Thomas Pasatieri

Pasatieri’s triumphant return the opera stage in 2007 was marked by two operas: the dramatic Frau Margot, and the comic opera, The Hotel Casablanca. The drama continued in September, 2008, as renowned soprano Lauren Flanigan premiered the monodrama Lady Macbeth, with Joseph Illick, Piano, in Dallas. Ms. Flanigan and Mr. Illick have recorded Lady Macbeth and the other monodrama Before Breakfast for Albany (Albany/Troy 1083), due for release at the beginning of December, 2008. Ms. Flanigan performs Lady Macbeth and Before Breakfast (accompanied by Christopher Cooley) on December 3rd at Opera America’s Salon Series “Exploring American Voices” held at the organization’s headquarters in New York.

Before Breakfast
Opera in One Act (Piano-Vocal Score)
Libretto adapted by Frank Corsaro
After the play by Eugene O'Neill

Pasatieri established himself as an American opera composer during the 1960s and 1970s, before leaving to carve out a highly successful career in Hollywood. With that success, he is now able - and entirely willing - to return to his first love, opera. We present the 2006 revised edition of his 1980 opera, Before Breakfast, in a handsome, new piano-vocal score.

Piano-Vocal Score 411-41111 • $19.95  Add to Cart

Based on an original play by director Frank Corsaro. This masterpiece tells the story of a jealous widow who denies the public the consumption of the final work of her deceased husband, fictional composer Erich Künstler. Commissioned by the Fort Worth Opera, Frau Margot premiered in June of 2007. (Orchestral score and parts available on rental.)

Piano-Vocal Score 411-41117 • $40.00  Add to Cart

A new major opera from Pasatieri, commissioned by Sheri Greenawald, Director of the San Francisco Opera Center. "Casablanca has just enough opera majesty to satiate grand opera adherents and enough silliness to keep most audiences entertained. As a bonus, it’s in English." (Rich Copley, Copious Notes) "The work serves up two hours of efficient entertainment thanks to its superb source, tight plot, and crisply defined characters." -- (John Bender, San Francisco Classical Voice)

Piano-Vocal Score 411-41114 • $35.00  Add to Cart

Lady Macbeth - Piano/Vocal Score in preparation for publication - 411-41118

Vocal scores of the following revised versions are also now available:

   La Divina 411-41025 • $19.95  Add to Cart
   The Seagull 411-41107 • $40.00  Add to Cart

Jay Reise

Reise’s 1988 opera, Rasputin, was produced for the first time in Russia at the beginning of October, with 5 performances at the Helikon Opera Theatre. The performances played to sold-out houses, and generated tremendous interest in the Russian media. Reviewers noted how successfully Reise captured and interpreted the complexity of this troubled and controversial period in Russian history, viewed with the mixed feelings that to this day still permeate the Russian view of the period. Nikolay Galin and Natalia Zagorinskaya starred as Rasputin and Tsarina Alexandra Fedorovna, with Nikolay Dorozhkin as Tsar Nikolas II. The production was directed by Dmitry Bertman, and the musical director and conductor was Vladimir Ponkin. Helikon has scheduled further performances January 28-February 1, 2009.

The set design featured a giant egg crate, filled with enormous, Fabergé-style eggs; the effect was visually stunning, figuratively representing the dichotomy of the proletariat and the aristocracy. Towards the end of the opera, one of the eggs cracks, and the character of Lenin emerges to end the opera in the bloody days of 1917, immediately following the assassination of the Tsar and his family.

Photos from the performances.

Interview in Moscow with Jay Reise

Lowell Liebermann

“…one of America's more successful and interesting Neo-Romantic composers… never difficult to listen to… [Liebermann] sets speech rhythms quite naturally… A satisfying evening.” wrote David Shengold, Philadelphia City Paper, following first performances of the reduced orchestra version of The Picture of Dorian Gray in Philadelphia (June, 2007). The 1996 premiere in Monte-Carlo of Dorian Gray played to great acclaim, which was repeated in 1999, when Florentine Opera in Milwaukee gave the first performance in the USA.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Piano/Vocal Score 411-41101 • $60.00  Add to Cart
Libretto 417-41032 • $7.50  Add to Cart

Miss Lonelyhearts

Liebermann’s second opera, Miss Lonelyhearts, was commissioned by The Juilliard School as part of its centennial celebrations, and premiered in April, 2006. “New York saw the premiere of a new opera on Wednesday night - Miss Lonelyhearts, by Lowell Liebermann. Mr. Liebermann and his librettist, J.D. McClatchy, have achieved a success: an opera that is worth seeing, hearing, and absorbing. ...The score is well paced and well crafted. It has energy and tension (though that tension is relieved). It is neither too long nor too short. And it is almost never dull.” (Jay Nordlinger, The New York Sun)

Piano-Vocal Score 411-41110 • $50.00  Add to Cart

Browse our catalog of English Language Operas

Newly updated for 2009
PDF catalog - 49 pages, 1.2MB