CPMusicLibrary's video: From the Diary of Virginia Woolf by Gary Kulesha-excerpt 1

From the Diary of Virginia Woolf by Gary Kulesha I had been thinking for some time about an opera based on the life of Woolf, and read her diaries extensively. Her remarkable writing, uncanny observational powers, and almost painful self-awareness moved me deeply. Even in this often casual five volume diary, she remains one of the greatest writers in the English language, by turns vulnerable, extremely funny, pointedly sarcastic, poetic, and deeply philosophical. It is a rich and rewarding read. I selected six passages from Volume 5, and wrote a continuous work which is, for all intents and purposes, six separate songs connected. The texts are often dark, often ambivalent, but at least one song is jubilant and one is rather ironically funny. The are certainly intense. Woolf was extremely careful throughout the fifth volume not to deal directly with the depression she was suffering at the time. I felt I simply had to close with the final entry of the diary, written just four days before she committed suicide. But this is not a sad work–it celebrates the rich legacy and complex inner life of one of the most sensitive and human writers of all time. For Mezzo-Soprano and Orchestra Full work duration - 21' 2 fl.2 ob.2 clar.2 bsn./4 hn.2 tpt.3 tmb.1 tba/ timp. 2 perc./ strings