Victoria Bond

Travels

Year: 1994

Duration (in minutes): 2 hr

Difficulty: Medium (college/community)

Category: opera

Publisher: Subito Music Corporation

Description: Librettist: Ann Goette
Soloists: sop, mezzo, 2 ten, bass-bar
chorus SATBB, dancers
Piano vocal score available
Prem: 5/18/95; Opera Roanoke, Roanoke, VA
Opera inspired by Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Gull, an adolescent on the verge of manhood, is suffocated by the confines of home. He begins a quest for identity, love and mystery. Gull embarks on his travels by way of a train that spills him into a variety of cultures, where he encounters characters who mirror those he left behind: his mother, father, sweetheart and brother. Far from a literal interpretation, Travels retains Swift’s satirical edge, taking a dark look at many aspects of contemporary culture from televangelists to Prozac.
“Musically impressive and theatrically dynamic” Harold Prince
“Sparkling, tuneful score...the hilarious aerobics-class-from hell was a highlight.” Opera News
“The final aria is melodic and ethereally beautiful; a non-stop stream of movingly beautiful music.” American Record Guide