This appeared today on the C-Opera (contemporary opera)
listserv:
Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2001 19:57:10 -0700 From: Sean Hazard
Carson <
shc222@NYU.EDU> Subject: upcoming performances (Oct.
in NYC)
Hello all. Something for the Shameless Self-Promotion
File:
Monday, Oct 15, 8pm Merkin Concert Hall (129 W. 67th St.,
near B'way, NYC)
$10 general, $5 students/seniors
A scene from my chamber opera _Red Harvest_ (based on the
mystery novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett) will be
performed as part of a concert by the Washington Square
Contemporary Music Society. I've been lucky enough to get 2
incredible singers and a talented chamber ensemble. Should be
a terrific concert.
Saturday, Oct. 20, 8pm St. Peter's Lutheran Church (53rd St.
betw 3rd & Lex, NYC)
$20 general, $10 students/seniors
The New York Viruoso Singers (for my money the best chamber
choir in NY) will be performing my _Kyrie LA is on Fire_,
along with pieces by Carter, Birtwistle, Musgrave, Del
Tredici, and others. Not to be missed.
Any questions, feel free to email. Or consult my new
website:
-Sean
Here is further information from the composer's
website:
< This chamber opera is based on Dashiell Hammett's
hardboiled mystery novel Red Harvest. The full score is for
seven instruments (clarinet/bass clarinet, bassoon, trumpet,
trombone, violin, contrabass, and percussion), and six
voices. The opera is made up of 12 short scenes, of which
I've completed three, and it will probably last about 100
minutes total. I've been very lucky in getting excellent
performances so far
(albeit of arangements for smaller ensembles), with great
instrumentalists and singers. I'm hard at work cranking out
more and more scenes, and I hope two have the whole project
completed in early 2003.
I'm a longtime Hammett aficionado, and I've been
thinking about creating an opera based on Red Harvest since I
first read it. I think that the author's style - terse and
decidedly unpretty - is quintessentially American and has
it's own staggered kinds of rhythm and cadence. So much of
opera has only 5 minutes of real action or confrontation
(often offstage), about which characters reflect, pine, and
fret for two hours. With this novel, the physical action,
arguments, and rapid advancement of the plot continue at a
rapid pace throughout. I hope that this will make for a more
entertaining experience.
Another decision I made as I embarked on the project was that
no one in the audience should have to read the program to
find out what's happening. I'm trying to make all the action
and dialogue as transparent as possible, more like a film or
stage play than a 19th-century opera.
For general information about Red Harvest (the
novel) or Dashiell Hammett, please consult Michael E. Grost's
excellent website. I've been lucky enough to get permission
for performances of the opera from Gelfman Schneider Literary
Agents in New York. >
Mark
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