On May 17, 18, and 20, Dr. Robert Young McMahan performed on stage and in costume with the Philadelphia based Center City Opera, in the east coast premiere of Il Postino (“The Postman”), by Daniel Catán (1949-2011). The production took place at the Prince Music Theater, near City Hall.

The opera is based upon a popular 1994 Italian film directed by Michael Radford, and starring Philippe Noiret, Massimo Troisi, and Maria Grazia Cucinotta (not to be confused with the later American film, also entitled “The Postman”, starring Nicholas Cage and carrying an entirely different script). It is a fictional story in which the real life Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (temporarily exiled from his country) forms a relationship with a simple Italian postman who learns to love poetry. The screenplay was adapted by Anna Pavignano, Michael Radford, Furio Scarpelli, Giacomo Scarpelli, and Massimo Troisi from the novel Ardiente paciencia by Antonio Skármeta. Skármeta himself had previously adapted his novel for the screen in 1985 as Ardiente paciencia (“Burning Patience”).

The accordion appears in the last scene of Act 2, depicting the postman’s wedding reception, and accompanies Neruda (portrayed by tenor Hugo Vera in this production) in a love song. This is followed by a tango played by both accordion and orchestra in which the entire wedding party participates both in dancing and singing. Though the film was in Italian and the story takes plays in a remote island off the southern end of Italy in the mid-1950s, the libretto is in Spanish, reflecting the Princeton University educated Catán’s Mexican origins and his desire to reach Latino-American audiences.

The world premiere took place in Los Angeles in 2010, with the famed tenor Placido Domingo playing Neruda. Nick Ariondo was the accordionist for that production, which may be seen in its entirety on the PBS webiste, scroll to 1 hour, 31 minutes to see the accordion scene). The Center City Opera production was a smaller-scaled, lower budgeted one than that of the Los Angeles one, again fulfilling the late composer’s wish that his operas get out to more of the rank-and-file audiences on a wide scale via smaller companies. Catán’s widow was present at one of the Center City evenings to promote this passionate wish of her husband, who sadly died suddenly in 2011.

Upcoming performances by Dr.McMahan this summer:

Works by himself and arrangements of vocal works with soprano Joy Bechtler and tenor Joseph McKesson at the 2012 American Accordionists’ Association Festival in Baltimore, July 11-15;

With the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Mark Laycock, conductor, and boys chorus, July 26, 8:00 PM, Richardson Auditorium, Princeton, NJ, in a performance of Arrigo Boito’s Prologue to Mephistofele (see http://www.njsymphony.org/1112calendar/july12.htm#mid);

Eighteenth American Accordionists’ Association Master Class and Concert Series, Tenri Institute, New York City, July 27, 28, and 29, performances of his composition, Romp III, for accordion and piano (to be performed Friday night, July 27), with pianist Dr. Joanna Chao, of the celebrated New York based contemporary music ensemble Argento, AAA commissioned work Canto XVIII, for solo accordion, by Samuel Adler, Sonata Valtaro, by William Schimmel, and performed with the composer, and Italian arias with Joy Bechtler (see http://www.ameraccord.com/Masterclass_2012.pdf).

A native of Washington, DC, Robert McMahan earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where he studied with Robert Hall Lewis, Jean Eichelberger Ivey, and Stefan Grove’. He also holds a master’s degree in the Great Books program at St. John’s College. He joined the music faculty of the College of New Jersey in 1991, where he is Professor of Music and head of theory, composition, ear training studies, and the accordion major. Previous to this appointment, he lived in the Baltimore area and taught music theory and related subjects at Towson University, Morgan State University, College of Notre Dame, Essex Community College, and the Peabody Preparatory School (of the Peabody Institute), where he was head of the Theory Department and developed its curriculum. He also taught classical accordion at the Peabody Preparatory School and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Honors in composition include awards from the Annapolis Fine Arts Composers’ Competition, the Contemporary Recording Society, and Peabody Institute. In addition, he has received a number of Meet the Composer grants since 1996. His compositions may be sampled on YouTube (robertyoungmcmahan). Dr. McMahan is also a recognized authority on the American composer Carl Ruggles, and has published articles in American Music, Sonneck Society Bulletin, New Grove Dictionary of Opera, and New Grove Dictionary of Music. He is presently working on a book on the life and works of Ruggles.

As a classical artist, Dr. McMahan has dedicated a major part of his career to the promotion of the accordion in serious contemporary music through recitals, concert appearances, teaching, recordings, publication of his music, journal articles, participation in contemporary music organizations, and including it in many of his own compositions. He has been instrumental in convincing other composers, such as Samuel Adler, Lukas Foss and Robert Hall Lewis, to use it in their music and has, himself, been commissioned to write works for it by various individuals and organizations, including the American Accordionists’ Association and the New York State Council on the Arts. He will be contributing to the first-time chapter for the accordion in the new edition of Dr. Adler’s celebrated textbook on orchestration. He has recorded on the CRS and Orion labels, was accordionist for the Baltimore Symphony during his years of residence in that region and has recently served in a similar way with the Princeton Symphony and the American Symphony.

Presently, he serves on the Board of Governors of the American Accordionists’ Association as its Secretary and Chair of the Composers Commissioning Committee. In addition, he has written articles concerning contemporary music for the accordion for The Free Reed Journal and other publications. Besides his writings, he has been featured in articles by others in Keyboard Magazine, The Music Connoisseur; High Fidelity, The Baltimore Sun, The Trenton Times, Accordion Arts Magazine, Contemporary American Composers, and Who’s Who in American Composers: Classical.

For further information: mcmahan@tcnj.edu