We gathered at the Opera America center last month to do a read-through of ALICE RYLEY, my new project set in Savannah when the colony was first being established. Sherrill Milnes (right) will have a speaking part in the opera and his wife Maria Zouves will direct. One of the changes during the workshop is that he was intended to play the part of a tourist. His speaking voice, though, is too authoritative and we have to make him a tour guide instead.

There is a brief excerpt here sung by Ashley Dannewitz. I'll talk about it more in a later post.

SPEED DATING TONIGHT! in West Virginia, BUOSO'S GHOST in Texas

SPEED DATING TONIGHT! plays this weekend and next month at West Liberty University and BUOSO'S GHOST plays at Texas State University, where they did SPEED DATING TONIGHT! this fall.

SDT! at Tri-Cities Opera

This weekend, SPEED DATING TONIGHT! plays at Tri-Cities Opera in Binghamton. Here's a piece about it in the Press & Sun Bulletin. It is fun to see it on a season of traditional opera. Taking advantage of the flexibility of internet marketing, they have designed several different versions of their poster, featuring different daters. I've posted a couple of them.

Speed Dating in Indianapolis

Speed Dating Tonight! plays next week at Intimate Opera of Indianapolis. They are doing the show on Valentine's weekend and there is a dinner option. 

More Midsummer...

This is from the Recorded A Cappella Review Board. The writer, Kyle Yampiro, is interested in in a cappella and opera too.

MIDSUMMER review from CVNC

CVNC is not a drug store chain. It is a group of critics that has been reviewing classical music in North Carolina since around 2001. I remember one their number, John Lambert, very fondly as he covered performances I did at Triangle Opera Theater and even before that at Duke. The review is very thorough, clearly not dealing with the limitations of print word count.

New Project in Savannah

A few days ago, the Savannah Voice Festival officially announced that I'm writing a new opera for them. It's going to be about early Savannah history--namely Alice Riley and the first murder in the new colony. Alice's ghost has been seen around Wright square, where she was hung in the 1730s. With its beautiful location and delicious food, it's going to be a hardship assignment. 

Strangely enough, when we first looked at Wright Square, a fellow approached us with his version of the Alice Riley story. 

Speed Dating Tonight! in San Marcos, TX

This is a lovely looking set from a recent production of SPEED DATING TONIGHT! at Texas State University produced and directed by Sam Mungo.

Two nice notices for SPEED DATING TONIGHT! in Philly.

From Phindie: "You don’t have to like classical music, but you have to like beer,” sings a lonely bassoon player..." 

And from Philly.com: "One of those wonderful Fringe surprises: a show running only two nights with the unprepossessing title,  SPEED DATING TONIGHT! turns out to be so good in such unexpected and charming ways."

Speed Dating Tonight! goes to Seattle

SDT! goes to Seattle. 

Directed and produced by tenor Robert McPherson. 

It plays in Seattle September 17-21. 

The details are here.