American Lyric Theater Champions Diversity and Representation with Signature Opera Writers Program

From February 27 through April 24, American Lyric Theater conducts a free, eight-week, virtual symposium on writing for the opera stage. The CLDP Opera Writers Symposium will provide artists with practical tools for both first-time and experienced creatives with an interest in creating new opera.

By Rebecca Davis

(New York, NY) - Leading voices of American Lyric Theater (ALT) and the Composer Librettist Development Program (CLDP) -- including ALT’s Founder Lawrence Edelson; Associate Artistic Director Kelly Kuo; composers Anthony Davis, Justine Chen and Jorge Sosa; librettists Stephanie Fleischmann and Lila Palmer; and dramaturg Cori Ellison – discuss ALT’s Opera Writers Diversity and Representation Initiative (OWDARI). They share the importance of diversity in the creation of new works of opera, their own journeys with the art form and how the American Lyric Theater addresses proactively recruiting musicians and writers of all racial and artistic backgrounds to take part in their flagship biennial Composer Librettist Development Program (CLDP).  

Dramaturg Cori Ellison says, “the best art has always held up a mirror to society, challenging and inspiring us to evolve by facing our frailties or laughing at our foibles, there's so much we can learn from the mirrors held up by the new and diverse voices we're welcoming into our art form.”   

Each artist and leader answered a series of questions on the topic of diversity in opera and what the CLDP does to foster it. Their answers enlighten and inspire.  

---

Why is it important for opera to be open to new perspectives from both composers and librettists? 

ALT’s Founder LAWRENCE EDELSON: Opera is an extraordinarily impactful way to tell stories - bringing together music and theater through a physical realization on stage or, increasingly, through digital channels of distribution. Ultimately, who tells what stories matters. New perspectives that are representative of contemporary American society are vital to keep opera relevant. It’s important to remember that opera’s origins were as a populist art form. The opera house was the first musical institution to open its doors to the general public. The first opera house was opened in Venice in 1637, presenting commercial opera and run for profit. Public tastes and preferences have shaped opera throughout history, though admittedly, opera has also consciously excluded the perspectives of significant portions of the population - often with racist motivations. If those writing opera in the 21st century don’t reflect the totality of contemporary American society, opera won’t be meaningful - either as art or entertainment. 

Dramaturg CORI ELLISON: The best art has always held up a mirror to society, challenging and inspiring us to evolve by facing our frailties or laughing at our foibles.  Diversity is not a new thing in American society, but the complete and eager embrace of it certainly is, and there's so much we can learn from the mirrors held up by the new and diverse voices we're welcoming into our art form.   

“Malcolm X used the expression "that old pale thing" to describe the legacy of racism that has plagued our country since its inception. Opera can no longer afford to be merely "that old pale thing" that only represents White male composers and librettists and the implicit credo of white supremacy. This is a fundamental question of the survival of the art form.” - Composer Anthony Davis 

Librettist LILA PALMER: Opera is one of many music drama traditions, that speaks to human life through song. We turn to stories with music to learn who we are and see ourselves, to educate, build, enforce and when necessary, break down the myths and driving assumptions of our culture. We do that through the creation of empathy and the possibilities of imagination. Opera has traditionally been created by a limited group of people, and consequently the stories and myths and power dynamics it perpetuates align with both the traumas and concerns of that group. But there are wider audiences to reach, to entertain and to speak to, and we need a wider group of storytellers to do that. 

Composer JORGE SOSA: Storytelling is continuously evolving and is in perpetual transformation, so it is essential that we open up avenues for composers and librettists to share and engage with dramatic ideas that can propel the genre forward in order to assert the art form's relevance. 

“Opening one’s mind to the ideas that composers and librettists of diverse backgrounds bring to the table can open doors that one did not know existed; doors that lead to a better version of ourselves.   And sometimes perspectives not chained to the expectations and traditions of the past are exactly what is needed to open paths to evolution.” - ALT Associate Artistic Director Kelly Kuo

Librettist STEPHANIE FLEISCHMANN: Telling stories is a powerful means for not just making sense of our world but for enacting change. The stories we have to tell are infinite. They encompass everybody’s stories. And they must be told by everybody if we are to represent this complex messy world we live in—if we are to attempt to articulate some sort of truth that expresses who we are as humans. Telling stories via music—a form that has the potential to mine an emotional terrain that reaches beyond language to a place that is, simply, and overwhelmingly human—promises to transgress boundaries, cross bridges, reach beyond the walls that we as a civilization still seem far too intent on constructing between us (whoever we may be) and those who hail from cultures different from our own. And yet American opera has been slow to embrace a vibrant, rich, magnificently diverse, multicultural world. Opera as a form will only thrive if and when it is a medium that upholds a diverse breadth of stories housed within a diverse breadth of forms, a diverse breadth of approaches to telling stories, made by a diverse breadth of makers, within institutions led by a diverse group of leaders, performed by singers who represent the diversity and multiplicity of our communities, directed and designed by artists whose lived experience and cultural legacy is not solely western and white. 

ALT Associate Artistic Director Kelly Kuo

ALT’s Associate Artistic Director KELLY KUO: We only survive and grow as a species through collaboration and the best collaboration occurs only when each party can look at things from a variety of perspectives.  In this respect, opera is no different than any other human endeavor.  Opening one’s mind to the ideas that composers and librettists of diverse backgrounds bring to the table can open doors that one did not know existed; doors that perhaps lead to a better version of ourselves.   And sometimes perspectives not chained to the expectations and traditions of the past are exactly what is needed to open paths to evolution. 

Composer JUSTINE CHEN: Composers and librettists both hold the keys to different forms of expression in opera.  Words have a certain power, and music has a different kind of power.  One can also inspire and unlock the other.  When there are two creators working towards a similar goal, each artist knows how to achieve that goal with one art, when two work together, the combination can magnify and heighten the effect.  When two people from different backgrounds collaborate, a new perspective emerges - similar to the combination of two lines of sight giving the perception of depth. There is a danger of stagnation without new perspectives, so recycling old perspectives is not a way to move forward. 

Composer Anthony Davis

Composer ANTHONY DAVIS: Malcolm X used the expression "that old pale thing" to describe the legacy of racism that has plagued our country since its inception.  In order to be a viable art form for the future, opera can no longer afford to be merely "that old pale thing" that only represents White male composers and librettists and the implicit credo of white supremacy. This is a fundamental question of the survival of the art form.  Can Opera be part of something so much bigger and more representative? 

On Monday, March 22nd, this six-part Q&A with ALT’s expert panel continues via Opera Innovation on Facebook.

---

American Lyric Theater is currently in the midst of its first ever virtual Opera Writers Symposium, a series of workshops and mini-seminars for composers and writers taking place February 27 – April 24. With the symposium, ALT seeks to introduce musicians and writers from diverse racial and artistic backgrounds to opera and explore how they might use the tools of the art form to tell their stories. ALT also hopes to encourage applications to the Composer Librettist Development Program (CLDP), the country’s only full-time paid mentorship for emerging opera composers, librettists and dramaturgs.  

Symposium classes include:  

• The Architecture of Opera: Outlining for Composers and Librettists led by composer/librettist Mark Adamo 

• Dramatizing History and Opera as Activism led by dramaturg  Cori Ellison  

• Opera, Technology and Innovation led by composers  Kamala Sankaram  and  Jorge Sosa 

• From Erased to Self-Empowered: Celebrating BIPOC Opera Composers and Librettists led by ALT’s Associate Artistic Director Kelly Kuo  

• How to Have a Healthy Marriage: Collaboration Best Practices led by ALT’s Founder Lawrence Edelson and dramaturg Cori Ellison 

Guest speakers during the symposium include composers Anthony Davis, Missy Mazzoli, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Huang Ruo and Errollyn Wallen; and librettists Mark Campbell, Thulani Davis (also a poet and playwright), David Henry Hwang, Andrea Davis Pinkney (also a children’s book author), and Royce Vavrek.   

The symposium provides practical tools for both first-time and experienced artists with an interest in developing new works for the operatic stage and serve as an introduction to ALT’s Composer Librettist Development Program (CLDP), a two-year, tuition-free professional training program for writers interested in creating new operas that includes extensive mentorship and direct financial support. No previous experience in writing opera is necessary.  

The CLDP Opera Writers Symposium is completely free, but  advance registration is required for each seminar, please.  Complete program details here. Lead funding for the symposium comes from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.  

The Opera Writers Symposium is part of ALT’s Opera Writers Diversity and Representation Initiative (OWDARI). In consultation with an Advisory Committee comprised of BIPOC artists and related experts in the field, ALT is examining every part of the company’s operations with the goal of addressing structural inequality and racism and increasing participation by BIPOC artists in the company’s flagship mentorship program.  

---

Rebecca Davis Public Relations
Rebecca Davis
347.432.8832
rebecca@rebeccadavispr.com

OI Insights | Why Santa Fe Opera’s New Hire is Seismically Good News

(Santa Fe, NM) - On February 12th, The Santa Fe Opera announced that it had hired The Dallas Opera’s David Lomelí as its new Chief Artistic Officer, consolidating the roles previously held by Artistic Director Alexander Neef (now leading Opéra de Paris) and Director of Artistic Administration Brad Woolbright, who retired in December 2020.

Santa Fe Opera Appoints Chief Artistic Officer

By Mark Tiarks for The New Mexican (13FEB2021)

Read The New Mexican Story

Lomelí’s years of artistic and artistic administration success, which includes a robust, globally-recognized singing career and the founding and exponential growth of The Dallas Opera’s wildly successful, YouTube-based TDO Network (boasting 28 weekly shows and 90 million views) is complimented by international marketing and computer science engineering degrees from Spain and Mexico, respectively. A seismic new hire, in our opinion. Lomelí, a quadruple threat rarely seen in opera, arrives in Santa Fe at a pivotal and eventful moment in the company’s history.

Santa Fe is a unique house with a unique story. A summer festival that functions more like a full-season, A-level house, we branded Santa Fe as the Davos-Sundance of Opera, based upon where it sits, literally and figuratively, in the global opera universe. For most opera companies and professionals, 2020 was a shared annus horribilis. But, Santa Fe punched well above its weight, pivoting to a hybrid, digital summer apprentices program, as well as the Songs from The Santa Fe Opera series, which celebrated 2020’s five (5), originally scheduled operas from its high desert stage with remote performances and interviews from around the world, notably before Metropolitan' Opera’s Met Stars Live debuted.

In the fall, stunning Opera For All Voices programming arrived. “Is This America,” a film showcasing Chandler Carter and Diana Solomon-Glover’s “This Little Light of Mine,” a one-act opera portraying key events in the life of voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, screened in partnership with CCA Santa Fe just before the November election. In February, OFAV’s Key Change, one of the country’s best podcasts, began its third season exploring the development of new OFAV works while keeping a finger on the pulse of social justice, immigration and the state of our union (more on this breakthrough podcast soon).

With an eye to the coming summer season, General Director Robert K. Meya shared that Santa Fe Opera is heavily invested in a COVID-safe 2021 season, having created a new position - COVID Compliance and Safety Officer - to manage new protocols developed with CHRISTUS St. Vincent, partnering with Production Safe Zone “to conduct testing and help maintain performer and worker social distancing protocols.”

Santa Fe Opera is effectively in the process of creating the world premiere of a proprietary, safety-first opera brand experience - a thrilling business, health, science, performing arts and human interest story like no other, and just in time for Mr. Lomelí’s arrival. We’ve no inside information on Mr. Lomelí’s full Chief Artistic Officer responsibilities or his specific plans, but OI Insights would like to the first to highlight some clear, additional business wins. Full disclosure: we’ve not yet had the opportunity to formally meet Mr. Lomelí and these thoughts are based upon publicly available information.

Optics

I’m hard pressed to think of another US-based, Latinx person at Mr. Lomelí’s level of artistry, artistic leadership and experience in the business of opera (this Mexican-American cheered when he heard the news). Santa Fe Opera is an increasingly diverse place to work, especially when fully staffed during the season, but leadership positions haven’t always been as representative of multicultural New Mexico. Given this, Mr. Lomelí’s arrival is right on time; he will not only build upon his success at The Dallas Opera and abroad, but bring critical diversity insights and best practices with him. Per Opera News:

“His tenure at The Dallas Opera marked the first time in the history of an American opera company that a Latino has held a top position at a Level 1 opera company. Lomelí serves as a Strategic Committee Member with OPERA America’s ALAANA (African, Latinx, Arab, Asian and Native American) Steering Committee and is committed to enhancing opera and the opera industry through increased diversity and equitable practices.”

- Opera News, February 12, 2021

Mr. Lomelí’s standing in the industry as a Latinx person, coupled with the aforementioned OPERA America service, it would not be a stretch to say that he could be Santa Fe Opera’s de facto Chief Diversity Officer. At the very least, he will be able to provide fellow members of Santa Fe leadership, his Human Resources colleagues (as well as board members and staff) with on point guidance, based upon his experience with these best practices in the opera space, which every American company worth its salt must actively engage, embrace and grow.

Expertise

As detailed in various articles written about Mr. Lomelí’s impending arrival, he brings a diversified portfolio of experience, credentials and business success to the table. But no two companies are the same and Santa Fe Opera presents unique opportunities.

Over the course of his career, Lomelí appears to have taken calculated risks and forged new paths. Based upon his use of TDO social media, he’s effectively become one of its most recognized faces, and his clear understanding of public relations - his use of personal PR as well as a publicist - demonstrates the importance he places on telling a compelling, real-time story not only for himself but for his brand. Applying this to TDO Network’s raison d’être, the initiative was born due to a lack of substantial TDO video archives and a reluctance to begin creating expensive digital opera. Given these realities, Lomelí and his team ideated and executed a programming vision that not only employs talented creatives, many of whom are out of work opera singers, but also creates real-time space and conversation around some of opera and American culture’s hot button topics - equity, inequality and race - during one of our nation’s most hot button times (cue the OFAV Key Change synergies).

Shockingly, there are only a few other regularly-seen ‘face of the brand’ individuals in opera. Some who come to mind are San Francisco Opera’s Matthew Shilvock, Fort Worth Opera’s Afton Battle, Glimmerglass Festival’s Francesca Zambello and a certain gent in New York City. As General Director, Mr. Meya appeared throughout 2020’s digital programming and is regularly identified as Santa Fe Opera’s chief executive. However, given Mr. Lomelí’s regular #FOTB appearances across the TDO Network and his deft use of social media and public relations for himself and his brand, SFO is almost certainly considering how to harness the success of this opera world influencer, recreating and growing the global digital success first born in Dallas .

Even with high-dollar investments in a COVID-safe SFO brand experience this summer, there’s every reason for the company to also invest in its digital capabilities now that the pandemic has forever changed how we consume - and accept - alternatives to live performance. Leveraging Lomelí’s global network, SFO could digitally introduce itself into new homes, regions and spheres of influence (i.e. global business), elevating itself to the worldwide omnimedia prominence and resonance it deserves, while still remaining place-based and fully associated with The City Different. If, of course, Santa Fe Opera wants this, as we stated in our 2019 blog. The results could be on par with TDO Network and Met Opera, making Santa Fe Opera a Top Five, globally-recognized opera brand with the ability to monetize its prominence (today’s Scott Galloway-esque prediction). We’re hoping SFO is audacious enough to consider and make it a reality.

Vision

Continuing in the spirit of the last section and based upon his reported global consulting, Mr. Lomelí undoubtedly sees the world as his operating environment, not just New Mexico, the Southwest or even the United States. Santa Fe Opera has been steadily building its working relationships with Europe since Mr. Meya became General Director, which has been exciting to watch and critical to the growth of SFO’s global footprint. In addition to key European relationships, Mr. Lomelí’s ready access to and standing in the Spanish-speaking opera, business and cultural worlds means that Santa Fe Opera could become The Americas’ most influential opera company. A thought: Monocle Magazine’s annual soft-power issue ranks “how well countries project themselves abroad.” In the same way, with a bilingual digital network, Santa Fe Opera could create indelible velocity of message, projecting its own brand of soft, multi-cultural power around the world, but specifically across North and Latin America, becoming a unifying force for American opera and, more critically, Opera in the Americas. Our recent, frank assessment of this country’s flagship opera company makes this a strategic objective worth considering and most certainly a goal that’s within reach. If I was formally advising the company, this would be the hill I’d jump up and down upon.

Mr. Lomeli from a recent ABC News article, speaking to opera generally and The Dallas Opera Network:

"It's a business that doesn't have a lot of clues on how to do this," Lomeli said. "We debunk myths, and a lot of people who are following us are around the globe…singers or people who are just starting (to watch)."

Mr. Lomeli probably recognizes that the opera world is watching and studying his particular approach to opera innovation (as they should), while he continues to write the book on building a dominant, glocal brand, perhaps even beyond opera-world recognition. As suggested above, the bilingual or multi-lingual expansion and exportation of Santa Fe Opera’s one of a kind ethos, with emphasis on multi-cultural New Mexico, could power connection through bold performance, pop up experiences, brand partnerships and omnimedia, scaling the brand to new and dizzying heights.

A clue: how do national tourism efforts work in the global travel market?

JM for OI Insights