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Music Text

Libretto by Royce Vavrek (E)

Scoring

3S,T,2Bar
1(=picc,afl).0.1(=bcl).0-0.0.0.0-pft-strings(1.1.1.1.1)

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Abbreviations (PDF)

Opera
For full details on this stagework, including synopsis and roles, please visit our Opera section.
Publisher

Boosey & Hawkes (Hendon Music)

Availability

World premiere of version
30/06/2018
The Spa Little Theater, Saratoga Springs, NY
Michael Mori, director / Opera Saratoga / David Alan Miller
Composer's Notes

A motley assortment of contestants participate in their annual finch-sitting competition, a Belgian folk competition that pits chaffinches (and their owners) against each other in a battle to see who has the most melodious bird. A flag waves, and the game begins. Each competitor—sitting in front of a box containing a fellow contestants’ birds—makes a tally mark on a stick then the bird sings a certain call: the "susk-e-wiet." At the end of an hour, the bird with the most points wins, bringing much pride to its trainer. Although a seemingly simple and gentle competition, access to both the competitors' inner monologues, and flashbacks to their preparations, reveal deception, deep-seated rivalries, painful loneliness, and blossoming romance

Subjects
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