Summer festivals are celebrating the return of in-person opera premieres with a bounty of fresh new work. Some were postponed from 2020, while others were developed over the last few years. Several feature adaptations from beloved sources; others spring forth utterly original. Here is a look at five of this summer’s premieres. 

A Thousand Acres
Des Moines Metro Opera

The Premise: Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Jane Smiley, A Thousand Acres reimagines Shakespeare’s King Lear as a domestic drama on an Iowa farm. An aging father divides his land among his three daughters. The youngest’s objection triggers his rage, the elder sisters’ rivalry, and revelations of long-suppressed family secrets.

The Team: This is the first opera by composer Kristin Kuster, an OPERA America Discovery Grant recipient who has written numerous symphonic, vocal, and chamber music pieces. Librettist Mark Campbell’s prize-winning works include Silent Night and The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs.

Commemorating an Anniversary: General and Artistic Director Michael Egel describes the premiere as “the perfect melding of subject and locale” and an ideal way to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary. Smiley, who lived in Iowa for two decades and cites Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor as a favorite opera, is thrilled at the prospect of hearing her story gain greater beauty and more feeling through music.

Awakenings
Opera Theatre of Saint Louis

The Premise: In a Bronx hospital, patients with encephalitis lethargica hover between catatonia and consciousness. A young doctor tries an experimental new drug that “awakens” some, stirring old romances, new desires, and reflections on time lost and life rediscovered. As patients’ conditions subsequently deteriorate, they are haunted by fears, hallucinations, and erratic behavior while their doctors grapple with the ethics of the treatment program.

The Team: Composer Tobias Picker, currently artistic director at Tulsa Opera, was a decades-long friend of the late Dr. Oliver Sacks, whose memoir inspired Picker’s interpretation. Picker’s husband, Aryeh Lev Stollman, a neuroradiologist, penned the libretto.

An Act of Love: Artistic Director James Robinson stage directs this production, which was originally scheduled for 2020. The two-year postponement allowed for deeper reflection on the joys, frustrations, and failures of experimentation, without which advancements in science and art would not be possible. He describes Awakenings as an act of love, one much needed after recent years have “reminded us all of the fragility of life and the power of healing through medicine, music, words, and time.”

Fierce
Cincinnati Opera

The Premise: Fierce finds four high school girls in a writing class, where an essay prompt propels them on a path of self-discovery and empowerment. They grapple with private grief and performance anxiety, personal dreams and parental expectations, fears, fantasies, and familial turmoil, all the while facing down a chorus of taunting trolls.

The Team: Both librettist and composer are Ohio natives tackling their first operatic endeavor. Hometown son William Menefield has jazzed up Cincinnati audiences since his professional debut at age 12. A veteran soloist of Cincinnati Opera’s “Opera Goes to Church” concerts, he infuses Fierce with a dynamic dance of jazz, soul, R&B, and classical styles. Novelist Sheila Williams drew on interviews with local teens in collaboration with community youth organizations to craft the libretto. Cincinnati Opera received an OPERA America Civic Practice Grant to support this production.

Reflecting Real Life: “What makes Fierce extraordinary is that it is drawn from the true experiences of young people right here in our city, with a narrative and musical language that reflect the real struggles and joys of growing up,” says Artistic Director Evans Mirageas.

Holy Ground
The Glimmerglass Festival

The Premise: Imagine the biblical annunciation story as a workplace sitcom with end-of-days stakes. Squabbling archangels have already failed to convince hundreds of virgins to bear the Messiah. Now they try to convince Mary to prevent the impending apocalypse.

The Team: Composer Damien Geter and librettist Lila Palmer previously collaborated on the chamber opera American Apollo, which Des Moines Metro Opera will present this summer. Both are opera singers who branched into wide-ranging artistic practices. Geter is the interim music director and artistic advisor for Portland Opera. Palmer currently serves as the interim managing director of American Lyric Theater. Chloe Treat will conduct the productions thanks to an award from OPERA America’s Opera Grants for Women Stage Directors and Conductors.

Sacrifice and Joy: Artistic and General Director Francesca Zambello hails Holy Ground as “a fresh lens on feminism and choice”  that offers “nuanced perspectives on the question of motherhood — the risk and sacrifice, but also the joy and wonder,” all seasoned with a healthy dose of humor.

M. Butterfly
The Santa Fe Opera

The Premise: M. Butterfly flutters between fantasy and reality, as well as continents and decades. It tells the story of a French embassy staffer in 1960s Beijing who falls in love with a beautiful soprano, unaware that his "butterfly" is not only a man, but also a spy for the People’s Liberation Army.

The Team: Composer Huang Ruo sets the story to music that integrates Peking opera idioms with nods to Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. David Henry Hwang adapted the libretto from his own play. The pair previously collaborated to create An American Soldier, which premiered as a one-act opera at Washington National Opera in 2014 and later as a full-length work at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in 2018.

Addressing Identity: M. Butterfly remains as relevant as ever amid ongoing conversations on Asian representation and gender identity. “Though the story has been around for decades, first as a Tony Award-winning play, then as a Hollywood film, its subject matter and exploration of identity speak more crucially than ever to today’s audiences," says General Director Robert Meya.