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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2010 > October > 04 > Entry
UT commissions new opera in honor of Sarah and Ernest Butler
University of Texas’ Butler School of Music will announce on Wednesday that has commissioned a new opera by acclaimed Mexican composer Daniel Catan in honor of Austin philanthropists Sarah and Ernest Butler, whose $55 million contribution in 2008 constituted the single largest gift ever made to a public school of music.
The new opera, “Meet John Doe,” will be based on the classic 1941 Frank Capra comic drama and will premiere at UT in the 2012-13 season. Catan’s commission is $300,000.
“I can think of no better way to honor the Butlers for their magnanimous support of this school than to commission a major opera,” said B. Glenn Chandler, director of the Butler School of Music.
A departure from the Latin themes of Catan’s previous operas, “Meet John Doe” is focuses on American musical and theatrical ideas of the early 1940s. The libretto, based on the original screenplay by Richard Connell, Robert Presnell and Robert Riskin tells the story of a grassroots political campaign that is unwittingly started by a newspaper columnist that gains national recognition when a wealthy businessman gets behind it. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Story in 1942.
Catan’s opera “Rappaccini’s Daughter” will be performed at the Butler School Feb. 25 - March 6. The production will be the premier of Catsn’s new orchestration of the work. Previously scored for a large orchestra, the composer has reworked the score for two pianos, harp and percussion.
Catan will be in residence at the Butler School in spring 2011 to complete “Meet John Doe” and workshop select scenes.
Catan’s latest opera “Il Postino,” is based on the much-loved 1994 film by director Michael Radford opened last month at the Los Angeles Opera and starred Placido Domingo.
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