The Washington Post lists contemporary operas that audiences responded to favorably (“Readers’ Guide to Lovable New Operas“), and several BHM operas were included:
Dead Man Walking
Moby-Dick
Silent Night
The Manchurian Candidate
As One
There are also 10 operas on this list that we’ve engraved in our production department.
Congrats to Jake Heggie, Kevin Puts, Terrence McNally, Laura Kaminsky, Kimberly Reed, and the indefatigable Mark Campbell who wrote 3 of these librettos.
Composer Mason Bates and librettist Mark Campbell collaborate on an original opera based on the life of one of the greatest innovators of our time in a new production
SANTA FE, NM – General Director Charles MacKay announced today Santa Fe Opera’s next commission, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, which will have its world premiere in 2017 as a part of the company’s 61st season. The opera will be composed by Mason Bates, one of America’s most acclaimed and popular composers, with an original libretto by Mark Campbell, who was the librettist for the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, Silent Night. This will be Bates’ first produced opera. Stage Director Kevin Newbury, who brought both Theodore Morrison’s Oscar (2013) and Lewis Spratlan’s Life is a Dream (2010) to the stage in Santa Fe, will be joined by Michael Christie, Music Director for Minnesota Opera, who makes his company debut leading the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra.
“Riding on the heels of Jennifer Higdon and Gene Scheer’s Cold Mountain, which received both audience and critical acclaim at its world premiere on Saturday, it is a thrill to announce Santa Fe Opera’s next major commission, “ said General Director Charles MacKay. “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs will mark the Company’s 15th world premiere, continuing the tradition of producing work that pushes the boundaries of the art form. We are delighted to take this journey into the life and legacy of a distinctly American figure through the creative genius of Mason Bates and Mark Campbell.”
MORE ABOUT THE (R)EVOLUTION OF STEVE JOBS
The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is a new opera that examines the life of one of the most fascinating figures of our time; an innovator who simplified communication with sleek devices, but who paradoxically learned that complex human relationships require more than one button to work. The opera starts at a moment in Jobs’ life when he must face his own mortality and circles back to the events and people in his past that shaped and inspired him: his father Paul, Zen Buddhism, his relationship with a woman whose child he initially disowned, his quick rise and fall as mogul, and – most importantly – his wife Laurene, who showed him the power of love and connection. The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs seeks to capture the buzzing creative realm of Silicon Valley with a kinetic electro-acoustic score, lush vocal writing, a compelling non-linear narrative, and a production as innovative as the man himself.
“Santa Fe Opera’s impact on the creation and dissemination of new opera is simply astonishing, and I’ve been so thankful to visit several times over the past ten years,” said composer Mason Bates. “The superb productions of works new and old, combined with the stunning setting, have made it an essential pilgrimage for me. I’m honored to bring the story of Steve Jobs to this wonderful house and look forward to many more visits in the course of its creation.”
The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is librettist Mark Campbell’s first collaboration with composer Mason Bates: “Mason’s brilliance at infusing the orchestra with electronica makes him uniquely poised to create a score for this opera that will evoke the innovative and mercurial nature of its subject,” said Campbell. “Audiences at Santa Fe Opera will be treated to a new kind of energy coming from the stage and the pit.” This production also signifies Campbell’s tertiary collaborations with both director Kevin Newbury and conductor Michael Christie, who with composer Kevin Puts, most recently collaborated on The Manchurian Candidate for Minnesota Opera.
This commission will receive its first workshop in San Francisco (September 2015) in collaboration with Cal Performances at UC Berkeley, and with additional support from San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Workshops play a key role in the commissioning process of Santa Fe Opera, illuminating what works well dramatically and musically, and allowing both composer and librettist to test their ideas before the work reaches the stage.
As One illuminates the brave and painful growth of a transgender person, whose identity is still deemed “abnormal” and, more shamefully for our world, is barely recognized. The deeply normal need to unite body and soul within the boundaries of accepted human interactions has much to reveal to all of us.
As One premiered at The Brooklyn Academy of Music just this past September. It is based on the life experience of noted filmmaker Kimberly Reed.
Two singers, a baritone and a mezzo-soprano, together portray the character Hannah. The two singers embody a young boy who knows he is different but can’t understand how or why. The 70-minute opera traces the life of young Hannah through her eventual gender reassignment. It examines the life of a transgender person through poetry, movement, beautiful music and film in a new and especially touching way.
New York Classical Review called its premiere this past September a “rich addition to the repertoire … formidable on all fronts … As One is everything that we hope for in contemporary opera: topical, poignant, daring, and beautifully written.”
The New York Times wrote: “As One forces you to think, simultaneously challenging preconceptions and inspiring empathy…[with] winning humor and a satisfying emotional arc.”
The July issue of Opera News features an in-depth article by Matthew Sigman on Jake Heggie’s phenomenal career as we approach the premiere of his fifth opera, Great Scott at Dallas Opera in October.
As One co-librettist and transgender filmmaker Kimberly Reed has created a video for the Op Ed page of The New York Times showing a day in her life – specifically April 7, when As One opened at Utah State University. In the video, Reed shows glimpses of the various ways she has attempted “to dispel misunderstanding and increase empathy” by introducing the quotidian stories of transgender individuals – through documentaries, news interviews, spoken word performances, and most recently through her work on As One.
Life and death in the light of technological progress
‘Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?’ Unlike the film that was later made of it, Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein told the sad story of a creature born out of a scientific experiment who strives for good, yet does evil and is consequently disowned by his creator. As a philosophical reflection on the human condition, on the technology that gives humanity power over life and death, and as a warning to a society that threatens to cast out the individual, the American composer Mark Grey returns to this original story for his first full-length opera, 200 years after Mary Shelley wrote it. Thanks to the extremely opulent visual idiom of Àlex Ollé and the inspiring conducting of Leo Hussain and Bassem Akiki, this world premiere promises to be a treat for both the eye and the ear.
Kevin Puts’ and Mark Campbell’s opera on The Manchurian Candidate will premiere at Minnesota Opera this March. Based on the novel by Richard Condon (which was subsequently made into two film versions) the opera is the second for Puts and Campbell, whose first opera Silent Night won the Pulitzer Prize in 2012 and has gone on to a successful life in repeat productions by several companies in the U.S. and Europe. For additional information and some sneak preview audio clips, please click here.
View some of the sing-through:
Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell discuss the evolution of the opera:
The Whole Truth is a short comic opera with music by Robert Paterson and a libretto by Mark Campbell (Bastianello & Lucrezia), based on a short story by author Stephen McCauley. A married women attempts to delude herself into thinking she can carry on two affairs at the same time. The first with a fellow dentist and the new affair with a young carpenter who has come to work on her and her husband’s home.
“The Whole Truth is like Opera Espresso: short, concentrated, and energizing.”–DC Metro Theater Arts
Performances are at Atlas Performing Arts Center (in the heart of DC’s vibrant and eclectic H Street neighborhood) and produced by UrbanArias.
Starring Amedee Royer, Kate Jackman, Andrew McLaughlin and Jeffrey Gates
The Lyric Opera of Kansas City is the seventh company to produce the Pulitzer Prize winning opera Silent Night, with 4 performances on Feb. 21 through March 1.
With music and concept by Laura Kaminsky, libretto by Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed, the opera As One was given its premiere by American Opera Projects at the BAM Fisher Theater in September of 2014. The production featured a film by Kimberly Reed, and was universally praised for its honesty and originality.
A rich addition to the repertoire … formidable on all fronts … As One is everything that we hope for in contemporary opera: topical, poignant, daring, and beautifully written.” – New York Classical Review
“Artistically distinguished, socially important … says so much with relatively modest means.” – WQXR
As One, … satisfies in an entertaining and delicately moving way.” – New York Observer
A piece that haunts and challenges its audience with questions about identity, authenticity, compassion and the human desire for self-love and peace.” – Opera News
As One forces you to think, simultaneously challenging preconceptions and inspiring empathy…[with] winning humor and a satisfying emotional arc.” – The New York Times
World Premiere: American Opera Projects; Brooklyn Academy of Music, Sept. 2014
Caine College of the Arts, Utah State University, April 2015
West Edge Opera, Oakland Metro Opera House, July-August 2015
UrbanArias, Atlas Center for the Performing Arts, October 2015
International Opera Projects, Ballsaal Studio, Berlin Germany, July 2016
Seattle Opera, November 2016
Pittsburgh Opera, February 2017
Opera Colorado, March 2017
Long Beach Opera, May 2017
New Orleans Opera, June 2017
San Diego Opera, Nov. 2017
Chicago Fringe Opera, Nov. 2017
Des Moines Metro Opera, Nov. 2017
Lyric Opera of Kansas City, January 2018
Boston Opera Collaborative, January 2018
Hawaii Opera Theatre, January 2018
Anchorage Opera, February 2018
Skylark Opera Theater, March 2018
AEPEX Contemporary Performance, April 2018
Opera on the Avalon, May-June 2018
Cincinnati Opera, July 2018
Chautauqua Opera, August 2018
Peabody Opera, Nov. 2018
Alamo City Opera, Jan. 2019
Portland Opera, March 2019
Opera Idaho, May 2019
Eugene Opera, May 2019
Merkin Concert Hall/American Opera Projects/New York City Opera, May/June 2019
Opera Memphis, August 2019
Bay Chamber Concerts, August 2019
Boston University, October 2019
Alchemical Studios (NYC), November 2019
Opera Columbus, November 2019
Pensacola Opera, November 2019
EarSpace, Feb. 2020
Gertrude Opera (Australia), Feb. 2020
Shenandoah Conservatory, April 2020
University of South Carolina, April 2020
Teatro Espanol, Madrid, Sept.-Oct. 2020
Utomjordiska, October 2020
Orchestre Classique de Montreal, November 2020
Servicios Especializados en Distribucion Artistica, Madrid, March 2021
University of Kansas, April 2021
Opera Orlando, May 2021
Painted Sky Opera, May 2021
Opera Maine, July 2021
Lontano Trust, London Premiere, Sept. 2021
Sacramento State School of Music, Nov. 2021
Lowell Chamber Orchestra, Nov. 2021
Opera Santa Barbara, March 2022
Universidad de los Andes, March-April 2022
Atlanta Opera, June 2022
Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, July 2022
Satakunnan musiikkijuhlat (Finland), August 2022
Opera Steamboat (CO), September, 2022
Lyric Opera of the North (MN), October 2022
Boston Conservatory at Berklee, February 2023
Florida State Opera, May 2023
Holy City Arts & Lyric Opera, June 2023
Washburn University, October 2023
Theater Regensburg, December 2023-March 2024
Kentucky Opera, April 2024
NUOVA Vocal Arts, June 2024
HOPERA, November 2024
Piteaa Kammaropera, October 2025
Union Avenue Opera, October 2025
Press
Denver Post, 2/25/2017
“As One” is the hottest title in opera right now, at least among the titles written in the last 100 years. The musical tale of a transgender woman’s personal evolution is somehow right on time–an accomplished bit of art-making, with considerable entertainment value, that thrusts itself smack into the current political and social discourse.
It’s in Denver this week week. Pittsburgh last. Seattle produced it in November and folks in New Orleans and Los Angeles get to hear it this spring. The chamber piece, which premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in late 2014, has a rare vitality in a business where new works–including the good ones–have to fight for even a second show.
Opera companies love it. One reason is that it’s relatively inexpensive to present: no chorus, orchestra or big sets. Composer Laura Kaminsky’s creation has just two singers, a string quartet and a couple of temporary screens that show films in the background.
But that’s why audiences seem to like it, too. It’s intimate. All the complaints so frequently lodged against the art form–that it can be distant, formal and out-of-touch, aren’t a factor for “As One.” Nor is length; it clocks in at just 75 minutes.
December 19, 2014 – Excellence in Opera (“Freddie”) Award Operavore
December 18, 2014 – Slate The Uses of “Trans” in Art
October 2, 2014 – GAY CITY NEWS Opera review: “New Starts”
September 11, 2014 – OUT MAGAZINE Opera review: “A Transgender Woman’s Operatic Path to Self-Acceptance”
September 10, 2014 – NY OBSERVER Opera review: “An Emotional Before-and-After Opera of Gender Transformation Premieres at BAM”
September 9, 2014 – Q ON STAGE Opera review: “Magnificent ‘As One'”
September 9, 2014 – THE FILM EXPERIENCE Opera review: “Stage Door: ‘As One’ by Kimberly Reed”
September 2014 – OPERA NEWS Opera review: “As One BROOKLYN American Opera Projects”
September 5, 2014 – THE NEW YORK TIMES Opera review: “The Arc of a Transgender Life”
September 5, 2014 – NEW YORK CLASSICAL REVIEW Opera review: “Kaminsky’s transgender opera “As One” makes a poignant and remarkable premiere”
September 5, 2014 – WQXR: OPERAVORE Opera review: “Opera As One Explores Gender Change, Identity Struggles”
September 5, 2014 – PARTERRE.COM Opera review: “outskirts”
September 4, 2014 – WWFM: CADENZA Opera profile: “As One”
September 4, 2014 – HUFFINGTON POST Opera profile: “‘As One’ Opera Brings Husband And Wife Stars Together For Heartfelt Transgender Role”
September 3, 2014 – GAY CITY NEWS Opera profile: “The Voyage to Oneness”
September 2, 2014 – BK LIVE Opera profile: Video Interview: “As One”
September 2, 2014 – BROOKLYN DAILY Opera profile: “Husband and wife share role of transgender woman in new opera”
September 2014 – OPERA NEWS Composer/Opera profile: “Hearing Both Sides”
As One illuminates the brave and painful growth of a transgender person, whose identity is still deemed “abnormal” and, more shamefully for our world, is barely recognized. The deeply normal need to unite body and soul within the boundaries of accepted human interactions has much to reveal to all of us.
Kevin Puts’ and Mark Campbell’s opera on The Manchurian Candidate will premiere at Minnesota Opera this March. Based on the novel by Richard Condon (which was subsequently made into two film versions) the opera is the second for Puts and Campbell, whose first opera Silent Night won the Pulitzer Prize in 2012 and has gone on to a successful life in repeat productions by several companies in the U.S. and Europe. For additional information and some sneak preview audio clips, please click here.
