| Summary: | This chamber opera by Michael LaCroix is an adaptation of Aristophanes' ancient Greek comedy, The Birds. The play is the longest among the existing works by Aristophanes and was first presented and took second prize at the City Dionysia festival at Athens in the year 414 B.C. Based on an English translation by David Barrett (1765 lines were adapted from The Birds and Other Plays, Penguin Putnam Inc., 2003, (c) David Barrett and Alan H. Sommerstein, 1978, 153-214. This musical adaptation was made with permission from the Society of Authors in London, England, and the text is reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd.), the composer modified the story to create his own libretto, and from the text comes the structure of the composition. Scored for three singers (soprano, tenor, bass-baritone), actor, and chamber ensemble (flute, clarinet, saxophone, violin, cello, percussion), the work walks a fine line between opera and theater. Staying true to the original play, the role of the Nightingale is given to the flutist. In this same spirit, the members of the ensemble appear onstage, and, in addition to traditional playing, with explicit and implicit indications in the score, slip back and forth between character roles, improvise, and produce occasional well-placed special effects, all in a rather fluid fashion, using a combination of traditional and non-traditional instruments as well as found objects and toys. Act I of the opera, this dissertation, was performed by the University of Chicago's Contemporary Chamber Players on 22 May, 2011, at Ganz Hall, featuring singers Tony Arnold and Peter Tantsits, actor Ofer Ravid, and ensemble-in-residence, eighth blackbird, with saxophonist Jeremy Ruthrauff.
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