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Lee Hoiby’s This Is the Rill Speaking at Chelsea Opera

Jun. 01, 2011

Lee Hoiby’s beloved opera This Is the Rill Speaking returns to the New York opera stage for four performances in a new production at Chelsea Opera on June 9, 10 and 11, with an additional matinee performance on June 11. Based on the play by Lanford Wilson, This Is the Rill Speaking is a one-act opera that captures small-town, post-WWII era American life in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The story is told through snatches of conversation heard throughout the town and is propelled by Hoiby’s inimitable rich, tonal score and soaring melodies. Chelsea Opera co-founders/co-producers Leonarda Priore and Lynne Hayden Findlay remark on the occasion:

Lee Hoiby was not only a truly gifted composer but was an extremely humble man. He lived life simply but had an overflowing abundance of magical notes within. He enriched our lives with the beautiful music and the stories his music told.  He possessed a passion to compose, a passion not driven by ego or the need for fame and fortune, but rather because he was compelled to write.

We had the good fortune to work with Lee Hoiby in 2008 when Chelsea Opera was preparing his very first opera, The Scarf, and we were eagerly looking forward to another such collaboration. Sadly, it was not to be. But we are grateful that we shared part of the journey with him and are lucky to know that he will always speak to us, each and every time we listen to his music. This is the true measure of the man we were honored to have called our friend. Through his music, Lee Hoiby will live on.

The performance takes place at Saint Peter’s Church in the Chelsea district of New York City. Additionally, the evening includes a special performance of Lee Hoiby’s duet for soprano and mezzo-soprano, Bermudas.

This Is the Rill Speaking is available on Albany Records in a performance by Eastman Opera Theatre and Orchestra, here.

For more on the music of Lee Hoiby, visit www.schott-music.com and www.leehoiby.com.

For information on Chelsea Opera go to www.chelseaopera.org.

Watch Chelsea Opera’s introduction to the production here.

Lee Hoiby
This Is the Rill Speaking (1991)
opera in one act
libretto (En) by Mark Shulgasser after the play by Lanford Wilson
for soprano, 2 mezzo-sopranos, tenor and 2 baritones
1.1.1.1-1.0.0.0-hp-str
40'

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