Sunday, October 23, 2005
Opera.
I have always thought that opera storylines are a bit over dramatic, but I think the format requires it. Recently I saw an article on Andante about a new Tonya Harding/ Nancy Kerrigan opera?
I think it is a little absurd for an opera, but who am I to judge. There has been a Jerry Springer opera, so why not. In fact, I am working on an opera storyline that is terribly over dramatic. It is an 11-century crusade tale about a nun that runs away with her Turkish lover once she reaches the Holy Land.
Anyway, here are a few other possible story lines for operas that are more along the same lines of Harding/Kerrigan.
(This list is completely stolen from my buddy, Marc.)
1.) The Rodney King incident (featuring the powerful aria, "Put that camera down and help me, motherf****r!")
2.) The capturing of Saddam Hussein
(featuring the rousing chorus, "We Got 'im!")
3.) The Chernobyl incident
(featuring yet another powerful aria, "Whoops")
4.) The story of John Bobbitt (featuring a lovely aria for counter-tenor, "
My Love Flew Out the Window")
5.) The Mary Kay Latorneau(sp?) story (featuring the chorus, "
Don't Tell Mama")
posted by Everette Minchew
9:34 PM
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Composer Everette Minchew (born 1977) is consistently active in the creation, performance, and promotion of contemporary music. Moderately prolific, his catalogue includes small chamber pieces for violin, piano, various wind instruments, harpsichord and electronic music. Current commissions include a string trio and an opera based on an 11th-century crusades tale.
His earliest musical training came at the age of eleven when he began playing alto saxophone; it wasn’t long until he began his first attempts in composition.
He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Music History from the University of Southern Mississippi, where he studied saxophone under world-renowned soloist, Lawrence Gwozdz.
Fearing that traditional university training would hinder his development as a progressive composer, he abandoned the idea of formal lessons in favor of an intense private study of modern masterworks.
Minchew's works are characterized by their intense timbral explorations and brutal dissonance. That is not to say, however, that the compositions are devoid of beauty. In the first of the Two Brief Pieces, for example, the harpsichord chimes stringent yet haunting chords evoking a sense of loss.
Other pieces, like the Figment No. 2 "Juggler's Fancy" play upon the kaleidoscopic interaction between timbres and tones. The rapid alternation of pizzicato, arco bowing, and extreme glissandi remind the listener of Xenakis coupled with a Berio Sequenza. Minchew's Invention "Two-Part Contraption" for piano owes much to Ligeti's etudes and boogie-woogie jazz.
His music has been performed around the United States, and he was the featured composer at the 2005 Intégrales New Music Festival in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
He currently resides in Hattiesburg, Mississippi with his wife, Cheryl.
CONTACT INFORMATION
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