Meet the Composer

John Glover

Our Basic Nature, a new opera by composer John Glover and librettist Kelley Rourke, dramatizes excerpts from the memoirs of Maurice Temerlin, who writes about the experience of raising a chimpanzee named Lucy as a "human" member of his family for the first 12 years of her life. In addition to proudly relating stories of his daughter’s accomplishments, Temerlin describes and analyzes her interactions with family members, other humans, a kitten, a herd of cattle in a series of vignettes that are by turns funny, touching, perplexing, and at times disturbing.

Nautilus Music-Theater will present a rehearsal/workshop and run-through of the work, which will be open to the public, with an emphasis on young composers and music students. This is followed by a post-workshop talk by John Glover.