AOP (American Opera Projects) and Poets House present a discussion with award-winning poet and librettist J. D. McClatchy followed by a reading of his latest opera libretto The Leopard, based on the acclaimed novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and directed by James Robinson. The discussion will be joined by The Leopard's composer Michael Dellaira and will feature a performance of music from the opera-in-development and a mid-event reception with the artists. The event will take place on Saturday, November 8 at 3 pm at Kray Hall in Poets House (10 River Terrace, New York, NY 10282 in Battery Park City). Tickets are $10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House members and can be purchased at operaprojects.org.
Commissioned and in development by AOP, The Leopard is the third opera from librettist J. D. McClatchy and composer Michael Dellaira, following The Secret Agent (2011) and The Death of Webern (2013). In their latest opera, The Prince of Salina, known as The Leopard because of his commanding personality, faces a society in upheaval during Garibaldi's 1860 invasion of Sicily, and is forced to choose between decay and progress, between the downfall of the nobility and the future of his family. The completed opera will be in two acts, and is made possible, in part, through generous funding by The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation and The Paul Underwood Charitable Trust.
Based on the internationally acclaimed 1958 novel Il Gattopardo by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, The Leopard was also adapted into the 1963 film classic by Luchino Visconti starring
Burt Lancaster and Claudia Cardinale.
J. D. McClatchy is the author of eight books of poems, most recently Plundered Hearts: New and Selected Poems (Knopf). He has written libretti for
Francis Thorne's Mario and the Magician (1994), Tobias Picker's Emmeline (1996),
Lorin Maazel's 1984 (with
Thomas Meehan, 2005), Lowell Liebermann's Miss Lonelyhearts (2006),
Ned Rorem's Our Town (2006),
Elliot Goldenthal's Grendel (with
Julie Taymor, 2006), Bernard Rands's Vincent (2011), Daron Hagen's Little Nemo in Slumberland (2012), Martin Bresnick's My Friend's Story (2013), and Tobias Picker's Dolores Claiborne (2013). His work has been performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, La Scala, the Kennedy Center, San Francisco Opera, and other leading opera stages around the world.
James Robinson is regarded as one of America's most inventive and sought-after stage directors. Artistic Director of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Robinson has staged productions for major opera companies, including New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera,
Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Canadian Opera Company, San Francisco Opera, and Seattle Opera. Recent projects include the world premiere of Picker's Dolores Claiborne for San Francisco Opera, the American premiere of
Huang Ruo's Dr. Sun Yat Sen for Santa Fe Opera and the world premiere of Champion.
Michael Dellaira is the composer of three operas. His first, Chéri, on a libretto by
Susan Yankowitz, produced by
The Actors Studio and directed by Tony-Award winner
Carlin Glynn, was a finalist for the 2006 American Academy of Arts and Letters
Richard Rodgers Award in Musical Theater. From 2006-2010 he was composer-in-residence with the Center for Contemporary Opera, which co-commissioned The Secret Agent, his first collaboration with
J. D. McClatchy. The Death of Webern, also on a libretto by J.D. McClatchy, was commissioned by The Pocket Opera Players and premiered in October 2013.
