New General Director at Opera Parallèle

Press release from the company, to which I will add that Tod Brody, now the executive director at the Marin Symphony, was Opera Parallèle's general director for several years before Nicole Paiement added the position to artistic director.

SAN FRANCISCO (July 22, 2025) — The Opera Parallèle Board of Directors today announced the appointment of Daniel Harvey as the company’s next Executive Director, effective August 1, 2025. Harvey, a highly successful and respected Bay Area arts administrator with a portfolio of more than 14 years of effective non-profit management credentials, first joined Opera Parallèle in 2017 and at present, serves as the company’s Artistic Producer & Community Director. His selection is the result of a competitive national search.

 

In his new capacity as Executive Director, Daniel Harvey will lead the nationally renowned opera company in partnership with Founder and Artistic Director, Nicole Paiement, who, after five years, relinquishes her dual role as Artistic & General Director. Harvey will report directly to the Opera Parallèle Board of Directors and will steer the company’s strategic direction while overseeing the development, marketing/PR, finance, administration and community engagement departments.  

 

Peggy Otum, Opera Parallèle Board Chair-elect said, “Today’s announcement marks a significant milestone as Opera Parallèle enters its 16th season with a restructured leadership model. As the next Executive Director, Daniel, with his expertise and understanding of the arts landscape, will collaborate closely with Nicole Paiement, who continues her visionary role as founder and artistic director. Together, this dynamic management team—enhanced by award-winning Creative Director Brian Staufenbiel—is poised to propel the company to new artistic heights. The Board is confident that Daniel’s thoughtful guidance, vision and strong business values will contribute to Opera Parallèle’s continued success. We look forward to working with Daniel.”

 

Daniel Harvey commented, “It is a distinct privilege and honor to be selected as the next Executive Director at Opera Parallèle, a company that has been my artistic home for the past eight years. I have been fortunate to grow, personally and professionally, alongside OP during this time of bold innovation and remarkable boundary-pushing creativity. Supporting the visionary work of my esteemed colleagues, Nicole and Brian, and the remarkable artists we bring together continues to be a source of deep inspiration. I look forward to building on the strong local and national partnerships I have helped forge, as we further expand OP’s presence and impact in the Bay Area and nationwide.”

 

“This moment comes at a time of significant challenge for the arts,” Harvey continued, “but the drive to create meaningful work that reflects our world—and to offer spaces of joy, reflection, and connection—feels more vital to me than ever. I wish to express my gratitude to the Board for their confidence in my ability to lead the company with Nicole, and to acknowledge the extraordinary work of my predecessors, the OP staff, board, and enthusiastic donors whose collective dedication and creativity have laid a strong foundation for our future.”

 

Nicole Paiement said, “Daniel Harvey embodies the values and forward-thinking spirit that Opera Parallèle stands for. His multi-faceted experience with the company, his success in building deep and meaningful community relationships and his exceptional administrative skills will ensure OP’s continued creative excellence.  I am excited by this new chapter for the company and am confident that together, we will lead Opera Parallèle into a vibrant and sustainable future. I would also like to commend the Board for selecting Daniel as it underscores the company’s commitment to fostering leadership from within and maintaining its innovative edge in the opera world.”

 

About Daniel Harvey

Daniel Harvey brings over 14 years of experience in artistic, administrative, and production roles to his new position as Executive Director of Opera Parallèle, building on his eight years of work as a key staff member with the organization. Most recently serving as Artistic Producer & Community Director, Harvey has played a central role in shaping and expanding OP’s identity as a champion of contemporary opera—pushing the boundaries of how opera is created, experienced, and shared.

 

In collaboration with Founding Artistic Director Nicole Paiement and Creative Director Brian Staufenbiel, Daniel Harvey has been instrumental in developing national partnerships and co-productions, helping secure presentations of OP’s innovative work with companies such as Cal Performances, Portland Opera, Hawai’i Opera Theatre, Opera Omaha, and Utah Opera. These efforts have not only expanded OP’s national reach but also established new revenue streams and important long-term institutional relationships. In the Bay Area, he has led collaborations with the California Academy of Sciences, YBCA, KQED, San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, and the Bayview Opera House.

 

In his role as Community Director, Harvey spearheaded the redesign of OP’s community programming aligning it with civic practice models under the banner of The Bullhorn, including the creation of Expansive, a bold showcase of transgender classical artists, now in its fourth year in partnership with The Transgender District and the American Conservatory Theater. His work in this area has attracted new funding for the organization and helped redefine what it means for OP to serve, reflect, and engage with its community in meaningful ways.

 

A trained set and costume designer with a degree from the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, Australia, Harvey approaches his work with the eye of an artist and the discipline of a producer. His work at OP has included overseeing production budgets, internal operations, and fostering a supportive, values-driven workplace culture.

 

Harvey Milk Reimagined

 

Harvey Milk Reimagined

Photo by Cory Weaver, courtesy of Opera Parallèle

The original Harvey Milk, by composer Stewart Wallace and librettist Michael Korie, was a co-commission of San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and New York City Opera. It made its way around the country, opening in Houston (Edward Rothstein, NY Times), then playing in NY (Bernard Holland, NY Times, then finally coming to San Francisco (Joshua Kosman, S.F. Chronicle). Between New York and San Francisco, some revisions were made by the composer with input from conductor Donald Runnicles, who led the S.F. performances and was then music director of SFO (that's from Joshua Kosman's review, a detail that stuck in my mind, though not the source, from 1996 until a couple of weeks ago, when I re-read that review).

Now it's been further revised, on commission from Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Opera Parallèle, and it's playing in San Francisco again.

• Joshua Kosman, On a Pacific Aisle (link to his 1996 review is above)
• Lisa Hirsch, SFCV and S.F. Chronicle
• Charlise Tiee, The Opera Tattler
• Harvey Steiman, Seen & Heard International
• Caroline Crawford, Bay City News
• James Ambroff-Tahan, SF Examiner
• Christian Ocier, Parterre Box

It's interesting that Joshua, Harvey, and myself all think that the revised version is overloaded. 

Related:

• Georgia Rowe, preview
• Emily Wilson, preview
• Philip Campbell, preview
• Michael Milenski, preview

The Pigeon Keeper at Opera Parallèle

Craig Irvin (Thalasso), Shayla Sauvie (Kosmo), Angela Yam (Orsia), Bernard Holcomb (Pigeon Keeper / Teacher / Widow Grocer) in David Hanlon and Stephanie Fleischmann's The Pigeon Keeper

Photo: copyright 2025 Stefan Cohen, courtesy of Opera Parallèle

Opera Parallèle's The Pigeon Keeper, by composer David Hanlon and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann, is the first work I've heard from the Opera for All Voices project. San Francisco Opera was originally one of the lead companies, along with Santa Fe Opera. The other participating companies were Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Minnesota Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Sarasota Opera and Seattle Opera. 

Here's crucial paragraph from SF Opera's 2017 press release about OFAV:

The consortium is working together to commission new American operatic works that are flexible in scope and scale, with the potential to be performed in smaller venues and off the main stage while striving for rich storytelling and artistic integrity. The first new work, composed by Augusta Read Thomas with a libretto by Jason Kim, will receive its premiere in 2019 at Santa Fe Opera. The second commission, by composer Laura Kaminsky and librettist Kimberly Reed, is slated to premiere at San Francisco Opera in 2020. Complete information including cast, creative team and performance schedule will be announced at a later date. Additional commissions will be chosen through an open invitational and in partnership with a panel of esteemed jurists.

The 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons were curtailed by the pandemic, obviously. Ruth Nott, who headed SF Opera's Department of Education in 2017,  left the company at the end of 2019. She's now managing director of Opera Parallèle. 

SF Opera never performed the Kaminsky. I'm sorry about that, because I liked the music for Kaminsky's As One, with librettist Kimberly Reed and Mark Campbell, despite the issues in the libretto.

OFAV has as part of its remit creating operas for all audiences (of all ages) and diverse subjects, with each opera on a small scale, making them financially accessible. They are also supposed to be short.

These constraints are certainly a challenge to the librettists and composers. They have to write operas that eschew the musical impact that you can have with a big orchestra–think about the scale difference and emotional impacts of two great operas, Dido and Aeneas and Les Troyens–and the dramatic impact of, well, traditional tragic operas that include such subjects as murder, rape, kidnapping, etc. They're still supposed to be serious operas on significant subjects.

I think that Hanlon and Fleischmann did an excellent job, particularly within those constraints. As I noted in my review, I felt as though the opera could have an alternative, bigger orchestration that would give it even more impact. I'd be very interested in hearing the first opera they wrote together, After the Storm.

Review round-up (to be updated later this week):

• Lisa Hirsch, SFCV and SF Chronicle
• Joshua Kosman, On a Pacific Aisle. See below for some commentary.
• Charlise Tiee, Opera Tattler
• Michael Antonio, Parterre Box

Joshua Kosman writes:

Why won’t Dad take him in? you may ask. It’s a good question, which the libretto doesn’t really answer. Nor does it persuasively address several other questions: Why are the residents of the village so nasty, including the schoolchildren? Why is the Pigeon Keeper who lives in the village such a pariah — aside from the fact that he doesn’t speak the language, hangs out with birds, and makes weird goo-goo eyes at everyone? (OK, that one’s actually pretty easy.) And most bewilderingly, why does the fisherman suddenly change his mind? For such a climactic plot point, this turnabout needed more justification.

The child is one of the hated refugee-outsiders is why. That's why everyone is nasty to the child; it's why everyone, including Orsia, is nasty to the Pigeon Keeper. I believe that when the child spontaneously sings the lullaby that the mother used to sing, the father's heart is unlocked. This is the closest thing to magical realism in the plot: the mystery of the child's origins and how he knows the song. Maybe it's a common folk song, but how does he pull it out at the moment when he sings it?

UPDATED: March 12, 2025

 

Fellow Travelers at Opera Parallèle

 

Opera Parallèle, with Jaymes Kirksey, Guest Conductor, and Brian Staufenbiel, Stage/Creative Director, in a dress rehearsal of “Fellow Travelers.” This image from left to right: Joseph Lattanzi, as Hawkins Fuller, Cara Gabrielson, as Lucy, Victoria Lawal, as Mary Johnson, and
Jonathan Pierce Rhodes, as Timothy Laughlin

©2024 Stefan Cohen/Photo Courtesy of Opera Parallèle

Gregory Spears's opera Fellow Travelers had its Bay Area debut last month. Reviews:

• Steven Winn, SF Chronicle
• Lisa Hirsch, SFCV. My review should have mentioned the efficient and attractive set.
• The Opera Tattler

Birds & Balls at Opera Parallèle

 

Nikola Printz as Billie Jean King in Laura Karpman's Balls

Opera Parallèle, April, 2024

Photo by Kristen Loken, courtesy of Opera Parallèle

This weekend, Opera Parallèle is presenting four performances of a charming double bill called Birds & Balls, consisting of David T. Little and Royce Vavrek's Vinkensport (about the Belgian sport of counting the mating calls of finches) and Laura Karpman and Gail Collins's Balls, which is about the 1973 tennis match between (the very closeted) champion Billie Jean King and (the asshole former amateur champion) Bobby Riggs.  I saw the second performance, yesterday afternoon.

I always want more operatic comedies, and this pairing is definitely a winner. Both works have good music and good to great performances; they are knit together by extremely funny patter from Howard Cosell (some of you will remember him) as a presentation of ABC's Wide World of Sports. (Does it still exist? I have no idea.) The standout performances are Nikola Printz as King and Nathan Granner as Riggs, with a great contribution by Tiffany Austin as King's secret lover Marilyn and the always-terrific Shawnette Sulker as Susan B. Anthony. Honestly, everyone was excellent, and Nicole Paiement conducted with her usual precision and drive. The two operas are not perfect, per Joshua Kosman's review, but I enjoyed them greatly despite the flaws.

There's one performance left, today, Sunday, April 7, at 2 p.m. Go if you can!

Review roundup:

• Joshua Kosman,  SF Chronicle
• Jeff Dunn, Aisle Seat Review
• Michael Anthonio, Parterre Box
• Rebecca Wishnia, SFCV

Birds & Balls at Opera Parallèle

The ever-adventurous Opera Parallèle is presenting a delightful-looking double bill called Birds & Balls in a few weeks.  The Birds are finches, in David T. Little and Royce Vavrek's Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera. The press release describes Vinkensport this way:

[It's about] the obscure 400-year-old Flemish folk sport of professional Finch-sitting, where the contestants battle it out to see who has the most melodious bird. As they compete for the greatest number of “susk-e-wiets” over the course of an hour, the motivations and secrets of the finches’ trainers are revealed, as is their complex relationship to their birds, the sport, and themselves. 

The Balls are..um...tennis balls, as in the famous tennis match in which Billy Jean King soundly defeated Bobby Riggs:

Balls is a multimedia opera dramatizing the famed 1973 tennis game between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, a live television event which was viewed by 90-million people worldwide and which last year commemorated its 50-year anniversary. The famous match, in which Billie Jean King triumphed over Bobby Riggs, changed not only the perception and treatment of women in sports, but significantly advanced the women’s rights movement. 

Vinkensport was commissioned by soprano Dawn Upshaw for the Graduate Vocal Arts Program at Bard College. Balls was workshopped in 2017 at The Industry in LA, but in an incomplete form.

The production stars an array of terrific singers, including (but not limited to) Tiffany Austin, Daniel Cilli, Nathan Granner, Nikola Printz, Chad Somers, Chung-Wai Soong, and Shawnette Sulker. Nicole Paiement conducts, Brian Staufenbiel directs.

Dates:

• Friday, April 5, 2024 7.30 PM
• Saturday, April 6, 2 PM & 7.30 PM
• Sunday, April 7, 2 PM

Ticket prices: $40 – $185 for April 5 & 7 performances; $50 – $205 for April 6 performance.
Buy tickets at the SFJAZZ web site.

Venue: SFJAZZ Center’s Miner Auditorium, San Francisco 201 Franklin St., between Fell and Linden.

Everest: An Immersive Experience

Rob Hall, Doug Hansen, Beck Weathers, Jan Arnold

I reviewed Opera Parallèle's Everest: An Immersive Experience, for SFCV. Here's the media roundup. 

• Lily Janiak, SF Chroń
• Lisa Hirsch, SFCV
• Charlise Tiee, Opera Tattler
• Michael Anthonio, Parterre Box

San Francisco Opera Medal

Dale Travis, Philip Skinner, and Catherine Cook

October 30, 2022

Photo by Kristen Loken, courtesy of San Francisco Opera

Here's the kind of event that warms the heart of even a cynic like me: San Francisco Opera has awarded its Opera Medal to Dale Travis (bass baritone), Philip Skinner (bass baritone), and Catherine Cook (mezzo-soprano), three singers who, over the last 30-plus years, have between them appeared in scores of roles in hundreds of performances. They have sung big roles and small; they are all terrific singers and consummate professionals. They have brought honor to the stage (and themselves!) and great joy to everyone who has heard them.

They received the medal after the last performance of Dialogues of the Carmelites, in which Cook had appeared as Mother Jeanne and Travis had appeared as the Marquis de la Force. The three had written a speech that they each read part of it. It was a lovely occasion and the medals well earned.

I've seen them in many many roles over the years. Travis is a perennial in certain roles, such as the Sacristan in Tosca; he was terrific in Dialogues and I remember him fondly in The Makropulos Case (Dr. Kolenaty). I am sorry to have missed Cook's turn in the title role of Dolores Claiborne; she often sings comic roles, and has been a fabulous La Frugola in Il Tabarro and Mother Goose in The Rake's Progress. I have seen Skinner in a wide range of roles at SFO - most recently in Antony and Cleopatra, and farther back as possibly the best Escamillo of my experience. He was an incredibly chilling Edgar Lee Killen in Appomattox, with a big monologue right at the close of the opera, which I remember vividly some 15 years later. He has also been a star of many many productions at Opera Parallele and West Edge Opera.

Wishing these three long life and much more great singing!

 

Opera Parallèle 2022-23 Season

Opera Parallèle announced its oddly-number 2022-23 season, all performances of which seem to take place in 2023. There are just two works next year but they are goodies:

• Everest: An Immersive Experience, by Joby Talbot with a libretto by Gene Scheer. During the earlier stage of the pandemic, OP created a video version of this. I never saw it, though I will try to see it in the near future. I loved Talbot's Path of Miracles, performed by Volti and ODC Dance in 2018. This opera is based on interviews and other accounts of the 1996 Mt. Everest climbing disaster covered by Jon Krakauer in Into Thin Air. Now it's being staged as a completely immersive experience at Z Space. Intruiging and well cast, with Sasha Cooke, Nathan Granner, Kevin Burdette, Hadleigh Adams, and more. February 3-12, 2023.
• The Shining, by Paul Moravec with a libretto by Mark Campbell. Based on the Stephen King novel; a co-production with Hawai'i Opera Theatre and Opera Portland. June 2-4, 2023. Edward Parks, Kearstin Piper Brown, Aubrey Allicock, and others star. This one is at YBCA Theatre.

La Belle et la Bête, Opera Parallèle

I've filed a rave review of Opera Parallèle's current production of Philip Glass's opera La Belle et la Bête. Move fast and you might be able to get tickets to the two remaining performances, which are tonight (Saturday, July 16) at 7:30 pm and tomorrow (Sunday, July 17) at 3 pm, at SFJazz, 201 Franklin St. in San Francisco. (Update: Tomorrow is sold out, so you would need to get a return.) It is really wonderful; a great film, terrific performers, great music, and a wildly imaginative production.

My rave doesn't include one small reservation, which in no way should keep you from going: there could be less amplification; it's just a bit too loud for me. And there's one aspect of the original that just cannot be matched because the original audio is completely gone. That's Jean Marais's instantly-recognizable, slightly-raspy voice. It's one of two things I remembered from seeing this film as a child. The other is the sconces in the hallway.

• Joshua Kosman, SF Chroncle
• Georgia Rowe, Opera News (link to follow)
• Lisa Hirsch, SFCV

Previous reviews:

• Les Enfants Terribles at Opera Parallèle
• Orphée at ENO (and three other Orpheus operas)

Anticipation

War Memorial Opera House

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

I've got the latest in a bunch of cancellations and postponements in hand, in thee wake of the Bay-Area- and state-wide shelter-in-place orders, including the following:

• LA Phil and events at WDCH, cancelled through May 10.
• Opera Parallele is postponing Harvey Milk and related events.
• Earplay is postponing an upcoming concert
• SF Ballet has suspended the balance of their season.
• San Francisco Renaissance Voices cancelled another concert and is suspending operations.

Not yet heard from: LA Opera and San Francisco Opera. But note the following:

• LAO has a production of Pelleas et Melisande scheduled to open in early May. Their rehearsals have to commence around April 1.
• SF Opera has its summer season opening around the beginning of June. Their rehearsals have to commence around May 1.

I know what I would do if I were SFO: I'd try to postpone the summer season to July, which would mean that rehearsals for the fall season might overlap with the end of the summer season. But it would buy some time for the company.

Opera Parallèle Season

Opera Parallèle has a surprisingly sparse season coming up; it's tasty, in more ways than one, but there is only one full-scale opera, a revival of Stewart Wallace and Michael Korie's Harvey Milk. I didn't have a really high opinion of the work when I saw it the first time - back when SF Opera performed it, in the out-of-opera-house season in the 90s - and it'll be interesting to see if I have a higher opinion of it now.

In addition to Harvey Milk, there's a recital, largely with the great William Burden and the great Fredica von Stade (keisuke Nakagoshi, piano); a gala benefit; and Lee Hoiby's Bon Appétit, which is a one-act opera starring Julia Child, wait, Catherine Cook as Julia Child. That should be something to see, because as I hope every reader of this blog knows, Cook is a wonderful singer, and hilarious, and will be a fantastic Julia!

Bill and Flicka: Generous SpiritsWilliam Burden, Tenor
Frederica von Stade, Mezzo-Soprano
Guest Christabel Nunoo, Soprano
Keisuke Nakagoshi, Piano

Venue:                  Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall at SFCM

Date and Time:      September 19, 2019, 7:30 pm

Tickets:                $35-$150  City Box Office            

Because of You
Annual Benefit Gala

Venue:                           The Green Room, San Francisco War Memorial & Performing Arts Center

Date and Time:               October 2, 2019, 5:30 cocktails, 6:30 dinner

Tickets:                          $300, $500 (individual)$5k, $10k, $15k (tables of 10)
Performers:                    Marnie Breckenridge, soprano

                                     Catherine Cook, mezzo soprano     

                                     Bojan Knezevic, baritone

                                     Keisuke Nakagoshi, piano

                 

Bon Appétit!
Music: Lee Hoiby
Libretto: Julia Child and Mark Shulgasser
Venue:                  Hayes Street Grill restaurant, San Francisco

Dates:                  February 16 (Cocktails 5pm, Dinner 6pm)

February 17 (Cocktails 6pm, Dinner 7pm), 2020

Tickets:                $200 (includes cocktails and dinner)

Performers:           Catherine Cook, mezzo-soprano, and Keisuke Nakagoshi, piano

Celebrating its 10th season, Opera Parallèle, in partnership with San Francisco’s legendary Hayes Street Grill restaurant, is pleased to present a two-night-only special event: the one-act opera Bon Appétit!, starring mezzo soprano Catherine Cook as culinary icon Julia Child. Taken from two episodes of Child’s popular TV series, this delightful one-woman opera focuses on the flamboyant master chef making a classic French chocolate cake — Le Gâteau au Chocolat L’Éminence Brune — which is then served to the audience as dessert after a delectable dinner complete with specially-paired wine. The evening includes cocktails and dinner.                          

Harvey Milk
Music: Stewart Wallace
Libretto: Michael Korie

Venue: The Blue Shield of California Theater at YBCA
Dates: May 15-17, 2020
Tickets: $35-$120   City Box Office

Harvey Milk: Matthew Worth
Dan White: David Walton         
Scott Smith: Christian Sanders          
George Moscone: Matt Boehler                             
Messenger: Tai Oney               
Dianne Feinstein: Marnie Breckenridge                 
Mama: Catherine Cook             
Anne Kronenberg: Kindra Scharich    

[Color me annoyed at "The Blue Cross  Shield of California Theater at YBCA." I cannot f'ing stand corporate and personal naming rights unless you're Andrew Carnegie. If I had enough money, Avery Fisher David Geffen Hall would go back to Philharmonic Hall or, maybe, it could be named after one of the NYPO's deceased music directors, and I do not mean Masur or Maazel, either.]

News from Merola

Weird, I don't seem to have a press release about this: Merola Opera has announced some additional details about their upcoming commission, the first in the program's history.

The new work will be by Jake Heggie, libretto by Gene Scheer (that's not new). New to me: the work will be called If I Were You, "loosely based" on the French novel Si j'etais vous.

Newly announced: Nicole Paiement will conduct!! She is a great conductor, the artistic director of Opera Parallele, and principal guest conductor of Dallas Opera. (I hope she'll conduct at San Francisco Opera one of these days.)

Opera America Awards

Opera America has made $225,000 in awards to assist in the production of a number of operas. Here are the works, composers, and companies involved. Congratulations to all of the recipients! I hope to hear your works.

AMERICAN OPERA PROJECTS with OPERA PARALLÈLE Today It Rains by composer Laura Kaminsky and librettists Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed
	Today It Rains is set on the transformative train ride that Georgia O’Keeffe took from New York to Santa Fe in 1929, during which she began to redefine herself as an artist and confront certain aspects of her marriage to Alfred Stieglitz. Based on an original concept by Mark Campbell, with a projection design by Kimberly Reed, the production will be conducted by Nicole Paiement and directed by Brian Staufenbiel. For this same work, Opera Parallèle previously received two grants: a 2016 Repertoire Development Grant and a 2017 Commissioning Grant, part of the Opera Grants for Female Composers Program.
BETH MORRISON PROJECTS Magda/Max by composer Garrett Fisher and librettist Amy Schrader
	Magda/Max is inspired by the dramatic life and death of Magda Goebbels, unofficial first lady of the Third Reich. The story unfolds through the experiences of Max, a gay Jewish prisoner in a concentration camp who is beaten close to death for “deviant” behavior. In a fever-dream, he imagines himself as Madga Goebbels, lamenting a society that refuses to accept the new world order. As the war comes to a close, Max's fate becomes intertwined with the Nazi leaders trapped in Hitler’s bunker, and freedom is only attainable through the ultimate sacrifice.
BOSTON LYRIC OPERA Schoenberg in Hollywood by composer Tod Machover and librettist Simon Robson Based on a scenario by Braham Murray
	Schoenberg in Hollywood centers on influential composer Arnold Schoenberg and his late-career effort to assimilate into the culture of 1930s Los Angeles. The opera will explore the humor, heroism and pathos of Schoenberg’s struggle, as it imagines his complex life in Hollywood and uncovers its relevance for future generations. It will premiere at Boston Lyric Opera in fall 2018.
THE GLIMMERGLASS FESTIVAL Blue by composer Jeanine Tesori and librettist Tazewell Thompson
	Blue dives into the emotional epicenter of an African-American couple who lose their teenage son when he is killed by a police officer. Blue will premiere during the 2019 festival season and will be one of the subjects of “Breaking Glass,” a podcast and series of national forums hyperlinking opera and topical issues. For this same work, The Glimmerglass Festival previously received a 2016 Commissioning Grant, part of the Opera Grants for Female Composers program.
HOUSTON GRAND OPERA The Phoenix by composer Tarik O'Regan and librettist John Caird
	The Phoenix examines the life of Mozart’s friend and librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte. After the composer's death, Da Ponte flees Europe for America. Pursued by tax collectors and wronged women, Da Ponte reinvents himself countless times as a priest, a poet, a father, a political exile, a grocer and a teacher. The Phoenix will premiere in March 2019 as part of HGO’s multidisciplinary initiative “Seeking the Human Spirit.”
LONG BEACH OPERA Five by composer Anthony Davis and librettist Richard Wesley
	Long Beach Opera will facilitate the revision and new premiere of the opera Five. The opera follows five African-American and Latino teenage boys who were wrongly convicted for the 1989 rape and beating of a white jogger in Central Park. The “Central Park Five” spent between 6 and 13 years in prison until they were exonerated by DNA evidence, following the confession of the true assailant.
THE METROPOLITAN OPERA Eurydice by composer Matthew Aucoin and librettist Sarah Ruhl
	Eurydice, based on the play by Sarah Ruhl, tells the Orpheus story from the perspective of Eurydice, using contemporary language to present the young lovers as quirky and conflicted. Eurydice meets her father in the Underworld, her memory erased, and they must re-establish their bond. When Orpheus arrives to bring her back to the land of the living, will she return with him? Eurydice was commissioned in 2015 by the Met Opera/Lincoln Center Theater New Works Program.
MINNESOTA OPERA The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by composer Paola Prestini and librettist Mark Campbell
	The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is a family-friendly opera based on the young adult novel of the same name by Kate DiCamillo. It follows the adventures of an aloof toy rabbit named Edward whose comfortable life abruptly ends when he is thrown into the sea. His adventures take him far and wide until he finally opens his heart and finds his way back home. For this same work, Minnesota Opera previously received a 2017 Commissioning Grant, part of the Opera Grants for Female Composers program.
OPERA COLUMBUS The Flood by composer Korine Fujiwara and librettist Stephen Wadsworth
	A collaboration between Opera Columbus and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra,The Flood tells a story of human connection through loss and shared tragedy across multiple generations of one family, centered on the devastation caused by the Great Flood of 1913 in the Franklinton neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. The Flood will receive its world premiere in Columbus in February 2019. For this same work, Opera Columbus previously received a 2016 Commissioning Grant, part of the Opera Grants for Female Composers program.
OPERA THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS Fire Shut Up in My Bones by composer Terence Blanchard and librettist Kasi Lemmons
	Fire Shut Up in My Bones is based on the moving memoir by journalist Charles Blow, chronicling his coming of age in small-town Gibsland, Louisiana, formerly the site of a plantation. Blow learns to break the cycles of violence that ignite this community, which is tied together by deep bonds and the spirit of resilience.