Missing Scenes

Program Note

A missing scene might be an offstage conversation, an unseen action, or a hinted-at event that is withheld from us by an author, director, editor, or simply by fate. “Missing Scenes” explores a few particularly tantalizing examples of this genre, using music to try and stitch over the gaps - or to simply fill them with something.

Movements (all movements may be played standalone)

I. The Wings of the Dove
In Henry James’ iconic novel, hundreds of pages of escalating betrayal culminate in a tell-all conversation between two characters which we do not see on the page, and yet which changes everything. Text by Henry James, Kate Soper, and from the King James Bible; premiered 12/19/21 by Kate Soper and the Wet Ink Ensemble at the DiMenna Center, NYC

II. The Winter’s Tale
In Shakespeare's tragicomedy, we are plunged first into heartbreaking drama, then into a lighthearted act two that takes place sixteen years after the initial events - but what might be the unspoken fallout of those unrecorded years? Text by William Shakespeare and Kate Soper; Premiered 10/17/19 by Kate Soper and Musica Nova at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester NY

III. Lost Greek Tragedies
In the case of Greek Tragedy, the missing scenes far eclipse the surviving ones. But the bits and pieces of lost plays that have washed up over the centuries are irresistibly poignant, offering at times a glimpse of real story, at times just a shiver of sense. Commissioned by the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition; text by Kate Soper and by various Ancient Greek playwrights, trans. Michael Wright;  premiered 6/7/19 by Kate Soper and the Grossman Ensemble at the Logan Center, Chicago IL