Happening at Hudson Hall in September

Hudson Hall may want to consider changing its name back to Hudson Opera House, because it is becoming a venue not only for baroque opera, with R. B. Schlather's "Handel on the Hudson" series, but also for intriguing new opera works.

In 2012, Hudson resident Jeffrey Lependorf began work on a full-length opera project--American Terror--made from the 1969 Firing Line television debate between William F. Buckley and Noam Chomsky on America's involvement in Vietnam. Lependorf says of the project:

While the debate itself is captivating, I was particularly interested in how these two masters of discourse so fail to communicate with one another. I was more interested in how they were saying what they said than in specifically what they were saying.

I did a good deal of work on the piece, and part of my unfinished libretto was even published in PEN America journal, in a special issue called "Fear Itself," but I abandoned the work for other projects. Until now. The wonderful Hudson Hall opera house invited me to apply for a New York State Council on the Arts Individual Artist commissioning grant to complete the work. We got the grant, and the opera is done!

Though my original translation into libretto of the Buckley/Chomsky debate focused on their language (capturing every nuance of stutter, throat clearing, misspeak, and talking over one another), the topic of their conversation--mainly about the consequences of providing military aid to an overseas war--is now shockingly relevant.

Because I'm not interested in imitating Chomsky or Buckley but rather in presenting them through their language, I do two things to accomplish this, in addition to having them both strictly sing only the actual words spoken. First, Chomsky and Buckley are each at different times sung by a tenor, baritone, lyric soprano, or mezzo soprano, switching at each scene change. So, the singer voicing Chomsky in one scene might very well sing Buckley in the next. Second, a good deal of the music is appropriated from classic piano repertoire: the music for Buckley--established, formal, witty, a seasoned TV personality--finds its roots in the piano music of classical composer Franz Joseph Haydn, while the music for Chomsky--anarchist, emotional, a bit nervous on his first TV appearance--finds its roots in the piano music of Alexander Scriabin. The contrast and interplay of these two strikingly different aesthetics amplifies the context and subtexts of the debate.

  
On Saturday, September 14, at 7:00 p.m., Hudson Hall will present one act of the opera, starring two exceptional young singers and a remarkably fine accompanist, along with composer/librettist Jeffrey Lependorf in conversation with author Dave King. The event is pay what you like. Click here to register and make a reservation.