Discrete Scenes From a Murder - a 15 minute opera (2011-12)
Live recording from the performance of my mini-opera, "Discrete Scenes From a Murder" done at Peabody Conservatory in May 2012. Based on a 2010 murder in Baltimore, MD, the work explores the morality of murder through quick snippets of scenes. Each of the seven scenes finds the three actors portraying various characters and in disparate times and places. Only at the scene of the murder do the three actors meet, as the victim and the two culprits, in the same place. The opera is meant to be a collage of experiences, not a linear event, and to evoke more questions than answers from the audience. For the libretto, click here.
Seana Johnson, soprano Zachary Tallman, tenor Joshua Zanze, bass John Wilson, piano
Five Short Waltzes in Five Minutes (2011)
From the 24-hour composition project at Peabody. Composers have 12 hours (8pm-8am) to compose a new work for random instrumentation chosen from a drawing. The performers then have 12 hours (8am-8pm) to rehearse/learn the piece. The concert at 8pm (24 hours after the first notes are written!) is the culmination. Needless to say, I was up for 40 hours at this point - my pre-piece speech was edited out, but I think it was pretty loopy!