Workshop of the opera I am developing, Oksana G., at the Banff Centre, in collaboration with Colleen Murphy, Tapestry New Opera, and Opera.ca.
A long-term project of mine is moving forward this year. Tapestry New Opera applied for and received funding from Opera.ca to produce the first act of the opera I have been developing with librettist, Colleen Murphy. We’ll be involved in roundtable discussions on the opera in Toronto this spring, and I will be composing the music for one act of the opera, to be workshopped at the Banff Centre in August of this year. The act will then be fully produced in the first part of 2010. More details to follow as they become available.
This festival of libretto readings features the new short works for next year’s Opera to Go, as well as excerpts of text and music from Netsuke (by librettist Jill Battson & composer Rose Bolton) and The Enslavement and Liberation of Oksana G (by librettist Colleen Murphy & composer Aaron Gervais), two full-length operas in development at Tapestry.
From March 1–18, five one-act operas, including a work by Colleen Murphy and myself.
I wrote this chamber opera for three singers and six instrumentalists in conjunction with Colleen Murphy for Tapestry’s Opera To Go series. It tells the story of a young Eastern European woman (Oksana) who has found herself in the safehouse of an Italian priest (Alessandro). She has escaped from a pimp (Konstantin), who tricked her into prostitution, and now finds that she is falling in love with Alessandro. He in turn, despite his priestly calling, finds himself tempted by Oksana. During this scene, they dance around the complications of their situation, each one afraid to reveal him– or her– self to the other. In addition, another problem presents itself at the end of the scene.
Things have been very busy, and I haven’t had the chance to do any site updates between teaching, taking classes, and travelling for workshops/performances. I was recently in Montréal for the Ensemble contemporain’s workshop, and I leave next week for the première of The Enslavement and Liberation of Oksana G. with Tapestry New Opera in Toronto. See the Performances section for details.
In addition, one exciting piece of news: my first jury piece from UCSD was selected to compete in the 2006 Gaudeamus Music Week in the chamber music category. So I’ll be in Amsterdam in early Sep for that.
2010, . Some rights reserved. Some elements adapted from various freely available sources. Design by Santiago Medina and Aaron Gervais.
Toca Loca Debut Album P*P:
Includes a fantastic version of my piece Culture no.2.
SOCAN Awards ‘09—1st prize:
News release for 2009: I was awarded first prize in the vocal category.
New Opera:
Under development with Tapestry and libretist Colleen Murphy.
orkest de ereprijs Competition—1st prize:
I won this competition in 2009, competing against a dozen other composers selected from around the world.
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