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Luna Pearl Woolf

Jacqueline - Libretto by Royce Vavrek

Pentatone
Release Date: October 18, 2024

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Melange a trois - Luna Pearl Woolf - Trailer
1 I Star Birth - On Stage  
2 Disease I  
3 5 Years Old  
4 You and Me  
5 Recording  
6 Intense Perfumes  
7 Marriage I  
8 Samson  
9 II Super Nova - Psychoanalysis  
10 Dirty Joke  
11 The Record I  
12 Dizzy  
13 Psychoanalysis II  
14 Seductress I  
15 Persecution  
16 III. Meteorite - Telephone  
17 Mon ami I  
18 Disease II, Part I  
19 Run  
20 Disease II, Part II  
21 Bathing in the Sea in October  
22 Mon ami II  
23 8 Cancellation  
24 IV. Impact - Ode  
25 Scuttlebum  
26 Seductress II  
27 The Record II  
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Award-winning composer Luna Pearl Woolf has long used her evocative voice to advocate for social and political change. Her work has been praised as “brilliant ... profoundly moving” (Opera Going Toronto) for its “psychological nuances and emotional depth” (NY Times). Her dramatic works are championed by major opera houses and international performing artists.

Woolf’s opera Jacqueline, about legendary cellist Jacqueline du Pré, with a libretto by Royce Vavrek, commissioned and premiered by Tapestry Opera, was hailed as an “extraordinary piece, one that deserves an unquestioned place in the 21st-century canon” (The Globe and Mail). Its 2020 premiere garnered five nominations and a win in Toronto’s prestigious Dora Awards.

Woolf mentors new opera creators in her work with Montreal’s Musique 3 Femmes, and teaches about the intersection of text and music at institutions such as the National Theater School of Canada and McGill University. She is co-founder of Oxingale Productions, a ground-breaking record label and music publisher supporting new music by lyrical and innovative contemporary composers. A dual Canadian-American citizen, Woolf was born Western Massachusetts and lives in Montréal, Quebec.

Royce Vavrek is an Alberta-born librettist and lyricist who has been called “the indie Hofmannsthal” (The New Yorker) and “one of the most celebrated and sought after librettists in the world” (CBC Radio). His opera Angel’s Bone with composer Du Yun was awarded the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Music. Among his many collaborations include operas with Missy Mazzoli (Song from the Uproar, Breaking the Waves, Proving Up, The Listeners), David T. Little (Dog Days, Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera, JFK), Mikael Karlsson (Melancholia), Paola Prestini (Silent Light, The Old Man and the Sea), and Ricky Ian Gordon (27, The House Without a Christmas Tree). Royce holds a BFA in Filmmaking and Creative Writing from Concordia University and an MFA in Musical Theater Writing from NYU. He is an alum of American Lyric Theater’s Composer Librettist Development Program. 

  • Luna Pearl Woolf chats with Montana Public Radio about her powerful new opera: 'Jacqueline'
    Posted At: November 20, 2024
    Jacqueline is a powerful, award-winning new opera that dives into the real-life struggle between famed cellist Jacqueline du Pré and the multiple sclerosis that ravaged her body, mind, and talent - robbing her of her identity, her breathtaking musical gift, and ultimately her life.The story is brought to life by celebrated American soprano Marnie Breckenridge (as Jacqueline) and former du Pré protégé and wo...

  • Matt Haimovitz Q&A's on his latest...'Jacqueline,' with The Violin Channel
    Posted At: October 25, 2024
    From….The Violin Channel writes…..'"Jacqueline' The album, presents a recently produced opera based on the life of legendary cellist Jacqueline du PréAmerican soprano Marnie Breckenridge and cellist Matt Haimovitz have released a new award-winning opera, Jacqueline, on Pentatone that tells the story of the real-life struggle between famed cellist Jacqueline du Pré and multiple sclerosis. GRAMMY-nominat...

  • Luna Pearl Woolf and Royce Vavrek chat about new opera: 'Jacqueline' with Savannah's 107.5WRUU
    Posted At: October 23, 2024
    Tonight on Contemporary Classics I am taking with composer Luna Pearl Woolf and Librettist Royce Vavrek about the recording of their Opera Jacqueline.  This opera, written in 2019, premiered in February of 2020, is an exploration of the tragic life of young cello prodigy Jacqueline du Pré who at the age of 26 years of age began feeling the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis and ended her playing career at ...

  • 'Jacqueline' by Luna Pearl Woolf and Royce Vavrek headlines Tapestry Opera's 2024-25 season / OPERANEWS
    Posted At: October 16, 2024
    OPERANEWS - David Salazar writes…..“We are thrilled to unveil our 2024-25 season as we celebrate 45 years of Tapestry Opera with an exciting and dynamic array of productions welcoming performing-arts-loving audiences to our newly built downtown home. It’s a remarkable moment for Tapestry and Toronto to add a vital new venue to the independent performing arts scene,” said Artistic and General Director Michae...

  • The tragic life of Jacqueline du Pre told in opera / SFCV
    Posted At: August 12, 2024
    SFCV's Steven Winn writes…….“I have a terrible, terrible disease,” sings the heroine in the opening measures of Jacqueline, an operatic fantasia on the life of cellist Jacqueline du Pré (1945–1987). In soprano Marnie Breckenridge’s stunning, fully embodied performance, there’s an unnerving coy glibness to the line, as if the only way to handle the multiple sclerosis that withered du Pré’s blooming career an...

  • Luna Pearl Woolf's 'Vagues et ombres' makes La Scena Musicale: New Releases for summer
    Posted At: May 26, 2023
    Canadian-American composer Luna Pearl Woolf has long used her creative voice to advocate for social and political change. ?Particularly renowned in the field of opera, her music, praised by The New York Times for its “psychological nuances and emotional depth,” is characterized by its dramatic intention, with a penetrating focus on music’s capacity as a storytelling language.The 2021 GRAMMY-nominated? ?comp...

  • CMIM announces that Luna Pearl Woolf has written their 2023 edition commissioned work / The Violin Channel
    Posted At: March 22, 2023
    Concours Musical International de Montréal Announces Newly Commissioned Test-Piece for 2023 Competition. Titled "L’inconnu.e bouleversant.e," the work is by Montreal-based composer Luna Pearl Woolf.The Violin Channel writes…..Canada's Concours Musical International de Montréal (CMIM) recently announced that the commissioned work for the 2023 edition has been written by the Canadian-American composer Luna Pe...

  • Collectif9 releases; 'Vagues et ombres' featuring Luna Pearl Woolf's newest piece; 'Contact' / The Violin Channel
    Posted At: May 27, 2022
    Released on Alpha Classics today, the album presents original arrangements of works by Claude Debussy and a premiere recording of Luna Pearl Woolf's "Contact"The Violin Channel writes…..Praised for their unique arrangements of the classical repertoire, Montreal-based collectif9 today released its third album entitled, "Vagues Et Ombres." Featured on the album are the arrangements by Thibault Bertin-Maghit o...

  • Luna Pearl Woolf discusses; 'Fire and Flood' with WVIA Public Media's 'Arts Scene'
    Posted At: January 25, 2021

    From a deeply stirring Mass to hauntingly re-imagined Leonard Cohen masterpieces, composer LUNA PEARL WOOLF: Fire and Flood encompasses 25 years of vocal and choral works by the innovative American- Canadian composer. The composer-portrait album features new and compelling performances from The Choir of Trinity Wall Street and NOVUS NY conducted by Julian Wachner, cellist Matt Haimovitz, sopran...

  • Luna Pearl Woolf discusses; 'Fire and Flood' with Harmonious World Podcast
    Posted At: January 11, 2021

    From a deeply stirring Mass to hauntingly re-imagined Leonard Cohen masterpieces, LUNA PEARL WOOLF: Fire and Flood encompasses 25 years of vocal and choral works by the innovative American- Canadian composer. The composer-portrait album features new and compelling performances from The Choir of Trinity Wall Street and NOVUS NY conducted by Julian Wachner, cellist Matt Haimovitz, soprano Devon Guthrie, me...

  • Luna Pearl Woolf covers Leonard Cohen and Jacqueline du Pre / BroadwayWorld
    Posted At: February 17, 2020

    From a deeply stirring Mass to hauntingly re-imagined Leonard Cohen masterpieces, LUNA PEARL WOOLF: Fire and Flood encompasses 25 years of vocal and choral works by the innovative American-Canadian composer. The composer-portrait album features new and compelling performances from The Choir of Trinity Wall Street and NOVUS NY conducted by Julian Wachner, cellist Matt Haimovitz, soprano Devon Guthrie, mez...

  • Luna Pearl Woolf: Apres Moi, le Deluge. The first classical work to commemorate the flooding of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina
    Posted At: August 31, 2006

    Oxingale Records releases Apres Moi, le Deluge around the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The debut full-length album of music by composer Luna Pearl Woolf includes two world-premiere recordings: Apres Moi, Le Deluge, a concerto for cello and a cappella choir recorded live by trail-blazing cellist Matt Haimovitz and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Concert Choir conducted b...
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