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Gilgamesh
Visual song cycle · Navona Records
Eleven poetic tablets reimagine the ancient epic as a meditation on power, friendship, grief, mortality, and the longing to outlast death.
Music by J. Scott Brubacher, with baritone Stephen Lancaster, pianist Susan McDaniel, and dancer-choreographer Kyle Marshall. Directed for film by Evan Chapman and Kevin Eikenberg of Four/Ten Media.
Explore the visual albumThe work
Watch and listen here, with each project’s story, collaborators, and reception kept in view.
01 
Original production artwork · FAWN Chamber Creative, 2019 Pandora
A full-length opera–ballet in which a character encounters an object and is drawn into what, and who, is inside. Its devised creation process began with movement, sound, and shared stories before the three scores and libretti took shape.
Libretto by David James Brock; music by David Storen, Joseph Glaser, and Kit Soden; directed by Amanda Smith and choreographed by Jennifer Nichols.
Read the production previewTwo Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations: Outstanding Production and Outstanding Direction, Opera Division.
— Dora Mavor Moore Awards02 Full performance film · Piano Lunaire and Tapestry Opera, 2022 A Joke Before the Gallows
Four people face their final moments while Chopin’s four scherzi answer them at the piano. The pandemic-born work moves between concert, monodrama, and performance film without softening its gallows humour.
Text by David James Brock for acting pianist Adam Sherkin; film directed by Tom Diamond. Premiered through Tapestry Opera as a live performance, screening, and artist conversation.
Watch and readA darkly funny, thought-provoking performance.
— Tapestry Opera03 Complete four-act album · Fucked Up Year of the Horse
A four-act psychedelic epic about Perceval, a mare fleeing an evil wizard king for her rightful home among the moon and stars—a Western-fantasy narrative carried by Fucked Up at full force.
Story created by David James Brock and Fucked Up’s Mike Haliechuk, with lyrics by Haliechuk. Released by Tankcrimes across four interconnected acts.
Listen on Bandcamp“Their most audacious move yet.”
— Pitchfork04 Original Breath Cycle film · Virtual ensemble performance, 2014 Breath Cycle
A multimedia song cycle made with singers living with cystic fibrosis, turning breath, treatment, and individual vocal capacity into the conditions of the music rather than obstacles to it.
Co-created with composer Gareth Williams in partnership with Scottish Opera and Gartnavel General Hospital’s respiratory team. Each song was developed around—and with—its performer.
View the career noteNominated for a 2014 Royal Philharmonic Society Award.
— Opera and Music Theatre05 
Carla Huhtanen and Steven Philcox · Photo by Tracy Kay Sewing the Earthworm
A woman accidentally severs an earthworm while gardening and tries to sew it back together. Her attempt to repair the body becomes a struggle with fragmentation, control, and mental illness.
Music by Brian Harman; libretto by David James Brock. Commissioned by Canadian Art Song Project, premiered at the Canadian Opera Company’s Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, toured with Bicycle Opera, and recorded by the Canadian Music Centre’s Centretracks label.
Explore the recordingA work that has lived as performance, recording, and film.
— Canadian Art Song Project / Centretracks06 
Pretty Boy album artwork Pretty Boy
A six-part song cycle for solo tenor focused on the final minutes in the life of American bank robber and folk hero Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd.
Music by Jack Perla; libretto by David James Brock. Commissioned by the Paul Dresher Ensemble and premiered at San Francisco’s Z Space.
Explore the workSix songs written for one voice at the edge of a legend.
— Paul Dresher Ensemble commission