Fort Worth Opera Extends FRONTIERS Showcase Deadline to 7/19

FORT WORTH, TX - Fort Worth Opera (FWOpera) announced today that the submission deadline has been extended for its fifth annual Frontiers showcase. Applications will now be accepted through midnight, July 19, 2016. The company's innovative program will be held during the final week of the 2017 Fort Worth Opera Festival - April 15, 2017 - May 7, 2017 and coincides with the 2017 Opera America Conference in Dallas/Fort Worth. Launched during the company's 2012-2013 season, Frontiers remains one of the only programs world-wide that seeks out unproduced works by the finest up-and-coming composers and librettists from North, South, and Central America, and has been acclaimed for the opportunities it provides its winners. Composers and librettists whose works are selected as part of the Frontiers showcase gain valuable exposure for their works in a live performance environment while also taking part in unparalleled networking opportunities with industry professionals including artistic directors of other established opera companies, artist managers, classical music publishers, funding organizations, and conductors.

Composer and librettist teams whose works are selected for the 2017 Frontiers showcase will be in residence during the 2017 Festival where they will attend the showcase, participate in the final rehearsals of their work, and engage in post-performance discussions with panelists and audience members. Selected composers and librettists will also receive feedback on their piece through private meetings with the Frontiers jury panel and will have a recording of their work provided to assist them further in their compositional process.

Building on the model established by the program's first four installments, the 2017 Frontiers showcase will continue in its goal of specifically seeking out works for future production in FWOpera's popular alternative venue series Opera Unbound, which presents new or rarely-performed works by contemporary composers. To that end, the program's selection panel will include collaborative partners who will play a critical role in the long-term development of the Frontiers works and ensuring their future development.

Composers from the Americas (citizens or residents of North, Central, and South America, as well as associated territories) are eligible and invited to submit a composition via an online portal that will guarantee blind submission. Excerpts should be between 15-20 minutes in length and must not have been presented publicly except for workshop or school presentations. While the works may ultimately consist of grand scale personnel or orchestral forces, submitted selections may only utilize up to six singers. Only those that can be performed with solo piano accompaniment will be considered for the Showcase; no additional electronic, percussion, acoustic instrument, or other equipment may be used.

A minimum of 15 minutes of the composition must be completed-although the selection does not need to be continuous-and can be in any language. Composers may only submit one work for the 2017 Frontiers showcase. Six to eight pieces will be selected and showcased. Composers and librettists must attend the rehearsal period and showcase during the 2017 Festival (May 3-4, 2017). Lodging and round-trip travel will be provided. Works not selected will not be automatically reconsidered for future showcases, however, these works may be submitted again for the 2018 competition. Additional submission requirements follow below the panel information. Frontiers is generously underwritten by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Frontiers 2017 Submission Information:

Applications must be submitted by midnight, July 19, 2016.

Please contact Nathan DePoint, Curator, at frontiers@fwopera.org for submission address and information. All application materials must be submitted electronically through the Frontiers web portal. Only 15-20 minutes of a composition will be considered. Submissions must include: Synopsis of the entire composition; Libretto and Piano/Vocal score of the excerpts (in order within the piece); English translation if the work is in another language. All materials submitted must have the composer and librettist names removed to ensure anonymity during the panel review. A non-refundable entry fee of $20 US is due upon submission. Payments will be made with the application submission online. Fort Worth Opera retains the right to select fewer than six works for the showcase. More details are available at www.fwopera.org/operas/frontiers.

ABOUT FORT WORTH OPERA: Pioneering new frontiers of operatic repertoire, Fort Worth Opera has received critical acclaim over the past decade for its willingness to take risks and expand the cannon of musical storytelling to include new and rarely-performed works, both relevant and representative of the contemporary experience. Founded in 1946, Fort Worth Opera is the oldest continuously performing opera company in the state of Texas, one of the 14 oldest opera companies in the United States, and has launched the American careers of international opera star Plácido Domingo and the late, great Beverly Sills.

In 2007, the company changed its 60 year format and fall/winter schedule to a condensed one-month long Festival in the spring, drawing international attention as a premiere destination for opera lovers and aficionados. Beginning with Thomas Pastieri's Frau Margot in the company's inaugural year as a Festival, FWOpera has featured four world premieres over the past decade, including David T. Little and Royce Vavrek's critically lauded JFK (2016), Daniel Crozier and Peter M. Krask's With Blood, With Ink (2014), and Jorge Martín's triumph over suppressive brutality, Before Night Falls (2010).

In crafting the perfectly balanced season, FWOpera gives audiences the opportunity to savor the celebrated classics alongside contemporary tales that challenge and inspire. Throughout the years, the company has presented audiences with works both poignant and provocative, like the regional premieres David T. Little and Royce Vavrek's Dog Days (2015), Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell's Pulitzer Prize-winning Silent Night (2014), and Tom Cipullo's Glory Denied (2013). With the inclusion of Peter Eötvös' Angels in America (2008) and Phillip Glass' Hydrogen Jukebox (2011), FWOpera has proclaimed to the world, that modern opera is alive and thriving in North Texas.

Through FWOpera's Hattie Mae Lesley Apprenticeship Program, the company offers year-round training program for four young artists to hone their craft, and launch their operatic careers. These exceptionally-gifted artists participate in the Children's Opera Theatre (COT), an educational program that tours fully costumed, portable operas to elementary schools across the state of Texas. In the 2013 season, FWOpera augmented its season to stretch beyond our outreach and training programs and court the attention of national composers and librettists. This renowned, new works showcase, called Frontiers, features works by eight composers from the Americas and has become a celebrated staple of our Festival seasons.

The company's upcoming 2017 season kicks off Phase Two of its ten-year artistic vision Opera of the Americas. Titled Noches de Ópera (Nights of Opera), this new phase will consist of a four year exploration of contemporary Spanish language operas by Latino and Latina composers and librettists from across the Americas. Beginning next season with the groundbreaking mariachi opera Cruzar la Cara de la Luna and extending through the 2020 Festival, Noches de Ópera will bring compelling and culturally relevant operas to new audiences from an often overlooked, but diversified body of works.

Fort Worth Opera is sponsored in part by awards from The Arts Council of Fort Worth & Tarrant County, The City of Fort Worth, the Fort Worth Promotion and Development Fund, The National Endowment for the Arts, and the Texas Commission on the Arts. Additional Fort Worth Opera sponsors include: American Airlines; Art & Seek; Crystelle Waggoner Charitable Trust, Bank of America, Trustee; The Pangburn Foundation, J.P. Morgan Chase, Trustee; Star-Telegram; and WFAA Channel 8.

To post a comment, you must register and login.