Anne Boleyn – a chamber opera
Anne Boleyn, my first opera, is a short one-act based on the final moments of her life. A two-character piece, I conducted a concert version of it with chamber orchestra 27 January 1984 at the Mannes College of Music in New York City. This video is of a staged version of the piece that was produced 27-30 June 1985 by Golden Fleece, Ltd., the Composer’s Chamber Theatre in New York City. I conducted these performances with the reduced orchestration of string trio and piano. The singers here are Lucy Sorlucco (Anne) and Robert Manzari (Kingston; Percy; Henry VIII). The production staff included Lou Rodgers (artistic & stage director); Jerome Shannon (musical director & piano); Jack Fogle (stage design); David Shepherd (lighting design) and Victoria Charkut (costume design). The other musicians were Wha-Rim Kim (violin); Ruth Kahn (viola); and Tomas Ulrich (cello). My twenty-five year old self appears in the bows at the end.