Timothy Lee Miller | composer
Opera
SATB ACCOMPANIED | SATB A CAPPELLA | CHILDREN’S CHORUS | ART SONGS | OPERA
(See also) ORCHESTRA & CHORUS | BAND & CHORUS
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The Bird Lady (2021)
(Revised in December 2025)
A chamber opera in two acts
An eccentric young woman known as the Bird Lady lives a life of timeless simplicity in a well-tended garden with only her equally eccentric gardener for human company — until a brash young man determined to build his dream home buys the adjoining lot. Sparks fly when the Bird Lady and her new neighbor clash over the felling of a tree planted squarely on the property line.
Libretto by Germaine Shames
Additional Lyrics by Linda Marcus & Julie I. Meyers
Total running time: c. 2 hours 5 minutes
Individual arias from the opera are available for performance. Please visit the Art Songs page.
A Preview Showcase Premiere of Act I was given on October 31, 2021, at Marc A. Scorca Hall, OPERA America's National Opera Center, New York, New York (see video below), produced by OperAvant.
Cast:
ANNABELLE: (coloratura to lyric soprano: range D4-Bb5) aka the Bird Lady; late teens to early twenties.
MARCUS: (spinto tenor: range C3-Bb4) a tested man looking for a fresh start; mid-twenties to early thirties.
PERCY: (helden to dramatic baritone: range G2-G4) Annabelle's gardener and surrogate father; late forties or older.
THREE BIRDS: Annabelle's fan-girls and back-up singers: BIRD #1: a wood thrush (coloratura to lyric soprano: range E4-G5); BIRD #2: a whippoorwill (coloratura to soubrette soprano or lyric mezzo: range C4-E5); BIRD #3: a mourning dove (lyric mezzo-soprano: range A3-E5).
A BEE: (cantabile to helden baritone: range G2-G4) a busy pollenator and mischief maker.
CHORUS: (SATB) an age and gender-flexible body of chorusisters, equally divided between characters involved in the construction of Marcus' dream home (such as construction workers, a surveyor, a contractor, and an architect, wearing hard hats and carrying tools of their trade), birdwatchers and conservationists, wearing sunhats and sunscreen, occupying themselves with binoculars and cameras. In the final scene (Act II), with construction halted and the garden restored, the construction workers morph into birdwatchers.
Orchestra:
2 - Flutes (double on piccolo, alto flute)
1 - Oboe (doubles on English horn)
1 - Clarinet (doubles on bass clarinet)
2 - French horns
1 - Bassoon
2 - Percussion: Triangle, Tambourine, Crash Cymbals, Suspended Cymbal, Ride Cymbal, Splash Cymbal, Hi-Hats, Woodblocks, Snare Drum, Bass Drum, Chimes, Crotales, Glockenspiel, Vibraphone, Xylophone
1 - Piano (celesta)
Electronic playback of bird sounds
Strings: Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello, Bass
