THE AMERICAN OPERA PROJECT AND THE NYU TISCH SCHOOL OF THE ARTS’ GRADUATE MUSICAL THEATRE WRITING PROGRAM & DEPARTMENT OF DESIGN FOR STAGE & FILM PRESENT:
NYU/TISCH OPERA LAB SPRING 2021
UNDISCOVERED COUNTRIES
After five years of developing and producing short operas for live performance, this year the NYU/Tisch Opera Lab moves into the realm of film. In collaboration with a team of designers, the pieces are being envisioned specifically for the filmed medium. The transition to film opens up a wealth of possibilities, and the creative teams are taking full advantage of that, writing heightened moments that can only exist in operatic film - being attacked by spiders, reliving the Nisour Square massacre, or falling under the spell of a preacher with the head of a horse.
The three 30-minute operas are being written in response to the chaotic, momentous year 2020. The librettists and composers are creating pieces that tackle the tumultuous events of the past year in ways direct and sidelong, with tones that encompass fury, resignation, hope, and delight. They take place on the International Space Station, inside a medieval church at the height of the Plague, and in the aftermath of the pardoning of the Blackwater Four.
Opera has always struggled with responding to immediate events, within an infrastructure where pieces usually take many years to come to fruition. With this year’s Tisch Opera Lab, these three operas are moving from conception to completed film in just six months. We are thrilled to explore these Undiscovered Countries, to plunge into the world of operatic film, and create a set of vital artistic responses to the world we now live in. — Randall Eng, Associate Arts Professor of NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program.
Learn more at the official website here!