june 2017 recent reviews

In his famous Poetics of Music of 1939, Stravinsky observes, “A real tradition is not the relic of a past that is irretrievably gone; it is a living force that animates and informs the present.” Michael J. Trotta’s Seven Last Words is a work solidly grounded in tradition, yet incorporates a musical language that, in George Gershwin’s words, “informs the thoughts and aspirations of the people and the time.”

Musical settings for the Seven Last Words date from at least the early 16th century, and composers of many style periods have contributed, including de Lassus (16th century), Schütz (1645), Haydn (1787), Frank (1859), Dubois (1867), and MacMillan (1993), and many others. (Although, as Trotta points out, settings in English are relatively rare.) Trotta adheres to the tradition, sometimes incorporating

Stephen Chatman's music has been the subject of review in recent Opera Canada and Canadian Music Teacher magazines.

Opera Canada: Choir Practice by Stephen Chatman, CD Recording

Choir Practice, a comic opera in one act composed by Chatman with libretto by Tara Wohlberg, was premiered and recorded by the University of British Columbia Opera Ensemble and Symphony. The album was released in 2016 on the Centrediscs label.

Wayne Gooding, Editor, writes, "Rare it is for a live student performance to enjoy a commercial release, rare still when that performance is the world premiere of a new opera...With its musical and linguistic twists and turns, non sequiturs