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Crane School of Music selects three winners of Pellicciotti Opera Composition Prize, to award $20,000

Posted 8/26/13

POTSDAM -- The Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam has selected three winners for the first Dominic J. Pellicciotti Opera Composition Prize. The three operas were chosen from pool of 74 submissions …

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Crane School of Music selects three winners of Pellicciotti Opera Composition Prize, to award $20,000

Posted

POTSDAM -- The Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam has selected three winners for the first Dominic J. Pellicciotti Opera Composition Prize.

The three operas were chosen from pool of 74 submissions from across the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

The three winning compositions will be presented by the Crane Opera Ensemble and Orchestra in Nov. 2014.

A $10,000 prize and a full production will be awarded to the featured winner, "A Letter to East 11th Street," with music by Martin Hennessy and libretto by Mark Campbell.

"A Letter to East 11th Street" charts the impact of the AIDS epidemic on two best friends, first in the early years of the disease and then 10 years later.

Two $5,000 prizes and the production of an act or segment will also be awarded. The other winners include "In a Mirror, Darkly," with music by Christopher Weiss and a libretto by S. O'Duinn Magee; and "The Fox and the Pomegranate," with music by Matt Frey and libretto by Daniel J. Kushner.

Each act of "In a Mirror, Darkly" is the complete story of a woman artist, but each is set in a different era and location.

"The Fox and the Pomegranate" takes place in a grove yielding many different fruits. A seductive and mysterious young man named Aril delivers a cryptic omen before seducing Nate, a gender-fluid individual, who has betrayed his lover, Meg.

"The extraordinary gift of Dr. Gary Jaquay, honoring his life partner Domenic, gives The Crane School the opportunity to bring new, musically exciting and socially profound operatic works not only to our students, faculty and community, but also to the operatic world," said Crane School of Music Dean Michael Sitton.

The Domenic J. Pellicciotti Opera Composition Prize was founded by Dr. Gary C. Jaquay to honor his life partner, Domenic J. Pellicciotti, an ardent fan of opera.

The award seeks to encourage the creation of new opera works that explore themes related to tolerance, inclusion and/or the celebration of diversity within an inclusive community. The $20,000 in prizes will be awarded every four years, along with a production of the winning operas.