Charlie Parker's Yardbird

Composer: Daniel Schnyder
Librettist: Bridgette A Wimberly
Company: New Orleans Opera Association

Synopsis

New York City, 1955.  As his body lies unclaimed in the morgue, saxophone great Charlie Parker returns in spirit to the jazz club Birdland, determined to compose a final masterpiece. Family and friends blend in and out of his memories in an acclaimed new opera that tells of his tortured, brilliant life “with a pulsing, jazz-infused score” (The New York Times).

Charlie Parker’s Yardbird was widely praised following its 2015 premiere. The Wall Street Journal said, “its rhythms snap and swing, its melodies – including real arias – seize the ear, its ensembles crackle with energy.”