An article by Anne Midgette in the July 4th Washington Post looks at the ability of smaller opera companies to deliver on successfully creating, developing, and producing new operas. Anne looks at recent projects by Wolf Trap Opera, Long Beach Opera, Cinnabar Opera, Maryland Opera Studio, and Opera Alterna as paving the way for composers and librettists learning the art form.
What she omits in the article was the fact that there are several companies in North America that are already viewed as leaders in the development of new operatic work, namely Tapestry New Opera Works (which runs its annual Composer/Librettist Laboratory next month), Queen of Puddings (whose Songs and Scenes program finished a few days ago), and American Opera Projects. The production of chamber-size contemporary operas is really nothing new, but has in many ways become a necessity with recent economic belt-tightening.
There is also a great company in Montreal called Chants Libres. Worth checking it out!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.chantslibres.org