Ruth Bader Ginsburg Explains The History Of SCALIA/GINSBURG Opera

In the video, watch as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg explains the origins and plot of the opera Scalia/Ginsburg! Scalia/Ginsburg is the American opera by composer-librettist Derrick Wang that ushered in the era of Supreme Court-themed books, films, and art.

Inspired by the unlikely friendship of U.S. Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia, Scalia/Ginsburg was launched at a special presentation at the Supreme Court of the United States in 2013 before receiving its world premiere production in 2015 at renowned conductor Lorin Maazel's Castleton Festival.

A sold-out second production followed in 2017 at The Glimmerglass Festival. In 2018, Opera North's production of Scalia/Ginsburg debuted an intimate new 7-player orchestration in New Hampshire at the height of the midterm election season. In 2019, OperaDelaware's opening of Scalia/Ginsburg (in a new production and orchestration) became the highest-grossing performance in the company's 74-year history. In the 2020 election year, Scalia/Ginsburg will receive new productions in Florida (at Opera Naples) and Ohio (at Toledo Opera).

Justices Ginsburg and Scalia wrote prefaces to Derrick Wang's libretto, an early version of which was published in the Columbia Journal of Law and the Arts and excerpted in Justice Ginsburg's 2016 book My Own Words.