Spotlight Sunday - Dan Shore
Hartford Opera Theater is proud to spotlight composer, Dan Shore this Sunday! We first worked with Dan in 2012 for his opera, The Chorus Girl for New in November 3. We were delighted to produce Dan's one act opera, An Embarrassing Position on the main stage in spring 2015.
Dan Shore is an opera composer and playwright whose many works for the stage include The Beautiful Bridegroom (first prize, National Opera Association’s Chamber Opera Competition), An Embarrassing Position (first prize, National Opera Association’s Chamber Opera Competition, and a Big Easy Entertainment Award), Travel (first prize, Astoria Performing Arts Center Playwriting Contest), Anne Hutchinson, The Chorus Girl, Downtown Diner, and the forthcoming Lady Orchid. Recent concert works include commissions from Calliope’s Call, Musaica, Duo Cantabrigia, the Rivers School Conservatory, and the Freisinger Chamber Orchestra. An alumnus of the BMI-Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop and a Fulbright scholar, Dan holds a B.M. and M.M. from the New England Conservatory and a Ph.D. from the City University of New York. His teachers include Lee Hyla, Malcom Peyton, Scott Wheeler, Andy Pape, David Del Tredici, and Tina Howe. Former faculty at Xavier University of Louisiana, Baruch College, and Emerson College, he currently teaches at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Dan is a member of ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild, and he is also the official page turner of Opera del West.
Upcoming performances this spring include the UK premiere of The Beautiful Bridegroom in Glasgow; the premiere of A Cowboy’s Life , commissioned by the Rivers School Conservatory Contemporary Music Seminar; and the incidental music for Celeste Walker’s Colette, Reloaded.
We asked Dan what "opera without borders" means to him:
-- I think “Opera Without Borders” is a wonderful reminder that opera is a form of entertainment for absolutely everybody, just like going to the movies or a baseball game. All you need is a few singers, a pianist, and an audience looking for something to take their minds off their own problems for a few hours. Some operas are serious, some operas are silly, but they’re all just people telling stories with music, which has been simple and exciting since the beginning of time.
Learn more about Dan's music - danshoremusic.com
See you next Sunday!
