OPERA America Awards $135,000 To Support Commissions Of Women Composers At Five Opera Companies
The grants promote the development of new works by women and bring visibility to women composers across the field.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Jul. 01, 2025
OPERA America has revealed the five recipients of the 2025 Commissioning Grants from its Opera Grants for Women Composers program. The grants promote the development of new works by women and bring visibility to women composers across the field. Commissioning Grants totaling $135,000 were awarded to:
Beth Morrison Projects (Brooklyn, NY) for Star Singer, composed by Juhi Bansal (libretto by Neil Aitken)
Experiments in Opera (Brooklyn, NY) for Emma: A Chamber Opera for Soprano and Percussion Ensemble, composed by Annie Gosfield (libretto by Annie Gosfield)
Fisher Center at Bard College (Annandale-on-Hudson, NY) for Suddenly Last Summer, composed by Courtney Bryan (libretto by Gideon Lester and Daniel Fish)
Opera Ebony (New York, NY) for Finding the Light, composed by Jasmine Arielle Barnes (libretto by Anita Gonzalez)
San Francisco Opera (San Francisco, CA) for The Galloping Cure, composed by Missy Mazzoli (libretto by Royce Vavrek)
Awards support a composer's commissioning fee for a full production of a commissioned work, ranging from 50 percent of the fee to the complete fee up to $50,000 if the work features a woman librettist and is co-produced by at least one other company.
Applications to the Commissioning Grants were reviewed by an independent adjudication panel of industry experts that included Paula M. Kimper, composer; Jimmy López, composer; Tara A. Melvin, administrative associate, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and Foundation, and owner of Caged Bird Projects; and Daniel Reza Sabzghabaei, composer, vocalist, doctor, and GATES postdoctoral fellow at the Université Grenoble Alpes.
Opera Grants for Women Composers, generously supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation since 2014, is among OPERA America's grants and awards supporting Professional Company Members. The number of operas by women composers has increased significantly since the inception of the program. More information about OPERA America's grant and award programs is available at operaamerica.org/Grants.
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