...and what a game it will be! Composer/librettist Timothy Ayres-Kerr takes singers Angela Irving, Andy Fleming, Dalton Flake, Jake Jacobsen, Jenny Ohrstrom, and Patricia Combs on a fast-paced journey of who-done-it, in the Fresh Squeezed Ounce of Opera 2018's winning work A Game of Werewolf. The cast had these questions for Tim:
1. We noticed that what drives the villagers most is fear. Were you inspired by our current political climate to write this piece?
The actual game (Werewolf / mafia ) is all about suspicion and persuading the masses to trust and support you against someone else. The phycological and political issues it’s gameplay builds on are such real world elements that it would be impossible for a dramatization of it to not relate. I painstakingly tried to avoid taking a stance that too easily aligned with either major “Sides” of current politics. Instead, my aim is that this piece will challenge everyone of every ideology to question their belief systems and dogmas.
2. How long did it take you to write the piece? Did you workshop it with singers as part of the process?
I began work on GOW in June of 2017 working exclusively on the libretto. It was mostly finished by the end of that month. July and august I went about setting it. It was in a complete form by September when rehearsals started. I'm a singer first, and so my approach to writing was largely based on me singing something, recording it as a voice memo, then later transcribing it. With every single phrase, I would mull over it for about 10/15 minutes (usually while doing some other chore) and if i couldn't commit it to memory and sing it, I would make significant edits. The work was performed several times by my own company as a curtain raiser for WholeTone Opera's own Werewolf opera and you could consider that a workshop, as so much was learned about the piece in that process.
3. This opera reminds a lot of us of Gilbert & Sullivan, but gone dark. Have you drawn inspiration from G&S? What other composers do you draw inspiration from?
Most of my stage experience to date is G&S and I the influence is unshakable. I consider Arthur Sullivan to be one of the greatest setters of intelligible English text, and definitely tried to emulate him. The way certain characters make light of gave occurrences reads to me incredibly Victorian.
I listen to system of a down on occasion, and imagined some of that tonality for Gadruna's first lines of music (weird i know lol). The aggressive rhythmic figures they use really blow my mind. I was also pulling inspiration from an obscure music hall form I'm currently studying. You can hear a recording of it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?"Now I know what you're all thinking and I say it isn't so-
The Werewolf isn't me, it's true!
So at risk of causing panic I'll inform of what I know-
The Werewolf could be any one of you!"
Watch an One Ounce Opera live performance of A Game of Werewolf on YouTube!
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Timothy Ayres-Kerr BM is a recent graduate of New England Conservatory of Music and a former student of Bradley Williams. While studying at the Conservatory he performed as a soloist in Opera, Oratorio, and discovered a particular love of British and American Operetta, performing several lead tenor roles in the works of Gilbert & Sullivan, Most notably Frederic in The Pirates Penzance. Of a recent performance of his, the Boston Musical Intelligencer noted that "He sang with purity and conviction, enunciated perfectly, and acted without a touch of guile." Timothy is currently studying for an MM in vocal pedagogy with Ian Howell at the New England Conservatory while continuing to Run his own miniature opera company, the Parlour Opera Players. Timothy has been writing vocal music almost as long as he has been singing, working primarily on short comic operas and Cantatas. A Game of Werewolf is Timothy’s second completed opera. He is passionate about opera in English, whether it be new or old.
Angela Irving is a multifaceted singer who enjoys molding young HS-aged minds and voices. She currently teaches 65 wonderful young people at Bowie, Lake Travis, and McCallum High Schools. Angela performs with One Ounce Opera, Austin Opera, Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin, and as the soloist at the Christian Science Church downtown. Some recent roles are The Plaintiff/Angelina in Trial By Jury (Gilbert & Sullivan Austin); Fortuna in L’Incoronazione di Poppea (One Ounce Opera); Tessa in The Gondoliers (GSA); and Melissa in Princess Ida (GSA). Angela premiered the song cycle “Five Mystic Songs” by David Adams with string quartet at OOO’s Fresh Squeezed Ounce of Art Song in 2016, and has enjoyed premiering art songs and musicals by Rain Nox, Jonathan Geer, Michael Nesline/Steve Saugey, Fred Fisher, and, while at the University of North Texas, many, many others.
While studying for pre-med in his undergraduate work at Midwestern State University, Dalton Flake discovered the world of opera. His roles include: Borsa in Rigoletto; Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi; Alfred in Die Fledermaus; and Detlef in The Student Prince. He then attended Texas State University for his Masters of Voice Performance. Where he added: Kaspar in Amahl and the Night Visitors; Candide in Candide; Sam Kaplan in Street Scene; Rodolfo in La Boheme; Charlot in Angelique, which went to win awards with the National Opera Association; E.T.A. Hoffmann in Le Contes d'Hoffmann; Abbe in Felice, and 1st boy in Trouble in Tahiti. He has been a soloist for Texas State in there performances of Monteverdi's Vespers and Mendelssohn's Elijah. Dalton has earned first place at NATS and won the Didzun Honors Award for excellence. Recently, Dalton performed Rodolfo in Puccini's La Boheme with Red River Lyric Opera. He thanks God and his wife and kids for allowing him the luxury of being a performer.
Having completed his MM in Vocal Performance at UT’s Butler School of Music, Andy Fleming continues to be involved in opera around Austin. Andy has performed roles with Gilbert and Sullivan Austin (Trial by Jury, Cox and Box, The Zoo), and even stepped into the pit for one production of Gondoliers. Critics have remarked that Andy “was there, too.” He has also performed with Spotlight on Opera (Hansel and Gretel, Die Zauberflöte, Cosí fan tutte), Opera Piccola (Abduction from the Seraglio), and One Ounce Opera (There's Beauty in the Beast, Love After the Collapse of Civilization, Ho! Ho! Ho!, Problems), and can be seen in the chorus of Austin Opera’s upcoming La Traviata.
Patricia Combs, mezzo soprano, loves singing a wide variety of music, but excels in French literature, zarzuelas, and loves the challenges of contemporary works as well as chamber music. She will be playing the role of Dame Hannah in Ruddigore this summer with the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin. Her roles include Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor, Bianca in The Rape of Lucretia, Meg Page in Falstaff, Mrs. Zilkov in The Manchurian Candidate and Dinah in Trouble in Tahiti. She studied with Dr. Hugh Cardon, Rose Taylor, Cindy Sadler, and Cynthia Moellenhoff. She holds a Bachelors of Music Education from UT-El Paso and a Masters in Vocal Performance from UT-Austin.
Jake Jacobsen, baritone, is a founding member of OOO and is excited to be performing in his third FSOO production. Jake is a graduate of the Butler School of Music, earning a Masters of Music in 2011, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 2015. Jake has performed with several professional organizations in the Austin Area in addition to OOO, including Conspirare, Austin Opera, and the Gilbert & Sullivan Society, where he performed the role of Samuel in their production of The Pirates of Penzance last season. At the end of this month, Jake will be performing in the chorus of Austin Opera’s production of La Traviata, and will be in the G&S Society’s production of Ruddigore in June.
Jenny Ohrstrom's recent performances include Helena in Ho! Ho! Ho! and Voodoo Priestess in The Stranger the Better with One Ounce Opera, and Carmen with Austin Opera. Other highlights include Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Miss Pinkerton in The Old Maid and the Thief, Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, Dido in Dido and Aeneas, Mother in Hansel and Gretel, and the title role in Alcina. Jenny holds a Master of Music in Voice Performance from California State University-Northridge and a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. She is a winner of CSUN’s and CWU’s Concerto Competitions, and a recipient of the Village Voices Chorale Scholarship, Nancy Hooker Scholarship, NATS-LA Summer Study Grant, CSUN Graduate Research Fellowship, and the CSUN Graduate Fellowship for Outstanding Research and Creative Activity. Keep up with Jenny at www.jennyohrstrom.me