opera

A NEW OPERA reimagining the story of Sacajawea, the extraordinary Agai’dika/Lemhi-Shoshone woman who was a crucial member of the historic 1804-1806 Lewis and Clark Expedition, from the Indigenous perspective, oral history, and language of her familial descendants. This three act opera is an historical epic infused with Native American languages, oral histories, music, and culture, drawing upon verismo, grand opera, and American folk and contemporary music traditions.

“Ralls created lovely soundscapes that combined the Native flutes with a chamber orchestra…. His music shifted organically – from languid to joyful to tense – and it all worked well to set the scene and convey the drama..."

~Oregon Arts Watch

“Nu Nah-Hup music used its long vocal and musical lines to conjure an awe-inducing scene on a pristine beach…York (C. Michael Belle), an expedition slave to Clark (Cilli), sang an arching hymn-like figure, enriching the lush musical texture, which was also enhanced by Edwards’s plangent wooden flutes.”

~SF Classical Voice

“Two Yosemites proved to be a surprisingly fine opera that resonated with a large audience at the outdoor amphitheater…Perennial problems of land use rights in industrial society color Ralls’ opera…in the finest operatic tradition.”

~Oregon Arts Watch

AN OPERA setting to music the remarkable meeting between President Theodore Roosevelt and conservationist John Muir on their historic, 1903 camping trip in Yosemite National Park. Arguably the most famous camping trip in history, it marked a pivotal moment in the emergent American Conservation movement to save and protect lands and wildlife from the exploitative impulses of American society. The two men shared much in common, however, where they diverged illuminated vastly different visions of our relationship with our environment. The drama takes place over the course of one evening, around the campfire at Glacier Point, Yosemite National Park. Two Yosemites tells the story of two historic, eccentric, and passionate figures, whose meeting illuminates an archetypal debate of conservation, democracy, and the relationship of society with nature. It is a story of love and sacrifice and the fate of a long lost valley whose name became a rallying cry and controversy to the present day.

Two Yosemites: An Environmental Opera Music and libretto by Justin Ralls based on the writings, speeches and letters of John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt, with additional material adapted from Lee Stetson’s The Tramp and the Roughrider

ca. 60 minute one act, tenor, baritone, SSAA chorus 1.1.1.1.1 perc. hp. strings

Searching for Music, painted set for Song of the Most Beautiful Bird of the Forest.

SONG OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BIRD OF THE FOREST is an English-language chamber opera scored for soprano, bass-baritone, mezzo-soprano, tenor, solo dancer, dance ensemble, and mixed instrumental ensemble of ten players. The story is an allegorical tale portraying a young girl, who befriends a mythological bird and learns its song in order to save her world from ecological and cultural destruction. The work incorporates the song of the extinct Kauaʻi ʻōʻō bird, as well as a transcription of balankung, a traditional dance of the Dagomba ethnic group of Northern Ghana (a collaboration with Dr. Habib Iddrisu and his DEMA African drum and dance ensemble). The libretto and story are original and written by the composer, adapted and reimagined from a traditional African legend of the Mbuti people. The libretto contains additional text from William Shakespeare’s King Lear. The work serves as an exploration and synthesis of world mythology, traditional storytelling, dance, opera, and soundscape ecology. The work is conceived in a conventional operatic structure, including acts, scenes, arias, duets, and ensemble dances. A solo dancer portrays the role of the ‘Most Beautiful Bird.’