Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center Thursday, October 23, 2025 at 7 pm American Lyric Theater presents
Celebrating 20 Years of American Lyric Theater 20th ANNIVERSARY GALA HONORARY COMMITTEE M. Page Ashley Sarah Solomon Billinghurst Patsy Hsiu Jung Chen Anna DeSimone Lawrence Edelson and Kevin Kotcher
Kiki Gindler Katherine and Jay Moldave Stephen M. Weiner and Don Cornuet Andy Zetlan
HONOREE: Susan Feder PROGRAM The Long Walk Jeremy Howard Beck* / Stephanie Fleischmann* after the memoir by Brian Castner Commissioned by American Lyric Theater / World Premiere Opera Saratoga “My grandfather died on the living room floor” Heather Johnson, mezzo soprano The House Without A Christmas Tree Ricky Ian Gordon / Royce Vavrek* Commissioned and Premiered by Houston Grand Opera “When I open the Sears wishbook… Promise me” Karen Vuong, soprano; Gideon Dabi, baritone All Wounds Bleed Christopher Cerrone* / Tony Asaro* Developed at American Lyric Theater / World Premiere Tulsa Opera Epilogue Jennifer Zetlan, soprano; Gina Perregrino, mezzo soprano; Andrew Bidlack, tenor The Selfish Giant Clarice Assad* / Lila Palmer* Commissioned by American Lyric Theater / World Premiere Opera Saratoga “The Selfish Aria” Justin Hopkins, bass-baritone KAUFMANMUSICCENTER.ORG/MH | 212 501 3330
The Life And Death(s) Of Alan Turing Justine F. Chen* / David Simpatico* Commissioned by American Lyric Theater / World Premiere Chicago Opera Theater “Observe your common pine cone… Why have bodies when bodies can die?” Andrew Bidlack, tenor; Jonathan Michie, baritone Scalia/Ginsburg Derrick Wang* World Premiere The Castleton Festival “You are searching in vain for a bright line solution” Jennifer Zetlan, soprano The Knock Aleksandra Vrebalov* / Deborah Brevoort* Commissioned and Premiered by The Glimmerglass Festival and Cincinnati Opera “Here we are. Home of the Commander.” Ethan Vincent, baritone JFK David T. Little / Royce Vavrek* Commissioned by Fort Worth Opera, American Lyric Theater and Opéra de Montréal World Premiere Fort Worth Opera “I have a rendezvous” Jacqueline Echols McCarley, soprano; Gina Perregrino, mezzo soprano; Heather Johnson, mezzo soprano Intermission The Halloween Tree Theo Popov* / Tony Asaro* after the novel by Ray Bradbury Commissioned by American Lyric Theater / World Premiere to be announced “Trick or Treat - Treat or Trick!” Karen Vuong, soprano; Gina Perregrino; mezzo soprano, Andrew Bidlack, tenor; Jonathan Michie, baritone; Gideon Dabi, baritone Embedded Patrick Soluri* / Deborah Brevoort* Commissioned by American Lyric Theater / World Premiere Fargo Moorhead Opera “Our value lies in how we look” Caroline Worra, soprano
STEINWAY IS THE OFFICIAL PIANO OF MERKIN HALL. CANOPUS IS THE OFFICIAL DRUM KIT OF MERKIN HALL. The photographing, sound recording or video recording of any performance or the possession of any device for such photographing, sound recording or video recording inside the theater, without the written permission of the management, is prohibited by law. KAUFMANMUSICCENTER.ORG/MH | 212 501 3330
Sherlock Holmes and The Case Of The Fallen Giant Evan Meier* / E.M. Lewis* Commissioned by American Lyric Theater / World Premiere Opera Modesto “He’s there! He went out the window… You don’t believe that giants could be real?” Andrew Bidlack, tenor; Jonathan Michie, baritone; Justin Hopkins, bass-baritone I Am A Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams Commissioned and Premiered by White Snake Projects “I gave up my child” Jorge Sosa* / Cerise Lim Jacobs Karen Vuong, soprano Working For The Macbeths Commissioned by American Lyric Theater / World Premiere to be announced “Do I have news for you!” Johanny Navarro* / Marcus Yi* Caroline Worra, soprano; Ethan Vincent, baritone Tevye’s Daughters Commissioned by American Lyric Theater / World Premiere to be announced “She looked up” Alex Weiser* / Stephanie Fleischmann* Jennifer Zetlan, soprano Lincoln in the Bardo Commissioned by The Metropolitan Opera / World Premiere 2026 “Dear Little Chap” Missy Mazzoli / Royce Vavrek* Jonathan Michie, baritone She Who Dared Commissioned by American Lyric Theater / World Premiere Chicago Opera Theater “It only takes one degree” Jasmine Arielle Barnes* / Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton* Jacqueline Echols McCarley, soprano PIANISTS Djordje Nesic, Kelly Kuo, and Jason Wirth *indicates alumni of the Composer Librettist Development Program American Lyric Theater extends its gratitude to The Metropolitan Opera, Peter Gelb (General Manager), and Paul Cremo (Dramaturg and Director of the Opera Commissioning Program) for permitting us to share a preview from Lincoln in the Bardo this evening. Ethan Vincent’s appearance has also been made possible courtesy of The Metropolitan Opera.
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GREAT OPERAS DON’T JUST HAPPEN: THE STORY OF AMERICAN LYRIC THEATER While working as assistant director on a new production of Mark Adamo’s Little Women at Glimmerglass in 2002, Mark and I went out for a drink. Perhaps there was more than one. It turned into one of those conversations that changes your life without you realizing it at the time. At Glimmerglass, we were surrounded by talented young singers receiving world-class mentorship through the company’s young artist program, and we began talking about how every major opera company offered similar opportunities for singers. But if you wanted to write an opera—if you were a composer or librettist—there was nothing comparable. I remember saying, almost offhandedly, “I’d really like to start something like that.” Mark replied, “Well, if you ever do, give me a call.” Two years later, I did. The idea for ALT and our flagship initiative, the Composer Librettist Development Program (CLDP) crystallized while I was completing my master’s degree in Performing Arts Administration at New York University. My thesis, Opera: The Irrelevant Art: Uniting Marketing and Organizational Strategy to Combat the Depopularization of Opera in the United States, began as a study of how opera companies could balance artistic ambition with fiscal responsibility when creating new works. I wanted to understand how new operas could be better positioned to attract and connect with audiences and sustain long-term life beyond their premieres. But as I pursued this line of inquiry, another emerged—one concerned with the quality of the works being written and the systems, or lack thereof, in place to support opera writers. Between 1991 and 2005, OPERA America member companies premiered 261 new operas, yet with a few notable exceptions, very few of these works were ever performed again. The reasons were complex, but the subject of my earlier conversation with Mark Adamo emerged once again: most of these works were created by artists who had not been trained specifically to write for the operatic stage. No university programs or conservatories in the United States offered instruction in the craft of opera writing (and to this day, that remains largely true). Many composers came to writing opera from the symphonic world and lacked experience with the form itself—the intricate interplay of words, music, and dramatic pacing that gives opera its expressive power. Likewise, many libretti were written by playwrights or poets unfamiliar with how profoundly music shapes character and propels narrative. In other eras, and in countries where opera has been a central part of the national cultural fabric, opera writers lived lives immersed in the art form. They grew up steeped in its traditions, its structures, and its expressive possibilities. In the United States, however, that lineage did not exist in the same way. For many composers and librettists, their first ventures into opera came without a deep historical understanding of precedent—without an awareness of how the great operas of the past achieved their dramatic and emotional impact. Of course, no one would suggest that today’s writers should copy those who came before them. The goal is not imitation, but illumination: to understand the lineage of the art form in order to build upon it with authenticity and purpose. Without that grounding, and without opportunities for mentorship or collaborative training, too many artists were working in isolation, disconnected from the uniquely interdependent nature of opera as musical storytelling. That realization, together with my earlier conversation with Mark Adamo, became the catalyst behind my founding ALT and launching the CLDP. My first call was to Mark. My second was to dramaturg Cori Ellison, who I had gotten to know during my time working as a director at New York City Opera. I then reached out to composers Daniel Catán and Anthony Davis—two extraordinary and very different voices in contemporary opera—and finally to my mentor, stage director Rhoda Levine. Mark, Cori, and I established KAUFMANMUSICCENTER.ORG/MH | 212 501 3330
the core principles that still define ALT’s training today: a focus on collaboration, craft, and the shared language between words and music. Daniel, Anthony, and Rhoda brought their unique artistic and pedagogical perspectives to build upon that vision. Together, these artists helped shape the first version of a curriculum designed to train composers and librettists side by side, learning from one another. Over the years, this curriculum has continued to evolve as we have welcomed more leading artists in the opera field to enhance the training—singers, conductors, composers, librettists, dramaturgs and directors who bring a full range of creative Lawrence Edelson with composer Justine F. Chen during the perspectives to the table. Most recently, we have development of The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing. been joined by our Associate Artistic Director, Kelly Kuo, whose deep experience as a conductor and educator has further enriched the program. We have also reached a deeply meaningful milestone: distinguished alumni of the CLDP now return to teach and mentor the next generation of artists, bringing the program full circle as former Resident Artists now guide the next generation of opera creators. That spirit of collaboration and generosity has defined ALT from the very beginning. Even as the company’s influence grew, our resources remained modest. Many people are surprised to learn just how modest, given the impact ALT has had on the field. In the early years, we scraped by on less than $100,000 annually. Seed money for the CLDP came from a handful of individuals, along with support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts. A turning point came with the world premiere of our first commission, The Golden Ticket by Peter Ash and Donald Sturrock, presented by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. The opera was originally conceived for London’s Royal National Theatre, but early workshops revealed the challenges of producing an opera in a theater company that did not employ classically trained singers. A concert version in Manchester soon followed, but it was not well received, since audiences expecting a stage adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory were surprised to find an opera in concert form. Shortly after I founded ALT, I came across a 25-minute promotional recording of The Golden Ticket that Peter and Donald had created. I saw enormous potential in the piece, and in partnership with Felicity Dahl, Roald Dahl’s widow, I commissioned its completion. Over three years, ALT developed the opera through workshops in New York City before partnering with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis for the world premiere in 2010. During that same period, we launched the CLDP in 2007, and I began reaching out to anyone who might listen—funders, artistic leaders, and foundations—to share what we were doing. It really was revolutionary at the time: an opera company dedicated not to production, but to artist mentorship. Not surprisingly, as a tiny startup, very few people took notice. But one person did: Susan Feder. When I first wrote to the Mellon Foundation, Susan responded with a gracious letter thanking me for reaching out and explaining that Mellon was not accepting unsolicited proposals, but that they would keep an eye on what we were doing. So I kept them informed. They watched as we developed The Golden Ticket KAUFMANMUSICCENTER.ORG/MH | 212 501 3330
and forged the partnership with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis—a surprising collaboration between a major American festival and a small, untested company. They watched as the CLDP began to grow. In 2010, Mellon and OPERA America convened a meeting of opera company leaders who were committed to new work. I was invited to speak about ALT’s programs, and as the representative of the smallest organization at the table, it felt incredible to be able to share what ALT was doing and to see Susan recognize our potential. She understood that the future of opera depended not only on commissions and productions, but on the sustained development and support of the artists who write them. We received our first grant from the Mellon Foundation in 2010. I still remember our early meetings at the Mellon Foundation and how invigorating it was to be met with Susan’s curiosity. Her belief in ALT, and the investment she championed, made it possible for us to grow and to attract additional support. While the Mellon Foundation has recently shifted its priorities, it is no exaggeration to say that without Susan Feder and the Mellon Foundation, ALT would not have the impact on the field that it has today. When we launched the CLDP, it was the first tuition-free professional mentorship program for emerging operatic writers in the United States. What began as a five-month program has evolved into a rigorous, multi-year curriculum. The first year offers a formal course of study comparable in intensity to a master’s program, followed by multi-year residencies in which artists develop full-length operas with individualized mentorship and resources tailored to their needs. In 2017, ALT added the nation’s first opera-dramaturgy apprenticeship, deepening our mission even further. Today, more than forty opera companies across the country offer some form of workshop or developmental opportunity for composers and librettists—a sign of real progress in the field. Yet ALT remains unique: the only company in the country dedicated to providing sustained, multi-year, mentorship for opera writers, with equal investment in librettists and composers, and the only one built upon a comprehensive, structured curriculum. Our guiding philosophy has always been simple: every opera we love was new once. That cycle must continue. But this is only possible if we invest not just in new works, but in the artists who create them. Twenty years later, the results speak for themselves. Operas developed by ALT alumni have been produced by more than 125 opera companies, festivals, and universities across the United States and abroad. To say we are proud is an understatement! ALT’s story is one of persistence, belief, and collaboration. We are still a small company with a big idea, but over two decades we have helped change the face of American opera. Our tag line is “Great operas don’t just happen.” That couldn’t be more true. Operas are nurtured through mentorship, community, and trust. By supporting writers who reflect the diversity of contemporary American society, we are helping ensure that opera’s next chapter will be as vibrant, surprising, and deeply human as the people who create it. As we celebrate the milestone of our Twentieth Anniversary, I am filled with gratitude—for the composers, librettists, and dramaturgs who have trusted us with their creative journeys; for the faculty, mentors, and staff who have given so generously of their expertise and care; for the artists who have joined us to bring our Resident Artists’ work-in-progress to life; and for the opera companies, presenters, and universities that have partnered with us to bring those new works to the stage. And I am deeply thankful to every donor, foundation, supporter, board member and volunteer who has believed in ALT’s mission and made this work possible. Together, we have built a community dedicated to the future of opera. And together, we will continue to champion the artists whose stories remind us why opera matters—today, and for generations to come. Lawrence Edelson Founder, Artistic and General Director, American Lyric Theater KAUFMANMUSICCENTER.ORG/MH | 212 501 3330
20TH ANNIVERSARY HONOREE: SUSAN FEDER Susan Feder has spent her career in philanthropy, music publishing, arts administration, and arts advocacy, culminating in a 15-year tenure as a program officer in the Arts and Culture program at the Mellon Foundation, the largest private funder of the arts and humanities in the United States. Bringing deep knowledge of artists’ processes to bear, at Mellon she designed and supported programs that enabled opportunities for reflection, experimentation, risk taking, and creation at residencies and developmental centers in the US, resulting in a significant expansion of contemporary repertoire across the performing arts. She also developed a series of collaborative, systemsbuilding initiatives and funder partnerships involving both the public and private sectors on behalf of artists and organizations long under-resourced by philanthropy. These include the National Playwright Residency Program, Comprehensive Organizational Health Initiative, Musician Pathways programs in multiple cities, the National Alliance for Audition Support, the Regional Arts Resilience Fund (at the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic), and OPERA America’s Co-Production Loan Fund, as well as The Black Seed and National Latinx Theater Initiative, national collaborative programs of, by, and for Black and Latinx theaters respectively. Earlier, as vice president of the music publisher G. Schirmer, Feder developed the careers of composers in the United States, Europe, and former Soviet Union. She was also editorial coordinator of The New Grove Dictionary of American Music (1986) and program editor at the San Francisco Symphony. Currently, she serves as president of the Amphion Foundation, and as a trustee of the Kurt Weill Foundation, Dr. M. Lee Pearce Foundation, Beth Morrison Projects, Gateways Music Festival, Steinberg-Fleezanis Fund, and Charles Ives Society, as well as being a member of the Music Department Advisory Council at Princeton University. Recently, she co-edited Defending the Music: Michael Steinberg at the Boston Globe 1964-76, scheduled for publication by Oxford University Press in 2026, and has co-produced six short narrative films written and directed by her husband, Todd Gordon. Feder studied music and European Cultural Studies at Princeton University and received a masters degree in the history and literature of music from the University of California, Berkeley. She is the proud parent of two adult children, both working in New York City. Compositions dedicated to Feder include John Corigliano’s Pulitzer-Prize winning Symphony No. 2, Augusta Read Thomas’s Helios Choros, Joan Tower’s Dumbarton Oaks Quintet, and Tania León’s Poesy. In 2024 OPERA America named her to the Opera Hall of Fame. Other honors include Danspace’s Rebel Angel Award (2023), ArtsEmerson Champion Award (2022), Musical America’s Profiles in Courage Award (2014), and an ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for her program notes for the American Composers Orchestra.
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FEATURED PERFORMERS Andrew Bidlack’s current season engagements include the principal tenor role of Trout Shue in Madison Opera’s world premiere of Everlasting Faint and the roles of Cassis in Die Banditen and Remendado Carmen at Oper Frankfurt, where he is a regular guest artist. Career highlights include his 2016 and 2018 Metropolitan Opera appearances as Beppe in I Pagliacci, the principal tenor role in Iain Bell’s world premiere In Parenthesis at Welsh National Opera with performances at Covent Garden in 2016; and the role of Lyonnel in Le Roi Arthus at BARD Summerscape and in Austria’s Tiroler Festspiel, Erl, which brought his first invitation to appear at Oper Frankfurt. Last season, the artist appeared as Edmondo in Manon Lescaut with Washington Concert Opera; he returned to Oper Frankfurt for Sichel Doktor und Apotheker, Third Squire in Parsifal, Wirt and Haushofmeister des Marschallins in Rosenkavalier; and he travelled to Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern for False Assistant in Der Zar lässt sich photographieren. Baritone Gideon Dabi continues to receive great acclaim, delivering “powerfully felt, beautifully performed and articulated” (Newsday) performances across a wide array of genres and styles. His “earnest interpretations” have thrilled audiences throughout the United States, to Israel, Italy, and back. In recent seasons, Dabi has sung the role of Max Weinreich in The Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language, Tevye in Tevye’s Daughters, Dandini in La Cenerentola with Opera Columbus, as well as the studio recording of Gerald Cohen's Steal a Pencil For Me which he premiered with Opera Colorado. He was a featured singer on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee as well as Magnetosphere (a Toronto Film Festival entrant) and has done multiple engagements with American Lyric Theater. He has also performed with Jerusalem Opera, Chautauqua Opera, American Opera Projects, Dallas Opera, Sarasota Opera, Charlottesville Opera, Tulsa Opera, Merola Opera Company, and Annapolis Opera. Lyric soprano Jacqueline Echols McCarley has been praised for her “dynamic range and vocal acrobatics” (Classical Voice) in theaters across the United States. Echols McCarley has appeared on stages across the world portraying leading ladies and supporting roles in operas such as Porgy and Bess, Carmen, Romeo and Juliet, La Bohème, Omar, The Ring Cycle, La Traviata, Dead Man Walking just to name a few. She was most recently featured in the Chicago Opera Theater’s world premiere of She Who Dared playing the role of Rosa Parks. She’s performed on stages in Europe and across America including The Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and the Washington National Opera. Echols McCarley was also featured in a documentary Porgy and Me produced in Germany. She’s a graduate of University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (CCM), where she received her master’s degree and artist diploma. Bass-baritone Justin Hopkins has distinguished himself around the world as a singing actor in both standard and contemporary repertoire. Hailed by Mark Swed of The Los Angeles Times for his “commanding presence” and “beautifully focused bass-baritone” as Stephen Kumalo in Lost In The Stars, he has established himself as one of the most in-demand interpreters of the music of Kurt Weill. Credits include Sarastro in The Magic Flute (Opera North), Publio in La Clemenza di Tito (Wiener Festwochen, Grand Théâtre de Genève); Antron McCray in Anthony Davis' The Central Park Five (Detroit Opera); Carl Ekdahl in the world premiere of Fanny and Alexander (Grand Théâtre de La Monnaie); Jeff in the world premiere of The Long Walk (Opera Saratoga). In concert he has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Pops, BBC Concert Orchestra, Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra. Hopkins was the 2nd place winner of the 2012 Lotte Lenya Competition. Mezzo-soprano Heather Johnson, hailed by Opera News as “a dramatic singer in the truest sense,” has earned acclaim on opera and concert stages nationwide. She has a special history with American Lyric Theater, creating the role of Jessie in the world premiere of The Long Walk by Jeremy Howard Beck and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann. Recent highlights include Suzuki in Madama Butterfly (Sarasota KAUFMANMUSICCENTER.ORG/MH | 212 501 3330
Opera), Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été (Wintergreen Music Festival), Jan Arnold in Everest (Austin Opera), Dinah in Trouble in Tahiti (Boston Lyric Opera), Laura in Luisa Miller (Metropolitan Opera), and the title role in Rossini’s Tancredi (Baltimore Concert Opera, Opera Southwest). At the Met, she debuted as a Flower Maiden in Parsifal. Johnson also appeared in the world premieres of Mark Adamo’s Becoming Santa Claus (Dallas Opera) and Fierce Grace: Jeannette Rankin (Library of Congress). Currently Music Director of the Reno Chamber Orchestra and Associate Artistic Director of American Lyric Theater, Kelly Kuo has consistently championed the development of the next generation of musical talent and demonstrated a commitment to innovative programming, creative initiatives and advocacy of underrepresented voices in the concert hall. Praised by the Cincinnati Enquirer as “a leader of exceptional musical gifts, who has a clear technique on the podium and an impressive rapport with audiences,” Kuo’s recent season highlights include productions with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Seattle Opera, Minnesota Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, and The Glimmerglass Festival. Jonathan Michie recently created the title roles in Chen & Simpatico's The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing (Chicago Opera Theater) and Geter & Murphy Moo’s Loving v. Virginia (Virginia Opera). He spent more than a decade at the Leipzig Opera, singing all of the core lyric baritone repertoire including Don Giovanni, Papageno, Guglielmo, Figaro, Dandini, Belcore, Malatesta, Silvio, Harlekin, Valentin, Marcello etc. Domestically he has performed with organizations including the Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Florida Grand Opera, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Internationally he has appeared with the Slovenian Philharmonic, Gewandhaus Orchestra, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Comunale Bolzano, and Beijing Music Festival, among others. Upcoming engagements include Haydn's Die Schöpfung in Nürnberg, Bach's BWV 127 and Vaughan Williams’ orchestrated Songs of Travel in Leipzig, and Mendelssohn’s Paulus and Handel’s Saul in Hamburg. Michie holds Bachelors and Masters degrees from the Eastman School of Music. Djordje Stevan Nesic’s performances have been described as artful, assertive, sensitive and quietly virtuosic, with performances worldwide. He strives to promote music addressing contemporary, social justice, and human rights issues. Upcoming, Nesic will conduct a production of Weill/Brecht’s Seven Deadly Sins (MSM). Recently, he conducted the productions of Handel’s Alcina (Opera Seme festival in Arezzo, Italy), Perla/Murphy Moo’s An American Dream, Mozart’s La finta giardiniera, Ullmann/Kien’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis, and Sokolovic’s Svadba (MSM and Peabody Conservatory). Other recent engagements include: Barnes/Mouton’s She Who Dared (ALT), recitals in Belgrade, and a return to Opera Saratoga. Appearances also with Berkshire Opera Festival, Carnegie Hall Joyce DiDonato masterclasses in NYC, Kolarac Hall in Belgrade, the Prototype Festival in NYC, the KotorArt Festival in Montenegro, the Serbian Cultural Center in Paris, and the Caixa Cultural in Brasilia. He is a citizen of the U.S.A. and Serbia. He currently teaches at Manhattan School of Music and SUNY Purchase. Praised as “vocally protean” and “a standout soloist” (The Wall Street Journal), Gina Perregrino has appeared with companies including the Metropolitan Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Seattle Opera, and the Atlanta Opera. Drawn to poignant new works, she has collaborated with authors such as Salman Rushdie and Khaled Hosseini to bring their stories to the stage. In 2023, she worked with Afghan film director Roya Sadat on the world premiere of 1000 Splendid Suns at Seattle Opera. Last season, she debuted at the Metropolitan Opera as the Voice of the Fountain, singing and dancing in Golijov’s flamenco opera Ainadamar. Perregrino has a passion for the folk music of Mexico and Latin America. Her interpretations of Latin songs have been featured in operatic crossover programs at companies such as Santa Fe Opera, and her original songs in Spanish are slated for both publication and release on the Global Music Partnership record label in 2025. In the 2025-2026 season, she debuts the title role of Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande at Opera Baltimore. KAUFMANMUSICCENTER.ORG/MH | 212 501 3330
Baritone Ethan Vincent launches his 2025-26 season joining the roster of the Metropolitan Opera covering the roles of Salvador Dalí/The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay with Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the podium and Schaunard/La bohème with Keri-Lynn Wilson conducting. He will make his Opéra de Montréal debut singing the role of Escamillo/Carmen as Jean-Marie Zeitouni leads the Orchestre Métropolitain. Vincent has been engaged by the LA Phil, Santa Fe Opera, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Opera, Boston Youth Symphony, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Milwaukee Symphony, Washington National Opera, The Orchestra Now, Opera Philadelphia, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Virginia Opera, and more, in works by Bernstein, Puccini, Berlioz, Beethoven, Donizetti, Verdi, and Tchaikovsky, in collaboration with conductors Gustavo Dudamel, Riccardo Frizza, Eun Sun Kim, Jordan de Souza, Nicholas Carter, Yves Abel, Speranza Scappucci, Roberto Kalb, and composer John Adams. He can be seen in the featured role of César in the acclaimed film Bel Canto alongside Academy Award winner Julianne Moore. Vincent holds both a B.A. and M.A. in Voice Performance from Northwestern University. Karen Vuong, Chinese-American soprano based in New York City, is acclaimed for her vocal artistry and dramatic intensity. Upcoming engagements include Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly with Opera Grand Rapids and a return to Anchorage Opera as Diane Tran in Huang Ruo’s Bound, a role she debuted with Seattle Opera. Bachtrack praised her Seattle performance as “masterfully portrayed… never letting up vocally or dramatically.” Recent highlights include her role and house debut as Cio-Cio-San with Anchorage Opera, Liù in Turandot with Opera Delaware, the title role in Rusalka at Portland Opera, Iris in the world premiere of Derrick Wang’s Fearless, and Gänsemagd in Königskinder at Tiroler Festspiele. As an ensemble member at Frankfurt Opera (2013–2019), she sang leading roles including Mimì, Countess Almaviva, and Rusalka. A Juilliard alumna and Domingo-Thornton Young Artist, Vuong is a winner of the Eastern Regional Metropolitan Opera Auditions and recipient of the Operalia CulturArte Prize. “One of the finest collaborative pianists I have heard” as well as "an impressive musician in his own right" (New York Concert Review), Jason Wirth “spun a gossamer web of unusual sounds on the piano” (The New York Times) in appearances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Philadelphia's Kimmel Center, in addition to solos with the Moscow Philharmonic and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Wirth has performed with many major opera stars such as Eric Owens, Angel Blue, and drag superstar Monet X Change. Wirth’s recording of Poulenc's The Story of Babar with film star Michael Douglas has been released on Naxos, and he worked as a pianist and coach for the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, Arizona Opera, Sante Fe Opera, the American Ballet Theatre, and numerous workshops of new operas with the American Lyric Theater and the Center for Contemporary Opera, among others. He is the Chair of Collaborative Piano at Wintergreen Music Festival. Caroline Worra has been hailed by Opera News as "one of the finest singing actresses around." She has sung over 100 roles, from 80 different operas, including over 20 premieres. She is on six classical/opera recordings receiving international acclaim including a Grammy nomination for Best Opera Recording for Jenny in The Mines of Sulphur. She has worked with over 90 opera companies, including The Metropolitan Opera, The Lyric Opera of Chicago, Boston Lyric Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Fort Worth Opera, and six seasons at both Glimmerglass Opera and New York City Opera, as well as on two U.S. National Tours with San Francisco's Merola/Western Opera Theatre singing Violetta in La Traviata and Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus. Overseas, she performed as the leading soprano in The Rake’s Progress in Catania, Sicily, The Mines of Sulphur at The Wexford Festival, La Traviata in Brazil, and The Merry Widow in Hong Kong. With a passion for new music and international recognition for being “persuasive and powerful” and a “tour de force," soprano Jennifer Zetlan has been seen in numerous world premieres in the last two decades. Zetlan is a veteran of New York institutions ranging from the Metropolitan Opera to Broadway; a list that also includes New York City Opera, Carnegie Hall, the New York Philharmonic, and American KAUFMANMUSICCENTER.ORG/MH | 212 501 3330
Lyric Theater. Other highlights include Cincinnati Opera, San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Opera, and Stuttgart Opera. Zetlan is a sought after concert and chamber music soloist having performed with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Talea Ensemble, Musica Sacra, and Oratorio Society of New York, among others. Her debut album, Your Clear Eye, includes world premiere recordings of works by Ricky Ian Gordon, with Gordon at the piano. Zetlan is the Director of Programs and Operations for ALT, and is also on the voice faculty at Mannes. FEATURED COMPOSERS AND LIBRETTISTS Tony Asaro received his undergraduate degree from Santa Clara University in 1998 in Theatre and Music, and later received his Masters Degree in Musical Theatre Writing from NYU, TSOA. He was a Resident Artist in the Composer Librettist Development Program at American Lyric Theater. Asaro co-founded and Artistic Directed FOGG Theatre in San Francisco for its entire 11 year run. Asaro has written music and lyrics for the musicals The Cable Car Nymphomaniac, Flocked Together: The Green Parrots of Telegraph Hill, LifeCycle, and Our Country which enjoyed two successful productions in New York, and won Best Musical in the Planet Connections festival in NYC in 2009. An accomplished librettist, Asaro has written libretti for Beautiful Things, All Wounds Bleed, The BoatMan, The Halloween Tree, Zheng, the forthcoming Solaris (with San Jose Opera), The Road to Wellville, and City of Specters. A powerful communicator renowned for her musical scope and versatility, Brazilian-American Clarice Assad is a significant artistic voice in the classical, world music, pop, and jazz genres acclaimed for her evocative colors, rich textures, and diverse stylistic range. A GRAMMY Award–nominated composer with more than 70 works to her credit, she is an alum of the Composer Librettist Development Program at American Lyric Theater, has been commissioned by internationally renowned organizations, festivals, and artists and is published in France, Germany, Brazil, and the U.S. An in-demand performer, she is a celebrated pianist and inventive vocalist who inspires and encourages audiences’ imaginations to break free of often self-imposed constraints. Assad has released seven solo albums and appeared on or had her works performed on another 34. Her music is represented on numerous labels. Her innovative, accessible, and award-winning VOXploration series on music education, creation, songwriting, and improvisation has been presented throughout the world. Sought-after by artists and organizations worldwide, Assad continues to attract new audiences both onstage and off. Jasmine Arielle Barnes is an Emmy award winning composer and acclaimed vocalist who has performed and been represented worldwide. Her music has been described as “refreshing...engaging...exciting” (San Francisco Classical Voice), “Beautifully lyrical” (The Telegraph, UK), and “the best possible blend of Billie Holiday and Claude Debussy” (Boston Globe). The graduate from Morgan State University is an alum of the Composer Librettist Development Program at American Lyric Theater and a recent recipient of OPERA America’s Discovery Opera Grant for women composers among two other grants from OPERA America for her opera She Who Dared (Chicago Opera Theater, June 2025), commissioned by ALT. She has been commissioned by numerous organizations such as NY Philharmonic, American Composers Forum, Juilliard Pre-College, San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Carnegie Hall, Washington National Opera and the Kennedy Center, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival and School, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Apollo Chamber Players, Baltimore Choral Arts, CityMusic Cleveland, and LyricFest Philadelphia, among others. Jeremy Howard Beck’s “powerful, remarkable” (Houston Chronicle) 2023 chamber opera Another City (libretto by Stephanie Fleischmann, commissioned by Houston Grand Opera) “brush[ed] past the stereotypes and misperceptions attached to the homeless by putting an array of thoughtful, authentic KAUFMANMUSICCENTER.ORG/MH | 212 501 3330
voices onstage.” His “smart, chaotic, explosive” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) first opera, The Long Walk (libretto by Stephanie Fleischmann, based on the memoir by Brian Castner, commissioned by American Lyric Theater; Opera Saratoga 2015, Utah Opera 2017, Pittsburgh Opera 2018), has provoked responses ranging from “life-affirming… exquisite… startlingly delicate” (Times Union) and “sparse and haunting” (NPR) to “devastating… hair-raising” (Opera News) and “brilliant… drum-tight” (Classical Singer). Grants and awards include: The MAP Fund, Opera America, NewMusicUSA and JFund/American Composers Forum, a 2014 Yaddo residency, and a 2011 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award. He studied at The Juilliard School with John Corigliano and Christopher Rouse, at NYU with Mark Adamo and Deniz Hughes, and is an alum of the Composer Librettist Development Program at ALT. Since participating in ALT’s Composer Librettist Development Program, Deborah Brevoort has turned her attention almost exclusively to writing opera. In 2023, she was awarded the Campbell Opera Librettist Prize from Opera America. She has written 11 librettos, commissioned and produced by Glimmerglass, Cincinnati Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, OnSite Opera, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Opera Colorado, ALT, Decameron Opera Coalition, and Fargo Moorhead, Fort Worth and Anchorage Operas. Her latest, The Red Thread, with Wang Lu, received an OPERA America Discovery Grant. She teaches in the NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing program and serves as librettist mentor for WNO’s American Opera Initiative, ALT and Seattle Opera’s Creation Lab. In 2024 she was named a Fulbright Specialist in theatre and opera by the US State Department and led an opera writing workshop at the Seoul Institute for the Arts. She serves as co-chair of the Dramatists Guild Opera Committee with Michael Korie. Christopher Cerrone is internationally acclaimed for compositions characterized by a subtle handling of timbre and resonance, a deep literary fluency, and a flair for multimedia collaborations. Recent works include In a Grove (LA Opera and Pittsburgh Opera) which debuted in New York at the PROTOTYPE Festival (2025): The New York Times praised: “Cerrone’s coolly caressing music, with its eerie haze of electronic and acoustic textures, deepens the mystery and leaves listeners suspended between ambiguity and wonder”; Don’t Look Down (Sandbox Percussion); Breaks and Breaks (Detroit Symphony); A Body, Moving (Cincinnati Symphony); The Year of Silence (Louisville Symphony); and The Insects Became Magnetic (LA Philharmonic). His first opera, Invisible Cities, was a 2014 Pulitzer Prize finalist. Cerrone is a triple-GRAMMY nominee, with nominations for The Pieces that Fall to Earth, The Arching Path, and Beaufort Scales. He was a resident at the Laurenz Haus Foundation in Basel, Switzerland from 2022–2023. Cerrone holds degrees from Yale and the Manhattan School of Music, and is an alum of the Composer Librettist Development Program at American Lyric Theater. He joined the composition faculty at Mannes School of Music at The New School in 2021. The “propulsive, emotionally resonant” (The New York Times) music of Taiwanese-American native New Yorker Justine F. Chen has been commissioned and presented by New York City Opera, New York City Ballet, The Juilliard School, Carnegie Hall, American Lyric Theater, Banff Music Centre, OPERA America, American Composers Orchestra, Merola Opera, WQXR, Tapestry Opera, Manhattan School of Music, and Maryland Opera Studio. The New York Times praised her opera, Jeanne as “lyrical, atmospheric,” “striking”, “balances despair and humor.” Chicago Opera Theater’s production of Chen’s recent “fantastical, evocative, nuanced,” “gut-wrenching,” opera The Life and death(s) of Alan Turing (librettist David Simpatico) was proclaimed “Best World Premiere, 2023” (Chicago Tribune). An alum of the Composer Librettist Development Program at ALT, her recent projects include Sisters of the Storm (librettist Marcus Yi), Alight (poet Ophelia Hu Kinney), Museum of the UnAmericans, with four-time Grammy award-winner The Crossing. Recent honors: New Music USA’s Creator Fund, Female Discovery Grant (Toulmin Foundation), Jerome Fund for New Music, and Frances Goelet Charitable Lead Trust.
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Stephanie Fleischmann’s “lyrical monologues” (The New York Times), “finely tuned” opera libretti (Opera News), plays, and music-theater works have been performed internationally and across the U.S. Selected libretti: In a Grove (Christopher Cerrone; Prototype, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Saratoga, LA Opera; The New York Times’ “Best Classical Music of 2025”; Poppaea (Michael Hersch; Wien Modern, Zeiträume Basel, 2023 Austrian Music-theater Prize nomination); Dido (Melinda Wagner; Brentano Quartet/Dawn Upshaw); Another City (Jeremy Howard Beck; Houston Grand Opera); The Long Walk (Beck; American Lyric Theater, Opera Saratoga, Utah Opera); The Pigeon Keeper (Hanlon; Santa Fe Opera, Opera Parallèle, Opera Omaha); Remedios Varios (Carlos Carrillo; Chicago Opera Theater). An alum of the Composer Librettist Development Program at ALT, her upcoming projects include: The Silver Cypress (Niloufar Nourbakhsh, Beth Morrison Projects); Tevye’s Daughters (Alex Weiser, ALT); Claude & Marcel (Alyssa Weinberg, West Edge). Musictheater/plays: Red Fly/Blue Bottle (HERE, EMPAC, Noorderzon); The Visitation (HERE); Sound House (the Flea). 2022 Campbell Opera Librettist Prize, Venturous Theater Fund, NEA, NYFA, NYSCA, MapFund, Tennessee Williams & Howard Foundation Fellowships, Macdowell, New Dramatists, HARP. Ricky Ian Gordon’s operas include The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (New York City Opera/Yiddish Folksbiene, lib. Michael Korie); Intimate Apparel (Metropolitan Opera/Lincoln Center Theater, lib. Lynn Nottage); Ellen West (Beth Morrison Projects, Opera Saratoga, lib. Frank Bidart); The House Without a Christmas Tree (Houston Grand Opera, lib. Royce Vavrek), 27 (Opera Theatre of St Louis, lib. Royce Vavrek); Morning Star (Cincinnati Opera, lib. William Hoffman); A Coffin in Egypt (Houston Grand Opera, lib. Leonard Foglia); Rappahannock County (Virginia Opera, lib. Mark Campbell); Green Sneakers (Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival and Lincoln Center, lib. Ricky Ian Gordon); The Grapes of Wrath (Minnesota Opera, lib. Michael Korie); The Tibetan Book of The Dead (Houston Grand Opera, lib. Jean Claude Van Itallie); and Orpheus and Euridice (Lincoln Center, lib. Ricky Ian Gordon, Obie Award). Musicals include Sycamore Trees (Signature Theatre, playwright Nina Mankin, Helen Hayes Award); My Life with Albertine (Playwrights Horizons, playwright Richard Nelson, AT&T Award, Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla Music Theater Foundation Award); and Dream True (Vineyard Theatre, playwright Tina Landau, Richard Rodgers Award). Recently, he premiered This House (librettists Lynn Nottage and Ruby Gerber) at Opera Theatre of St Louis. Cerise Lim Jacobs forges new American opera from her past in multicultural Singapore, her sojourns around the world, and her acute awareness of the social issues of our time, creating original libretti that range from the mythological to the topical. With her husband Charles, she conceived of and wrote the libretti for her first large-scale project, Ouroboros Trilogy, comprising Scott Wheeler’s Naga, Paola Prestini’s Gilgamesh, and Zhou Long’s Madame White Snake, winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Music. The complete Ouroboros Trilogy premiered in Boston in September 2016. After the success of Ouroboros Trilogy, Jacobs transformed the fundraising entity Friends of Madame White Snake into the “activist opera company” White Snake Projects, which commissions, develops and produces original opera committed both to the highest production values and to social activism. Jacobs was named a 2017 Mover & Shaper by Musical America, and one of Boston’s 100 Most Influential People of Color by the Boston Globe in 2018. E. M. Lewis is an award-winning playwright and opera librettist whose work has been produced around the world, and published by Samuel French. She received the Steinberg Award and the Primus Prize from the American Theater Critics Association, the Ted Schmitt Award from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, a Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University, playwriting fellowships from the New Jersey and Oregon arts commissions, and an Edgerton Award. Her plays include The Frankenstein Project, Song of Extinction, Strange Birds, Apple Season, The Gun Show, and Dorothy’s Dictionary. Operas include Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Fallen Giant (with composer Evan Meier) and Town Hall (with composer Theo Popov). Lewis is currently playwright-in-residence at Artists Repertory Theater in Portland, through the Mellon Foundation’s National Playwright Residency Program. She is an alum of the Composer Librettist Development Program at American Lyric Theater and a proud member of the Dramatists Guild. She lives on her family’s farm in Oregon. KAUFMANMUSICCENTER.ORG/MH | 212 501 3330
GRAMMY®-nominated composer/librettist David T. Little is a natural musical storyteller with “a knack for overturning musical conventions” (The New York Times). Known for stage, concert, and screen works permeated with the power of the unexpected, his broad catalog probes the deep corners of human psychology, unafraid to invoke the mythical, bewitching, disturbing, surreal, or comedic in order to explore the human condition. His operas include Dog Days, JFK, and Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera, (libretti by Royce Vavrek), Black Lodge (libretto by Anne Waldman), Soldier Songs and What Belongs to You, both to his own libretti. Presented by Houston Grand Opera, LA Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Opéra de Montréal, Beth Morrison Projects, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the LA Phil, among others, he is currently developing a new work commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera / Lincoln Center Theater New Works Program. He is published by Boosey & Hawkes. Recently deemed “one of the more consistently inventive, surprising composers now working in New York” (The New York Times) and “Brooklyn’s post-millennial Mozart” (Time Out NY), Missy Mazzoli has had her music performed by the Kronos Quartet, LA Opera, eighth blackbird, the BBC Symphony, Scottish Opera and many others. In 2018 she became one of the first two women, along with Jeanine Tesori, to receive a main stage commission from the Metropolitan Opera, and was nominated for a Grammy award. She is Composerin-Residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and from 2012-2015 was Composer-in-Residence with Opera Philadelphia. Upcoming commissions include works for Opera Philadelphia, the National Ballet of Canada, Chicago Lyric Opera and Norwegian National Opera. Her works are published by G. Schirmer. Evan Meier’s music has been performed throughout the U.S. by ensembles such as the Minnesota Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Delaware Symphony, Wheeling Symphony, and Greenville Symphony. His orchestral work Fire Music was featured in the Minnesota Orchestra’s 2015 Composer Institute. In 2022, he collaborated with Hip-hop artist Christylez Bacon on Migrations in Rhythm, a concerto exploring the roots of American music through beatboxing, rap, and narration, later performed by multiple orchestras. Meier’s operatic work includes The Last Act of Revolution (New York City Opera VOX Festival) and The Resurrection Engine, created with playwright E.M. Lewis through American Lyric Theater’s Composer Librettist Development Program. Their full-length opera Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Fallen Giant, commissioned by ALT, premiered in 2023–2024 with Opera Modesto and Portland State University. Originally from Long Beach, CA, Meier is Chair of Music Theory and Composition at Levine Music, a community music school in Washington, D.C. Deborah D.E.E.P Mouton is an award-winning author, librettist, playwright, director, performer, critic, and the first Black Poet Laureate of Houston, TX. Her genre-bending works span from stage to page. She’s penned stage works including She Who Dared (commissioned by ALT, world premiere Chicago Opera Theater, 2025), Future of Dreams (Kennedy Center, 2025) Marian’s Song (Houston Grand Opera, 2020), Atlanta: 1906 (Atlanta Opera 2022) & On My Mind (Opera Theater St. Louis, 2023). Serving as Playwright/Director, she produced The World’s Intermission, commissioned by Performing Arts Houston (Jones Hall), and Plumshuga: The Rise of Lauren Anderson, a choreopoem (Stages Theater) which made the cover of the The New York Times culture section. Alongside these longer works, she has written song cycles for Russel Thomas and LA Opera and Joshua Conyers (including the title tracks to his Billboard Top Ten Album A Miracle in Legacy). She is an alum of the Composer Librettist Development Program at American Lyric Theater and resides and creates from Houston, TX. Johanny Navarro, a dynamic Puerto Rican composer, stands out as one of the most inventive artists of her generation. Her creative prowess has captivated organizations like the Multicultural Music Group, Inc. and the Boston Opera Collaborative. Her compositions have been presented by ensembles including The Catholic University of America Symphony Orchestra, the American Harp Society, Inc., New World Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy, Victory Players, and Coralia (University of Puerto Rico). KAUFMANMUSICCENTER.ORG/MH | 212 501 3330
Navarro has made waves internationally, with performances in Cuba, Mexico, Spain, and France. In 2020, she was featured as a resident artist at the Massachusetts International Festival of Arts (MIFA), and her piece Celebration was included in the prestigious Casals Festival. In 2023, Navarro was honored in Time Magazine as a Latino Leader by Nissan. An alum of the Composer Librettist Development Program at American Lyric Theater, Navarro’s rich catalog of works continues to grow, showcasing an undeniable variety and its deep roots in Caribbean musical aesthetics, especially Puerto Rican musical culture. Librettist Lila Palmer’s works have been performed at major venues and festivals including Des Moines Metro Opera, Aix-en-Provence, the Edinburgh International Festival, Liverpool Philharmonic, and the Barbican Centre. An alum of the Composer Librettist Development Program at American Lyric Theater, her recent operatic works include American Apollo (Des Moines Metro Opera, July 2024; Upper Midwest Emmy nomination) and Holy Ground (Glimmerglass Festival, July 2022), both created with composer Damien Geter. Golda Schultz’s recording of Palmer’s song cycle This Be Her Verse (composer: Kathleen Tagg) was named one of the “10 Best Classical Records of 2022” by The Times. Palmer and Marc Migó’s Carmen: 150 años was staged by La Fura dels Baus in July 2025 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Bizet’s opera. As General and Artistic Director of the New Orleans Opera, Palmer recently launched the inaugural New Orleans Opera Festival (March 24–April 1, 2026). Her leadership combines creative achievement with visionary programming, expanded partnerships, and dynamic audience stewardship. Theo Popov is an award-winning Bulgarian-American composer whose five operas have received multiple productions across the United States. His diverse body of work includes musicals, film scores, orchestral and choral pieces, and electronic music. His debut opera, NERO ARTIFEX, led to a career in dramatic stage music and a residency at American Lyric Theater, which subsequently commissioned two new operas: the one-act Once Upon the Wind with librettist Kate Light and the family opera based on the Ray Bradbury novella The Halloween Tree with librettist Tony Asaro. In the media world, Popov has scored the Emmy-award-winning documentary Possible Selves, the Gendov-nominated The Avengeress, and an exciting soon-to-be-released video game which he isn’t allowed to talk about yet. Popov proudly serves on the Board of the National Opera Association and, as a Court-of-Masters certified sommelier, is excited to be advancing storytelling into multimedia environments through his wine-and-music tastings. David Simpatico is a librettist, playwright, and lyricist whose work spans opera, musical theatre, and choral symphony. His grand opera The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing (music: Justine F. Chen) commissioned and developed by American Lyric Theater under the auspices of the Composer Librettist Development Program, premiered at Chicago Opera Theater in 2023 to critical acclaim, conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya and directed by Peter Rothstein. He wrote the libretto for Aaron Jay Kernis’s Garden of Light, a choral symphony commissioned for the millennium, conducted by Kurt Masur. Upcoming: That Hellbound Train, a new jazz opera with Lisa DeSpain, receives a major production at the University of North Texas in April 2026, conducted by Stephanie Rhodes Russell. His adaptation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (music: Will Todd) debuted at Opera Holland Park in 2024, returning in 2025. Simpatico also wrote the stage adaptation for Disney’s blockbuster High School Musical. Additional credits include The Screams of Kitty Genovese (Jonathan Larson Award) and Twelve Angry Men (Theater Latté Da, 2022). With an international background, Patrick Soluri is a NYC based composer of music for ballet, opera and film/TV. An alum of the inaugural class of the Composer Librettist Development Program at American Lyric Theater, his love of telling stories through music is evident in a large body of work for stage, screen and concert hall… from Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center, to the great opera houses of Europe. This includes 11 ballet scores commissioned and performed internationally by companies such as Staatsballett Berlin, Ballet de l’Opéra National de Bordeaux, Ballett X Schwerin (Germany); plus numerous operatic works at companies such as Fort Worth Opera, Nevada Opera, Urban Arias, L’arietta KAUFMANMUSICCENTER.ORG/MH | 212 501 3330
Singapore, and New York City Opera. Soluri has composed numerous film scores, as well as music for film/TV. He also produces hundreds of hot jazz and swing events annually with his company Prohibition Productions, and non-profit Gotham Jazz Inc; is a voting member of the Recording Academy for the Grammys, and tours nationally as bandleader & drummer with HOT TODDIES JAZZ BAND. Jorge Sosa is a Mexican-born composer based in New York City. An alum of the Composer Librettist Development Program at American Lyric Theater, his music has been praised by The Boston Globe, Opera News, and I Care If You Listen for its stylistic range and powerful storytelling. His operas, including Monkey, Alice in the Pandemic, and I Am A Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams, have premiered with White Snake Projects and received national acclaim. In 2024, he was awarded Opera America’s IDEA grant to develop Generación Perdida, a monodrama addressing forced disappearances in Mexico, which premiered at La MaMa and is set for a Mexican debut in 2025. Sosa was selected for the ATX Residency for Latinx Creatives with Austin Opera, and is currently developing the work Ofrenda, a Dia de Muertos story with libretto by John de los Santos. Sosa is a Professor of Music at Molloy University and serves on the board of ALT. Royce Vavrek is a Canada-born, Brooklyn-based librettist and lyricist who has been called “the indie Hofmannsthal” (The New Yorker) a “Metastasio of the downtown opera scene” (The Washington Post), “an exemplary creator of operatic prose” (The New York Times), and “one of the most celebrated and sought after librettists in the world” (CBC Radio). His opera Angel’s Bone with composer Du Yun was awarded the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Music. He has collaborated with many established composers including Missy Mazzoli, David T. Little, RIcky Ian Gordon, and Mikael Karlsson. Vavrek is the Artistic Director of Toronto’s experimental opera company Against the Grain Theatre. He holds a BFA in Filmmaking and Creative Writing from Concordia University’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema in Montreal and an MFA from the Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program at New York University. He is an alum of American Lyric Theater’s Composer Librettist Development Program. Aleksandra Vrebalov, recipient of the 2024 Grawemeyer Music Award, is an alum of the Composer Librettist Development Program at American Lyric Theater and the composer of more than one hundred works across concert music, opera, dance, and film. Her music has been commissioned by Carnegie Hall, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Gulbenkian Foundation, English National Ballet, Cincinnati and Glimmerglass Opera, the Serbian National Theater, Belgrade Philharmonic, The Forbidden City Orchestra in Beijing, and dance companies including José Limón and Rambert. A longtime collaborator with the Kronos Quartet, she has created twenty works for the group. Born in Serbia, Vrebalov is a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts and a recipient of the Golden Badge of the Cultural and Educational Association of Serbia for her contribution to national culture. She has also engaged in humanitarian projects, making music with refugee youth at the Flying Carpet Festival on the Turkish–Syrian border. Her work is featured on more than twenty CD releases worldwide. Derrick Wang is a composer and librettist of musical dramas for the operatic and theatrical stage. His opera Scalia/Ginsburg, hailed as “a dream come true” by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, began an era of worldwide public awareness of the U.S. Supreme Court and is one of the most frequently produced new operas of the past decade. The Los Angeles Times wrote: “Could we please make it a constitutional requirement that no one can be sworn into office in the White House or Congress without having first seen Scalia/Ginsburg?” An alum of the Composer Librettist Development Program at American Lyric Theater, recent and new stage works include his completion of Puccini’s Turandot (Opera Delaware, 2024), and Fearless (Opera Delaware, 2025), inspired by trailblazing American aviator Hazel Ying Lee and the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II. A graduate of Harvard University and the Yale School of Music, he currently serves on the faculty of The Johns Hopkins University. KAUFMANMUSICCENTER.ORG/MH | 212 501 3330
Alex Weiser’s debut album and all the days were purple, was named a 2020 Pulitzer Prize Finalist. The album features songs in Yiddish and English sung by Eliza Bagg. A second album, in a dark blue night, features two song cycles which explore Jewish New York history sung by Annie Rosen. February 2024 saw the premiere of a clarinet concerto, Tfiles, commissioned by POLIN for clarinetist Andrzej Ciepliński and the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra. An active opera composer and alum of the Composer Librettist Development Program at American Lyric Theater, Weiser is currently developing Tevye’s Daughters with librettist Stephanie Fleischmann (ALT) and recently premiered The Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language with librettist Ben Kaplan (American Opera Projects). Weiser is the Director of Public Programs at the YIVO Institute where he curates programs that explore history with an eye to contemporary Jewish culture. Marcus Yi is an award-winning theatre writer, composer, director, and performer based in New York. He was an inaugural member of the 92nd Street Y Musical Theater Development Lab Collective, a 2021–2022 New Victory LabWorks Artist, and a Resident Artist with American Lyric Theater. Yi has been commissioned by major institutions including The Kennedy Center, Queens Council on the Arts, Yangtze Rep, the EST / Sloan Project, First Stage, Really Spicy Opera, Atlanta Opera, and American Lyric Theater. His work has been recognized with numerous honors, including the NYSCA / NYFA Artist Fellowship Award (2025), NYSCA Support for Artists grants (2022, 2024), and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Creative Engagement grants (2019, 2023). Yi’s multidisciplinary work spans musical theatre, opera, and performance, reflecting his commitment to innovative storytelling, cross-cultural perspectives, and dynamic collaboration across the performing arts. THE LEGACY OF THE COMPOSER LIBRETTIST PROGRAM Celebrating American Lyric Theater’s 20th Anniversary means celebrating the extraordinary achievements of the alumni of the Composer Librettist Development Program (CLDP) who are transforming the landscape of American opera. Over the past two decades, ALT has been proud to provide mentorship and training to a remarkable group of opera writers—artists who have grown from promising emerging voices into some of the most sought-after composers and librettists working on the international stage. The artistic impact our alumni are making on the opera field is incredibly inspiring. Operas created by CLDP alumni have been produced by more than 125 opera companies, festivals, and universities worldwide, spanning the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Singapore, and beyond. From major houses to adventurous regional companies and conservatories, this global reach demonstrates the importance of supporting artists at the earliest stages of their careers. By providing composers and librettists with the time, space, and mentorship to develop their unique voices, ALT empowers them to create operas that enrich today’s repertoire while shaping the future of the art form. The following list highlights works created by alumni of the CLDP, noting which companies commissioned them, where they received their world premieres, and information about subsequent productions. While extensive, it is not yet complete, as we continuously gather details about our alumni’s successes. If you have edits or additions to share, please contact Jennifer Zetlan at JenniferZetlan@altnyc.org so we may update our records. Nothing is more rewarding than celebrating the success of our alumni, and we hope you take pride in their accomplishments—and perhaps discover the opportunity to experience their operas in person at companies around the globe. *indicates alumni of the CLDP KAUFMANMUSICCENTER.ORG/MH | 212 501 3330
Adam & Eve (2008) Patrick Soluri* / Quincy Long* Developed at American Lyric Theater Concert Premiere: ALT at Symphony Space Additional Productions: Juventas (2012); Urban Arias (2013) The Hunger Art (2008) Jeff Myers* / Royce Vavrek* Developed at American Lyric Theater Concert Premiere: ALT at Symphony Space Additional Productions: Center City Opera; Bard College Margot Alone in the Light (2010) Clint Borzoni* / Emily Conbere* Developed at American Lyric Theater World Premiere: Opera on Tap/operamission The Golden Ticket (2010) Peter Ash / Donald Sturrock Commissioned by American Lyric Theater and Felicity Dahl World Premiere: Opera Theatre of Saint Louis Additional Productions: Wexford Festival, Atlanta Opera The Tell Tale Cellphone (2010) Patrick Soluri* / Patrick Soluri* and Natalia Boesch Commissioned by: Remarkable Theater Brigade World Premiere: Weill-Carnegie Hall Additional Production: Vivonne France Festival Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera (2010) David T. Little / Royce Vavrek* Commissioned by: Bard Conservatory of Music World Premiere: Bard Conservatory of Music Additional Productions: Opera Saratoga, Houston Grand Opera All Wounds Bleed (2011) Christopher Cerrone* / Tony Asaro* Developed at American Lyric Theater Concert Premiere: ALT at Symphony Space Additional Productions: Tulsa Opera, University of Michigan Opera Theatre, Brooklyn Opera Works, Chicago Fringe Opera, UC San Diego/Kallisti Chamber Opera Mileva (2011) Aleksandra Vrebalov* / Vida Ognjenovic Commissioned by: Serbian National Theater, Novi Sad World Premiere: Serbian National Theater Additional Productions: BEMUS Festival, ARMEL Festival, Croatian National Theater Opera Haikus: The Tragedy of Count Alfredo Von Niebelungen (2011) Patrick Soluri */ Patrick Soluri* and Natalia Boesch Commissioned by Remarkable Theater Brigade World Premiere: Remarkable Theater Brigade Additional Productions: L'arietta Singapore, Opera on Tap
Dog Days (2012) David T. Little / Royce Vavrek* Commissioned by: Peak Performances and Beth Morrison Projects World Premiere: Peak Performances Additional Productions: PROTOTYPE Festival, LA Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Northwestern University Bienen School of Music, Bielefeld Opera, Germany Once Upon the Wind (2012) Theo Popov* / Kate Light* Developed at American Lyric Theater Concert Premiere: ALT at Symphony Space Additional Productions: Secret Opera, Yale College Opera Theater Polka (2012) Patrick Soluri* / Royce Vavrek* Commissioned by: Remarkable Theater Brigade World Premiere: Remarkable Theater Brigade Song from the Uproar (2012) Missy Mazzoli / Royce Vavrek* and Missy Mazzoli Commissioned by: Beth Morrison Projects World Premiere by: Beth Morrison Projects Additional Productions: LA Opera, Vancouver City Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Chicago Fringe Opera, Milwaukee Opera Theatre, Opera Ithaca, Verdigris Ensemble The Wedding Gift of Pirate Granny (2012) Alla Borzova* / David Johnston* Developed at American Lyric Theater` Concert Premiere: ALT at Symphony Space Additional Production: Hartford Opera Theater Figaro & The Zombie Apocalypse (2013) Patrick Soluri* / Patrick Soluri* World Premiere by: Fort Worth Opera Additional Production: L'arietta Singapore Invisible Cities (2013) Christopher Cerrone* / Christopher Cerrone* (after Italo Calvino) World Premiere by: The Industry Enchantress (2014) Kamala Sankaram* / Rob Handel* Developed at American Lyric Theater Concert Premiere: ALT at Symphony Space Additional Productions: Ithaca College, Manhattan School of Music, University of Michigan, New Camerata Opera The Poe Project: Buried Alive (2014) Jeff Myers* / Quincy Long* Commissioned by: American Lyric Theater World Premiere: Fargo Moorhead Opera Additional Production: Fort Worth Opera, North Park University
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The Poe Project: Embedded (2014) Patrick Soluri* / Deborah Brevoort* Commissioned by: American Lyric Theater World Premiere: Fargo Moorhead Opera Additional Production: Fort Worth Opera The Polar Bat (2014) Johann Strauss II / Deborah Brevoort* Commissioned by: Anchorage Opera World Premiere: Anchorage Opera 27 (2014) Ricky Ian Gordon / Royce Vavrek* Commissioned by: Opera Theater of Saint Louis World Premiere: Opera Theater of Saint Louis Additional Productions: Pittsburgh Opera, MasterVoices, Michigan Opera Theater, Opéra de Montréal, Opera Las Vegas, George Mason University - Mason Opera Maren of Vardø: Satan's Bride (2015) Jeff Myers* / Royce Vavrek* Commissioned by: Center City Opera Theater World Premiere: Center City Opera Theater (Vulcan Lyric) O Columbia (2015) Gregory Spears / Royce Vavrek* Commissioned by: HGOco, Houston Grand Opera World Premiere: HGOco
After the Storm (2016) David Hanlon / Stephanie Fleischmann* Commissioned by: HGOco, Houston Grand Opera World Premiere: HGOco Angel's Bone (2016) Du Yun / Royce Vavrek* Co-Commissioned by: The Mann Center for the Performing Arts and Beth Morrison Projects World Premiere: Prototype Festival Additional Productions: Beijing Music Festival, LA Opera, Staatstheater Augsburg, English National Opera, Oberlin Conservatory Breaking the Waves (2016) Missy Mazzoli / Royce Vavrek* Commissioned by: Opera Philadelphia and Beth Morrison Projects World Premiere: Opera Philadelphia Additional Productions: Prototype Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, Houston Grand Opera, Detroit Opera, Vadstene Akadamien Sweden, St. Gallen Switzerland, Opéra Comique Paris, Stadttheater Bremerhaven Germany, Opera Australia JFK (2016) David T. Little / Royce Vavrek* Commissioned by: Fort Worth Opera, American Lyric Theater and Opera de Montréal World Premiere: Fort Worth Opera Additional Productions: Opera de Montréal, Staatstheater Augsburg
The Impresario (2015) W.A. Mozart / Deborah Brevoort* Commissioned by: Anchorage Opera World Premiere: Anchorage Opera La Reina (2016) Additional Productions: Mill City Summer Opera, University of Jorge Sosa* / Laura Sosa Pedroza North Carolina Commissioned by: American Lyric Theater Concert World Premiere: ALT at the PROTOTYPE Festival Scalia/Ginsburg (2015) Derrick Wang* Antinous and Hadrian (2017) World Premiere: The Castleton Festival Clint Borzoni* / Edward Ficklin Additional Productions: Anchorage Opera, Charlottesville Commissioned by: operamission Opera, Chautauqua Opera Company, Fargo-Moorhead World Premiere: operamission/La MaMa Opera, Florentine Opera Company, Kentucky Opera, Opera Additional Productions: QUO, Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra Carolina, Opera Company of Middlebury, Opera Delaware, Opera Grand Rapids, Opera in the Heights, Opera Ithaca, Interstate (2017) Opera Las Vegas, Opera Memphis, Opera Naples, Opera Kamala Sankaram* / Jerre Dye North, Pacific Opera Project, Painted Sky Opera, The Commissioned by: Opera Memphis Princeton Festival / Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Utah World Premiere: Opera Memphis Festival Opera & Musical Theatre Monkey and Francine in the City of Tigers (2017) The Long Walk (2015) Kamala Sankaram* / David Johnston* Jeremy Howard Beck* / Stephanie Fleischmann* Commissioned by: Houston Grand Opera in partnership with Commissioned by: American Lyric Theater American Lyric Theater World Premiere: Opera Saratoga World Premiere: Houston Grand Opera Additional Productions: Utah Opera, Pittsburgh Opera Additional Productions: Seattle Opera, TriCities Opera, Seagle Festival, Vanderbilt University, William Paterson The Property (2015) University, Binghamton University Wlad Marhulets / Stephanie Fleischmann*, co-adapted with Eric Einhorn Steal a Pencil for Me (2017) Commissioned by: Lyric Unlimited, Lyric Opera of Chicago Gerald Cohen* / Deborah Brevoort* World Premiere: Lyric Unlimited World Premiere: Opera Colorado
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The House Without a Christmas Tree (2017) Ricky Ian Gordon / Royce Vavrek* Commissioned by: Houston Grand Opera World Premiere: Houston Grand Opera Additional Production: Opera Las Vegas The Parksville Murders (2017) Kamala Sankaram* / Jerre Dye Commissioned by: Opera on Tap World Premiere: Opera on Tap/Samsung VR Additional Productions: Salem Horror Festival, Future of StoryTelling Conference, The Kennedy Center When Adonis Calls (2017) Clint Borzoni* / John de los Santos Commissioned by: Asheville Lyric Opera World Premiere: Asheville Lyric Opera Additional Productions: Thompson Street Opera, Northwestern State University Codex (2018) Felipe Pérez Santiago / Magda Bogin* Commissioned by: Under the Volcano World Premiere: Teatro Ocampo, Cuernavaca, Mexico Formidable (2018) Kamala Sankaram* / Jerre Dye Commissioned by: Opera Memphis World Premiere: Opera Memphis Proving Up (2018) Missy Mazzoli / Royce Vavrek* Commissioned by: Washington National Opera, Opera Omaha, and the Miller Theatre at Columbia University World Premiere: Washington National Opera Additional Productions: Opera Omaha, Miller Theater, Northwestern University, Juilliard, Oberlin, Aspen Music Festival, Painted Sky Opera The Gospel According to Nana (2018) Liliya Ugay* / Lorene Cary* Developed at American Lyric Theater Concert Premiere: ALT at Merkin Concert Hall Other Productions: Kelly Writers House, UPenn, Cathedral Village Black Arts Fest
I Am A Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams (2019) Jorge Sosa* / Cerise Lim Jacobs Commissioned by: White Snake Projects World Premiere: White Snake Projects Additional Productions: Resonance Works, Tri-Cities Opera, Syracuse Opera, Escenia Ensamble Mexico Looking at You (2019) Kamala Sankaram* / Rob Handel* Commissioned by: HERE Arts Center, Opera on Tap and Experiments in Opera World Premiere: HERE Arts Center Additional Production: Carnegie Mellon University Murasaki's Moon (2019) Michi Wiancko / Deborah Brevoort* Commissioned by: On-Site Opera, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and American Lyric Theater World Premiere: OnSite Opera at The Metropolitan Museum of Art Additional Production: Hub City Opera and Dance Taking Up Serpents (2019) Kamala Sankaram* / Jerre Dye Commissioned by: Washington National Opera World Premiere: Washington National Opera Additional Productions: Glimmerglass Festival, Chicago Opera Theater, Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, Rice University The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace (2019) Rob Handel* / Kamala Sankaram* Commissioned by: Opera Ithaca World Premiere: Opera Ithaca Additional Productions: Boston University, Opera Theatre of Yale College, 3rd Eye Theater,New Camerata Opera, Dixon Place, Marble City Opera A Rose (2019) Kamala Sankaram* Commissioned by: Houston Grand Opera Virtual World Premiere: Houston Grand Opera Silent Light (2019) Paola Prestini / Royce Vavrek* Commissioned by: National Sawdust and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity World Premiere: National Sawdust Additional Production: Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
Town Hall (2018) Theo Popov* / E. M. Lewis* Commissioned by: Maryland Opera Studio, University of Maryland World Premiere: Maryland Opera Studio Alice in The Pandemic (2020) Additional Production: Willamette University Jorge Sosa* / Cerise Lim Jacobs Commissioned by: White Snake Projects Why is Eartha Kitt Trying to Kill Me? (2018) World Premiere online by White Snake Projects Jeffrey Dennis Smith* / David Johnston* Developed at American Lyric Theater All Decisions Will be Made by Consensus (2020) Concert Premiere: ALT at (le) poisson rouge Kamala Sankaram* / Rob Handel Additional Production: Urban Arias Live serial opera for Zoom World Premiere online by HERE Arts Center Abraham in Flames (2019) Aleksandra Vrebalov* / Niloufar Talebi* Commissioned by: N Talebi Projects World Premiere: Z Space San Francisco
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Dinner 4 3 (2020) Michael Ching / Deborah Brevoort* Commissioned by: Decameron Opera Coalition and Fargo Moorhead Opera World Premiere online by Decameron Opera Coalition and Fargo Moorhead Opera Additional Productions: L’Arietta Opera, Fargo Moorhead Opera
The Knock (2021) Aleksandra Vrebalov* / Deborah Brevoort* Commissioned by: Glimmerglass Festival and Cincinnati Opera World Premiere film by Glimmerglass Festival Additional Productions: Cincinnati Opera, Central City Opera, US Air Force Academy, produced by Opera Theatre of the Rockies & the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs
How They Broke Away (2020) Andy Teirstein*/ Carl Sanburg World Premiere online by The People Light and Theater Company
The Puppy Episode (2021) Matthew Recio / Royce Vavrek* Commissioned by: Chicago Opera Theater Concert World Premiere: Chicago Opera Theater Additional Production: Opera Columbus, Oberlin Conservatory
Jacqueline (2020) Luna Pearl Woolf / Royce Vavrek* Commissioned by: Tapestry Opera World Premiere: Tapestry Opera Additional Productions: West Edge Opera, OrpheusPDX Only You Will Recognize the Signal (2020) Kamala Sankaram* / Rob Handel* Live serial opera for Zoom World Premiere online by HERE Arts Center The Wild Beast of the Bungalow (2020) Rachel Peters / Royce Vavrek* Commissioned by: Oberlin Conservatory World Premiere: Oberlin Conservatory The Understudy (2020) Kamala Sankaram* / Cara Ehlenfeldt and Jason Cady Commissioned by: Experiments in Opera World Premiere Podcast: Aqua Net & Funyuns – Experiments in Opera
Chhlong Tonle (2022) Liliya Ugay* / Sokunthary Svay World Premiere: Florida State University Everything for Dawn; Clean (2022) Pauline Kim Harris / Jerome Parker* Commissioned by: Experiments in Opera Digital World Premiere: Experiments in Opera Everything for Dawn; Final Viewing (2022) Kamala Sankaram* / Krista Knight Commissioned by: Experiments in Opera Digital World Premiere: Experiments in Opera Everything for Dawn; Stick With Me Brother (2022) Matthew Welch / Jerome Parker* and Adrienne Danrich Commissioned by: Experiments in Opera Digital World Premiere: Experiments in Opera
Woman of Letters (2020) Liliya Ugay* / Sokunthary Svay Commissioned by: Washington National Opera World Premiere: Washington National Opera
Holy Ground (2022) Damien Geter / Lila Palmer* Commissioned by: Glimmerglass Festival World Premiere: Glimmerglass Festival
A Letter to My Son, Upon the Death of My Father (202) Justine F. Chen* / Jacqueline Goldfinger Commissioned by: Resonance Works World Premiere online by Resonance Works
Poppaea (2022) Michael Hersch / Stephanie Fleischmann* Commissioned by: Wien Modern and ZeitRaüme Basel Festival Für Neue Musik und Arkitechtur World Premiere: Wien Modern in a co-production with the ZeitRäume Basel Festival and Gare du Nord Basel.
In a Grove (2021) Christopher Cerrone* / Stephanie Fleischmann* Commissioned by: Los Angeles Opera World Premiere: Pittsburgh Opera Additional Productions: Northwestern University, PROTOTYPE Festival, Opera Saratoga, Eastman School of Music The Copper Queen (2021) Clint Borzoni* / John de los Santos Commissioned by: Arizona Opera World Premiere Film by Arizona Opera Additional Screenings: Toronto International Women Film Festival, Phoenix Film Festival, Opera Philadelphia’s Opera on Film Additional Production: Marble City Opera
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Quamino's Map (2022) Errolyn Wallen / Deborah Brevoort* Commissioned by: Chicago Opera Theater World Premiere: Chicago Opera Theater Rise (2022) Kamala Sankaram* / A.M. Homes Commissioned by: The Kennedy Center World Premiere: Washington National Opera The Boatman from Chilltown Boogie (2022) Alon Nechushtan / Tony Asaro* Commissioned by: Con Vivo Music World Premiere: Con Vivo Music at the Jersey City Theater Center
The Fox Sisters (2022) Marc Migó / Lila Palmer* Commissioned by: Theatre del Liceu World Premiere: Theatre del Liceu The Listeners (2022) Missy Mazzoli / Royce Vavrek* Commissioned by: Norwegian National Opera, Opera Philadelphia, and Lyric Opera of Chicago World Premiere: Norwegian National Opera Additional Productions: Opera Philadelphia, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Aalto-Musiktheater Essen Germany Virtually Dead (2022) Kamala Sankaram* / Jerre Dye Commissioned by Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Virtual World Premiere: Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Another City (2023) Jeremy Howard Beck* / Stephanie Fleischmann* Commissioned by: Houston Grand Opera World Premiere: Houston Grand Opera The Beehive (2023) Jorge Sosa* / Melisa Tien Commissioned by: University of Northern Iowa World Premiere: University of Northern Iowa Isolde/Tristão (2023) Clarice Assad* / Marcia Zanelatto Commissioned by: Aventura Teatros and Leme Produções Artísticas World Premiere: Theatro Municipal de São Paulo Lullaby (2023) Kamala Sankaram* / Guillermo Calderón Commissioned by: O Festival, Schouwburg Rotterdam World Premiere: O Festival, Schouwburg Rotterdam Additional Production: Dutch National Opera
The Christmas Spider (2023) Clint Borzoni* / John de los Santos Developed by American Opera Projects World Premiere: Opera Louisiane Additional Productions: Marble City Opera, Ovation West, Skylark Opera Theatre, New Jersey Opera Theater The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing (2023) Justine F. Chen* / David Simpatico* Commissioned by: American Lyric Theater World Premiere: Chicago Opera Theater The Old Man and the Sea (2023) Paola Prestini / Royce Vavrek* Commissioned by: Beth Morrison Projects, Carolina Performing Arts at the University of North Carolina, VisionIntoArt, Krannert Center of Performing Arts, and Jill & Bill Steinberg World Premiere: Arizona State University Additional Production: Carolina Performing Arts at the University of North Carolina, Opera Columbus The Selfish Giant (2023) Clarice Assad* / Lila Palmer Commissioned by: American Lyric Theater World Premiere: Opera Saratoga The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage (2023) Elena Ruehr / Royce Vavrek* Commissioned by: Guerilla Opera and MIT Council for the Arts World Premiere: Guerilla Opera Adoration (2024) Mary Kouyoumdjian / Royce Vavrek* Commissioned by: Beth Morrison Projects and Trinity Wall Street World Premiere: PROTOTYPE Festival Additional Production: LA Opera American Apollo (2024) Damien Geter / Lila Palmer* Commissioned by: Des Moines Metro Opera World Premiere: Des Moines Metro Opera
Medea (2023) Michael Hersch / Stephanie Fleischmann* Commissioned by: Ensemble Musikfabrik and Kunststiftung NRW World Premiere: Ensemble Musikfabrik Cologne Arkhipov (2024) Peter Knell / Stephanie Fleischmann* Melancholia (2023) Commissioned by: Jacaranda Music Mikael Karlsson / Royce Vavrek* Concert World Premiere: Jacaranda Music at the Kirk Commissioned by: Royal Swedish Opera Douglas Theatre World Premiere: Royal Swedish Opera Dickens' A Christmas Carol (2024) Monkey, A Kung Fu Puppet Parable (2023) Will Todd / David Simpatico* Jorge Sosa* / Cerise Lim Jacobs Developed by Opera Holland Park Commissioned by: White Snake Projects World Premiere: Opera Holland Park World Premiere: White Snake Projects Fanny and Alexander (2024) The Artwork of the Future (2023) Mikael Karlsson / Royce Vavrek* Eric Moe / Rob Handel* Commissioned by: La Monnaie / De Munt, Brussels Commissioned by: Freshly Squeezed Opera World Premiere: La Monnaie World Premiere: Freshly Squeezed Opera Flesh (2024) Mark Adamo / Lila Palmer* Commissioned by: Opera on the Avalon World Premiere: Opera on the Avalon KAUFMANMUSICCENTER.ORG/MH | 212 501 3330
Jungle Book (2024) Kamala Sankaram* / Kelley Rourke Commissioned by: Glimmerglass Festival and Washington National Opera World Premiere: Glimmerglass Festival Additional Production: Washington National Opera, Resonance Works On My Mind (2024) Jasmine Arielle Barnes* / Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton* Commissioned by: Opera Theatre of Saint Louis World Premiere: Opera Theatre of Saint Louis Sherlock Homes and the Case of the Fallen Giant (2024) Evan Meier* / E.M. Lewis* Commissioned by: American Lyric Theater World Premiere: Opera Modesto Additional Production: Portland State University Turandot (new ending) (2024) Derrick Wang* Commissioned by: Opera Delaware World Premiere: Opera Delaware We Meet at the Water; “Fractured Mosaics” (2024) Liliya Ugay* / Sokunthary Svay Commissioned by: White Snake Projects World Premiere online by White Snake Projects Carmen (2025) Marc Migó / Lila Palmer* Commissioned by: Veranos de la Villa festival in Madrid World Premiere: Veranos de la Villa Festival with La Fura dels Baus
Fearless (2025) Derrick Wang* Commissioned by: Opera Delaware World Premiere: Opera Delaware Generación Perdida (2025) Jorge Sosa* World Premiere: Teatro Grattacielo Additional Production: Escenia Ensamble (Mexico) Remedios Varios (2025) Carlos Carrillo / Stephanie Fleischmann* Commissioned by: Chicago Opera Theater Concert World Premiere: Chicago Opera Theater She Who Dared (2025) Jasmine Arielle Barnes* / Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton* Commissioned by: American Lyric Theater World Premiere: Chicago Opera Theater State of the Jews (2025) Alex Weiser* / Ben Kaplan Developed with American Opera Projects Concert World Premiere: American Opera Projects in partnership with the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Cultural Center and Orchestra of St. Luke's The Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language (2025) Alex Weiser* / Ben Kaplan Developed with American Opera Projects World Premiere: American Opera Projects in partnership with YIVO, League for Yiddish, and American Society for Jewish Music
Custom of the Coast (2025) Kamala Sankaram* / Paul Muldoon Commissioned by: Kilkenny Arts Festival World Premiere: Kilkenny Arts Festival, National Sawdust
The Pigeon Keeper (2025) David Hanlon / Stephanie Fleischmann* Commissioned by: Santa Fe Opera World Premiere: Opera Paralèlle Additional Producitons: Opera Omaha, Opera on the Avalon
Drag (2025) Kathryn Bostic / Lorene Cary* Commissioned by: Dallas Symphony Concert World Premiere: Dallas Symphony
To The People Like Us (2025) Jorge Sosa* / Cerise Lim Jacobs Commissioned by: White Snake Projects World Premiere: White Snake Projects
Upcoming premieres and works in development Claude & Marcel: Alyssa Weinberg / Stephanie Fleischmann*. West Edge Opera. Dido: Melinda Wagner / Stephanie Fleischmann*. Brentano String Quartet/Juilliard. Indians on Vacation: Ian Cusson / Royce Vavrek*. Edmonton Opera and Against the Grain Theater. Lincoln in the Bardo: Missy Mazzoli / Royce Vavrek*. Metropolitan Opera. Promise Me, America: Damien Geter / Lorene Cary*. Portland Opera. Solaris: Stefan Cwik / Tony Asaro*. Opera San Jose. Tevye’s Daughters: Alex Weiser* / Stephanie Fleischmann*. American Lyric Theater, world premiere TBA. The Halloween Tree: Theo Popov* / Tony Asaro*. American Lyric Theater, world premiere TBA. That Hellbound Train: Lisa DeSpain / David Simpatico*. University of North Texas. The Silver Cypress: Niloufar Nourbakhsh / Stephanie Fleischmann*. Beth Morrison Projects. Thirty Angels: Liliya Ugay* / Cerise Lim Jacobs. White Snake Projects. Working for the Macbeths: Johanny Navarro* / Marcus Yi*. American Lyric Theater, world premiere TBA. Zheng: Shinji Eshima / Tony Asaro*. Opera San Jose.
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Albany Garbage Wars - Women and Guns and Rats and Trash: Lisa DeSpain / Tony Asaro*. In development. Albert Nobbs: Patrick Soluri* / Deborah Brevoort*. In development. Broke: Andy Teirstein* / Maggie Dubris. In development. Butterfly: Patrick Soluri* / Patrick Soluri*. In development. City of Specters: Theo Popov* / Tony Asaro* and Lydia Lim. In development. Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight: Christian Amigo* / Gustavo Aguilar. In development. Elizabeth: Justine F. Che*n. In development. In Love Alone: Clint Borzoni* / Judith G. Wolf. In development. La Callas: Clint Borzoni* / Elizabeth Coppinger. In development. The Leader: Shuying Li*. In development. Niceville: Clint Borzoni* / John de los Santos. In development. Ofrenda: Jorge Sosa* / John De Los Santos. In development. Paradiso: Yevgeniy Sharlat / Stephanie Fleischmann*. In development. The Embalmer’s Daughter: Jeff Myers* / Quincy Long*. In development. The Red Thread: Wang Lu / Deborah Brevoort*. In development. The Road to Wellville: Matt Boehler / Tony Asaro*. In development. The Visitation: Christina Campanella / Stephanie Fleischmann*. In development. Sisters of the Storm: Justine F. Chen* / Marcus Yi*. In development. TWA: Justine F. Chen* / Jacqueline Goldfinger. In development. When the Purple Mountains Burn: Shuying Li* / Julian Crouch*. In development. Wine Country: Theo Popov* / E. M. Lewis*. In development.
Composer Librettist Development Program Alumni Christian Amigo, composer Clarice Assad, composer Laura Barati, librettist Joshua Banbury, librettist Jasmine Arielle Barnes, composer Jeremy Howard Beck, composer Magda Bogin, librettist Clint Borzoni, composer Alla Borzova, composer Deborah Brevoort, librettist Ro Bright, librettist Lorene Cary, librettist Christopher Cerrone, composer Justine F. Chen, composer Gerald Cohen, composer Joshua H. Cohen, librettist Emily Charlotte Conbere, librettist Julian Crouch, librettist Stephanie Fleischmann, librettist Peter Foley, composer/librettist Jay Anthony Gach, composer Rob Handel, librettist C.S. Hansen, librettist David Johnston, librettist E. M. Lewis, librettist Shuying Li, composer Kate Light, librettist
Elizabeth Lim, composer Quincy Long, librettist Evan Meier, composer Julia Meinwald, composer Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, librettist Jeff Myers, composer Johanny Navarro, composer Sam Norman, librettist Lila Palmer, librettist Jerome Parker, librettist Kate Pitt, dramaturg Theo Popov, composer Ivette Herryman Rodríguez, composer Kamala Sankaram, composer David Simpatico, librettist Jeffrey Dennis Smith, composer Patrick Soluri, composer Jorge Sosa, composer Niloufar Talebi, librettist Del’Shawn Taylor, composer Kathleen Tagg, composer Andy Tierstein, composer Liliya Ugay, composer Royce Vavrek, librettist Aleksandra Vrebalov, composer Derrick Wang, composer/librettist Alex Weiser, composer
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AMERICAN LYRIC THEATER Lawrence Edelson, Founder, Artistic and General Director Kelly Kuo, Associate Artistic Director Heather Johnson, Director Of Development and Partnerships Jennifer Zetlan, Director Of Programs and Operations Faculty and Artist Mentors * Indicates Current Faculty / Mentor (F) Indicates Founding Faculty Member (Im) In Memoriam Mark Adamo* (F) Deborah Brevoort* Mark Campbell* Daniel Catán (F)(Im) Anthony Davis (F) Lawrence Edelson* (F) Cori Ellison* (F) Ricky Ian Gordon* Jake Heggie William M. Hoffman (Im) Kelly Kuo* Rhoda Levine (F) Paul Moravec* Steve Osgood Scott Davenport Richards* Gene Scheer Lidiya Yankovskaya Adriana Zabala*
Board Of Directors Stephen M. Weiner, Chair Lawrence Edelson, President Justine F. Chen, Secretary Kevin F. Kotcher, Treasurer Anna DeSimone Kelly Kuo Katherine Moldave Jorge Sosa
SUPPORT AMERICAN LYRIC THEATER For twenty years, your generosity has empowered the composers and librettists changing the face of American opera. Your support ensures that the next generation of bold, visionary storytellers can continue to shape the future of this art form. Make your gift today at altnyc.org/donate or scan the QR code. KAUFMANMUSICCENTER.ORG/MH | 212 501 3330
THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS American Lyric Theater extends heartfelt thanks to the many individuals, foundations, and government agencies whose generosity makes our work possible. Your support empowers us to nurture the next generation of composers, librettists, and dramaturgs, and to bring new operas to life that reflect the diverse voices and stories of our time. Foundation Support The Amphion Foundation BMI Foundation The Aaron Copland Fund for Music Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts Howard Gilman Foundation The Dubose and Dorothy Heyward Memorial Trust The Mellon Foundation OPERA America The Dr. M. Lee Pearce Foundation, Inc.* Individual Support Mark Adamo and John Corigliano Victoria Arms M. Page Ashley Abraham Axler Janis Barnes Sarah Solomon Billinghurst* Deborah Brevoort Karen Brooks Hopkins* Wayne Brown* Miriam Charney Justine F. Chen Patsy Hsiu Jung Chen Gerald Cohen Jennifer Collins Elizabeth Coppinger Ralph Craviso Conrad Cummings Adrienne Danrich Anna DeSimone Pamela Drexel Lawrence Edelson and Kevin Kotcher* Marjorie Feder* Kiki Gindler* Rachel Gordon Jane Gullong* Chantal Incandela Beth D. Jacobs Charles Jarden and Norman Ryan*
Government Support National Endowment of the Arts New York City Department of Cultural Affairs New York State Council on the Arts
David Johnston Ruth Kilstein Soo Young Lee Shirley Leong Jay Lessenger Scott Levine Joseph Mace Jodi Malcom Janet Mardfin Michael Middleton Katherine and Jay Moldave Peggy Monastra* Beth Morrison* Theo Popov Mark Schubin Randall Shinn So-Chung Shinn Dona Vaughn Royce Vavrek Mim Warden Elizabeth Warner Stephen Weiner and Don Cornuet Leslie Wildman Michael and Amy Williams Andy Zetlan *gifts made in honor of Susan Feder
Gifts listed reflect contributions received as of October 15, 2025. We extend our heartfelt thanks to all of our supporters, including those whose contributions were received after this date. To all who have supported ALT over the years, and to those who continue to champion our vision for the future of American opera: thank you for making this extraordinary journey possible. KAUFMANMUSICCENTER.ORG/MH | 212 501 3330