From the category archives:
Bellini: I don’t mean to panic, but WHERE is Roger? He is such a sweet boy and I so enjoyed his posts on his blog. Especially when he let’s us come back and say a few words. Berlioz: I always thought that I would know, if any dead composer would know, where Roger is but [...]
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After not posting since August, I need to let my faithful readers know that I finished my opera and am putting the finishing touches on the piano vocal score. I had to cut out every time consuming hobby and habit I had in order to finish. This weekend I will begin decompressing, trying to slow [...]
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The AIDS quilt is now online. Be ready to spend some time with this stunning display. Here is a piece of music that John Hall and I composed that was used for a documentary about the AIDS quilt that was issued in 1994 and is now no longer in print. The music is from a [...]
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Not to make any comment about John Corigliano‘s “Mr Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan” but I read a comment by John somewhere and he confessed he didn’t know the Dylan originals. That’s when I realized that I come from a very different world than John. I am from a generation of classical composers [...]
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Forgive me: I am rushing to finish Act 1 before Mitchell arrives for a visit next week. He promises to have Act 2 (libretto) finished, and I, Act 1 music. Seems fair. Even more exciting is that the acclaimed poet, Francisco X. Alarcón, has agreed to write the Spanish version of the opera for its [...]
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I have never, and am still not, a scholar or expert in opera. I am fortunate to have as my librettist, one who is, and one who teaches me what I need to know when it seems I haven’t learned it. One of my, and apparently many others’, least favorite parts of opera are the [...]
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A tradition I started in our social circle is playing compositions in progress for my friends who happen to be over for dinner. I embrace this ancient court tradition, as did Franz Schubert. After a full belly from food and wine, what better than a little music. I put a twist on this in that [...]
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While in Mazatlan, Mitchell and I composed a great song, “The Dove in the Tree” which we both think has huge potential. The problem with the song, and I guess, the strong part, is that it is so damn catchy. In Mexico, I composed the piano-vocal score. When I got home, I just couldn’t orchestrate [...]
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A SLASH OF BLUE was commissioned by the Pro Musicis Foundation with supports young performers by giving them prestigious national performance venues alongside performing in retirement homes, prisons, hospitals or other places where attendance at such recitals are impossible. Kimball Wheeler, James Dunham and Susan Allen are heard here in one of their performances in [...]
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THE STORY: Internationally renown opera star, Angela Peralta (1845-1883) travels to Mazatlán with her company, where they struggle to make music in the face of a plague. As the death toll mounts, Angela and those closest to her come to terms with their complex feelings for one another. Last week, I went to Mazatlán with [...]
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