OPERA

Island of the Moon 

(libretto by Anton Dudley)

Mahina Moku is sinking. Its queen has arranged a marriage for her son, Akoni, to the princess of a neighboring island, in hopes of moving her people there. Akoni worries the move will mark the end of their historic culture. Knowing that certain death will come if they stay, the Queen gives in to her son’s desire by setting an impossible task: he may marry the woman who shatters the moon. 

2018 developed at John Duffy Institute for New Opera/Virginia Arts Festival 

2017 recipient of development grant from Opera America and the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.

Katie: The Strongest of the Strong [45']
(libretto by Anton Dudley)

commissioned by Houston Grand Opera

Based on the life of world famous weightlifter Katie Sandwina, this 45 minute opera is the story of a woman who defies gender norms and the limitations of the human body to take the title from the strongest man in the world.  Born into a circus family in 1884, Katie Brumbach was benching three-hundred pound barbells by age sixteen and went on to lift horses, a half-ton cannon, juggle cannon balls, bend iron bars, and break chains.  Through it all, she charmed the press, as an ideal symbol of beauty, motherhood, and women’s suffrage.  The Strongest of the Strong illuminates a remarkable woman from the darkness of history, one who proved that women are equal to men and, in many instances, stronger. 

Commissioned by Houston Grand Opera, currently in development for full production.

The Secret Code of Mary Bowser:
An Operatic Scene  [10']

(Libretto by Anton Dudley) 

commissioned by 2018 Pittsburgh Festival Opera

work in progress:
an opera in one-act opera [30’]

Music and Words by Faye Chiao

This one act opera takes the situation of people imprisoned by their own fears: a married couple, both actors, who have broken apart due to their own insecurities, and the husband’s sister, a writer-director who attempts to bring them together once more in the production of a play, but who turns out to have needs of her own.