I will music direct Single Occupancies: Three Contemporary Opera Theatre Monologues at the Helmerich in January of 2020. The trilogy includes two new short operas I composed with librettist Stephen Kitsakos: An Incident in Sutton Square and The Woman in Penthouse A. Also on the bill is Marisa Michelson and Mark Campbell’s The Other Room.
News & Events
Release Date:
May 7, 2021 by award winning record label, Bright Shiny Things
HOME is a collection of new works by eight composers and librettists representing diverse backgrounds and musical styles writing for acclaimed mezzo-soprano Blythe Gaissert.
Included in this CD is Nous Deux, my setting of Paul Eluard's incantatory love poem, for mezzo-soprano and string quintet, commissioned by Blythe especially for this CD.
Blythe's CD Home hits #1 on Billboard
including my song Nous Deux which also made ASCAP's Friday playlist on Spotify
Praise from Opera News
"Martin Hennessy’s setting of Paul Eluard’s “Nous deux” lulls the listener with a tonal, post-Romantic approach, then grows stormy before returning to the comforting opening sonorities that represent two people at home wherever they find themselves, as long as they’re together."
Praise from the Financial Times
"Other highlights include a loving couple in the warm embrace of a string quintet in Martin Hennessy’s “Nous Deux."
University of Tennessee Opera Theatre will present my short opera,
An Incident in Sutton Square (libretto by Stephen Kitsakos.) April 10 and 11, 2021 at the World's Fair Park Ampitheatre in Knoxville, TN. The piece will be double cast and staged in a socially distanced production by stage director, James Marvel.
Fire Island Pines Art Project presents
The Pleasing Recollection/A Cabaret Opera
Sunday, May 29 at 6:00PM
at Whyte Hall
Cocktails on the Albert Lepage Pavilion beginning at 5:00PM
The Pleasing Recollection/A Cabaret Opera
Starring MICHAEL KELLY
Feinstein's 54/Below APRIL 5 - 6, 2022
Music by Martin Hennessy
Libretto by Stephen Kitskos
Directed by Murphy Davis
Music director, Benedicte Jourdois
In the mid-1970s, a young man (portrayed by As One’s Michael Kelly) lands ashore in Manhattan without a map. Negotiating his way into a life in the performing arts, The Pleasing Recollection chronicles his musical adventures as he charmingly stumbles into some of the music and theater giants of the era including Larry Kert, Leonard Bernstein, Charles Ludlum, and Aaron Copland. Librettist Stephen Kitsakos’s autobiographical story rolls forward with composer Martin Hennessy’s ingenious score. At the intersection of music and opera theater they create a playful, witty, and joyful tale.
Join us at Feinstein’s/54 Below for a performance that sings in the sensibility of contemporary musical theatre, but reminisces about a period in the lives of LGBTQ+ people that was both exhilarating and dangerous.
Buy tickets April 5, 2022 at 7PM
Buy tickets April 6, 2022 at 9:45PM
Praise for The Pleasing Recollection
"Weaving a range of musical genres together, leading from his classical background, Hennessy has come up with a unique and rather magical genre of his own. Landing in the space between art song and smoky supper club, The Pleasing Recollection is a classic song cycle performed as cabaret."
Sarah Downs, The Front Row Center
The Pleasing Recollection/A Cabaret Opera
Starring Michael Kelly with musical director, Benedicte Jourdois
Martin Hennessy, Music
Stephen Kitsakos, Libretto
Murphy Davis, DirectorFRI & SAT APR 1-2, 2022, 8PM/EVENTTICKETS COMING SOON
The Studios of Key WestHelmerich Theater, 533 Eaton Street
Celebrate Pride in St. Pete!
The Pleasing Recollection/A Cabaret Opera is thrilled to be a part of the 2022 St. Pete Pride Official Calendar lineup as A Palladium Pride Event!
Friday, June 24 at 8:00PM
Sunday, June 26 at 2:00PM
At the Palladium Side Door
Check out our new single from The Pleasing Recollection
and find out what famous person our hero stumbles into in the lavatory at intermission!
Available on Amazon, iTunes and all major platforms.