With the New York Opera Fest 2018 officially underway, OperaWire will be showcasing small previews for each major participant at the festival, as we did during last year’s event. However, we are doing things a bit differently this year and giving the floor directly to each company to speak to you, the reader, directly. Enjoy!

Nurturing young operatic writers is not something many companies do. In fact, the American Lyric Theater is the only one who works full time to mentor such writers. And some of the recent efforts will be on display at this year’s New York Opera Fest.

Productions

May 17 – American Lyric Theater presents InsightALT: Opera in Eden: Merkin Concert Hall, Kaufman Music Center, 129 West 67th St, New York, NY

Tell us a bit about your company in general and what you’re all about!

American Lyric Theater is home of the Composer Librettist Development Program, the nation’s only full time mentoring program for operatic writers. ALT was founded by Lawrence Edelson in 2005 to build a new body of operatic repertoire for new audiences by nurturing composers and librettists, developing sustainable artistic collaborations, and contributing new works to the national canon.

Tell us a bit about your production(s) and why you’re excited about them!

Opera in Eden presents three one-act operas written by the Resident Artists of our Composer Librettist Development Program. After a year of classes and workshops, the event is the culmination of the writers’ work and the final pairing of composer/librettist teams. Each opera is written on the subject of temptation but treated in three very different ways. This is a chance for audiences to experience new opera in creation from a very talented group of writers. The event is moderated by composer/librettist Mark Adamo and Producing Artistic Director Lawrence Edelson.

Tell us why you’re excited about this year’s New York Opera Festival!

ALT is proud to be a part of New York Opera Festival, to be among our colleagues who are creating and producing opera in a variety of creative ways. This concentrated period gives New York audiences an opportunity to experience opera in many forms.

What do you feel is the biggest challenge small opera companies face?

Small opera companies in a big city are challenged by attracting audiences to try something new, something unexpected, to show them the diversity of the operatic canon, and invite them to experience opera not just from the traditional repertoire in a large auditorium, but from smaller companies that are keeping the art form alive and vibrant.