The members of a string quartet, individually caught up in visions in the wee hours of the night, sing collectively in lively counterpoint. Soprano Winnie Nieh | Credit: David Rodwinĭreaming was the premise of composer Beth Ratay and librettist John Glore’s The Morpheus Quartet. Some were tinged with comedy, while others were fiercely confrontational. Librettos were sometimes poetic and at other times starkly prosaic. The operas ranged widely in subject from historical to futuristic, and the music varied from lyrical to stridently modernist. The evening demonstrated no clear consensus on what constitutes opera today. Video interviews with librettists and composers were projected before each excerpt, and a number of these creators were present. The adept accompaniment was from the excellent new-music ensemble Earplay, led alternatively by conductor Mary Chun and by longtime West Edge luminary Jonathan Khuner. The operas, all either works-in-progress or brand-new scores, were presented anthology-style - that is, in excerpts - and as concert readings. But last weekend, West Edge Opera’s annual Snapshot program introduced the public to five operas in one day, making for a stimulating laboratory showcase. We usually encounter operas in full-blown splendor - big stage, large orchestra, lighting and costumes - and, of course, one opera in an evening - or on rare occasions, two. A moment from Matthew Recio and Stephanie Fleischmann’s L’autre moi at Snapshot 2023 | Credit: David Rodwin
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