Breakfast in New York

LISA BIELAWA

Breakfast in New York for SATB solo voices & violin

2011 Commissioned by Five Boroughs Music Festival, for the Five Borough Songbook

Š2011 by Lisa Bielawa

LISA BIELAWA

Breakfast in New York (2011) Commissioned by Five Boroughs Music Festival, for the Five Borough Songbook

Texts (all overheard in New York City diners & coffee shops) US We used to come and meet up here.

Chilled out, yappin’, sippin’, we closed the place up.

That’s exactly what we’re gonna do is have some fun.

ME I think a lot of time passes there.

I got up at 4 for the 5-o’clock train.

I always let the kids know.

HER She left a note on the bathroom door.

She can snooze through the alarms.

She didn’t move. I coulda killed her.

She’s married! Nobody would ever guess.

She begged me.

She made me mad, and I can feel her face on my hand.

ME I hate being late but I’m always late.

I gotta get some sun – I’m too pale.

I’m not supposed to hear that.

HIM He had a horse-drawn truck, delivered whiskey.

He started in his mid-twenties.

He fell maybe six feet or something.

He’s parking the car.

He knows every damn street, every damn diner.

US We’ve got to figure out how we’re gonna make this work here.

By Wednesday we should know if we do or we don’t.

We’ll get the skinny today.

Let’s decide now and we can talk later.

ME My grandfather grew up here.

My side of the family is intense.

I had questions he refused to answer.

I take off for Miami on Monday.

I actually wanted it for my kids.

I know those girls.

Program Note This year I am celebrating 21 years of living in New York City, which is exactly half my life.

During those years I have lived (or couch-surfed) in 14 different apartments in four boroughs.

“Breakfast in New York” weaves together conversations I overheard in diners and coffee shops in all five boroughs this summer. Whenever possible, I revisited places that were regular breakfast joints for me at various times of my life. You will hear voices from: George’s Coffee Shop in Washington Heights; Tom’s Restaurant on 112th & Broadway; Riverdale Diner in the Bronx; Mike’s Place in New Dorp, SI; Cobble Hill Diner on Smith St. in Brooklyn; General Store in DUMBO; New Post Coffee Shop on Queens Blvd.; Alpha Donuts on Queens Blvd.; Westway Diner in Hell’s Kitchen; Hungarian Pastry Shop on Amsterdam Ave.; and Kitchenette in TriBeCa. Dedicated in loving memory of Harold Goldray, with whom I shared many many breakfasts in New York.

Breakfast in New York

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