Overflow crowd hears young composer's 'Purgatory'   WHAT MUSIC
series director in her right mind would open her season with the
premiere of a one-act opera by a 22-year-old composer who has
composed not much more than a short song cycle and chooses an
opera plot where a man kills both his father and his son, using
the knife with which he eats?  Margaret Budd, director of the
Second Presbyterian Church concert series, did just that at the
church yesterday and pulled it off in style, thanks to Peabody
Power. Singing and playing the compact but rich musical
harmonies of student composer Mark Lanz Weiser, the 25 Peabody
musicians performed with great elan and atmosphere. They
justified Budd's faith in Weiser's opera, "Purgatory."  A
"terribly excited" Budd and the musicians led by conductor Jed
Gaylin and director Patricia Barbano had no easy task. The
28-minute opera was as tight as a kettle drum skin; a bad slip
could have killed the mood.  Besides presenting an opera not for
the faint of heart, Budd faced a ho