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Houston Grand Opera (HGO), located in Houston, Texas, was founded in 1955 by German-born impresario Walter Herbert and Houstonians Elva Lobit, Edward Bing, and Charles Cockrell. HGO's inaugural season featured two performances of two operas, Salome and Madama Butterfly. David Gockley succeeded Walter Herbert as general director in 1972 and remained in the post until accepting the general directorship at San Francisco Opera in 2005.
Royce Vavrek is a Canadian-born Brooklyn-based librettist, playwright, dance scenarist, musical theatre writer and filmmaker known for his collaborations with composers David T. Little, Missy Mazzoli, Ricky Ian Gordon and Du Yun, soprano Lauren Worsham, producers Beth Morrison and Lawrence Edelson, and conductors Steven Osgood, Julian Wachner and Alan Pierson.
The American Opera Project (AOP) is a professional opera company based in Brooklyn, NY and is a member of OPERA America, the Fort Greene Association, the Downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance, and the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./NY). The company's primary mission is to develop and present new operatic and music theatre works and has gained a reputation for the "rarefied range" of the projects it fosters. AOP was founded in 1988 by Grethe Barrett Holby who served as Artistic Director of AOP from 1988 until 2001, at which point Charles Jarden became the company's Executive Director and Steven Osgood the company's Artistic Director. Steven Osgood left the post of Artistic Director in 2008 to pursue conducting full-time but remains the Artistic Director for AOP's "Composers & the Voice" program.
Dog Days is an opera by David T. Little, to a libretto by Royce Vavrek after the short story by Judy Budnitz.
Thaddeus Strassberger is an American and citizen of the Cherokee Nation opera director and scenic designer. In 2005 he was awarded the European Opera Directing Prize by Opera Europa for his work on Opera Ireland's production of Rossini's La Cenerentola.
David T. Little is an American composer and drummer known for his orchestral and operatic works, most notably his opera Dog Days which was named a standout opera of recent decades by The New York Times. He is the artistic director of Newspeak, an eight-piece amplified ensemble that explores the boundaries between rock and classical music, and is a member of the composition faculty at Mannes School of Music.
Marnie Breckenridge is an American singer based out of New York City. She is a soprano performing opera, classical music, operetta and classical sacred music.
Missy Mazzoli is an American composer and pianist who is a member of the composition faculty at the Mannes College of Music. She has received critical acclaim for her chamber, orchestral and operatic work. In 2018 she became one of the first two women to receive a commission from the Metropolitan Opera House. She is the founder and keyboardist for Victoire, an electro-acoustic band dedicated to performing her music. From 2012-2015 she was composer-in-residence at the Opera Company of Philadelphia, in collaboration with Gotham Chamber Opera and Music-Theater Group. Her music is published by G. Schirmer. Mazzoli received a 2015 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award, a Fulbright Grant to the Netherlands, and in 2018 was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Classical Composition. In 2018, Mazzoli was named for a two-season term as the Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
27 is an opera by composer Ricky Ian Gordon and librettist Royce Vavrek in a prologue and five acts that explores the relationship of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, and the salons that they hosted at their residence at 27 rue de Fleurus in Paris. The work was commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis for mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe. The full cast of five singers was featured on the cover of the June 2014 issue of Opera News. The opera premiered on June 14, 2014, in a production directed by James Robinson and conducted by Michael Christie at the Loretto-Hilton Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The world premiere was recorded by Albany Records.
Kiera Duffy is an American opera singer born in Philadelphia. A soprano, Duffy is also an accomplished pianist. She has earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Westminster Choir College.
Gregory Spears is an American composer of instrumental and operatic works that blend aspects of romanticism, minimalism, and early music. Among his best known works are the operas Fellow Travelers and Paul's Case, as well as his Requiem.
JFK is an opera in three acts by American composer David T. Little, with an English-language libretto by Royce Vavrek. The opera's story is based on the final night of American president John F. Kennedy's life that was spent in at the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth, prior to his assassination in Dallas, on November 22, 1963.
Breaking the Waves is an opera in three acts by Missy Mazzoli with a libretto by Royce Vavrek. It is based on the 1996 film of the same name by Danish auteur Lars von Trier. The opera was first performed on September 22, 2016, by Opera Philadelphia.
O Columbia is an opera in three parts by Gregory Spears, with an English-language libretto by Royce Vavrek. The opera's story celebrates the American spirit of exploration and features Sir Walter Raleigh, an astronaut on the Space Shuttle Columbia and the mythological icon Lady Columbia.
Song from the Uproar: The Lives and Deaths of Isabelle Eberhardt is an opera in one act by Missy Mazzoli with a libretto by Royce Vavrek and Mazzoli. It is inspired by the life of Swiss explorer and writer Isabelle Eberhardt.
Abigail Fischer is an American mezzo-soprano.
Beth Morrison is an American producer of contemporary opera.
The Music Critics Association of America (MCANA) Award for Best New Opera is an annual prize given to a composer and librettist.
Talise Trevigne is an American operatic soprano.
Sydney Mancasola is an American operatic soprano singer.
References
- ↑ "Review: 'Breaking the Waves' Lends Musical Heft to a von Trier Tale". The New York Times. 26 September 2016.
- ↑ "'JFK' Envisions an Operatic Ending for Camelot". The New York Times. 17 April 2016.
- ↑ "The Arc of a Transgender Life". The New York Times. 6 September 2014.
- ↑ "Composers & the Voice: Composers Team with Librettists and Singers to Create New Operas - The Composer's Site".
- ↑ "'Breaking the Waves': A great operatic package if you can take it".
- ↑ Waleson, Heidi (25 April 2016). "'JFK' Review: On the Eve of Assassination" – via Wall Street Journal.
- ↑ "Stormy Waters Decide a Family’s Fate". The New York Times. 10 January 2015.
- ↑ Waleson, Heidi (8 September 2014). "The Femmes Fatales of Mythology" – via Wall Street Journal.
- ↑ "New York Classical Review".
- ↑ "Review: Song from the Uproar".
- ↑ "Two Women With Gumption". The New York Times. 2 July 1996.