On The Radar: Harvard-Radcliffe Contemporary Music Ensemble's First Nights

Saturday, April 22nd at 2 p.m. in the Leverett Old Library, Mill Street, McKinlock Hall. Tickets available through the Harvard Box Office, (617) 495-2222. Regular: $8, Students and Seniors: $5.



To many, pre-frosh weekend seems like the perfect opportunity to define what the Harvard artistic community is all about. As varied as the events this weekend may already be, the Harvard-Radcliffe Contemporary Music Ensemble has come up with a performance that will make this weekend’s mix of events even spicier. They’re offering five works in one of performance art’s most traditional media: opera.



On Saturday, April 22 at 2:00 p.m., Leverett Old Library will serve as the venue for five operas written by Peter L. McMurray ’05, Elizabeth C. Lim ’08, Matthew L. Mendez ’09, Emily C. Richmond ’06, and Derrick L. Wang ’06. Although many of the performers and contributors hail from the same community of music concentrators, performers, and music-lovers that is responsible for many other musical events at Harvard, the directors of this performance present the event as a unique, genre-bending alternative to more conventional events. The term “opera” can be construed as restrictive, according to McMurray and Lim.



McMurray, who is co-producing the shows with Lim, hopes that instead, audiences will find the 15-minute operas refreshing and enjoyable. “For me, people making new stuff is what’s interesting,” says McMurray, referring as much to the compositional process as to the performance itself. “Doing your own thing can be potentially divisive, but this is just about people who want to make music,” he says.



As a Classics concentrator, McMurray discovered music composition late after taking “Music 51: Beginning Theory,”an introductory music department course. While McMurray defines some of the themes and sounds as “old-school,” he says that his opera will encompass other influences as well, from modern classical music to punk rock.



At the other end of the spectrum is Lim, who is a music concentrator in Cabot House.



“I wouldn’t even consider my piece an opera,” says Lim; “It’s more of a theatrical vocal piece.” Her opera, “La Belle Dame Sans Merci,” is based on a series of poems by Keats, and requires only two singers and a string quartet.



Wang, a senior in Mather House, says his opera, “Technical Support,” is inspired by frustrations sparked by a broken printer, and articulates those emotions through two vocal quartets and instrumental accompanists. “Have you ever had a technical problem, called the hotline, and been put on hold? If the answer is yes,” says Wang, “you’ll get what I wrote.”



By drawing on different genres, texts, and ideas, and by showcasing five disparate works, the Ensemble hopes to attract those prospective students who might be interested in creative work at Harvard. Both Lim and Wang say that the Ensemble is trying to restart a kind of lapsed tradition of student-written contemporary music at Harvard. “I think there are a lot of people on campus who enjoy this stuff,” says Wang.



For this reason, the operas can encompass “pretty much any vocal composition, from musicals to traditional opera, to anything.” That way, according to Wang, all students who are interested in any aspect of the music or subject material will enjoy the performances.



Regardless of the eventual crowd reception, McMurray remains proud of the work involved. “I have a whole lot of newfound respect for anyone who ever wrote an opera,” he says. “While the music may partially come out of the classical tradition, I think that it should be all about personal taste.” As for the audience, the performance should offer a veritable feast of musical and compositional fare.