The Birth of an Opera, Part 2: The Music Workshop

Almost a year ago, you may remember, I wrote a blog post dedicated to the libretto workshop for Tom Cipullo's new opera Mayo. (If you would like to refresh your memory, you can click here to read it).
One year later, I am just back from a week-long music workshop at Opera America in New York City, that culminated in a public performance of the first two acts of this amazing new work.


Music workshops have become an essential tool in the development and production of new works for the operatic stage. With so much at stake and considering the cost of mounting a new opera, producing entities, composers and librettists want to ensure that they have the best work possible on their hands, and part of that is generating a positive response from the audience. The benefits of a workshop in that regard are two-fold:
- Through the rehearsal process, we get to discover how the piece comes together, what the challenges of a production might be, what works and what doesn't work (vocally, musically, dramatically...), and the creative team then has a chance for changes and revisions before delivering a final product.
- The culminating public performance gives everyone one involved a real first look at the work, with a little distance, and also allows to gauge what the response from an audience will be.

For this particular workshop, we had four days of rehearsals (two three-hour sessions each day) to put together two acts out of what will ultimately be a three-act opera. The first priority was, of course, to get things together musically (under the direction of Kirk Severtson, and yours truly at the piano), but as the week progressed more and more of the focus went into making things work dramatically and scenically, in order to tell this poignant story. Our group of terrific singers (some Crane students, and some young professionals hired for the occasion) worked under the watchful eye of Dean Anthony, stage director, Cori Ellison, Dramaturg, and of course Tom Cipullo himself. Having the composer present this whole time was invaluable, and helped the performers to develop a better understanding of his musical style, and of the characters they were portraying.

As a good example of the purpose of the process from the composer's standpoint, it is worth noting that Tom added some new music during the workshop, when he realized that two particular pivotal scenes needed to be fleshed out and clarified a bit more. Written one night, delivered the next morning, it doesn't get more "fresh off the press" than this.

The performance itself is a slightly peculiar thing: without the benefit of a fully staged production, with set, costumes, lighting, or an orchestra, most of the story telling relies on the singers and whatever interaction they can have with each other within the constraints of the format. An added difficulty lies in the fact that each singer portrays several characters throughout the piece. Projected slides above, as well as information in the program was designed to help the audience follow the story, mostly by indicating where the action is taking place, and what characters are in the scene.

After the performance, just like after the libretto workshop, Cori Ellison led the audience thought a moderated feedback session: she used Liz Lerman's critical response process for this, which is comprised of four parts:

1. Statement of meaning: audience members express what was meaningful to them, what "got" to them in the piece. These should be specific, and positive comments, such as "I loved it when...", or "I was moved by...".
2. Questions from the librettist to the audience: the writer asks, the audience responds, and a dialogue ensues. For instance: "Was it clear to you that...?", "what did you think of...?".
3.  Questions from the group to the librettist: sometimes what is clear to the librettist is not clear for the audience, and some points of the plot might need clarification. This is helpful for the composer/librettist in order to gain a different perspective than his own on the work.
4. Opinions: audience members can express opinions about any aspect of the work BUT, they have to ask the writer whether he/she would like to hear them. Sometimes, hearing an opinion might influence the piece too much, or inadvertently push it in a direction that wasn't the writer's initial intent. The audience member would ask: "I have an opinion about such and such, would you like to hear it?".

 

The response was overwhelmingly positive, and much was said about how clear and gripping the storytelling was; surely a great testament to Tom's incredible skill, dramatic instinct, and beautifully evocative music.

You can watch the whole reading as well as the feedback session by clicking on the link below. I am also copying the program description in order to make it easier to follow who is who and where each scene takes place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZJ9Vr3BL88

If you would like to know how what happens in Act 3 and how the story ends, come to the premiere in November at The Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam, in Potsdam, NY. You can visit the Pellicciotti Facebook page, to stay up to date on the project.

A Musical Reading of the First Two Acts of

Mayo

Winner of the 2018 Domenic J. Pellicciotti Opera Composition Prize

Composer and Librettist – Tom Cipullo

Conductor – Kirk Severtson

Pianist and Coach – François Germain

Director – Dean Anthony

Dramaturg – Cori Ellison

Featuring

                                                                              Mayo Buckner: Ben Edquist 

                                                                 Valeria, Soprano roles:  Emily Misch 

                                            Mrs. Buckner, Carolyn, Mezzo roles: Rebecca Ringle Kamarei

Leader of the Eugenicists, Beckmann (an orderly), Tenor roles: Jason Weisinger 

                                                   Superintendent, Baritone roles: Steven Eddy 

                                                                  Ms. Goodrich, Chorus: Samantha Martin

                                                                                     Jo, Mezzo: Gianna Grigalonis

                                                                     Wimpy, Tenor roles: Tristan Lesso

                                                                      Jimmy, Tenor roles: Kirk McAuliffe

                                                                 Timmy, Baritone roles: Wesly Clerge

                                                            Eugenicist, Baritone roles: Henry Horstmann

Act I – Autumn

Preamble:       On a train, 1906.

Prologue:         A public street in middle America, ca. 1906. A group of eugenicists are   recruiting marchers and passing out signs for a rally.

Scene 1:          The Superintendent’s Office, the Iowa Home for Feeble-Minded Children,

                        Mrs. Buckner, Ms. Goodrich, Superintendent. 1906

Scene 2:          A Boys’ Dormitory at the Iowa Home, 1927.

                        A group of boys, Mayo, Beckmann, Ms. Goodrich

Act II – Valeria

Scene 1:          In the garden of the Iowa Home, Autumn 1927.    

                        Jo, Valeria, Carolyn, Beckmann, Mrs. Goodrich

Scene 2:          In the Chapel at the Iowa Home, later that week. 

                        Valeria, Mayo, Ms. Goodrich

Scene 3:          In the Superintendent’s office, later that day. 

                        Ms. Goodrich, Superintendent, Beckmann, Mayo