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LOUIS ROSEN
was awarded a 2005-2006 Guggenheim
Foundation Fellowship in Music Composition. He is the composer
and co-librettist of the musical theater pieces BOOK OF THE
NIGHT, (Goodman Theatre, Chicago), and A CHILD'S GARDEN,
(Melting Pot Theatre, off-Broadway); and song cycles including
TWELVE SONGS, on poems by Maya Angelou; SOUTH SIDE STORIES, for
which he wrote music and lyrics; DREAM SUITE: Songs in Jazz
and Blues, on poems by Langston Hughes; and IT IS STILL
DARK: SONGS OF EXILE, on words by Celso Gonzalez-Falla.
He is also the author of "THE
SOUTH SIDE: THE RACIAL TRANSFORMATION OF AN AMERICAN
NEIGHBORHOOD," published by Ivan R. Dee. Inc., Chicago, in
hardcover and cloth; and the composer of the forthcoming musical
adaptation of the THE PEARL, based on John Steinbeck's novella,
to be directed by Doug Hughes.
Other awards include
the Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Musical
Theater Award; an NEA New American Works grant; the Sloan
Foundation's Grand Galileo Prize; a 2006 Puffin Foundation
Award; a generous grant from the Anna Sosenko Trust; and
numerous ASCAP awards.
CAPATHIA JENKINS
has
recently wowed audiences and press alike with her show-stopping Broadway
performance in Martin Short: FAME
BECOMES ME. She has also received rave reviews for her
performances on Broadway in the Tony-nominated musical "CAROLINE, OR
CHANGE;" Frank Wildhorn's "THE CIVIL WAR;" Bacharach and David’s "THE
LOOK OF LOVE," and for her most
recent appearance Off-Broadway in the
one-woman play, "(mis)UNDERSTANDING MAMMY: THE HATTIE MCDANIEL STORY."Other
credits include the Off-Broadway revival of GODSPELL; national and
European tours of CAROLINE, OR CHANGE, DREAMGIRLS and BUBBLIN' BROWN
SUGAR; and regional productions of AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' and CHILDREN OF
EDEN. Television appearances include "The Practice,"
"Law & Order," "Law & Order: SVU," "Third Watch" and "The Sopranos."
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CAPATHIA JENKINS
&
LOUIS ROSEN
The team of
Broadway's CAPATHIA JENKINS
(recently of "MARTIN SHORT: FAME BECOMES ME") and award-winning
composer/performer LOUIS ROSEN launched their unique
collaboration in New York City in March 2005 at The Public
Theatre's Joe's Pub with two sold out evenings of new songs that
were written specifically for Ms. Jenkins, the highlight being
the highly praised world-premiere of "Twelve Songs on Poems
by Maya Angelou."
Their
Joe's Pub debut resulted in follow-up appearances at the
renowned Manhattan nightclub, Birdland; two concerts for the
92nd Street Y; their Brooklyn debut at The Old Stone House; and
their Chicago concert debut at the legendary Steppenwolf
Theater, where, to the acclaim of the two Chicago daily
newspapers, they reprised the Angelou songs and offered the
world-premiere of the twelve-song suite "South Side Stories,"
with music and lyrics by Mr. Rosen.
In
June of 2006 Capathia and Louis appeared in concert at the
prestigious Great Hall of Cooper Union with special guest
vocalist, Alton Fitzgerald White (currently starring on Broadway
in "The Color Purple,") and offered yet another world-premiere,
Louis' fourteen-song "Dream Suite: Songs in Jazz and Blues,"
on poems by Langston Hughes.
The fall of 2006
marked another breakthrough for the team of Jenkins and Rosen,
with the launching of their critically hailed debut CD, "South
Side Stories," and unanimous rave reviews for the
three-concert New York premiere of this work at The Public
Theater's Joe's Pub.
They
recently reprised "South Side Stories" in concerts at the
Sixth Street and I Historic Synagogue and Theater J in
Washington, D.C., and are scheduled for return engagements at
the Manhattan nightclub, Birdland, and at Brooklyn's The Old
Stone House in June 2007.
Most importantly, they recently accepted an offer to
record their next two CDs for the prestigious independent record
label, PS Classics, one of which will be the world-premiere
recording of Louis' newest work for Capathia, a fourteen-song
suite set to the words of the renowned poet, Nikki Giovanni
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"Something
quite magical can happen when a composer has a specific
voice to serve as his muse. Consider the case of
Louis Rosen, the Chicago-bred, now New York-based
songwriter, and his songbird of choice, Capathia
Jenkins... performing Rosen's nostalgic, romantic,
emotionally charged song cycle, South Side Stories"
Chicago Sun-Times |
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"Capathia
Jenkins' soaring voice-sweet, smart, sassy and full of
soul - warmed the hearts of everyone in the audience for
"South Side Stories... In "South Side Stories," Rosen's
newest work... he has created a fine and sometimes
somber portrait of heartbreak and survival, joy and its
absence, and love that endures even when the objects of
that love are long vanished..."
Chicago Tribune |
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