''Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera'' is a comic

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

in one act by

David T. Little David T. Little (born October 25, 1978) is a Grammy-nominated American composer, record producer, and drummer known for his operatic, orchestral, and chamber works, most notably his operas ''JFK (opera), JFK,'' ''Soldier Songs'', and ''Dog Days ( ...

to a libretto by

Royce Vavrek Royce Vavrek is a Canadian-born Brooklyn-based librettist, playwright, dance scenarist, musical theatre writer and filmmaker known for his collaborations with composers David T. Little, Missy Mazzoli, Mikael Karlsson, Ricky Ian Gordon, Paola Prest ...

. Commissioned for the

Bard College Conservatory of Music The Bard College Conservatory of Music is part of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Founded in 2005, the program is unique among music conservatories in the United States in that all undergraduate students are required to participa ...

Orchestra, the world premiere of ''Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera'' was presented at the Richard B. Fisher Center on February 26, 2010 performed by students in Bard's graduate vocal performance program with James Bagwell conducting. Dan Rigazzi provided stage direction. A new chamber version of the opera was commissioned by Opera Saratoga in 2017, to be premiered at their summer 2018 festiva

Roles and role creators

* Sir Elton John's Trainer, Celine Mogielnicki (soprano) *

Farinelli Farinelli (; 24 January 1705 – 16 September 1782) was the stage name of Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola Broschi (), a celebrated Italian castrato singer of the 18th century and one of the greatest singers in the history of opera. Farinelli h ...

's Trainer, Madyson Page (soprano) * Holy St. Francis's Trainer, Clarissa Lyons (soprano) * Prince Gabriel III of Belgium's Trainer's Son, Jeongcheol Cha (baritone) *

Hans Sachs Hans Sachs (5 November 1494 – 19 January 1576) was a German ''Meistersinger'' ("mastersinger"), poet, playwright, and shoemaker. Biography Hans Sachs was born in Nuremberg (). As a child he attended a singing school that was held in the churc ...

's Trainer, Jeffrey Hill (tenor) *

Atticus Finch Atticus Finch is a fictional character in Harper Lee's Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel of 1960, ''To Kill a Mockingbird''. A preliminary version of the character also appears in the novel '' Go Set a Watchman'', written in the mid-1950s but not pub ...

's Trainer, Leroy Y. Davis (bass-baritone)

Synopsis

The opera is about finch-sitting (or

Vinkensport ''Vinkensport'' (Dutch for ''"finch sport"'') is a competitive animal sport in which male common chaffinches are made to compete for the highest number of bird calls in an hour. Also called ''vinkenzetting'' ("finch sitting"). It is primarily a ...

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

), a sport that developed around birdsong in the late 16th century in

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

.Hutton, Ann
"On safari for birdsong"
Ulster Publishing, Inc., 25 February 2010

References

2010 operas English-language operas One-act operas Operas {{English-opera-stub