The Big Bonanza: an Opera in Two Acts

Audio Selections from The Big Bonanza

The following samples are taken from the first full reading of The Big Bonanza, un-staged with piano accompaniment. The reading was recorded in Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music on June 20th, 2008. The personnel for this reading were as follows:

• Musical Director - Steven Byess
• Piano Accompanist- Eric Charnofsky
• William Wright, alias Dan DeQuille - Brian Keith Johnson, baritone
• Caroline Wright / Julia Bulette - Andrea Chenoweth, soprano
• John Mackay - Ray Liddle, bass
• Samuel Clemens, alias Mark Twain - Herb Lentz, tenor
• The Spiritualist / Barmaid / Philosopher - Kimberly Lauritsen, mezzo-soprano
• Jean Millean / Broker / Father Manogue - Michael Jankosky, tenor
• Zhang - Lance Ashmore, baritone
• Pickboy - Elijah Bell, treble

To listen to these sound clips, click the arrow or right-click the title and save the MP3:

• Prelude
  (Orchestra - from an earlier recording, December 4, 2001)
• I Might Have Been a Miner Myself
  (De Quille)
• Waltz: The Girl I Left Behind Me
  (Barmaid)
• Dear Will
  (Caroline and De Quille)
• These Men of the Comstock
  (Julia)
  
• I Came to Gold Mountain
  (Zhang)
• Live While You Live
  (Curbstone Philosopher, Mackay and Sycophants)
  
• There is a Fire
  (Chorus of Townspeople)