Cry wolf : an opera for young audiences

Cry Wolf is a seventy-minute chamber opera for young audiences based on characters from Aesop’s fables, with a libretto by William Glick. A semi-staged production was premiered in April 2017 at the Cohen New Works Festival at the University of Texas at Austin. The opera tells the story of the ‘Boy Who Cried Wolf’, and what happened after the Boy left the village and entered the forest to avenge his sheep. The original narrative was developed by William and myself, with characters and morals borrowed from the ancient Greek fabulist, Aesop. While the work was created for young audiences, it is my hope that the music and story will resonate with audiences of all ages. The first chapter of this document examines the genesis of the story as well as my approach to writing a work for young audiences. The second chapter explores the nearly year-long process for developing the libretto through numerous rewrites and edits. And finally, the third chapter explores my musical decisions on the work, from the vocal writing to the character leitmotifs that ultimately defined the opera.