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Mr. Carlisle Floyd will be at Lone Star College-Kingwood
May 5-7, 2006. You will not want to miss
Sunday, May 7, 2006 at Strawbridge United Methodist Church, 5629
Kingwood Drive at Willow Terrace in Kingwood. The Kingwood Chorale
and chamber orchestra will conclude its 2005-2006 season with
a concert and weekend festival celebrating the 80th birthday
of American opera composer Carlisle Floyd. This will include
choruses and Floyd's arias from Susannah, Cold Sassy Tree,
The Passion of Jonathan Wade, Of Mice and Men, and others.
This is a major artistic endeavor for Kingwood as we herald the
most distinguished American opera composer in the last fifty
years! Many thanks to Dr. Todd Miller, Head of the Lone Star College-Kingwood
Music Department, whose dissertation Religious elements in
three operas of Carlisle Floyd, centered on the work of
Mr. Floyd, for this wonderful opportunity. |
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STUDENTS: Several CDs
of Mr. Floyd's operas are available for check-out and in-library
listening.
Ask at the circulation desk. |
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| A Timeline
of American Opera - Operas and composers of American opera
from 1845-1995. Arm yourself with a timeline of American operas,
including those of Mr. Carlisle Floyd. |
 About
Carlisle Floyd
Carlisle Floyd is one of the foremost
composers and librettists of opera in the United States today.
His opera Susannah is the most performed American opera,
and is performed throughout the world.. Born in 1926, Floyd earned
B.M. and M.M. degrees in piano and composition with Ernst Bacon
at Syracuse University, studying piano additionally with Sidney
Foster and, at theAspen Institute, with Rudolf Firkusny. He began
his teaching career in 1947 at Florida State University, remaining
there until 1976, when he accepted the prestigious M. D. Anderson
Professorship in the University of Houston. In addition, he is
co-founder with David Gockley of the Houston Opera Studio, a
training and performance program for young singers and coaches-accompanists,
jointly created by the University of Houston and Houston Grand
Opera. Floyd received an honorary doctorate at FSU in 2005. He
has received many prestigious awards including the NEA National
Medal of Arts and he was inducted into the American Academy of
Arts and Letters in 2001.
Carlisle Floyd captures the American
spirit in his operas as no other composer has attempted or succeeded
in doing. He has written of preachers, politicians, drifters,
witches and plain, ordinary folk. Several operas are taken from
the plots of books and most are set in the south, places like
Louisiana and South Carolina.
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Finding Mr. Floyd on the Internet
- NEA
presented Mr. Floyd with the National Medal of Arts, "For
giving American opera its national voice in a series
of contemporary classics rooted in American themes." At
left, President George W. Bush and Laura Bush present
the National Medal of Arts award to Carlisle Floyd. White
House photo by Susan Sterner. Floyd has received honors
from arts organizations, educational establishments,
and governments and in 2001 he was inducted into the
American Academy of Arts and Letters.
- U.S.
Opera Web: an Online Magazine Devoted to Opera - Operas
We Would Like To See Again: Carlisle Floyd Talks About
Wuthering Heights, The Passion of Jonathan Wade, Bilby’s
Doll and Willie Stark Written by Robert Wilder Blue.
An excellent article about Mr. Floyd, containing many quotes
about his works and his views on opera today. Follow the
link to Cold Sassy Tree.
- Opera
World - A Summing-Up at Seventy by Carlisle
Floyd. Mr. Carlisle's views on the state of opera in America.
Includes a brief biography.
- Arizona
Opera - Biographical information and a link to the
Arizona Opera's performance Of Mice and Men in
2000.
- Boosey
and Hawkes - B&H is the primary publisher of Mr. Floyd's
operas on CD. Find here a brief biography and details about
purchasing the CDs.
- Amazon.com -
Want to hear Mr. Floyd's operas on CD? Go to the Carlisle
Floyd link and listen to a bit of Susannah, Cold Sassy
Tree, and others. Guaranteed a "Wish List" item.
- Houston
Grand Opera - Several of Mr. Floyd's operas have premiered
in Houston. Read the History of HGO from 1956 - present.
- All
About Opera.com - Use the Biography and Floyd links
to go to more information on Floyd and his operas. This
is a good place to start learning about each opera. For
some reason, you will have to do an Opera Title search
to get to Susannah. The other operas are linked from Floyd.
- Answers.com
- Carlisle Floyd - Answer.com offers a brief outline
and bio, a bibliography of his works, plus links to the
works of Mr. Floyd.
- University
of South Carolina - Information about the Carlisle
Floyd papers given to the University. Papers span 1946-2000.
- Florida
State University - Mr. Floyd returned to FSU, in 2005,
for his 79th birthday and the 50th anniversary of his most
known opera, Susannah. Listen to the audio of
the local radio station's announcement of his vist and
proclamation of his honorary doctorate at FSU, where he
began his teaching career - and premiered Susannah
in 1955.
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 Cold
Sassy Tree 2000
- Austin
Chronicle - With 'Cold Sassy Tree Composer
Carlisle Floyd Crafts an Opera to Crown His Brilliant Career'
writes reporter Robert Faires in January, 2001. While Cold
Sassy Tree is his final opera (to date), Mr. Floyd
continues making appearances and teaching about opera.
The review and information here is good background for
CST.
- Live
Events - Carlyle Floyd: Cold Sassy Tree. Directed
by Bruce Beresford, conducted by Patrick Summers. With
Patrice Racette and Dean Peterson. Houston Grand Opera,
Houston, TX. May 6, 2000. A brief article about the premier
at HGO.
- US
OperaWeb - In April 2000, Houston Grand Opera presented
the world premiere of Carlisle Floyd's tenth opera which
was based on the 1984 novel by Olive Ann Burns. In this
article, Floyd talks about Cold Sassy Tree with
Karen Keltner, Resident Conductor of San Diego Opera.
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Of Mice and Men (1970)
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Bilby's Doll (1976)
- Catherine
Malfitano's brilliant career - In 1976, Ms. Malfitano
created the title role in the world premiere of Carlisle
Floyd's Bilby's Doll in Houston. The opera comes
from an obscure 1928 novel, A Mirror for Witches by
Esther Forbes. It tells the story of a young woman, Doll
Bilby, who embraced witch-hood as something beautiful and
romantic, and presents a view of 17th century Salem, Massachusetts
at wide variance with the accepted or popular concept of
that period. (Picture: Floyd and Malfitano, courtesy of
the Houston Grand Opera)
- Boosey & Hawkes - Bilby's
Doll includes roles, time and place, synopsis, and
mood. World premier Houston Grand Opera, 1976.
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Slow Dusk (1949)
- Yale
Daily News' Opera Reaches High and Low Notes. "Slow
Dusk," written in 1949 while Floyd was still
a student at Syracuse University, is a tragedy set in the
American South during the Great Depression.
- FYI: Slow Dusk premiered in the Houston area at
Lone Star College-Kingwood.
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The Passion of Jonathan Wade (1962)
- US
Opera Web - The Double Life of Jonathan Wade by
Robert Wilder Blue. The Passion of Jonathan Wade was the
5th Floyd opera and premiered by the New York City Opera
Company.
- Listserv
by San Diego's David Gregson - critical review of the
opera's debut in San Diego.
- Boosey & Hawkes -
Basic information including cast, roles, synopsis, and performances.
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Wuthering Heights (1958)
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FINDING JOURNAL ARTICLES
IN THE LIBRARY DATABASES
Search
Carlisle Floyd or limit to a certain opera or opera house.
- Academic
Search Complete
- This large multi-discipline database from Ebsco contains
many full text articles.
- JSTOR
- Scholarly academic journal articles from a wide range of disciplines, including literature, music and the performing arts.
Note: To access these
databases from off campus, students must login with the barcode
number from their library card using the links above.
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Lone Star College-Kingwood
Library | Write
to Dr. Miller | Page by Peggy
Whitley, 2006
Many thanks to Brian
Mitchell and the Archives Department of the Houston
Grand Opera for sharing photographs, past opera programs,
and other memorabilia featuring the works of Carlisle Floyd
for our library exhibit. |
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