Lillian Alling Montage Music

Another preview of the dramatic music you will hear at Lillian Alling. This clip is from Act 2, Scene 4.



From Composer John Estacio: “This excerpt comes from a montage sequence depicting the perils of Lillian's final adventure. It was recorded with a hand-held device during rehearsal. There is still rehearsing to do."

We can't wait to hear it on opening night!

A Place Of Pure Delight

For your listening pleasure, here's the latest Lillian Alling track, I've Found a Place of Pure Delight.



This song is from Scene 9 of the opera and features a sublime chorus.

Enjoy.

An Excerpt From Lillian Alling: Oakalla

The entrance to Oakalla Prison Farm

Act 1 | Scene 9

Jimmy and Irene are packed in his truck on the side of the road:

Jimmy: They put her in jail? After all she's been through?

Irene: It was prison, not jail. Oakalla, near Vancouver.

Jimmy: For what?

Irene: Vagrancy and an unlicensed firearm.

Jimmy: Didn't Dad speak up for her?

Irene: He tried to, though I don't know why. He didn't ower that woman anything.

Jimmy: She was trying to get on with her life, and they threw her in jail?

Irene: It was prison!

Irene looks past Jimmy - where a vast field at Oakalla Prison gradually appears: male and female prisoners at hard labour, harvesting or cleaning up after harvest. Lillian is among them as armed guards patrol.

Irene: Oakalla Prison Farm. God, the tales they used to tell...

Male and Female Prisoners: (Chanting as they work) Oakalla...

Irene: Oakalla - near Vancouver - but much closer to Hell.

Male and Female Prisoners: (As they work) Oakalla...

Irene moves away from Jimmy, watching Lillian in her imagination. Action continues in both settings:

Jimmy: Mom, what happened to her? You said Dad turned his back on you, risked his own life?...

Irene: Leave it alone, son. It's too complicated. I'm too old. But I've started it now - and it has to be told.

Male and Female Prisoners: (wearily) Mmmm....Mmmm...

Irene: We think we lay the past to rest, but the past lives on...!

It grows darker. Jimmy watches his mother, and she watches Lillian, as prisoners at Oakalla launch into a work song which they've adapted from a hymn. Lillian doesn't join in.

Prisoners:
I've found a place of pure delight
Where mercy makes all burdens light
The warden growls from dawn to dark
The guards may bite, the dog's may bark
But, oh, what lovely rags we wear!
They'd be in fashion anywhere!
Oakalla is Paradise!
If Heaven's only half as nice,
I'll whistle through Eternity,
The angels will dance jigs with me!
I'd love to do my time here twice:
Oakalla is Paradise!
Paradise...
(Growning at their work) Aaaah....Ooooo...Mmmmm...

Lillian moves away from the other, closer to Irene, who watches her intently.

Lillian: (to herself)
I wait and I wait...
The answers I lack
Lie further ahead...
I never, I never look back.

The past lives on.
It's beside me,
Here and now...
He has to be told -
But - God help me - how?

A Film Score Sound

Are you a fan of film scores? Opera is not all about high-hitting arias, recitatives and big showy choral numbers (as opposed to big showy chorus numbers which would include dancing showgirls). Also enjoyable are the overtures and intermezzos where only the orchestra is playing. No voices, no sound effects.



For your listening pleasure, here's a snippet of the orchestral music in Scene 10 of Lillian Alling by John Estacio, libretto by John Murrell. This electronic arrangment is by Emmy nominated composer and conductor Hal Beckett, who turned Estacio's MIDI composition into a realistic orchestral sound.

Beckett has worked on both Bryan Adams and Michael Bublé's albums, as well as produced the 102 national anthems for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Beckett's also conducted and produced music for Universal, Lionsgate, 20th Century Fox, Disney and Miramax Studios.

This synthesizer arrangement of We Have Had The Rain sounds like it can be found in a big budget Hollywood movie.

If you're digging this clip, just wait to you hear it played by a 60 piece orchestra.

Stay tuned! We'll have another excerpt from the lush and lyrical Lillian Alling score next week.

~ Ling Chan, Social Media Manager

An Excerpt From Lillian Alling: Ellis Island

Registry Hall, Ellis Island

Act 1 | Scene 2

Irene:
Like thousands and thousands and thousands of others
She came with hope
But no real plan,
Following a man
And the promises he made
The promises of the New World...

VOICES are heard, offstage and overlapping, but ringing clear:

Italian Voice: Il nome? (My name?)

German Voice: Mein name? (My name?)

Spanish Voice: Me llamo (I am called-)

Another Italian Voice: Mastrangelo!

Another German Voice: Edelssohn!

Another Spanish Voice: Ortega!

Lillian: Mee-nya zah-voot Lillian Alling! (My name is Lillian Alling!)

Jimmy puts the truck in gear and backs out. Irene watches Lillian as long as she can.

Irene:

Like thousands of others she said to herself,
"I will never again live like before-
Will not be ashamed,
Will not be poor,
Will not be afraid anymore!"

The truck disappears from view.

A swarm of immigrants suddenly surges forward, all around Lillian. It is early spring 1927 on Ellis Island in New York City harbour.

Lillian: Pah-zhal-stuh - Pah-zhal-stuh! (Please - Please!)

All Italians (shouting) / All Germans (at the same time):
Siamo qui (We are here)
Wir suchen (We are seeking)
Per lavoro (For work)
nur Arbeit (Only work)
E Liberta! (And freedom!)
und Freiheit! (And freedom!)

All Spaniards & All Greeks (at the same time):
Venimos (We come)
Ee-ma-steh el-tho (We are here)
Por trabajo (For work)
yia thu-leh-ah (For work)
Y libertad! (And freedom!)
keh eh-lef-the-ria! (And freedom!)

Lillian: (her voice rising above the others, as she pushes forward)
Mee-nya zah-voot Lillian Alling!
And yes, I can speak almost English
I come for to be with Jozef Nikitich
He is here now three yeras,
Work in a factory,
I will work too,
We will be married,
Have money for everything.
I will find him,
No matter how long it takes me,
I will find him,
No matter how far...
My life is bound to his life!
And I will never again live like before,
Will not be ashamed,
Will not be poor,
Will not be afraid any more!

Lillian Alling: The Land Is Large

Lillian Alling is the story of a woman who walks from New York City to Vancouver and beyond, alone and driven by a motive shrouded in mystery. In John Estacio's original score for the work, we hear the chaos of Ellis Island, the jump and sway of New York City, and in a key piece of music we'll discuss today, the joy and wonder of the wide open land.

"With 'The Land Is Large', I wanted to convey Lillian's enjoyment of the countryside. Despite the fact that she is all alone on her journey and with the fear and trepidation that accompanies undertaking such a trek, she still marvels at her surroundings," says Estacio.



"Having composed a few operas already, I've learned that the scenic design in my mind always ends up costing ten times more than the budget allows," says Estacio. "So instead of imagining what the scene will look like on stage, I focus on the emotions and the motivations of the characters -- what is going on inside of these individuals while they're on stage as opposed to what the scenery looks like around them."

The land is large and smooth and green.
I hear many birds, I hear no war.
Such quiet I have not heard before…
A place of questions, not answers,
Of mistakes they do not call sins.
Here nothing,
Nothing is ending.
Everything,
Everything begins!

The sample attached to this post is from a recording made early in the composition process with just a piano. So how do we get from this simple piano and vocal version to the final product we'll hear at the world premiere?

"Once I've finished the piano/vocal score, I start at the beginning again and write all the orchestral music. It's probably not the most efficient way to write an opera, but it works for me," smiles Estacio. The additional material in the score are the orchestral 'sound effects' and new rhythmic figures that enhance the sense of Lillian's motion as she walks along her path.

"What you do hear in the sample already is a moment when Lillian refers to the telegraph wires that she is following on her journey," he points out, "At that point there is a quick little burst of telegraphic rhythms from the piano (2:45) -- a short foreshadowing to the music that occurs later in Act 1 when we meet the telegraph operators, including Scotty Macdonald."

We've just received the first act score from John with all the orchestration and we are thrilled and excited by what we see and can hear in our mind's ear as we gather around the table to read over it. We think you will be too. So please have a listen to this sneak sample of 'The Land Is Large' from our upcoming world premiere opera Lillian Alling, music by John Estacio and libretto by John Murrell.

Please join us in October to see how it all comes together.


~ Image Source

Lillian Alling's Playlist: Music of the 1920's

In our world premiere opera Lillian Alling, our protagonist lands in NYC in the 1920's, the golden age of Jazz and the early years of what would come to be known as the "Roaring Twenties".

In the opera, we hear snatches of jazz-infused music throughout the New York City scenes, and at one point Lillian is serenaded by a group of boys singing some sidewalk popular music.

So what music might Lillian have been hearing as she roamed the streets of New York in search of her American contacts?

Her playlist is one to envy: George Gershwin; Louis Armstrong; Irving Berlin; Duke Ellington; Jelly Roll Morton; and Cole Porter were all active in this period.

To hear some of this fantastic music, visit us on Blip.fm, our online radio station, where we've loaded up some wonderful tracks for you to stream.

But first, take a listen to the very first piece of Lillian Alling that we ever recorded: Sweet Polly from Poughkeepsie



And this is just a bunch of guys from the cast, sitting around our piano for a flash recording. Can't wait to hear the final version for the show! Hope you enjoyed the sneak listen!