abridged version that clocks in at under 90 minutes. 
Tenor Daniel Kamalic and soprano Caroline Spaeth star as Robert and Isabelle alongside bass Robert Ellsworth Feng as Bertram, soprano Rachel Hanauer as Alice, and tenor Douglas Sabo as Raimbaut. 

Tickets for general admission are $15: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/speak-of-the-devil-a-concert-version-of-meyerbeers-robert-le-diable-tickets-500979783017

CarmXn

July 26, 2023 - July 29, 2023

Description

I am elated to announce that I will be the Pianist/Coach for Hogfish in Maine for the Summer 2023 season and the orchestrator for their production of CarmXn, a brand-new adaptation of Bizet’s masterpiece Carmen.

Reminiscence

August 30, 2023

Description

On August 30th at 7:30pm in Opera America's Scorca Hall, join rising young soprano Alison Saporta and critically acclaimed composer & pianist Felix Jarrar for a vocal collaborative recital. This recital features music by Barber, Mozart, Schumann and the NYC Premiere of Jarrar's comedic song cycle Vampire Delights among other works. This eclectic program will make for a nostalgic night of music and memories at "Reminiscence".

Messiah Part I sing-a-long

November 19, 2023

Description

Kick off the holiday season with a BANG at our drunk sing along of Handel's Messiah. Featuring some of the best talent in NYC, join us at Frankie's Pub in NYC, for a fun and irreverent sing along of everyone's favorite Holiday Classic.

Featuring:
- Felix Jarrar
- James M. Brown
- Bryan DeParsia
- Jay Saint Flono
- Creatine Price

Free admission! Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/handels-messiah-a-drunk-sing-along-tickets-758287978757

you do not recognize the bodies in the water by Felix Jarrar and Robert Feng (workshop)

November 22, 2022

Description

Join Felix Jarrar and Robert Feng for the workshop performance of their new opera 'you do not recognize the bodies in the water' on November 22nd at 7pm in the Charles Mackay Studio. This opera is Jarrar’s 13th as composer and Feng’s 2nd as librettist, and their first operatic collaboration together. 

In this horror opera, a woman convicted for arson is set free on the condition she works for a shadowy organization to discover the truth behind a series of disappearances at a lake. What she ends up finding is more unearthly and more sinister than she could've ever imagined. Introducing SCP-2316 the Opera: you do not recognize the bodies in the water.

Cast:

Taylor-Alexis DuPont (mezzo-soprano) - Mariah

Katharine Burns (soprano) - Dr. Wendy Leong

Darrell J. Jordan (baritone) - Mark

Annie Chester (mezzo-soprano) - Carol

Robert Feng (bass) - Interviewer 

Bodies (chorus):

Rachel Hanauer (soprano)

Emma Dickinson (soprano)

Robert Feng (bass)

Jason Adamo (bass)

Felix Jarrar - piano/music director

WORKSHOP  INFO

Ticket Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/you-do-not-recognize-the-bodies-in-the-water-workshop-tickets-452172769927

DATE: 11/22/2022

LOCATION: Opera America (330 7th Ave 7th Floor, New York, NY 10001) - Charles Mackay Studio

TIME: 6:45pm doors open, 7:00pm show starts

TICKET PRICE: $10

The Righteous (Workshop)

December 11, 2022 - December 13, 2022

Description

I'm thrilled to be sharing duties for the part of the 2nd pianist for the workshop of The Righetous by Gregory Spears and Tracy K. Smith in collaboration with The Santa Fe Opera and Mannes Opera