Thanks to the organizations that commissioned, produced, and performed my work in 2020. And thanks to those who tried to and couldn't. Heres to a healthy and tuneful 2021. 

 

Completing the Picture at Opera Company of Middlebury

 The Opera Company of Middlebury  recently did the first video production of my opera with Victoria Panella, COMPLETING THE PICTURE. The original production at Utah Opera (see lower video) was done in the spirit of an S/A/T/B school show. The new production is a much more somber docu-opera. See if you've got a favorite.

Completing the Picture at Opera Company of Middlebury

Completing the Picture at Utah Opera

Scooted and Voted

Participated in nicely organized early voting on the Iowa State campus today. Here's a song about how I feel about it over on soundcloud. 

 

Promo for Dinner 4 3

Here's the promo for DINNER 4 3, the new short opera I've written with librettist Deborah Brevoort for Fargo-Moorhead Opera. The video stars Kate Jackman, David Hamilton, and Josh Kohl. It was directed by Fred Heringes. Wayne McConnell was the videographer for Click Content Studios.

The premiere is October 16th online. The ten minute opera is part of a group of companies that are each commissioning operas inspired by Boccacio's DECAMERON. 

 

Dinner 4 3

 It continues to be a productive quarantine. Just finished up a little 10 minute web opera called DINNER 4 3. They have recorded it, filmed it up in Fargo and it will be released in October as part of a series.

Here's an article about it in the Fargo paper.

And here's a link to the entire Decameron Opera Coalition which has short operas from places across the country. 

Finale to ALL DRESSED UP

 

Here's the finale to L'arietta Production's ALL DRESSED UP (No Place to Go). It was the only ensemble in the set of nine. You can see their entire series now. These pieces are now integrated into SPEED DATING TONIGHT! as options 76-82. When SpDT! gets to a hundred options, I'm going to stop. 

Video #3 from Singapore

This is the title song of the series "All Dressed Up (No Place to Go)" The performer, Reuben Lai, is one of the co-founders of L'arietta Productions

Video #2 from Singapore

L'arietta Productions, was scheduled to do Speed Dating Tonight! this spring in Singapore. They were one of several productions that were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They pivoted and commissioned a series of eight pieces that were an exploration of the dating characters as they were stuck at home. The pieces run a gamut of emotions--cheerful/depressed, resigned/resolved. Here's the second one, Sweatpants, sung by Vanessa Kee.

Going online due to COVID

A company in Singapore, L'arietta Productions, was scheduled to do Speed Dating Tonight! this spring. They were one of several productions that were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They pivoted and commissioned a series of eight pieces that were an exploration of the dating characters as they were stuck at home. The pieces run a gamut of emotions--cheerful/depressed, resigned/resolved. Here's the first one, Shirt!, sung by Leslie Tay.

Video of RSBE Premiere

Here is the video of the premiere of RSBE at the end of February at University of Alabama. The opera theatre there did a spectacular job. It was so nice to have a premiere where everyone was pulling in the same direction 100%. It is now almost May, and the end of February seems like two years ago. Not that the days in quarantine have been dull or boring, just that the way we live has changed so drastically. 

RSBE premiere at University of Alabama

Been having a great time at University of Alabama where their opera program will premiere my new opera, RSBE (Remove Shoes Before Entering). In RSBE a group of students and their teacher are on a field trip. They stop at a strange building. Inside they realize things about themselves.

RSBE is put together like SPEED DATING TONIGHT!  with the order of the selection of pieces, their order, and their assignment is up to the producer. I've christened the genre the New Numbers Opera. Premiere is tomorrow night, February 7, 2020.

This clip is from dress rehearsal and about impostor syndrome. The idea was suggested by Dr. Paul Houghtaling, their producer.

Neat Freaks (#59-#60) from Speed Dating Tonight

Here's a clip from last month's production of SPEED DATING TONIGHT! at Converse College. This piece is relatively new and hasn't been done a lot, so it's fun for me to see!

Verity Arden as Talkative Girl (#9)

I got to go to Converse College last week for a three day residency. The production is in the able hands of Susan Lyle and Keith Jones. One of the best in the cast--and there were several--was Verity Arden. A senior, She's a singer and a composer and did such a terrific job with her selection, I asked her permission to record it and include it in my demos. Talkative Girl is one of the harder pieces in SpDT! and I was impressed. The Converse production is January 24-26, 2020.

I got to stay at a lovely place, the Inn on Main, a B&B I heartily recommend.