Performing Arts Laboratory Announces Creators for 2025–2026 Opera Camp Composition & Libretto Program
By David SalazarThe Performing Arts Laboratory has announced the six international creators selected for the inaugural 2025–2026 Opera Camp Composition & Libretto Program.
The 2025 Opera Masters are librettist Diego Sosa of Mexico City and composer Raul Esteban Ardila Pineda of Itagüi, Colombia. The Opera Fellows include librettist Robert Ellsworth Feng of Kailua, Hawai‘i, and composer Linda Uran of Buzet, Croatia. The Opera Apprentices feature composers Sarah Wallin Huff of Upland, California, and Yangfan Xu of Beijing.
The group was chosen from 425 applications representing 68 countries, following a multi-stage review process that included artistic statements, work samples, and a confidential interview round.
“The caliber of applicants made the selection process both inspiring and incredibly difficult,” said conductor Diego Barbosa-Vásquez, Creator and Artistic Director of the Opera Camp™, per an official press release. “We weren’t just looking for exceptional artists; we were seeking pioneers with the unique vision and collaborative spirit to build a new, community-centric model for the Opera and the Performing Arts. This cohort embodies that transformative potential.”
The artists will all work with Barbosa-Vásquez and the teams at PAL Productions and Opera Camp to create two new operas: a full one-act work from the Opera Masters and a collaborative one-act work from the Fellows and Apprentices. The world premiere of one of the operas, with possible workshops of the second, is scheduled for June 2026 at the Bloomington Opera Camp.
The program is supported by an international network of allied orchestras, which will co-premiere the overture of the new opera during their 2026–2028 seasons. Participating ensembles include the Americas Chamber Orchestra in Indiana, the Santa Monica Symphony, the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional Juvenil de El Salvador, the Orquesta Municipal de José C. Paz in Argentina, and the Orquesta Sinfónica de la Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá.
Read Related Stories
Categories
News
