Firebird Motel (David Conte) and
At the Boar’s Head (Gustav Holst)
USC School of Music Recital Hall – FREE
Opera at USC wraps up the academic year with a production of one acts from 15th-century London to 20th-century California. Denizens of the seedy Firebird Motel wait out a violent storm on the edge of the Mojave Desert, Christmas week 1994. Robert Hurwitt, San Francisco Chronicle wrote "…Firebird Motel weaves a hypnotic spell…Plaintive solos alternate with vibrant duets and lustrous trios, punctuated by Conte's lovely chorales, in an almost seamless creation…Conte's 'Firebird' takes flight on the wings of its music."
Sir John Falstaff and the future King Henry V tell tales and enjoy the company of various thieves and rebels at the Boar’s Head Tavern on a midsummer’s eve in 1403 London. Gramophone reviewed Holst’s last opera, composed in 1929-30 to a libretto by Clifford Bax, saying At the Boar’s Head “makes marvellously entertaining listening.”