A chronological list of
our
CHILDREN'S and LITURGICAL OPERAS
PSALM SETTINGS, ANTHEMS and Miscellaneous Pieces (1976-present.)
MOD DONNA (1970) Full length musical directed by
Joseph Papp at the
New
York Shakespeare Festival Theater (Public Theater).
One season.
A MUSICAL SETTING OF THE RITE II COMMUNION SERVICE
(1976) Full length choral mass setting. Trinity
Church on-the-Green. Three seasons from 1976-1979.
BIRTH ELEGY (1977) Song cycle set to poems by Natalie
Robins.
Forty-five minutes. Not performed.
A
CONVERSATION BETWEEN MARY AND THE ANGEL GABRIEL (1978)
Ten-minute chancel opera. Ongoing seasonal tour.
WOMAN
AT JACOB'S WELL (1979) Twenty-five minute chancel opera.
Toured 1979-1982.
THE RAISING OF LAZARUS (1979) Twenty-five minute
chancel opera.
Toured 1979-1980.
SIMEON
(1980) Twenty-five minute chancel opera.
THE AWAKENING
(1980) (Libretto by Neil Olsen) Twenty-minute chancel opera.
THE SACRIFICE
OF ISAAC (1980) Twenty-minute chancel opera.
ON THE ROAD
TO EMMAUS (1981) Twenty-minute chancel opera.
THE
EMPEROR AND THE NIGHTINGALE (1982) 1.5 hour-long opera
for children and adults. Sprague Hall, 1982, 1985; Christ
Episcopal Church 1993.
RUTH (1983) Twenty-minute chancel
opera. Toured 1983.
TINY
OPERAS (1983) One-hour trilogy of chamber operas based
on O. Henry. Trinity
Church on the Green, 1983. Three performances at Bruno
Walter Hall, Lincoln Center,
under the auspices of MEET THE COMPOSER;
Christ Church Parish, New Haven, 1992.
ELI W
(1984). Full-length opera, cast of children and adults, chamber
orchestra. Shubert Center
for the Performing Arts, 1984.
TALES OF
A MAGIC MONASTERY (1985) Twenty-minute long chancel opera
based on libretto by Theophane the Monk. Toured 1985. Premiered
at Spuyten Duyvil Church, Bronx, New York, 1985.
BY THE
POOL OF SILOAM (1986) Twenty-minute chancel opera. Not
performed.
ISIS AND OSIRIS (1986) Songs and incidental music.
Fifty minutes.
Worthington
Hooker School, 1986.
PIECE
TOGETHER (1987) Twenty-two minute chancel opera.
MAGDALENE
(1987) Twenty-five minute chancel opera. Not performed.
AS YOU LIKE IT Songs and Incidental music (1986)
Two hours 20 minutes. For high school and adult soloists. Hamden
High School.
PRAYERS OF THE ROSARY (1987) One hour. Plainchant
settings of the rosary prayers.
THE WILD
SWANS (1987) Hour-long opera for trebles, adult soloists
and puppets. 1987 and 1989 performances at Sprague
Hall, Yale University and at O.A.K.E. Conference, Boston.
Tour, February and March, 1996, benefit the
Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen.
THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WIFE (1987) Thirty-minute fairy
tale opera for three adults. Bruno Walter Hall, Lincoln
Center, under the auspices of MEET
THE COMPOSER. 1991.
A PINCH HITTER'S CHORUS MAKES ITS DEBUT (1988) Twenty-minute
opera for children in the Shubert
Center for the Performing Arts Children's Theater.
ALICE MEETS MOCK TURTLE (1988) Thirty minute chamber
opera for three adult singers. Three performances at Bruno
Walter Hall, Lincoln Center,
under the auspices of MEET
THE COMPOSER. 1988 and 1991.
A SPOOK OPERA (1989) Twenty-minute opera vignette
performed at the Shubert
Center for the Performing Arts Children's Theater.
PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN (1989) Thirty minutes.
For treble chorus. Worthington
Hooker School.
A MUSICAL SETTING OF THE RITE 1 EUCHARIST (1989)
For cantor and congregation. In use at Christ Episcopal Church,
1989-present.
OLD BEFANA
(1989) One hour-long opera for adults and children. Christ
Episcopal Church, New Haven, CT. 1990. Piano accompaniment.
THE GOOSE
GIRL (1990) One hour. For adult soloists, treble chorus
and dancers. Worthington
Hooker School, 1990; Cheshire
Public Library, 1991.
THE BIRTH OF
OUR LORD (1990) Twenty-minute chancel opera. Touring.
DANIEL'S
GIFT (1991) Thirty-minute opera for adults and children.
Christ Episcopal Church,
New Haven, CT. 1991.
FOLKTALE
OPERAS (1992) One hour. Tiny operas, stories written by
and for children. Sprague Hall,
Yale University.
FABLE
OPERAS (1992-3) Forty-five minutes. Ten operas based on
Aesop and La Fontaine. For adult and children. Thornton
Wilder Hall and Artspace, 1993.
ELISHA
(1993) Twenty-minute chancel opera. Touring. Performed on
October 2, 1994 to open a series of interfaith concerts under
the auspices of St.
Mark's Chapel, Storrs, Connecticut.
A SINGING TOUR OF THE PEABODY (1993) One hour. For
treble chorus. Peabody
Museum, 1993. Full score available; we just haven't gotten
this opera's web page set up.
SCENES
FROM THE LIFE OF DAVID AND JONATHAN (1993) 25 minute chancel
opera. Tour beginning March, 1994.
THE LITTLE
MATCH GIRL (1993) One hour. For treble chorus, treble
soloists, two adult soloists, ballet troupe (optional). Piano
accompaniment. Performed early 1994 at Christ
Church Parish, New Haven, as a Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen
benefit.
THE TRANSFIGURATION (1993, revised 2013). 15 minutes. For four tenors or four baritones with piano accompaniment. Premiered at the Episcopal Church of the Mediator, Allentown, PA, March 2, 2014.
RABBI NACHMAN'S
CHAIR (1994) a musical setting of Jewish mystical tales
for violin soloist and mime as Rabbi Nathan, adult and child
soloists, men's and children's choruses, and piano. Performed
the Jewish
Community Center of Greater New Haven and The Episcopal
Church of St. Paul and St. James, New Haven, in February of
1995. Benefit The Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen.
SQUANTO
AND LOVE (1995) a musical about the Pilgrims. Book by
June Bingham.
Two versions: one 50 minutes, one 90 minutes. Performed at
Minor Latham Playhouse,
New York, New York, and The Priscilla
Beach Theatre, Schuyler Hill Performing Arts Center, Plymouth,
Massachusetts. For adults and children. Piano and percussion
accompaniment.
THE
TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES performed in the spring of 1995
with the Worthington Hooker School third and fourth grades.
THE LEGEND
OF THE BLUEBONNET (1996) commissioned by
MEET THE COMPOSER'S New Music for Schools Grant. Performed
at Sprague Hall, Yale University,
in May of 1996 with Worthington
Hooker School children. Chancel Opera Company Children's
Chorus tour of the opera in Greater New Haven Area Public
Schools as part of the New Haven Comprehensive Arts Program
and the Urban/Suburban Exchange Program.
THE
SNOW QUEEN, A full-length ballet based on the Andersen
tale, performed springs of 1997 and 1998 with the New
Haven Ballet and Orchestra
New England and with Vladimir Shpitalnik, set design,
and William B. Warfel, lighting design. Performance of ballet
planned for spring, 2001.
THE OTHER
WISE MAN, a Christmas or Epiphany oratorio for treble
choir, narrator, piano, synthesizer and percussion, based
on the book by Henry Van Dyke. Premiered at Christ
Church, New Haven, CT, January, 2000 and toured thereafter.
ANNIVERSARY
TALES - children's folktale operas. Libretti by students
of Worthington
Hooker Elementary School ; music by Susan Bingham. Performed
at New Haven's Long Wharf
Theater in June, 2000, in celebration of the school's
100th anniversary. GERMANY TOUR: The Chancel Opera Company
toured five liturgical operas and four children's operas for
ten days in Germany in February, 2001.
THE TALKING STONES OF MACHU PICCHU - children's opera based on an original Inca tale by Michèle Miller Sigg, with music by Susan Hulsman Bingham. Premiered at Worthington Hooker Elementary School in the spring of 2004. Duration (flexible): 45-60 minutes.
AND CHRIST CAME INTO THE WORLD, an Epiphany play by Michèle Miller Sigg based on Christmas Bible tales and traditional legends, including the legend about the talking animals. 20 minutes. roughly. 2005
HOW THE DRAGON LOST HIS DARK: AN INKRAGABLE TALE, a musical play based on the fairy tale by Michèle Miller Sigg. Premiered at Worthington Hooker Elementary School, May 26, 2005. Music by Susan Bingham. Duration: 50 minutes.
LEARNING TO PRAY - a liturgical piece for narrator, two mimes (optional), violin and piano. Based on the Hasidic tale as retold by Howard Schwartz. 15 minutes. 2004. Premiered at Episcopal Church of the Mediator, Allentown, PA, January, 2008. Second performance scheduled for May 2, 2008 Friday night service at Congregation Keneseth Israel, Allentown, PA.
THE BRAVE KNIGHT - chancel opera for children using Orff instruments. Based on story by James Russell Lowell. 15 minutes. Performed at Episcopal Church of the Mediator, Allentown, PA, March 30, 2008.
NAAMAN THE LEPER - an oratorio in costume for adults and children based on 2 Kings
5:1-19. 20 minutes. Premiered at Episcopal Church of the Mediator, Allentown, PA, February 12, 2012.
The following operas and musical plays were written
for the Foote School Summer Theater Program from 1988-1992.
All are approximately one hour in length except where otherwise
noted.
THE
TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES The original version based on
the Grimm tale, for smaller cast. Similar to the opera of
the same name listed above.
THE
MUSICIANS OF BREMEN - Available in two versions - a shorter
version for smaller cast and a longer version, adapted from
the original by Ellen Greist.
BEARSKIN
MIDSUMMER
DREAM STUFF
BARRINGTON
BUNNY (30 minutes)
KING TYPHOON TRUNK (score being put on computer;
call if interested)
THE
LIGHT PRINCESS
HANNAH (chancel opera (20 minutes) 2015
THE DEPARTURE OF ELIJAH (chancel opera (14 minutes) 2016
