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On Sunday, June 9, at the First Universalist Society, the world premiere of 'Mary Anning: Fossil Hunter', a chamber orchestra, was performed by a mixed ensemble of professionals and amateurs, with financial support from the Franklin Cultural District Committee.
The opera was the brainchild of Dr. Jon Ceander Mitchell, a retired music professor and orchestral conductor who resides in Franklin, and has a strong interest in dinosaurs and paleontology. During the pandemic he got the idea of combining his interests to tell the story of the self-educated 19th century Englishwoman, Mary Anning, who became one of the world's first paleontologists.
If you missed the event, you are in luck. Franklin TV covered it and has produced an edited video now available on Youtube. The whole performance runs to just over one hour, with the following timings:
0:01 Overture
5:33 Prologue
8:24 Interlude
9:26 Act I
35:23 Intermezzo
37:49 Act II, Scene 1
44:36 Act II, Scene 2
53:10 Act II, Scene 3
1:03:55 Epilogue
1:07:40 Bows
"Chris Leverone of Franklin TV assembled a beautiful video recording of the premiere of my chamber opera Mary Anning: Fossil Hunter," said Mitchell. "The video captures the skillful interactions of the characters beautifully as well as the balance between the instrumental forces and the vocal soloists," he added. The conductor was Luis Viquez of the University of Rhode Island.
