Mark Alburger, Works: Antigone, Op. 88

[Antigone: X. QUARTET - "Come on, now" Alburger, L. Page, Saslav - 8/3/01]

Op. 88 ANTIGONE (August 10, 2000)
(after Jean Anouilh and Sophocles)
Tragic Opera for Voices and Orchestra
(2222 2231 2perc, pf, strings)
OVERTURE I. CHORUS - "Here we are"
II. DUET - "Where have you been"
III. TRIO - "Antigone / Now you're both"
IV. DUET - "Aren't you well"
V. DUET - "Where is your pain"
VI. DUET - "Haemon"
VIa. ARIA - "You swore"
VII. ARIA - "I can't sleep"
VIII. DUET - "It's like this"
IX. CHORUS - "The spring is wound"
X. QUARTET - "Come on, now"
XI. TRIO - "What is this"
XII. ARIA - "The pride of Oedipus"
XIII. DUET - "Where are you going"
XIV. DUET - "I shall save you yet"
XV. ARIA - "You think you knew"
XVI. DUET - "Antigone / You, too"
XVII. SEPTET - "Take her away"
XVIII. DUET - "It's you"
XIX. ARIA - "News to break your heart"
XX. SEXTET - "I've had them laid"
XXI. CHORUS - "There we are"

Score:

https://imslp.org/wiki/Antigone%2C_Op.88_(Alburger%2C_Mark)

Program Note:

ANTIGONE (libretto after Jean Anouilh and Sophocles) is a "grid" opera based on W.A. Mozart's The Magic Flute, from which is taken form (often including exact number of measures, tempo markings, and keys), but little content. Much of the music was written in the spirit of the title character: that of rebellion -- major keys become minor, very slow tempi become very fast, stolid rhythms become almost irrationally syncopated. The opera also alludes to Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach and Akhnaten, 50's rock, J.S. Bach's Cantata No. 140 ("Wachet Auf"), Ancient Greek music, 70's pop, Arthur Sullivan, Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors, Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony No. 3, the Beach Boys, John Barry's Dances With Wolves, Igor Stravinsky's Pulcinella and Ebony Concerto, Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata and Aida, Meredith Willson's The Music Man, Alburger's Sonata for Oboe, Piano, and Percussion, and Balinese gamelan music.

Performances:

January 27, 2001
NEW MUSIC THEATRE Ensemble
Z Space, San Francisco, CA
Antigone - Letitia Page
Creon - Richard Mix
Ismene / Nurse - Harriet March Page
Guard - Mark Alburger
Piano - Melissa Smith

March 9, 2001
NEW MUSIC THEATRE Ensemble
College Music Society, San Francisco Conservatory, CA
Antigone - Letitia Page
Ismene / Nurse - Harriet March Page
Creon / Guard - Mark Alburger
Piano - Melissa Smith

March 10 , 2001
NEW MUSIC THEATRE Ensemble
National Association of Composers, Arts Center, Palo Alto, CA
Antigone - Letitia Page
Ismene / Nurse - Harriet March Page
Creon / Guard - Mark Alburger
Piano - Melissa Smith

August 3-5, 2001
Fresh Voices II Festival
Goat Hall, San Francisco, CA
Antigone - Letitia Page
Creon - Micah Epps
Haemon / Messenger / Guard II - David Saslav
Ismene - Harriet March Page
Nurse - Miriam Lewis
Messenger / Guard I - Robert Benda
Guard III - Mark Alburger
Page - John Thorn
Eurydice - Sharon Walters
Director - Harriet March Page
Music Director - Mark Alburger
New Music Pierrot Ensemble

[I. CHORUS - "Here we are" Lewis, L. Page, Walters, H. Page, Benda, Saslav]

[II. DUET - "Where have you been" Walters, L. Page, Lewis]

[V. DUET - "Where is your pain" Lewis, L. Page]

[VI. DUET - "Haemon" L. Page, Saslav]

[VII. ARIA - "I can't sleep" Walters, H. Page, L. Page]

[IX. CHORUS - "The spring is wound" Lewis, H. Page, Walters, L. Page, Saslav, Benda, Epps, Thorn, Alburger]

[X. QUARTET - "Come on, now" [Alburger, L. Page, Saslav]

[XIV. DUET - "I shall save you yet" Thorn, Epps, L. Page]

April 5, 2003
San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra
Goat Hall, San Francisco, CA
OVERTURE

October 3, 2003
Phillip Almquist, Bass Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill, CA
XII. ARIA - "The Pride of Oedipus"

April 20, 2007
Halfway Mark
San Francisco Cabaret Opera
San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra
Old First Presbyterian Church, San Francisco, CA
Antigone - Eliza O'Malley
Guards - David Chavez, Karl Coryat, William Loney, Christopher Lujan, Mark Alburger
X. QUARTET - "Come on, now"

[O'Malley, Henry]

April 19, 2008 The Red Horse
Eliza O'Malley, Harriet March Page, Beth Henry
St. Gregory of Nyssa, San Francisco, CA
Antigone - Eliza O'Malley
Ismene - Elizabeth Henry
Nurse - Harriet March Page
Piano - Mark Alburger

[V. DUET - "Where Is Your Pain" O'Malley, Page]

[Mikheyenko, Lahm]

November 7-9, 2008
Opera Apocalypse!
Goat Hall Productions / San Francisco Cabaret Opera
The Next Stage, San Francisco, CA
Antigone - Eliza O'Malley (11/7 and 9)
Antigone - Letitia C. Page (11/8)
Creon - Micah Epps
Haemon / Messenger / Guard III - Michael Desnoyers
Ismene - Kimberly Anderman
Nurse / Eurydice - Meghan Dibble
Guard I - Maria Mikheyenko
Guard II - Erin Lahm
Antigone's Handmaid - Alix Jerinic
Ismene's Handmaid / Antigone Dancer - Dalyte Kodzis
Oedipus / Haemon Dancer - William Loney
Page - Lisa McHenry
The Puppetmaster - Terence Bennan
The Fixer - Adam Broner
Artistic Director - Harriet March Page
Music Director - Mark Alburger
Piano - Keisuke Nakagoshi
Choreographer - William Loney

Dress Rehearsal 11/6/08