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Category Archives: Musicabilia
BEYOND / JENSEITS – Just Some Bimbo from the Ballet
In this installment of Beyond – a little night opera, the Woman walks in on her lover, the Conductor, in flagrante delicto with another woman. (Catch up on all installments of Beyond/Jenseits on its home page.) The Conductor rather slimily … Continue reading
Posted in Chamber Works, Musicabilia
Tagged a little night opera, alliteration, angel, ballet, Beyond, bimbo, chamber opera, Hupfdohle, in flagrante delicto, jackdaw, Jenseits, Opera, Rachmaninoff, Richard Clayderman
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BEYOND / JENSEITS – On the Therapist’s Couch
At the beginning of Section XII of the little night opera “Beyond” AKA “Jenseits”, written for my mother Catherine Gayer (catch up on previous installments via the opera’s main page), the 1st Angel takes on the persona of the 4th … Continue reading
Posted in Beginnings, Chamber Works, Musicabilia
Tagged angel, Beyond, Catherine Gayer, chamber opera, chromatic, classical, family, Helga Krauss, Holy Trinity, husband, Jenseits, music, octaves, Opera, singer, son, therapist, therapy
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BEYOND / JENSEITS – The Husband and the Lover
Husband and lover. In the Woman’s memory, they are not the same man. At the close of the previous section of Beyond (Jenseits), the “little night opera” I composed for my mother, the lullaby for her Son transitions to an … Continue reading
Posted in Chamber Works, Musicabilia
Tagged affair, Beyond, chamber opera, conductor, fear, husband, Jenseits, jurisprudence, longing, lover, metroniome, motif, Opera, orgasm, Sehnsucht
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BEYOND / JENSEITS – A Lullaby
In this fourth installment of the opera I wrote for my mother (you can find links to the first three installments on the JENSEITS / BEYOND home page), we are introduced to a new theme, a lullaby. We have just … Continue reading
Posted in Chamber Works, Musicabilia, The Teaching Artist
Tagged a cappella, Angels, Beyond, chamber opera, countermelody, fear, German, Harmony, Jenseits, lullaby, Opera, theme, transliteration, vocal exercise, vowel sound
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BEYOND / JENSEITS – A Life in Review
Welcome to the second post about the little night opera “Jenseits” AKA “Beyond” I composed for my mother, Catherine Gayer. Helga Krauss wrote the libretto, which I translated into English. Read and listen to the first post here, and follow … Continue reading
Posted in Chamber Works, Musicabilia, The Teaching Artist
Tagged Angels, Beyond, Catherine Gayer, childhood, diva, exercises, German, Helga Krauss, husband, Jenseits, lover, Opera, opera singer, son, translation, vocal
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BEYOND / JENSEITS – an Opera for my Mother
Twenty years ago family friend and screenwriter Helga Krauss and I created a one-act opera for my mother, Catherine Gayer (AKA Catherine Ashkenasi, her maiden name being her stage name). Helga wrote the libretto and I composed the music. It … Continue reading
Posted in Beginnings, Chamber Works, Musicabilia
Tagged a little night opera, afterlife, Angels, Beyond, car crash, chamber, death, English, FringeNYC, German, Helga Krauss, Jenseits, New York Times, one-act, Opera, operation, piano, singer, translation
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Mainstreet Musicals touts FEEDSTORE QUARTET
“Feedstore Quartet”, a musical created by Jack Hilton Cunningham and myself, has been selected by Mainstreet Musicals, a non-profit that “promotes development opportunities for new musicals throughout regional America”, as a Director’s Choice Award Winner. Jack and I met at … Continue reading
HEXEN in HOF TONIGHT
A Bewitching Production Born out of a Pandemic My musical “Hexen” (“Witches”) is back on the boards, or rather the foyer, in Theater Hof in Germany. Originally premiered in the fall of 2020, it is back in repertory this season, … Continue reading
Posted in Live! On Stage, Musicabilia, Notes in the News
Tagged Covid, Ed Elder, Florian Lühnsdorf, Germany, Hexen, Hof, musical, pandemic, repertory, Skype, theater, Theater Hof, Witches
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A NIGHT AT THE MUSICABRE – the Art is Alive Magazine Article
Art is Alive Magazine’s Matrell Wood interviewed me a few weeks back and the article has just been published. It touches upon “The Tell-Tale Heart – a musicabre“, its companion piece-in-the-works “The Pit and the Pendulum – a musicabre” as … Continue reading
Posted in Cinema Scope, Literary Lyricism, Musicabilia, Notes in the News, Poe Musicabres
Tagged actor, Art is Alive, composer, Edgar Allan Poe, Filmmaker, I Too Sing America, Langston Hughes, Latin, macabre, Magazine, Matrell Wood, musicabre, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell-Tale Heart, writer
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CINS CHAT CORNER INTERVIEW
Friday, November 13th, I recorded an interview with Cindy Mich from Art is Alive, which she has now posted on her Blog Talk Radio webpage and YouTube (see below). We talked for nearly 90 minutes about my short film musical … Continue reading
Posted in Beginnings, Literary Lyricism, Musicabilia, Notes in the News, Poe Musicabres, The Speakeasy Chronicles
Tagged Award, beTwixt beTween & beTWAIN, Blog Talk Radio, china, Cindy Mich, Cins Chat Corner, Danny Ashkenasi, I Too Sing America, IMDb, interview, Judy Garland, Red Sorghum, short film, Speakeasy, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell-Tale Heart, Zhang Yimou
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HEXEN in HOF
A New “Witches” Production Premieres Tonight in Bavaria The new production of “Hexen” (“Witches“), the two women musical I created with Peter Lund, that is premiering tonight in Theater Hof, in northern Bavaria, Germany, has at least two strong claims … Continue reading
Posted in Live! On Stage, Musicabilia, Notes in the News
Tagged Bavaria, Carolin Waltsgott, Covid 19, English, Finale, foyer, German, Germany, Hexen, Hof, Julia Leinweber, musical, New York City, nine lives, pandemic, Peter Lund, reincarnation, theater, theatre, translation, two women, Witches
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LANGSTON HUGHES, TOO, SINGS AMERICA
Who But The Lord – Words: Langston Hughes; Music: Danny Ashkenasi The above words were written by Langston Hughes in the 1950s. It angers me that they still speak so closely to the struggles we are witnessing today, even more … Continue reading
DROPPING NAMES
A Collection of Mini Memoir Memories You may have seen this going around on Facebook or Twitter: People listing names of celebrities they have met in their life times, but including one name that is a lie. Then people … Continue reading
Posted in Beginnings, Cinema Scope, Musicabilia, Notes in the News, The Teaching Artist
Tagged after school drama program, Al Gore, Andy Serkis, anecdote, celebrity, Celeste Holm, Christopher Walken, Elijah Wood, Frank Sinatra, Gollum, High Society, Isabella Rossellini, Jack Gilford, Jennifer Anniston, Jessica Hecht, Jude Law, Kathleen Turner, Lecy Goranson, Leonard Bernstein, Lord of the Rings, Marni Nixon, NYU, Paul Rudd, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Political Psychology, Sean Mathias, The Dead, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Viggo Mortensen, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Witches, Woyzeck
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