National Sawdust And Metropolitan Opera Announce New Series, OPERA EVOLVED
Opera Evolved navigates questions of what qualifies as apera and who opera is for through explorations of modern works.
By: A.A. Cristi Oct. 05, 2023
National Sawdust and the Metropolitan Opera today announce a new programming partnership, Opera Evolved, which furthers the organizations' shared commitment to nurturing new opera talents, perspectives, and works, and to the evolution of contemporary opera.
Taking place at National Sawdust throughout the 2023-24 season, Opera Evolved is a series of conversations with composers and artists that focuses on the contemporary operas featured at the Met this season and explores the ways opera is evolving today. Guests will discuss how opera is shaping its future by bringing contemporary works into repertoire and canon. They will also reveal the inner-workings of these monumental collaborations, and how they're rethinking works for The Met's stage and scale—and the particularities of an era at the brink of countless tipping points. The events will also include short performances by Met singers.
The first Opera Evolved event will take place on October 24, at 8pm, with a program that explores the upcoming Met premieres of Anthony Davis' X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X (which will be staged by Robert O'Hara, the Tony-nominated director of Slave Play, making his Met debut with the new production) and Daniel Catán's Florencia en el Amazonas (staged by Tony-winning director Mary Zimmerman). Will Liverman and Ailyn Pérez, stars of X and Florencia, respectively, will perform works from the operas, and composer Anthony Davis and Andrea Puente, Catán's widow and legacy caregiver, will participate in the discussion. The event will be a rare opportunity to hear a living composer and artistic advisor discuss the experience of revisiting works in new productions and contexts.
The conversation with Davis and Puente will be are moderated by filmmaker/producer Elena Park, whose impressive career has seen her in extensive long-term collaboration with both organizations—including as curator/host of NationalSawdust+ and as a supervising producer (including Live in HD and Radio) and former Assistant General Manager with the Met.
Tickets are $35 in advance at nationalsawdust.org.
National Sawdust, the women-led, Williamsburg, Brooklyn-based cultural institution that commissions, produces, and presents innovative new music and multidisciplinary works, has been described as a “classical music think tank” (Gothamist) and heralded for its work “to shake up classical music's business-as-usual” (New York Magazine). Opera Evolved furthers the organization's crucial support of experimental, contemporary works—with recent presentations of Sokio's Paraíso, Niloufar Nourbakhsh's We, The Innumerable, and JOJO ABOT and Esperanza Spalding's A GOD OF HER OWN MAKING, and through partnerships including Beth Morrison Projects, Aix en Provence, and others—and discourse that expand the operatic canon. The series is spearheaded by National Sawdust's recently appointed Managing Director, Ana De Archuleta, one of the most respected leaders in opera and classical music, who has been an advocate of emerging and underrepresented artists throughout her career.
Opera Evolved is, for both organizations, an opportunity to consider what opera can offer—and how to ensure its relevance and resonance into the future.
Ana De Archuleta says, “Opera ignited my passion and led me to the arts. Over time, I've watched its transformative journey. The collaboration between the Met and National Sawdust epitomizes this evolution, championing diverse voices and ensuring our beloved art resonates widely.”
Paola Prestini adds, “It is a great joy to be able to bring the artistry, vision, and audiences of the Metropolitan Opera to National Sawdust. The ability to co-ideate on what the future of opera holds is thrilling, and we can't wait to share this art and the National Sawdust spin on opera with our community.”
Opera Evolved continues a longstanding collaboration between National Sawdust and the Metropolitan Opera, including a 2019 consideration of virtuosic juggling with the troupe Gandini Juggling, Anthony Roth Costanzo, and Caroline Shaw, in advance of the Met's production of Philip Glass's Akhnaten; and, in 2018, a preview event at National Sawdust, with Isabel Leonard, Iestyn Davies, and more, for the premiere of Nico Muhly's Marnie at the Met.
National Sawdust is a dynamic non-profit cultural institution that commissions, produces, and presents programming rooted in sound and supports multidisciplinary artists and arts organizations in the creation of innovative new work. Founded in 2015 by Kevin Dolan and Paola Prestini, National Sawdust operates out of an intimate space, equipped with a state-of-the-art Meyer spatial sound system, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where it is one of the few remaining cultural venues. The New York Times has described National Sawdust as “the city's most vital new-music hall” and as “a triumphantly successful performance space that stands for a hip, sophisticated brand of new music.”
National Sawdust provides artists across musical genres and artistic disciplines with comprehensive support including commissions, workshops, residencies, public performances, recording, mentorship, and professional development. It aims to be not only a home for its community of artists, but also a place for audiences to discover wide-ranging music at accessible ticket prices. The institution's mentorship initiatives counteract industry barriers and the historic marginalization of diverse communities in the arts, providing artists and arts workers with guidance, resources, and relationships with established visionaries to accelerate their careers.
Designed by Brooklyn's Bureau V, National Sawdust is constructed within the existing shell of a century-old sawdust factory, preserving the authenticity of Williamsburg's industrial past while providing a refined and intimate setting for the exploration of new music. At the venue's core is a flexible chamber hall, acoustically designed by renowned engineering firm Arup to provide the highest-quality experience of both unamplified and amplified music.
Under the leadership of Peter Gelb, the Met's Maria Manetti Shrem General Manager, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, the Metropolitan Opera is one of America's leading performing arts organizations and a vibrant home for the world's most creative and talented artists, including singers, conductors, composers, orchestra musicians, stage directors, designers, visual artists, choreographers, and dancers. The company presents approximately 200 performances each season of a wide variety of operas, ranging from early masterpieces to contemporary works. In recent years, the Met has launched many initiatives designed to make opera more accessible, most prominently the Live in HD series of cinema transmissions, which dramatically expands the Met audience by allowing select performances to be seen in more than 50 countries around the world.
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