Reviews for Operas

Perera's music is well-made, tuneful, gratifying to voices and resourcefully orchestrated for 14 players. The opera is ingeniously organized, from the point of view of color, variety, thematic interrelationship and development.

—Boston Globe 5/19/89

Perera's music captures the odd drama of the story, and makes some very beautiful sounds along the way. The "chamber" orchestra is rather large, particularly in the percussion, but the scoring is of a rare transparency. Perera also writes vocal lines flattering to singers, and he knows how to compose ensembles of all sizes — a new musical voice worth hearing again.

—New York Daily News 12/11/92

Mr. Perera... provided a pretty, eclectic score, full of melodies and skillfully orchestrated.

—New York Times

The music is pleasing, often with a melodic line for each line of conversation - which gives a modern effect — rather than a melody sustained for an aria.

—Associated Press 12/10/92

The libretto (by Constance Congdon) is an ingenious opening out of the highly interior novella, and it's musically and visually opulent.

—Village Voice 12/22/92

The New York premiere of Ronald Perera's The Yellow Wallpaper was presented . . . in a noteworthy production . . . . MSM's production made a persuasive case for the opera . . . . The principal singers [were] uniformly commendable."

—Opera News

Perera took a bold step six years ago in his first opera, The Yellow Wallpaper, where we watch and listen as a woman sings her way down to madness. In S. he takes another bold step, setting to music Updike's epistolary portrait of a vastly different and far more interesting person: Sarah is intelligent, strong, witty, passionate, and cunning. Entirely without malice, she knows what she wants and gets it... Perera's music, memorable mainly for its texture and style, does beautifully in setting mood, defining character, underlining humor, and distinguishing the sounds of two worlds.

—The Valley Advocate 9/28-10/4/95