A Bright Future for New Opera IN 2019, ARTISTS GATHERED AT MUSIC HALL’S WILKS STUDIO to workshop the opera-in-progress Castor and Patience as part of the Opera Fusion: New Works program. Photo by Philip Groshong.
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s opera houses come back to life, the art form is now more vibrant than ever, with an exhilarating variety of new operas making their way to stages across the country. Many of these projects can trace their journeys back to Cincinnati and the groundbreaking Opera Fusion: New Works program. Founded in 2011 through a generous grant from the Mellon Foundation, Opera Fusion: New Works is a nationally unique partnership between Cincinnati Opera and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) designed to support the development of new American operas. Co-directed by Evans Mirageas and CCM Professor Robin Guarino, Opera Fusion: New Works brings composers and librettists together with Cincinnati Opera and CCM artists and administrators to workshop their operas-in-progress and prepare them for the stage. Along the way, CCM students have the opportunity to be part of the creative process, giving them valuable insight into each opera’s genesis and evolution. To date, the program has produced workshops for 20 operas, including five that have gone on to premiere at Cincinnati Opera: Morning Star (2015),
Fellow Travelers (2016), Blind Injustice (2019), and this summer’s Fierce and Castor and Patience. Others have been produced at prominent opera companies across the country, including Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Minnesota Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and The Metropolitan Opera, to name just a few. The program’s success shows no signs of slowing. Earlier this year, the Mellon Foundation awarded Cincinnati Opera a $1.3 million grant, a portion of which will support the continuation of Opera Fusion: New Works for an additional three years. The gift will also support a new artistic initiative by Cincinnati Opera to commission three new operas by composers and librettists of color, with a primary focus on celebrating Black stories. The first of these is scheduled to premiere during the company’s 2025 Summer Festival and will receive a workshop through the Opera Fusion: New Works program. (Details to come soon.) The takeaway? The future of opera is bright indeed. We invite you to watch this space for more exciting creative developments ahead.
CORBETT OPERA FUSION AND OPERA FUSION: NEW WORKS PARTICIPANTS These outstanding young artists from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music participated in Cincinnati Opera and CCM’s Corbett Opera Fusion and Opera Fusion: New Works projects during 2021–2022. Kendra Beasley Victoria Ellington Lucy Evans Tanya Harris Tyler Johnson
Nicholas Kelliher William R. Langley Jordan Loyd Emma Marhefka Ariana Maubach
John Mburu Erik Nordstrom Victoria Okafor Atticus Rego Ashlyn Rock
Arieh Sacke Jaime Sharp Madison Stone Logan Wagner
