Opera Vista Festival

He says his music continues an American tradition “exemplified by artists such as Charles Ives and Bob Dylan.” I could hear influences of both in a seven-minute excerpt from his latest opera, Voir Dire, on a libretto by Jason Zencka. Friday, I predicted that Matthew Peterson would win this year’s Opera Vista Festival. Saturday, it was announced here in Houston that … [Read more...] about Chanter, You Stay

It seemed inevitable that my love of television “reality” competitions would cross with my fascination in opera, but I had no idea this would happen in Texas. If you want to know what’s going on in contemporary opera today (and I mean that literally), you need to be here in Houston. The thrilling Opera Vista Festival introduced six composers of new operas on Wednesday, … [Read more...] about Tonight: Opera Vista Festival Finals

Since Houston Grand Opera's recent premiere of Dead Man Walking, I've been reflecting on the wealth of great librettists in the American operatic tradition. If I were on a television game show and had only 30 seconds to mention as many as I could, my "gut reaction" list would start with Gertrude Stein (Four Saints in Three Acts and The Mother of Us All for Virgil Thomson), … [Read more...] about Did I cite Operas are Poetic? I did.