short opera
duration: 12 minutes
2011
Black Blood was the final assignment for the 2011 Tapestry New Opera Composer-Librettist Laboratory. For this assignment I was paired with Toronto writer and actor Norman Yeung. Though the other works were only a few minutes long, Norman and I decided to make this piece a little longer. We were extremely happy to have Teiya Kasahara, Derek Kwan, and Peter McGillavary perform the work as part of Tapestry New Opera’s New Opera Showcase in March 2012
Synopsis
Sun beats hot, crops wither dead, water runs poisonous. War. A dying Father and Son drink their last bowl of water. They need oil to run their machines to purify the polluted water, to grow crops, to stay alive. A hideous Creature from the enemy nation approaches them with a gruesome offer.
Instrumentation:
Soprano
Tenor
Baritone