Day-Dream by Duke Ellington, Billie Strayhorn and John LaTouche

Opera folks know John LaTouche as the librettist for Douglas Moore's BALLAD OF BABY DOE. Given that the arias in DOE are some of the most moving in American opera, it's not surprising to learn that LaTouche was also a songwriter. He also collaborated with Vernon Duke and Leonard Bernstein.

I came across this in an old Ellington book from the 1940s that belonged to my father. 

You can purchase Ella Fitzgerald's recording of it here on Amazon. The instrumental only version is here.

Juhi Bansal visits the college staged premiere of A WOMAN IN MOROCCO

Daron Hagen, composer and Barbara Grecki, librettist

This fall the Moore Fund provided composer Juhi Bansal with a grant to attend the production week of the college staged premiere of Daron Hagen's opera, A WOMAN IN MOROCCO. The work had its premiere on October 25, 2013 at the Butler Opera Center at the University of Texas, Austin. 

Thanks to Mo. Hagen and Mo. Kelly Kuo at the Butler Opera Center.

A mini Moore for Leanna Kirchoff

Recently, composer Leanna Kirchoff, went on a mini Moore fellowship to observe Arizona Opera's full workshop of Craig Bohmler and Steven Mark Kohn's operatic treatment of Zane Grey's novel, RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE.

Leanna said "It was great to see the work twice and to have time to talk to Craig and Steven about the process from creation to performance.  Craig's music has such a great emotional range and it is always contributing to the story, rather than being merely accompanimental.  He played for both performances, which was impressive, as the music was difficult in many spots!"

Leanna's work was featured at the John Duffy Composers Institute at Virginia Arts Festival in Norfolk. She recently produced her opera, THE CLEVER ARTIFICE OF HARRIET AND MARGARET, in Colorado.

We thank Craig and Steven and Arizona Opera's Ryan Taylor for facilitating and embracing this visit.

34th Annual Douglas Moore Festival in Cutchogue

Douglas Moore's hometown of Cutchogue honors his memory every summer with a concert. Here are some pictures from that event, which took place on August 10th. 

Soprano Stephanie Izzo captures the light from all angles as she performs "The Willow Song" from "Baby Doe."  Ben Arendsen conducts the Sound Symphony on the Cutchogue Village Green just a half mile from the waterfront cottage where Moore would compose when visiting his home town.

Historic buildings on the Cutchogue Village Green --- a scale model of the nearby 1648 Old House in the foreground, the early 19th century Carriage House just adjacent, and in the background, the early 18th Century Wickham Farmhouse.   --- stand unperturbed by the frantic bustle of musician preparations for the concert."

Pictures and captions courtesy of the Douglas Moore Festival board. More to come. 

 

Zach Wadsworth finishes his fellowship year

Congratulations to Zach Wadsworth who finished his Moore Fund fellowship year looking in on the RING at the Seattle Opera. Here here is pictured with composer Thomas Ades.

And here he is at the Minnesota Opera, where he observed rehearsals and performances of Douglas Cuomo's operatic version of DOUBT.

The board of the fund is looking at how best to continue its activities--whether to remain focusing on a single fellowship or perhaps to branch out into shorter length ones or other activities related to the development of opera and musical theater composers. 

JK in Opera News.

Here's a nice interview conducted by Brian Kellow in the new Opera News with our board member John Kander.

The Duffy Institute

John Duffy and Libby Larsen, with Rob Cross (left) who is the director of the Virginia Arts Festival.

Last month, I got the chance to work with six composers who were fellows at the Duffy Institute. Named after John Duffy, the institute provides composers with the chance to hear their work performed by a group of talented and flexible singers very well selected by Alan Johnson, who serves as music director of the project. Libby Larsen is also there in-residence to provide commentary and continuity along with a variety of guest composers who stop in for a few days during the two week period.

The Duffy Institute is part of the Virginia Arts Festival and takes place at Old Dominion University. With this institute, John, who is well known both as a composer and as the founder of Meet the Composer (now part of New Music USA) has really made an impact on the training and nurturing of music theater creators.

What excited me about the institute was the variety of composers and their styles, from very contemporary to very musical theater. It certainly strikes me that composers from both fields deal with similar problems--plausible and compelling musical storytelling. And there are marketing challenges--how style is perceived by the field and how to navigate a business that tends to define, label and pigeonhole. There were composers who were clearly writing contemporary new music opera, some clearly writing Broadway musicals, but a couple who were exploring territory in between. I was so pleased to see that kind of variety--John told me that the fellows were deliberately chosen to reflect a diversity of styles. As were the guest composers--Charles Wourinen came in after I left.