Romanesque Arches (2006) Kathleen Flynn, mezzo-soprano; Michael Douglas Jones, bass; Laura Barger, piano (recorded at the Tenri Cultural Institute, New York City, May 2006)

Program notes I fell in love with contemporary Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer's work six years ago when Michael Douglas Jones first showed me his English translation of "For the Living and the Dead". We spoke then about a song cycle, which has since evolved into a much more interdisciplinary undertaking: in collaboration with an international cast of American, Canadian, French, Spanish, and Swedish musicians, we have begun to work on an experimental chamber opera based on Tranströmer's poetry. It is titled "För levande och döda" (For the Living and the Dead), after the collection of Tranströmer's poetry mentioned earlier. It will be a bilingual (English-Swedish) work that attempts to create an environment in which the spaces between the real and unreal elements of life are bridged-an important theme that appears throughout Tranströmer's work.

This performance of Romanska Bågar was inspired by our initial collaborative workshop in January of this year, and is the first material that has been developed for the opera. At that workshop, which consisted of the two singers (Kathleen Flynn and Michael Douglas Jones), pianist Laura Barger, director Ted Altschuler, and myself, we brought our favorite poems and worked with them. We discussed themes and dualities in Tranströmer's work, and improvised both musically and theatrically based on these concepts. It was an organic way of working together, and felt both inclusive and aesthetically satisfying. Next June we will meet in Sweden with the entire ensemble (17 in all!) to workshop the opera; with lots of work, a bit funding, and a pinch of luck we will plan to premiere it during the summer of 2008.

Romanska Bågar Inne i den väldiga romanska kyrkan trängdes turisterna i halvmörkret./ Valv gapande bakom valv och ingen överblick./ Några ljuslågor fladdrade./ En ångel utan ansikte omfamnade mig/ och viskade genom hela kroppen:/ "Skäms inte för att du är människa, var stolt!/ Inne i dig öppnar sig valv bakom valv oändligt./ Du blir aldrig färdig, och det är som det skall."/ Jar var blind av tårar/ och fostes ut på den solsjudande piazzan/ tillsammans med Mr och Mrs Jones, Herr Tanaka och Signora Sabatini/ och inne i dem alla öppnade sig valv bakom valv oändligt.

--Tomas Tranströmer, "För Levande och Döda"

Romanesque Arches (trans. Robin Fulton) Inside the huge romanesque church the tourists jostled in the half darkness./ Vault gaped behind vault, no complete view./ A few candle-flames flickered./ An angel with no face embraced me/ and whispered through my whole body:/ "Don't be ashamed of being human, be proud!/ Inside you vault opens behind vault endlessly./ You will never be complete, that's how it's meant to be."/ Blind with tears/ I was pushed out on the sun-seething piazza/ together with Mr. and Mrs. Jones, Herr Tanaka and Signora Sabatini/ and inside them all vault opened behind vault endlessly.