November 21, 2017
Listen to a New Western Opera on Nov 25, with Libretto by xxxx视频 Composition Faculty
xxxx视频 Composition faculty member Steven Mark Kohn is in the spotlight again for Riders of the Purple Sage, the new opera debuted by the Arizona Opera last spring. Listeners worldwide can tune in on Sat, Nov 25, to a radio broadcast of the production based on the Zane Grey novel of the same name. The opera will air on at 1 p.m. EST. For a full list of the broadcast locations worldwide, .
After the opera鈥檚 premiere, azcentral.com wrote: 鈥溾楽ometimes you gotta kill a man,鈥 sings the black-clad Lassiter, in a pithy expression of the Wild West ethos. 鈥楽ometimes it鈥檚 the only way.鈥 Set in the red-rock country of southern Utah in 1871, 鈥楻iders鈥 is the story of Jane Withersteen, a devout Mormon who runs afoul of church elders for her refusal to marry a man she doesn鈥檛 love (and thus to surrender control of her ranch with its life-giving spring and wealth of cattle). The plot, adapted by librettist Steven Mark Kohn, also boasts cattle rustling, a quest for revenge, and a mysterious Masked Rider. It鈥檚 unapologetically melodramatic and action-packed from the get-go.鈥
Kohn鈥檚 involvement in Riders is a natural outgrowth of his love affair with American musical folklore. His three-volume set of American folk song arrangements was premiered at Carnegie Hall by David Daniels and Martin Katz, and recorded on Azica Records by Andrew Garland. This style of music also permeates his dramatic art song cycle, commissioned by mezzo-soprano Jennifer Larmore, and based on the diaries of Mary Chesnut, a confederate woman of the Civil War era.
As a writer, he is a frequent collaborator of composer Craig Bohmler, having crafted lyrics for Bohmler鈥檚 The Quiltmaker鈥檚 Gift, Unstoppable Me, The Tale of the Nutcracker and The Three Redneck Tenors in addition to Riders of the Purple Sage.
Read more about Kohn鈥檚 experience writing the libretto.