Rachel  Peters

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cabaret song for alto/mezzo 
DURATION: 3:30
WORLD PREMIERE: The AIDS Quilt Songbook, 2014.

St. Vincent's Hospital, once considered Ground Zero for AIDS patients in New York City, was demolished to make way for more of the aristorcratic playground much of the city has since become. This song is from the point of view of a nurse formerly employed there.

Tearing St. Vincent's Down

Alto Vocal Score

concert mini-monodrama for mezzo-soprano
DURATION: 10 minutes

Inspired by composer, suffragist, and avid golfer Ethel Smyth's memoirs and critics' reviews of her work, this concert mini-monodrama imagines her playing golf in the afterlife, surrounded by her dogs. She recounts her own experience, noting what has unfortunately remained the same in the years since her death. An excellent addition to any programming highlighting Women's History Month and/or female composers.

Ethel Smyth Plays Golf in Limbo

Mezzo-Soprano Vocal Score

duet for mezzo-soprano and bass-baritone 
Libretto by Royce Vavrek, based on and further inspired by Mermaid in the Jar by Sheila Heti.

This duet occurs in the second portion of a triptych of short chamber operas (Mermaid in the Jar, Prairie Dogs, and Fine and Dandy) that take place entirely within an eleven-year-old Girl's bedroom. Over the course of a few days, a mermaid, a family of stuffed prairie dogs, and singing groups of chicken pox and shingles force her to confront what it means to care for others and be cared for herself. In this scene, The Girl sends her new adopted taxidermied prairie dog parents on a date, but they are unfamiliar with the ways of human courtship. It's awkward.

DURATION: 3:15
WORLD PREMIERE: Oberlin Conservatory, Winter 2020.

The Stroll

Vocal Duet Vocal Score

The Wild Beast of the Bungalow is a triptych of short chamber operas (Mermaid in the Jar, Prairie Dogs, and Fine and Dandy) The libretto is by Royce Vavrek, based on and further inspired by Mermaid in the Jar by Sheila Heti. The Wild Beast of the Bungalow takes place entirely within an eleven-year-old Girl's bedroom as she overhears her parents' volatile conversations. Over the course of a few days, a mermaid, a family of stuffed prairie dogs, and singing groups of chicken pox and shingles force her to confront what it means to care for others and be cared for herself. 

INSTRUMENTATION: 1.0.1 (doubling BCl.).1.bar.sax/0.0.1.0/pft-perc (1)-harp-ukulele (doubling banjo)/1.0.0.1.1 (Parts must be rented directly from the composer; please inquire for more information.)
DURATION: 90 minutes
WORLD PREMIERE: Oberlin Conservatory, 2020.

All performances of this work require separate permission and licensing. To obtain performance rights and parts, please visit www.racheljpeters.com

The Wild Beast of the Bungalow

Vocal Full Score

Text from Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

DURATION: 3:30
WORLD PREMIERE: Carroll University, 2018

A cheekily set bit of advice.

Sigh No More

aria for mezzo-soprano or dramatic soprano

Libretto by Royce Vavrek, based on and further inspired by Mermaid in the Jar by Sheila Heti.

This aria occurs in the first portion of a triptych of short chamber operas (Mermaid in the Jar, Prairie Dogs, and Fine and Dandy) that take place entirely within an eleven-year-old Girl's bedroom. Over the course of a few days, a mermaid, a family of stuffed prairie dogs, and singing groups of chicken pox and shingles force her to confront what it means to care for others and be cared for herself.

DURATION: 5:00
WORLD PREMIERE: Oberlin Conservatory, Winter 2020.

Mermaid's Aria

an opera in one act for children
Music and libretto by Rachel J. Peters
Adapted from the story Life Is a Jar of Paint by Bill Folman.

CAST: Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, Tenor, Bass-Baritone
DURATION: 35 minutes
WORLD PREMIERE: Lyric Opera of Kansas City, 2022.

Eight-point-five-year-old Ollie questions the meaning of life after the death of his grandmother. He is frustrated with grownups avoiding his tough but important questions. The only answer that satisfies him comes from his Aunt Leeza, a composer, who shows him that life is like her music sketchbook. She shows him a wide variety of methods to make and share the ongoing compositions of our lives, whether professionally or through altruistic interactions. With these new tools, Ollie creates his own song involving the whole family and audience. Aunt Leeza gives Ollie his own blank sketchbook for the hard questions yet to come. This opera is designed to tour to elementary schools for grades 3-5. 

All performances of this work require separate permission and licensing. To obtain performance rights, please visit www.racheljpeters.com

Sketchbook for Ollie

Vocal Quartet Vocal Score

An opera in one act
Based on the cantata Der Schulmeister by Georg Philip Telemann with additional music, libretto, and singing translation by Rachel J. Peters

DURATION: 45 minutes

Lesson Plan brings an internationally celebrated operatic contralto into the world of online teaching while her headlining stage engagements are put on hold. Thought to be teaching trained singers at a prestigious conservatory, she catches her assistant in a scheduling faux pas and instead takes the stage for a community college with the same acronym  a group with little singing experience or interest in what the great diva had in mind. Intercepted by an overwhelmed school administrator with a side hustle as an amateur choir director, the pair clash over teaching technique, singing and the true meaning of art.

This opera was originally conceived for virtual performance on Zoom and then rewritten for live performance. This piano/vocal score reflects the live performance version.

All performances of this work require separate permission and licensing. To obtain performance rights, please visit www.racheljpeters.com

Lesson Plan

Soprano, Alto Vocal Score

<p>STEVE is a darkly comic short opera for lyric soprano and tenor with music and libretto by Rachel J. Peters, adapted from the play by Liz Bartucci. Ann attends her synagogue's singles mixer. The only man there is the reincarnation of her dead mutt, Steve. All performances of this work require separate permission and licensing. To obtain performance rights, please visit www.racheljpeters.com</p>

STEVE

Soprano/Tenor Vocal Score

a short opera
CAST: Lyric soprano, Tenor
INSTRUMENTATION: Bb Clarinet, Percussion (1), Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello. (Parts are available separately.)
DURATION: 10 minutes
WORLD PREMIERE: Boston Opera Collaborative, Fall 2018. 

Ann attends her synagogue's singles mixer. The only man there is the reincarnation of her dead mutt, Steve. Adapted from the play by Liz Bartucci. The orchestration has been revised since the original production. The video below does not reflect the improved orchestration, though the forces are the same.

Parts must be rented separately. All performances of this work require separate permission and licensing. To obtain performance rights, and parts, please visit www.racheljpeters.com.

Soprano/Tenor Full Score

DURATION: 1:45
WORLD PREMIERE: Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, 2013

An audaciously different take on the John Dryden text made famous by Purcell. For coloratura soprano.

Music for a While

Soprano Vocal Score

art song for bass-baritone
Lyrics by Robert Maddock

DURATION: 3:45
WORLD PREMIERE: CALL OUT Virtual Album, 2020

Lyricist Robert Maddock once wondered if perhaps Pinocchio eventually decided being a real boy was too much to bear. In our song, Pinocchio prays to the Blue Fairy to be turned back into a wooden puppet.

Pinocchio's Lament

Bass Vocal Score

DURATION: 3:45
WORLD PREMIERE: Second Stage, 2013

This song sends up the long tradition of musical theatre/American Songbook ballads for women singing the praises of men who are perhaps not so great.

Mediocre Man

DURATION: 4:00
WORLD PREMIERE: New York Public Library of the Performing Arts, 2011

A yearning ballad of unrequited love wrapped up in astronomy metaphors.

Moon and Planet

Three Amputators is an opera in progress after the story The Three Army Surgeons by the Brothers Grimm. The libretto is by Royce Vavrek. The opera tells of three travelling doctors who seek lodging for a night, offering the establishment's innkeeper a demonstration of their unbelievable skills: they can cut out parts of their own bodies only to reattach them later with the aid of a proprietary salve.  After one removes a hand, another their heart, and the third their eyeballs, an enigmatic Cat appears on the scene. Helpless to control her appetite, she gorges herself on the flesh and throws the course of the story into disarray. This is a contemporary interpretation of one of the Grimm's most eccentric, gruesome tales, fitting right into any comic or horror-themed programming.

The Cat's Aria

Voice Category

for SATB ensemble (with divisi)
DURATION: 2:00
Text by Matt Schatz

This is the first of a suite of planned choral settings of selections from Matt Schatz's delightful debut poetry book, Shoes Last Longer in LA, described as "a joyride of rhyme, reason, and irreverence". Matt's cheeky, spare, colloquial yet urbane style packs a punch, placing him firmly in the lineage of quintessential New York wits such as Ogden Nash and Dorothy Parker, and leaving plenty of room for singers to have a blast. Be on the lookout for the evolution of The Sandwich Island Suite. In the meantime, you can stake your claim to the world premiere!

Airport Attire Haiku

SATB

cabaret song for mezzo/alto 

DURATION: 3:15
WORLD PREMIERE: Cornelia Street Cafe, 2013

This is an expression of frustration at navigating cultural messages about how women are supposed to present and behave themselves.

Inhibitionist (Low Voice)

Medium Low Vocal Score

cabaret song for mezzo/soprano

DURATION: 3:15
WORLD PREMIERE: Jessica Harika recital, April 2024

This is an expression of frustration about navigating cultural messages about how women are supposed to present and behave themselves. Transposed up to E minor from the original C minor.

Inhibitionist (High Voice)

Medium High Vocal Score

an opera for children
CAST: 1 adult tenor, 1 adult bass-baritone, and a children's ensemble playing 17 other roles and chorus
INSTRUMENTATION: 1.0.1.1/0.1.1.0/pft-harp-gtr.-perc (1)/1.0.1.1.1
This revised score does not match the recording of the 2017 world premiere production, and that cannot be used as a teaching tool.
DURATION: 1 hour 10 minutes
WORLD PREMIERE: Sarasota Opera, 2017

Gimme the Ax takes his two children, Please Gimme and Ax Me No Questions, to the whimsical-but-not-magical Rootabaga Country to learn more about the mother they never knew. In the process, they learn that families come in all shapes and sizes. Adapted from the book Rootabaga Stories by Carl Sandburg.

NOTE: Parts must be rented separately. All performances of this work require separate permission and licensing. To obtain performance rights, please visit www.racheljpeters.com

Rootabaga Country

Kids Voices Full Score

aria for mezzo-soprano 
Music and Libretto by Rachel J. Peters
DURATION: 3:30

Eight-point-five-year-old Ollie questions the meaning of life after the death of his grandmother. He is frustrated with grownups avoiding his tough but important questions. The only answer that satisfies him comes from his Aunt Leeza, a composer, who shows him that life is like her music sketchbook. Adapted from the story Life Is a Jar of Paint by Bill Folman. This aria has been re-tailored as a standalone continuous solo for recital/audition purposes.

This Is My Music Sketchbook

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