The Cincinnati Opera and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music have announced the next workshop in their joint program, Opera Fusion: New Works.

The partners will host a workshop of Act one of the new opera “The Highlands,” with music by composer Carlos Simon and a libretto by playwright Lynn Nottage and her daughter, poet and writer Ruby Aiyo Gerber.

“The Highlands” is a commission of the Metropolitan Opera/Lincoln Center Theater New Works Program, a co-venture between the two institutions that aims to nurture, promote, and stage new opera and music theater works.

The workshop will culminate in a public performance of excerpts on March 23, 2024 at 2 p.m. at Cincinnati Music Hall’s Wilks Studio. The performance will be followed by a conversation about the opera with the creative team and cast moderated by Guarino and Mirageas.