For the last three years I have been involved in the production of a new opera Wild Dogs based on a novel of the same name by Helen Humphreys. This project is being produced by Vancouver’s start-up opera company black bachx opera lab in collaboration with Standing Wave and Music on Main. Producer Robert Carey and librettist Val Brandt brought me into the project in the libretto writing stage so that I could have some artistic input into the text I am setting. This has been a long, but fascinating process and I thank Val Brandt for her flexibility and openness. It is no easy task to stay faithful to the spirit of the novel, while at the same time creating a text that the composer is excited to work with. I started work on the music just over a year ago.

At the end of May, Vancouver’s contemporary music ensemble Standing Wave presented three scenes from the opera with soprano Carla Huhtanen singing the role of Lily. In these scenes, Lily, a twenty-something-year-old woman who suffered brain damage as a child, goes into the woods to find her beloved dog, Dog. She is instead found by the feral dog pack that Dog has joined. The pack takes her in as one of their own, and Lily begins a new life free of the prejudices and fears which have haunted her in the human world. Here are some excerpts from this performance.

The opera will continue going through a series of workshops over the next year or so. Keep tuned for more updates and performances!