Kyle Hovatter - Musician
Premiered – August 24, 2018
Program Note: Two Memorials is based on two tunes from the 1835 hymnal “Southern Harmony”. The sketches against these two hymn melodies, In Adam We Have All Been One + What Wondrous Love, were written shortly after two of my uncles’ deaths and then fully composed in August 2018 as a tribute.
The piece is in loving memory of
Roy Queen (1953-2015) + Terry Severhill (1950-2017).
T
his piece titled track was inspired by a quote often credited to Henry David Thoreau: “As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives”.
The piece was written for and premiered by Sarah Cahill. “track” is dedicated to my good friend, Danny Clay.
Published by Imagine Music Publishing http://stores.imaginemusicpublishing.com/track/
pdf available here
This piece was written for and commissioned by Jane Spencer Mills. The text was written by Jane’s mother Judith Spencer.
Still Waiting by Judith Spencer
Couldn’t wait to grow up,
So I could play with the big kids
Mummy said “wait“.
You’ll get there.
Couldn’t wait to start school,
Ride on the bus like the big kids.
Mummy said “wait“.
You’ll get there.
Couldn’t wait to wear lipstick,
Maybe eyebrow pencil like the popular girls.
Mother said “wait“.
You’ll get there.
Couldn’t wait to get a driver’s license
So I wouldn’t have to wait for the Parents
To retrieve me from the dance.
Mother said “wait“.
You’ll get there.
Couldn’t wait to go “away” to college,
New world, no Parents, no curfew.
Mom said “wait“.
You’ll get there.
Couldn’t wait to get a job,
Share an apartment,
Maybe loose my virginity.
Friends said “wait“.
You’ll get there.
(Didn’t ask Mom)
Couldn’t wait to marry my guy,
Have children, become a real woman.
My guy said “wait“.
We’ll get there.
Couldn’t wait for the youngest child to start school,
So I could pick up on a career.
My guy said “wait“.
We’ll get there.
Could ‘t wait to finally retire, my guy and I,
To see some of the bigger world and discover ourselves in it?
My guy said “wait“.
We’ll get there.
Well, life happened and he passed on before me.
I wish he could have waited.
But I’m still here
And I can’t wait for this day to open itself to me.
Don’t worry.
I’ll get there.
For more information on Opera Theatre Unlimited “48 Hour Opera Festival” http://www.operatheaterunlimited.com/
Custom Made Theater, San Francisco apr 30, 2017
Composer – Kyle Hovatter
Librettist – Barry Eitel – https://barryeitel.com/
Stage Director – Brendan Hartnett
Pianist – Paul Dab – http://pauldab.com/
Fortune Teller – Ana Paula Cunningham, soprano
Husband – Michael Orlinsky, tenor – http://www.mebaritone.com/
Wife – Elaine Hsieh, soprano – https://sites.google.com/site/elainehsieh/
This work was written for Christina Guenther and Ron Petti and their performances in September and October 2016. The title is stolen from a line of the William Carlos Williams poem “At the Ball Game”.