New York City Opera Announces New Works Showcased in 11th Season of VOX

New York City Opera has announced the ten new operas that will be showcased in their annual readings of new works, the newly renamed the VOX Contemporary American Opera Lab. The program, now in its eleventh year, offers both emerging and established composers and librettists the opportunity to hear their previously unproduced works performed by NYCO soloists, orchestra, and chorus in readings that are free and open to the public. The event this year will take place at New York University’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts (566 LaGuardia Place, at Washington Square South) on Friday, April 30, and Saturday, May 1.

The ten works are:

Acquanetta
Michael Gordon, composer; Deborah Artman, librettist

Dog Days
David T. Little, composer; Royce Vavrek, librettist

Evangeline Revisited
Julian Wachner, composer; Alexis Nouss, librettist

Inventory
Brian Current, composer; Anton Piatigorsky, librettist

Oceanic Verses
Paola Prestini, composer-librettist

Revolution of Forms
Anthony Davis, Dafnis Prieto, composers; Alma Guillermoprieto, Charles Koppelman, librettists

Song from the Uproar
Missy Mazzoli, composer-librettist

A Star Across the Ocean
Scott Davenport Richards, composer-librettist

With Blood, With Ink
Daniel Crozier, composer; Peter Krask, librettist

Zolle
Du Yun, composer-librettist

These ten works were selected from a record-high total of 99 submissions. This year, continuing an initiative introduced at VOX 2009, the presentations are also open to new excerpts from works that have previously been performed at VOX and other workshop settings as well as works that have been premiered but not performed again since. Michael Gordon and Deborah Artman’s Acquanetta was previously performed in Germany, and With Blood, With Ink by Daniel Crozier and Peter Krask was showcased as part of VOX in 2000. To date, VOX has presented excerpts from 100 new operas, with more than 40 of those going on to full productions—four at City Opera and the remainder at companies including Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Washington National Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, and Santa Fe Opera. To learn more about this year’s selections and to hear audio samples from each of them, visit the VOX page at the New York City Opera’s website.

(—Condensed from the press release.)