Songs from Hades - Photos

Emily Thompson, one of the directors of the summer Mannes Opera Workshop, approached me about writing some songs for this season's performances. She's a fine lyricist and had the inspired idea of working with the mythology of Hades and Persephone. She sent me several different lyrics, two of which we staged this past week, July 19 & 20, at St. Paul and St. Andrew Methodist Church on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

Here we have two pics (click for larger size): First, Francisco Santiago as Hades's butler tries to convince Persephone (Chiara Issa) to Try A Little Taste. Next, Persephone ask Hades (Thad Ferguson) to let her return to the living world, as she must be Where There Is Light.

Will there be more to come from this project? Stay tuned!

"Graceful and Dramatic" Three Elegies

A sharp-eyed reader pointed out to me that the New York Stringer online magazine reviewed not only the June 5, 2007 performance of my Sandburg songs, but also the March 9, 2007 concert at the Symphony Space Thalia. In that March concert, Aurora Borealis performed my Three Elegies. Again, critic David Katz had some very nice things to say:

Of the nine pieces performed, three had vocal components. Particularly lovely were Three Elegies composed by Richard Russell, settings of poems by Emily Dickinson, Chidiock Tichborne and Hart Crane. These graceful and dramatic airs had in common the theme of loss and acceptance. Tiffany Du Mouchelle, soprano, had a lovely voice and clear enunciation. Stephen Solook, percussionist, lent intensity to the Dickinson poem, and, playing marimbas, provided the melodic underpinnings for the other two poems.

In reposting this paragraph, I've corrected a few of the typos from the original review. The whole thing can be found here.

"Great Sensitivity" in Sandburg Songs

Little did I know that the June 5, 2007 concert of the New York Composers Circle was reviewed by the online magazine New York Stringer. At that concert, I accompanied soprano Sofia Dimitrova in my "Three Songs of Carl Sandburg." Critic David Katz wrote that "(T)he compositions displayed a great sensitivity to the poetic content."

The full review can be read here.