Two chamber operas

Abstract

A Girl's Body at Crepuscule and The Open Curtain are chamber operas composed for the first two productions of Seattle Experimental Opera in 1994. A Girl's Body is scored for soprano, mezzo-soprano, and flute and is a setting of a libretto by poet Lara Candland. The opera is texture-driven rather than plot-driven, although a somewhat non-linear plot does exist. Set in the early 1960s, the plot includes the early evening musings of an unnamed woman in front of a bedroom window, her methodical application of makeup, and her visit to her authoritarian female psychiatrist. The Open Curtain is a setting of a text written by Brian Evenson. It is in the form of a dramatic meditation on the martyrdom of Joseph Smith. It is scored for male voices, viola, harmonium, piano, string bass and percussion. The use of structured improvisation is explored on several levels in each number and the instrumental parts themselves are highly theatrical. Both pieces challenge traditional definitions of the opera genre.