Philadelphia Composers’ Ink, a group co-founded by longtime West Windsor resident Carly Rapaport-Stein, presents a concert on Sunday, June 22, in Philadelphia. “Songs of Metamorphosis: Transformation in Music” features the works of five Philadelphia-area composers and explores the concept of change through music.
The group, founded in 2013, was created to showcase the works of emerging composers. “Through monthly salons and semi-annual competitions and concerts, we offer exposure to composers who have not yet had the benefit of being published or performed widely,” Rapaport-Stein says.
“Any genre of new music is welcome, and we encourage contributions from all styles stretching from classical combinations to genres not typically heard in a concert hall setting.”
The upcoming concert features the works of five emerging, Philadelphia-based composers. Erica Ball and Natalie Dietterich won the Philadelphia Composers’ Ink composition competition, and their works are being performed as a competition prize. The three other featured composers, Andrew Desiderio, Jess Molan, and Reese Revak, are co-founding members of Philadelphia Composers’ Ink. The concert features performances by vocalists Amanda Campbell, Chad Somers, and Timothy Gonzalez, and pianist Reese Revak.
Rapaport-Stein moved to West Windsor with her family in 1999. Her father, Peter Stein, is a physician, and her mother, Barbara Rapaport, is a home school consultant and college advisor with Rapaport Consulting. Rapaport-Stein and her two siblings were homeschooled until college.
Her sister Hannah graduated from Muhlenberg College in 2010 with a degree in theater and a minor in French. Since then, she has taught English in France, and interned with Bucks County Playhouse and Shakespeare Theater Company in Washington, D.C.
Her brother, Jeremy, graduated from Swarthmore College this month with a dual degree in music and political science. A composer in music festivals throughout the country, he has received several composition awards. Several pieces were performed at Swarthmore by the orchestra and wind ensemble. He begins his MFA in composition at Brandeis University in the fall.
Rapaport-Stein began playing piano when she was eight and started singing in choirs when she was 10. She began voice lessons at age 14 with Tracey Chebra at Westminster Conservatory. During high school she won the Anna B. Stokes competition and the Westminster Conservatory Scholarship competition.
As a student at Westminster Choir College she placed in the New Jersey chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing three times and was a Westminster Choir College Scholarship recipient three times.
The soprano graduated from Westminster with a bachelor’s degree in voice performance in 2007 and received her master’s degree in opera performance from Temple University in 2011. She will begin a master’s degree in arts administration at Drexel University in September. She continues to teach voice lessons in Philadelphia.
Rapaport-Stein, who also works as the special projects administrator at Community Integrated Services, a non-profit organization in the Philadelphia area, recently managed the redesign and launch of the new CIS website.
Rapaport-Stein performed with the Opera Project, was the director of the Seasonaires’ Choir at the Four Seasons in Allentown, New Jersey; and has been a frequent guest soloist in the tri-state area. Her past roles include scenes from Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Walkure, Orphee et Euridice, and Die Fledermaus. With the Westminster Choir, she performed with the Spoleto Festival USA (Don Giovanni, Romeo et Juliette, Die Vogel), the New York Philharmonic, and the Dresden Philharmonic. At school she sang Therese/Tiresias in “Les Mamelles de Tiresias,” Lucy in “The Telephone,” and understudied Natalia in “A Month in the Country.”
“The mission of Philadelphia Composers’ Ink is to weave creativity and new music into the fabric of every day life by providing a supportive and welcoming space for fledgling composers to showcase their work,” says Rapaport-Stein. “We aim to act as a jumping off point for emerging composers to forward their careers in creating new music.”
Concert, Philadelphia Composers’ Ink, First Baptist Church of Philadelphia, 123 South 17th Street, Philadelphia, PA. Sunday, June 22, 3 p.m. “Songs of Metamorphosis: Transformation in Music,” a concert of song cycles. Pre-concert lectures features the founding members speaking about their compositional process. Post concert reception. $5. www.philacomposersink.wordpress.com.
