OUR NEXT WORLD PREMIERE!
We are thrilled to announce that Chicago Opera Theater will be producing the World Premiere of SHE WHO DARED, by composer Jasmine Arielle Barnes and librettist Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton. Developed under the auspices of the Composer Librettist Development Program, SHE WHO DARED is, remarkably, the first opera to be professionally produced in the United States that has been written by two Black female artists. Everyone has heard of Rosa Parks, but she wasn’t the first to refuse to move. She Who Dared recenters the spotlight on the courageous women who helped desegregate the Montgomery bus system in the 1950’s leading to the momentous court case of Browder v. Gayle. The highly melodic score liberally references musical idioms of the time, including soul, gospel, and protest music. While often riotous and sometimes hilarious, She Who Dared demonstrates how everyday people have the power to challenge the systems around them and affect tangible change – if only they dare.
JOIN US IN CHICAGO! If you are interested in joining ALT in Chicago for the World Premiere of She Who Dared on June 3, 2025 - please fill out the form below and we’ll send you all of the details about discount tickets, opening night festivities, and a special opportunity for members of the ALT family to celebrate with Jasmine and Deborah in Chicago!
THREE NEW OPERAS!
OPERA IN EDEN
Saturday, June 14, 2025 @ 7:00 pm
Symphony Space
Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater
2537 Broadway at 95th St.
American Lyric Theater presents three new one-act operas in concert written by Resident Artists in the Composer Librettist Development Program:
FOURTH WAVE BEAUTY QUEENS
Composer: Kathleen Tagg; Librettist: Laura Barati
FOURTH WAVE BEAUTY QUEENS delves into the relationship between Délia, a feminist academic researching extreme beauty treatments, and her mother, Flora. When Délia receives rare prototypes of the latest, miracle anti-aging and weight loss treatments as a gift, she and Flora are forced to face their ultimate temptations. A darkly comedic mother-daughter story, FOURTH WAVE BEAUTY QUEENS explores the competing desires and gordian knot of living within the female gaze.
GIOVANNI/A
Composer: Del’Shawn Taylor; Librettist: C.S. Hanson
Secrets. Forbidden love. Dreams that dare not be told. Within the confines of a Benedictine monastery in 16th century Padua, monks Nico and Giovanni are devoted to work and prayer until attraction threatens their peaceful existence. The Abbot, no stranger to friendly spying, just wants to keep things in order. When secrets are unleashed, Giovanni’s truth boldly challenges the rules of the monastic community.
THE SHADOW
Composer: Ivette Herryman Rodríguez; Librettist: Samuel Norman
A simple experiment goes terribly wrong. A man accidentally detaches himself from his shadow, which flits off into the night. No matter how hard he tries, he’s unable to recover it, and eventually he is forced to move on… until the evening he receives an unexpected visitor.)Adapted from the twisted tale by Hans Christian Andersen, THE SHADOW explores the fragility of identity, and how easily reality itself can be usurped by a good story.
FEATURING:
Nicole Keeling, soprano; Jennifer Zetlan, soprano; Olivia Vote, mezzo soprano; Daniel Moody, countertenor; Ryan Lustgarten, tenor; Bernardo Medeiros, baritone; Kenneth Overton, baritone; Jason Wirth, pianist.
Conductor: Kelly Kuo
The three operas to be featured on this program have been developed through a workshop taught at American Lyric Theater by composer/librettist Mark Adamo. For this project, each writing team is provided with the same structural outline that serves as a thematic scaffold upon which they develop their operas – but the stories for each opera are completely up to the artists! The structural outline is designed to encourage architectural and motivic thinking by librettists and composers alike. This project has been a core element of ALT’s Composer Librettist Development Program since the program’s inception in 2007 and has proven invaluable in fostering collaboration throughout the writing process – from a work’s early outline – through the development of the libretto – to the composition of the score. This project has not only strengthened composers and librettists’ dramaturgical skills, but has also yielded a wide array of exciting one-act operas, many of which have gone on to full production across the country. Join us for an exciting evening of discovery, with an incredible group of artists who are changing the face of American opera!
The Composer Librettist Development Program
Founded in 2007, the CLDP is the only full-time professional mentorship initiative for operatic writers in the country. The CLDP is a tuition-free program that includes a core curriculum of classroom training and hands-on workshops with some of the country’s leading working artists.
“the essential contemporary opera lab.”
—The New Yorker
THE ARIA ACCESS PROJECT
The Aria Access Project (AAP) is a new resource for educators and singers that provides free access to arias by contemporary American composers and librettists for educational an audition use. This online hub includes arias from works that have recently received their premieres, as well as from operas for which the premieres are forthcoming.
Operas for Production
ALT currently has over 20 operas available to license, created by alumni of the Composer Librettist Development Program. Looking for a one-act chamber opera? A full-length, family-friendly work? An opera for your school touring program? A large-scale work for professional or academic production? Find the exact opera to suit your needs.