The Living Libretto - Opera in Eden

THE LIVING LIBRETTO - OPERA IN EDEN gives audiences a first glimpse at three new one-act operas being written by first year resident artists in American Lyric Theater’s Composer Librettist Development Program (CLDP) :
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.

The three libretti will be read by professional actors, followed by discussion with the writers. Moderated by ALT’s Artistic and General Director Lawrence Edelson, these discussions between the audience, composers and librettists explore dramatic structure, characterization, and timing of action in opera vs. spoken drama, providing audiences with a unique perspective into the early stages of each opera’s development.

The three opera libretti 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 afternoon of discovery, with an incredible group of artists who are changing the face of American opera!

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

OPERA America's National Opera Center, 330 7th Avenue, New York, United States