NEON (a street opera) is theatre noir. In the metaphysical sense ... out of the darkness a blade of grass pushes up through the concrete. In the literal, it is simply: Terry, a young saxophone player working the streets for tips to survive, meets Evie, a spunky young runaway from Houston. They are mutually attracted to each other but she soon finds herself wooed by the Barker's incantations. He was a former lover and Evie slips into the darker side of life in order to protect Terry from him. Frustrated and hurting, Terry continues playing on the street until he successfully auditions for a band that is about to record and tour. His newly acquired success finds him back in the city, ironically, playing in a very posh room of a super modern hotel not too far from where he used to play for tips on the street. He is haunted by the memory of Evie and searches for her. Finding her, he offers her a way out. But her insecurity about what she has become in her own eyes is too much and in a vulnerable moment overdoses on heroin and dies in Terry's arms.

INSTRUMENTATION:
26 personnel:
CONDUCTOR/piano/synthesizer: Vienna Instruments: concert grand piano, vibraphone; Native Instruments-Kontakt: Hammond Organ (Whiter Shade); ADDICTIVE KEYS-(warm tines) for Fender Tynes Rhodes
KEYBOARD #2 Vienna Instruments for string augmentation, pipe organ; Native Instruments-Kontakt: ELECTRI6ITY for distorted guitar, SESSION GUITARIST-Electric Vintage-(road trip-muted-fret position 4) for guitar mutes, Hammond Organ (Whiter Shade), marimba
WOODWIND #1: Alto saxophone, Bb Clarinet, FluteWOODWIND #2: Alto saxophone, Bb Clarinet, Flute, Oboe, English horn
WOODWIND #3: Tenor saxophone, Bb Clarinet, Flute
WOODWIND #4: Baritone saxophone, Bass clarinet, Flute
Horns 1 & 2
Trumpets 1 & 2
Tenor Trombone
Tuba
Percussion #1: trap set including high, medium and low suspended crash cymbals, ride cymbal, hi hat, snare, high, medium and low tom toms, kick
Percussion #2: concert crash cymbals, glockenspiel, tubular bell ("A flat"), guiro, high, medium and low conga
1st Violins 1, 2, & 3
2nd Violins 1, 2, & 3
Violas 1 & 2
Celli 1 & 2
Basses 1 & 2 (#2 also doubling on Fender type electric bass

NEON (a street opera) ACTS I & II Chamber Orchestra - nidottu, Englanti, 2016