''The Seagull'' is an

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 libr ...

in three acts by

Thomas Pasatieri Thomas Pasatieri (born October 20, 1945) is an American opera composer. Life and career Pasatieri was born in New York City, United States. He began composing at age 10 and, as a teenager, studied with Nadia Boulanger. He entered the Juilliard S ...

to an English libretto by

Kenward Elmslie Kenward Gray Elmslie (April 27, 1929 – June 29, 2022) was an American author, performer, editor and publisher associated with the New York School of poetry. Life and career Kenward Gray Elmslie was born to William and Constance Pulitzer in M ...

. The plot is based on Anton Chekhov's 1896 play, ''

The Seagull ''The Seagull'' ( rus, Ча́йка, r=Cháyka, links=no) is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramatises th ...

''.

Performance history

The work had its world premiere at Houston Grand Opera on 5 March 1974 conducted by Charles Rosekrans. Notable later productions include

Seattle Opera Seattle Opera is an opera company based in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1963 by Glynn Ross, who served as its first general director until 1983. The company's season runs from August through late May, comprising five or six operas of ...

(1976),

Washington National Opera The Washington National Opera (WNO) is an American opera company in Washington, D.C. Formerly the Opera Society of Washington and the Washington Opera, the company received Congressional designation as the National Opera Company in 2000. Perform ...

(1978), Atlanta Civic Opera (1980),

Fort Worth Opera Fort Worth Opera is the oldest continually-performing opera company in the state of Texas and among the oldest in the United States, according to the company. While originally presenting operas one at a time over a fall/winter season, it changed ...

(1982) and the Manhattan School of Music (2002). On 23 April 2004, a revised version premiered on at the San Francisco Opera Center, a resident artist program of

San Francisco Opera San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when h ...

. In September 2010 ''The Seagull'' was performed at Dicapo Opera in New York City as part of the international Armel Opera Competition and Festival. A European premiere will follow in November from the

National Theatre of Szeged The National Theatre of Szeged is the main theatre of Szeged, Hungary. It was built in 1883 by the well-known company of Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer in Eclectic and Neo-baroque style. Theatre in Szeged The last decades of the 19th cen ...

in Hungary; this production will be televised live to more than 40 countries and streamed live across the web.''The Seagull''
at Dicapo Opera

Roles

Recording

The first, and only, complete commercial recording of the opera is based on the live performance of the work's New York City premiere at the Manhattan School of Music. *''Thomas Pasatieri: The Seagull'' – Keri Behan (Masha), Isai Jess Munoz (Medvedenko), Raymond Ayers (Constantine), Maxime Alvarez de Toledo (Sorin), Amy Shoremount-Obra (Nina), Amy Gough (Arkadina), Matthew Worth (Trigorin), Thomas Pertel (Shamrayeff), Sarah Kraus (Pauline), Alvaro Vallejo (Dr. Dorn); Manhattan School of Music Chorus and Orchestra, conductor David Gilbert. Albany Records TROY579-80

Notes and references

Sources

* Davis, Peter G.
"An Opera That Flies"
''New York Magazine'', 6 January 2006. Review of the Manhattan School of Music performance. Retrieved 5 October 2007. * Dyers, Richard
"Reunion: Thomas Pasatieri"
'' Opera News'', April 2007, vol 71, no. 10. Retrieved 5 October 2007. * Midgette, Anne
"Finding the Musical Romance in a Chekhov Play"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', 14 December 2002. Review of the Manhattan School of Music performance. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
Thomas Pasatieri
official website. Retrieved 5 October 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Seagull, The 1974 operas Operas by Thomas Pasatieri English-language operas Operas Opera world premieres at Houston Grand Opera Operas based on plays Operas set in Russia Operas based on works by Anton Chekhov