The Scarlet Letter: On Colorado Public Radio's 2016 in Review: 5 Classical Music Stories We're Still Talking About

Colorado Public Radio's feature: 2016 in Review: 5 Classical Music Stories We're Still Talking About includes The Scarlet Letter. This lovely feature by Jean Inaba includes excerpts from interviews with me and librettist David Mason, as well as excerpts from the opera.

To listen, please click here. 

"Are Women People?" to premiere March 5, 2017 at Eastman School of Music

Are Women People? is a song cycle celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Women's Right to Vote in New York State. It was commissioned by The Hanson Institute for American Music at the Eastman School of Music and the Susan B. Anthony Center for Women's Leadership. The premiere will take place on March 5, 2015 at 3 pm in Kilbourn Hall at The Eastman School of Music.

The cycle sets the poetry of Alice Duer Miller (1874-1942), an American writer whose satirical feminist verses influenced American political opinions; portions of a speech by Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906); and the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote. The work is approximately 13 minutes long, and is scored for SATB vocal quartet and piano 4-hands. Embedded within the cycle is a miniature, excerptable a cappella cycle, entitled The Power to Vote.

On the evening of March 4, 2017, I will also be giving a lecture about my opera The Scarlet Letter.

The Scarlet Letter, Abridged — at the 2017 West Chester University Poetry Conference

The 2017 West Chester University Poetry Conference will take place from June 7-10, 2017 at West Chester University in West Chester, PA. I am honored to be named the 2017 recipient of The Kate Light Scholarship. The final concert will take place on June 10th at 7:30 pm at the Madeline Adler Theatre on campus, and will feature The Scarlet Letter, Abridged. This work, commissioned by Opera Colorado for their Young Artists, was adapted from the complete opera. It is approximately one hour long and is arranged for five singers and piano. The libretto is by my esteemed colleague David Mason.

R.S. ("Sam") Gwynn is the Program Director for the conference. 

The performers are:

Hester Prynne: Stephanie Heavens

Mistress Hibbons: Courtney Bopp

Arthur Dimmesdale: Brenten Megee

Roger Chillingworth: Gregory Feldmann

Governor Bellingham: Ian Brady

Vocal Coach:Chirstine McCloskey

Pianist: Lori Laitman

Conductor: Ryan Kelly

Vedem Oratorio with Music of Remembrance, November 6, 2016, Benaroya Hall, Seattle

Lyrica Dialogues at Harvard University

On December 2, 2016, my song cycle Sable Pride, a setting of three poem by Countée Cullen, will be performed at the 2016 Lyrica Dialogues at Harvard University, which this year focuses on African-American art song, opera and operetta and choral repertory. The Dialogues will also commemorate Harvard's late Pastor Peter J. Gomes at the fifth anniversary of his untimely passing. The Keynote address will be given by the renowned tenor George Shirley.

Sable Pride was written for the brilliant counter-tenor Darryl Taylor. He and I were to have performed it, but due to an unexpected conflict, the work will now by performed by mezzo-soprano Eleni Matos with Paul-André Bempechat at the piano.

The preliminary program (8:30 a.m.-5:30 pm) will include talks by Theodore Albrecht, Naomi André, Gwynne Kushner Brown, Linda Rae Brown, Maestro Isaiah Jackson, Paul-André Bempechat, Martha Newline, Scott Piper and Louise Toppin.

The evening performance will take place at the Chapel of the Harvard Divinity School, 45 Francis Avenue in Cambridge, MA, at 7:30 pm. Singers include soprano Zuly Inirio, tenor Stanley Jackson and mezzo-soprano Eleni Matos. The concert will also feature the World Premiere of a commissioned work by Dr. Carson Cooman.

The conference was organized by Paul-André Bempechat, Artist-in-Residence at Leverett House at Harvard, in conjunction with the Harvard Divinity School and the Hutchins Center for African and African-American Research.