This spring seems to be all about song. At long last, my song cycle For Allegra premieres on April 10, with soprano Nina Berman and pianist Steve Beck. Composed during my daughter’s high school and college years to suit her growing voice and her poetic interests (Millay, Whitman, Dickinson, Chiasson, Erickson, Berry), it hasn’t been performed complete until now. Meanwhile, poet/soprano Emma Stace Darling is back in town, from her home in Bologna, to work with me on the growing cycle Girl on Fire. She writes the poetry. I write the music. She sings. I play. We performed it as an eight-song set one year ago in Hastings, England. Now it’s thirteen songs and growing toward a one-woman opera. We’re rehearsing almost daily toward recording a demo and building a team to help realize the vision.
