A Roadkill Opera was entered for consideration in three categories: Best Engineered Album, Classical; Best Opera Recording; and Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Recording

Orders for CDs of the studio recording for A Roadkill Opera spiked sharply upwards within hours after nominations for the 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards^® were announced last night by The Recording Academy^®.  Downloads are anticipated to rise as well, now that the album and individual tracks are available worldwide through iTunes, CD Baby, Amazon, and other respected channels such as Barnes and Noble.

A Roadkill Opera was entered for consideration in three categories: Best Engineered Album, Classical; Best Opera Recording; and Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Recording. This year’s GRAMMY Awards process registered more than 22,000 submissions over a 12-month eligibility period (Oct. 1, 2012 – Sept. 30, 2013). GRAMMY ballots for the final round of voting will be mailed on Dec. 11 to the voting members of The Recording Academy. They are due back to the accounting firm of Deloitte by Jan. 8, 2014, when they will be tabulated and the results kept secret until the 56th GRAMMY telecast.

Eclectic is in, as reflected, for example, with the Album Of The Year category alone representing the rap, pop, country and dance/electronica genres, as determined by the voting members of The Academy. Once again, nominations in select categories for the annual GRAMMY Awards were announced on primetime television as part of “The GRAMMY^®Nominations Concert Live!! — Countdown To Music’s Biggest Night^®,“ a one-hour CBS entertainment special broadcast live from Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE. The 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards will be held on “GRAMMY Sunday,” Jan. 26, 2014, at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles and once again will be broadcast live in high-definition TV and 5.1 surround sound on CBS from 8 – 11:30 p.m. (ET/PT). For updates and breaking news, please visit The Recording Academy’s social networks on Twitter and Facebook.

At the end of the live broadcast, The Recording Academy posted the complete nominations list at www.grammy.com. Fans and those connected with the studio recording of A Roadkill Opera waited anxiously for the release of the nominations in three categories, which were released about 11 pm Eastern Daylight Time. They are but  a sampling of nominations in 82 categories from the GRAMMY Awards’ 30 Fields:

BEST ENGINEERED ALBUM, CLASSICAL

Hymn To The Virgin

La Voie Triomphale

Roomful Of Teeth

Mark Donahue & Jesse Lewis, engineers (Brad Wells & Roomful Of Teeth)

Label: New Amsterdam Records

Vinci: Artaserse

“This year’s nominations reflect the talented community of music makers who represent some of the highest levels of excellence and artistry of the year in their respective fields,” said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy. “Once again, The Academy’s awards process and its voting membership have produced an impressive list of nominations across various genres promising music fans a spectacular show filled with stellar performances and unique ‘GRAMMY Moments.’ We are off to a great start and look forward to GRAMMY Sunday as Music’s Biggest Nighttakes the stage.”

“Congratulations to the terrific nominees. A Roadkill Opera was entered for consideration, and while we did not make it through the two preliminary rounds to receive a nomination,  it is an honor to even be considered in the same category,” said Stephan Alexander Parker, librettist and co-producer of A Roadkill Opera. “We thank our fans for their support.  The interest in our studio recording across continents is a pleasant surprise–I know a number of our CDs have been hand-carried to China and across Europe.”

The 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards are produced by AEG Ehrlich Ventures for The Recording Academy. Ken Ehrlich is executive producer, and Louis J. Horvitz is director.

“The GRAMMY Nominations Concert Live!! — Countdown To Music’s Biggest Night,” hosted by two-time GRAMMY winner LL COOL J featured the announcement of nominations in several categories as well as performances by Lorde; Macklemore & Ryan Lewis; Miguel and Keith Urban; Katy Perry; Taylor Swift; and Robin Thickewith T.I and members of Earth, Wind, & Fire. Presenters included Melissa Etheridge,Arsenio Hall, Enrique Iglesias, Pauley Perrette, Kelly Rowland, and Ed Sheeran.

Established in 1957, The Recording Academy is an organization of musicians, songwriters, producers, engineers and recording professionals that is dedicated to improving the cultural condition and quality of life for music and its makers. Internationally known for the GRAMMY Awards — the preeminent peer-recognized award for musical excellence and the most credible brand in music — The Recording Academy is responsible for groundbreaking professional development, cultural enrichment, advocacy, education and human services programs. The Academy continues to focus on its mission of recognizing musical excellence, advocating for the well-being of music makers and ensuring music remains an indelible part of our culture. For more information about The Academy, please visit www.grammy.com.

The easiest way to preview, order, or download the 2013 studio album of A Roadkill Opera is on iTunes at https://itun.es/us/OgXWT or https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/paer-parker-a-roadkill-opera/id767758760 or through CD Baby at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/stephanalexanderparker or through Amazon at http://amzn.com/B00DSVGDEK.  In addition to the CD, the score and books of sheet music for the singers and chamber orchestra are available on the CreateSpace website at https://www.createspace.com/pub/simplesitesearch.search.do?sitesearch_query=roadkill+opera&sitesearch_type=STORE and on Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=roadkill+opera. For more information about A Roadkill Opera, please visit www.roadkillopera.com.

This week the studio recording for A Roadkill Opera was released on iTunes–just in time for the Grammy Awards nominations announcement. Believe me, I am not holding my breath, just crossing my fingers–for my co-songwriter.

To preview a song, mouse over the title and click Play. Open iTunes to buy and download music.

View In iTunes

• $9.99
• Genres: Classical, Music
• Released: Jul 04, 2013
• ℗ 2013 Stephan Alexander Parker

Comic operas with 200 year old music–who knows? It could happen, it might be true. We find out on Friday, December 6.  If we are lucky enough to secure a Grammy nomination, I couldn’t be happier for composer Ferdinando Paer–he has waited a long time to be recognized again.

Keep your fingers crossed–the studio album was submitted for consideration for a Grammy–a long shot for sure, but I like the image in my head of the reaction of the screening panel sitting in a room and the coordinator saying “next we will hear Cavaleria Rusticana; then, Pagliacci; then, A Roadkill Opera.”

Come to think of it, A Roadkill Opera could pair up nicely with Cavaleria Rusticana–cowboy coffee to shake up the usual “ham and eggs” opera pair (for an explanation, see Fred Plotkin’s article at http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/152640-ham-and-eggs-take-holiday-opera/).

When he was in town at a Gaithersburg Book Festival event, perennial Grammy Award-winner Ricky Skaggs was kind enough to wish me “Good luck with the Grammy entry” in his book, Kentucky Traveler: My Life in Music. I gave him A Roadkill Opera on CD and a copy of If You See Roadkill, Think Opera. DJ and I thoroughly enjoyed his book talk and his performance, and we are both enjoying his book, as well.

Acoustic music and great musicianship are two things I never get tired of.  And, it seems, bluegrass, too. It was heartening to hear from Ricky that, like all artists I have talked to, he had to take “straight” jobs to make ends meet. His tale of his job at a power plant outside Washington DC is a howler.

Speaking of great bluegrass musicians, Grammy Award nominated Matt Flinner showed an early interest in the sheet music for A Roadkill Opera when we caught the Matt Flinner Trio in concert at Dornan’s in Moose, Wyoming. DJ used to bartend there.

Both DJ and I were particularly taken with the performance of “Winter Wheat,” which is available as a track on the Matt Flinner trio album Winter Harvest . The album is product of the “Music du Jour” project that Flinner, (mandolin), Ross Martin (guitar), and Eric Thorin (bass) started in 2006. Each member of the trio writes one new tune a day when on tour, and they play all three that night. Talk about talent! They all sight-read that well and that quickly, on top of their superb musicianship.

Between sets, I chatted with Flinner and found that his work with the Modern Mandolin Quartet on the Grammy-nominated Americana album is comprised largely of string quartets and piano preludes from the likes of Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, and Philip Glass, arranged for (what else) mandolin. Hey Matt, you might want to consider doing the Overture from A Roadkill Opera…

Good news for opera buffs everywhere: the studio recording of A Roadkill Opera is now available through CD Baby, which will extend the distribution reach of the recorded music world-wide. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/stephanalexanderparker

This comedic opera is a perfect opera audition piece for artists who want to stand out. The 9 minute overture allows a chamber orchestra to really shine, while the soprano roles feature glorious runs.

Performers who enjoy what they hear will want to order sheet music, which is already broadly available.  Books of parts for wind instruments and timpani and strings are designed to be cut apart for distribution to the orchestra. The piano/vocal score is perfect for rehearsals or classroom use.  Enjoy this hilarious romp through classical music with action set in 1988–the whole shebang runs 59 minutes, with a 9-minute overture (no singing) plus 12 songs.

Music from 1804. Action set in 1988. A new opera (in just 59 minutes, in English). The story of the hour before the lights go up on opening night for a comedy improv troupe in Jackson Hole, Wyoming–the Roadkill On A Stick Frozen Foods Theatre Company.