PROJECTS

How Beautiful With Shoes

~a chamber opera in one act ~

Music by Jim Lahti

Libretto by Emily Pecora from the book written from the short story by Wilbur Daniel Steele.

Synopsis:

Set in an insular rural community in the southern United States, this opera looks at the consequences of exposure to beauty, poetry, and literature by someone who has never before experienced any of them. It is how this exposure comes about that creates the drama in the work: an English teacher who has been incarcerated at the local insane asylum for killing the headmaster of his school escapes and then kidnaps an illiterate young woman. She doesn’t know what to make of the things he says (which though insane are also quite lovely). After being rescued it slowly dawns on her she now doesn’t fit into either world – that of milking cows and having babies or of Lovelace, and the poetic beauty of the Song of Solomon.

Meriwether Opera

~ an opera in three acts ~

Music by Jim Lahti

Libretto by John McEveety Woodruff

Synopsis:

Upon their return in 1806 the members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition were the rock stars of their era. Unfortunately, this newfound celebrity didn’t set well with Meriwether Lewis; this opera examines the downward psychological spiral that set in motion his increasingly erratic behavior, excessive drinking and drug-taking, and culminated in his suicide a mere eighteen months later.

~ ~ CDs RECORDED ~ ~

of death and the planets

~a song cycle for soprano, tenor, and six players ~

Albany Records

Composed by Jim Lahti

Poems by John McEveety Woodruff

Set to the poetry of John McEveety Woodruff, this work takes one on a 15-movement journey - on two CDs - through our solar system with five stops along the way to honor departed souls who were important to Mr. Woodruff..

The OMNI Ensemble

Plays Works of Jim Lahti:

Chamber Music

CD Baby

This CD was recorded in the spring of 2001 and includes some of Jim's woodwind chamber works - plus one with a cello and a mezzo soprano in it just for good measure!