Carnegie Hall remains shuttered until further notice, so my big world premiere there with lyricist Robert Maddock on superb bass-baritone Zachary James’s recital program was cancelled. This was, needless to say, a huge disappointment. I am so weary of the term “pivot”—we have all completely pivoted the skin off the balls of our feet during this pandemic panic—but if anyone can do it with aplomb and panache, it’s Zach. He has reimagined this wildly eclectic collection of songs, comprised entirely of music by women, for a virtual video format. Robert and I were very happy to have the chance to rethink our contribution and actually went in a completely different direction. He wrote a brand new characteristically strange and touching lyric, Pinocchio’s Lament, wherein Pinocchio has discovered that being a real person is not quite all it’s cracked up to be. And Zach is getting all the way into the act, so we’re told. We cannot wait to see the end result.

It would have been lovely to have the feather of a Carnegie Hall debut in my proverbial cap after all these years of composing, but I’m equally excited for the potential of this virtual performance to reach many more people. Maybe our piece will find its way to a live presentation someday, but Zach definitely doesn’t need to be surrounded by gowns and chandeliers to pull off what is sure to be a brilliant performance. Click the photo below to read the complete press release about CALL OUT, and join him in cyberspace in December!