Mark Alburger

2012-01-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

Mark Alburger (b. April 2, 1957, Upper Darby, PA) is an eclectic American composer of postminimal, postpopular, and postcomedic sensibilities. He is Founder and Music Director of San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, Music Director and Resident Composer of San Francisco Cabaret Opera / Goat Hall Productions, Editor-Publisher of 21st-Century Music Journal, and Music Critic for Commuter Times and San Francisco Classical Voice.

Alburger played oboe in Philadelphia and Delaware County Youth Orchestras (the latter in association with George Crumb, Richard Wernick, and George Rochberg), and studied composition with Karl Kohn (Pomona College, 1978); Gerald Levinson and Joan Panetti (Swarthmore College, B.A., 1979); Thomas Wubbenhorst (Weber State University, 1983); Jules Langert (Dominican University of California, M.A., 1991); Roland Jackson, Thomas Flaherty, and Christopher Yavelow (Claremont Graduate University, Ph.D., 1996); and Terry Riley (1997-99).

He has taught Music Composition, History, and Theory at Philips Academy Andover (1979-80), Westtown School (1983-86), Marin Academy (1986-90), Dominican (1992-97), Diablo Valley College (2002-present), and St. Mary's College of California (Visiting Lecturer, 2009-2010).

Among his 199 opus numbers (often troped after Medieval/Renaissance practices on pre-existing works ranging from ancient Chinese sources to the musics of Igor Stravinsky, Crumb, and Philip Glass) may be counted 16 concerti, 24 operas, 31 song cycles, 9 symphonies, and a 12-hour work-in-progress on The Bible. Other notable works include The Twelve Fingers, Diocletian, Mary Variations (on Mary Had a Little Lamb), The Pied Piper of Hamelin, The Playboy of the Western World, The Vespers of 2010 (in homage to the 400th anniversary of the Claudio Monteverdi setting), and Sex and the Bible: The Opera (Part I). His one-man-show Business As Usual was recently revived with new video components in San Francisco, and he is presently writing his way through The Book of Psalms.

In addition to regular performances with SFCCO and SFCO/GHP, Alburger's compositions have been presented across the United States by such organizations as The American Composers Forum, The Annie Wright School (Washington), Berkeley Store Gallery, Ernest Bloch Music Festival (Oregon), Boxcar Theatre, California State University Stanislaus, Chapel of the Chimes, Christ and St. Stephens Church (New York), College Music Society, College of Marin, Foothill College Radio, Ilona Duo, Left Coast Ensemble, Music Next Millenium, National Association of Composers U.S.A., The Next Stage, Noe Valley Ministry, Noh Space, North/South Consonance Orchestra, Northwestern State University (Louisiana), NOW Music Festival, Oakland Metro Opera, Old First Concerts, Opus 415 Marathon, Onyx Quartet, Orchestra 2001, Palo Alto Cultural Center, Pacifica TV, Pacific Sticks, Potrero Hill Neighborhood House Theatre, Las Pulgas School, Sacramento State College, San Francisco Community Music Center, San Francisco Conservatory, San Jose Choral Project, San Jose State Univeristy, Scola Cantorum, Sounds New Ensemble, Star Classics Recital Hall, The Surrey School (Maine), Susan Hess Dance (Philadelphia), Thick House Theatre, Tuolumne Brass, 20th-Century Forum, Venue 9, The Western Springs Music Club (Chicago), Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and Z Space.

His YouTube channel (DrMarkAlburger) includes more than 500 music videos of his work, and has received hits from around the world -- notably from Australia, Brazil, England, India, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. These videos have also been featured on All TV Downloads, AOL Video, Apni Community, Cha Cha, CineBasti, Cine Duck Video, Desi Shock Videos, Domotica, Download Video, Encyclopedia.com, Find4Real, FormAsk, FullSongs.Net, Go Song, Historic River Cities, Holy Tube, Holy YouTube Religion-Based Videos, Lyrics AZ, Moving Space Productions / Lady Tenenbaum, MP3 Downloads, MP3-Find, MP3DL, Music Sense, Musipedia, Next Gossip, One Pakistan Videos, Online Free Videos, Online Television, Otimo Videos, Portal de Misterios, Prismotube, RB Video Search, Sea Flog, Siteo Web Professional, Songs RS, Supermarket, Tube Home, Tube Sense, Veengle, Video Search 24, Vid Surf, Video Surf, Watch Crash Demented Videos, Watch 2 Videos, Witty Sparks, World News, Yidio, and YouTube Dish.

Alburger's works have been recorded on the North/South Consonance, New Music, and I Kill Me Music labels. He is published by New Music, with his early compositions (through Op. 25) available at The International Music Score Library Project.

Alburger has received a number of awards from ASCAP, Meet the Composer, and Theatre Bay Area; and grants from the Getty, William and Flora Hewlett, Marra, MetLife, and Zellerbach Family Foundations.

As Editor-Publisher of 21st-Century Music monthly journal (first published as 20th-Century Music from 1994-99), he has interviewed many composers, including Charles Amirkhanian, Lisa Bielawa, Henry Brant, Earle Brown, Crumb, Andrew Culver, Anthony Davis, Paul Dresher, Dean Drummond, Jim Fox, Glass, Ali Akbar Khan, Joan La Barbara, Steve Mackey, Tod Machover, Meredith Monk, Pauline Oliveros, Steve Reich, Riley, "Blue" Gene Tyranny, Melinda Wagner, Erling Wold, Christian Wolff, and Pamela Z.

Alburger has written the updates of the John (Coolidge) Adams and Philip Glass articles for Grove Online and the second edition of The New Grove American Dictionary of Music, plus new essays on American Baroque, Dan Becker, Cold Blue, Jim Fox, Alden Jenks, Mona Lyn Reese, Belinda Reynolds, Alex Shapiro, Andrew Shapiro, M. Wagner, William Winant, and Wold.

Alburger's parents are George and Elizabeth Alburger, artists and journalists of the Philadelphia area. His sister Sorrel Ann is a New York performance artist. He was married to Carolyn Alburger from 1983 to 1999; their daughter Crystal is a double-major summa cum laude graduate of Beloit College.

Alburger resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with his partner of twelve years, Harriet March Page -- mezzo-soprano, and Founder and Artistic Director of San Francisco Cabaret Opera / Goat Hall Productions.

YouTube Channel
youtube.com/user/DrMarkAlburger

Wikipedia Article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Alburger

Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/people/Mark-Alburger/546460824

Past and Upcoming Events
markalburgerevents.blogspot.com

Complete Works (In Progress, Always)
markalburgerworks.blogspot.com

International Music Score Library Project

http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Alburger,_Mark

Daily Blog
markalburger2012.blogspot.com (2012)

markalburger2011.blogspot.com (2011)
markalburger2010.blogspot.com (2010)
markalburger2009.blogspot.com (2009)

markalburger.blogspot.com (April-December, 2008)

markalburger2008.blogspot.com (January-March, 2008)
myspace.com/markalburger (2007)

Music History (Textbook)

markalburgermusichistory.blogspot.com

21st-Century Music (Online Versions of the Monthly Journal)
21st-centurymusic.com (Archive)
21st-centurymusic.blogspot.com (In Progress, Always)

Performing Groups
sfcco.org
(San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra)
goathall.org
(San Francisco Cabaret Opera / Goat Hall Productions)

Myspace

http://www.myspace.com/markalburger

Biography at Bach Cantatas

http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Alburger-Mark.htm

Partial List of J.S. Bach tropes

http://www.bach-cantatas.com/NVD/PT-Alburger-M.htm

Partial List of Grids, Influences, Quotations, Tropes

http://markalburgerworks.blogspot.com/2012/01/inspiration-and-troping-sources.html

December 31 - Preposition Propositions

2008-12-31T21:59:00.000-08:00

In Barstow.

After the train.

Near the tamarisk.

At the station of the crossed clouds.

Across the Mojave on 58.

Below the southern Sierra Nevada.

Up Tehachapi Pass's Joshua trees, snow, and (unfortunate) windmills.

Through the industrial violations of the high plateau.

By the town.

Down the grade.

Past oaks and digger pine.

Into the fog of the future with Harriet at the end of a most memorable happy year -- and, to all, many new ones more!

December 30 - Slip-Fault Sliding

2008-12-30T22:36:00.000-08:00

Fly away up Oak Creek Canyon, past the increasing snows of Slide Ranch,

to the switchbacks by

the piney

overlook,

adjacent to the small world of a Sikh snowball fight and

Native-American vendors.

Declivity gives way to plateau thereafter, as we approach the scalloped plowed edges of a Flagstaff service station,

where the San Francisco Peaks reign supreme,

then down out from the elevation-c.-7,000 high country into Mohave County (there's no accounting for Arizonan non-Hispanic spelling)...

to the expanses of the Yucca Rest Area,

near the Arizona Needles,

over the Colorado

River at the spot on the map known as Topock

and back

to our strange wonderful state,

with towns named after strange/natural out-of-state formations,

and the ghosts of yuccas in the Sacramento Mountains marching off to uncertain futures.

Down the alluvial slopes into the line of a deserted overpass in Ward Valley (this land where I entered the state to take up more-or-less permanent residence so many years ago),

up into the Piute Mountains,

and down again -- a palm-and-cacti

pseudo-oasis

near Goffs finds views extending east to the aforesaid prominences

and west beyond a sad, silent, waterless flock to

the Providence range in the East Mojave Scenic Area: creosote bush, dark igneous table lands, and even a bit of relief for animal companions.

But other signs, including prices a full dollar more than elsewhere (hey, we're back of beyond; what can we expect?), are less encouraging (non-humans, refer back to previous scene). Nevertheless...

Ole!... Since the Scandinavian equivalent is not coming to mind...

On. To lonely railroads before the Cady Mountains,

and the evenglow of the Calicos

extending to the outskirts of Barstow for rest. Stop.

December 29 - Lifting Our Eyes

2008-12-29T22:26:00.000-08:00

Jerome lies basking next to part of its raison-d'etre -- the open-pit-copper Clark Mine --

up nd at the Mingus Mountains,

in glorious views the San Francisco Peaks (north of Flagstaff),

Sedona Cliffs, and Verde Valley, on the way to the

Douglas Mansion

at the State Park.

From there, the town is part of the view,

along with the Mine (namesake of the aforesaid original big-time minor, obliged to look at his interloping late-comer arrival's digs down the hill) and

Little Daisy Hotel (rather a lot really, named for Douglas's rival excavation, and now an unexpectedly private residence),

old mine equipment,

stately walls,

views scrimmed,

stark, and

surreal,

extending downslope to Clarkdale (Clark's combo humanitarian-industrial founding), the Verde Valley, Sedona Cliffs, and Williams and San Francisco Peaks.

Upslope, lunch is at the Jerome Grand Hotel (a former hospital),

Bar,

looking out on the patio,

Valley,

and all the rest, again (now including the Powder Box Church -- now a private residence, and named for its construction utilizing old wooden boxes which once contained explosives).

Harriet buys me a new hat (much to the relief of some of my students), and we're out the door, back to Sedona.

First stop, Lower and Upper Red Rocks Loop Road, since it's about time to take in the picture-book vistas of Courthouse Butte and

Cathedral Rock,

set among various

foregrounds (clearly, look, but don't touch).

Dry Creek Road, the unique teal-arched planning-board-approved McDonalds, the adobe Safeway before Capitol Butte,

followed by Soldier (or Soldier's -- the first seems favored by a majority of guidebooks and maps, while the second is on the street signs) Pass's Coffee Pot Rock

evince the mixed blessings of development.

From here, we ascend halfway up Airport Mesa to the, shall we say, Vortex View of

the Coxcomb,

Chimney Rock,

Capitol,

Sugarloaf,

Coffee,

Soldier,

The Sphinx, The Fin,

Wilson Mountain, and Steamboat Rock.

At the top of the Mesa, another stop --

are we viewed-out yet (with the Safeway down left from Capitol Rock and

the vista across the airport proper)?

Evidently not, because next is the beginning (but only the beginning, as the main course is unpaved) of Schnebly Hill Road, named after a founding pioneer in these parts, whose wife's given name was given to the town.

Here the world extends west to Mitten Ridge,

east to Munds Mountain,

and south back towards Capitol etc. And back towards there we head, to rendezvous with Roland and Liz at a local grill, for steaks and stir-fry and a far-inland fisherman's platter.

December 28 - Wringing Out Adventure

2008-12-28T23:58:00.000-08:00

We wake to the chill and beauty of a clear central Arizona morning, light radiating off the snows of the Mingus Mountains, to rendezvous

in their art-filled house (including R's tropes on Picasso and Klimt in the back studio)

with Liz and

Roland March,

Harriet's younger brother, whom she has not seen in more than 16 years.

After a spirited lunch (watched over by L's Mata Hari),

featuring old photographs

of the siblings (note the budding author at the typewriter) and

family (father was a rubber tramp and boondocker [Quartzsite style] before the terms were common -- these are not vacation photos; this was a way of life, as H has written and I have musicized, indeed operaized, in the quadrilic Ring of Harriet... N.B. also the only saguaro cactus in this Arizona account),

we take our leave

and head

for the colorful cliffs of

Sedona (with Capitol Butte

looming over condos; and

Coffee Pot Rock, the Sphinx, and Wilson Mountain lined up like gawking tourists),

first going

uptown, and then way up Oak Creek Canyon, for books.

We return to the last light, by Twin Buttes, of

The Chapel of the Holy Cross --looking like part of a quadrilateral bit of granite below the top of one of the rock formations known as The Two Nuns --

on a hillock adjacent to The Madona (the smaller isolated spire just left of center) and the aforesaid

convent crew,

perched

resolutely.

We ascend the spiral ramp,

to the pastoral promontory perch,

with views of the setting sun, appropriately enough, beaming through Cathedral Rock (Catholic vortex, anyone?)

towards Lee Mountain, Courthouse Butte, and Bell Rock.

The sanctuary altar is as serene as possible,

given the throngs silhouetted in shining cliffs just before the 5pm closing.

Chasing the light south (away from Twin Buttes and a miniscule Holy Crossl)

towards the town of Oak Creek (which is not only not on the stream but not even in the same drainage basin), Courthouse glows

and Bell glowers, despite the latter's vortexational reputation,

yet beckons to be explored from a trailhead,

well-stocked with supplies.

December 27 - Let There Be Light

2008-12-27T23:38:00.000-08:00

Sun beating down on the palms,

we cross the Colorado and ascend into Arizona,

taking in the sights and

sites of Quartzsite.

The miles unfold past saguaro and palo verde, Hovhanessian Mountains Without End, gas at $1.49/gal north of Phoenix, the last giant cacti on I-17 -- to Cottonwood, in view of the Sedona cliffs,

catching the light of the setting sun.

December 26 - Deck the Hallows

2008-12-26T22:49:00.000-08:00

A caroler figurine looks out over the prospect of clouds and sun in the San Bernardinos north of the Mission Inn,

where we wake up near the sunshine of the Spanish Patio turrets,

dome,

and nearby mountains.

The clock says it's time to go (watch out for that arrow when marcheth on),

so down the Rotunda, beyond

the arcane arcade colonnade, and

the St. Francis Chapel area

vantage points of the

Jurupas et. al., over the

sacred rooftop passageway

with the northwest dome shining.

Move the car from across the street of the front entrance

arches

to the back and then recircle around this city-block hotel's east-face carolers,

to where Harriet patiently waits.

One last look at the third floor east court,

again looking out towards the Mt. San Bernardino environs

then dallying in the lobby,

before we break for coffee in Yucaipa

with the great John Curtis Browning.

On the road again, the magnificent mountain leads us to a

service station vista,

then views of Mt. San Jacinto on I-10,

where the phalanxes and

lines

of windmills in San Gorgonio Pass

almost redeem themselves,

an army

threatening us

to the north and

and south.

At last, into the preserved desert at Mecca Hills,

proceeding apace with vistas north to the Little San Bernardino

and Eagle Mountain realms of Joshua Tree National Park and vicinity;

south to the Orocopias,

with a cloud canopy over the Chuckwallas.

The rest area in the latter Valley

yields views of McCoy Peak, and,

as the light fades towards the Mules,

we take refuge in a blithe Blythe bar for albondigas and Dos Equis.

December 25 - Madonna Mission Accomplished

2008-12-25T23:14:00.000-08:00

With partial clearing

at the Madonna Inn,

the volcanic cones glowering across the across the ranch lands,

Harriet and I breakfast

via the porte-cochere

in the warm and

garish surroundings

(perhaps a mirror to our crazy world),

taking leave and

and hitting the rain-showered road south to Gaviota Gorge

(non-tunnel direction,

merely a bit of rock overhang),

south of the rocky Santa Ynez Mountains (part of the Transverse Ranges), along the Santa Barbara and

and Ventura coasts,

to the Rincon Cliffs.

Beyond, it's over the Oxnard Plain, with views to the Santa Monica Mountains,

up Conejo Grade and into Los Angeles County (where Las Virgines Road beckons toward Malibu Canyon),

across the valleys to Riverside's Jurupa Mountains,

partially desecrated and

decorated (yes that's a mammoth on the extreme right),

to the way-moreso, mammoth-in-it's-own-way Mission Inn.

Lights on, this second eccentric destination is further enlivened, from the entrance arches

and lobby

Christmas tree, through the

abstract

geometry of

pool,

spa,

illuminated palms,

and entrance walkway of the outer courtyard in view from our

first room (contrapuntal pipes will merit a second);

an angel-and-

mariachi-band-bear

sandwich,

bespangled colonades,

giant figurine

clock, and

turrets

in the inner atrium (Spanish Wing);

to the surreal chapel

(looking out on the relatedly phantasmagoric dark-distant Jurupas),

further illumined foliage (in the back-of-beyond building),

austere above-the-chapel promenade

dome, and

dizzy rotunda of

the northwest quadrant of this very full city block.

December 24 - It Came Upon a Midnight Pink

2008-12-24T23:59:00.000-08:00

With Bud and Loraine looking after the house, load up Harriet's car, orchestrate four more pages of Samson and Delilah: XIII. Disunity, then head out the door for the trip south, stopping briefly at Laverne's to drop off a transcript, Starbucks coffee and Chron, more brief stops merging south from I-680 to U.S. 101 in San Jose, then smooth sailing in the stormy twiight of the Santa Lucias above the Salinas Valley, through dark storms and squalls

to the veranda of Sweepstakes, at the inimitable, over-the top

Madonna Inn, with its pink/stony portecochere,

cupola'd dining room,

Jeff Koonesque Christmas decorations --

calling Bette and George and Sorrel and Crystal and Tisha et al, whereupon Harriet and I take refuge in the holiday cheer of the bar lounge, and the bar-counter of the coffee shop, ultimately retiring with visions of cookie-plums...

December 23 - Desert Dreaming

2008-12-23T23:15:00.000-08:00

Finish the orchestration of Samson and Delilah: XII. Dan and

begin that of XIII. Disunity. In between, do the grades for the 35 students in the Music Literature class, anticipating the trip south tomorrow.

December 22 - Varied Trio

2008-12-22T23:56:00.000-08:00

[Contemporary spin on the Artemis mother-goddess iconography; possible image for Micah's Idol in Judges, chapters 17-18; and what results from googling "Woman with Three Breasts"]

Three [!] more pages of Samson and Delilah: XI. Dan orchestrated in the a.m., before traipsing to DVC in the early afternoon, where Doug has inadvertently deleted all the files on my default computer station, alas (nothing totally essential, but still...). He gives me some tips, however, about running checks on the laptop and burning CDs on the lab equipment (it's been awhile), and I make 7 copies of the Henry Purcell Dioclesian for Harriet,

while recording the rest of short version (9-10 minutes, or is that c. 3 x 3?) of my Diocletian:

III. Happy Funeral Music (Part 3)
IV. What Shall I Do?
Va. Speak, Flame
Vb. Great Diocletian
VI. Country Dance

[Mice Suites in rehearsal, 8/24/08, Berkeley, CA --
Suzanna Mizell, Alexandre Jerenic,
Maria Mikheyenko, Adam Broner, Wayne Wong]

A Marin loop is next, picking up the October 2008 21st-Century Music from the printer ('bout time), then return, buying 40 more file boxes (obviously very serious about this project), and mixing Mice Suites recordings from this past August and beyond, including

I. Dreamsong I
II. Worksong
III. Threatsong
IV. Tartsong I
XIII. Dreamsong II

Oh yes, and two more orchestrated pages of S&D: XI. D late (the Igor Stravinsky Song of the Nightingale trope, after pages of Camille Saint-Saens), so perhaps this day is as much about quintets as trios...

December 21 - Tall Orders

2008-12-21T23:45:00.000-08:00

Finish up the Theory grading on this shortest day, re-organize the geographical collection in file boxes,

and produce orchestration up to page 5 of Samson and Delilah: XII. Dan (here's the short-and-spare opening, first experiment with saving as PDF, and converting to JPG).

December 20 - Semi-Solstice Songs

2008-12-20T23:35:00.000-08:00

Party given by Eliza for Harriet tonight at Chamber Arts, and a good time is had by all, with Christmas carols, et. al,

and just a little time left for another orchestrated page of Samson and Delilah: XII. Dan.

December 19 - Reversed World

2008-12-19T23:58:00.000-08:00

Begin the orchestration of Samson and Delilah: XII. Dan. It's the Friday end-of-the-semester ritual, holding court in the Music Building lobby to receive last-minute work, etc.,

and, when all's quiet, begin grading. Thereafter in the lab,

for complete recording of S&D: XI. Dagon.

December 18 - Last Day First Day

2008-12-18T22:34:00.000-08:00

Up early again to grade papers, but forget iPod, so dispense with the breakfast outing (no protection against muzak and loud cellphone and other conversers), and directly to school, where all three classrooms are exam'd and the lab's security system is experiencing opposite day. The only solution seems to be to head to the office, shared with Rory (who mentions in passing that his favorite Renaissance composer is Ciprano de Rore...), turns out to be a pleasant experience, triggering Baroque music off of markalburgermusichistory.blogspot.com (in preparation for the St. Mary's gig next semester) and doing grades on the laptop.

[James, Desiree, Ken W., Daniel]

It's the second final exam and our final time in Theory -- all of our survivors make it, including Dustin (who zips through a two-day test in one), and we are

Desiree Abad
Francisco Arcila
Hiraoki Asakawa

Sheyda Bahramian
Carissa Beck
Danny Butler

Neill Castro
Daniel Ciurlizza
Matthew Cooper

Ben Dashley
Andrew Flesher

Jamison Leggett
Luis Lobos

Nate Ma
Dustin Marks
Ken Medlen
Jonathon McCollum
Megan Mui

James Parton
Sean Paulson

John Veitch
Ken Wilcox
Seth Zimmerman

[Seth, John, Sean, Carissa, James, Desiree, Ken W., Daniel]

-- 23 in all! Some sort of record (and two with perfect attendance/participation: Carissa and John).

[Sheyda, Jamison, Nate, Neill, Dustin, Luis, John)

The two hours are devoted to finishing up the written exam, then presenting the remaining fourth compositions, and all the fifths -- the latter which must be presented by students (in either live performances or via recordings). These include Desiree and Daniel's colaboration (respectively on guitar and piano in several photos above) -- a funny and moving Goodby Music Theory Class, including

I really like Do Re Mi
But I didn't like the Fi Si
Or the C Section (in the 12-bar blues)

[John, Seth, Sheyda, Luis, Sean]

-- and John's Lament for Alburger's Class ("Alburger said I should play my own piece so I did"),

[Francisco, Megan, Ben, Ken M., Andrew, Jonathon]

which mirthfully combines elaborate extended melismatic cantillation and minimalist drone --

[Francisco, Megan, Ken M., Andrew, Ben, Jonathon, Daniel, Hiraoki, Desiree]

both pieces, as well as all the others, to very positive response.

[John, Ken M., Andrew]

So, farewell,

[Ken M., Andrew, Megan, Neill, Danny, Matthew, Desiree, Daniel, Dustin, Francisco, Sheyda, 12/11]

Music Theoreticians --

[Neill, Danny, Matthew, Desiree, Daniel, Dustin, Francisco, Sheyda, Seth, Carissa, Luis, Jamison, James, Sean, Nate]

but keep in touch!

Home thereafter, finishing orchestration of Samson and Delilah: XI. Dagon -- hopefully having nothing to do with our reality...

December 17 - Can You Believe It

2008-12-17T23:35:00.000-08:00

[To the music of Henry Miller in Brooklyn: At the Blood Bank]

Can you believe it?
Can you possibly reproductively believe it?
Where did I go this morning?
Why did I wake up at seven o'clock?
Where did I go when it was just getting light?
Brilliantly clear and amazingly cold
(snow in the Coast Ranges north of Winters
and as much on Mt. Diablo as has been seen in recent years).
Why did I go to the deity-damned Denny's?
Why did I order biscuits and gravy, and sit for an hour-and-a-half,
Falling behind and out of time with just a coffee, sinking fast --
Why? I'll tell you why:
To correct papers that's why, with precious little time to spare.

Make it to class on time for this Exam Day, and we have 22 survivors -- a respectable number by this point in the semester, with a seasonal dictation of the Handelian Joy to the World, five bars, cut off in mid-phrase. Check email just after, and Marty Rokeach has checked in, suggesting that we get together for lunch locally and then drive to St. Mary's to look the situation over.

He gives me a number, which I dutifully call:

"Is this Marty"

"Yes"

"This is Mark"

"Who?"

"Mark Alburger"

"Who?"

"Is this Martin Rokeach?"

"No, you have the wrong number."

So it turns out, my cell phone automatically calls within its home area code -- despite the fact that we are physically in another region. So, evidently two Martys share a telephone number in adjacent districts...

Call the correct number, and we're off to a Chinese locale in Moraga for lunch, past glorious open space,

then to campus, where we continue to discuss the upcoming Music in the Enlightment course, which is basically a Baroque-and-Classical offering required for the Music Major. Great, as well, to see Lino Rivera -- this is the second time one of his sabaticals (first was at DVC years back) has provided a striking opportunity.

It takes Marty and I awhile (two detachment and attachments of ethernet cable from faculty offic to classroom), but we finally figure out that the space has internet capabilities -- well nigh essential these days...

Borrow some scores and a book, handy for course and course of composition and life:

Piero Weiss and Richard Taruskin
Music in the Western World: A History in Documents

Arcangelo Corelli
Complete Violin Sonatas and Trio Sonatas

G.F. Handel
Giulio Cesare

J.S. Bach
French Suites Sonatas and Partitas
St. Matthew Passion
Mass in B Minor

F.J. Haydn
Complete London Symphonies

W.A. Mozart
The Violin Concerti and the Sinfonia Concertante
(5th is from which my Violin Concerto ["Ticklish"] is derived)
Later Symphonies (35-41)

Spend some time in the library, then back through back roads (good to get to know -- have been in area several times and am finally connecting a few routes) to DVC, burning copies of the Samson and Delilah: X. Delilah and XI. Dagon (frament) recordings of yesterday that were in want of a blank CD.

Home to Harriet, dinner together, fully figuring out (thanks to Chris's lead yesterday late in the lab) how to get a full midi orchestra playback out of Sibelius (also sleuthing out where the mysterious "Scores" folder was placed -- counterintuatively in "Documents," now moved to "Music"), orchestrating through page 32 of Dagon, putting a bit on the music history blog re Danny Elfman and Thomas Newman. Can you believe it?

December 16 - The Progress of Time

2008-12-16T23:59:00.000-08:00

Off to Marin, drop off the October 2008 Journal at the printer, find healthy recompense in the postbox, grade papers for three hours at Celia's, teach the evening class, with music of America, the Police, David Byrne, Mark Alburger, Tan Dun, Erling Wold, Osvaldo Golijov, Prince, Harry Gregson-Williams, Michael Torke, Nirvana, Stephen Clark, Symphony X, Radiohead, Death Cab for Cutie, Panic at the Disco, and intriguing student selections -- all the latter utilizing Wikipedia and YouTube.

In five years, student reports have evolved as below

2004 CDs and Tapes
2005 CDs and iPods
2006 iPods and CDs
2007 iPods and Computers
2008 Computers and Internet

Late in the lab recording Samson and Delilah: X. Delilah and part of XI. Dagon, plus chatting with Chris and Colin about the partial presentation of racier parts of Biblical epic at Fresh Voices X (2010).

December 15 - Variations on Themes

2008-12-15T12:59:00.000-08:00

Megan Mui checks in with a question re use of heard-but-not-known music re final composition in Theory class. The response:

"Totally fine to do as you propose -- composers have been doing tropes / variations on pre-existent music seemingly since notation began, and no doubt before.

Yes, and curious about that "don't know where the theme is from" -- difficult to google such a concept (have faced similar challenges...ongoing...), but perhaps we can provide communal wisdom when we hear it.

N.B. tradition is one thing, present circumstances another -- there can be legal issues re recent copyrighted material, but there is almost always a way around such concerns, and re present situation, we can certainly be shielded by education/pedagogy and the low-key arena (at present you're not thinking of publishing and making a minted million)."

Harriet's off on a job, back mid-day, and stays the night in inner Bay Area with Tisha and Clare. Here it's more Samson and Delilah: XI. Dagon orchestration (through page 18), finishing the October 2008 back-issue of 21st-Century Music (with many balky adventures re file pagination and printing), and posting musical examples at markalburgermusichistory.blogspot.com from Dewey Bunnel and Sting through Tan Dun and Erling Wold.

Playlist for today, including burning a few CD's from old records, includes

Alexander Borodin
On the Steppes of Central Asia
Prince Igor: Polovtzian Dances

Pierre Boulez
Le Marteau sans Maitre (the classic older recording)
Le Soleil des Eau

Charles Koechlin
The Bandar-Log

Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Russian Easter Overture

Olivier Messiaen
Chronochromie

as well as music by

Paul Bowles
Luigi Dallapiccola
Henri Pouseur

December 14 - Hey Man, Little Boxes!

2008-12-14T11:59:00.000-08:00

Bought 12 more filing boxes (six yesterday), and promptly filled them with compositions to the tune of c. ten opus numbers per box, while listening to Bizet and more contemporary retellings (or was it both at once?) -- also re-organized scores on shelves, elevating many from the floor where they've been living for quite some time.....

Harriet, Tisha, and Clare at recitative rehearsal for SF Cabaret Opera's production of the W.A. Mozart Marriage of Figaro, while a bit more (page 11) of Samson and Delilah: XI. Dagon gets orchestrated on the homefront (amazing that Horst P. Horst -- photographer above -- was born in the same year as Samuel Beckett and Dmitri Shostakovich [1906], but outlived them both to pass away at the brink of the new century [1999]).

December 13 - Jiggle Belles

2008-12-13T23:14:00.000-08:00

Orchestrate a couple more pages of Samson and Delilah: XI. Dagon (through page 10) and continue the major reorganization of the office that began last weekend,

in anticipation of the arrival from Seattle of

Tisha and Clare,

who celebrate an early Christmas with us.

Clare and I play catch out back, and I'm amazed at her stamina and knowledge of Van Gogh, Rivera, and Kahlo at age 8! We stay out almost until the starry night. After the decoration (before) and gift-opening festivities (to a background of Christmas carols, Andre Kostelanetz, Robert Shaw, Hector Berlioz L'Enfance du Christ, Henry Purcell's Dioclesian, and bits of Handel, J.S. Bach, and Bizet), I blitz out to Staples to buy file-storage boxes (first time ever, having relied on Kinko's for years until their untimely demise, subsumed as they have been by the not-really-focussed-the-situation Fed Ex), and this simple purchase allows me to begin to put some kind of re-organizational schema into my music (six boxes and counting thus far), life, the universe, and everything.

December 12 - Dagon It!

2008-12-12T02:43:00.000-08:00

Finish Samson and Delilah: X. Delilah orchestration and begin XI. Dagon, hanging around the house all day with Harriet, fresh breezes, sunshine, and a storm brewing.

December 11 - Hair Today

2008-12-11T23:53:00.000-08:00

Eight more pages of Samson and Delilah: X. Delilah orchestrated, thanks to some Sibelius help from Peter Josheff tonight at San Francisco Cabaret Opera Fresh Voices Selection Committee meeting (just during the breaks -- we keep our attention on matters at hand most of evening, at soiree chez Sharon Walters, with Harriet, Eliza, and Gus).

Before this, last normal-class-meeting-time-week in Theory, with Seth, Jamison, and Hiraoki presenting dictation, board harmony, and dictation, respectively/sequentially -- in intriguing passages from Blonde Redhead, et. al.

Also last day for fourth compositions -- including fine ones from Megan, Shayda, and Sean, with a rider to the bill of Overture to "The Bald Soprano."

December 10 - Yee Haw!

2008-12-10T23:59:00.000-08:00

While Harriet's out on a job in Oakland, finish the orchestration of Samson and Delilah: IX. Defeat (Ass's Jaw), and then record it, with the complete VIII. Death (Lion), after class in the lab.

Between, we have Sheyda, Carissa, and Matthew present two dictations and a board harmony -- J.S. Bach Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring and Leo Delibes Coppelia waltz excerpt -- amazing number of art-music excerpts given by the theoreticians this semester (adding these two to the Smetana, Mussorgsky, and Shostakovich earlier).

Home for a spell improvising on the Camille Saint-Saens S&D love/betrayal scene, and play same plus The Ten Commandments / Seven Commandments movement from Moses and Aaron / Animal Opera (take your pick) for Lisa Scola, Ed, and Tom Prosek, plus Davide Verrotta and David Graves (unlike Dr. Seuss we have a reasonable number of Daves).

San Francisc Composers Chamber Orchestra Board Meeting follows, and we work so efficiently that we break early, and Michael kindly helps with the new Sibelius program. Home via Marin, staying up late to begin S&D: X. Delilah on the new-set up on the laptop. Very welcome, a bit challenging, and long overdue.

December 9 - A Muse to Death

2008-12-10T01:02:00.000-08:00

Begin orchestration of Samson and Delilah: IX. Defeat (The Ass's Jaw) -- 9 pages -- before heading off to DVC. Daniel and Desiree present, seasonally appropriately, Irving Berlin's White Christmas, with a classic appoggiatura and very straightforward harmonization that by now is a snap for our theoretician sleuths.

Music by Desiree (related to the Berlin), Francisco (with major chords located on a descending whole tone fragment -- Do Te Le Se), and John (on his snappy new Macbook) follows, and afternoon is devoted to Elephant Bar paper grading.

Evening class proceeds from Reich and Glass, now with excerpts on the blog, through Alburger and Wold, still waiting for musical examples, then home to orchestrated a nightcap of 8 more pages of above, for a total of 17 for the day (all based on Aaron Copland's Hoedown from Rodeo, which always seems to be crying for more melodic content, anyway).

December 8 - End of the Line

2008-12-08T23:41:00.000-08:00

And a morning and an evening, finishing the orchestration of Samson and Delilah: VIII. Death (Lion), which checks in at about 24 pages.

Luis and Ken W. present the dictation and harmony today, for which they select Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition: Promenade -- Wow! Third student-selected classical rep for teaching (joining the Smetana and Shostakovich of last week, and pictured above towards the close of his career). After this present selections from Henry Miller in Brooklyn.

Overture
Suicide Song
At the Blood Bank
Subway Madman

John plays and sings a proposed improv-composition after class -- both beautiful and funny -- then in the lab to record S&D

V. Disorientation (complete, finally)
VII. Daughter
VIII. Death (beginning)

Finally home after whirlwind of errands, watching video of November 8 Ophelia Forever, Quantum Mechanic, Antigone with Harriet -- very strong performances -- as we mail out back issues of journals.

December 7 - In-Line Skirting

2008-12-07T23:45:00.000-08:00

Up to page 12 orchestrating Samson and Delilah: VIII. Death (Lion), and continuing major reorganization of the workspace (which is just about on the edge of chaos of late), realizing that boxes of files (surprise, surprise), rather than filing cabinets, are part of the solution.

Amongst the items turned up is the David Byrne / Brian Eno My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, a welcome re-discovery, which I look forward to importing into iTunes, assuming the computer remembers how (it certainly doesn't seem to be able to handle the second half of the Arnold Schoenberg Pierrot Lunaire with Cleo Laine as the sprechstimmer).... Also begin listening to the Nonesuch Philip Glass 10-CD box set (the first two so far -- Music in Contrary Motion, Music with Changing Parts, Music in Similar Motion, Music in 12 Parts, in slipcovers, however), which Michael McDonagh so kindly gifted.

The fog breaks, the fog returns (here again a picture of Sulfur Springs treed slopes on December 1); Harriet and I out to the local brewery and then back watching video (of November 16 Chapel of the Chimes Ophelia Forever, Quantum Mechanic, and Antigone, all pretty impressive), mailing out back issues of Journals, plus desert and divertissements.

December 6 - Line of Inquiry

2008-12-06T23:46:00.000-08:00

Finish the orchestration of Samson and Delilah: VII. Daughter (turned out to be 10 pages, condensed from a projected 12) and begin that of VIII. Death (Lion) which is finally about one of the title characters, based on that of the Saint-Saens, and also his Carnival of the Animals: IX. The Cuckoo in the Wood (four pages thus far).

Help Harriet get re-organized, which inspires me to do likewise (at least the living, dining, and bed rooms are in decent order now, but the study and garage?... a tall order...), and burn-n-import a few more records and tapes, eventually via another manner, which seems to please the MacBook (and therefore, me) more. The listening, etc., includes

P.D.Q. Bach (a.k.a. Peter Schikele) - Beethoven's 5th, Schleptet, What's My Melodic Line, and My Bonnie Lass She Smelleth

Samuel Barber - Summer Music

Bela Bartok - Piano Concerto No. 1, Concerto for Orchestra (2 versions)

Charles Ives - Selected Songs (Cleo Laine)

Arnold Schoenberg - Pierrot Lunaire (Cleo Laine)

Igor Stravinsky - Ragtime for 11 Instruments, Concerto for Piano and Winds, Symphony of Psalms, Requiem Canticles

December 5 - Pages and Page

2008-12-05T23:55:00.000-08:00

Home with Harriet all day, and orchestrate about half the twelve pages of Samson and Delilah: VII. Daughter (Jephtha [someone should have thrown the book at him]) in the morning, while digital archival copies of several analog recordings are made (John Adams - Nixon in China, Robert Ashley - Private Parts, J.S. Bach - Magnificat) on the new Innovative Technologies machine, but some tracks won't import into iTunes (suspect that the latter is misbehaving).

The fog clears (as it did at the American Canyon exit of I-80 on December 1, above), while putting musical examples onto markalburgermusichistory.blogspot.com of composers born between 1940 and 1950, but, astoundingly, as is Samuel-Beckettianly- metaphorically-inevitably the case again, the light gleams for an instant.... An open and shut casebook....

December 4 - Express Lane

2008-12-04T23:08:00.000-08:00

Megan and Danny present a dictation and board harmony based on the finale of Dmitri Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1 (Concerto for Piano, Trumpet, and Strings), with nice major-minor interplay, secondary and borrowed melodic movement, and sardonic bitonality and banality -- as clean and cold as parts of Siberia, from whence his family emigrated, so to speak.

Fine compositions by Sean and Luis, plus excerpts from Samson and Delilah (VI. Downfall) and Amazing Joseph (I. I Had a Dream). Return home relatively early, putting Beatles musical examples on the blog, and listening to the Igor Stravinsky Rake's Progress, music of Adam de la Hale, and John Adams's Nixon in China.

Out to U.C. Davis Library in the late eve, with the mist turning into impressive tule fog in the course of an hour, then back (moony-starry skies clearing tentatively at the freeway exit, where the edge of the stratus proves to be thick but not high, passing Valero at $1.65/gal -- picture actually from 12/01), having obtained needed orchestrational info from Henry Purcell's Dioclesian (for my Diocletian instrumentation) and Richard Wagner's Die Walkure "Magic Fire Music,"

beginning the orchestration of S&D: VII. Daughter (Jephtha).

December 3 - Top This

2008-12-03T23:29:00.000-08:00

Finish the orchestration of Samson and Delilah: VI. Downfall (The Death of Abimelech) but aol won't allow the MIDI file to be emailed, so looks like one step closer to abandoning that increasingly inconvenient format. Have also recently been given the Sibelius program for the laptop, courtesy of Andrew, so perhaps will also be moving away from the old Encore program on the desktop.

Nate and James team up for a dictation / board harmony on the Lennon-McCartney Hey, Jude, and we listen thereafter to Nate's fourth composition, as well as those by Neill and Seth (all quite impressive), plus Joshua Fought the Battle and as much of S&D as has been recorded (through some of V. Disorientation [Gideon]). Daniel plays one of his intriguing minimalist-reminiscent pieces after class, which brings to mind Subway Madman, from Henry Miller in Brooklyn (not sure who his friend is in the above photo, but whatever...) -- subsequently played.

In the lab, record all of Downfall (had sent most of the MIDI yesterday, and completed in Cubase, with the addition of some ACID loops), then fly out the door to Marin (photo is of Mt. Tamalpais last August 22, but whatever...), via Berkeley, and arrive at printer's with minutes to spare, picking copies of September 2005 back issue of 21st-Century Music, followed by post office with seconds to spare.

After Celia's and paper grading, off to Macy's (via Mervyn's in its last gasp) and, low and behold, there's the Phono / Tape-Player / Radio / CD Burner that we've been seeking (not a Crossly but an Innovative Technology...). Very helpful saleswoman and somehow I carry it (mostly on my head with the laptop slung over the shoulder) down from the third floor, all the way across the Northgate Mall, up again to the second-story parking structure.

Return home to Harriet, we set up the player-recorder, and, low and behold, it works. For the record, so to speak,

First radio station played: Sacramento Classical
First tape played: John Adams - The Chairman Dances
First record played: Alban Berg - Wozzeck
First CD played: Philip Glass - "Low" Symphony
First CD burned: Igor Stravinsky - The Rake's Progress

December 2 - Clearly Stoned Again

2008-12-02T23:59:00.000-08:00

Orchestrate through page 9 of Samson and Delilah (The Frank Judges): VI. Downfall (Abimelech), then to DVC with the fog clearing,

where Dustin (a short lecture on chord derivations from synthetic scales, such as Mode 3 of Melodic Minor -- i.e. scale starting on the Me of said collection), Francisco

(dictation on Bedrich Smetana's The Moldau, and John (interesting chord progression featuring inverted stacked chords, derived from one of his own pieces, intriguingly dovetailing with the Smetana) hold forth.

Back home again with fog clearing again (petrol at $1.71 in Cordelia, photo actually from yesterday in the Sulfur Springs Mountains on I-80) to put musical examples on markalburgermusichistory.blogspot.com re Steve Reich and Philip Glass, and collect videos, then return for the evening class, with music from PG through John Adams, David Bowie, and Elton John.

Light out, again in the fog, to Left Bank with Owen and Doug, returning yet again again in clearing dead of night (shot, such as it is, from November 12)

December 1 - The Light Gleams for an Instant

2008-12-01T23:25:00.000-08:00

Up very early, through the fog dissipating in the Sulfur Springs Mountains, to take the car for routine maintenance, wondering how long a 2002 Toyota Echo with 285,000 miles can hold up.

Return home past ever-evolving fog-nuanced landscapes,

to orchestrate several more pages of Samson and Delilah: V. Disorientation. Then off to DVC, where Sean, Dustin, and Neill (with an honorary mention to Sheyda for helping out) are at bat for dictation, with a video game song (the former) and original composition (Dustin). Work on a composition with Luis and board harmony possiblilites for John after, followed by lab recording S&D: III, IV, and part of V.

Foggy all day in Pleasant Hill; head back over the San Pablo wetlands under clearly impressive skies to pick up car (brakes still O.K.)

and return to Harriet, finishing orchestration of Samson: V, and beginning that of VI. Downfall.

November 30 - Finished

2008-11-30T22:46:00.000-08:00

Finished, it's finished, nearly finished, it must be nearly finished.

(Pause.)

Grain upon grain, one by one, and one day, suddenly, there's a heap, a little heap, the impossible heap.

(Pause.)

... O.K., so it's only the end of the weekend and the end of the month finishing, plus a third orchestrated page of Samson and Delilah: V. Disorientation (more good-lookin' cookin'),

a rodent requiem,

and various absurd errands delayed for a couple of years -- some successful,

some not.

November 29 - Nada, Nada, Nada

2008-11-29T22:06:00.000-08:00

Zero today. Zilch. Zip. Except debriefing from the trip (reviewing relevant resources), catching up on the news from as far back as Monday (archly received a half-a-weeks worth windfall of NYT's and

a Modesto Bee at a

Starbucks in Lodi as we were heading out Thursday),

and orchestrating a second page of Samson and Delilah: V. Disorientation (barbecue, anyone?).

November 28 - Yosemite See

2008-11-28T23:56:00.000-08:00

Breakfast at the Groveland Hotel, then break fast for Yosemite, via Big Oak Flat Road and the first lookout (where years ago I ran into an old trumpet playing student -- no such luck this time, but luck aplenty nonetheless, including a sky that has cleared to virtually pristine from mere sunbreaks), with El Capitan and Sentinel Rock framing Half Dome.

A second vantage point yields a view straight up the Merced to Bridalveil Fall, Cathedral Rocks, Leaning Tower (latter two respectively to the east/left and west/right) and Sentinel Dome (extreme left horizon).

Dropping into the Valley, El Capitan and

Bridalveil et al loom above the dark forest, to the north and south.

Serendipidously, we snake up to (Wawona) Tunnel

View for a classic Ansel Adams vantage

(including El Capitan, Cloud's Rest, Half Dome,

Sentinel Rock and Dome, Cathedral Rocks, Bridalveil Fall, and Leaning Tower)

before heading back down to the Bridalveil Trailhead.

Onward to Cathedral Beach, for another perspective on Capitan, plus

Three Brothers (the highest a.k.a. Eagle Peak), all of these to the north, with

Sentinel Rock south.

Sentinel is also the next Beach, revealing Yosemite Falls

and a vertical view of the Rock.

At Leidig Meadow, North Dome and Royal Arches come into view, and

we soon reach Curry Village, with Half Dome rising in the shadows.

The furthest extents today (and these days, any day in an auto) areHappy Isles Trailhead and Yosemite Stables, the latter revealing Washington Column, to the east (right) of North Dome and Royal Arches.

A brief walk into the woods of Tenaya Canyon recalls earlier adventures in the Quarter Dome and Half Dome environs,

then it's west to Stoneman Meadow with Yosemite Falls ahead,

and the bright gates of Tenaya (WC and HD, above shadowy deciduous and evergreens) behind.

Slightly nearing the Falls at Ahwahnee Meadow,

we make a beeline for the Gilbert-Stanley-Underhill-designed Inn,

miraculously finding the second-closest parking space directly west of the porte-cochere,

to take in the view past the lobby,

and settle in for a spell in the Great Room

interior --

specifically, the west-facing (and, of course, themed) Mural Room (considerably cozier, darker, and furniturier than pictured here).

The return includes a quick loop through the Yosemite Lodge area (virtually at the foot of the Falls), but the road past El Capitan is closed,

so we circle back over Sentinel Bridge, with one last signature look at Half Dome,

then watch the light fading past the Rock,

the Cap, and

Cathedral Rocks.

Down the Merced River Canyon we go on Route 140,

out of the Park, past beautiful, little-known prominences,

with ominous sky-cover moving in,

towards the realm of digger pine, chaparral, and grassland,

to the Ferguson Slide 15-Minute (delay) Bridge --

the rocks and

vegetation, here and most everywhere, waiting far longer.

Eventually the wait ends, and we take the detour on the other side of the river (this temporary -- but by now a couple of years old -- paving of the old railroad bed)

around the rock

slide,

recrossing the Merced,

heading past burned vegetation,

leaving the canyon for

the inclines around Midpines and Mariposa,

to scattered oaks in the clearing sky beyond Catheys Valley, petrol at $1.75/gal in Livingston (or so we presume...), and

home, where there's time to start the orchestration of Samson and Delilah: V. Disorientation very late (inspiration from Igor Stravinsky's Concerto for Piano and Winds -- and perhaps barbecue, above)

November 27 - Happy Thanksgiving, Tuolumus

2008-11-27T21:31:00.000-08:00

With Frank and Marie looking over the house, Harriet and I are near Yosemite,

in Room 18 (dubbed The O'Shaughessy) --

rather than 15 (Lyle's Room)

which is said to be haunted by its wealthy, eccentric, blythe goldminer namesake --

at the Groveland Hotel, Tuolumne ("To all o' me") County,

having left the Coast Ranges,

crossing the Central Valley via 113 South, 12 East (where gas is $1.65/gal), 99 South,

to 120 through the Sierra Foothills west of Oakdale

and up the Priest Grade. Turkey and roast beef in the 1849 dining room and general merriment.

Before leaving, finish the orchestration of Samson and Delilah: IV. Deborah, with a nod to Charles Wuorinen's Percussion Symphony.

November 26 - Nice Work

2008-11-26T23:38:00.000-08:00

Orchestrate a couple of pages for Samson and Delilah: III. Dissemblance (a punky-sardonic version of the third section of Saint-Saens, the story here about the death of fat king Eglon -- Jabba the Hut and his Leian minions will have to suffice), then a hasty retreat to the redoubt of school, where Jonathon McCollum provides a dictation on a John Lennon song and Ben Dashley gives us board harmony based on one of his own pieces. A brief listen to John Veitch's latest endeavor, and he to my S&D above, the beginning of which is recorded in the lab, before the weekly Marin pilgrimage, dropping of a back issue to the printer, picking up recompense, and continuing to brave the pre-Thanksgiving traffic.

Home to Harriet thereafter, later in the evening finishing orchestration of Samson III and beginning IV. Deborah (a whole-tone distortion of John Dunstable's Sancta Maria).

November 25 - The High and Populated

2008-11-25T23:59:00.000-08:00

Harriet out on a job in Modesto while I finish the orchestration of Samson and Delilah: II. Distress (N.B. "Joshua Tree in Death Valley" was about as close to"The Death of Joshua" as online iconography could find) before the mid-day Theory, where the routine is nicely taken over by Ken Medlen and Andrew Flesher, who provide a fine dictation of Am quarter notes in 3/4

Do Me Sol
Le Do Le
Sol Do Sol
Te Re Fa

Harmonized as i, bVI, i64, bVII.

Rendezvous with Glenn re the teaching observation two Mondays ago, and evidently I pass with flying colors. Lunch at Elephant Bar and paper grading, then recording above, before evening class of music from Maurice Jarre through Philip Glass. Nice to catch up after class with Monty Bairos, comparing notes re Alan Hovhaness (my interview of AH in the 90's was probably his last, and MB has been up there in Seattle confiring with Hovhaness's widow Hinako on several occasions). After this it's out to Left Bank with Owen, Doug, and Aaron, then home to Harriet, where the heater fan, misbehaving, seems set to stay on all night.

November 24 - By a Hair

2008-11-24T23:46:00.000-08:00

Finish the orchestration of Samson and Delilah: I. Digits and blast off to school, thinking I'm off the hook teaching, but, no, both of our student teachers are no shows, so it's back to the front of the classroom for a dictation of Howard Shore's The Shire from The Lord of the Rings, followed by Hiraoki's witty Lazy and John's difficult bitonal tour-de-force.

Afterwards, it's in the lab to record Joshua Fought the Battle:

II. Shall We Gather

III. Deep River

IV. The Battle of Jericho

and

S&D: I

Mark Steidel checks in with raves re Opera Apocalypse, Glenn Appell shares positive student evaluations re last week's classroom visit, and Brett Peppo gives thumbs up for me continuing to teach one of the summer Music History classes. Hallelujah....

Home with Harriet, and back out to U.C. Davis Library for more Camille Saint-Saens Samson and Delilah, and further advice from Igor Stravinsky's Concerto for Piano and Winds (somehow I have only the second movement at home, and need the first, so might as well have the third as well -- fond memories of peforming the work as English hornist, with Tom Wubbenhorst conducting many years ago in Ogden, UT, of all places... long story...).

Begin instrumentation of S&D: II. Distress (one page) before retiring. For the day...

November 23 - Lay Your Weary Head

2008-11-23T23:16:00.000-08:00

The hard-working Phillip George slaved away most of the day writing a somewhat out-of-control article about settings of Emily Dickinson for the truant October 2008 issue of 21st-Century Music. Meanwhile, I was able to bang out a couple more pages (three, actually) of orchestration for Samson and Delilah: I. Digits (through page 7 now). Harriet off in San Francisco mid-day meeting with Megan Cullen and Michael and Stephanie Desnoyers, and, upon her return, we lay plans for the end of the year and beyond.

November 22 - Carnival of Earthly Deights

2008-11-22T23:03:00.000-08:00

Finish reconstructing the September 2005 issue of 21st-Century Music, then head off to U.C. Davis to rendezvous with the full score of Camille Saint-Saens's Samson and Delilah for orchestrational advice. Turns out it is only available on microfilm, with the piano-vocal version looking a little lonely on the shelf. Decide that Carnival of the Animals may be of use, heading back in the brisk chill to gas at an astounding $1.96 in reliable Dixon

and the first four orchestrated pages of S&D: I. Digits.

November 21 - Crossing Over

2008-11-21T23:40:00.000-08:00

Do the orchestration for Joshua Fought the Battle: III. Deep River and prepare for publication

IV. The Battle of Jericho while Harriet's on the road for a job in Novato and meetings with Meghan in San Francisco and Eliza in El Cerito.

November 20 - Spires Ascending

2008-11-20T23:54:00.000-08:00

Hear from Marty Rokeach, who confirms that Lino Rivera and he are planning to have me teach Music and the Enlightment aat St. Mary's College in Moraga next Spring. This will dovetail nicely with responsibilities at Diablo Valley College, and may be part of new movement afoot if West Virginian mine shaft opens up, or any other acts of random unkindness in higher economics and government, where friends in reasonably high places are of no avail.

The Analysis Quiz (a week earlier than usual [it has often fallen on the day before Thanksgiving, and that back in the days of shorter MW(F!) classes], with examples from Philip Glass and Sting), more music by John Vietch (and an interesting excerpt -- for a change -- from Stephen Sondheim [his Stravinskian Fanfare-for-a-New-Theatre analogue overture to The Flies]), a provisional recording of Joshua Fought the Battle: II. Shall We Gather (almost orchestrated completely before heading out for the day), then heading over the Berkeley Hills (above from 8/25/08) the long way for a rendezvous at Philly Cheesesteaks (where a call to George is challenged by one-heck-of-a-loud tad).

San Francisco through the maze of avenues in the south Mission hollow to pick up a check at Lewis Campbell's for Harriet, a cruise back along the coast to the scene of the non-crime, check of the Marin box (yes, checks... looks like we're still vaguely in business), and home for high jinx.

November 19 - The Approaching Fog

2008-11-19T23:59:00.000-08:00

A couple of more pages orchestrated for Joshua Fought the Battle: II. Shall We Gather, and record a portion at the lab after class (last traditional teaching day -- finishing up Police King of Pain -- Quiz 14 tomorrow and students take over responsibilities come Monday). Owen and I hit upon a compromise plan (little do we know), then I take it on the road, through the Caldecott and Berkeley, south to San Mateo Bridge, over the Santa Cruz Mountains

to Half Moon Bay (here's a picture from last walk in vicinity -- it's dark this time around), gas not as low comparatively as last time, getting directionally thwarted and realizing that the trajectory is virtually identical to when John Beeman's house proved elusive.

At last I reach Marilyn Pratt whose house (with a non-illuminated street address, but fortunately big windows, through which I seredipidously glimpse her) turns our to be just down the street from John's. We record the rest of her Offstage Soprano parts in Mice Suites, Op. 68 (there she is above in rehearsal last August 17 at Chamber Arts with Maria Mikheyenko [Lennie] and Suzanna Mizell [Curley's Wife], on the laptop (including the erotic sounds of Dancesong, standing at a respectful distance in her guest bedroom [!]). Tea afterwards, and emailing Harriet, since phone battery is low, then blitzing home, well perhaps a mite con brio, at least that's what the law enforcer seems to think in the Presidio as the fog closes in on a very dark night.

November 18 - Gather at the Watering Hole

2008-11-18T23:59:00.000-08:00

Busy day, with dictation of Police Synchronicity: King of Pain (verse - theme song?), scheduling of student teaching, and an evocative piece from Seth. Lunch at Elephant Bar and quick trip home to revise quizzes for evening, in which are covered selections from Aram Khachaturian and Harold Arlen to Gyorgy Ligeti and Henry Mancini. Left Bank follows with Owen and Doug, wherein potentially ominous news is discussed. Manage to orchestrate a page of Joshua Fought the Battle: II Shall We Gather (5) upon return.

November 18 - Doctors of Invention

2008-11-17T11:59:00.000-08:00

Glenn Appell in class today for routine (every three years, evidently) teacher evaluation, and everything apparently goes well, with brief video clips from Philip Glass's Koyaanisqatsi and John Williams's Star Wars: Main Title, blog examples from Glass Einstein, Williams The Empire Strikes Back, and Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here: Shine On You Crazy Diamond III. Dictation is a combo plate of Glass's Satyagraha: Act I, Scene I (with no common tones in harmonization) and Akhnaten: Love Duet (with nothing but common tones. Listen to a bit of John Veitch's latest, then in the lab recording Moses and Aaron: XX. There Shall a Star. Following this, seems I must blitz out to U.C. Davis, past the atomic-barn of a new building, to take a look at Michael Tippet's A Child of Our Time (which includes settings of Go Down Moses and Deep River) and two versions of Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho.

Orchestrate Joshua Fought the Battle: I. Go Down, Moses (a post-minimalist, modal take on the Tippett, rather than on the pure form above) upon return, just after stopping for gas at $2.09 in Dixon.

November 16 - Tales from the Crypt

2008-11-16T23:59:00.000-08:00

Off on another dangerous mission, towards splendiferous skies on I-80 West in the direction of Cordelia Junction and the Sulfur Springs Mountains,

with petrol at $2.13 in at Vallejo 5-Star and Albany Hill a seemingly appropriate abstraction of eighth notes and threes (serendipity of movement in the half-light), this time back to Oakland's Chapel of the Chimes for the final Opera Apocalypse (Amy Beth Kirsten's Ophelia Forever, John Bilotta's Quantum Mechanic, and my Antigone [sounds like a pop song] -- featuring our two shining alternate-night stars:

Eliza O'Malley and Letitia Page). Fantastic final show (despite further alterations of the playing space as compared to two days previously in the same venue), in a full house, which includes Patti and Joel Deuter, Andrew Flesher, Chris Fowler, Alexis Lane Jensen, Diana Landau, Hugh Livingston, Luis Lobos, Ken Medlen, Sheli Nan, and Mark Steidel.

After the strike, many of the cast head down Piedmont for tapas at Cesar's,

including Maria Mikheyenko, Laryssa Sadoway, Kimberley Anderman, William Loney, Megan Cullen, Eliza,

Johns Bilotta and McGrew, Mark Alburger,

Harriet March Page, Meghan Dibble, Michael and Stephanie Desnoyers,

Adam Broner,

Alexandre Jerenic, Micah Epps,

Lisa McHenry and Terrence Bennon.

Down for the count upon return, but write another two pages of orchestration for Joshua Fought the Battle: II. Shall We Gather before all of above.

November 15 - United We Perform

2008-11-15T23:59:00.000-08:00

Onward Ophelian, Quantum, and Antigonian Singers (set-up of Antigone with Harriet, Michael, Adam, and Terence above)! Performance of Opera Apocalypse at

Temple United Methodist Church in the far west of San Francisco

under the sign of the cross on a Saturday night (joined by Steph, in the southern crossed Sunset district, where we actually see the sunset for a change, on an extraordinarilly balmy night for this locale at the intersection 19th and Junipero Serra.

Great shows all the way around, despite once again no time to practice or sound-check in the new space. Visual cues particularly tight in the latter hal fo of Antigone. Before this, begin orchestration of Joshua Fought the Battle: II. Shall We Gather (combining Aaron Copland's At the River with Charles Ives's setting of the same, plus the latter's Symphony No. 4: I).

November 14 - What Did You Hear and See?

2008-11-14T23:59:00.000-08:00

Ophelia, Quantum Mechanic, and Antigone at Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland (also this Sunday, info at goathall.org and markalburgerevents.blogspot.com), and don't C.A. Jordan and Cary Ann Rosko (even in the blur of a supressed flash) look perfect for the place?

Excellent performances of all three works, despite the challenges of unrehearsed-in sonic and spatial situations. Also another great audience, including this time Harry Bernstein, Steven Clark, Carl Koryat, Megan Mui, and John Veitch. We head into the night, and home to finish orchestration of Moses and Aaron (several pages done before leaving mid-afternoon to print more programs, and final page in the warmth of Norther winds -- 74 degrees -- at 11:30pm).

November 13 - Flying High in the Semi-Dark

2008-11-13T23:59:00.000-08:00

Another page of Moses and Aaron: XX. Chorus - "There Shall a Star" orchestrated slowly,

then Quiz 13 for the hard-working, heads-bent-to-the-task Theoreticians (Row 1 - John, Seth, Dustin, Neill; 2 - Jonathon, Megan, Francisco; 3 - Matthew, Desiree, Daniel; 4 - Jeff, Hiraoki, Sheyda, Carissa), with examples drawn from yesterday's dictation, et. al. Record thus far of There Shall,

head to Marin (above, San Rafael in the half-light) for the post-box-paper-grade-Celia's routine and home, catching up with newspapers and

managing a bit more orchestration in the dead of night.

November 12 - BuildingsRomantique

2008-11-12T23:59:00.000-08:00

Finish the orchestration of Moses and Aaron: XXI. Finale - "Sh'ma Israel" and record same in lab after class. Dictation before this is a combo of bass lines from Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach: BED, John Williams's Star Wars: Main Title, and Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here: Shine on You Crazy Diamond III, followed by fine music by Nathan Ma and excerpts from Antigone. Decide that it's time to head to U.C. Davis Shields Library to research instrumentation for M&A: XX - "There Shall a Star," inspired by the Felix Mendelssohn in his unfinished oratorio Christus. Access is via the I-80 exit, past the new south campus building

and the Mondavi Center,

parking before Mrak Hall in the low sun. Library is packed -- definitely high-study season -- and, thereafter,

back down the freeway to Dixon,

where gas

is $2.19 in the twilight (N.B. same blue truck as 11/5)

moonlight,

then exit with a view of the Vaca Mountains to begin new orchestration. Manage a couple of pages before heading back out to San Francisco for musical soiree at home of Lisa Prosek, who has gotten into a fender bender (or moreso) on the Golden Gate Bridge. She's O.K., and eventually arrives to play some of her brilliant music to her next Dante-inspired opera. Pre and post, husband Tom hosts, son Eduard plays some of his incredible songs, an upstairs newly-arrived neighbor with an L.A. fan base demonstrates why with impressive music, Loren Jones checks in with an intriguing India-tinged improvisation, and we have a singalong of Antigone: X. "Come on, now" (midi and sound-file accompaniment) and XI. "What is this" (our newcomer impressively reading on piano), plus M&A: XVIII. "How Much Longer." A very congenial San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra board meeting follows, after which it's home for another page of orchestral-setting.

November 11 - The Promissory Lands

2008-11-11T23:59:00.000-08:00

Always hopeful, ever changing, lands in the mind, land mines... an orchestrational page more in the morning and two in the evening for Moses and Aaron: XXI, hoping to finish tomorrow (three pages left).

Between is a dictation on John Williams's The Force from Star Wars, lunch at an Italian place, evening class with music from Alban Berg to Harry Partch, Richard Rodgers, and a bit of Leonard Bernstein out of season, then margaritas with Owen and Doug at West Bank (whoops, Left Bank, that is... thinking too much of these Biblical epochs

November 10 - Nothing to Be Done

2008-11-10T23:59:00.000-08:00

Like Estragon (the incredibly talented and chamelion-like Meghan Dibble above -- last year in my opera on Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot --

who's much more her fabulous-looking self as Nurse / Eurydice in Antigone, here with Alix Jerinic, as Antigone's Handmaid), the day is mostly sitting around, thank goodness, after eight days in a row driving to Berkeley and San Francisco for rehearsals and performances, not that I'm complaining. So it's blog and kinda sorta life catch-up (Antigone pictures new and old at markalburgerworks.blogspot.com, by clicking on Op. 88), and the farthest that Harriet and I travel is to the grocery store and a 2/3 price NYT, not bad.

Right, and orchestration of page 7 for Moses and Aaron: XXI.

November 9 - Night of the Living Composers

2008-11-09T23:59:00.000-08:00

It's the end of the performance week, Clov, just like any other, yet more so, with the red sky at evening seeming to portend another fine show, as we tool west on Manka's Corner Road away from Fairfield, toward Twin Sisters (before this catching up with newspapers and page 6 orchestration of Moses and Aaron: XXI).

South on Abernathy, with views of distant Diablo and a fast-approaching Gomer School,

on to I-80, ascending toward the sunset Sulfur Springs slopes,

where the twilight glow is quite dimmer than suggested here mid-range,

to the fuzzy heights of the moon above St. John Mine Mountain.

At last we arrive for the third triple bill of the weekend, to this shot which references all three -- Adam Broner (The Fixer in Antigone -- is he fixing that appliance of the future?), the Neuro-Fuzzy Refrigerator (Quantum Mechanic), and Cary Ann Rosco (one of our three namesakes in Ophelia Forever).

A few glitches -- two coughs in O (one by me after a semi-successfully stifling during an exposed, extended oboe solo, after which I nip backstage briefly, and, hopefully, silently -- hey, at least I remember the page-turn multiphonic and play the proper ascending chromatic line that had previously eluded) and the supertitles go crazy during A (calling to mind the Marx Brothers' Night at the Opera) and then are finally put out of their misery by an Harrietan intervention... brava! But still seems like a great series of shows and critic Ken Bullock appears pleased (as apparently he and Michael McDonagh were last night). All -- including Mechanic / Haemon / etc. Michael Desnoyers -- shall we say... carry it off (figuratively, and literally, as set needs to be transported to Oakland's Chapel of the Chimes for this Friday night's performance).

November 8 - Getting Cozy with the Material

2008-11-08T23:59:00.000-08:00

Page five of Moses and Aaron: XXI orchestrated (that's the selection number, not the rating), then off to the dressing room (unrated) at The Next Stage for the next performance of Ophelia Forever, Quantum Mechanic, and Antigone, which constitute Opera Apocalypse. Here's Stephanie (properties) and Michael Desmoyers (the Quantum Mechanic and Haemon / Guard / Messenger) -- don't they make a great couple? And as they get cozy, we are all getting comfortable with the material of this show of shows.

After another great series of performances (Latitia Page in her triumphant return to the role she created in 2001... I finally don't blow any lines as Aesop in Quantum, and not too many notes are out in the ether for Ophelia), we celebrate after with Harriet March Page (our Artistic Director supreme), Christopher Theofanidis (fine composer and escort of...), Amy Beth Kirsten (composer of O), and C.A. Jordan and Megan Cullen (a.k.a Mad Mermaid and Faithful Seductress).

November 7 - Moving Apocalypse

2008-11-07T23:59:00.000-08:00

Barely orchestrate page 4 of Moses and Aaron: XXI. before working feverishly at the Opera Apocalypse program, which will be printed online soon at markalburgerevents.blogspot.com, and is done just before having to leave for the city. Running a little late on the Bay Bridge, I call Harriet, who warns that there's a big anti-post-Prop 8 march/rally making the crossing at 9th Street impossible, so a detour to the Financial District and up the steep, traffic-choked, stick-shift-tense California Street provides a way, and soon a warm-up of Antigone: IX. The spring is wound is trodding the boards (above with Maria, Adam, Lisa, Terence, Kim, Micah, Erin, Eliza, and Michael). Long sentence. Long day.

But great. Everything pretty much goes off as planned. There's time to spot check moves in Quantum Mechanic (for Laryssa, Maria, and Erin -- looks like Michael is standing in for the Neuro-Fuzzy Refridgerater -- plus Antigonitians Adam [with Steph] and William to either side)

and vocal details for Ophelia Forever (with C.A. and Keisuke).

Amy Beth Kirsten

and beau Christopher Theofinidis fly in from the east (a pleasure to meet both, who are as enthusiastic and personable in life as in email and on phone -- Chris also with the California Symphony residency awhile back),

John Bilotta is here (as he has been for most rehearsals, and as helpful and positive as ever), as well as some Diablo Valley College students and a full house. A fantastic night.

OK, Here's the program, with a few more pictures...

OPERA APOCALYPSE!

Amy Beth Kirsten
OPHELIA FOREVER
(after William Shakespeare, et al.)

Ophelia - C.A. Jordan (Mad Mermaid)
- Megan Cullen (Faithful Seductress)
- Cary Ann Rosco (Violated Saint)
Hamlet - Terence Bennan

John G. Bilotta
QUANTUM MECHANIC
(John F. McGrew and John G. Bilotta)

Mrs. Schrodinger - Elizabeth Henry
Quantum Mechanic - Michael Desnoyers
The Quark Sisters - Erin Lahm (Miss Up-Down)
-Maria Mikheyenko (Miss Charm-Strange)
-Laryssa Sadoway (Miss Top-Bottom)
Aesop - Mark Alburger

Mark Alburger
ANTIGONE
(after Jean Anouilh and Sophocles)

Antigone - Eliza O'Malley (11/7,9,16)
-Letitia Page (11/8,14,15)
Creon - Micah Epps
Haemon / Messenger - Michael Desnoyers
Ismene - Kimberly Anderman
Nurse / Eurydice - Meghan Dibble
Guard I - Maria Mikheyenko
Guard II - Erin Lahm
Page - Lisa McHenry
Antigone's Handmaiden - Alexandra Jerinic
Ismene's Handmaiden - Dalyte Kodzis (Antigone Dancer)
Oedipus - William Loney (Haemon Dancer)
The Puppetmaster - Terence Bennan
The Fixer - Adam Broner

***

Artistic Director - Harriet March Page
Music Director / Oboe - Mark Alburger
Piano - Keisuke Nakagoshi

These performances supported by CA$H, a grants program of Theatre Bay Area ; funding also provided by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation; Ophelia Forever funded in part by the Composer Assistance Program of the American Music Center

November 7, 8 and 9 a collaboration with Theatre Residencies, Inc. (www.wehavemet.org)
November 14 and 16 performances presented and sponsored by Chapel of the Chimes, Oakland (http://www.lifemarkgroup.com/oakland/special_events.asp)
Nov 15 presented by soundSFound (www.soundSFound.org)

OPHELIA FOREVER

Ophelia has been portrayed in theater, art, poetry, photography, film, music, and dance over the course of generations. With each generation comes a fresh analysis of her significance to Hamlet, the mystery surrounding her death, and especially her madness. Many interpretations have formed over the years and seem to coincide with an established cultural ethos regarding women of the time.

Because Ophelia has served as a social mirror she has reflected the journey of the female spirit that has sought to defy polite social labels, to resist gender-based restraints, and to forge a path that embraces both love and independence. The aim for this piece is to present the multiplicity of the character, the struggle between the aspects, and the eventual resolution of the struggle.

Ophelia Forever is very much indebted to The Myth and Madness of Ophelia, an art exhibit spearheaded by Carol Solomon Kiefer of the Mead Art Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was the printed version of this exhibit that not only pointed to non-Shakespearean sources for text but also inspired the concept of three Ophelia's on stage at once, each representing a different aspect of her psyche, battling for control. Especially significant are the famous painting, Ophelia (1851-52) by John Everett Millais, Linda Stark's oil on canvas Ophelia Forever (1999), and Gregory Crewdson's photograph Untitled (Ophelia) (2000-1). The libretto is constructed of fragments of text from William Shakespeare's Hamlet, and poetry by Elizabeth Siddal, Christina Rossetti, Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, and the composer.

QUANTUM MECHANIC

Winner of the 2007 Opera-in-a-Month Competition sponsored by the VocalWorks opera ensemble, Quantum Mechanic is a short comic farce set in the distant future with a witty and improbable libretto by John F. McGrew. The opera received a concert premiere in American Fork, Utah, in August 2007. However, these performances at the Fresh Voices VIII Festival are the opera's first fully-staged productions.

This satiric fable of quantum physics, indeterminacy, dark matter, gedankenexperiments, high technology and low ambitions, relativity, eleven-dimensional string theory, singularities, and anything else we could cull from back issues of Scientific American and Popular Mechanics, centers around the travails of Mrs. Schroedinger as she struggles to create an icebox soufflé for the Professor.

A faulty Quantum Refrigerator, the incompetent Mechanic sent to repair it, the three ever-present Quark Sisters who arrive from the parallel universe next door, as well as Aesop, fabulist and prime-mover of the drama, round out the cast and facilitate the chaos.

In a universe of anti-gravity pens, neurofuzzy rice cookers, and deflating wormholes, is there no one who can save us?

ANTIGONE

Antigone, Op. 88 (2000, after Jean Anouilh and Sophocles), is a "grid" opera based on W.A. Mozart's The Magic Flute, from which is taken form (often including exact number of measures, tempo markings, and keys), but little content. Much of the music was written in the spirit of the title character: that of rebellion -- major keys become minor, very slow tempi become very fast, stolid rhythms become almost irrationally syncopated. The opera also alludes to Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach and Akhnaten, 50's rock, J.S. Bach's Cantata No. 140 ("Wachet Auf"), Ancient Greek chant, 70's pop, Arthur Sullivan, Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors, Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony No. 3, the Beach Boys, John Barry's Dances With Wolves, Igor Stravinsky's Pulcinella and Ebony Concerto, Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata and Aida, Meredith Willson's The Music Man, Alburger's Sonata for Oboe, Piano, and Percussion, and Balinese gamelan ensembles. The work was showcased in 2002 by Goat Hall Productions and recorded on the New Music Publications and Recordings label.

OVERTURE
I. CHORUS - "Here we are"
II. DUET - "Where have you been"
III. TRIO - "Antigone"
IV. RECITATIVE/ DUET - "Aren't"
V. DUET - "Where is your pain"
VI. DUET - "Haemon"
VIa. ARIA - "You swore"
VII. ARIA - "I can't sleep"
VIII. DUET - "It's like this"
IX. CHORUS - "Spring is wound"
X. QUARTET - "Come on, now"
XI. TRIO - "What is this"
XII. ARIA - "The pride of Oedipus"
XIII. DUET - "Where are you"
XIV. ARIA - "I shall save you yet"
XV. ARIA - "You think you knew"
XVI. DUET - "Antigone / You, too"
XVII. SEPTET - "Take her away"
XVIII. DUET - "It's you"
XIX. ARIA - "News to break"
XX. SEXTET - "I've had them laid"
XXI. CHORUS - "There we are"

Biographical Notes

MARK ALBURGER (b. 1957, Upper Darby, PA) is an eclectic American composer of postimininal, postpopular, and postcomedic sensibilities. He began playing the oboe and composing in association with James and Dorothy Freeman, George Crumb, and Richard Wernick; and studied with Gerald Levinson and Joan Panetti at Swarthmore College (B.A.), Karl Kohn at Pomona College, Jules Langert at Dominican University (M.A.), Tom Flaherty at Claremont Graduate University (Ph.D.), and Terry Riley. Dr. Alburger is Music Director of San Francisco Cabaret Opera and the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, Editor-Publisher of 21st-Century Music, Instructor in Music Literature and Theory at Diablo Valley College, and Music Critic for Commuter Times. Dr. Alburger's works (168 opus numbers to date) include 16 concerti, 20 operas, 12 song cycles, 9 symphonies, and a multi-work-in-progress entitled The Bible. He has been the recipient of yearly ASCAP Standard Awards; grants from Meet the Composer, the American Composers Forum, MetLife, and Theatre Bay Area; and funding from the Getty, Hewlett, Marra, and Zellerbach Foundations. Dr. Alburger may be found online at markalburger.blogspot.com, markalburgerevents.blogspot.com, and markalburgerworks.blogspot.com. His works have been performed across America by such organizations as the College Music Society, Orchestra 2001, the National Association of Composers, and the North/South Consonance Chamber Orchestra; and have been recorded by I Kill Me Music, New Music, and North/South Consonance.

Soprano KIMBERLY ANDERMAN is thrilled to participate in Goat Hall SF Cabaret Opera’s 2008-09 season, singing the role of Ismene in Mark Alburger’s Antigone and the role of Drusilla in both Alburger’s Diocletian and Henry Purcell’s Dioclesian. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Voice from Chapman University, where she studied with famed opera diva Carol Neblett. In addition to opera, Kim is also an experienced choral singer and frequent soloist, and has performed with over a dozen choirs at both the amateur and professional level, including the world-renowned William Hall Master Chorale. Most recently, Kim was featured on the recording of Janis Dunson Wilson’s Walking in the Light of Christ, was the Soprano Soloist for the 2007 Sebastopol Center for the Arts Sing-Along Messiah (which she will reprise for 2008), covered Fiordiligi in Cinnabar’s 2008 production of W.A. Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, and has sung four recitals in 2008 with Project Applause, a Sonoma County based fundraising organization.

TERENCE BENNAN studies voice, composition, and acting at City College SAn Francisco. This is his first production with Goat Hall/SF Cabaret Opera and he takes his role as Puppet Master frighteningly seriously.

ADAM BRONER, baritone, portrayed Crooks in Mark Alburger's Mice and Men, his first appearance with Goat Hall. He is currently a member of Chora Nova and studies voice with Eliza O¹Malley. He thanks his 20-year-old son for acting tips.

JOHN G. BILOTTA was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, but has spent most his life in the San Francisco Bay Area where he studied composition, theory, and orchestration with Frederick Saunders. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, he also studied at the San Francisco Music & Arts Institute as well as in master classes and seminars with Alexander Tcherepnin, David del Tredici, Jorge Grossman, Virko Baley, and Chen Yi, among others. John's works have been performed and recorded by soloists, ensembles, and orchestras around the world including Rarescale, the Kiev Philharmonic, Earplay, the Washington Square Contemporary Music Society, the Talea Ensemble, VocalWorks, the Avenue Winds, Chamber Mix, and the Oakland Civic Orchestra. His Concerto for Wind Quartet and Orchestra has been released twice on CD -- by ERMMedia and by Capstone Records. Other recordings include Shadow Tree also on Capstone, Gen’ei no Mai and Fire in Spring on Beauport Classical, Divertimento on ERMMedia, and Entr’acte on New Music North. His short comic opera Quantum Mechanic won the 2007 Opera-in-a-Month Challenge and was premiered by Vocal Works. John has served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Society of Composers, Inc., for the past five years. He also serves as Music Director of the San Francisco Chamber Wind Festival, and co-directs the Festival of Contemporary Music.

MEGAN CULLEN, soprano, holds degrees from Boston University and The Juilliard School and is currently studying for her Master's at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with Cesar Ulloa. Within the past year, Megan sang the roles of Liu (Giocomo Puccini's Turandot) and La Chauve-Souris (Maurice Ravel's L’Enfant et les Sortileges), and was a National Semi-Finalist in the Orpheus Competition. She won an Honorable Mention in the Coeur d'Alene Symphony Competition in January and recently sang in the Concours lyrique des pays Catalans. Megan performs the role of Ophelia III, The Faithful Seductress, in Amy Beth Kirsten’s Ophelia Forever, in Goat Hall Productions’ Fresh Voices VIII Festival of New Works in November 2008.

Tenor MICHAEL DESNOYERS is a graduate student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studies with César Ulloa. He is a 2007 vocal performance and music education graduate from Slippery Rock University. Mr. Desnoyers performed his operatic debut in 2005 with the Pittsburgh Opera as the Officer in Richard Strauss'sAriadne auf Naxo. Other roles have includee Eisenstein (Johan Strauss,, Jr. Die Fledermau), Kaspar (Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors) and Padre (Mitch Leigh's Man of la Mancha). He has performed the tenor solos in G.F. Handel’s Messiah and W.A. Mozart’s Requiem. In 2006, he participated in Cincinnati Conservatory’s Opera Theatre and Music Festival of Lucca in Italy. He was also a member of the Pittsburgh Opera’s chorus for three seasons. Mr. Desnoyers was the winner of the 2004 Chad Williamson Memorial Scholarship Competition, and he took second place at both the 2004 Tri-State NATS and 2006 Eastern Regional NATS competitions. This spring, he will appear as Pluto in Jacques Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld at SF Conservatory and Don Basilio in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro with San Francisco Cabaret Opera

STEPHANIE DESNOYERS (Properties Construction) is a 2007 graduate of Slippery Rock University with a B.A. in Theatre Design/Technology and Minor in Art History. She has stage managed various shows including Rosenstrasse, Little Shop of Horrors, and The Constant Prince. She was the assistant stage manager for the world premier of Dark North at the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Scotland). Stephanie was costume designer for Speaking in Tongues and Vas Defrens, part of a ten-mintue play festival. Most recently, she was the wardrobe supervisor for Pasion por Frida at the SFMOMA. She is thrilled to be involved with this trio of premieres and to work with such talented artists.

MEGHAN DIBBLE, mezzo soprano, is thrilled to be singing Nurse / Eurydice in Mark Alburger's Antigone. This year Ms. Dibble sang Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte) with West Bay Opera in Palo Alto and Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) with Rimrock Opera in Billings, MT. Last year she sang Suzuki (Giocomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly), Mrs. Page (Carl Otto Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor), and the Governess (Peter Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades) with Pocket Opera. She has sung in the New York City Fringe Festival opera premiere, A.F.R.A.I.D.; Puccini's Suor Angelica with Garden State Opera, and Thomas Pasatieri’s Signor Deluso with Brooklyn Opera. Other roles include Marcellina (Le nozze), Fidalma (Il matrimonio segreto), and Siebel (Charles Gounod's Faust). Ms. Dibble sang Agave in Steven Clark's newest opera Dionysus, and has performed several songs from D.C. Meckler's The Albion Deity. A new music enthusiast, Meghan is thrilled to be working with several local composers including Mark Alburger (Waiting for Godot), DC Meckler, Steven Clark (Dionysus), and Sheli Nan (Saga). www.meghandibble.com.

MICAH EPPS earned his Bachelor of Music Degree at the University of Arizona. He has performed as a chorister and soloist in such groups as the San Mateo Masterworks Chorale (as an Eastern European Tour soloist), San Francisco Opera Chorus, San Francisco Symphony Chorus; and was a Mozart Requiem soloist in Hermosillo, Mexico. In addition, Mr. Epps has performed for many years in the Bay Area new music. He has sung previously in Mark Alburger's works, as well as in Lisa Prosek's Belfagor, Satyricon, and Leonardo's Notebooks; David Conte's Firebird Motel and Erling Wold's Sub Pontio Pilato.

ELIZABETH HENRY received her Bachelors degree in Chemistry from The University of California, Irvine; and started studying voice after the birth of her second child. She calls herself an opera singer with a love of new music and has recently premiered several roles for Bay Area composers including Widow Quin in Mark Alburger’s The Playboy of the Western World and the demi-god Ninshubur in Marcia Burchard’s The Descent of Inanna. Other recent roles are Dinah (Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti), Mère Marie (Francis Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites), Wowkle (Puccini's The Girl of the Golden West), Desirée (Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music), Mother (Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors), Hansel (Englebert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel), Gianetta (Donizetti's The Elixir of Love), Kate Pinkerton (Puccini's Madama Butterfly) and Annina (Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata). She is married to a saint and her children are appropriately feisty.

ALEXANDRA JERINIC earned her B.A. in Music from Mills College and her M.M. in Vocal Performance from Notre Dame de Namur University. At N.D.N.U she performed the roles of Christine in Genevieve: The New Woman and The Portrait in The Tales of Hoffmann. She has performed with San Francisco Lyric Opera and made her debut with Lamplighters in The Mikado. In November Alix will be part of the Greek Chorus in Mark Alburger's Antigone with Goat Hall and perform the role of Geta in Henry Purcell's Dioclesian in April 2009.

CAROLYNE ANNE (C.A.) JORDAN, Soprano, has been on the stage since the age of four. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts, and completed graduate study at New England Conservatory of Music. Miss Jordan currently resides in San Francisco, where she studies with Catherine Cook. She recently performed the role of Countess Almaviva at BASOTI (Bay Area Summer Opera Theatre Institute), and performed three roles in the 17th Annual Opera Scenes program at Holy Names University in April. The recipient of several scholarships and awards, C.A. also studied North Indian singing, and has premiered several works by her contemporaries. Her vocals have been featured on both domestic and international electronic dance music records. C.A. appears the role of Ophelia II (The Mad Mermaid) in GHP's presentation of Amy Beth Kirsten's Ophelia Forever in these performances.

AMY BETH KIRSTEN’s music has been performed by the American Composers Orchestra, Volti, Harbor Opera Company, and the CAGE Ensemble, among others. Her most recent honors include being named a finalist for the 2008-09 Rome Prize in Music Composition, receiving Honorable Mention in the 2008 Minnesota Orchestra Reading Competition, and a 2007 Composer Assistance Grant from the American Music Center. Born in East Saint Louis and raised in the Chicago area, Ms. Kirsten received her Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Jazz Studies from Illinois’ Benedictine University, and her Master’s Degree in Music Composition from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. Currently, she is lives and works in New Haven, CT where she teaches music theory at Wesleyan University and is scheduled to teach History of Rock and Society at University of Connecticut in the Spring of 2009.

DALYTE KODZIS, mezzo soprano, has been singing classically for over eight years. Her first vocal accomplishment occurred when she won the Orinda Arts Council Scholarship Competition in 2002, for her performance of Georges Bizet's Seguidilla from Carmen. At the Univeristy of California, Santa Cruz, she was given the opportunity to perform in some of the most beloved scenes and full-scale productions in the operatic repertoire. Roles have included the Prioress in Dialogues des Carmelites, the title role in Carmen, Mustardseed in Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Mrs. Jones in Kurt Weill's Street Scene. She also played the title role in a UCSC Opera Outreach production called Carmenella, which aimed to introduce the art of opera to school children. She graduated from UCSC with a Bachelor of Music degree in 2006, andwas recently a featured soloist in Trinity Opera’s Opera in the Park concert this fall. This performance marks her debut with Goat Hall.

Soprano ERIN LAHM received her early musical training while growing up near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Over the course of two summers, Ms. Lahm was a resident artist at the Ezio Pinza Council for American Singers of Opera in Oderzo, Italy where she studied with world-class teachers and performed in a series of concerts throughout the area. In May of 2007 she made her debut as a soloist with the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra. In 2006, Ms. Lahm earned her Master of Music degree in vocal performance from Binghamton University where she was featured as the soprano soloist in J.S. Bach’s Magnificat with the University Chorus. Ms. Lahm made her debut with the San Francisco Cabaret Opera in Mark Alburger’s Mice and Men this past September and will perform later this season in their production of Purcell’s Dioclesian. In February she will be appearing as Barbarina with the Mission City Opera in Le nozze di Figaro.

WILLIAM LONEY has appeared with vrious companies throughout the Bay Area as well as in Barcelona, Spain. Most recently he appeared in Altarena's The Man Who Saved Christmas and previously with such companies as Theatreworks, Foothill College, Bear Stage Productions, Sunnyvale Players and Los Altos Conservatory Theatre. This marks William's tenth opera with Goat Hall Productions having last appeared as Shawn Keogh in Mark Alburger's The Playboy of the Western World at the Oakland Metro Opera House. As a dancer, he has performed with the Bay Area Repetory Dance Company in Berkeley and the Atalanta Fugiens Dance Company in Barcelona, Spain. This January, William will be appearing in the Lamplighters Music Theatre production of Arthur Sullivan's Iolanthe.

JOHN F. MCGREW studied piano, harmony, and composition as a teenager with Alexander Sckaventa (a student of Rimsky-Korsakov). After receiving his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology he worked as a human factors engineer for 30 years. He returned to music studying composition with Aaron Blumenfeld in San Pablo California. John has played the contra bass in several bay area community orchestras in addition to Washington D.C. and Pasadena, CA,. and is an amateur guitarist. In June, 2007, he wrote the libretto for the comic opera Quantum Mechanic, which won the 2007 Opera-in-a-Month Challenge and was premiered in August in American Fork, Utah, by VocalWorks. His other librettos include Trifles, and A Christmas Tale. He has also composed the music for Three Haiku Songs for soprano and string quartet. He has also written several short stories, short screen plays, children’s stories and a novel. He has acted in the film Xtraterrestrials Xposed.

San Francisco performance artist and soprano LISA MCHENRY has been delighting Bay Area audiences in a variety of productions for more than 10 years. McHenry’s credits include roles in John Cander's Cabaret, Mark Alburger's Playboy of the Western World, Easter Hangover (Goat Hall Productions), and Halfway Mark (S.F. Composers Chamber Orchestra and San Francisco Cabaret Opera).

A native of St. Petersburg, Russia, MARIA MIKHEYENKO has sung with the Russian Chamber Orchestra of Marin, San Francisco Russian Festival, and presents recitals of Russian Romances throughout the Bay Area. Ms. Mikheyenko’s opera credits include Berkeley Opera, Pocket Opera, Capitol Opera Sacramento, Bay Shore Lyric Opera, Opera Lafayette, Oakland Opera Theater, and the Austrian American Mozart Academy of Salzburg. In the world of contemporary opera, Ms. Mikheyenko has been a frequent collaborator with Bay Area composer Lisa Scola Prosek, performing in three of her works: Leonardo’s Notebooks, Belfagor, and Trap Door. She also recently sang the role of Lennie Small in Mark Alburger’s Mice and Men. As a member of the Pacific Mozart Ensemble, Ms. Mikheyenko joined Meredith Monk in the world premiere of her new work, Songs of Ascension, at Stanford and the Oliver Ranch acoustic Tower designed by Ann Hamilton. www.mariamikheyenko.com.

KEISUKE NAKAGOSHI is one of the most exciting young pianists on today's music scene. A native of Japan and now resident of San Francisco, he made his debut at The Kennedy Center in 2005, and Carnegie Hall in 2007. He has worked and performed with such iconic musicians as Lucy Shelton, Joseph Alessi and Karl Leister. His coaches include Menahem Pressler, Emanuel Ax, Gilbert Kalish, and The Peabody Trio. As the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's 2005 Concerto Competition winner, he was a featured soloist in the opening concert of the Conservatory's new concert hall. He is currently pianist in residence at SFCM, and a member of Adorno Ensemble, a collective of musicians focused on chamber music by contemporary composers.

Soprano ELIZA O'MALLEY recently sang the role of Nedda in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. A passionate interpreter of new music, she has premiered works by Mark Alburger (The Playboy of the Western World, Waiting for Godot), Lisa Scola Prosek (Belfagor, Leonardo's Notebooks, Trap Door) Stephen Clark (Dionysus), Sheli Nan (Saga), Allan Crossman and more while working with Goat Hall Productions/San Francisco Cabaret Opera over the past couple of years. Through her association with Harvest of Song at the Berkeley Art Center she has also premiered music by Peter Josheff, Mary Watkins, and Alexis Alrich. She has sung opera roles with The Santa Cruz Chamber Orchestra, Oakland Opera Theater, Berkeley Opera, Solo Opera, BASOTI, Capitol Opera Sacramento, Labor Fest as well as appearing as Emma in a workshop production of Khovanshchina conducted by Kent Nagano. Eliza looks forward to performing Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro in March 2009 with the SF Cabaret Opera as well as Peter Josheff and Jaime Robles’ new opera Inferno at Berkeley’s Live Oak Theater in June 2009. She also produces and sings in the Dazzling Divas nights of opera arias at the Bateau Ivre. www.elizaomalley.com

HARRIET MARCH PAGE has pursued a life-long obsession with the arts, as actor, singer, writer, director, producer. Reeling off the decades, the 1970s was grand opera in and about the San Francisco Bay Area; 1980's, acting in plays and musicals with the Los Altos Conservatory Theatre; 1990's, writing and performing autobiographical monologues in San Francisco and producing monthly Sunday Salons; and the 2000's directing and producing as Artistic Director for Goat Hall Productions / San Francisco Cabaret Opera, whose mission is presenting contemporary opera in English and premiering new opera theater by Bay Area composers in a cabaret setting. After five years devoted to new music almost exclusively, March Page is very excited about entering a new phase with our 2008-2009 season, which includes new exciting works such as those featured on OPERA APOCALYPSE and our Fresh Voices IX Festivals of New Music in May and June 2009, but also Mozart, Purcell, Menotti, and more!

Lyric Soprano LETITIA PAGE is happy to be performing once again in the Bay Area! Ms. Page is currently a Seattle Opera Associate Chorister and has recently been accepted to study voice with Wagnerian Soprano Jane Eaglen. Ms. Page was a recent scholarship recipient for Elyssium, Between Two Continents Summer Opera Program in Bernreid, Germany. She won the second highest scholarship in Seattle’s Gilbert & Sullivan Vocal Competition in 2006 and received the Peggy O’Coyne Music Scholarship for two years running at SCC in Seattle. You can see Ms. Page this spring as The Countess in The Marriage of Figaro with Goat Hall Productions and as the cover for Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus with The Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan's Second Stage this January in Seattle. Letitia Page is thrilled to be able to reprise the role of Antigone with such a wonderful and talented cast.

Mezzo-soprano CARY ANN ROSKO has performed contemporary and standard repertoire throughout the Bay Area with companies such as The Lamplighters, Oakland Opera, Cinnabar Theater, Berkeley Opera and Martinez Opera. Ms. Rosko¢s recent modern opera roles include Dargelos/Agathe in Philip Glass's Les Enfants Terribles, Dionisia in Robert Xavier Rodriguez's La Curandera, Reporter in Anthony Davis's X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, and Clare Lynott in Daniel Felsenfeld's The Last of Manhattan. Other credits include Katisha (Sullivan's The Mikado), Vera Boronel (Menotti's The Consul), Lola (Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana), Siebel (Faust), Olga (Peter Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin), Julie (Jerome Kern's Show Boat) and Cleo (Frank Loesser The Most Happy Fella). Ms. Cary appears in this production as Ophelia I: The Violated Saint inAmy Beth Kirsten¢s Ophelia Forever.

LARYSSA SADOWAY began her music training in Belmont, Massachusetts. She recently received a Master of Music in Vocal Performance at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Catherine Cook. She is thrilled to be singing Quark Sister Top-Bottom with Goat Hall Productions. Since moving to the Bay Area, she has been heard at San Francisco Conservatory in the roles of Third Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Cecilia March, (Little Women), Didone (Cavalli’s L’Egisto) and La mère (L’enfant et les sortileges). She sang the role of Solo Chorus in Berkeley Opera’s production of W.A. Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Other recent roles include La Voix (Jacques Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann) and Mme. de Croissy (Les Dialogues des Carmelites). On the concert stage, Ms. Sadoway has appeared as a soloist in Mozart's Requiem and J.S. Bach's Cantata No. 106. Upcoming performances include Marcellina (Le Nozze di Figaro) with Goat Hall Productions in the Spring of ’09.

PRODUCTION STAFF

Director - Harriet March Page
Conductor - Mark Alburger
Choreographer - William Loney (Antigone)
- Maria Mikheyenko (Quantum Mechanic)
Lighting Design, Light Board - John Jamieson, Lewis Campbell
(The Next Stage) - Victoria Holder (Chapel of the Chimes /
Temple United Methodist Church)
Costumes - ACT Costume Rental / Harriet March Page
Props - Stephanie Desnoyers
Set Design / Construction (Antigone) - Adam Broner
Set Design / Construction (Quantum Mechanic)
- John G. Bilotta, John F. McGrew
Supertitle Design - Eliza O'Malley
Supertitle Projectionists - Meghan Dibble, Eliza O'Malley, Letitia Page
Publicity / Program - Harriet March Page, Mark Alburger,
Meghan Dibble, Eliza O'Malley
Photographer - Roger Steen
Webmaster - Meghan Dibble
Box Office - Lewis Campbell
Production Assistants / Crew - Adam Broner, Stephanie Desnoyers,
Michael Desnoyers, Terence Bennan, Loren Hicks, Victoria Holder

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND THANKS

Lewis Campbell, The Next Stage and Theater Residencies, Inc.
Elisabeth & Michael O’Malley and the Berkeley Daily Planet
Doreen Burgin and Commuter Times
Chamber Arts House (rehearsals)
Lisa Delan (Ann & Gordon Getty Foundation)
Adam Broner, Jaime Robles, Piedmont Post

GREAT NEWS!

Goat Hall Productions is a member of Theatre Bay Area, and we are happy to announce we are the recipient of a Theatre Bay Area CA$H Grant of $5,000 for singers’ fees for the November 2008 Opera Apocalypse!
Great things are happening at Goat Hall Productions / San Francisco Cabaret Opera: beginning with OPERA APOCALYPSE, this evening’s entertainment, and continuing through 2009 with an explosion of programs from Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro (March) to Purcell’s Dioclesian (April) to Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief (June), Fresh Voices IX Festival of New Works in May, plus new operas by Mark Alburger, Peter Josheff, Sheli Nan, and more!

The great joys of this production tonight are the wonderful, eclectic one-act operas by composers new to us: Amy Beth Kirsten and John G. Bilotta, as well as Mark Alburger, whose Antigone is my favorite of all his operas; and the magnificent singers, many of whom are also new to us, all of whom bring their beautiful voices, their wonderful acting and their presence! We are proud and grateful they are on our stage this evening.

We are also very grateful to Lewis Campbell and TRI/The Next Stage for providing a great theatrical venue for this production on our opening weekend. Our second weekend will be at two other venues which are architectural wonders and present a great opportunity for our singers’ operatic voices to soar in a less intimate environment.

We are what Theatre Bay Area calls a “nomad company.” This means we are a wandering band of players looking for viable venues that we can afford! We would love to have our own space again (our beloved Goat Hall is still getting renovated!) but we are happy to be here! Ticket sales and donations and an occasional grant keep us alive. And please believe me when I say your presence as an audience member makes it all worthwhile!

Tell your friends about us. Look us up online at www.goathall.org; email me at hartmpage@aol.com.

Harriet March Page, Artistic Director

WE WELCOME YOUR DONATION IN ANY AMOUNT
made out to Goat Hall Productions and sent to:
400 Missouri Street, San Francisco, CA 94107.

Goat Hall Productions is a nonprofit corporation; your gift is tax deductible.
Our tax ID number is 94-3288314.

DONORS

BOARD ARCHANGEL ($500+)
Mark Alburger
Meghan Dibble
Janet Garvin
Sharon Walters Grehosky
Diana Landau
Miriam Lewis
Janet Lohr
Douglas Mandell
Eliza O’Malley
Harriet March Page
John Partridge

ARCHANGEL ($500 +)
George & Elizabeth Alburger
Jean Bogiages
John G. Bilotta
Allan Crossman
Patti Noel Deuter
Christian & Jacqueline Erdman
Deborah Ann Hahn
Victoria Holder
Elisabeth & Michael O’Malley
Jeffrey Rodman & Adrienne Hirt
Leida Schoggen/William Farmer
W.M. Sevald
Laverne Viat

ANGEL ($100-$499)
Richard Bagwell
Peter Ballinger
Cheryl Keller Brooks
Josephine Burns/Donald Vaccarino
Martha Cooper
Howard and Rosalind Fisher
Gary D./Ruth H. Friedman
Nancy Friedman
Michael F. /Elizabeth Henry
L.C. Hickman
J.J. Hollingsworth
Brian Holmes
David Hurlbert
Linda & William Kelley
Scott King
Walter & Judith Miller
Doyne & Corinne Mraz
Sheli Nan
Amy Nichols & Oscar Romo
Judith & Fred Ostapik
David Ostwald
Saralie Pennington & Tom Herz
Marilyn Pratt
Thomas & Lisa Scola Prosek
Elaine Reynolds Smith/William L. Smith
Melissa Smith
Claire E. Taylor
Sally Adamson Taylor
Bonnie Verbelli
Cynthia Weyuker

SAINT ($50-$99)
Dorothy or Arthur Chang
Audrey D. Cole
Sanford Dole
Rev. Rick Fabian
Michael & Lori Garvey
John Golenski
Karen Grech
Laura & Henry Klein
Elise P. Laird
Robert & Shirley Liu
Edward M. Lukawski
Dexter & Kathleen Lowry
David & Marylouise Meckler
James Meredith
Bernard & Anne Metais
Jeffery Morton
Warren & Ruth Schafran
Michele Sullivan & Andy Williamson
Suesan and C. Barr Taylor
Esther Wanning
Ray Whelan
Dale & Daniel Zola

SUPPORTER ($10-$49)
Joseph C. Beck
Charles J. Deatherage, Jr./
Jan M. Deatherage
Richard W. & Marty Friesen
Juan Pedro Gaffney
Elliot Harmon & Erin (Kat) Cornelius
Ron & Ruth Marie Larson
Elizabeth O’Malley & Peter Josheff
Raymond & Barbara Park
Alan & Margaret Spool
Gladys Wagman
Garth T. & C. Ann Williams