Operatic Works

The Visitor: an Opera in Five Scenes with Prologue, Op. 58 (2000) In 1998 the Newfoundland Symphony and Music Canada 2000 commissioned me to write an opera to be premiered in 2000 to commemorate the millenium anniversary of the discovery of Newfoundland by the Vikings. I approached Newfoundland writer John Steffler to produce the libretto. He went to the Vinland Sagas and found a reference to three obscure characters: two Scottish slaves named Hekja and Haki, and a German rune-stone carver named Tyrkir. These became the focus of the libretto and the opera. The Visitor is scored for Mezzo-Soprano (Hekja), Lyric Baritone (Haki), Bass Baritone (an Icelendic Bard, Tyrkir, Decker) and Speaking Part (an Interpreter, Agnes), and chamber orchestra consisting of 2 Violins, Viola, Violoncello, Contrabass, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Piano and 2 Percussion. The plot is a simple one on the surface. The first three scenes take place in AD 1000 as the Vikings are about to return to Europe from Vinland (Newfoundland). In the last two scenes, the setting suddenly changes to AD 2000 although Hekja and Haki remain. The two Scottish slaves, brought to Vinland by the Vikings to reconnoite the place, are trying to decide whether to return to Europe with their Viking masters or to escape from them to take their chances in the new world. As they ponder these choices, they encounter several other characters. In Scene II, they encounter Tyrkir, a German rune-stone carver. He is disgusted with life in the new world and longs to return to his wife in Europe. In Scene IV Hekja and Haki meet Agnes, a modern doctor who has come to Vinland to escape painful memories of the brutal murder of her family in Africa. They also meet Decker, an archaeologist who sees in the 1000-year-old artefacts of the Vikings a chance to better his position in his job. In the end, Hekja and Haki make their decision. At its heart, The Visitor is an opera about home, about where we all belong, about wishing for better things somewhere else while perhaps not recognizing those precious things that are right at hand. The opera was written between January 1999 and March 2000. It received two very good concert performances in September 2000. As a result of those performances, I have decided I would like to revise some of the work. I look forward to doing that in the near future.