Everything Comes to a Head with Decameron Opera Coalition

I’ve been hard at work on several projects intended for screens rather than live performance. One comes to a screen near you next month: Everything Comes to a Head. I was recruited to co-write a short opera as part of the newly formed Decameron Opera Coalition. Here is how the coalition describes the overall project, entitled Tales from a Safe Distance:

10 creative teams. 9 companies from across the United States. 4 electric nights of new opera.

Boccaccio’s 14th century masterpiece  “The Decameron”  involved ten characters passing the time while sheltering from a plague by telling one another stories – stories comic, tragic, romantic, sexy, terrifying. The Decameron Opera Coalition has adapted those stories for the modern pandemic era.

“Tales from a Safe Distance” features nine World Premiere one-act operas, and a tenth wrap-around story starring internationally renowned bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni.

Everything Comes to a Head was commissioned by Lyric Opera of the North based in Duluth, Minnesota and features a libretto by Margi Preus and Jean Sramek, both favorite LOON veterans. I’m especially thrilled to be writing for my muse, superbaritone Jorell Williams, as well as his wife, the stunning mezzo Marjorie Maltais. I know that they are game for anything, and I was not about to waste that opportunity. We’re leading the way in the premiere episode!

Read more and get your tickets to this very special mammoth effort uniting so many fantastic opera companies around the country! Tune in on our virtual opening night for a chat with the creative forces who made this wild dream a reality. View some preview videos below about the overall Coalition as well as the process of putting together our chapter.