The Companion (Semi-Staged Word Premiere)
One-Act Opera from Three Way: An Opera In Three Acts:
http://robertpaterson.com/three-way
Developed via American Opera Projects Composers & The Voice Program
Music by Robert Paterson • Libretto by David Cote: 
Semi-Staged Performance Presented by Ear Heart Music: 
American Modern Ensemble • American Opera Projects: 
Live at Roulette, Brooklyn, 2014

PROGRAM NOTE

The Whole Truth is a short comic opera for three singers—soprano, mezzo-soprano and baritone—that uses very limited production elements in its storytelling and has been written to be performed in intimate to medium-sized venues. In the opera, a young married woman named Megan (a role shared by the soprano and mezzo-soprano) carries on an affair with a fellow dentist and a dalliance with young carpenter that lead her to momentarily confront the web of lies she has created to other…and to herself. Using a single bed positioned vertically onstage and a couple of chairs, the settings include a psychiatrist’s office, Megan’s dental office, the bed of her lover, the dining table and the bed she shares with her husband, and another psychiatrist’s office. The Man (played by the baritone) employs six cardboard cutouts to help represent the roles he plays: Psychiatrist 1, The Lover, The Husband, The Carpenter and Psychiatrist 2.

– Mark Campbell