Pub Operas (The Sloans Project)

OVERVIEW

Title: Pub Operas (The Sloans Project)
Composer: Gareth Williams
Librettist: David James Brock
Commissioned By:

Tapestry Opera and NOISE Opera

Language: English
Producer:

Tapestry Opera

Roles:

Role	Voice Type	Range ?	Character Description
Soprano	high	C4-G5	Juke box singer / Future bride
Mezzo-soprano	middle-high	C#4-G5	Bartender / Wife of old man
Tenor	middle	G#3-G#4	Stranger in bar / Old man
Baritone	middle-low	D#3-F#4	Serial killer / Future groom

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Orchestration: Percussion, Piano, Toy Piano, Violin

SYNOPSIS

Content warning: murder, death, corpse

Composer Gareth Williams and librettist David James Brock created a site-specific promenade opera inspired by Glasgow's oldest pub, Sloans. The audience moves through the 250-year-old pub and encounters a series of scenes telling stories of love, loss, revenge and forgiveness.

MUSIC DESCRIPTION

Together, these five short, site-specific scenes serve as a series of vignettes of life at a multi-room bar. The music is varied—at times lyrical and sweet, at others rhythmic and jittery, and in one moment, containing an impression of a country music tune—and supported throughout by an ensemble of violin, cello, accordion, harp, piano, and wine glasses.

SCORES FOR PURCHASE

Piano Vocal Scores:

Pub Operas (The Sloans Project) – Piano Vocal Score

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Arias & Excerpts:

Pub Operas (The Sloans Project) - Mad with It

A young couple celebrates their recent engagement in the Sloans pub, only to be interrupted by a drunk whose 24-year marriage has just ended. The drunk leaves his wedding ring, and, sensing an opportunity, the young couple takes it.

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Character	Voice Type	Range ?
Bride-to-be	high	C4-G5
The old man	middle	D3-A4
Husband-to-be	middle-low	E3-E4

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Pub Operas (The Sloans Project) - "I remember the drink we shared" (aria)

An old drunk recounts his failed marriage.

Character	Voice Type	Range ?
The old man	middle	D3-A4

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Pub Operas (The Sloans Project) - Chopin's Ghost (aria)

A bar manager recounts the night she heard Frederick Chopin play piano, and the effect it had on her relationship with the bar’s resident piano player.

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Character	Voice Type	Range ?
The manageress	high	Cb4-G5

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Pub Operas (The Sloans Project) - Country Song

Two men break into their old haunt, bringing their recently deceased friend along for the ride. They pour three pints and pull up a country song on the jukebox. In turn, they reflect on what they’d tell him if he were still alive.

Character	Voice Type	Range ?
Country Carla	high	Eb4-F5
Keith	middle-low	F3-F4
Peter	middle	Bb3-Eb4
Their (dead) friend	silent-spoken	silent

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Pub Operas (The Sloans Project) - Charm

A father befriends the man who murdered his daughter but eluded the police, plotting revenge in the process.

Character	Voice Type	Range ?
Peter	middle	B2-G#4
Kenneth Cook	middle-low	D#3-Bb4

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Pub Operas (The Sloans Project) - "I have killed seventeen" (aria)

A man recounts his prior murders.

Character	Voice Type	Range ?
Peter	middle-low	B2-G#4

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Pub Operas (The Sloans Project) - Young Love

On the wedding day of the young couple from the first scene, the now-sober old man arrives with a surprise: his wife. And they want their ring back.

Character	Voice Type	Range ?
Bride	high	E4-B5
Wife	middle-high	G#3-F5
Old Man	middle	C#3-G#4
Groom	middle-low	B2-F#4

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PREMIERE PRODUCTION INFORMATION

Premiere Production:

July 21-24, 2011 at Sloans Bar and Restaurant, Glasgow

Producers:

Tapestry Opera

Cast:

Role	Name
Bride-to-be / Country Carla	Xin Wang
Husband-to-be / Peter	Benjamin Covey
Old Man / Keith / Kenneth Cook	James McLean
Manageress / Wife	Heather Jewson

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Premiere Production Team:

Role	Name
Director	Sue Miner
Lighting Designer	Kimberly Purtell
Music Director	James Bourne
Music Director	Christopher Foley
Stage Manager	Isolde Pleasants-Faulkner
LIBLAB Dramaturg	Michael Patrick Albano
Producer	Susan Worthington
LIBLAB Music Dramaturg	Wayne Strongman
Production Manager	Matthew Byrne

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CREATION

DEVELOPMENT

Commissioned by NOISE Opera with development support from Tapestry New Opera, The Sloans Project was recently remounted for the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe Festival at the Scottish Arts Club.

QUOTATIONS FROM MEDIA

"pushes the boundaries of musical and staging tradition, while still bringing richly textured, beautiful music to the listener’s ear"

- Keira Grant, Mooney on Theatre

"It was more than just intimate, we the audience were part of the action along with the singers. It was my first experience of being an extra in an opera. Yes, we were a real part of the action. It was exhilarating to say the least.”

- Alan Cooper, The Herald Scotland

"a fantastic ghost story, bringing to life characters from a building which has seen more than its fair share of Glasgow drama through the years... The experience is electric... and full of stories which are highly charged with laughter and sadness.”

- Kelvin Holdsworth, Opera Britannia

“Brock’s libretto was full of surprising imaginative twists. It drew you in with its reflections of real life experiences, tragic, comical and ultimately happily uplifting.”

- Alan Cooper, The Herald Scotland

"...amazing and often quite magical"

- Alan Cooper, Scottish Television (STV)

"... puts opera 'in yer face' with impressive flair"

- Mary Brennan, Glasgow Herald

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