About Laura Kaminsky

Laura Kaminsky, “one of the top 35 female composers in classical music” (The Washington Post), frequently addresses issues including sustainability, war, and human rights in her work. “Full of fire as well as ice, (she writes) in an idiom that contrasts dissonance and violence with tonal beauty and meditative reflection. It is strong stuff.” (American Record Guide) With co-librettists Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed she has created the most widely-produced contemporary opera in the U.S., As One (2014), Some Light Emerges (Houston Grand Opera 2017), and Today It Rains (Opera Parallèle/American Opera Projects 2019). Upcoming: Piano Quintet for Ursula Oppens and the Cassatt String Quartet; and with Reed, Postville, inspired by the unprecedented and devastating immigration raid there in 2008, for a consortium led by Santa Fe and San Francisco Operas. Head of composition at the Conservatory of Music/SUNY Purchase, she is composer-in-residence at American Opera Projects.

Performers

Sarah Moulton Faux, soprano
Blythe Gaissert, mezzo-soprano
Taylor Raven, mezzo-soprano
Jorell Williams, baritone
Mila Henry, piano

Program

"Paper route", "A Christmas story", and "Close" from As One

"George Washington Into Mona Lisa" from Some Light Emerges

Duet from Scene 2, Scene 7 from Today it Rains

OPERA America Onstage is supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and by grants from the Amphion Foundation and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music.