NYU/TISCH ADVANCED OPERA LAB SPRING 2021
UNDISCOVERED COUNTRIES
DECEMBER 2021 - WORLD PREMIERE
Online

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, staring down the shape of your guilt, 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 — through the lens of operatic film — Undiscovered Countries, a set of vital artistic responses to a world inexorably changed by the events of 2020.

— Randall Eng, Associate Arts Professor of NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program

SHADOW ON THE WALL

MUSIC BY ZONIA TSANG
LIBRETTO BY ALEX HIGGIN-HOUSER
DESIGN BY NEW PHASE COLLECTIVE

Boy— Melissa Harvey
Sister— Nicole Mitchell
Brother— Timothy Stoddard
Jinn— Gideon Dabi

In this shadow puppet opera, a Blackwater mercenary returns to Sparta, TN to live with his sister, having received a presidential pardon for the murders he committed in Iraq. When he moves in, his sister's loyalty is tested when a shadowy presence demands justice.

THE DRAGON TRANSFER

MUSIC BY GAVIN KNITTLE
LIBRETTO BY BRIANA HARRIS
DESIGN BY LAUREN CARMEN, NINA PAN, AND CHRISTOPHER WONG

Svetlana— Kathryn Krasovec
Celeste— Nicole Mitchell
Uri— Gideon Dabi
Jin— Paul An

The Dragon Transfer chronicles the experiences of four astronauts on the International Space Station during the Covid-19 pandemic. A newly arrived American astronaut sends a device to her college age daughter in quarantine, while an escaped spider aboard the ISS causes mayhem among the crew.

ETERNAL REST

MUSIC BY WILLEM OOSTHUYSEN
LIBRETTO BY TRISTEN MOSELEY
DESIGN BY KAREN BOYER AND ANT MA
DIRECTION BY I-CHEN WANG

Mortem— Melissa Harvey
Vainglory— Kathryn Krasovec
Fortuno— Timothy Stoddard
Fauvel— Paul An

Drawing on text and music from the Middle Ages, this show sees a horse-headed priest lead a Catholic Requiem, while those in the pews must reconcile a world situated between continual crisis and the cusp of renaissance.

Artists include:
Melissa Harvey / soprano
Kathryn Krasovec / mezzo-soprano
Nicole Mitchell / contralto
Gideon Dabi / baritone
Timothy Stoddard / tenor
Paul An / bass
Miriam Charney / music direction & piano

Designers include:
Ant Ma
Karen Boyer
Lauren Carmen
New Phase Collective
Nina Pan
Christopher Wong

Composers include:
Gavin Knittle
Willem Oosthuysen
Zonia Tsang

Librettists include:
Briana Harris
Alex Higgin-Houser
Tristen Moseley

Direction by I-Chen Wang
Audio engineering by Enzo Veiga
Filmed on location in South Oxford Space, Fort Greene, Brooklyn

Advanced Opera Lab led by
Randall Eng, Associate Arts Professor of NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program
Sam Helfrich, Associate Arts Professor of NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ Design for Stage & Film
Written by students from NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program
Designed by students from NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ Design for Stage & Film

A collaborative project of NYU Tisch School of the Arts' Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, Department of Design for Stage and Film, and The American Opera Project.

LEARN MORE

UNDISCOVERED COUNTRIES, presented by AOP/NYU/Tisch Advanced Opera Lab, is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.