Music by: Kamala Sankaram Libretto b y: David Johnston Duration: 45 Minutes Commissioned by: Houston Grand Opera and developed in partnership with American Lyric Theater This 45-minute opera for youth audiences fuses together folktales from around the world to tell the story of Monkey and his brainy sister, Francine. The siblings must learn to cooperate to escape a hungry crocodile and outwit the greedy Lord of the Tigers. Combining multiple styles of music from Bollywood, Ethiopian jazz, Latin, and classical, this opera shares the timeless message that we all have different strengths, but when we work together, anything is possible. FORCES Singers: Four Singers Orchestration: Optional Percussion Piano Reviews “This little gem may have been composed with children in mind, but its creators, composer Kamala Sankaram and librettist David Johnston, know that being kid-friendly doesn’t mean dumbed-down. Drawing from sources that range from Indianand Chinese mythology, William Blake and Bollywood to Ethiopian jazz, the libretto was sophisticated and fresh, whilethe music was witty and eclectic. You tapped your toes and found yourself singing along whenever ‘Crocodile Crunch’ or‘Monkey Royal Family’ was reprised. Sets and costumes would have been great, but who needed them with this great castand a cool bongo player.” -Rick Perdian, Seen and Heard International MEDIA

Music by : Jasmine Barnes Libretto b y: Langston Hughes Duration: 20 minutes Commissioned : by Seattle Choral Company . P remiered: NYO2 national youth orchestra at Carnegie Hall, A concerto for wind quartets that is heavily inspired by Black joy, family, and Black community gatherings. FORCES Orchestration: Solo quartet of flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon, 2 flutes 2 oboes 2 clarinets 2 bassoons 4 horns 2 trumpets 3 trombones tuba timpani percussion harp strings. Project Statement “KINSFOLKNEM is a celebration of family and extended family gathering. The piece highlights the sound world of places and themes surrounding Black family gatherings. The first movement, “The Sunday Dinner,” showcases themes of gospel idioms, much like the second movement, “The Repast.” The third and last movement, “The Reunion,” is a final celebration of the sort. It features the sound world of a Black cookout.” Reviews Kinsfolknem” is a celebration of family, community, and Black artistry. - Nashville Symphony MEDIA

Music by: Ricky Ian Gordon Libretto by: Frank Bidart Duration: 75 minutes Originally Commissioned and premiered : Opera Saratoga, 2019 Ellen West is a chamber opera-theatre work that delves into the true story of a woman struggling with disordered eating during the early 20th century, and the attempts of people around her to save her. Through the evocative poetry of Pulitzer Prize winner Frank Bidart and the beautiful music of Ricky Ian Gordon, Ellen West reveals the emotional roller-coaster of a woman fighting her own body and mind, battling starvation and obsessive control. Eventually she returns to the home she shared with her husband, where he and her doctors intervene in an exploration of the emotional, psychological, and physical challenges of her struggle with her perceptions of her body, her relationship with food, and her feeling of the world closing in around her. At the end of the opera, Ellen West is able to rise above her fettered circumstances by finding peace in death, finally freeing herself from the restraints that had gripped her in life. FORCES Singers: Ellen West ; - Soprano Ludwig Binswanger ; Baritone Orchestration: Str.4tet., Cb., C Bell, Pno. Reviews "Ricky Ian Gordon’s riveting one-act opera “Ellen West,” recently given its world premiere by Opera Saratoga at the Spa Little Theater, depicts the savage struggle of a young woman whose eating disorder is a war to the death between her soul and her body. Through an unusually powerful fusion of music and poetry, the opera soars beyond the clinical details into the realm of existential dread, yet never loses sight of the suffering human being at its center." - Heidi Waleson, The Wall Street Journal "On this foundation, Gordon builds a rich work on a small scale, crafting a score for string quartet, bass, and piano that never loses its basic feeling of tension. Ellen West is not so straightforwardly melodic as some of Gordon’s other works, but it is no less expressive for that. In the taut, hard-edged lines of Ellen’s vocal part we hear a reflection of the psychology expressed so vividly in the text, grappling with existential problems and struggling to find resolution. The hardest-hitting lines of the poem come out in blazing musical climaxes, yet Gordon finds plenty of room to let the character have quieter moments of introspection, in passages that wander as she explores a new idea."- Eric C. Simpson, New York Classical Review MEDIA

New Opera ‘She Who Dared’ Sings the Praises of Bold Black Women by Janet Arvia for Rebellious Magazine Published May 9, 2025 Poster for COT's world premiere of "She Who Dared" (2025). Credit: Courtesy of Chicago Opera Theater. Classical music meets soul, gospel, and protest songs in She Who Dared , a 1950s-set opera that highlights the rebellious Black women who helped dismantle bus segregation in the American South. Presented and performed by Chicago Opera Theater (COT), the new work by Emmy award-winning composer Jasmine Arielle Barnes and acclaimed poet/librettist Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton makes its world premiere at the Studebaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building (June 3-6). Composer Jasmine Arielle Barnes and Librettist Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton “As the first professionally staged opera written by two Black women, this production is a testament to the evolving landscape of American opera,” says COT Edlis Neeson General Director Lawrence Edelson , who commissioned the opera via the American Lyric Theater’s Composer Librettist Development Program. “Yet, while this historic milestone is worth celebrating, She Who Dared stands on its own as a remarkable new addition to the repertoire. Jasmine and Deborah are two of the most exciting artists working in opera today.” COT General Director Lawrence Edelson The Chicago-based Black chamber music collective D-Composed will serve as the orchestra for the premiere production alongside conductor Michael Ellis Ingram and director Timothy Douglas. She Who Dared also features an all-Black female cast including sopranos Jacqueline Echols as Rosa Parks, Jasmine Habersham as Claudette Colvin, and Lindsey Reynolds as Mary Louise Smith, as well as mezzo sopranos Chrystal E. Willams as Aurelia Browder, Cierra Byrd as Jeanetta Reese, Deborah Nansteel as Jo Ann Robinson, and Leah Dexter as Susie “Mama Sue” McDonald. Soprano Jasmine Habersham (Claudette Colvin) and mezzo-soprano Deborah Nansteel (Jo Ann Robinson) Like Parks, whose prosecution for refusing to give in to racial segregation sparked the Montgomery bus boycott in the mid-1950s, Colvin, Browder, McDonald, and Smith were also arrested when they defied Jim Crow laws in the American South. As such, they became plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, the 1956 federal case that led to a Supreme Court ruling which marked segregated public transportation unlawful. “With an incredibly compelling story that speaks to resilience, justice, and the power of community and its rich, evocative score, She Who Dared is a gripping, revelatory work — one that exemplifies the power of opera to illuminate the past while speaking directly to the present,” Edelson explains. In anticipation of the world premiere, COT is hosting related events free of charge. These include the concert “Sounds of Progress: Opera and the Civil Rights” at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center (May 10); a preview “Close Up with She Who Dared ” at The Newberry Library (May 15); and “Opera For All – All School Showcase” at the Studebaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building (May 20). Read the article on RebelliousMagazine.com

Music by: Ricky Ian Gordon Libretto by: Jean-Claude Van Itallie Duration: 95 minutes Originally Commissioned: Houston Grand Opera and The American Music Theatre Festival 1995. Premiered : Opera Theatre of St. Louis 2014 Project Statement Based on the ancient Buddhist text of the same name and written for the composer's partner Jeffrey Michael Grossi in 1996 as he was dying of AIDS, The Tibetan Book of the Dead intends to lead us through the stages we experience after death and our transition into the next life; during the last years of Grossi’s life, Gordon read to him from The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying as a way of aiding him in his journey. The opera is at once a ritual, an oratorio in 17 set numbers, a requiem, a warning, and a theatrically-staged wake. A meditation on loss and a reflection on death as a vital part of life, The Tibetan Book of the Dead offers valuable and unique lessons that abide with the listener long after hearing. FORCES Singers:  1 Soprano 2 Mezzo-Sopranos 2 Tenors 1 Baritone 1 Bass Orchestration:  Fl.(dbl. Picc.) (flute) Cl.(Dbl.B.CL) (clarinet) Hn. (horn) Tpt.; 3Perc. Pno. (Piano) Hp. (harp) Vln. (violin) Vcl. Cb. Reviews A succinct one-act piece. . .Gordon has written tuneful things that range through blues and gentle rock, cowboy rhythms and pop. The final chord-unresolved-provides a glimpse of eternity-one of the memorable things in this score. – Daniel Webster “Ricky Ian Gordon is best known as a composer of songs that are singable in cabarets, on concert stages, just about anywhere. He treats words-weather by Emily Dickinson or Langston Hughes-with tender loving care, wit, and once in a while, sass, but I can’t remember a saccharine or maudlin tune from him. All of which made him the right man to make an opera out of Jean Claude Van Itallie’s 1983 ritual-play The Tibetan Book of the Dead or How Not To Do It Again. Gordon, who used a composer’s prerogative and raised the ante of the subtitle by changing it to the more music evoking a liberation through hearing.It ’s emotional Honesty and increasingly affecting score will win lots of admirers. Gordon’s ease with tonal tunes and harmonies stood up nicely against his shrewdly placed spikes of dissonance.” - Leighton Kerner, The Village Voice The Philadelphia Inquirer Paper Gordon could write glorious music to the telephone directory if he wanted to. . .the music soars, and we’re reminded of just how magnificent Gordon’s music can be. A major piece of new music. – Cary Mazer, Philadelphia City Paper MEDIA Photos by Colin Howe, Nic Minetor, Jim Caldwell

Music by: Ricky Ian Gordon Libretto by: Lynn Nottage and Ruby Aiyo Gerber Duration: 2 hours Originally Commissioned and premiered : Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, 2025 We walk in the shadows of ancestors. A house is more than four walls and a roof — it is a keeper of memories and a witness to legacy. The Walker family has lived in the same Harlem brownstone since the 1920s, and they have fought hard to keep what they have. When Zoe returns home after many years away, she asks her mother Ida and her brother Lindon to let her renovate the dilapidated building. But Ida and Lindon cannot let go of the past. The house is their whole world, and every room is full of ghostly voices and painful memories. As hidden truths about the family’s legacy come to light, Zoe begins to realize that the secrets harbored within these walls are deeper and more profound than she ever dared to imagine. FORCES Singers: Lucy ; - Soprano Milton ; Baritone Young Ida ; Soprano Beulah ; Mezzo-Soprano Uncle Percy/Glenn ; Tenor Ida ; Soprano Lindon ; Baritone Zoe ; Mezzo Soprano Thomas ; Bass- Baritone Glenn ; Tenor Orchestration: 2 Flute (2nd doubles PICC and ALTO FLUTE) 2 Oboe (2nd doubles EH) 3 Clarinet (3rd doubles Bass Clarinet) 2 Bassoon (2nd doubles Contrabassoon) 1 SaxF (soprano sax, alto sax) 2 HORN 2 TPT 2 TROMBONE (one tenor one bass)  PIANO/CELESTA HARP 3 PERC (2 perc and 1 timp) STGS 5-4-3-2-2 Project Statement Working with a mother and daughter, the likes of Lynn Nottage and Ruby Aiyo Gerber, deserves an essay on its own. Few would dispute that Lynn is one of the most brilliant and celebrated playwrights in the world. Her expertise at plot construction, character development, and the overall scaffold that keeps a play a taut and compelling creation are unquestionable. But her instinct to bring her brilliant poet daughter into our process, and her trust that it was Ruby's idea we should musicalize, a play she had written at Brown University, where Lynn also went, ended up being gold for me. This unique look at a house that stood in Harlem for a century and its inhabitants, a long line of colorful characters in compelling and moving situations afforded me a way to get out my entire palette, and paint each character in a musical vocabulary that I felt, instinctively, suited them: Jazz, Ragtime, Serialism, American Popular Song, Stride Piano, Hard Rock…you name it, basically, a walk through a century and a quarter. So often, I would be setting text to music, beautiful beautiful text, and I would write to Lynn, and ask “Who wrote this?” And she would always write back, “The magic of Ruby.” What a privilege it has been to create this opera with two such jewels. There is too much to risk in writing about this opera, without revealing one spoiler after another. A young couple, Zoe and Glenn, are expecting a child, and they contemplate raising their family in the house Zoe grew up in. We meet them on the stoop on the brownstone. More, I cannot say. But this; It gives new meaning to the phrase, “If these walls could talk.” Even the house sings! Suffice it to say, I am very excited to bring it to you with our tremendous cast, the wonder of my dear friend, Jim Robinson, directing, our fourth collaboration! The great Daniela Candillari conducting, Allen Moyer designing the set, my fifth opera with him! And… There is my dear friend, almost brother, Bruce Coughlin, who works with me on my big operas when we orchestrate together, whose ears I would not want to be in a world without. And all the new and wondrous people I will meet creating “This House.” That’s how it is. A composer stays in his room for a few years, it can be lonely frustrating and isolating, but at the end, there is a room full of people, and you can be satisfied, knowing you have created this rich and varied community. I am overwhelmed with gratitude to bring this to you.  Director and Composer Statements This House , a story about a multi-generational family living in a Harlem brownstone, seemed like the perfect tale for a mother-daughter collaboration. Ricky was obviously inspired by this story and he quickly set to work. Over the ensuing months, This House began to emerge as a unique and passionate opera and one that inspired me and my entire creative team, all present or former inhabitants of New York City brownstones. Thoughts of former inhabitants of these buildings occupied my time living in Brooklyn and I often wondered what stories the walls could tell.     This House , with its complex family dynamics, its painfully revealed secrets, and the blurred lines between reality and fantasy, past and present is an opera I have been looking forward to directing since the idea for it was hatched. It is befitting that This House , which connects history with the present day, is the world premiere for Opera Theatre’s 50th anniversary season.- Director, James Robinson From the stoic hymn-like melodies in the brass in the opening, to the light and airy textures in the winds, to the returning motive that symbolizes the house as a character, Ricky’s score and orchestration are filled with details, precision, and complexity. His incredible dedication to the text and word painting are shown through quick tempo changes, which always follow the speed of the language and — in a way — remind me of the shapes of Richard Strauss’ conversation operas. When Lucy says “time has no place,” the orchestra paints the passage of time with ticking even eighth notes, starting in the strings and then gradually building throughout the orchestra, only to ease out into the nostalgic sound of harp and celesta, which then serve as a carpet for the rhythmic textures in the woodwinds. Rich, romantic harmonies and the harmonic shifts always direct our attention to the next dramatic moment, thereby making the orchestra not just the support for the stage, but an active participant in every dramatic beat.     Through all these musical elements — including stylistic shifts that encompass swing, habanera, and rag, among others — and impeccable timing of character and mood changes, I believe This House will be an evening filled with joy, curiosity, heartbreak, hope, and perhaps most importantly, a question of how we create our worlds and what roles are adopted by the spaces in which we reside. I hope you will join me in celebrating and participating in our 44th world premiere!- Conductor, Daniela Candillari MEDIA

Music and Libretto by: Ricky Ian Gordon Duration: 60 minutes Originally Commissioned: by 2008 Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival. Premiered: at Vilar Performing Arts Center, 2008. Project Statement: Green Sneakers, written for baritone, empty chair, string quartet, and piano, is a work in which all parts of the ensemble–as well as the prop that is the chair–are used to narrate the story. Created from a cycle of poems by Gordon in memory of his late partner Jeffrey Michael Grossi, the work is a tribute to the life Gordon and Grossi shared together, as described in the details of happenings that took place leading up to Grossi’s death, including Grossi’s collapse at the opening night of Gordon’s first opera, which had its premier at Houston Grand Opera in 1996. The poems also chronicle Gordon’s journey through grief after Grossi’s passing and his reflections on specific memories of Grossi, as well as Grossi’s possessions–such as the green sneakers sitting in his closet–untouched and unchanged. Through these texts, we see the ways in which Grossi’s spirit is ultimately kept alive through Gordon’s ruminations, realizations, and resulting personal growth. FORCES Singers: 1 Baritone Orchestration: Pno. 2Vln. Vla. Vlc. Reviews “Green Sneakers” is a significant contribution to the culture sprung from the AIDS crisis. In its forthright honesty and passion it could be compared to the film “Longtime Companion” (1990), which brought home the emergency with a similar immediacy and eloquence. It heals while it hurts. – Stephen Holden, The New York Times With the repetition of “Sleep Dear”, the final words of "Green Sneakers", one heard in Vail a distant echo of the “Ewig” that concludes Mahler’s monumental "Abschied". For this is a song of today’s earth, a farewell lamentation that transcends death. - Wes Blomster, Opera Today MEDIA Photos by Colin Howe, Nic Minetor, Jim Caldwell

Music by: Ricky Ian Gordon Libretto by: Michael Korie Duration: Two Acts- 170 minutes Commissioned : The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene and New York City Opera Premiered: Edmond J. Safra Hall in the Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York, NY, 2022 With a text by Michael Korie and based on Giorgio Bassani’s acclaimed 1962 novel of the same name, The Garden of the Finzi-Continis takes place in Ferrera, Italy, on the cusp of World War Two. It tells the story of Giorgio, a working-class Italian-Jewish youth, and his relationship with a wealthy Italian-Jewish family, the Finzi-Continis, who, even as Italy forms an alliance with Germany and begins enforcing anti-Semitic laws, cling to the belief that they will be invulnerable to the impending devastation. Through the storyteller's recollections, members of the Jewish community of Ferrera and across Italy who perished in the Holocaust are immortalized, the certitude of their existence woven into the fabric of recorded history through written word. FORCES Singers: 4 Sopranos 1 Mezzo-Soprano 4 Tenors 3 Baritones 1 Bass-Baritone Chorus: 3 Trebles and 3 Basses Orchestration: Flute (doubling piccolo) oboe (doubling English horn) Clarinet in Bb, Bassoon Horn in F, Trumpet in C Bass Trombone Percussion (1 player) Piano (doubling Celesta) Violin 1,2,3 Viola Violincello Contrabass Project Statement Royce grew up on a farm in Alberta, Canada. His dad committed suicide. Now, that doesn't happen in the book but the story still resonates with him because it’s about the embodiment of grief in the psyche and how it affects families," Gordon says. "Royce personalized the story in his own way. It's about how the father’s grief affects his relationship with his little girl, who is growing into a woman. She is an agonizing reminder of her mother’s death, and the death of Christmas for him. Christmas is about birth, but for the father, it’s about death. And the end of The House Without a Christmas Tree , it becomes about birth again: ‘My little girl isn’t who I thought she was.‘ That moment when she walks in and the father flips a switch and there is an exquisite tree in the living room, and the music goes up to a B-natural, it's just exquisitely beautiful. Just talking about it, I’m chilled.- Ricky Ian Gordon, Playbill, November 16, 2017 Reviews With his latest, Gordon brings in elements from other styles that provide audiences with a familiarity that draws the listener into the music, rather than away from it. Gordon has a lot of implements in his composer’s toolbox, and he’s not afraid to mix and match styles that engage the audience. - Chris Ruel, OperaWire Gordon and Korie’s opera honors the fictional family that Bassani created and allows them once again, as operatic voices, to haunt and inhabit a garden in Ferrara that never actually existed but continues to resonate in memory and history. - Larry Wolff, Hudson Review MEDIA Edmond J. Safra Hall in the Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York, NY, 2022 Photos by Steve Pisano

Directed by: Brian Staufenbiel Vikensport: Music by: David T. Little Libretto by: Royce Vavrek Balls: Music by:   Laura Karpman Libretto by:   Gail Collins Original Production 2024 - Opera Paralelle DESIGNERS Leah Hammond - Props Artisan Lawrence Dillo n - Videographer David Murakami - Projection Designer Y. Sharon Peng - Hair & Makeup Designer Mextly Couzin - Lighting Designer ORIGINAL CAST Nicole Paiement - Conductor Tiffany Austin - Marilyn (Balls) Jamie Chamberlin - Holy St. Francis's Trainer (Vinkensport) | Vocal Quartet (Balls) Daniel Cilli - Atticus Finch’s Trainer (Vinkensport) | Larry King (Balls) Nathan Granner - Han Sach’s Trainer (Vinkensport) | Bobby Riggs (Balls) Mark Hernandez - Howard Cosell (Balls) Chelsea Hollow - Farinelli’s Trainer (Vinkensport) Nina Jones - Butler (Vinkensport) | Vocal Quartet (Bal Gabriela Linares - Butler (Vinkensport) | Rosie Casals (Balls) Nikola Printz - Billie Jean King (Balls) Chad Somers - Referee (Vinkensport) | Vocal Quartet (Balls) Chung-Wai Soong - Prince Gabriel III of Belgium’s Trainer (Vinkensport) | Vocal Quartet (Balls) Shawnette Sulker - Sir Elton John’s Trainer (Vinkensport) | Susan B. Anthony (Balls) Director's Note Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera is a bittersweet comedy in one act inspired by the obscure Flemish folk sport, Finch-Sitting, where trained finches race to sing the most “susk-e-wiets” (the song of the birds) over the course of an hour. We see a motley assortment of contestants battle it out to see who has the most melodious bird. As they compete, the joys, sorrows, delusions and all-too-stark realities of the finches’ trainers are revealed. We never learn the competitors' real names, they are defined by their birds. Some play fair, some don’t. Some just don’t even want to be there at all. But almost all are lost in the world, finding comfort in the companionship of their birds. Balls is a multimedia opera dramatizing the famed 1973 tennis game between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. The match, dubbed “The Battle of the Sexes,” changed not only the perception and treatment of women in sports, but significantly advanced the women’s rights movement. The opera features a live tennis match as a central narrative device, along with actual commentary from the 1973 broadcast. Balls incorporates electronic sampling entwined in the score, and creative time-hopping - key figures such as Larry King and Howard Cosell are joined by American Suffragette Susan B. Anthony. MEDIA

Shipshape and Smooth Sailing: Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri at Opera in the Heights D.L. Groover Photo by Pin Lim: Tenor Andrew Morstein, baritone Sejin Park , soprano Laura Corina Sanders, baritone Andy Papas and mezzo-soprano Kelly Guerra "...bass baritone Isaiah Musik-Ayala , as major domo Haly, nails his part with presence and ringing voice. There’s a gay subplot between him and Taddeo (baritone Sejin Park , who commands the space with a resonant tone and superb diction) that’s unsuspected but handled with delicacy – during the escape, Taddeo throws Haly a life preserver to save him and fleeing maid Zulma (mezzo Meaghan Heath, all bright and bubbly). In the final seconds, they are reunited, as are all the Italians who have been saved by Isabella’s quick thinking and wily plotting. They wave Italian flags on the set’s upper deck as they sail off to Italy and freedom."

In his role début as Macduff with The Atlanta Opera this month, tenor Won Whi Choi impressed audiences with his heartfelt portrayal and gorgeous singing. Check out some of the reviews below. " Won Whi Choi brings a bright, silken tenor to the role of McDuff." Read the full ArtsATL review "Tenor Won Whi Choi ’s Macduff delivered a poignant rendition of 'Ah, la paterna mano.'" Read the full EarRelevant review Far left: Won Whi Choi as Macduff

Utah Opera opened its dazzling production of Leoncavallo's Pagliacci last weekend to rave reviews. Maestro Joseph Colaneri got special mention from Utah Arts Review : Members of the Utah Symphony are under the baton of Joseph Colaneri , who captured the dramatic tension of the story with his well chosen tempos and allowed the orchestra to play with finely honed expressions and articulation. Read the full review here Pagliacci run through April 18. Photo: Dana Sohm