Summer is what Edith Wharton called her hot novel. Stephen Paulus, the composer. He picked the work but he worked with me on the structure of the story. I was anxious to preserve Wharton's words as much as possible but cuts and decisions had to be made for the music. So while you go with the words, the music is overwhelming.
Nobody goes to opera for words but for the music.
That's what I mean about not being alone. At this point we'd spent an hour with few lulls in the conversation. Joan had to dash off to meet her son who'd flown in from Texas to see Exact Center of the Universe. We made plans to touch base again later this summer when we'll both be in the Berkshires to watch the birth of her opera libretto at the Berkshire Opera . Check our Berkshire Main Page for a link to the Berkshire Opera Company's schedule if you'd also like to be part of the birthing.