Banff Roundup

I am recently back from the Banff Centre for the Arts where I worked on Act 1 of my new opera, OPERA NOIR.  It is tentatively scheduled to premiere in Montreal in early 2016 with ECM+.  The libretto is by me, and the music is by Andre Ristic.  We collaborated once before on our previous opera LES AVENTURES DE MADAME MERVEILLE.

Banff was great!  I was the only writer in a music residency and it was pretty awesome.  One night, there was an open mic and so I had two artists Tilman Robinson and Alfonso Fernandez play trombone and viola behind me while I read from my book FIRST DAY ON EARTH. 

Download: banffreading10-29-13cecil.mp3

Also, I attended a lecture on Bach by Christopher Bagan who also gave a harpischord performance.  Swoon.   I met amazing people there, including the fabulous Hollands.  Went to a concert by the amazing saxophone quartet QUASAR and I played the piano with my brain through software developed by composer Andre Mestre.  I’m not kidding. Proof:

Then it was off to Calgary where I did a great library visit with Forest Lawn Library and then did Breakfast Television Calgary with my pal from my Bite / Nerdy Girl days, Tara Slone.

Cecil on Breakfast Television Calgary

Thank you to everyone who helped my kickstarter to get to Banff and do Act 1 of Opera Noir.  It was totally terrific.