MC songs that aren't opera!

BOHEME Act II Parpignol After Reh 12 SOPRANO

Verse I		Do you remember
		Back when we were young?
		So full of potential
		So eager for what was to come
		Our life’s adventure
		Spread out before our eyes
		And would you look at us now

Chorus		We’re like a couple of old soldiers
		Swappin’ stories of past glories
		Reliving all the days when we were young
		Wonderin’ who’s still around
		Saluting those who’ve gone
		Like old soldiers marching on

Verse II	The days of greatness
		The days we weren’t the best
		Some awful failures
		But other times when we were bless’d
		The hollow vic’t’ries
		The noble, proud defeats
		Well would you look at us now…

Chorus

Bridge		We can’t live in the past
		Time moves along
		But the memories
		Sometimes are so strong

Chorus

Coda		Old soldiers
		Old soldiers
		Old soldiers marching on

Like Old Soldiers

Music, Text, and Story by Michael Ching. 
Based on Savannah history. 
Commissioned by the Savannah Voice Festival
Sherrill Milnes and Maria Zouves, Founding Artistic Directors

Perusal Score (direct download link) https://tinyurl.com/ALICEperusal

From the performance and joint premiere of ALICE AND ANNA, August 2022. 

Conductor, Andrew Bisantz
Tour Guide, Sherrill Milnes
Jailed Alice, Jessica Ann Best
Young Alice Angela De Venuto
Port Officer C. Elliott Bardsley
Mary, Sara Zoe Budnik
A Sailor/Edward Canon/William Wise/The Recorder, Peter Lake
Richard White White, Leo Radosavljevic
Students from the Savannah Arts Academy, Russell Watkins, Director

Flute Jeana Melilli
Percussion Matt Fallin
Violin I Sinisa Ciric
Violin II Thiago Formiga
Viola Danijela Zezelj-Gualdi
Cello Leah Dutton
Bass Marc Chesanow

Alice Ryley Scene viii PV P 112

Alice Ryley Scene vii The Ballyeamon Cradle Song PV P 102

Alice Ryley Scene vi Interlude PV Page 100

Alice Ryley Scene vi Letter To Oglethorpe PV 89-

Alice Ryley Scene v The Two Alices PV 75-

Alice Ryley Scene iv The Murder Of William Wise PV 61-

Alice Ryley Scene iii Richard And Alice PV 38 - 59

Alice Ryley Scene ii Edward Canon PV Page 30 - 37

Alice Ryley Scene i The Lucky Petrel PV Page 16 - 29

Alice Ryley Prologue  Climb Aboard

Song by Michael Ching and Reg Huston
Demo by Ryan Kohn

Verse 1	Another Day, Another Dollar
                Another road that takes me farther and farther
                From your lips, your kiss
                My only bliss
                But wherever I go, 
                 I’ll hold you here in my heart

Chorus       You are with me
                   You never leave me, believe me
                   Your smile is the horizon line…sublime
                   But when the day’s begun
                    It’s like the morning sun in your shining eyes
                   Believe me, you never leave me

Verse 2 	Another gig over the weekend
                Another way to make relationships weaken
                But I hope you know
                That I love you so
                 And wherever I  go,
                 I’ll hold you here in my heart

Chorus

Bridge	     Someday the world is gonna come to us
                     But for now I gotta go out there,
                     And I pray for your trust,
                      I’m gonna miss you so much.

Chorus

Coda		Believe me you never leave me.

You Never Leave Me

Unending Story was part of the Opera America Songbook. It is performed by Marquita Lister, with the narration by Marc Scorca. Lyrics are by Michael Ching and Hugh Moffatt. Marvin Mills, Pianist

Unending Story (2012)

Dater 34 35 "Is it Just Me" performed by Monica Malas And Blayne Stonecipher from Baylor University 2024. Bar/Ms, key of E. From Speed Dating Tonight! (2013). Words and Music by Michael Ching. Based on a concept by Dean Anthony.

Dater 34 35 "Is it just me" performed by Monica Malas/Blayne Stonecipher

Will you be ready when the storm hits?
Will you be ready when the wind blows wild?
Will you help your brother?
Will you help your sister?
Love will protect us
Love will protect us
Love will protect us
A blanket of love...

Hazel Miner Round Finale

Flowing Gently For Piano

2 ALICE RYLEY 2 Scene i The Lucky Petrel midi playback

3 ALICE RYLEY 3 scene ii Edward Canon  w GAELIC PRAYER

5 ALICE RYLEY scene 3 scene ii I have big dreams

7 ALICE RYLEY Scene iv Death of William Wise

8 ALICE RYLEY 8 scene v opening

12 ALICE RYLEY Interlude

11 ALICE RYLEY letter to oglethorpe

10 ALICE RYLEY 10 scene vi opening

4 ALICE RYLEY 4 scene iii 1 In to Richard White

9 ALICE RYLEY 9 Scene v The Two Alices

14 ALICE RYLEY 14 Scene viii

6 ALICE RYLEY 4 scene iii 3 Alice Richard duet

Dater 98 from SPEED DATING TONIGHT! by Michael Ching
Performance by Connor McWhirter and Robert Cruz at Shreveport Opera, May 2025

Dater 98 Uninvited Guest perf at Shreveport Opera 5 25

From SPEED DATING TONIGHT! by Michael Ching
Lyrics to My Darling Pet Snake by Steve Aiken
Performed by Erik Larson

Dater 101 My Darling Pet Snake perf at Shreveport Opera 5 25

Performed by Erik Larson and Gwyneth Sell
From SPEED DATING TONIGHT!
Music by Michael Ching
Text for Blood Donors by Steve Aiken
Robert Cruz, Music Director
Steve Aiken, Director

Dater 96 97 Blood Donors perf at Shreveport Opera 5 25

Duet from ALICE RYLEY from the workshop in Tarpon Springs, August 2015.

Duet From ALICE RYLEY

A Canadian take on the Bus Boy song from SPEED DATING TONIGHT! Sung by Lee Clapp, Steven Hargreaves Pianist, Additional Canadian dialogue by Jonathan Patterson. From performance by Opera McGill, November 2015

5B Bus Boy Song from SPEED DATING TONIGHT!  Performed by Lee Clapp MCGILL 11 15

LOVE WILL LIGHT THE NIGHT

CHING HARD TO LOVE YOU NOW

A plea for comity. And my harmonica playing debut. Music and Lyrics by Michael Ching. Recorded by Tim Hildebrandt. 

What the fuss was all about

Title says it all. The use of the "t" word is purely incidental. Cowritten with David Terrenoire. There's also a music video on you tube.

My Lazy Ass Has Trumped My OCD

Dater #47 from Speed Dating Tonight! by Michael Ching "You Know Who" (U Del Dates) Demo by Sarah Barker at Savannah Voice Festival 2018
I need to bring somebody home this summer/for Christmas/this weekend
How 'bout you?
If I don't bring somebody home this summer/etc
Then I'm so screwed
My father voted for you-know-who
He's gonna disown me if I tell him the truth about what I think
about you-know-who
If you come home with me this summer
I'll pay your way
You can be Jewish or Muslim... (spoken) or whatever!
(sung) It's all okay
If I bring home a complete stranger,
He'll be so stunned
There won't be any danger of political talk
About you-know-who
We fight, we argue
We never could agree politically
Since this election
He won't stop goading me.
You'd be doing me a favor
I won't forget
You'd be keeping me from saying
Many thing's I'd regret
He'll be so surprised I brought home a guy
They'll be so distracted that they won't pry
About what  I think
About you-know-who
(spoken) you-know-who!

You Know Who (Dater #47) from Speed Dating Tonight! for UDel

Sheet music pdf available for free download (CC license)at
https://tinyurl.com/ChingCowinTheRose
demo performed by 
http://www.megancleaveland.com/

Yellow flushed with pink
Sleeps under winter’s wings
Untouched by the Light
Or springtime’s breeze
Slumbers
Curled within her leaves

Sunlight rises with the dawn
Rousing fern and fawn
Warmth sinks beneath
The Darkness cold
Awakens
Leaves unfold

A Rose flushed with pink
Yellow fills the golden rim
Emerges shyly yet
From her virgin winter bed
Rising
Towards sunlight’s kiss.

The Rose

Sung by Christine Boddicker, Christina Scanlan, Ian Bolden
From Zoom Speed Dating Tonight! 
Music and Lyrics by Michael Ching
Based on a concept by Dean Anthony

If Not Now When (Brevard 2020)

Music and Lyrics by Michael Ching 2020

(Verse) Seems like every journey has its ups and downs
Incidents of road rage 
Annoying freeway clowns
It’s a wonder that we made it
It’s a wonder we survived
I’m so glad that we’ve arrived
At Exit 45

(Chorus) Exit 45, I wasn’t sure we’d get there
Exit 45...
I’m gonna set right here
And drink a beer
And hug my neighbor 
At Exit 45
(Verse)	Every trip will have its share of slip ups
Windshield dings
And directions you can mess up
We’ve been on a detour
Down a rocky, dangerous road
But finally we’ve figured out
There’s another way to go

(Repeat Chorus)

(Bridge)	We never should have gone this way
But hopefully we’ll be okay
And never travel down this road again
(Last chorus)	Exit 45
I wasn’t sure we’d get there
I’ve been biding my time
Hoping that we’d get there
Now I’m gonna set right here
And drink a beer
Hug my neighbor 
Hold em dear
And shout a cheer
At Exit 45

EXIT 45

from the Zoom Speed Dating Tonight production by the Janiec Opera of Brevard Music Center, summer 2020. Originally written for Alamo City Opera, 2017.

Dater #41 Overthinking, performed by Sarah Coit

Lurking, Dater 5 from SPEED DATING TONIGHT! performed by Danielle Bavli from the Zoom Speed Dating Tonight! production at the Janiec Opera of the Brevard Music Center 2020.
Dater 5 is one of the original 25 pieces from the 2013 Brevard premiere.

Dater 5 Lurking performed by DANIELLE BAVLI

Christmastime Sucks These Days

Michael Ching is an opera composer/librettist, songwriter, and conductor. His opera SPEED DATING TONIGHT! has had over a hundred forty productions since its 2013 premiere. It is constantly being expanded and this is the place to hear the demos of new dater songs. This summer, Savannah Voice Festival will premiere his opera CINDERELLA'S ROYAL FEAST, a sequel to Rossini's opera. In 2024, the University of South Dakota-Vermillion premiered his opera, NOTES ON VIARDOT. It has subsequently been performed by Arizona State University and On Site Opera. His other sequel--to Puccini's GIANNI SCHICCHI is BUOSO'S GHOST. BUOSO is published by E.C. Schirmer Classical and has been performed by the Florida Grand Opera, Detroit Opera, OperaDelaware and several other companies. In 2020, the University of Alabama commissioned and premiered his opera RSBE. It is now on its sixth production. In 2018-19 high school students in Palm Springs premiered his opera, THRIVERS. His opera about Grant Wood, EIGHT WOODS AND A VAN, premiered at Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre.  Michael has written four one act operas for Savannah Voice Festival, including ALICE RYLEY and ANNA HUNTER, both about Savannah. Michael developed confidence in his ability to write words by trying to write songs. His favorite composer is George Gershwin. 

Most of these files are working files here for reference by the commissioning and producing organizations that Michael works with. There are also some singer-songwriter songs.

Michael Ching

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks