Project

Ugetsu
Music by Michael Rose
Libretto by Emily Howard
Based on the screenplay by Yoshikata Yoda

About Ugetsu

Based on the screenplay of the film Ugetsu monogatari (Tales of the Pale and Silvery Moon After the Rain), Ugetsu is the latest opera from composer Michael Rose (Composers & the Voice 2002-03) and librettist Emily Howard. It is the story of Genjuro, a potter, and Mizagi, his pregnant wife, who live in a war torn region of 16th century Japan. Genjuro leaves his wife Mizagi at home, just as an enemy army is invading their village, in order to go sell his pottery at the market in a neighboring city. There he encounters Lady Wakasa, an orphan noble woman living in a mansion with her Nurse. Will Genjuro be able to resist the charms of this beautiful princess? And what is the dark history of this mysterious place?

About the Creators

Michael Rose (composer)
Michael Rose’s compositions have been performed by eighth blackbird, Richmond County Orchestra, Brooklyn Conservatory Classical Choir, Momenta String Quartet, Season String Quartet, Sounds New, Inoue Chamber Ensemble, cellist Juho Laitinen, and pianist Beth Levin, among many others. Upcoming premieres include works for the OMNI Ensemble, soprano Julieanne Klein, and a piece for the unusual duo of sliding-mouthpiece flute and trombone, all in spring 2009. Michael has received numerous awards, including a Fulbright in 2006-07 to study music and theater at the Kerala Kalamandalam in India, and residencies at Djerassi (Oct-Nov 2007) and Yaddo (Feb 2009). With fellow members of the composers’ group South Oxford Six (www.southoxfordsix.org) he presents concerts in New York and Serbia and is an instructor at the week-long “Summer in Sombor” composition workshops held in Sombor, Serbia. He received his B.A. and B.M. from Oberlin, with further study at Juilliard and with Seymour Bernstein, Peter Susser, and John Eaton. Michael has taught piano, composition, and theory at the Brooklyn Conservatory since 1995 and is founder and organizer of the conservatory’s New Music Collective concert season, now in its sixth season. Michael was a 2002-03 member of AOP's Composers & the Voice.

Emily Howard (librettist)
Emily Howard has been involved in some form of theater in various capacities for most of her life. Originally trained as an actress, she has performed roles such as Gertrude in Hamlet (Indiana University), Mrs. Smith in The Bald Soprano (Gang Greene, Chicago) and Mrs. Peachum in Vaclav Havel’s version of The Three Penny Opera (Hidden City Theater Company, NY). Since arriving in New York in 1994, she has worked steadily as a singer, teacher of singing and stage director. In opera, she has performed roles such as Schwertleite in Die Walküre (The Metropolitan Opera), Azucena in Il Trovatore (New Jersey State Opera) and Katisha in The Mikado (New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players). She has a particular love of singing newly written material and she has sung and recorded many premieres by many composers, among them Sorrell Hays, Jim Lahti, Michael Rose and Octavio Vasquez. She is the Artistic Director of Ensemble Youkali, an ensemble dedicated to the performance of opera and art song in non traditional theatrical forms. This is her first libretto.

AOP Presentations

October 24, 2008
Libretto Reading
South Oxford Space, Brooklyn, NY
Featuring performances by Douglas Scott Sorenson, Natalie Thomas, Helen Kim, Yan Xi, Isidore Elias, and Andy Waldschmidt. Directed by Matt Gray.