Sunday Afternoon at the Opera - Ching: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Sunday Afternoon at the Opera host Keith Brown writes:

Often around the time of the summer solstice I will feature some lyric theatrical treatment of William Shakespeare's immortal romantic comedy. Twice I have broadcast Shakespeare's complete spoken word play on Decca/Argo LP's, part of Decca's recording project of all of the Bard's plays in early stereo sound circa 1960. Then there's Benjamin Britten's opera (also from 1960), which I've also broadcast twice, plus Mendelssohn's well known incidental music on a couple of occasions. Now, get ready for Michael Ching's opera a cappella innovation. Yes, folks: an opera for voices only; i.e. a cast of solo singers and a specially prepared 'Voicestra" in place of the expected instrumental accompaniment of an orchestra. Even the percussion effects are vocalized.

The Voicestra consists of the twelve male voices of the contemporary music group DeltaCappella, joined by the eight female singers of Riva. Curtis Tucker directs them all. The composer of this lyric theatrical novelty, Michael Ching, has long been the director of Opera Memphis. He oversaw the original production of his opera a cappella. It was staged at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis, Tennessee in January, 2011. The original cast recording of A Midsummer Night's Dream was released through Albany Records in 2014 on two compact discs.