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The New York City Opera presented excerpts from Apollo 14, an opera by David Meckler ’82, in its May festival program “Vox 2002: Showcasing American Composers.” The program featured 11 composers, ranging from new discoveries to Pulitzer Prize winners. Apollo 14 was the concluding work of the festival.
“I was stunned by the effect of my work when played by a virtuoso orchestra and sung to perfection by intelligent singers with powerful voices,” says Meckler. “I thought to myself, ‘Wow, I have composed an opera here.’ It was my first time hearing the orchestrated work, and I was pleased that everything sounded at least up to my level of expectations. I was especially thrilled by the passages that exceeded my greatest hopes and imaginings.”
Meckler based the opera on the Apollo 14 mission after being inspired by the contrast between Alan Shepard, who hit a golf ball on the moon, and Ed Mitchell, who had an interest in New Age parapsychology. Sopranos serve as the men’s inner voices in the opera. While a full orchestra accompanies some sections, others feature electric guitar, electric bass, and keyboard.
A scene from Apollo 14 was performed in July by Goat Hall Productions in San Francisco at “Fresh Voices III,” a festival of new works of opera and music theater. Earlier in May, the Skyline College Choir performed Black Cat, a work commissioned from Meckler by the Skyline College Poetry and Music Project. He is now creating a quintet (viola, cello, piano, two percussion) for the new music group Adesso. His musical experience includes horn playing in new music, a polka band, and various orchestras and chamber music groups.
After earning a degree in physics at Lafayette, Meckler entered the Air Force. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in music from the University of California at San Diego and began to compose and teach college music classes. He dedicated Bright Love, a piece inspired by a passage from Susie Bright’s book, Sexual Reality: A Virtual Sex World Reader, to MaryLouise, the woman he would marry. The director of the Peninsula Women’s Chorus performed the couple’s wedding ceremony and led the chorus in the premiere of Bright Love with MaryLouise singing soprano. Meckler, who has run the Napa Valley Marathon, teaches music at Skyline College in San Bruno, Calif. He also has taught world music classes at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif.
David Meckler ’82