Boston Singers' Resource News Bulletin, May 21, 2002


BSR is thrilled to present Mr. David Walther in this week's Bulletin. David is a singer, director, composer, and producer. His new chamber Opera, "The Swallow and the Prince," based on a fairytale by Oscar Wilde, will be performed on June 9 in West Newton. His production company, THE ACTING SINGERS PROJECT will present and they are offering HALF PRICE TICKETS TO BSR MEMBERS. Mr. Walther is also a great suppporter of BSR and has cast several BSR performers. Thank you, David, for believing in our organization, taking adavantage of the wonderful singers available, and for your never-ending encouragement for this new network!

DAVID WALTHER AND THE ACTING SINGERS PROJECT: New England native, David Walther is a graduate of Julliard, in musical composition , and has a Masters Degree in voice from Trenton State (Trenton, NJ). He has had works performed at King's Chapel, Boston; The Strand Theater, Dorchester; and The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City; and with The North Shore Civic Ballet, Putnam Court Musicians, Copley Square Ballet Company and Sasha Pepelyaev's Kinetic Dance Theater of Moscow, Russia. His Invocation for Organ, was commissioned by the American Guild of Organists for the Biennial National Convention and is published by E.C. Schirmer. Mr. Walther was the artistic director of Music Now & Now Dance and soloist in the first Boston performance of the original orchestration of Requiem by Gabriel Fauré at Kings Chapel.

Mr. Walther is currently the Artistic Director of The Acting Singers Project which is an opera company developed around the needs of its singers. ASP's mission is to perform operas, that reach beyond the traditional opera community in both casting choices and artistic content. Presenting dramatically motivated, non-traditional, cutting edge and overlooked operas, which attempt to make opera more socially relevant to today's audiences. His Chamber opera, "The Swallow and the Prince" will be performed on June 9th, at 4:00, at The First Unitarian Society of Newton, Newton, MA. HALF PRICE TICKETS FOR BSR MEMBERS! 617-325-2227 (details in a forthcoming email.)

BSR: How did the idea for The Swallow and the Prince come about?

David: When I was in elementary school, a friend's aunt wrote a play based on Oscar Wilde's fairy tale "The Happy Prince." The aunt was a book review editor for the New York Times, named Nona Balakian. She asked me to play The Prince for a neighborhood production, but it never happened. I wrote the first scene based on her play. Carol Millard, and three or four other sopranos on various occassions, have sung the first scene. Carol asked me to finish the other scenes. She will be premiering the whole role on June 9. I will be singing the role of "the Prince" with Carol.

Last summer, partly because of Carol's suggestion, I added six more scenes, and four more characters. I had lost Nona's original play, so I went back and used only the Wilde and I added some of his poems to finish the remaining scenes. The added characters are "a dramatist" (which is in Wilde's original story), "a fisherman" and "two lovers," one sick and one well. The story concerns a statue of a dead prince who pursuades The Swallow to take the precious jewels from his body and give them to those who are suffering. So the two lovers are given a ruby from The Prince's sword hilt, to help the one who is sick; a dramatist is given one of The Prince's emerald eyes to help her survive and finish her play, and the other emerald eye goes to a fisherman who has lost his fish. Unfortunately, The Prince has lost sight, and The Swallow has missed the time to fly south for the winter.

Oscar Wilde's title "The Happy Prince" is intended to be ironic... The Prince is not happy... he is unhappy that there is so much suffering in his kingdom. My title "The Swallow and The Prince" is more gender inclusive, especially since The Swallow's role is much longer and much more difficult than that of The Prince... she really is the star. Actually, Oscar Wilde's Swallow was male... but I used the high range of the lyric coloratura voice (there are lots of high Ds) to create this extremely demanding role.

Our performance was set for last November. Carol and I were on board with two other singers and a pianist. Unfortunately, other engagements surfaced for everyone except for Carol and I. I turned to The BSR for help. Through the BSR, several months before the audition, we found dramatic soprano, Sarah Griffith to perform the roles of The Dramatist and The Caring Lover; and tenor, David Thorne Scott to perform The Fisherman and the Sick Lover. We then found Karla Kelley at the BSR auditions. All of the performers have been a dream fulfilled for us. Our theatrical consultant, David Wheeler, formerly director of The Theater Company of Boston, and currently associate director of The American Repertory Company in Cambridge, came last Sunday, and gave us some new ideas... I was very proud of all of us. It's going to be a very good production!

BSR: I am impressed that your compositions are so varied and that, being a singer, you do not compose only for the voice. Do you prefer composition over singing?

David: I like creating characters with a life of their own... either by composing music for them or by getting inside their minds as a performer. This is a lot of what The Acting Singers Project is about... Accessing our individual past feelings and using them to "become" various characters. We believe in acting from within rather than in fixed staging. We also work collaboratively. I have written a fair amount for ballet, and music theater with dance. I would like to write more for this medium. I'd especially like to write at least one full evening ballet some day, as all of my ventures in this area have been under an hour.

BSR: What other singing do you have time to do?

David: Very little right now. I have done a fair amount of opera and a lot of concerts and oratorio... The Acting Singers Project really does take all of my time right now... the composing, preparing and acting... and all of the marketing ideas that the board has been working on. We have a wonderful board: Drew Hubbard, a music therapist is our president; Carolyn Hall, our business manager, and Augusta Alban, PR and graphics. We will have a web sight real soon, and will be marketing our CDs and videos, as well as continuing production for TV. We have been on The Boston Neighborhood Network for several years, but we will be using much better equipment now (up to WGBH specs), and will be seeking more ambitious outlets.

BSR: What is next for you and/or The Acting Singers Project after "The Swallow and The Prince?"

David: Maybe more performances of this piece in the fall... or perhaps a strange new opera based on Sophocles' Antigone

BSR: You have been so positive and supportive of BSR and the Annual Audition. Thank you so much for your enthusiasm and friendship! Any encouraging feedback you can give to the singers and accompanists who performed at the audition?

David: Wow... so many wonderful performers! I hope to hire many of them over the years! Thank you for introducing me to so much wonderful talent. The BSR is a wonderful organization based on a great idea. I'm sure it will be around for a very long time.

For more information on David Walther or THE ACTING SINGERS PROJECT, please contact David Walther at hrwr@earthlink.net.

The Acting Singers Project presents:
"The Swallow and The Prince"
June 9, 2002; Four O'clock
The First Unitarian Society of Newton
(617) 325-2227