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Avant Garde Electroacoustic Operetta

Music: Peggy Still (All instrumentation performed and written by Peggy Still)

Libretto: Jack Hayes

Artwork: Marla Coppolino

Recording: Peggy Still at Still Breeze Studio - USA

Mastering: Robert Thompson of Aucourant Records - USA

Copyright: 2002 by Still/Hayes

Libretto

Bells Begin

Recitative:
Late Sunday afternoon the bells begin
Full ground and sky of autumn.
Eve is crying.
Angels in the radiance above her. Singing.
So much grace here on the limbs, on the sidewalks.
Colors once again. Yes...
Green is gone and soon misunderstanding will intimidate our hearts with bitterness and brown.
But Adam holds the autumn child on his shoulders. He and Eve bring innocence up to the doorway.
Aria:
Bells again and angels:
Mothers, do renounce the undeserved
silence of your disobedience.
For Eve chose freedom, Mothers,
know thy self.
Eve overcame the law, the banishment, the death.
Oh, mothers, give this pain away.
Release, release, the key that locks will unlock.
Release, release, the key that locks will unlock.
Fear attacks the stillness.
Angels singing! What imprisons you!
Will set you free.
Bells again and angels:
Mothers, do rename the undeserved
silence of your disobedience.
For Eve chose freedom,
Mothers, know thy self.
Eve overcame the law, the banishment, the death.
All questions come eventually to choosing. Bells again, tremendous rush, and swarming.
Horizontal now, the suns plays slowly out, erasing all false certainty and doubt.
Another thousand years, let go like the oak leaves.
Every flag falls still.
Release, release, victory!

Light and Joy

Dearest God who is within and all surrounding,
thank you for the gift of me, and for the blessing of awareness.
Thank you for the courage to accept
and for faith and courage that direct me now.
To grace and power, to grace and power.
I hear, I see, I know my Self.
I celebrate - I know my Self.
I celebrate - I am my Self. I am my Self.
Dearest God who is within and all surrounding,
I live the miracle of light and love!
I‘m healed in soul and body. I‘m at peace.
Thank you for the courage to accept
and for faith and courage that direct me now!
You‘re living in the fullness of your grace. Of my grace!
I hear, I see, I know my Self.
I celebrate - I know my Self.
I celebrate - I am my Self. I am my Self.
I am my Self.
Free to be myself.
Free to love and be loved.
I choose a life of light and joy.
I choose a life of light and joy.
I choose a life of light and joy.
Light and joy! Light and Joy! Light and Joy!


The Cast
Eve I - Elise Drew (Soprano)
Eve II - Lynn Donald (Mezzo Soprano)
Opening - Emerald
Bells Begin
Recitative (Lynn Donald)
Aria (Elise Drew)
Epiphany
Light and Joy
Duet (Lynn Donald and Elise Drew)
Marla Coppolino - Artist

Artist‘s Statement
A great amount of my influence comes from experiencing life as being synthetic; in my case, I see sounds. The tapestry of vibrations, motions and trails of living essence that I see appear in all my art. I place much emphasis on utilizing what I consider to be the classical elements of art, including line quality, negative spaces, composition, and pathways of movement through the piece. It is my opinion that these elements, no matter what style the rendering, are essential to artwork that hold its quality over time.
Jack Hayes - Lyricist
Jack Hayes has been an award winning journalist for 35 years. He began writing poetry in the fourth grade. He sings tenor in a Unitarian church choir in north Atlanta and studies piano. Jack also leads adult self-discovery circles using poetry and music. He is building a community program to bring fatherless boys and recovering men in contact with healthy male mentors.

Program Notes
This opera is about Eve‘s healing. Eve who has been shamed and made to carry the sin of disobedience comes to remember her choice was to bring consciousness to humanity - she opens the door to a new world, leading women and men from the bliss of ignorance into the uncertainty of knowing themselves, of choosing, of discovering their divinity, of stepping toward the goddess and godhood that is love.
Peggy Still - Composer
Peggy Still attended Brigham Young University and Georgia State University and received a Bachelor of Music Degree (Magna Cum Laude.) She was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, Pi Kappa Lambda (Music Honor‘s Society,) Phi Kappa Phi, and Golden Key National Honor Society. Peggy performed with the GSU University Singers at Lincoln Center in New York and has also performed professionally in bands and solo since 1982 in San Diego, Salt Lake City, Atlanta, and Las Vegas. She currently is the keyboardist/vocalist for the leading band in Atlanta known as The Celebrity Rock Band now known as BandX.
Her avant garde CD entitled Footsteps (Aucourant Records) was released in 1997. Peggy is a member of MENC (Music Educators National Conference,) GMEA (Georgia Music Educators Association,) NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing,) and is a voting member of the Grammy Recording Academy (NARAS.) Peggy founded The Peggy Still School of Music in 1988 and the school has grown to an enrollment of over 500 students and 20 degreed instructors. PS School is one of the best music schools in the United States and is very active in the ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) exam program. Peggy has also worked with local schools as an accompanist/arranger in their productions of Little Shop of Horrors, Music Man, Working, Honk, Narnia, and Oklahoma.
Lynn Donald - Mezzo Soprano
Lynn Donald is currently a vocal instructor at the Peggy Still School of music specializing in advanced vocal students preparing for careers in the performing arts. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance (Cum Laude) from Kent State University and Master of Arts in Vocal Pedagogy (Magna Cum Laude) from Ohio State University. In addition, she studied opera at La Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Florence, Italy. Lynn currently is the Children‘s Liturgical Director at Transfiguration Catholic Church in Atlanta, GA and the Artistic/Musical Director of The Peggy Still Opera/Theatre Group. She also was the musical director for Centennial High School‘s Performing Arts Department in 2000-2001. Lynn is an active member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Inc.(NATS) and sits on the Board of Directors for The Peggy Still Foundation for the Performing Arts, Inc.
Elise Drew - Soprano
Elise Drew holds a Bachelor of Music Degree from Georgia State University (Cum Laude.) She performed with the GSU Singers at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, New York and toured England and Wales. Elise received the Denese Irvin Scholarship and has performed in the GSU Honors Recital. She performed the role of Sister Mathilde in the production of Dialogue of the Carmelites and the role of Joan Hall in the 1996 premiere of Workshop by Charles Knox. Also has performed in the Peter Harrower Summer Opera Workshop and the Richard Miller Vocal Workshop. Elise currently teaches voice and piano at The Peggy Still School of Music, is staff soloist at The First Church of Christ, Scientist in Roswell, Georgia and is the vocal coach for the Young Actors Ensemble which performs in the Atlanta area. Is an active member of the Atlanta Opera Chorus and her performances include Macbeth, La Boheme, Samson and Delilah, Cosi fan tutti, Lucia di Lammermoor, Turandot, Otello, A Masked Ball, II Trovatore, Falstaff, La Rondine and The Pearl Fishers.