Aislinn's Boon, a short opera
on an original libretto, staged by Jennifer Blades.
Taylor Brickley, tenor
Brian Chu, baritone
LaTrina Miller, dramatic soprano
Alfonsina Molinari-Rosaly, soubrette
Melanie Schattschneider, flute
Meg Schedel cello
Rich Wattie, vibraphone
Sam Springer, piano
Bryan J. Nies, conducting
Synopsis: It is Beltane night, the Celtic May Day. A mortal man comes to a lonely hill in memory of his beloved, who has died. Eriu, the Queen of the Faeries, hoping to gain a foothold in the human world with a half-Fey child, sends her innocent servant Aislinn into his dream to take this woman's form and seduce him. But this is forbidden by Shaper, the Lord of Dreams, Eriu's own former lover. Aislinn, however, has fallen truly in love with the man, and asks a boon of the Shaper: to find a way for them to be together.
Gaelic terms:
Sidhe ("shee")- a Fairie
Bien Sidhe ("banshee")- a song-spell
used to bring a mortal into magic realms
Excerpt: "Things Are Seldom
Like All that they Seem"
(requires the free QuickTime
4, available for Macintosh and Windows computers here.)
Want to hear more? Click here
to listen to the complete opera. (23 min., 2 MB)
Eriu (LaTrina Miller), Queen of the Fairies, schemes with Aislinn (Alfonsina
Molinari-Rosaly) and the mortal man (Taylor Brickley)
Shaper, the Lord of Dreams, brings the man and Aislinn together
