Mark Gresham | 5 JUN 2023
Prepare to be intriguedby the fresh relevance of new opera as a select group of five creative teams come to Atlanta for the second annual 96-Hour Opera Project, a composition competition and showcase from The Atlanta Opera that pairs BIPOC composers and librettists to write ten-minute operas.
This season, with the support of the Historic Oakland Foundation and the Atlanta History Center, the stories for the operas have been drawn from the lives of notable Atlantans interred at Oakland Cemetery.
The five composer/librettist creative teams are Jorge Sosa & Alejandra Martinez, Omar Najmi & Catherine Yu, Dave Ragland & Selda Sahin, Edward Shilts & Laura Barati, and Nathan Felix & Anita Gonzalez.
Team players: Top, l-r: composers Jorge Sosa, Omar Najmi, Dave Ragland,Edward Shilts, and Nathan Felix. Bottom, l-r: librettists Alejandra Martinez, Catherine Yu, Selda Sahin, Laura Barati, and Anita Gonzalez. (courtesy of The Atlanta Opera)
Bringing their completed works to Atlanta, the teams are workshopping and rehearsing their productions this coming weekend over four days, from June 9–12, with travel, housing, singers, pianists, and rehearsal space provided.
On the final day, Monday, June 12, they will present the ten-minute works in a free public performance at the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center at Morehouse College. A distinguished group of judges: Mark Campbell, Doug Hooker, Andrea Davis Pinkney, Priti Gandhi, and Tinashe Kajese-Bolden will select a winning entry.
A dozen performers are also on tap to rehearse and perform the five 10-minute operas: mezzo-soprano Ebony Collier, baritone Joshua Conyers, soprano Hanan Davis, mezzo-soprano Pamela Dillard, music director-pianist Justin Maxey, bass-baritone LaMarcus Miller, baritone Randall Perkins, soprano Brianna Samuels, soprano Indra Thomas, soprano Maria Valdes, tenor Tyrone Webb, music director-pianist Seung Hyun Yoo.
Explicitly designed for composers and librettists from historically underrepresented communities, the 96-Hour Opera Project is only open to those who self-identify as Black, Indigenous, Asian-American, Pacific Islander, Arab-American, Latin-American, or other communities of color. The Atlanta Opera’s general & artistic director, Tomer Zvulun, explains:
Morris Robinson (courtesy of TAO)
Grammy Award-winning operatic bass Morris Robinson, who serves as an advisor to the project, had this to say about the upcoming sessions:
In addition, Robinson responded to a couple of questions posed by EarRelevant about his personal take on the project’s importance:
The Atlanta Opera will award the winning team a $10,000 prize and a commission for a new chamber opera to be produced and performed in an upcoming season; all other participants will receive a $1000 honorarium. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- The Atlanta Opera: atlantaopera.org
Read more by Mark Gresham.
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