Muhly marvelous
Enterprising Manhattan troupe Gotham Chamber Opera will announce tonight their participation in the commission of a new American opera, Dark Sisters, composed by Nico Muhly with libretto by Stephen Karam, conducted by Neal Goren, and directed by Rebecca Taichman.
GCO is a co-commissioner (with Music-Theatre Group and the Opera Company of Philadelphia) of the opera, which will have its world premiere in November 2011 at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College in New York. The cast will be headed by Caitlin Lynch and Kevin Burdette, with Kristina Bachrach, Jennifer Check, Eve Gigliotti, Brenda Harris, and Jennifer Zetlan.
Dark Sisters, the company’s publicist says, follows one woman’s dangerous attempt to escape her life as a member of the FLDS Church (Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints), a sect that split from mainstream Mormonism in the early 20th Century largely because of the LDS Church’s renunciation of polygamy.
Speaking of sisters, I hear an American composer from the past has written an opera for two divas, 1 retired and one not. The libretto is written by the retired diva’s daughter. And if the non-retired diva can’t sing in its premiere 365 days from about now, a diva “on the verge of retiring” might do the role. It’s being workshopped in the retired diva’s downtown digs.
Now let’s see:
1. He’s young.
2. He’s cute in a boyish way.
3. He’s possibly gay -- the old Tallulah saying applies here for most of us I would think.
4. He’s possibly talented -- unlike others here I cant’ say haven’t really heard any of his work.
5. He’s been given several commission based on criteria that I for one am not aware of.
So stilettos (the knives not the heels) poised? Carving knives at the ready? Get set… ATTACK!
3. He’s possibly gay
He’s openly, blatantly, not at all closeted gay, not “possibly”.
I’ll take your word for it Henry.
He has a popular blog that is explicitly and constantly gay. No need to be so skeptical.
I thought that was common knowledge, too.
Whatever else -- he has superlative eyebrows.
And they are SOOOO important!! I mean really! i.e. I’m not kidding.
and I will definitely take your word on that, Manou!
Bitch stole my look.
The Los Angeles Master Chorale has a recently-released CD of his choral music.
http://www.amazon.com/Nico-Muhly-Angeles-Master-Chorale/dp/B003YOMNCC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288302148&sr=8-1
And it’s a fine CD too. Heard it recently.
I agree. I think he has an ear for vocal music. That CD is really impressive. The Bright Mass with Canons is a particularly fun piece.
And just because he’s cute, doesn’t mean he’s not talented.
I think I saw him Monday night at Boris Godunov. (My other celebrity sighting Monday night at Boris was Michel Lucas, in the 2nd row of the Parterre on the right aisle.)
Anyway, I think Muhly has talent, and I’m looking forward to his opera.
Muhly was at the Boris, he tweeted from it. He has a *really* smart blog, too, that’s always worth a read. Knows his stuff for sure.
From what I can judge from the past 30 or 40 years………all these new operas are destined to one place: the crypt.
Yeah, you’re probably right. All new operas are destined to oblivion. I don’t know why people bother writing operas, really. They’re bound to be not as good as the old ones. Let’s just keep the old ones, they’re definitely better than anything anyone could possibly write now.
Sheeesh.
You mean the crypt that has entombed the vast majority of the 30,000 or so operas that have been written since 1598? Most of the space there would be taken up with pre-20th century operas because of people like Vivaldi, who weren’t composers but note factories cranking out (he claimed) 94 operas in less than 30 years (!!).
Britten: Owen Wingrave, Death in Venice
Henze: The Young Lord, The Bassarids, L’Upupa
Birtwistle: The Mask of Orpheus, The Second Mrs. Kong, The Minotaur
Saariaho: L’amour de Loin, Adriana Mater
Reimann: Lear, Medea
Maderna: Satyricon
Xenakis: Oresteia
Messiaen: St. Francois di Assisi
Eotvos: Three Sisters
Stockhausen: Licht
Glass: Einstein on the Beach, Ahknaten, Satyagraha
Pintscher: L’espace dernier
Adamo: Little Women
Catan: Rappacinni’s Daughter, Florencia en el Amazonas, Il Postino
Ades: Powder Her Face, The Tempest
And so on and so forth.
This is a very nice list! I am going to keep it handy, but because I actually saw this production…
and so forth….I’d like to add Life is a Dream by Lewis Spratlan. Cheers!
I’d add Adams: Nixon, Klinghoffer, and Dr. Atomic
Don’t forget Glass:
Einstein on the Beach
Akhnaten
Satyagraha
The Fall of the House of Usher
The Making of the Representative for Planet 8
The White Raven
Orphee
Les enfants terribles
La belle et la bete
The CIVIL warS, the Rome Section
The Voyage
The Making of the Representative for Zones 3, 4, and 5
A Madrigal Opera
Galileo Galilei
Appomattox
Kepler
The Sound of a Voice
Little MM, has Appomattox received a second staging? I’ve seen it, liked it very much, but I’m not sure one can say yet that it’ll avoid the crypt.
Jonathan Dove and Unsuk Chin have both written very successful operas at opposite ends of the music spectrum. Sallinen is still regularly performed in Finland.
D’oh! Sallinen, what a glaring omission from my list:
The Red Line, The Horseman, The King Goes Forth To France, Kullervo, The Palace
Dove’s Flight is terrific.
I’m not sure one can say yet that it’ll avoid the crypt
That’s the thing though: the crypt has a revolving door. How many of Handel’s opera/oratorios that are now performed went unperformed for 100+ years? Wasn’t Gounoud’s Faust the La Boheme of its day, now it’s something of a rarity outside of France etc.
Fair enough, Henry H. I keep hoping someone else will produce Appomattox. I don’t think it’ll return to SF any time soon.
Could be added to the list:
Pascal Dusapin: Passion; Faustus, the Last Night,
Michael Levinas: Les nègres.
I interviewed Muhly for “The Advocate” a couple of years ago and found him to be bright, personable, and extremely talented. I’ve been following his career ever since and he seems to be going from strength to strength. More power to him!
GCO has removed references to their upcoming (February) Eliogabalo from their website; i wonder if it’s been cancelled?