The Snow Queen is a chamber opera in six scenes and a prologue by Matthew King. The libretto, by Andrew McKinnon, is based on the original 1844 allegorical fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. The opera was composed in 1992 for the British soprano Jane Manning who sang the title role in the first performance with Pal Rullestad (tenor) and Tracy Chadwell (soprano) in supporting roles. The work also has significant roles for two young singers as Gerda and Kay, the heroic children in the story and a chorus of treble voices. The work is scored for a small ensemble of eight players with conductor: string trio, flute/piccolo/alto flute, clarinet/bass clarinet, piano/celesta and percussion. The pianist also has to play a melodian. At one point, the conductor is required to play a French horn. The wide-ranging musical narrative involves a plethora of musical styles. A review of the first performance described King as being "like a bright Hollywood composer with a sense of humour" [1] and, after a subsequent performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, another reviewer suggested that the opera contained '"music of distinctive beauty with disarming theatre sense.'" [2]
An opera with the same title and plot was composed by Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen, with libretto by Henrik Engelbrecht.
Prince Igor is an opera in four acts with a prologue, written and composed by Alexander Borodin. The composer adapted the libretto from the early Russian epic The Lay of Igor's Host, which recounts the campaign of the 12th-century prince Igor Svyatoslavich against the invading Cuman ("Polovtsian") tribes in 1185. He also incorporated material drawn from two medieval Kievan chronicles. The opera was left unfinished upon the composer's death in 1887 and was edited and completed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov. It was first performed in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1890.
"The Snow Queen" is an 1844 original fairy tale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published 21 December 1844 in New Fairy Tales. First Volume. Second Collection. The story centers on the struggle between good and evil as experienced by Gerda and her friend, Kai. Unlike Andersen's other stories, The Snow Queen is written in a novel-styled narrative, being divided into seven chapters.
Alice Shields is an American classical composer. She is one of the pioneers of electronic music, and is particularly known for her cross-cultural operas.
The Canterville Ghost is an opera by the Russian composer Alexander Knaifel in three acts for 18 singers and chamber orchestra, also in an abridged version for two soloists and chamber orchestra.
Richard John Mills is an Australian conductor and composer. He was the artistic director of Victorian Opera from 2013-2023, and formerly artistic director of the West Australian Opera and artistic consultant with Orchestra Victoria. He was commissioned by the Victoria State Opera to write his opera Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1996) and by Opera Australia to write the opera Batavia (2001).
The Nightingale and the Rose is a chamber opera in one act by Russian composer Elena Firsova written to her own English libretto after Oscar Wilde’s story of the same name together with poetry by Christina Rossetti.
Undina is an opera in three acts by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The work was composed in 1869. The libretto was written by Vladimir Sollogub, and is based on Vasily Zhukovsky's translation of Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué's novella Ondine.
Donald Henry Kay AM is an Australian classical composer.
Robert Xavier Rodríguez is an American classical composer, best known for his eight operas and his works for children.
Matthew King is a British composer, pianist, and educator. His works include opera, piano and chamber music, and choral and orchestral pieces. He has been described by Judith Weir, Master of the Queen’s Music, as “one of Britain's most adventurous composers, utterly skilled, imaginative, and resourceful."
Jackie O is a chamber opera in two acts composed by Michael Daugherty to a libretto by Wayne Koestenbaum. The 90-minute work, commissioned by Houston Grand Opera in 1995 and premiered in 1997, is inspired by American musical and popular culture of the late 1960s and episodes in the life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
William Mayer was an American composer, best known for his prize-winning opera A Death in the Family.
Roger Bourland is an American composer, publisher, blogger, and Professor-Emeritus of Music at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.
Charlotte Bray is a British composer. She was championed by the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London Sinfonietta and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, BBC Symphony Orchestra. Her music has been performed by many notable conductors such as: Sir Mark Elder, Oliver Knussen, Daniel Harding, and Jac van Steen.
The Creation, the oratorio by Joseph Haydn, is structured in three parts. He composed it in 1796–1798 on German text as Die Schöpfung. The work is set for soloists, chorus and orchestra. Its movements are listed in tables for their form, voice, key, tempo marking, time signature and source.
Allen Raymond Shearer is an American composer and baritone.
Sevil is a lyrical psychological drama opera written in 1949–1952 with music by Fikret Amirov to a libretto by Talat Eyyubov based on Jafar Jabbarly's play Sevil. The premiere of the opera was held on December 25, 1953, at the Azerbaijan State Opera and Ballet Theater.
The Snow Queen is an opera by Hans Abrahamsen and was commissioned by the Royal Danish Opera. The world premiere in Danish took place on 13 October 2019 in Copenhagen. On 21 December 2019 the English version was premiered at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. The work is based on the fairy tale "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Andersen and the libretto is by Hans Abrahamsen and Henrik Engelbrecht.
Die Schneekönigin is a fairy-tale opera by George Alexander Albrecht to a libretto by Peter Truschner based on Andersen's "The Snow Queen". It premiered at the Nationaltheater Weimar in 2015. The vocal parts are scored for professional soloists and children's choir, with choir members acting.