Hannah McDermott and Katherin Pitt have been selected as two Dramaturg Apprentices who will join the Composer-Librettist Development Program at the American Lyric Theater.

McDermott recently received a Master of Philosophy from the University of Oxford; she also has a Bachelor of Music from The Juilliard School and has also performed in a number of operas throughout her student days.

Putt graduated from Yale University in History and Theater Studies and has written essays on “The Merry Widow” for Opera Saratoga, and “Pericles” for the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival.”

The Dramaturg Apprenticeship is led by Cori Ellison, who is a founding member of ATL’s faculty. She is also a leading opera dramaturg who was recently appointed as Santa Fe Opera’s first dramaturg. She has also worked on Francesca Zambello’s “Ring Cycle” in Washington, Opera Boston’s “The Nose,” and the Bard Summerscape’s “Offenbach!!!”

“Last year, we introduced the first full-time apprenticeship for an opera dramaturg in new works development, and over the course of the season, we learned a great deal about both the qualities that are needed for a dramaturg to succeed, and the resources necessary to help gifted emerging dramaturgs reach their potential,” stated Lawrence Edelson, Founder and Producing Artistic Director of American Lyric Theater in a press release. “Over the summer, Cori Ellison and I have worked together to further develop the program, and to create an even more robust apprenticeship for our new dramaturg apprentices, which combines elements of our proven core-curriculum with unique opportunities to observe and participate in the development of new works at ALT.

“With so few qualified dramaturgs working in the field of new opera development today, we are very excited by the potential long term impact of this investment for American opera.”