Emily & Sue, an a cappella pop opera by composer Dana Kaufman and librettist Aiden K. Feltkamp, explores the romantic relationship between Emily Dickinson and her sister-in-law, Susan Huntington Gilbert Dickinson. It exists in album, live performance, and film formats and stars Jasmine Muhammad and the Iris Vocal Trio. The opera was commissioned by Amherst College, which owns Emily's house/The Emily Dickinson Museum.
Emily spent much of her life in seclusion and particularly in her room, where the entirety of Emily & Sue takes place. Letters between Emily and Sue, as well as Emily’s poetry, document a deeply intimate relationship that was not socially acceptable or legally recognized in 19th-century Massachusetts; the plot of Emily & Sue extrapolates from their correspondences. These letters and poetry explore queerness, isolation, and forbidden love.
About the Producer
The work of Los Angeles-based composer-librettist Dana Kaufman centers disruptive opera and vocal music, accessible and inclusive stages, and the intersection of pop culture and classical music. Hailed as “whirlwind” (Gramophone), “ingeniously derived” (Sequenza21), and “dramatic…and powerfully funny” (Observer), Kaufman’s music has been heard in North America, Europe, and Asia. Her works have been featured at venues and festivals such as Carnegie Hall, New York Opera Fest, Contemporary Music Center of Milan, the National Gugak Center (South Korea), Seattle Opera's Tagney Jones Hall, The Tank, Jordan Hall, Boston New Music Festival, National Opera Week, Hartford Opera Theater, Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall (Croatia), Ravinia Festival, Lowbrow Opera Collective, and Opera on Tap Chicago; they have been commissioned by GRAMMY-winning pianist Nadia Shpachenko, the Louisville Ballet, Carlow Arts Festival (Ireland), Synchromy, the Lowell Chamber Orchestra, Paradox Opera, and many others.
Kaufman has been a Fulbright Research Fellow in Estonia, National Endowment for the Arts grant recipient, winner of an OPERA America Opera Grants for Women Composers: Discovery Grant (supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation), and four-time American Prize honoree. She has given lectures at the LA Opera, Women Composers Festival of Hartford, Leuphana Universität Lüneberg, Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, and the Music by Women Festival as a frequent speaker on gender diversity in composition and composing for trans voices. Kaufman received her Bachelor of Arts in music and Russian (magna cum laude) from Amherst College, her Master of Music in composition from New England Conservatory, and her Doctor of Musical Arts in composition from University of Miami Frost School of Music as the first Frost student to be a Dean’s Fellow. She is an Associate Professor in Music Composition at the University of California, Riverside. danakaufmanmusic.com
Produced by Dana Kaufman and Aiden Feltkamp, Emily & Sue: An A Cappella Pop Opera was selected as a finalist in the category of Noteworthy Projects the 2024 Awards for Digital Excellence.