The Atlanta Opera has announced that composer Marcus Norris and librettist Adamma Ebo have been chosen as the winners of their inaugural “96-Hour Opera Project: Stories that Resonate.”

The competition ran from June 17 – 20, with the finals presented at the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center in Morehouse College.

The project is a composition showcase where six teams created 10-minute operas over the course of four days , drawing on stories and materials provided by local partnering organizations. Norris and Ebo will share a $10k cash prize, and a commission from TAO to write a chamber opera. Their work, titled “Go On With the Wind,” was based on information provided by Atlanta History Center, follows a Morehouse Glee Club singer who was invited to sing at a party celebrating the 1939 premiere of “Gone With The Wind.”

The other participating teams were comprised of Johanny Navarro and Deborah Muton, Jorge Sosa and Alejandra Martinez, Carlos Castro and Diana Solomon-Glover, Roydon Tse and Marcus Yi, and Saman Shahi and Isabella Dawis. The judges panel included Portland Opera Artistic Director Priti Gandhi, librettist and writer Andrea Davis Pinkney, Houston Opera General Director Khori Dastoor, renowned bass Morris Robinson, composer Kevin Putts, and choreographer Donald Byrd.

The Atlanta Opera Film Studio will also produce a mini-series comprised of competition and interview footage that will air on Georgia Public Broadcasting stations July 11-13, 2022.