American Opera Initiative: Mickey Dee and the Eclipse / The Curse of the Magi / The Mold and I at Washington National Opera

Washington National Opera presents three world premiere one-act operas through its American Opera Initiative, performed by the company's Cafritz Young Artists at the WNO Rehearsal Studio in Washington, D.C. The program is led by Christopher Cano and Kelley Rourke, with mentorship from composer Anthony Davis and librettist Thulani Davis. The three works are Mickey Dee and the Eclipse, composed by Dave Ragland with a libretto by Anita Gonzalez, in which strangers at a fast-food restaurant find their perspectives shifted by a solar eclipse; The Curse of the Magi, composed by Christopher Dietz with a libretto by Faiza Alex Manaa, following a husband and wife who unknowingly seek counsel from the same unconventional consultant; and The Mold and I, composed by Dan VanHassel with a libretto by Hannah Nikka Odsinada, in which a woman preparing to move out of her pandemic-era apartment must reckon with the sentient mold she is leaving behind.