Douglas J. Cuomo's "Arjuna's Dilemma" at the Dallas Opera

by Ted Gordon on May 4, 2017, 3:26 p.m.

(photo: "Arjuna's Dilemma" at One World Theatre Nepal, 2016; © Eric Garrison)

Douglas J. Cuomo's Arjuna's Dilemma is a truly unique opera, which combines the tradition of operatic performance with North Indian singers and instrumentalists to recount a harrowing moment from the Bhagavad Gita, where the eponymous Arjuna must grapple with conscience and duty in a time of civil war, leading to his search of self-knowedge in a rapidly changing world.

Recorded on Innova in 2008 and recently performed in Nepal (the first opera ever to be performed in that country), Arjuna's Dilemma has just had its Texas premiere in a visually-enhanced concert performance with the Dallas Opera. The performance, led by Dallas Opera Principal Guest Conductor Nicole Paiement, starred Tony Boutté, Humayun Khan and a female vocal quartet of Katrina Galka, Audra Methvin, Alyssa Martin and Lindsay Ammann.

Cuomo has composed a Choral Suite from this opera, featuring seven movements from the opera scored for SATB chorus, solo violin, and piano, which is avalable on PSNY. Also available is the aria Four-Armed Form, for tenor and piano.

PSNY Works at Summer Festivals

by Ted Gordon on July 21, 2015, 11:56 a.m.

Ah, summer: when classical musicians and fans retreat to the country to enjoy music in the great outdoors. This year, across the country, festival orchestras are mixing time-honored performances of the classical repertoire with exciting new compositions from America's living composers, keeping their tradition vibrant and accessible to a new generation. 

Chicago's Grant Park Music Festival brings music to all parts of the city, and on July 21st and 23rd they're presenting Douglas J. Cuomo's Kyrie both at the South Shore Cultural Center and the Columbus Park Refectory. Two arias from Cuomo's Doubt—The Boy's Nature and The Doubt Sermon— will aslo be premiered at the Jay Pritzker Pavilian at Millenium Park on July 22nd. 

Back on the East Coast, the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music book-ends its 2015 season with two works by George Perle— Critical Moments and Critical Moments II. Commissioned for the New York New Music Ensemble and Eighth Blackbird, respectively, these two short chamber works epitomize Perle's distinctively American take on Modernism. 

In the rocky mountains of Colorado, the Aspen Music Festival presents Anthony Cheung's SynchroniCities on August 15th. A wide-ranging meditation on the commonalities between sound and setting, this "sonic travelogue" beautifully illustrates the power of music to unite aesthetic experiences between vastly different locations. With that in mind, those lucky enough to have already visited Aspen this year will have seen George Perle's Critical Moments II, along with Pierre Jalbert's Secret Alchemy, performed on a July 6th cocnert. 

 Finally, on the West Coast, Santa Cruz audiences will hear the world premiere of a new orchestral work by Hannah Lash, entitled Eating Flowers at this year's Cabrillo Festival, under the baton of Marin Alsop. This new orchestral work expresses Lash's "digestion" of the beautiful flowers of Late Romantic orchestral masterworks, metabolizing them into something unique and fitting for the 21st century. 

The Vocal Music of Douglas J. Cuomo on PSNY

by Ted Gordon on July 21, 2014, 2:03 p.m.

Douglas J. Cuomo has been celebrated for his wide-ranging, vibrant, and completely unique compositional voice—which he has used in media ranging from television (Sex and the City, Homicide: Life on the Street), to instrumental music (Only Breath, commissioned by cellist Maya Beiser), to choral music, to opera. Composing for the voice, in particular, Cuomo integrates a worldly, ecumenical perspective with a fiercly original composerly craft. Arjuna's Dilemma, his 2006 opera based on the Bhagavad Gita, and Doubt, his 2013 opera based on the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play by John Patrick Shanley, both contain arias and choral settings that are in demand by singers worldwide. 

And because of that demand, we're thrilled to announce that nine of Cuomo's vocal works are now available through PSNY. These include choral and solo excerpts from his two operas, Arjuna's Dilemma and Doubt, as well as works for SATB Chorus, and works for solo voice and piano. 

Check out some video and audio excerpts of Douglas J. Cuomo's works below!