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Roger Ames

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Roger Ames, composer, author and artist mentor, has written operas and musicals for numerous American opera companies, Off-Broadway, London Fringe, and the Hartford Stage, (Martin Guerre, Laura Harrington, librettist). He has been commissioned by the Long Island Masterworks Chorus and Orchestra, (In Memoriam: Warsaw 1943 with Bernard Kaplan, librettist); the Greensboro Choral Society, Broadway Cares / Equity Fights Aids (Shadows, with Jeffrey Gilden, librettist), and Central City Opera, Denver, among others.

Recently, his Requiem for Our Time, set to the poetry of Anne Sexton, received a triumphant New England premiere by Boston Chorus Pro Musica, with Ilana Davidson, soprano, David Murray, Baritone, and Jeffrey Rink, conducting. It was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 2008. En Mis Palabras, with Jeffrey Gilden, librettist, is being toured throughout Colorado and the west, and was recently produced for the National Performing Arts Convention in Denver.

Take Joy / Anything But A Silent Night, (a musical collage), for the Strathmore Performing Arts Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, premiered December 21, 2009. He was commissioned by the Long Island Masterworks Chorus: Ancient Songs Of The Universe, a rhapsody for piano and large chorus in three movements, premiered the same year.

His collaborative work with the Colorado Springs Conservatory Opera Intensives over the past several years have resulted in 4 new one-act operas for adolescent voices, written in collaboration with the young members of that ensemble, who then perform their work at the Central City Opera Festival. He is currently on the board of advisers of Pantomonium, a ‘way-off-Broadway’ theatre company that volunteers its time to create and produce annual off Broadway Christmas Pantomime musicals written partially by and for underprivileged children in New York City. He has collaborated with many children to help write the music for four of those productions.

He is also a resident artist at New Dramatists Playwrights collective in New York City, and currently resident composer at Central City Opera. El Paso Opera, and the Colorado Springs Conservatory.

As an author, Ames has written for Opera America’s textbook series: "Music! Words! Opera!," a multi-level curriculum that provides structures for teachers who want to write operas with their children, and/or study opera at a deep level. He has also written for GIA’s High School Choral Program textbook, and is currently working on a biographical novel: Get Off My Property, a collection of essays based on his childhood growing up in an upstate New York farming village in the 50’s.

He has studied composition with Samual Barber, John Kander, Lukas Foss, Robert Washburn and others, and has degrees from the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam, and the Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College. Ames is published by GIA Music, where one can see a more complete biography. He also has publications at Hinshaw Music, inc, Belwin Mills, and Vista Music.

He is on commercial recordings by Thomas Hampson, (Old Songs Re-sung), on the EMI label, and also by Anam Cara, (Innisfree), James Jordan, conductor, and has scored movies and documentaries for French and German Television. He can be contacted at rogerwames@gmail.com or through his publishers.

Title	Ensemble Type	Composed	Duration	Media
TAKE JOY (Anything But A Silent Night)	Opera/Theater	2009	01:20:00
Ancient Songs Of The Universe	Chorus, with or without Solo Voices	2009	18:30:00	Ancient Songs Of The Universe Ancient Songs Of The Universe Ancient Songs Of The Universe Ancient Songs Of The Universe Ancient Songs Of The Universe Ancient Songs Of The Universe
Let There Be Joy	Chorus, with or without Solo Voices	2008	00:12:30	Let There Be Joy Let There Be Joy Let There Be Joy
Shadows	Opera/Theater	2008	00:38:00	Shadows Shadows Shadows Shadows
Splendor In The Grass	Chorus, with or without Solo Voices	2008	00:06:10
Requiem For Our Time	Chorus, with or without Solo Voices	2007	00:48:00	Requiem For Our Time Requiem For Our Time Requiem For Our Time Requiem For Our Time
En Mis Palabras	Opera/Theater	2006	00:55:00	En Mis Palabras En Mis Palabras En Mis Palabras En Mis Palabras En Mis Palabras En Mis Palabras En Mis Palabras En Mis Palabras En Mis Palabras En Mis Palabras En Mis Palabras
Illusions / Illusiones	Opera/Theater	2004	00:40:00
Choral Reflection on Amazing Grace	Chorus, with or without Solo Voices	2004	00:08:00
In Memoriam: Warsaw 1943	Opera/Theater	1997	01:28:00	In Memoriam: Warsaw 1943 In Memoriam: Warsaw 1943 In Memoriam: Warsaw 1943 In Memoriam: Warsaw 1943 In Memoriam: Warsaw 1943
Hearts On Fire	Opera/Theater	1995	01:35:00
Love's Gift	Chorus, with or without Solo Voices	1988	00:04:10	Love's Gift
Down By The Riverside	Chorus, with or without Solo Voices	1987	00:04:20
Erie Canal	Chorus, with or without Solo Voices	1987	00:03:40
Amarantha	Opera/Theater	1985	01:45:00
Amistad	Opera/Theater	1980	02:15:00

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Roger Ames

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Old Songs Re-sung

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Roger Ames

Inverness

Old Songs Re-sung