No Masque for Good Measure (2011)
chamber opera in 3 acts, for 4 singers and 4 instrumentalists – 60'00

Libretto: Lauren J. Rogener
Premiered at Cluster New Music Festival
Winnipeg (March 2012) – Kelly Lovelady, Director/conductor


SHORT SYNOPSIS:

TIME: not now; not then, either
PLACE: here, but also there...
CAST: 3 players and their costumier

PROLOGUE / ACT I: Call upon your best attire: you're invited to a wedding. The Tenor has been
commissioned to perform a wedding masque, but he despairs: call it a coincidence, but the groom is
his (ex!) lover. With his troupe of players and faithful costumier at his beck and call, Tenor plots what
form their performance shall take.

ACT II: The heat is on. Both Sopranos warm up while the Tenor meets a strange visitor in a fever
dream. Inflamed by the vision, he joins the other players for reherasal with a script hot off the press.

ACT III / EPILOGUE: Confused yet? Rehearsals for the masque mingle with behind-the-scenes
mayhem. As parts are parcelled and roles reversed, lines grow faint. It's heroic. It's horrific. Though
makeup may flake and masques unfurl, it hardly matters - off book or off key, our show must go on.