This playlist has most of the dates from Speed Dating Tonight! that have been written since the 2013 premiere at Brevard  In the order composed/premiered. There is also a you tube playlist that may may have some demos missing here (and vice versa)

Speed Dating Tonight! demos

My arrangement of the traditional Assyrian Wedding Song "Hay Moyyalan" for orchestra and traditional instruments.

In some ways, this piece is an homage to Geoff Knorr, the composer behind the Civilization 6 game. As a huge fan of the Civilization franchise, especially as a musician, I came to this arrangement as an exercise to imagine what the Assyrian theme would be when playing the game.

Assyrian Wedding Song

Recorded by Emily Pace at Baylor University 2024. High Key.

I’VE NEVER BEEN GOOD AT MEETING PEOPLE
INTROVERTS NEVER ARE
I’VE ALWAYS BEEN THE KIND OF GIRL/GUY WHO SITS
WITH HER/HIS BACK TO THE WALL
TAKING IT IN
BUT REALLY WANTING TO BE HOME
MY FRIEND SHERYL/SHERRILL CONVINCED ME TO TRY THIS
SHE’S/HE’S SITTING OVER THERE
YOU CAN TELL THAT ITS HER/HIS KIND OF THING 
SHE’S/HE’S COMFORTABLE ANYWHERE
TAKING IT IN
SHE’S/HE’S REALLY GLAD TO BE HERE
ANYWAY I WORK IN A LAB
I TAKE CARE OF THE MICE
IT’S A LITTLE SAD WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT
ONCE AND ONLY ONCE I RESCUED A MOUSE
THERE WAS SOMETHING ABOUT THE WAY IT LOOKED AT ME
SO THERE WE SIT
ME AND THE MOUST AT HOME
in a panic I NEVER SHOULD HAVE TRIED TO COME HERE
THIS WAS A MISTAKE
I THINK IT’S TIME FOR ME TO GO NOW
THIS WAS SUCH A MISTAKE
I’M SO SORRY
IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT.

Dater #12 Panic Attack performed by Emily Pace

"Letter to Oglethorpe," an aria from the new opera, Alice Ryley, by Michael Ching.

Linda Boianova, piano.
Recorded Live: 9/2015
Firstfruits Music.

"Letter To Oglethorpe" from Alice Ryley By Michael Ching. : LIVE RECORDING

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

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

Dater #38 from Speed Dating Tonight! Music and Lyrics by Michael Ching
"Dress Up" performed by Kristina Costello. Demo Recorded at Savannah Voice Festival, 2018. Commissioned by Opera Steamboat.
I like to dress up as a raccoon
It's such fun, so liberating
What do you think about that?
Does it fascinate you? Does it disturb you?
When we were children we would play in the attic
And find flapper dresses, bell bottoms, safari outfits
Now that we're grown, we repress that urge
But why? Why? Why? Why?
I spent hours on my costume
It's such fun to make my character come to life
It's got a beautiful furry tail
And a little mask, complete with whiskers
Ah....
Would you like to see me in my costume
Or try one on for yourself?

Dress up (Dater #38) from Speed Dating Tonight!

Recorded at Converse College (2020) Verity is a senior there and was in their SPEED DATING TONIGHT! production. Accompanied by Michael Ching.

Dater #9 Talkative Girl sung by Verity Arden

Scene iv:    past, city park- Ben, Beth
Beth finds Ben sitting on a bench in the rain.  At first he wont talk to her.  Then he asks why people don't care about each other (Why cant we feel the rain?).  Finally he says, I have AIDS.  Beth tries to comfort him

Out of the Rain 4

Elena Nikolaidi sings and aria from Weber's Euryanthe

1 Audio Track

#10 Steampunk Girl, performed by Dominique Santiago from the Zoom Speed Dating Tonight! production at the Janiec Opera Center of Brevard Music Center, 2020. Steampunk Girl is one of the original 25 characters of Speed Dating Tonight!

Dater 10 Steampunk DOMINIQUE SANTIAGO

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

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.

Dress up (Dater #38) from Speed Dating Tonight!

Michael Ching

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