A PLACE TO CALL HOME

Illustration for the opera 'A Place To Call Home' by award-winning composer Edward Barnes

A Place To Call Home

Words & Music by EDWARD BARNES
Based on interviews, conducted by the composer, with teenage refugees in Los Angeles

SYNOPSIS: The journeys of 4 different teenage refugees/immigrants, their escape, arrival and assimilation in the U.S.. Based on interviews conducted by the composer-librettist with teenage refugees from El Salvador, Iran, Cambodia and Angola,the opera is propelled forward by the choices and decisions each teenager has to make re: cultural identity, conformity, new language, new systems, new friends, and their struggles to rebuild lives in a complex new world.

THEMES: Respect for different cultures; Adjusting to a new place.

Scene from the opera 'A Place To Call Home' by award-winning composer Edward Barnes

CAST: 4 + ensemble (teenage or adult chorus)

  • Woman 1 (soprano)

  • Woman 2 (mezzo-soprano)

  • Man 1 (tenor)

  • Man 2 baritone)

  • Ensemble (Other immigrants, refugees, high school students, high school teachers, street gang, barrio kids)

DURATION: 60 minutes

ACCOMPANIMENT: Piano; or, 2 Electric Keyboards (2 players) and Percussion (1 player)

COMMISSIONED BY: The Los Angeles Opera

PRODUCTIONS: The Los Angeles Opera, University of Texas El Paso

Recording by LA Opera