David T. Little News

The Dramatists Guild Opera Committee's Librettist Initiative premieres the short film a?oeCredit the Librettist: Conversations with Today's Opera Makersa?? at Opera America's New Works Forum on Thursday, January 16 at 10am at the National Opera Center, 330 7th Avenue, 7th Floor, New York.

It may surprise you to learn that Stephen King didn't write 'The Shining' and Sister Helen Prejean didn't write 'Dead Man Walking.' Even more, you may be startled to learn that Herman Melville didn't write 'Moby Dick' and Louisa May Alcott didn't have a hand in 'Little Women.' Well, of course they did--except when it came to turning the works into operas. Then, respectively, Mark Campbell and Terrence McNally took over, as did Gene Scheer and Mark Adamo.

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of André Bishop) has announced casting for its upcoming production of Intimate Apparel, a new opera with music by Ricky Ian Gordon and a libretto by Lynn Nottage, based on her play. The opera, which will be directed by Bartlett Sher, will begin previews Thursday, February 27 and open on Monday, March 23 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 West 65 Street).

The Atlanta Opera will launch the new year with a new mainstage production of Salome, Richard Strauss's still unsettling 1905 take on Oscar Wilde's twisted biblical tale of incest, seduction and power (Jan 25, 28, 31; Feb 2).

Opera America will feature a public discussion with The Dramatists Guild's Opera Committee's Librettist Initiative at their New Works Forum on Thursday, January 16 at 10am at the National Opera Center, 330 7th Avenue, 7th Floor, New York.

Beth Morrison Projects (BMP) and Trinity Church Wall Street (Trinity), together with PROTOTYPE: Opera|Theatre|Now, are pleased to announce a multiyear partnership in which BMP and Trinity will commission and produce five cutting-edge new opera-theater works for premiere at the PROTOTYPE Festival over three seasons (2021a?"2023). These comprise a new work by the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer-director team Du Yun and Michael McQuilken; two new works by librettist Royce Vavrek, paired with Mary Kouyoumdjian and Julian Wachner, respectively; a work by composer Ted Hearne with text by Halim Flowers and rap from Momolu Stewart; and a work by Paola Prestini with poet Brenda Shaughnessy.

The Crossing has received an extremely generous $200,000 gift from long-time friend, advocate, and supporter Thomas Kasdorf of Kalamazoo, Michigan. The extraordinary unrestricted funding will support The Crossing's 2019-2020 season, with commissions of Edie Hill, Tawnie Olsen, Gavin Bryars, Daniel Felsenfeld, Aaron Helgeson, Gabriel Jackson, and Michael Gordon at venues such as Crane Arts Icebox, the Met Cloisters, the Hal Prince Theater and Zellerbach Theaters at the Annenberg Center, Holy Trinity Rittenhouse Square, Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, and at The Crossing's home, the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill.

Opera Philadelphia welcomes Tyshawn Sorey, “a composer of radical and seemingly boundless ideas” (Wall Street Journal), as the company's next Composer in Residence. Sorey, whose residency begins in November 2019, is the first resident in a new phase of the company's renowned program that will give composers more opportunities to explore the opera medium.

Opera Philadelphia welcomes Tyshawn Sorey, 'a composer of radical and seemingly boundless ideas' (The Wall Street Journal), as the company's next Composer in Residence. Sorey, whose residency begins in November 2019, is the first resident in a new phase of the company's renowned program that will give composers more opportunities to explore the opera medium.

a??a??a??a??a??a??a??The American Opera Project (AOP), announces its selection of eight composers and librettists to receive fellowships for its 10th cycle of the Composers & the Voice training program. Composers Alaina Ferris, Matt Frey, Michael Lanci, Mary Prescott, Jessica Rudman, Tony Solitro, and librettists Amanda Hollander and Jonathan Turner, will each receive a 2-year, tuition-free fellowship that provides experience writing for the voice and opera stage. The fellows will work collaboratively with the following six singers, named as the 10th Composers & the Voice Resident Ensemble: Lyric Coloratura Soprano Justine Aronson, Lyric Soprano Jasmine Muhammad, Mezzo-Soprano Augusta Caso, Tenor Timothy Stoddard, Baritone Mario Diaz-Moresco and Bass-Baritone Brandon Coleman. 

Austin Opera continues to make great progress in its reinvention as one of the most innovative opera companies in the country. In review of its landmark 2018a?'2019 Season, it is proud to report elevated artistic excellence, exceptional ticket sales and fundraising, increased audience development, strengthened community partnerships, expanded education programming, and growth in its board of trusteesa?'all pointing to a bright future for opera in Central Texas. 

Peak Performances presents Lena Herzog's Last Whispers, an immersive AV experience dedicated to vanishing languages, accompanied by panel discussions on select days, October 16-20 at the Alexander Kasser Theater at Montclair State University. Trained in linguistics and philosophy, Herzog, also as an acclaimed photographer, has taken an ongoing interest in indigenous languages, which are disappearing at an astonishing rate. By 2050, half of roughly 7,000 languages spoken around the world will fall silent. Herzog's a?oehaunting and singulara?? (The New Yorker critic Alex Ross) immersive oratorioa?"situated at the intersection of installation art, music, and filma?"features spoken and sung recordings of more than 40 endangered or lost languages. www.lastwhispers.org

Grammy-winning new-music choir The Crossing presents the world premiere of English composer Gavin Bryars' substantial new evening-length a cappella work, A Native Hill, on Sunday, October 13, 2019 at 5pm at The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill in Philadelphia. 

Grammy-winning new-music choir The Crossing presents the world premiere of English composer Gavin Bryars'substantial new evening-length a cappella work, A Native Hill, on Sunday, October 13, 2019 at 5pm at The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill in Philadelphia.

Grammy winning new-music choir, The Crossing, is featured on the New York Philharmonic's new recording of its world premiere performance of Julia Wolfe's Fire in my mouth out digitally today, August 30, 2019, and in physical format on October 4, 2019 on Decca Gold, Universal Music Group's newly established US classical music label.

Grammy-winning new-music choir, The Crossing, releases its latest album, THE ARC IN THE SKY, today, Friday, July 12, 2019, on Navona Records. Kile Smith's 2018 setting of journal entries and poems by Robert Lax (1915–2000), THE ARC IN THE SKY is an epic, hour-long tour de force of thought and feeling that traverses topics ranging from Louis Armstrong to Jack Kerouac, and from Jerusalem to the shores of the island of Patmos. THE ARC IN THE SKY marks Smith's sixth commission from The Crossing, which has also recorded his Where Flames a Word and Vespers

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of Andre Bishop) has announced that it will produce Intimate Apparel, a new opera with music by Ricky Ian Gordon and a libretto by Lynn Nottage, based on her critically acclaimed play.  The production, which will be directed by Bartlett Sher, will begin previews Thursday, February 27 and open on Monday, March 23 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 West 65 Street). 

On Friday, June 28, 2019, Navona Records releases EVOLUTIONARY SPIRITS, a new recording from Grammy-winning new-music choir, The Crossing, featuring works by six contemporary composers: Edie Hill, Gregory W. Brown, James Shrader, Bruce Babcock, Jonathan Sheffer, and Christopher J. Hoh. Exploring humanity in all its facets, EVOLUTIONARY SPIRITS grapples with aspects of life, both mortal and eternal, drawing texts from a variety of sources including songs of praise from the Biblical era, a reimagining of a Shakespearean sonnet, and contemporary poetry.

FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents THE BATTLE, NOT THE WAR: A NEW MUSICAL with book, music, and lyrics by ZACHARY CATRON and direction by INDIA MARIE PAUL on June 4th, 2019 at 9:30 PM. Experience the forgotten story of gay men and women in the U.S. Army during World War II through a brand-new voice in musical theater. This concert production, commemorating the Stonewall Riots' 50th Anniversary, features a score which spans campy, soldier-show drag and tragic, wartime loss.

American Opera Projects (AOP) announces the return of its popular Composers & the Voice program for its 2019-21 seasons. Created and led by Composers & the Voice Artistic Director Steven Osgood, six composers and up to three librettists will be selected for two-year fellowships to learn the fundamentals of writing for the voice and opera stage. Workshop sessions with professional opera singers, mentors, and instructors are held at AOP's home base in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Applications and complete information will be available beginning March 18 at www.aopopera.org/composers_voice. The deadline for applications is April 26 with fellowships announced by July 16.