Today : world première of Pascal Zavaro's 'Manga-Café' in Compiègne

Today, the Théâtre Impérial de Compiègne presents the world première of Manga-Café, a chamber opera composed by Pascal Zavaro, with a libretto he wrote himself, based on the manga Densha otoko.

It is the composer's first opera.

Reality, hope or illusion ? Thomas saves from an aggression Makiko, who disappears ... Social networks help him finding her back. The Internet community comments, encourages, or warns Thomas, who ‘took refuge’ behind his computer. What is real ? What is fiction ? Has the love story between Thomas and Makiko really taken place, or is it fantasized ? Can love be virtual ? (freely adapted from the Theatre's and publisher's websites)

It will be performed as the second part of a double-bill performance, following Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti.

The cast includes mezzo Eléonore Pancrazi (Thomas), baritone Laurent Deleuil, soprano Morgane Heyse (Makiko), tenor André Gass and baritone Philippe Brocard. Julien Masmondet conducts the Ensemble Les Apaches. Catherine Dune directs.

The score is published by Gérard Billaudot. The required orchestra is the following :

- 1 flute, 1 oboe, 1 clarinet, 1 bassoon ;
- 1 horn, 1 trumpet, 1 trombone ;
- percussion, piano ;
- string quintet.

The opera Manga-Café should last about 45 minutes. After the world première in Compiègne, the opera will be performed in Rochefort (Théâtre de la Coupe d'Or, 23 and 24 May) and in Paris (Athénée Théâtre Louis-Jouvet, 8-14 June).

My collection of catalogues of works by contemporary composers

In the 1990s, I visited regularly the Musicora music fair in Paris. Every year, I collected all composer's catalogue of works I could find there, from publishers or Music information centers. I also wrote to several companies to receive more by mail.
Unfortunately, since the internet has appeared, it is more difficult to receive these catalogues in a paper version. Most of them can be downloaded.

I now have about 835 different catalogues of 650 different composers. I have scanned their covers and uploaded them to a flickr folder :
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22297671@N03/sets/72157648887120567/

The last four digits of the file name gives the date of publication of the catalogue. If the number is 0000, it means no date is available.

Among the publishers are : Alphonse Leduc, Bärenreiter, Boosey & Hawkes, Breitkopf and Härtel, Durand, Edition Peters, Edizioni Suvini Zerboni (ESZ), G. Schirmer, Gérard Billaudot, Ricordi, Salabert, Schott Mainz, Sikorski, Universal Edition, Wilhelm Hansen, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish Music Information Centers.