Mezzo-Soprano

Text of "Cantul Apelor" authored by the composer, based on an earlier theme of Paul Anghel (1931-1995) published in 1967 by the Composers Union of Romania. The composer revised the text in 2001 and added an English version created by the composer with Elizabeth Hulick. The text is intended as a lyric incantation to evoke the image of a small stream expanding from its source, growing into a rushing river. First presented by the Romanian Broadcast Chorus and Orchestra in 1965, conducted by Carol Litvin, and was awarded the George Enescu Prize of the Romanian Academy that year.

THE SINGING LESSON – Chamber Opera in Three Acts Based on the short stories of Katherine Mansfield (PD) for 2 Lyric Sopranos, 2 Dramatic Mezzo-Sopranos, 1  Contralto, 1 Tenor Buffo, 1 Basso Buffo, and small chamber orchestra: Cl in Bb, Bsn, Tpt in C, Bs Tbn, vln, cb, and Perc (1-2): wind chimes, triangle, sleigh bells, cowbell, tam-tam, vibraslap, wood block, glockenspiel, xylophone, vibraphone, marimba, tubular bells, snare drum, bass drum, and celesta.

ACT ONE / THE GARDEN PARTY: Synopsis: Laura is helping her mother, Mrs. Sheridan, in the preparations for a garden party, when it is discovered that a death has transpired at a nearby working-class neighborhood.  Laura is in favor of canceling the party, but other members of her family are not.  After the party is over, Laura is instructed by her mother to visit the bereaved family, which results in an enormous personal change – or does it?

An evening-length work for mezzo-soprano and video, based on Nietzsche's Also Sprach Zarathustra. It consists of a series of episodes in which the performer sings and speaks with a recorded musical score and reacts to the video characters who themselves speak. The score is composed and constructed from a variety of materials: modified sampled instruments, pure electronic sound and reworked fragments of other music. The video is made from 3d and morphing animation and found footage.

Full-length opera, based on  a novella by Kleist, an 18th c. German author, "The Marquise of O".  German version:  "dass ich eins und doppelt bin":  Eine Oper nach Kleists Die Marquise von O...

Major roles

Petrarch’s Canzone No. 129, “Di Pensier in Pensier”, is one of the greatest poems of the late Middle Ages/early Renaissance. In it the poet laments the absence of his love, Laura, in imagery based on the rockstrewn and windswept landscape of Southern France, a landscape I also know well. The music setting makes no attempt to imitate the music contemporaneous to
the poet, but it does have historical roots. I have been fascinated by the music of the early seventeenth century, a time when modern tonality was being invented, but in which the rules were not so well “known” that the results were predictable. The surprising and fresh harmonic progressions of this era continue to inspire me. And so, in this work, while there is much that is chromatic and very much of this time, there is also a strong tonal underpinning, a basically triadic language (albeit extended), a love to ornament, and an attachment to emotional “affect” in accordance with principles of the early Baroque. As such, it is an homage to the great dramatic scena of the period.
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