"Dear Future Roommate" — to a letter by Mike Gioia — was commissioned by Lyric Fest of Philadelphia, and premiered on April 2, 2016 at Haverford College, with baritone Keith Phares and pianist Laura Ward (There was an additional performance on April 3, 2016 at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia). 

This was my first "letter" song. 

The music starts around :07.

Letter below. All Rights Reserved. 

Dear Roommate,

Don't worry about us getting along. I've lived with crazy people all my life. My father is a poet, and his artsy friends––eccentric writers, boisterous musicians, and neurotic painters––could populate a whole season of bad sitcoms. And my good-hearted mother continually invites these people to stay with us. Just last month a visiting Oxford professor was brewing tea on our kitchen stove. "Oh, my!" I heard him say oh-so politely. Turning around, I expected to see spilled Earl Grey and soggy crumpets, I instead found him holding a washcloth in full flame. I hurriedly extinguished it just in time to see the quaint professor calmly walk away unfazed and unscathed. Last summer we had a young singer from Harvard living with us, but it sounded as if we had put up a barbershop quartet. He loved to march around the house––day and night––singing Broadway hits while keeping the beat with steady stomping. My folks hardly noticed. Most of their friends act this way. I won't even mention the first time they took me to Macbeth. It wasn't until the lights dimmed I learned the entire play was in Tlingit, a native Alaskan tongue. What I am trying to say is that I look forward to living with a sane person for a change. No odd habits or quirks of yours will bother me. I will have seen much worse, from academic kitchen arsonists to human jukeboxes. I think we'll get along just fine. 
— Mike Gioia

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