Press Release November 26, 2019 Washington National Opera expands American opera repertory during American Opera Initiative Festival January 10, 2020 Kennedy Center Terrace Theater Featuring the World Premiere of Three one-act operas: Woman of Letters by Sokunthary Svay and Liliya Ugay Admissions by Kim Davies and Michael Lanci Night Trip by Sandra Seaton and Carlos Simon (WASHINGTON)—With three original stories—one set in the cramped Bronx apartment of a first-generation immigrant, one following a Beverly Hills family in hot water, and one tracking an eye-opening road trip from a 1958 Chicago neighborhood to Tennessee—Washington National Opera (WNO) presents the eighth season of its acclaimed American Opera Initiative (AOI) with three world premieres January 10, 2020, in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. The three one-act operas featured this season illuminate the complex narratives that permeate the fabric of American life and culture. The three composer-librettist teams—Michael Lanci and Kim Davies, Carlos Simon and Sandra Seaton, and Liliya Ugay and Sokunthary Svay— collaborated with distinguished mentors who have each enjoyed professional success in the field: composer Laura Kaminsky, librettist Kelley Rourke, and conductor Anne Manson. Amanda Consol directs these three semi-staged concert performances, with Anne Manson conducting a chamber orchestra of WNO Orchestra members. “America is renowned for its appetite and support of contemporary opera. The American Opera Initiative has now supported the work of some 50 young American composers and librettists in that area. This program helps them develop their craft, gain invaluable experience, and receive ~ more ~ guidance from some of the leading American creative artists,” says Robert Ainsley, AOI program director. “Under the leadership of Artistic Director Francesca Zambello, the WNO relentlessly pursues its mission to be a beacon for the field in American repertoire. We are immensely proud of the initiative’s contribution to the canon of contemporary American Opera, and to the experience and guidance it has provided to a young generation of composers and librettists.” American Opera Initiative (AOI) A comprehensive commissioning program that originates and develops new works, AOI provides rare opportunities for emerging composers and librettists to partner and write for the opera stage. The Initiative encourages and ensures the future of contemporary American opera through development, mentorship, and performance, with works based on American themes and stories. Since its inception, the annual program has commissioned 31 chamber operas, with some going on to future productions around the country; notables include last summer’s successful production by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis of An American Soldier, an AOI commission in 2014, and Opera Omaha’s and Miller Theater’s recent productions of AOI’s 2018 commission, Proving Up, and Rice University’s recent double-bill of Proving Up and Taking Up Serpents, a 2019 AOI commission. AOI 20-Minute Operas January 10, 2020, at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Terrace Theater Woman of Letters Music by Liliya Ugay Libretto by Sokunthary Svay Synopsis Sam is a first generation immigrant who works as a janitor at a local university in Manhattan. He brings home books for his daughter, Sonya, which help educate her and give way to daydreams of far-off places in their cramped Bronx apartment. She learns she has received a scholarship to study in England. Will her immigrant father, a survivor of war and his wife’s death, be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to let his daughter, his only family, go? Will Sonya finally be allowed to see the world she’s only read about in her father’s books? Cast Sonya: Marlen Nahhas Dara: Alexandra Nowakowski Sam: Samuel J. Weiser 2 Admissions Music by Michael Lanci Libretto by Kim Davies Synopsis They’re the perfect American family: Mother, a TV star...Father, a business tycoon...their kids on track to go to the best colleges. But one night Mother and Father come home and have to explain to their kids that there’s been a little misunderstanding, maybe a little money laundering, maybe an indictment. And suddenly their plans aren’t quite so on-track after all... Cast Daughter: Marlen Nahhas Son: Matthew Pearce Mother: Amanda Bottoms Father: William Meinert Night Trip Music by Carlos Simon Libretto by Sandra Seaton Synopsis On a July evening in 1958, Wesley and Mack, black World War II veterans, arrive at their sister’s apartment in Chicago to pick up their niece. Conchetta has been waiting all summer to see her relatives—her grandmother, her aunts, her “play aunts.” The 16-year-old’s vision of small town life in Tennessee stands in sharp contrast to the world of steel and concrete she is about to leave. On her journey, she comes face to face with a new reality, one that her uncles, who have survived the brutality of war, refuse to accept. In Night Trip, a young girl’s dreams collide with harsh truths that will change the way she sees her world. Cast Conchetta: Rehanna Thelwell Uncle Wesley: Joshua Conyers Uncle Mack: Joshua Blue Gas Station Attendant: Matthew Pearce Police Office: Samson McCrady TICKET INFORMATION Tickets to Three 20-Minute Operas ($19–$35) are available by visiting the Kennedy Center box office, by calling (202) 467-4600, or through the Kennedy Center website. Groups of 10 or more may contact the Group Sales office at (202) 416-8400. MENTOR BIOS Laura Kaminsky Cited in The Washington Post as “one of the top 35 female composers in classical music,” Laura Kaminsky’s compositions are “full of fire as well as ice, written in an idiom that contrasts 3 dissonance and violence with tonal beauty and meditative reflection. It is strong stuff.” (American Record Guide). With “an ear for the new and interesting” (The New York Times), the composer- activist frequently addresses sustainability, human rights, and war in her work. Awarded the 2019 Visionary Award by Composers Now and the 2016 Polish Gold Cross of Merit (Zloty Krzyż Zasługi RP) by the President of Poland for exemplary public service and humanitarian work, as well as the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage 2010 Chopin Award, Kaminsky has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, Koussevitzky Music Foundation, Opera America, and Chamber Music America, among others. 2019–2020 Composer Mentor for Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative, Kamansky is head of composition at the Conservatory of Music Purchase College/SUNY and serves on the boards of Opera America and the Hermitage Artist Retreat. Scores are available through Bill Holab Music; recordings are on the Albany, Bridge, CRI, Capstone, Mode, and MSR labels. Kaminsky is a BMI composer. Kelley Rourke Kelley Rourke is a librettist, translator, and dramaturg. Her work been commissioned and performed by Washington National Opera, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Boston Lyric Opera, Young People’s Chorus of NYC, Seattle Opera, Minnesota Opera, Carnegie Hall, Urban Arias (Washington, D.C.), Met LiveArts, Houston Grand Opera’s HGOco, San Francisco Conservatory, Milwaukee Opera Theatre, American Opera Projects, Atlanta Opera, On Site Opera (NYC), The Caramoor Festival, and Nautilus Music-Theater, among others. Kelley collaborates frequently with composer John Glover, with whom she has made Lucy, Natural Systems, and Guns n’ Rosenkavalier, among others. She has written libretti for three youth operas that have been performed across the country: Odyssey and Robin Hood (both with Ben Moore) and Wilde Tales (with Laura Karpman). Rourke's modern English adaptations of numerous standard and not-so-standard operas have been hailed as “crackingly witty” (The Independent) and “remarkably well wedded to the music and versification in arias” (New York Times). Rourke has been engaged as a guest lecturer at Boston University, Carnegie Mellon University, NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and Walnut Hill School for the Arts. She was founding editor of Opera America magazine and a contributor to the New Grove Dictionary of American Music. Kelley is resident dramaturg for The Glimmerglass Festival and Washington National Opera, and she has created English supertitles for more than 80 operas. Anne Manson Conductor Anne Manson has served as Music Director of the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra since 2008 and recently renewed her contract through 2024. Manson’s strong commitment to contemporary music has led to numerous commissions and recordings with the MCO. Among them are Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 3 and Piano Concerto, and the Juno and Western Canada Music award nominated Troubadour & the Nightingale with soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian. Their latest release is Mirage? Concertos for Percussion with Grammy®–winning percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie. As a guest conductor, she has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Houston and Indianapolis Symphonies, the Residentie Orchestra of the Hague, the St. Paul Chamber 4 Orchestra, London Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Bournemouth Sinfonietta, Orquesta de Extremadura, BBC Proms, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, and she has guest conducted regularly with many orchestras in Spain. In addition to recordings with Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and Portland Opera, Manson has recorded with the Residentie Orchestra of The Hague, the BBC Scottish Symphony, the Iceland Symphony, the Singapore Symphony, and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. Before serving as the MCO’s Music Director, Manson was Music Director of London’s Mecklenburgh Opera (1987–96) and the Kansas City Symphony (1999–2004). She was the first woman to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic at the Salzburg Festival in 1994 (Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov). COMPOSER & LIBRETTIST BIOS Michael Lanci Michael Lanci is a composer and educator currently residing in Brooklyn, New York. His music is viscerally engaging and stylistically diverse, drawing from a wide range of influences. Most recently, he was a finalist for the Beth Morrison Projects Next Generation Competition that included the commissioning and premiere of his first opera Crude Capital, based on an original libretto by Ajax Phillips.