Deborah Drattell Explained

Deborah Drattell (born 1956)^[1] is an American composer. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, and started her career in music as a violinist. Her compositions have been performed by the New York Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke's, the Tanglewood and Caramoor Music Festivals, and many other groups and venues.^[2] She rewrote the role of the villain in Nicholas and Alexandra, Rasputin, from baritone to tenor when Plácido Domingo expressed interest in singing the role.^[3]

Selected operas

• Festival of Regrets (1999)
• Marina Tsvetaeva (2000)
• Lilith (2001)
• Nicholas and Alexandra (2003, Los Angeles Opera), with Plácido Domingo as Rasputin, Nancy Gustafson as Alexandra, and Rod Gilfry as Nicholas.
• Best Friends (2005) libretto by Wendy Wasserstein and Christopher Durang

Selected orchestral works

• Clarinet Concerto: Fire Dances (1986)
• The Fire Within (1989)
• Sorrow is not Melancholy (1993)

References

1. Web site: Schiavo . Paul . Deborah Dratell (1956) . https://web.archive.org/web/20230810230604/https://www.naxos.com/Bio/Person/Deborah_Drattell/68543 . August 10, 2023 . August 10, 2023 . . bot: unknown .
2. Neil Stannard, Sorrow is not Melancholy: The Music of Deborah Drattell, Delos DE 1359, liner notes.
3. http://www.theurbanman.com/laopeningnights/reviewsfolder/2003operapreview.htm The Urban Man