The Washington National Opera is set to present the ninth season of its acclaimed American Opera Initiative.

The upcoming season will present three world premieres on the Kennedy Center’s streaming platform, Digital Stage+ on Saturday, May 1.

the performance will be directed by Amanda Consol and will feature works by librettist-composer teams Laura Fuentes and Ben Morris, Rebecca Hart and Amber Vistein, and Lila Palmer and Damien Geter.

The three original stories describe a wide variety of themes. “Las Auténticas” experiences of a first-generation Mexican-American as she navigates her own cultural identity while “The barren(s)” showcases the haunting mysteries of a south New Jersey town. Finally, “American Apollo” showcases the complex relationship between painter and model, muse and artist, touching on unspoken sexual identification and the transgression of racial and economic class norms.

In a press release, Robert Ainsley, director of American Opera Initiative and Cafritz Young Artists said, “As we start to see the fog of last year lift and work to rebuild our artistic communities and creative connections, AOI remains a beacon of operatic creativity and a pipeline for the next generation of composers and librettists,” “It is a central part of WNO’s mission to continue expanding the operatic canon, and we are so grateful to this year’s teams for bringing these works to completion under such extraordinary conditions.”

“Los Auténticas” is set to star Marlen Nahhas, Katerina Burton, and Samuel J. Weiser while “the barren(s)” will star Katerina Burton, Rehanna Thelwell, Jonathan Bryan, and Duke Kim, and Dennis Chmelensky. Finally “American Apollo” will star Justin Austin, Matthew Pearce, Suzannah Waddington, and William Meinert.