Thursday, July 30, 2015

"At the Governor's Ball, done up like a Christmas Tree"


"While this one here at the Governor's Ball,
Done up, like a Christmas Tree"
from Act II scene i of BABY DOE
at the Janiec Opera Company of
the Brevard Music Center


For the past year, activities at the Douglas Moore Fund have looked inward at Moore himself. One of the projects comes to fruition this month with the premiere of a new reduced orchestration of THE BALLAD OF BABY DOE.


Using the scores from the original conductor, Emerson Buckley, the score has been entered, reduced, and printed using Finale. The Janiec Opera Center of the Brevard Music Center has graciously agreed to collaborate on the premiere, enduring the usual need for corrections of wrong notes. The final edits will be made after a production this fall at Amarillo Opera.

Discussions will be under way soon about the best way to administer this orchestration. The next fund project will be to edit and produce collections of Moore's vocal works, including unpublished pieces and others that are scattered over a half dozen publishers.







Monday, January 12, 2015

At the National Opera Association

Last week, Michael Ching and Miranda Beeson presented a program of Moore's lesser known operas and songs at the conference of the National Opera Association in Greensboro. The program was performed by students and faculty at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, gathered together by their chair, Louise Toppin. We are particularly interested in further productions of CARRIE NATION and Jack Beeson's LIZZIE BORDEN.

Also at the conference, composer Leanna Kirchoff's opera, THE CLEVER ARTIFICE OF HARRIET AND MARGARET won the NOA's chamber opera competition. It will get a full production at next year's conference in Indianapolis. Leanna received a travel grant from the Moore Fund last year.