Company premiere: Soldier Songs
"An extraordinarily powerful production...With Moore as our increasingly tortured and isolated guide, we could always feel where we were in his journey from innocence to the consequences of real-world horror."
Soldier Songs was presented at the Ford Theatres and marked LA Opera’s fifth season of collaborations with Beth Morrison Projects. This multi-media concert presentation, a one-man opera starring baritone David Adam Moore, combined elements of theater, opera, rock-infused concert music and film footage to explore the perceptions versus the realities of a soldier and the difficulty of expressing the truth of war.
Artist Bios
- Composer / Librettist
- David T. Little
- Film by
- Bill Morrison
- The Soldier
- David Adam Moore
- Creative Producer
- Beth Morrison
- Conductor
- Alan Pierson
- Director
- Ashley Tata
- Sound
- Garth MacAleavey
David T. Little
Composer / Librettist
David T. Little is “one of the most imaginative young composers” on the scene (The New Yorker), with “a knack for overturning musical conventions” (The New York Times).
His critically acclaimed operas Dog Days, JFK,and Vinkensport (librettos by Royce Vavrek) and Soldier Songs have been widely acclaimed, “prov[ing] beyond any doubt that opera has both a relevant present and a bright future” (New York Times). Recent works include The Conjured Life (Cabrillo Festival / Cristian Măcelaru), Ghostlight—ritual for six players (eighth blackbird / Kennedy Center), AGENCY (Kronos Quartet), and dress in magic amulets, dark, from My feet (The Crossing / ICE).
Mr. Little is currently composing a new opera with Royce Vavrek, commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera / Lincoln Center Theater new works program, and the music-theater work Artaud in the Black Lodge with poet Anne Waldman (Beth Morrison Projects). His music has been heard at LA Opera (Dog Days, 2015), the LA Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, Park Avenue Armory, Holland Festival, the Bang On A Can Marathon, BAM Next Wave, Opéra de Montréal, and elsewhere. He co-founded the New Music Bake Sale, served as executive director of MATA, serves on the board of directors at Chamber Music America, and teaches composition at Mannes-The New School. From 2014 to 2017, he served as Composer-in-Residence with Opera Philadelphia and Music-Theatre Group. The founding artistic director of the ensemble Newspeak, his music can be heard on New Amsterdam, Innova, and VIA Records labels. David T. Little is published by Boosey & Hawkes.
Bill Morrison
Film by
From: Chicago, Illinois. LA Opera: video design for anatomy theater (2016, debut); filmmaker for Soldier Songs (2018); filmmaker for the Digital Short let me come in (2021).
"Morrison's world is one of the most breathtaking and haltingly disturbing cinematic realms of our time."
—Glenn Kenny, RogerEbert.com
Bill Morrison has premiered films at the New York, Rotterdam, Sundance, and Venice film festivals, and multimedia work at major performance venues around the globe such as BAM, the Barbican, Carnegie Hall and Walt Disney Concert Hall. His films typically source rare archival footage in which long-forgotten, and sometimes deteriorated, imagery is reframed as part of a collective mythology. His work has been recognized with the Alpert Award, Creative Capital, the Foundation for Contemporary Art, a Guggenheim fellowship, and a mid-career retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art.
Decasia (2002), with music by Michael Gordon, was the first film of the 21st century to be selected to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry.
Spark of Being (2010), a collaboration with trumpeter/composer Dave Douglas, won the Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Independent Film of 2011.
The Miners’ Hymns (2011), a collaboration with composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, was described as one of “the best and most beautiful films of the year” by The Huffington Post.
The Great Flood (2013), a collaboration with composer/guitarist Bill Frisell, won the Smithsonian Ingenuity Award of 2014 for historical scholarship.
Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016), with music by Alex Somers, won numerous awards including a Critics’ Choice Award for the most innovative documentary, was named the best documentary of the year by the Boston Society of Film Critics, was included on over 100 critics’ lists of the best films of 2017, and numerous lists of the best films of the decade.
Along with those mentioned above, Morrison has collaborated with the some of the most celebrated musicians and composers of our time, including John Adams, William Basinski, Maya Beiser, Gavin Bryars, Dave Douglas, Philip Glass, Vijay Iyer, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Kronos Quartet, David Lang, Steve Reich and Julia Wolfe, among many others.
Learn more at BillMorrisonFilm.com.
David Adam Moore
The Soldier
From: Vidor, Texas. LA Opera: the Soldier in Soldier Songs (2018).
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer lauds baritone David Adam Moore for his “enviable swagger coupled with a subtle musicality and big, handsome voice.” In the 2023/24 season, he reprises his acclaimed performances of David T. Little’s monodrama Soldier Songs with Chicago Opera Theater, and returns to the Metropolitan Opera for their production of Dead Man Walking. He recently returned to the Metropolitan Opera for the role of Horatio in their production of Brett Dean’s Hamlet, and returned to the role of Joseph De Rocher in Dead Man Walking with the Hungarian State Opera. Other recent credits include Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire with Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the title role of Eugene Onegin with Atlanta Opera, and Lieutenant Audebert in Silent Night with Austin Opera. He made a return to the role of Prior Walter in a new production of Eötvös’ Angels in America with Neue Oper Wien and MüPA Budapest, made arose debut as Lescaut in Manon with Israeli Opera, and joined both LA Opera and Austin Opera in performances of Soldier Songs. Mr. Moore made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Colonel Alvaro Gomez in of Adès’ The Exterminating Angel after creating the role in the world premiere at the 2016 Salzburg Festival and subsequent performances at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden.
Sought after on international stages, the Texas native has also joined the Teatro alla Scala for Demetrius in A Midsummer Nights Dream after first joining the company for Maximilian in Robert Carsen’s production Candide, which he also sang at the Théâtre du Châtelet as well as in Hyogo and Tokyo, Japan. He recently made his Lyric Opera of Chicago debut in a performance of Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire and subsequently sang Jud Fry in the company’s premiere production of Oklahoma! He has sung the title role in Francesca Zambello’s production of Billy Budd with the Israeli Opera, where has also sung Malatesta in Don Pasquale and Ned Keene in Peter Grimes. A frequent presence at Seattle Opera, his previous roles with the company include Figaro in The Barber of Seville, Zurga in The Pearl Fishers, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte and Jake Wallace in The Girl of the Golden West. He recently joined Pittsburgh Opera for the title role in Billy Budd and Marcello in La Bohème, Nashville Opera and Chautauqua Opera for the title role of Don Giovanni, Central City Opera for Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Arizona Opera for the title role of Eugene Onegin and Ford in Falstaff, Glimmerglass Opera for Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas, and Arizona Opera, Palm Beach Opera, and Utah Opera for further performances of Guglielmo in Così fan tutte in addition to joining the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for the same title. He joined New Orleans Opera for Silvio in Pagliacci paired with Orff’s Carmina Burana in a double bill. His other noted performances on American stages include his New York City Opera debut as Papageno in The Magic Flute as well as subsequent performances of the role with Austin Lyric Opera; Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette with San Diego Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Arizona Opera, Opera Theater of Saint Louis, and Utah Opera; the Count in The Marriage of Figaro with Palm Beach Opera and Opera Grand Rapids, and Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia with the Opera Festival of New Jersey.
A celebrated interpreter of contemporary music, Moore has received critical acclaim for his performances of Prior Walter in Peter Eötvös’ Angels in America with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Opera Wrocławska, and at Fort Worth Opera. He subsequently created the role of Lucifer in Eötvös’ Paradise Reloaded in his debut at the Neue Oper Wien. He recently reprised Joseph de Rocher in Heggie’s Dead Man Walking with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, sang Starbuck in Heggie’s Moby Dick with Utah Opera, Sergeant Raymond Shaw in Kevin Puts’ The Manchurian Candidate with Austin Opera, and returned to the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden for the world premiere of George Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence. He has joined the Grand Théâtre de Genève for Catesby and Rivers in Batistelli’s Richard III, debuted the role of Joseph De Rocher in Heggie’s Dead Man Walking and Rappacini in Catán’s La hija de Rappacini with Des Moines Metro Opera and sang performances of Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire with Virginia Opera, the Pilot in Portman’s Little Prince with Tulsa Opera and Laurent in Tobias Picker’s Thérèse Raquin at Dicapo Opera. He created the role of Vincent Van Gogh in Rands’ Vincent as a guest artist with Indiana University’s Opera Theatre. He sang the stage premiere David T. Little’s Soldier Songs at Le Poisson Rouge in New York and followed that with performances at LA Opera, Austin Opera, and at the Atlas Theater in Washington D.C. as well as a commercial recording release. With the Orchestra of Saint Luke’s, he sang Lieberson’s King Gesar at the Rubin Museum of Art. At the Guggenheim Art Museum, he premiered the work Blood Makes Noise in collaboration with electronic music luminary Holly Herdon, and, separately, Martin Hennessey’s 9-11-01 as part of the Works and Process Series.
The baritone made his Carnegie Hall debut in recorded performances of Rabbi Joshua in Dessau’s Hagadah shel Pessach, then returned to Carnegie Hall for Orff’s Carmina Burana with David Robertson and the Orchestra of St. Luke's. Other notable concert appearances include Carmina Burana with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, also under the baton of David Robertson, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra as Jesus in Elgar’s The Apostles, Orquestra Real de Sevilla singing Mozart’s Mass in C minor and Vesperae Solemnae, Utah Symphony for Vaughan Williams’ Dona nobis pacem, and Carmina Burana with the Jerusalem Symphony.
Selected art song credits include Brahms’ Die schöne Magelone in recital with pianist Daniel Gortler at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, the Jewish Museum (NYC), and at Rishon LeZion Performing Arts Center in Israel, Schubert’s Winterreise with Anchorage Opera, Houston Community College, and Hesston College, and Mahler’s Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen with the Cleveland {red} Orchestra and at the World Exposition in Lisbon, Portugal.
Also active as a stage director and designer specializing in digital media, Moore and director/designer Vita Tzykun are artistic directors of GLMMR, a New York based interdisciplinary art collective, with whom he performs, directs, designs, and composes a variety of artistic and theatrical works. GLMMR’s multimedia production of Schubert’s Winterreise, performed by Moore and directed and designed by Moore and artistic partner Vita Tzykun, has been produced at Atlanta Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Portland Opera, Anchorage Opera, Austin Opera, and at National Sawdust in New York. GLMMR also designed a production of Soldier Songs, starring Moore, for San Diego Opera and KPBS TV. Also with David T. Little, Moore co-composed the score and designed the interactive media for GLMMR’s electro-acoustic performance installation, Book of Dreams: chapter sand which premiered at NYC’s National Sawdust. GLMMR’s design for Faust at Lyric Opera of Chicago, with projection design by Moore, was featured in Lighting and Sound America magazine.
Moore is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He serves on the faculty of the Eugene O’Neill Center’s National Theater Institute and has given lectures, workshops, and masterclasses for academic institutions throughout the U.S. and Canada, including Mannes School of Music, Rice University Shepherd School of Music, Oberlin Conservatory, University of Texas, and San Diego State University.
In the 2022/23 season, he and his creative partner Vita Tzykun were awarded concurrent Granada Artist Residencies at University of California, Davis, where they have been commissioned to write, direct, compose, and design GLMMR’s new immersive movement theater work called REFUGE, which explores personal, universal questions of home ignited by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Learn more at DavidAdamMoore.com.
Beth Morrison
Creative Producer
Beth Morrison is the Creative Producer of Beth Morrison Projects.
She is an opera and theater producer, singer, and voice teacher with bachelor and master of music degrees and a master of fine arts in theater management/producing from the Yale School of Drama, as well as many years of experience in the development of new opera and theater works. She first cultivated her extensive experience in arts administration at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute where she served as administrative director for four years. Beth served a founding tenure as the Producer for the Yale Institute for Music Theatre from 2009-2011, as well as Producer for New York City Opera’s VOX: Contemporary American Opera Lab from 2010-2011.
Beth Morrison Projects is the realization of Beth‘s vision, which stems from a deep commitment to nurturing composers and other artists and fostering the development of new opera and other new music-theater works. Established in 2006, Beth Morrison Projects (BMP) identifies and supports the work of emerging and established living composers and their multi-media collaborators through the commission, development, production and touring of their works, which take the form of contemporary music-theater, opera-theater, and multi-media concert works. BMP has established itself as a composers’ producer and The New York Times said, “The production of new [opera] works in the city still falls mostly to the tireless Beth Morrison and her Beth Morrison Projects…”
Learn more at BethMorrisonProjects.org.
Alan Pierson
Conductor
Alan Pierson has been praised as "a young conductor of monstrous skill" by Newsday, "commanding" by the New York Times, and "gifted and electrifying" by the Boston Globe.
Alan Pierson has been praised as "a dynamic conductor and musical visionary" by the New York Times, "a young conductor of monstrous skill" by Newsday, "gifted and electrifying" by the Boston Globe, and "one of the most exciting figures in new music today" by Fanfare. He is the artistic director and conductor of the acclaimed ensemble Alarm Will Sound which has been called "the future of classical music" by the New York Times and "a sensational force" with "powerful ideas about how to renovate the concert experience" by the New Yorker.
Mr. Pierson served for three years as the Artistic Director and conductor of the Brooklyn Philharmonic. The New York Times called Pierson’s leadership at the Philharmonic "truly inspiring," and the New Yorker's Alex Ross described it as “remarkably innovative, perhaps even revolutionary.” Pierson has also appeared as a guest conductor with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, LA Opera, the London Sinfonietta, the Steve Reich Ensemble, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Carnegie Hall's Ensemble ACJW, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, the New World Symphony, and the Silk Road Project, among other ensembles.
He is principal conductor of the Dublin-based Crash Ensemble, co-director of the Northwestern University Contemporary Music Ensemble, and has been a visiting faculty conductor at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and the Eastman School of Music. He regularly collaborates with major composers and performers, including Yo Yo Ma, Steve Reich, Dawn Upshaw, Osvaldo Golijov, John Adams, Augusta Read Thomas, David Lang, Michael Gordon, Donnacha Dennehy, La Monte Young, Iarla Ó Lionáird, and choreographers Mark Morris, John Heginbotham, Akram Khan and Elliot Feld.
Mr. Pierson received bachelor degrees in physics and music from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a doctorate in conducting from the Eastman School of Music. He has recorded for Nonesuch Records, Cantaloupe Music, Sony Classical, and Sweetspot DVD.
Learn more at AlanPierson.com.
Ashley Tata
Director
Ashley Tata is a New York-based director of contemporary opera, multi-media performances and immersive experiences.
Her work has been seen in venues and festivals throughout the U.S. and internationally including National Sawdust, The Kitchen, EMPAC, Dixon Place, HERE Arts Center, PROTOTYPE Festival, The Crossing the Line Festival, the Holland Festival, The National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Fargo-Moorhead Opera, and the Richard B. Fisher Center at Bard College. In the 2018/19 season, her production of Kate Soper's Ipsa Dixit will be presented at the Miller Theater as part of their Composer Portrait series, she will be the director in residence at Harvard University where she will develop a new work, she will stage the NYC premiere of Huang Ruo's opera Bound with Fresh Squeezed Opera and her staging of David T. Little's Soldier Songs will be presented with Opera ATX, Austin Opera. The LA Opera Off Grand presentation of Soldier Songs at the Ford Theatres in 2018 represents her fourth time working with LA Opera, having previously assisted Robert Woodruff on David T. Little and Royce Vavrek's Dog Days (2015), Daniel Fish on Ted Hearne and Mark Doten's The Source (2016) and was associate director to Jay Scheib on Keeril Makan and Scheib's Persona (2017). She earned her MFA at Columbia University and has taught at Marymount Manhattan College, Colgate College, Bard College, LIU Post and NYU. She is the recipient of the Lotos Foundation's Emerging Artist Award in Arts and Sciences and a winner of the 2017 Robert L. B. Tobin Director/Designer grant.
Garth MacAleavey
Sound
Garth MacAleavey specializes in concert amplification and sound design for both traditional and experimental music performance.
He cut his teeth (or ears) as an engineer on the New York City contemporary music scene (le Poisson Rouge, VIA, BMP, MATA). An avid musician since his youth, Garth was strongly influenced by his time as a student of avant garde percussion at UCSC under the tutelage of Willie Winant. Coupled with the music department’s emphasis on contemporary and experimental music, this set him on the path he is on today. He is technical director for National Sawdust. Recent credits include the sound design for “FLEXN” with Peter Sellars at the Park Avenue Armory, engineering Jeff Zeigler/Andy Akiho/Roger Bonair-Agard at the Prospect Park Bandshell for Celebrate Brooklyn and mixing Alarm Will Sound with Dance Heginbotham in Seoul, Korea. He has worked with Kronos Quartet, Philip Glass Ensemble, Terry and Gyan Riley, David T. Little, Steve Reich, Paul Simon, Atoms for Peace, Erykah Badu, the Brooklyn Philharmonic and many more. He was the sound engineer for Dog Days, presented by LA Opera at REDCAT in 2016. After that work's 2012 premiere as part of the Peak Performances series at Montclair State University, the New York Times wrote: “Unseen but felt: the sound engineering, by Garth MacAleavey, is aggressive, and at times bombastic, in ways that complement the work. Amplified voices grow strident at peaks. The opera’s ending comes awash in electric distortion.”
Behind the Curtain: David T. Little on "Soldier So
Behind the Curtain: Retired Major Nick Seidel with Brian Lauritzen
Production made possible by generous support from Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl. LA Opera Off Grand made possible by a generous grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Additional support from a consortium of generous donors to LA Opera's Contemporary Opera Initiative, chaired by Barry and Nancy Sanders.