Richard Thompson: The Mask in the Mirror

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The opera hits home on multiple levels thanks to sensitive portrayals of the conflicted yet determined couple by Cameo Humes (Paul) and Angela Owens (Alice)…Thompson powerfully confronts complex,... — BBC Music Magazine, April 2019, 3 out of 5 stars (Performance) / 4 out of 5 stars (Recording) More…

Release Date: 8th Feb 2019
Catalogue No: NV6209
Label: Navona Records
Length: 2 hours 10 minutes

Thompson, Richard: The Mask in the Mirror

Work length2:10:29

$30.00

$38.70

$52.50

Roland Mills (vocals), Cameo Humes (narrator), Angela L. Owens (soprano), Richard C. Thompson (piano), John Polhamus (baritone), Lindsay Patterson (alto), Natalie Mann (soprano)
Stephen Tucker
Recorded: 10-13 May 2016
Recording Venue: Martinsound Studios in Alhambra, California, USA

Prologue

Track length5:13

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Act I: Paul at Home in Dayton, Ohio

Track length10:16

$3.00

$3.85

$5.25

Act I: Dean Howells, Literary Critic, at His Gentleman's Club

Track length11:11

$3.00

$3.85

$5.25

Act I: Victoria's Farewell Party for Paul, at Her Home in Brooklyn

Track length9:26

$2.00

$2.60

$3.50

Act I: Alice with Her Mother, Patsy Moore, at Their Home in New Orleans

Track length6:21

$1.00

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$1.75

Act I: In the Office of Ms. Lyons, the New Headmistress of a Brooklyn School

Track length8:23

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Act I: Paul at His London Apartment with His Friend Sarah

Track length11:36

$3.00

$3.85

$5.25

Act II: Paul at a Poetry Reading in New York

Track length6:09

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Act II: Paul in a Harlem Bar

Track length9:01

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$2.60

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Act II: Paul and Alice at Their Friend Sally's Apartment in Brooklyn

Track length11:20

$3.00

$3.85

$5.25

Act II: Paul at Home in Washington D.C.

Track length13:50

$3.00

$3.85

$5.25

Act III: Paul, Alice, and Mathilde Dunbar at Their Home in Washington D.C.

Track length12:45

$3.00

$3.85

$5.25

Act III: Leila and Patsy Moore at Home in New Orleans

Track length5:59

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Act III: Paul at Home in Dayton, Ohio

Track length8:59

$2.00

$2.60

$3.50

About
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About

Composer Richard Thompson’s three-act opera presents the life behind the name of Paul Laurence Dunbar, one of the most prominent African American poets of the early 20th Century. This dramatic performance, inspired by the hundreds of letters exchanged between Dunbar and his wife, Alice Ruth Moore, removes the masks of fame and social identity to investigate the psychological realities of the people underneath. Driven by pivotal moments in the poet’s life, the chamber opera follows the arc of Paul and Alice’s relationship, from their courtship through letters, secret engagement and marriage, to their final estrangement and Paul’s death from alcoholism and tuberculosis at age 33. Throughout these moments, the audience gets a look behind the known storyline into the psychological challenges occurring beneath the surface for both Paul and Alice. Both characters grappled with the fact that they came from troubled relational backgrounds filled with abuse and apathy — much of which was translated into their own marriage. In addition, both struggled with their racial identity in a culture that generally judged and discriminated before it sought to understand. The dramatic tension of their personal relationship and story, fused with the broader questions surrounding identity, appearance versus reality, and grappling with the person in the mirror, makes this a moving story on the operatic stage. Captivating, challenging, and compelling, The Mask In The Mirror is a necessary look into fame and identity as seen through this hero of African American poetry.

Reviews

April 2019

The opera hits home on multiple levels thanks to sensitive portrayals of the conflicted yet determined couple by Cameo Humes (Paul) and Angela Owens (Alice)…Thompson powerfully confronts complex, difficult issues through flawed yet sympathetic characters while avoiding sentimentality

May 2019

Thompson's treatment is sensitive and lyrical...The cast are uniformly good and Stephen Tucker draws out some fine playing from The Sanaa Opera Project ensemble. Cameo Humes provides a strong portrait of the poet – too much so, perhaps, in Dunbar’s frailer scenes – but Angela Owens has more depth as Alice.

Richard Thompson: The Mask in the Mirror

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