Project: A one-act opera based on Snow, a short story by Soviet writer Konstantin Panstovsky. The work is approximately one-hour long and is divided into five scenes. There are six characters, two sopranos, a mezzo-soprano, two tenors and a baritone. The orchestra consists of eight players: flute/piccolo, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, cello, piano and percussion. The subject, an evacuee from Moscow living in the Russian countryside during World War II, affords an opportunity to use pre-existing musical material, principally Russian folksongs and excerpts from the Russian Orthodox Requiem Service. Harmonic sonorities range from simple tonal folksong accompaniments to atonal passages. The style is essentially lyric.