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Steven Pisano
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Hi Char, Yes! Yes! Yes! So cool to hear about your past experiences. Steve
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Hi Rosemarie, Thanks for your message! I was definitely won over! Steve
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by Steven Pisano (All photos by Steven Pisano.) After an American premiere at Nashville Opera earlier this year, the provocative trio of one-act operas, Three Way, with music by Robert Paterson and libretto by David Cote, has come to the... Continue reading
Posted Jun 16, 2017 at Feast of Music
Gerald, Thank you so much for your comment. When I say the production needed a bigger voice, I didn't mean to impugn either of the performers--and certainly not Amanda Crider, who I agree was first rate--but the production itself. And perhaps what I meant, in hindsight, is that the music was not strong enough, at least in my opinion. The movie the opera is based on is an intense psychological experience. This operatic version is not. Perhaps the small, cramped set was meant to convey a sense of claustrophobia, but I thought the performers were so restricted they could hardly move for fear of stepping on each other or banging into the camera boom. Of course, a stage version cannot convey the wide open windy seashore of the movie, which adds to the isolation, and thereby heightens the emotional intimacy between them in contrast. This contrast is achieved in the movie through the cinematographer's hallmark close-ups, which is not an option on stage. (I found it interesting that Bergman actually wanted to call the movie "Cinematography," but they talked him out of it!) Alas, I still do not believe that this operatic version "added" anything to the Bergman original, nor did it explore it in sufficiently new ways to be a reexamination. To me, it set its sights too low, too small. And that is why I said it needed a bigger voice. Perhaps turning this story into an opera was not a task for a chamber opera but for an opera more on a grand scale. Thus, a "bigger voice." Thanks again for your feedback. Steve ……………………….. Steven Pisano [email protected] 718-243-1025 home 347-946-4914 cell
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by Steve Pisano Kate Soper (left) as Amelia Edwards at the Temple of Dendur (photo by Steven Pisano) Last Friday, Alarm Will Sound performed a new music-theater piece, I Was Here I Was, with music by Kate Soper and a... Continue reading
Posted Jun 25, 2014 at Feast of Music
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Dec 16, 2013