New Operas for New Audiences is more than a tagline. It is the reason American Lyric Theater exists.
ALT launched the innovative Composer Librettist Development Program (CLDP) in 2007. The CLDP has proven a tremendous success, and was recently recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts for artistic excellence and its unique role in American opera. Since its inception, 17 gifted emerging artists have received intensive, personalized mentorship at ALT. The CLDP is already demonstrating tangible results beyond the mentorship of talented artists. Audiences around the country are beginning to enjoy operas developed through the CLDP.
The Hunger Art, a one-act opera developed by two of our Resident Artists (Royce Vavrek and Jeff Myers) during the first season of the CLDP, rreceived its professional stage premiere at Center City Opera in Philadelphia in 2009, and has since been scheduled for two additional professional engagements. Mr. Vavrek was subsequently commissioned to write the libretto for a new operatic scene by David T. Little for Carnegie Hall. This scene has become Dog Days, which was featured as part of New York City Opera’s VOX program in 2010, and which we have recently learned was being commissioned for completion by Jed Wheeler at Montclair State University. Keep your eyes open for the world premiere in the fall of 2011! Another one of our former Resident Artists, Aleksandra Vrebalov, was recently commissioned to write her first full-length opera about Einstein’s first wife, Mileva.
The Golden Ticket was ALT’s first main stage commission, based on Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We decide to champion this exciting new opera by Peter Ash and Donald Sturrock because it speaks to the two main reasons ALT was founded: to provide mentorship and opportunity to gifted emerging operatic writers; and to develop new works that have the potential to engage new audiences. We believe The Golden Ticket is going to make quite a splash on the opera world. Rarely have we seen such a truly funny, yet touching opera that appeals to audiences of all ages – whether or not they think they like opera!
While we have dedicated many of our resources to The Golden Ticket over the past four years, ALT is also busy developing a wide variety of other exciting new operas. In 2009, ALT initiated The Poe Project: a trilogy of one-act operas inspired by the fiction of Edgar Allan Poe being written by 6 of our Resident Artists. Currently, ALT is developing three additional full-length works, including a fascinating bilingual (Spanish/English) work for electronic and acoustic forces, as well as more traditionally based lyric works. We are excited by what the future holds, and look forward to sharing many new operas with you in the months and years to come!