Mark Adamo

Composer-librettist Mark Adamo is a founding member of the Composer Librettist Development Program faculty at American Lyric Theater. He is at work on the score and libretto of a new opera commission for Boston in 2024, whilst preparing for the première of his The Lord of Cries (libretto by Mark Adamo, score by John Corigliano) commissioned and scheduled for debut at Santa Fe Opera in July 2021. His Concerto for Solo Cello, Harp, Percussion, and String Orchestra (2020) awaits its première by a consortium of four orchestras, rescheduled due to COVID-19.  His fourth opera, Becoming Santa Claus, was commissioned and introduced by Dallas Opera in December 2015 and released on DVD/Blu-Ray in September 2017. His Gospel of Mary Magdalene, commissioned and introduced by San Francisco Opera in June 2013, received a second production (under the composer’s direction) in a new chamber version in 2016. Other recent premieres include  Aristotle, for baritone Thomas Hampson and the Jupiter String Quartet, commissioned by Music Accord/Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (May 2013;) August Music, for flute duo and string quartet, commissioned by Sir James and Lady Jeanne Galway  (August 2013) and The Racer’s Widow, a cycle of five American poems for mezzo-soprano, cello, and piano in December, introduced by Sasha Cooke and the New York Festival of Song in December 2013.

Adamo first attracted national attention with his uniquely celebrated début opera, Little Women, after the Alcott novel. Introduced by Houston Grand Opera in 1998 and revived there in 2000, Little Women is one of the most frequently performed American operas of the last twenty-five years; it is has had over 100 national and international engagements in cities ranging from New York to Minneapolis, Toronto, Chicago, San Francisco, Adelaide, Mexico City, Amsterdam, Brugges, Banff, Calgary, and Tokyo, where it served as the official U.S. cultural entrant to the 2005 World Expo. The Houston Grand Opera revival (2000) was telecast by PBS/WNET on Great Performances in 2001 and released on CD by Ondine that same year; in fall 2010, Naxos released this performance on DVD and on Blu-ray. Comparable enthusiasm greeted the début of the larger-scaled Lysistrata, Adamo’s second opera, adapted from Aristophanes’ comedy but also including elements from Sophocles’ Antigone. Lysistrata was commissioned by Houston Grand Opera for its 50th anniversary and introduced in March 2005: its New York City Opera debut in March 2006 led to concert performances by Washington National Opera (May 2006) and Music at the Modern by the Van Cliburn Foundation (May 2007) before the new staging of the work at Fort Worth Opera in 2012, which was included on the best-of-2012 lists of both D Magazine and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

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