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The Scarlet Ibis

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The Scarlet Ibis is an opera that fuses singers, puppetry and multimedia stagecraft to tell the story of Doodle, a remarkable, disabled boy whose older brother pushes him to be “normal.” Set in rural North Carolina a century ago, the story contrasts notions of physical wholeness versus mystical otherness. Episodic and expressionistic, the narrative draws on elements of Southern Gothic, boy’s adventure and domestic tragedy. It unfolds in thirteen scenes, from Doodle’s traumatic birth to his tragic end. Ingenious set and puppet effects take us to various locations: a house, barn, field and swamp.

The cast includes mezzo-soprano Hai-Ting Chinn, countertenor Eric S. Brenner, mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer, baritone Keith Phares and contralto Nicole Mitchell. The Scarlet Ibis is for adults and teens.

Music by Stefan Weisman, libretto by David Cote
premiered at the 2015 PROTOTYPE Festival
A co-production between Beth Morrison Projects & HERE
Produced in association with American Opera Projects

The piano/vocal score is available for purchase here.

To request a quote for performance of the work, please click here.

Fung HUMANOID

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for solo Violoncello and Electronics

These are the files for the electronic part, which can be used for practice and performance.

Audio file with clicktrack (for practice purposes)

Audio file with louder clicktrack (for practice purposes)

Audio file (high resolution, for performance)

Grammy Nominations

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Congratulations to Jake Heggie, Laura Kaminsky, Robert Paterson and Kevin Puts for their Grammy Nominations. The recording of Heggie’s Great Scott (libretto Terrence McNally) was nominated for two awards: Best Contemporary Classical Composition and Producer of the Year (Blanton Alspaugh). Paterson’s Three Way (libretto David Cote) was also nominated for Producer of the Year (Blanton Alspaugh). And the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society’s Love Comes in at the Eye, (several Puts works) was nominated for Producer of the Year (Judith Sherman). Laura Kaminsky’s Undercurrents was also nominated for Producer of the Year (Judith Sherman).

You can see the full list of nominations here.

Bruce FANFARRON for the San Diego Symphony

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The San Diego Symphony recently premiered a new concert opener by David Bruce. The composer writes about his work:

I was honoured to be asked by San Diego Symphony to write a celebratory fanfare in honour of their departing maestro Jahja Ling, who conducted the premieres of my Night Parade and the Violin Concerto Fragile Light. The former of these pieces Jahja also brought to Carnegie Hall for the orchestra’s debut there, as well as on their tour of China in 2013. I enjoyed working with Maestro Ling, who had a firm but gentle approach, and the orchestra has clearly flourished under his tenure, with a raft of excellent younger players joining and creating his legacy for the future.

The fanfare is a 3 minute work for full orchestra. It’s called Fanfarrón, the Spanish word, said to be the origin of the word ‘fanfare’, which translates roughly as ‘show-off’ or ‘loud-mouth’ – a reference to the character of the music of course, rather than the man himself, who is anything but!

Kahane THE FICTION ISSUE

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The Fiction Issue, a collaboration with the string quartet Brooklyn Rider, is Gabriel Kahane’s first album of chamber music, comprising three pieces written between 2011 and 2015. The title work, featuring Shara Worden, was commissioned by Carnegie Hall, and premiered in 2012. It was revised in 2014. Bradbury Studies (2014-2015), for quartet alone, is a deconstruction of the song “Bradbury (304 Broadway)” from The Ambassador, and is dedicated to Brooklyn Rider. Finally, Come On All You Ghosts (2011), on poems by Matthew Zapruder, closes the set.

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Purchase the recording here.

Read Nate Chinen’s review in the New York Times here.

Sheet music for The Fiction Issue is available here.

Sheet music for Come On All You Ghosts is available here.

Brantley commissioned to write a cello concerto

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Paul Brantley has been commissioned by Maestro Kenneth Kiesler and the Grammy Award winning University of Michigan Symphony to compose THE ROYAL REVOLVER, a concertino for solo cello and 15 instruments.

Eric Jacobsen, cellist and conductor of The Knights, will be the cello soloist. This will be premiered in the 2016-2017 season in Ann Arbor. Details TBA.

If you would like to learn a little more about this Finnegans Wake inspired piece, and possibly even contribute to the consortium-styled commission, please see our Fractured Atlas project page.