Charlie Parker Opera Coming To Philly
Opera Philadelphia has commissioned Daniel Schnyder, a composer and saxophonist who works in jazz and classical music, to compose a chamber opera about the jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker, the company is expected to announce Thursday. The work will have a libretto by Bridgette A. Wimberly, and is being produced in a partnership with Gotham Chamber Opera, in New York. It will premiere in Philadelphia in June 2015 in a production directed by Ron Daniels, with later performances by Gotham Chamber Opera.
The opera, “Charlie Parker’s Yardbird,†is set on the day Parker died — March 12, 1955 — but takes place in his imagination as he is dying. The tenor Lawrence Brownlee will play Parker; Angela Brown, the soprano, will portray his mother, Addie, and Will Liverman, the baritone, will play Dizzy Gillespie, a frequent collaborator. Casting has not been announced for the other roles, which will include Parker’s patron, Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter. Corrado Rovaris, the company’s music director, who suggested Mr. Schnyder for the commission, is scheduled to conduct the premiere.
