DeSpain/Peterspalooza in Utah

Pre-show chat complete with hat at the Staggewring premiere in Wichita, 2021.

Composer Lisa DeSpain and I may live in the same city, but we see each other more often when we’re traveling elsewhere for work. This time, it’s my first-ever jaunt to her home state of Utah, where our first collaboration kicked off at Utah Opera. Since its world premiere, No Ladies in the Lady’s Book was published by E.C. Schirmer and has been performed in various places around the country. You can add your organization to that list!

This time, though, on May 26th and 27th Brigham Young University is mounting an ambitious program of scenes from our other works. Most university opera scenes evenings give a broad overview of the traditional canon—Mozart, Puccini, etc.—but this time, it’s us! The very first live presentation of Men I’m Not Married To, adaptated from the short story by Dorothy Parker and originally conceived for video in early Pandemic Times, will be followed by excerpts from Staggerwing. We’re looking forward to implementing some of the expansion we recently tried at Vanderbilt this past winter. And it certainly won’t hurt for all of the performers to be in the same space to tell the story at the same time! We also have the rare gift of an orchestra for these performances, which allows Lisa to try out some new textures. Rehearsals are underway, and reportedly, enthusiasm is high, as it should be! We look forward to parachuting in at the end of the week for the finishing touches.

The quote “Art is never finished, only abandoned,” has been (perhaps mis-)attributed to many artists over time. No matter who said it, we agree, and we’re glad to keep refining these works in front of audiences willing to take the ride with us. You can purchase tickets here, and be sure to let me know if you’re coming!