Opera

Tramps, Emails, & Hemlock:

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MARCUS KARL MARONEY – DUST OF THE ROAD

Synopsis: Dust of the Road tells a short allegorical tale. I chose to base my opera on this short play first and foremost because of the characters involved and the way they interact. I also was attracted by the clear storyline and the subtle supernatural element in the play. The three characters in the drama are extremely different. Prudence is an independent, loving, lonely wife who has an extremely strong character veiled by a surface of tenderness and fear. The supernatural character, called the Tramp, exudes mystery and speaks in quite different speech patterns and vocabulary than the wife. Peter is Prudence's husband and is stoic but rueful of past actions in his life. In a way, his surface strength is undercut by his inner turmoil, which makes him almost a perfect foil for his wife. The structure of the play is in three dialogues, giving in a short time all the possible combinations of the characters. Each dialogue is connected by two brief points where all three characters participate in the action. By focusing on the differences of the characters, I've tried to compose three different kinds of music that work together in every permutation. — Marcus Karl Maroney

Marcus Karl Maroney studied composition and horn at the University of Texas at Austin and the Yale School of Music. His residency at the Tanglewood Music Center in 1999, where he studied with Joan Tower and George Benjamin, focused his aim on composing. He has received awards and commissions from such organizations as the American Academy of Arts & Letters, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, and eighth blackbird. Since 2005, he has resided in Houston, Texas, where he is Assistant Professor of Composition at the University of Houston's Moores School of Music.

CHRISTINE MCCLINTOCK – RE:

Synopsis: In real life, John and Emily are dealing with their stale marriage and Lisa and John are trying to manage their workplace challenges of traditional gender roles as Lisa is John’s supervisor. Meanwhile, John and Lisa (as Rene) are secretly corresponding via email as are Emily and Lisa, who Emily believes to be a man named Michael.

There is a decidedly dreamlike quality that writing to strangers online affords. One of the only times the three characters actually address each other is the finale. While this could potentially be an explosive encounter, by the characters’ own aversion to and diluting of reality, the connections that they are actually striving for are likely to be missed.

Christine McClintock was born and raised just outside of Philadelphia. She received her Bachelor of Music degree in Music Composition at the Boston Conservatory of Music before enlisting in the United States Peace Corps in Togo, West Africa. Upon her completion of service, Ms. McClintock continued her education in the Bay Area where she obtained her Master of Music degree in Music Composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Ms. McClintock’s repertoire includes incidental music for experimental theater, chamber and orchestral works, and various small film projects.

PETER MCMURRAY – A ROOSTER FOR ASCLEPIUS

Synopsis: A Rooster for Asclepius is an account of the death of Socrates. Somehow, in all the digging-up of old Greek tragedy, Plato's accounts of Socrates' death have gone relatively untouched. So in the spirit of the cult of novelty, here it is, like never before. Death. Gods. Roosters. Hemlock. Who could ask for anything more?

Peter McMurray majored in classics as an undergraduate at Harvard, but has since abandoned philology for music composition, which he studies at Brandeis with Davy Rakowski, Wayne Marshall and Yu-Hui Chang. He's written different kinds of music—electronic, chamber, jazz—with occasional forays into reggaeton beats. None of his favorite bands include Death Cab or Arctic Monkeys or really any indie rockers. Besides graduate school, he is currently working as a curator of the Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature.