Miss America meets PDQ Bach on Capitol Hill in this choral work with a libretto taken directly from the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Thirty performers in concert present one of the most dramatic moments in modern US politics—with genders reversed. Suitable for all ages.

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Melissa Dunphy is normally seen on stage as a Shakespearean actor, but her true calling is composing vocal and incidental music. She has written for Harrisburg Shakespeare Festival, Gamut Theatre, and the Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre. In 2008, her song for baritone and piano trio, “Black Thunder,” was premiered at the Kimmel Center by Network for New Music. Melissa’s first major vocal work, the Gonzales Cantata—inspired by the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings of Alberto Gonzales—was completed while studying music composition at West Chester University. This fall, Melissa will begin a Ph.D. in composition at the University of Pennsylvania on a Benjamin Franklin Fellowship. In 2010, she will be the musical director at Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre and the composer for their production of Macbeth.