BREAKING NEWS

Victoria Bond’s Mrs. President, the opera to premiere in October 2012, performed by Anchorage Opera in Alaska. Excerpts will be presented in a preview performance in New York City in July 2012”. Details, synopsis, bios and more at www.MrsPresidentTheOpera.com

12/16/2011 11:24 AM

Hanukkah Opera Lights New Path For Holiday Tunes

By: Stephanie Simon

Original article at NY 1 website.

A new holiday opera about Hanukkah? It's a miracle! Really, it is. The Young People's Chorus of NYC has been preparing for the new children's opera called "Miracle!"

Composer Victoria Bond thought with all the Christmas offerings out there, it was time for some new Hanukkah music.

"Every year I conduct 'Amahl and the Night Visitors' which is one of the traditional Christmas plays, musical plays, or operas that are done for children. And every year I do this I thought to myself: 'Why isn't there something like this for Jewish kids,'" Bond said.

Bond enlisted the help of librettist Susan L Roth. Together they created "Miracle!" It's set in the present day, but when the lights go out a family lights candles and sings eight songs to help tell the story of Hanukkah.

"Hanukkah has been sort of put aside for the glamour of Christmas and it sort of deserves a little bit of time to shine," said Young People's Chorus of NYC singer Daniel Cabaniss.

If you know just one Hanukkah song it's probably "Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel." And that children's favorite is incorporated into the opera. And some of the singers didn't even know that one.

Even though the Young People's Chorus of NYC singer is putting on a workshop performance -- no sets or costumes -- very little can hold a candle to working with a living composer on a holiday opera written just for you.


Click on image to view video:

What's New

Featuring Chamber Music by Victoria Bond Scores and parts for all Victoria Bond works are available for purchase. Contact Protone Music info@victoriabond.com, for ordering information. Peculiar Plants for keyboard (21:00) iTunes sample Sacred Sisters for violin and harp (15:00) iTunes sample Sacred Sisters for violin and piano (15:00) Bridges for violin clarinet and piano (12:00) iTunes sample, YouTube Video Jasmine Flower for solo viola or violin (9:30) iTunes sample Woven for two violins (10:00) iTunes sample Woven for two flutes (10:00) Samba for flute and piano (4:00) YouTube video Batucada for solo flute (3:00) A New Light for violin, piano and percussion (12:00) Instruments of Revelation for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano (16:00) YouTube video Frescoes and Ash for string quintet or string orchestra (24:00) YouTube video C. M. Rubin Music and the Arts: A New Opera Posted: 12/20/11 12:06 PM "Miracle!, a new opera, is winning hearts and transforming the musical education of children." -- C. M. Rubin (Photo courtesy of Christopher Hall) I know when I have experienced a miracle…how do I know I have witnessed a miracle? I get goose bumps. I feel I am in the presence of genius. And so far the goose bumps have not let me down. Francisco Nunez commissioned a new opera for The Young People’s Chorus of New York City aptly called Miracle! from composer/conductor Victoria Bond and librettist Susan L. Roth. Miracle!, told in song and dance, is the story about the miracle of Hanukkah. It features original music as well as traditional Hanukkah melodies. The opera's eight principals include feisty children, wise parents and grandparents, not to mention a singing dog and toy bear. A packed house at the Jewish Community Center workshop in Manhattan last weekend exclaimed it a hit. Next up, The Young People's Chorus of New York City is planning a full blown production with orchestra, sets, and costumes for December, 2012. Victoria, why is opera such an important art form for young children's music education? Susan and I believe that opera encompasses all of the arts. In an easy and natural way it exposes children to music, dance, costume and stage design, drama, history, and poetry. Such an intense experience of opera at an early age can encourage a life-long appreciation. Children of every background and ethnicity have a similar issue - getting along with each other. Miracle! addresses this as the children begin (in the opera) by arguing and not listening. They plan a play celebrating Hanukkah, but they can't agree on anything. During the course of the opera, they learn to listen to each other's stories and songs, and they begin to become more tolerant and understanding. Hanukkah is a celebration of light, and Miracle! is about how that light goes off in each child's head, saying, "We need to get along with our parents, our brothers and sisters, and our friends." The story also represents bringing community together. Susan, what are your thoughts on the universal appeal of Miracle!? I think Miracle! has universal appeal because it's an every-family story. For us, the real message is one of family understanding and underlying love. We hope that Miracle! can remind everyone, including those of us who have grown up with other traditions, that at all times, including those of momentary frustration and irritation, it is with kindness and generosity and tolerance that we should treat those whom we love the best. Victoria Bond, C. M. Rubin, Francisco Nunez, Susan L. Roth ‘Miracle’ On 76th Street Tuesday, December 13, 2011 George Robinson Special To The Jewish Week The inspiration for the piece, says composer Victoria Bond, was simple. Every year she conducts a performance of Gian Carlo Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” for Chamber Opera Chicago. That Christmas-themed opera for children has always struck Bond as hitting just the right note for its young audience. “Children really get it,” Susan L. Roth, her librettist, says. “It doesn’t talk down to them.” Bond, whose grandfather Samuel Epstein was the double-bassist for the Chicago Symphony and wrote Jewish liturgical music, wanted to create a similar piece for the concurrent Jewish holiday, a short work that could eventually be paired with the Menotti, “a piece that would be about the things that Chanukah celebrates.” The result, she says, “is not only for Jewish audiences. “The issues that the holiday and the opera raise are universal,” Bond says. “The opera is about kids who don’t listen to each other. Then they grow up to be adults … But at the end of the piece they are starting to listen to each other at least a bit.” The process of creating the performance started with precisely that theme in mind, as Sophia Miller explains. “We talked about Chanukah with the children, and asked the Jewish children to tell stories about their own celebration, then all the kids started to exchange stories: ‘Oh, do you do this?’ ‘What’s that like?’ It is so important for them to understand each other, for them to hear another child tell what she does. That’s an important part of our mission as a chorus.” From its inception, the organization was conceived as a group that would cut across all ethnic, religious and socioeconomic lines. The YPC was founded “23 years ago,” announces Adam Rudt, 8, enthusiastically. Rudt, who has “been singing since I was 3,” is a quick to point out a major milestone for the chorus. “Francisco [J. Nuñez], who founded the chorus, won a MacArthur award,” he says proudly. “We go everywhere. The big guys go out on trips. We perform at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, and we work with all different people.” “Miracle” was the result of a commission from the YPC. In one respect it was a bit of a departure. “Most of our commissions are for the older children,” Miller says. “We explained to this group what a commission means, and they were very enthusiastic.” “[The YPC’s] commitment to living composers is so admirable,” Bond says. “It gets the kids thinking that music is a living art.” With the composer and librettist right there in front of them, talking about changes in the score with the accompanist and the conductor, the children couldn’t imagine otherwise. Does that organic process of collaboration present problems when the largest group of collaborators is less than 15 years old? “If we were making changes the day before . . . but this is more than a week before performance,” Bond says. “I’ll tell them ‘Let me try something,’” Miller says. “That’s my way of saying ‘Don’t marry it yet.’” Roth puts her finger on one of the key elements in making that process work. “Sophia’s patience is extraordinary,” she says. “She listens to what they need and analyzes the difference [from what is on the page].” She also has a sense of playfulness that keeps the youngsters involved as the length of their day begins to take its toll on their otherwise admirable focus. At one point in the rehearsal, Miller tries to elicit more energy from the young lady who sings the role of the family’s food-crazy dog. “You’re like the most excited puppy there ever was,” Miller bubbles. And the “puppy” effervesces with her. After the rehearsal, Miller says, “It is the end of a long day. Maybe they’re hungry or tired. But I find that with children — and I don’t think age matters — if you set the bar, they will rise.”