Bios of creators

Creative Team:     

Ada de Luque 

(Music, lyrics, script, original story, vocal arrangements)

  • Winner of national and international awards and competitions including the Philadelphia Opera/Luciano Pavarotti International Competitions, La Ghirlandina d’Oro (Modena, Italy), Circolo Giuseppe Verdi (Rovereto, Italy), and four ACCA awards (Association of Critics and Commentators of America).
  • Master’s degree in music, vocal arts, and composition from the conservatory of music G. B. Martini, Bologna, Italy.                                                                                                                                         
  • Associate in arts degree from Miami-Dade College.
  • Received private vocal coaching from tenor Luciano Pavarotti, soprano Mirella Freni, and Maestro Leone Magiera.
  • Shared the stage with tenor Luigi Alva, and concert season with Luciano Pavarotti and Mirella Freni at the Settembre Musicale di Modena, Italy.
  • Performing career highlights include performances for the Teatro Comunale di Bologna with Maestro Leone Magiera; Settembre Musicale di Modena, La Piccola Scala, Dusseldorf Opera, Palm Beach Opera with tenor Giuseppe Campora, and the Treasure Coast Opera.
  • Composed world-wide hit songs for the pop-music Hispanic market such as “Alma de Gitana” ranking in the top ten in billboards globally.
  • Served for almost two decades as professor of voice and music at both Miami-Dade College and The New World School of the Arts, with her students earning “superior” rankings from state-wide and national evaluations.
  • Most recently Ada wrote the musical play, The Pirate’s Daughter, creating the music, lyrics, script and original story, and all vocal arrangements.
  • Ada’s musical play, The Pirate’s Daughter was successfully produced by Romanza Lyric Opera, and co-sponsored by Miami-Dade Colleges, having its debut at the Lehman Theater with full capacity attendance in all performances and enthusiastic acclaim from audiences and critics.

Creative Team:     

Michael Barry

(Orchestrations, instrumental arrangements, incidental music)

  • Born in New York, Michael graduated from Suny Geneseo with a bachelor’s degree in piano performance.
  • Continued his music studies at the University of Southern California with a focus on composition, orchestrations and scoring.
  • Has established himself successfully as an award-winning composer, orchestrator and scorer on many notable projects, such as Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
  • Wrote music for a Steve Jobs Keynote event.
  • Worked on proofing John Williams’ hand-written sketches on Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
  • Was the  lead/sole orchestrator on Netflix’s Emmy-winning “Arcane,” and wrote the backing charts for the pop-rock band Imagine Dragons.
  • As an orchestrator, Michael has had a close working relationship with master composer Alan Menken and has orchestrated music for several films, including Beauty and the Beast and Spellbound. 
  • Has worked on a wide variety of video games, including substantial work for Riot Games’ League of Legends and Harry Potter: Magic Awakened.  
  • His work on “A New Dawn” earned him a Golden Reel Award.
  • Is the co-founder of the industry-leading sampling company Cinesamples and an original founding partner of Hollywood Scoring.  His latest entrepreneurial effort includes being CEO of Stratisound, a leading online tutorial company for composers. 
  • Michael wrote all the orchestrations, instrumental arrangements and incidental music for Ada de Luque’s musical play, The Pirate’s Daughter.
Reviewed by Stefania Ricco

EXCITING NEW MUSICAL by Ada de Luque

The Pirate’s Daughter, a Musical composed and created by Ada de Luque, was successfully staged just a few days ago, with a cast of young artists of remarkable interpretative and singing skills.

This approximately two-hour show attracted full theater capacity to the Lehman Theater of Miami Dade College, obtaining great acclaim on both evenings, and earning standing ovations. Warm enthusiastic applause accompanied the singing and dramatic scenes, and the comedic dialogues elicited roaring laughter from the audience due the witty slapstick comedic actions and dialogues.

The story is set in 18th century Colonial Havana – Cuba, during the Golden Age of Piracy and is centered on two interracial love stories, through which Ada de Luque directly emphasizes the social and racial prejudices of that era which, however, are still recognizable in the current era.

The extraordinary musical composition and vocal arrangements of Ada de Luque, with the masterful instrumental arrangements and orchestrations of Michael Barry (the author of orchestrations of Beauty and the Best, Riot Game’s League and Star Wars), have combined wonderfully to serve the story line, resulting in thrilling the audiences for the beauty of this music, and the vocal range which required virtuosity on the part of the singers.

Among the musical numbers, two are deliciously sprinkled with syncopated Afro-Caribbean seasoning, “Drume” and “Yemaya”, giving them a fitting ethnic touch. In “Yemaya”, Ms. de Luque brilliantly combines the catchy lead tenor solo melody with a countermelody by two bass-baritones singing in Yoruba, in contrast to the lead tenor’s English lyrics.

As far as the lyrics are concerned, Ms. de Luque portrays a refreshing and exquisite mixture of poetry and rhyme that is not often seen in today’s musical theater world. The script was skillfully effective, faithfully adhering to the dramatic situations and nuances.

In addition, Ms. de Luque’s use of duets, trios, quartets and ensembles was engaging and rewarding both dramatically and musically, highlighting her extraordinary compositional talents. Both of the vocal ensemble chorus numbers of the “pirates” were fun, catchy and effective, adorned by entertaining dancing successfully choreographed by Natalia Rocamonde. Angelical and moving was the “Ave Maria” ensemble, by the chorus and principals. All choruses were expertly directed by both Ms. de Luque, and Pablo Hernandez (MLO Chorus Master).

Last but certainly not least, the stage management and direction were effectively held together by the expert and excellent work of Sandi Stock (Stage Manager/Deck Chief), and most importantly, this amazing production came to life by the paramount and indispensable efforts of Ms. Aileen Ochoa, co-producer.

In finalizing my impressions of this remarkable new musical, The Pirate’s Daughter, I truly feel gratified in saying that this work by Ms. de Luque definitely has the potential to shine on Broadway as one of its new big hits. 

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