Long January I Hosszú január

“January has been a long year, but I have survived”. I’ve run into this meme online a couple of times in the past week. Indeed, a lot has happened in politics and international affairs since we have entered the Twenties of the century. It feels like my own affairs, too are getting up to speed with the news cycle. Confession: I like the speed and the buzz. 🙂
I am alternating between composing (working on ‘The Music Gene’ piece now for April), studying for upcoming concerts (Ravel and Trombones is coming up) and brushing up on my German (it is rusty to say the least).
Check out what’s happening in Huntsville here:
https://hso.org

I am looking forward to teaching at the Peter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation again soon, this time along with guest professor Fabián Panisello, Argentinian-Spanish composer and conductor
https://eotvosmusicfoundation.org

Then I will be diving into Jake Heggie’s opera, Dead Man Walking, and my own composition based on a novel by Péter Esterházy
https://wikipedia.org
Stay tuned!

“Január hosszú év volt, de túléltük.” Egy hete sokadszorra futok bele az interneten ebbe a mémbe, és valóban a hírciklus még a szokásosnál is jobban felgyorsulni látszik. Nem panaszkodhatom, mert az én dolgaim is sűrűn követik egymást, és nem mondhatom, hogy ez ne lenne kedvemre való. Most éppen ‘A zenegén’ című szopránra, narrátorra és hangszeres együttesre írandó kompozíciómon dolgozom, melynek bemutatója áprilisban lesz Huntsville-ban, miközben folyamatosan darabokat tanulok a koncertjeimre, és berozsdásodott német tudásomat is próbálom felfrissíteni.

A Huntsville Symphony koncertjeiről a megszokott linken, itt lehet olvasni,
https://hso.org
a februárban megrendezésre kerülő karmester-zeneszerző kurzusról pedig itt:
https://eotvosmusicfoundation.org

A Fabián Panisello, spanyol-argentin zeneszerző-karmesterrel és Eötvös Péterrel közös mesterkurzusunk után a Magyar Állami Operaház produkciójában vezényelem majd Jake Heggie Ments meg, Uram! című operáját, amely a híres Dead Man Walking című filmből, illetve az annak alapjául szolgáló könyv történetéből készült.
http://wikipedia.org
Ezt saját mono-concert-oprám követi majd, amely Esterházy Péter Fuharosok című regénye alapján íródott.
http://umze.hu

The Tenor Is Dead

Starting rehearsals tomorrow for the season opening production of the Erkel Theater. This theater -named after the famous and pretty much the only Hungarian romantic opera composer, Ferenc Erkel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferenc_Erkel
– was built in the 1910s and just recently reopened after a quick refurbishing after being closed to the public for a couple of years. What is Erkel Theater? This venue was built to serve the “Volksoper” idea: opera and ballet for the masses for affordable prices. Although the idea of having this theater under separate management has come up multiple times in the past decades, since the 50s it has always been and now for sure remains under the management of the Hungarian State Opera. Just imagine City Opera under the management of the Metropolitan Opera with a different repertoire and cheap tickets. It is not such a far fetched idea any more now, is it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erkel_Theatre
The Tenor, a comic opera by Ernst von Dohnanyi
http://www.zti.hu/mza-dohnanyi/
is the only musical theater piece I know to start with the death of the tenor. No, I mean it actually starts with the funeral of Tenor 1 of a barbershop quartet (or rather the German equivalent of this type of ensemble). The quartet now has only three singers and they are in trouble. They need to get ready for the annual singing contest. They are in dire need of a replacement singer and there is only one guy in town with a great tenor voice. He is called Schippel (funny names are all around in this opera) and he is the flutist of the local orchestra. The problem is, that Schippel is a poor fellow. He has no money, no manners. He is drinking a lot and has a potty mouth. This is of course totally fiction… Our actual singers all are well educated and well behaved. 🙂 In any case the initial conflict here is that the well off middle class members of the ensemble -just like the daughter and the wife of the bass singer- do not want to socialize with the flute player/tenor. He is wanted for his voice but is not welcome in their social circles. Since there is no opera without a love triangle soon another conflict arises. The Prince who has fallen off his horse nearby arrives to the house. He falls for Thekla, daughter of Mr. Hicketier (his name means “Hickupman”) and so does Schippel…, and so does Krey who sings Tenor 2 in the quartet. So this is actually a “ménage a quatre”. I think you get it now how much sitcom there is here.
I will post more about the story and the production.
Stay tuned!
Opening performance on September 14, 2014.

Just how much tenors are well and alive here is a snippet of information about my new composition, Georgia Bottoms, A Comic Opera of the Modern South. I managed to write not one, not two but three tenor roles.
Rev. Eugene Hendrix: Christopher Pfund
http://www.christopherpfund.com/
Dr. Ted Horn/ Officer Lester: Daniel Weeks
http://www.tenorweeks.com
Sheriff Bill: Ron Roberts
http://www.thesingerlink.com/profile/RonRoberts

Talking (again) about Georgia… Author of the book and fellow librettist
Mark Childress
http://www.crazyinalabama.com
and soprano extraordinaire Rebecca Nelsen
http://rebeccanelsen.eu
visited Huntsville, AL on August 9&10 and helped the Huntsville Symphony and myself to start the fundraising process. The events (two house parties) were a huge hit and a great start to secure funding for Georgia Bottoms, The Opera. There is now a button on the Huntsville Symphony website where you can directly contribute to help us with our goal. Mark Childress has set up a fun FaceBook page as well. If you LIKE the page you will get updated information about the production and more and more fun facts, videos and interesting details of the production as we approach the premiere.
http://www.hso.org
https://www.facebook.com/GeorgiaBottomsTheOpera
There is no contribution too little and every LIKE counts! Join us and stay tuned! Keep the tenors alive!