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- Nathaniel Stookey
ZIPPERZ (2008)
- G Schirmer Inc (World)
- 2(pic).2(ca).2(bcl).2(cbn)/4231/timp.2perc/hp/str
- Female Vocalist; Male Vocalist
- 30 min
- Dan Harder
- English
Programme Note
Text: Dan Harder
the passion of opera
the sizzle of pop
the guilty pleasure of daytime TV
Premiere:
14 November 2008
Eisa Davis, female vocalist; Manoel Feliciano, male vocalist
Oakland East Bay Symphony/Michael Morgan
Oakland, CA
Scenes:
Act I
1. Meeting
2. Waiting
3. Dating
Act II
1. Coming together/coming apart
2. If
Broadway Radio:
Composer note:
ZIPPERZ tells the story of a love affair from two different perspectives at the same time. It’s a little like holding a telephone to each ear while two friends tell you about their stormy relationship — to each other! It can be exhausting to find yourself in the middle of someone else’s soaPOPera, but it would be rude to hang up. You’re a captive audience, as it were (unless you have an aisle seat).
One of my favorite things about music is that it can say two things at once and have them both make sense. Real counterpoint — two or more parts that are completely independent and self-sufficient but together form a harmonious whole, as in Bach’s brilliant two-part Inventions - is something I had never encountered outside music until Dan Harder sent me some of his “zipper” poems. There’s one poem on the left side of the page and one poem on the right. You can read the poems separately or, by alternating sides, you can zip both poems together to form one large poem that somehow fuses these two (sometimes contradictory) narratives. I couldn’t resist the temptation and soon afterwards suggested to Dan that we create something together that would marry his counterpoint with mine.
The most important thing to me, in writing ZIPPERZ, was to create a musical drama that would tell our story, and illuminate Dan’s poetry, in a way the audience could experience without reading. Poetry is about the music inherent in words as well as their layers of meaning, and opera, much as I love it, is not the best medium for someone whose priority is language (hence the need for supertitles, even in English). I found the solution unexpectedly on a trip to see my friend Manoel in New York. He was performing the role of Tobias (for which he received a Tony nomination) in John Doyle’s stripped-down revival of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd - and singing his own pop songs to sold-out crowds on his nights off. I decided this was what I needed, someone whose command of language and theater was equal to his gorgeous voice – and it didn’t hurt that he was driving throngs of groupies to distraction!
The decision to cast pop singers — Manoel immediately suggested the irresistible and multi-talented Eisa Davis as his romantic foil — completely changed my conception of the piece. Suddenly the very classical practice of counterpoint was infused with the very unclassical sounds of passing car stereos and dance clubs. It was a natural shift for me. My wife and I go dancing at least once a month, anything from ballroom to Latin (both of which have found their way into this piece) but lately our favorite is “Bootie Mash-up” at San Francisco’s DNA Lounge. Mash-up takes two or more pop songs and literally pits them against each other by very carefully lining up the beats. The results are named like boxing matches: Rihanna vs. General Public, Jay-Z vs. Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, the Rolling Stones vs. Queen vs. Nirvana. This is pop counterpoint on a grand scale and, for me, it can be a total mind-body experience that comes somewhere close to heaven.
The single greatest influence on my music is always the people I am writing for and ZIPPERZ is no exception. Michael Morgan has a natural flair for theater and I wanted to make him something big and brazen! Edwin Outwater, who will conduct the Canadian premiere, had requested a piece about sex, and I am only too happy to oblige. I spent countless hours listening to wonderful pop songs by Manoel and Eisa, both to learn their voices and to get a feel for how they combine words and music in their own compositions. Certain friends were especially on my mind while I was working on this piece: Mary (our model of the clubbing parent), Nicola and Robert, Andy and David. And finally, eclipsing all others, I wrote this piece for Jodi, my pop goddess: “Yes” is for you.
— Nathaniel Stookey
the passion of opera
the sizzle of pop
the guilty pleasure of daytime TV
Premiere:
14 November 2008
Eisa Davis, female vocalist; Manoel Feliciano, male vocalist
Oakland East Bay Symphony/Michael Morgan
Oakland, CA
Scenes:
Act I
1. Meeting
2. Waiting
3. Dating
Act II
1. Coming together/coming apart
2. If
Broadway Radio:
Composer note:
ZIPPERZ tells the story of a love affair from two different perspectives at the same time. It’s a little like holding a telephone to each ear while two friends tell you about their stormy relationship — to each other! It can be exhausting to find yourself in the middle of someone else’s soaPOPera, but it would be rude to hang up. You’re a captive audience, as it were (unless you have an aisle seat).
One of my favorite things about music is that it can say two things at once and have them both make sense. Real counterpoint — two or more parts that are completely independent and self-sufficient but together form a harmonious whole, as in Bach’s brilliant two-part Inventions - is something I had never encountered outside music until Dan Harder sent me some of his “zipper” poems. There’s one poem on the left side of the page and one poem on the right. You can read the poems separately or, by alternating sides, you can zip both poems together to form one large poem that somehow fuses these two (sometimes contradictory) narratives. I couldn’t resist the temptation and soon afterwards suggested to Dan that we create something together that would marry his counterpoint with mine.
The most important thing to me, in writing ZIPPERZ, was to create a musical drama that would tell our story, and illuminate Dan’s poetry, in a way the audience could experience without reading. Poetry is about the music inherent in words as well as their layers of meaning, and opera, much as I love it, is not the best medium for someone whose priority is language (hence the need for supertitles, even in English). I found the solution unexpectedly on a trip to see my friend Manoel in New York. He was performing the role of Tobias (for which he received a Tony nomination) in John Doyle’s stripped-down revival of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd - and singing his own pop songs to sold-out crowds on his nights off. I decided this was what I needed, someone whose command of language and theater was equal to his gorgeous voice – and it didn’t hurt that he was driving throngs of groupies to distraction!
The decision to cast pop singers — Manoel immediately suggested the irresistible and multi-talented Eisa Davis as his romantic foil — completely changed my conception of the piece. Suddenly the very classical practice of counterpoint was infused with the very unclassical sounds of passing car stereos and dance clubs. It was a natural shift for me. My wife and I go dancing at least once a month, anything from ballroom to Latin (both of which have found their way into this piece) but lately our favorite is “Bootie Mash-up” at San Francisco’s DNA Lounge. Mash-up takes two or more pop songs and literally pits them against each other by very carefully lining up the beats. The results are named like boxing matches: Rihanna vs. General Public, Jay-Z vs. Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, the Rolling Stones vs. Queen vs. Nirvana. This is pop counterpoint on a grand scale and, for me, it can be a total mind-body experience that comes somewhere close to heaven.
The single greatest influence on my music is always the people I am writing for and ZIPPERZ is no exception. Michael Morgan has a natural flair for theater and I wanted to make him something big and brazen! Edwin Outwater, who will conduct the Canadian premiere, had requested a piece about sex, and I am only too happy to oblige. I spent countless hours listening to wonderful pop songs by Manoel and Eisa, both to learn their voices and to get a feel for how they combine words and music in their own compositions. Certain friends were especially on my mind while I was working on this piece: Mary (our model of the clubbing parent), Nicola and Robert, Andy and David. And finally, eclipsing all others, I wrote this piece for Jodi, my pop goddess: “Yes” is for you.
— Nathaniel Stookey
Media
Scores
Reviews
Stookey has struck it rich again with a brilliant ZIPPERZ […] Dan Harder's "zipper" poems provide the libretto, presenting a love story simultaneously from the perspectives of both lovers, in interlocking lines that yield third meanings when combined. This is perfectly reflected in Stookey's contemporary counterpoint, engagingly realized by the versatile vocalists Robin Coomer and Manoel Felciano […] Stookey again writes colorfully and naturally for the orchestra and voices, finding humor, power, and poignancy in a tale that was splayed on each side of the intermission […] The freshest program that this ensemble has produced in recent years…
5th May 2011
In a program that challenged the dingy rituals of both “masterworks” and pops concerts, it was even more heartening to see a new work by a Bay Area composer steal the show […] Premiered by the Oakland Symphony and performed by several orchestras since, San Francisco native Nathaniel Stookey’s ZIPPERZ is that rare 40-minute new work that garners repeat performances […] In a time when Broadway pit bands consist of just four synthesizers, trumpet, and drum set, Stookey’s music underscores how many avenues are open to composers willing to find inspiration in the techniques of pop and apply it to a full orchestral palette. It may even come to define a Bay Area school of composition (John Adams, Mason Bates, and Lou Harrison come to mind).
13th March 2011
The age-old game of he said/she said gets a stylish updating in ZIPPERZ […] When the score needs to conjure up a mood or overall image, Stookey responds with diverse, stylistically apt inventions. He peppers the piece with dance numbers, pop ballads, and terse little melodic interchanges, and his ability to maneuver interwoven snippets of text is remarkable […] The most infectious laugh line - when Stookey gets the orchestra to impersonate the technological sounds of a cell-phone call - brought the house down.
17th November 2008
ZIPPERZ is a dream come true for any lover of music and the written word […] The eventual cell phone call gives way to a hilarious moment of humorous orchestration, complete with dialing tones for flutes and woodwinds. A preview of the concert compared ZIPPERZ to [the climax scene] from When Harry Met Sally. We thought Swingers would be a more appropriate reference, since ZIPPERZ is more hip and edgy.
11th November 2008
Discography
ZIPPERZ
- LabelGhostlight Records
- Catalogue Number84507
- ConductorDonato Cabrera
- EnsembleMagik*Magik Orchestra
- SoloistManoel Felciano, Robin Coomer
- Released4th August 2017
