Libby Larsen - Dreaming Blue

Libby

Libby Larsen (b. 24 December 1950, Wilmington, Delaware) is one of America’s most prolific and most performed living composers. Her music has been commissioned and premiered internationally by major artists and orchestras and is prized for its dynamic, deeply inspired, and vigorous contemporary American spirit. Larsen studied composition at the University of Minnesota, co-founding with Stephen Paulus the Minnesota Composers Forum (now the American Composers Forum), a composers’ advocacy group, in 1973. Larsen’s commitment to the wider issue of music in society has led her to activity on a national level: she has served on the boards of the American Symphony Orchestra League and Meet the Composer, and on The American Composers Forum. She has been on the Music Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts, Vice President of the American Music Center, and a director of the College Music Society. She has held composer residencies at the California Institute of the Arts, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Arnold Schoenberg Institute, the Philadelphia School of the Arts, the Cincinnati Conservatory, and the Colorado Symphony. In 2003, she was appointed the first holder of the Harissios Papamarkou Chair in Education and Technology in the John W. Kluge Center of the Library of Congress. In this position, she will plan new ways for arts educators and world-class arts practitioners to work together and create ways in which artists may interact with each other and the population at large through technology. Larsen’s love of the sounds and rhythms of language, both musical and verbal, prevails in her diverse catalogue of works that speak the American vernacular. Her nearly 200 works encompass orchestra, dance, choral, opera, theater, chamber and solo repertory. Her commissions, honors, and awards are numerous, including multiple commissions from the King’s Singers and Benita Valente, and a 1994 Grammy as producer for the CD The Art of Arleen Augér, an acclaimed recording that features Larsen’s Sonnets from the Portuguese. She was celebrated in USA Today as “the only English-speaking composer since Benjamin Britten who matches great verse with fine music so intelligently and expressively.”

Libby Larsen Dreaming Blue An Opera with Children in One Act Duration: 1 hour Commissioned by The Kennedy Center Imagination Celebration of Salt Lake City, with generous support from The 2002 Olympic Winter Games Art Festival, The Salt Lake City Corporation, The Utah Opera Global Artways, a program of Youth City, and The Mayor’s Youth Program Premiered at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, 26 February 2002 Cast The Child Voice of the Child Baby Blue Azul Blue Weirdo Mayor/Judge Children’s Chorus (SSA) Rhythm Chorus Drumming Group A child actor with strong speaking/movement capabilities Lyric tenor: sings the voice of the child throughout the opera Coloratura soprano Mezzo-soprano Bass Baritone Adult speaking role, played (if possible) by a recognizable local public figure Group of twelve to twenty-four children with strong voices in the vocal range of middle C to high G A group of five children with a strong sense of rhythm and excellent hand-eye coordination Ideally, a local drumming ensemble, such as an African, Caribbean, street-container, or the like should perform using their own music Orchestra Flute/Piccolo Percussion I & II Oboe Harp Clarinet (Bb) Piano Bassoon Strings 2 Trumpets (Bb) Cued CD Recording Timpani A compact disc recording to be played at specific moments in the opera