OPERA America Announces The 2022 Recipients Of Repertoire Development Grants

OPERA America has announced the recipients of the 2022 Repertoire Development Grants: American Lyric Theater (New York, NY); Beth Morrison Projects (New York, NY); Houston Grand Opera (Houston, TX); Lyric Opera of Chicago (Chicago, IL); MassOpera (Salem, MA); Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (St. Louis, MO); Pensacola Opera (Pensacola, FL) and OperaDelaware (Wilmington, DE); and Virginia Opera (Norfolk, VA). A total of $225,000 was awarded to eight projects (see below) by these nine companies.

The biennial Repertoire Development Grant program provides financial support to OPERA America Professional Company Members in developing new American opera and music-theater works. Grants allow creators and producers to refine works-in-progress. They may be used to offset creative fees and other costs associated with the development of a new opera or music-theater work, including lab productions, workshops, readings, and revisions.

"Fostering the creation of new works is a cornerstone of OPERA America's mission," stated Marc A. Scorca, president/CEO of OPERA America. "By relieving a portion of the financial burden of developing new works, Repertoire Development Grants allow producing companies to invest the time and resources required to realize an opera's full potential before opening night."

The 2022 recipients of Repertoire Development Grants were selected from among 32 applications by a panel of industry leaders consisting of Anthony Davis, composer; Heather Johnson, mezzo-soprano; William Menefield, performer, composer, and assistant professor of jazz studies at the University of Iowa; Emily Pulley, soprano; and Niloufar Talebi, interdisciplinary artist.

Repertoire Development Grants are made possible through OPERA America's Opera Fund, an endowment dedicated to supporting the creation and production of new work. The Opera Fund has helped to support new classics like Nixon in China (John Adams/Alice Goodman), Little Women (Mark Adamo), and Moby-Dick (Jake Heggie/Gene Scheer).

Recent works supported by the Opera Fund include The Central Park Five (Anthony Davis/Richard Wesley), which premiered in 2019 and won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Music; Blue (Jeanine Tesori/Tazewell Thompson) and Fire Shut Up in My Bones (Terence Blanchard/Kasi Lemmons), each of which has been met with critical acclaim and enjoyed subsequent productions at major houses. As One (Laura Kaminsky/Mark Campbell/Kimberly Reed), supported by an Opera Fund: Audience Development grant in 2017, will receive its 50th production this year.

OPERA America's Opera Fund was launched by the National Endowment for the Arts, with support from the Helen F. Whitaker Fund, Lee Day Gillespie, Lloyd and Mary Ann Gerlach, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the George Cedric Metcalf Charitable Foundation.

OPERA America's strategic philanthropy supports field-wide innovation with an emphasis on new work development, co-productions, audience building, and increased civic practice. Since the inception of its granting programs, OPERA America has awarded $20 million to the opera field to support the work of opera creators, companies, and administrators.

The next round of Repertoire Development Grants will open in summer 2023. More information about OPERA America's grant programs is available at operaamerica.org/Grants.