RECENT WORKS (since 1995) in alphabetical order

(complete list available from the composer)

 

Chéri (Opera in 2 Acts) Libretto by Susan Yankowitz.

Based on the novel by Colette, about a middle-aged ex-courtesan, Léa de Lonval, and her six year love affair with the beautiful and vain 23 year-old Chéri.  While the story offers a wry, sardonic view of love and sex, it is ultimately a poignant commentary on the limits -- and losses -- age imposes on all of us.  Readings and workshops:The Composers Chamber Theater (2000), American Opera Projects (2001), The Center for Contemporary Opera (2002), and The Actors Studio (2003, 2004); workshop production at The Actors Studio, 2005.

Link to the Chéri site:

 

Class Notes (piano solo) a minature (1’) reflection on composer and musical thinker J.K. Randall, in celebration of his 75th birthday.

 

Colored Stones (song cycle for baritone & piano)

After the poem by Richard Howard. In ten short sections: Athens, Houston, Albufeira, Woodstock, Siracusa, Wiscasset, Tours, Bryce Canyon, Cozumel, Camden.  Premiered by Chris Pedro Trakas (baritone) and Jennifer Peterson (piano), American Composers Alliance, 2001.

 

Dancing With Isadora (marimba solo)

Based on themes from “Art & Isadora”, the middle movement of my choral triptych U.S.A Stories.  Premiered by Japanese virtuoso Makoto Nakura, New York, 2002.

 

The Masters on the Movies (3 dramatic fantasies for a cappella chorus); after the poem by Richard Howard.

What would Henry James have to say about the movie “Now, Voyager” had it been released in 1885, the same year as his The Bostonians?  Or Joseph Conrad on “Lost Horizon?” Or Willa Cather on “Queen Christina?”

Commissioned by Cantori, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Robert Cowles, director; premiere April 7, 2006.

 

The Secret Agent (Opera in 2 Acts) Libretto by J.D. McClatchy.

Based on Joseph Conrad’s novel.  London, 1900: A bomb has exploded at the Greenwich Observatory, an attack “having all the shocking senselessness of gratuitous blasphemy.” As Conrad writes. The unknown bomber is blown to bits.  Chief Inspector Heat’s investigation leads to Adolf Verloc, a foreign provocoteur and his cell of terrorists. But the bomber turns out to be a mere boy: Verloc’s wife’s beloved brother, out on a mission he could not have understood. A tale of political intrigue among anarchists and government officials, of murder and suicide. The Secret Agent is a story of social tragedy and intimate human drama, a story-- sadly, for our times.  [work-in-progress; a joint commission from The Center for Contemporary Opera (New York), San Antonio Opera (San Antonio), Long Leaf Opera (Chapel Hill). Premieres 2009-2010 season]

 

The Stranger, Grief  (Concert aria for mezzo-soprano and chamber

orchestra)  Text by Susan Yankowitz, from the opera Chéri (see above.)

 

The Wedding at Three (Concert trio for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor and chamber orchestra)  Text by Susan Yankowitz, from the opera Chéri (see above.)

 

This World is not Conclusion (for SATB chorus, strings, and clarinet)

Song cycle for chorus on 4 poems by Emily Dickinson: “Crisis is a Hair”, “We like March”, “This World is not Conclusion”, “Heart! We will forget Him!”  Commissioned and premiered by the New Music Festival of Sandusky.

 

Three Rivers (tone poem for chamber orchestra)

In three, unbroken sections: Mohawk, Sligo, Meander.  The middle movement (Sligo) is based on folk guitarist John Fahey’s “Sligo River Blues.” Written to commemorate Union College’s bicentennial and premiered by the college orchestra, 1996, Hilary Tann, conductor.

 

U.S.A. Stories (a cappella SATB chorus)

Triptych of three biographical sketches from John Dos Passos’s “The Big Money”: Rudolph Valentino (“Adagio Dancer”), Isadora Duncan (“Art and Isadora”) and the Wright Brothers (“The Campers at Kitty Hawk).  Premiered by Cantori New York, New York.