2023 96-Hour Opera Project | presented by The Atlanta Opera

Monday, June 12, 2023 @ 7pm

Ray Charles Performing Arts Center at Morehouse College

Thank

Thank you for sharing in this creative project with us! We launched the 96-Hour Opera Project last year to offer an opportunity to composers and librettists from under-represented communities, and as another way to lean into our desire to become a more inclusive and diverse organization. The project was a success in ways that I never anticipated! We saw the magic that happens when creative people with a wide range of personal experiences come together. Synergy, imagination, and sparks of joy flew and ignited creativity. So, we asked ourselves ‘What’s next?”

Again, it was more than we expected. The energy between the people at Morehouse College and the Opera brought us to collaborate on presenting this season’s Discoveries series opera, The Anonymous Lover last March. Connections between the students, faculty, and creative team of that production were exciting to see. We continue to grow that partnership with today’s event.

We expanded this project to include the incubation of a new opera, which brought fresh insights into the practical support required for composers and librettists. It’s no easy task to create a new opera and we were pleased when we were able to finalize commissioning details with the winners of last year’s

competition, Marcus Norris and Adamma Ebo. You’ll see a scene from their opera-under-construction Forsyth County is Flooding (with the Joy of Lake Lanier) as part of today’s event.

We gathered even more momentum as Georgia Public Broadcasting shared a three-part documentary about the 96-Hour Opera Project that reached the entire state. Nearly 30,000 people saw the progress of last year’s competition. As this project evolves, we move from invention and ideas to a practical, efficient, and sustainable path to increase levels of inclusion and diversity in opera by supporting new voices. New stories break through, new ideas rise, new perspectives get a forum, and incredible new art blooms.

This year, we centered our theme on forgotten figures of Atlanta’s Black history. To pursue this theme, we have developed partnerships with The Atlanta History Center and Oakland Cemetery. Their scholars connected our team with extraordinary stories of many lives that have been neglected. We raise up three inspiring leaders of the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries that were selected by our creators. Each is interred at Oakland Cemetery, and the participating creative teams share their stories with you in their tenminute operas.

I’m so pleased that you are here and hope you enjoy the creativity, energy, and competitive spirit of the 96-Hour Opera Project

Enjoy!

Tomer Zvulun

Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. General & Artistic Director

Welcome

Here at The Atlanta Opera, we don’t talk about the lack of diversity and inclusion when it comes to literature and artists, we facilitate the emergence of such. This project, the 96-Hour Opera Project, is an outward sign of our internal desire and mission to inspire, discover, uncover, create, and SUPPORT new works, ideas, artists, and relevant stories, both contemporary and historical.

I am overwhelmed with excitement about the 96-Hour Opera Project Last year, in our inaugural season, we discovered so many gems of talent in the program’s participants simply by offering artists from under-represented communities a chance to both create and perform. The results were mind blowing. There is so much talent to uncover! The emergence of such inspiring work deserves the space and opportunity to flourish, and this is what we are all about.

I can’t wait to see what comes forth in this round as we open our ears and hearts to nurture the development of these incredible creatives and stories, culminating into a wonderful presentation of five world premiere mini-operas … all created in the short order of a 96 hour timeframe!

With excitement and eager anticipation,

Morris D. Robinson

Morris D. Robinson Artistic Advisor

The Atlanta Opera and Morehouse College collaborated to present The Anonymous Lover at the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center (March 2023) | photo: Raftermen

About

PART 1: THE COMPETITION

The second annual 96-Hour Opera Project is a composition competition and showcase that pairs composers and librettists to write ten-minute operas. Part of a larger Atlanta Opera initiative to support new works for opera by BIPOC creatives, the Project invites composers and librettists to apply. A panel reviews the applications, then selects and invites five teams to participate. While some teams apply together, others are paired based on the application process and meet each other for the first time as they accept a position as a candidate.

Three months after being selected, the teams bring their completed works to Atlanta to workshop and rehearse their productions over four days. Today’s performance presents the ten-minute operas, and a winning team is selected by a distinguished group of judges. The Atlanta Opera awards the winning team the Antonori Foundation Grand Prize: $10,000 and a commission for a new chamber opera. The 96-Hour Opera Project is sponsored by the UPS Foundation with support from The Rich Foundation.

Designed specifically for composers and librettists from historically underrepresented communities, the 96-Hour Project is only open to those who self-identify as Black, Indigenous, Asian-American, Pacific Islander, ArabAmerican, Latin-American or other communities of color.

This season, with the assistance of the Oakland Cemetery Foundation and the Atlanta History Center, the stories for the operas were drawn from the lives of notable Atlantans who are interred at Oakland Cemetery. The five teams have chosen three people from a provided list of historic “forgotten Atlantans” and developed their stories. Those three fascinating and inspiring people are: Dr. Blanche Beatrice Saunders Thompson (c.1875 - 1964), one of the few Black female physicians in the world who practiced medicine primarily in Athens, GA, opening her practice in 1909; Carrie Steele Logan (1829 - 1900) a formerly enslaved woman who, was moved by the hungry, halfclad, uneducated children wandering the streets to raise funds and build a home, founding “The Colored Orphanage of Atlanta” (now known as the Carrie Steele-Pitts Home and still serving our community); and Thomas

photo: Felipe Barral / The Atlanta Opera Film Studio

Askew (c.1847 – 1914), a professional photographer in Atlanta’s Black middleclass community whose immense talent is largely forgotten although many of his photos survive, many of them only now receiving attribution to Askew.

PART 2: A NEW OPERA EMERGES

In 2022, the winning team of the 96-Hour Opera Project was composer Marcus Norris and librettist Adamma Ebo. After they were awarded the $10,000 prize, the team was commissioned to write a one-act chamber opera for The Atlanta Opera. Annually, the winning team will be awarded a commission for a new work to build a body of short operas on themes of diversity and inclusion that are rare or completely missing from the opera repertory.

The opening scene from this new opera is presented as a production in workshop at today’s showcase performance.

PART 3: NEW OPERAS IN PERFORMANCE

Next year, we will present the completed opera that was first conceived in 2022. This will include full support of music with a fully scored compliment of musicians, design support for sets, lighting, and costumes, and administrative support for graphics, advertising, and media support. As each creative team develops their skills, the Atlanta Opera will strive to support their needs and talents and to bring their work to the leaders of the opera industry and opera lovers internationally.

photo: Felipe Barral / The Atlanta Opera Film Studio

Monday, June 12, 2023 @ 7pm Ray Charles Performing Arts Center at Morehouse College

Welcome — Tomer Zvulun & Dr. David Morrow

Introduction — Doug Hooker

The Cost of Healing

Edward Shilts composer

Laura Barati librettist

The Portrait

Omar Najmi composer

Catherine Yu librettist

Faces In The Flames

Nathan Felix composer

Anita Gonzalez librettist

Steele Roots

Dave Ragland composer

Selda Sahin librettist

The Gardener

Jorge Sosa composer

Alejandra Martinez librettist

Dr. Blanche Saunders MINKA WILTZ, mezzo-soprano

Sidney Thompson RANDALL PERKINS , baritone

James Allen WILLIAM GREEN , tenor

music director & piano ANDREW BAYLES

Thomas Askew JOSHUA CONYERS, baritone

Mamie Westmorland TIFFANY UZOIJE, soprano

music director & piano ERIKA TAZAWA

Thomas Askew TIMOTHY MILLER, tenor

Sadie Hutchinson EBONY COLLIER, mezzo-soprano

Alice Hutchinson INDRA THOMAS, soprano

music director & piano R. TIMOTHY McREYNOLDS

Carrie Steele Logan MARIA CLARK, soprano

Michael LAMARCUS MILLER, bass-baritone

Train/Graveyard Attendant TYRONE WEBB, tenor

music director & piano JUSTIN MAXEY

Carrie Steele Logan PAMELA DILLARD, mezzo-soprano

Ella Jane BRIANNA SAMUELS, soprano

Dinah HANAN DAVIS, soprano

music director & piano SEUNG HYUN YOO

Tomer Zvulun Carl W. Knobloch General & Artistic Director

Morris Robinson 96-Hour Opera Project, Artistic Advisor

Doug Hooker Master of Ceremonies

Intermission

Please scan to vote for your favorite opera

Forsyth County Is Flooding (with the Joy of Lake Lanier)

music & lyrics by Marcus Norris

book & story by Adamma Ebo

Church Jenkins LAMARCUS MILLER, bass-baritone

Odella Syrus EBONY COLLIER, mezzo-soprano

County Mayor John Johns ANDREW GILSTRAP, bass-baritone

Bully MARIA VALDES, soprano

Butter MARIA CLARK, soprano

music director & piano ERIC JENKINS

Warning: this production contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children).

Announcement of Winners & Awards

Jonesia Williams Stage Manager

Renee Bloom Assistant Stage Manager

Brendan Callahan-Fitzgerald Supertitles Operator

The Rich Foundation The Antinori Foundation

Shilts & Barati

composer Edward Shilts

Edward Shilts received their bachelor’s degree from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN, their master’s in music composition from Shenandoah University, and Master of Arts in Opera Making and Writing from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, England. Shilts’ musical style is influenced by their interest in opera, politics, mental health, and gender expression. As an artist, Shilts is interested in creating music that is expressionistic in emotion, but surreal in experience through temporal manipulation and the distortion of sound. Their most recent opera premiered at the Guildhall School, Samhain Bloom (2022), and followed on the heels of their premiere of Le Bistro Poulet by Opera Extra at Shenandoah Conservatory. Shilts’ concert music has been performed at numerous festivals including Walden Creative Musicians Retreat, Charlotte New Music Festival and their Hypercube Composition Lab, and Divergent Studio at the Longy School of Music at Bard College. Their work has been performed by ensembles such as the Mivos Quartet, Hypercube, and Loadbang. Currently, Shilts is enrolled at the University of Miami pursuing a DMA in composition.

librettist Laura Barati

Laura Barati is a librettist and deviser of new works. Barati’s experience as the queer daughter of a Jewish Colombian mother and a Muslim Iranian father fuels her desire to make untold stories and complex identities come alive onstage. She delights in pushing the limits of traditional genres and picking apart the messy intersections of gender, race, and sexuality through a critical but joyful lens. Current commissions include The Interaction Effect with composer Pamela Stein Lynde for Fresh Squeezed Opera’s 2025 season. Her opera Caravana demujeres with composer Nicolas Lell Benavides is in development with MassOpera’s New Opera Workshop, 75 Miles with composer Matt Boehler, Henna Leaves and Uprising with composer Aleksandra Weil, the musicals How To Create A Young Girl with composer TJ Rubin, Miss Havisham’s Wedding with lyricist David Gomez and composer Jude Obermüller, and The Electric Brain’s We Regret To Inform You That Reza Is Dead. Her writing has been performed in New York City at the American Opera Project, Opera America, The Tank, Prospect Theater Company, NYMF, The Duplex, and Don’t Tell Mama; and regionally at Washington National Opera, Lowbrow Opera Collective, Barrington Stage Company, Two River Theater, Stage Femmes, and Music Theatre Kansas City. She is a founding member of the Chicago-based devising collective The Electric Brain. MFA: NYU Tisch. Learn more at laurabarati.com.

The Cost of Healing

historical figure: Dr. BBS Thompson

Inspired by the life of Dr. Blanche Beatrice Saunders, one of the first Black physicians to perform surgery in Georgia and a trailblazer in her field, The Cost of Healing follows Dr. Saunders as she coaches struggling med student Sidney Thompson during her patient rounds. When Dr. Saunders and Sidney clash over her response to a prejudiced patient, Blanche pushes Sidney to imagine the impossible expectations a Black, Southern, female physician in 1903 must navigate. The Cost of Healing is both a celebration of Dr. Blanche Beatrice Saunders’ tenacious spirit and an exploration of the challenges of Black Excellence.

Creator’s Note: This piece is inspired by Dr. Blanche Beatrice Saunders Thompson and her husband Mr. Sidney James Thompson. Though we’ve taken creative liberties with their timeline, we nonetheless hope that this opera captures the truth of their spirit.

Dr. Blanche Beatrice Saunders Thompson (c1875 – 1964)

After a short first marriage that left her widowed, Blanche Beatrice Saunders Thompson attended Atlanta University and Walden University (Nashville) and so impressed Bishop Henry McNeal Turner that he financed her medical education at Meharry Medical College. While there, she met and married her second husband, Sidney James Thompson. She graduated with honors in 1901 and became the first Black woman to practice medicine and surgery in Athens, GA.

Moving to Knoxville, TN, she joined the staff of the Knoxville Medical College. Later, Mr. Thompson attended the medical college where he studied with his wife. The couple moved to Atlanta and though he did not complete his medical education, he was notable as founder of Atlanta’s oldest boys club, currently known as the George Washington Carver Boys and Girls Club. Dr. Thompson had a thriving Atlanta practice in medicine and surgery for decades. (Photo of Dr. Beatrice Blance Saunders, source unknown.)

Najmi & Yu composer

Omar Najmi

Omar Najmi is an American tenor and composer. A Boston-based artist, Najmi maintains a demanding international performance career in addition to creating significant works including his opera En la ardiente oscuridad (2019), a song cycle titled my name is Alondra (2021) commissioned and premiered by Boston Lyric Opera, More Than Our Own Caves (2022) a song cycle premiered by Juventas New Music Ensemble, and is now working on Jo dooba so paar, a short opera exploring the intersection of Queer and Muslim identitthat will be premiered by White Snake Projects in 2024. In 2022, Najmi and his husband Brendon Shapiro co-founded Catalyst New Music, a Boston organization dedicated to fostering, developing, and producing new works, including Najmi’s new opera This Is Not That Dawn.

librettist Catherine Yu

Catherine Yu is a writer of plays and libretti including Le Jeté (2019 Bay Area Playwrights Foundation Semifinalist), The Day is Long to End (2018 University of Florida production), The Things You Tell Yourself and The Sun Experiment (FringeNYC Excellence in Playwriting, Time Out NY’s Top Ten Nightlife and Music Events of the Week in August 2014). She has been a 2016 New York State Council on the Arts/NYFA fellow, a MacDowell fellow, a Soho Rep W/D Lab writer and a New York Theatre Workshop Emerging Artist of Color. Her short plays have been commissioned by 52nd Street Project, Two Headed Rep, and Planned Parenthood among others. Her oneact A Sand Romance was a 2016 Heidman Award finalist. She has served as a grants panelist for the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and Brooklyn Arts Council. As an educator, she has worked as a GED tutor for federal prison inmates, an ESL tutor in China and is currently a tutor to elementary school children. A New Yorker now based in Chicago, Yu is currently a resident playwright of Chicago Dramatists.

The Portrait

historical figure: Thomas Askew

It is the spring of 1900, and Thomas Askew’s prominence as a photographer is rising. He is in his studio taking the portrait of a realist schoolmistress who challenges his ideals. They are both Republicans, the party of President Lincoln, but their discussion is charged with the nuances within the party. Where will the dust settle when their conversation ends?

Thomas E. Askew (c1847 – 1914)

Immensely talented and a skilled businessman, photographer Thomas Askew specialized in portraits of middleclass and professionally rising Blacks. His extant works include portraits of nursing students, lawyer’s families, and young businessmen, refuting racist visual caricatures that were prevalent at the time. His images showed a broad range of Black experience and received international attention when his work was included in the 1900 Paris Exposition as part of “The Exhibit of American Negroes” curated by W.E.B Du Bois, Thomas Calloway, and Danielle Murray. Born enslaved, Askew married and pursued work upon emancipation. In 1884, he is listed as an employee at the CW Motes Studio. He later opened his own studio at his home on Summit Avenue in Atlanta. Unfortunately, his home, studio, equipment and much of his work was destroyed by the Great Fire of Atlanta in 1917. (A self-portrait of photographer Thomas Askew. Date unknown. Image courtesy Library of Congress.)

Felix & Gonzalez

composer Nathan Felix

Nathan Felix is a Mexican American music composer known for his immersive operas and experimental films. His music has premiered in Bulgaria, Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Mongolia, and the United States. His work has also been featured on MTV, National Public Radio, PBS, and the BBC. Felix often focuses on telling Latinxthemed and minority stories that highlight border issues, underserved communities, and his Hispanic heritage. Transitioning from leading an indie-rock band in 2013, Felix began composing for orchestra, chorus, and later, for opera. In 2018 he was recognized for his Opera on a Bus and his conceptual creation of The War Bride – a “headphone opera” – a concept he expanded upon at the Fringe Festivals in Orlando, Austin, and San Antonio. Recent works have included the operas Alien Wanderers : Alien World : Alien Home (2019), Öcalan (2020), Ribas-Dominicci (2021), and La Malinche – Traitor | Savior (2022). Felix also premiered his Third Symphony in Austin, TX, in 2022.

librettist Anita Gonzalez

Anita Gonzalez advocates for beautiful art crafted for social activism and consciousness raising. She directs, devises and writes theatrical works that primarily focus on telling African diaspora stories and histories. Her innovative stagings of cross-cultural experiences have appeared on PBS national television and at Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, The Working Theatre, Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre, New York Live Arts, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, and other national and international venues. Gonzalez believes the art of storytelling connects people to their cultures. More than 40,000 students have taken her massive open online courses Storytelling for Social Change and Black Performance as Social Protest. Gonzalez is currently a Professor at Georgetown University and Co-Founding Lead of the Racial Justice Institute. Her interdisciplinary initiatives have included projection mapped performances of The Snark, The Living Lakes (about Black and Latino migrations in the Great Lakes), a performance installation and lecture series titled “Conjuring the Caribbean,” and leading an informatics team to develop the interactive historical website 19thCenturyActs.com. The author is a member of the National Theatre Conference, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Lincoln Center Director’s Lab. She sits on the Board of Directors of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. The NEA, NYFA, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Mid Atlantic Arts Association, the Bellagio Center, and the FIDEOCOMISO for United States/ Mexico Arts exchange have all funded her work. anitagonzalez.com or newplayexchange.org/users/7163/anita-gonzalez

Faces In The Flames

historical figure: Thomas Askew

Picture frames and haunting memories emerge from the embers of the Atlanta fire as a mother and daughter remember the legacy of Thomas Askew. His photos of their dignity endure when all is lost, and the world is aflame.

Thomas E. Askew (c1847 – 1914)

Immensely talented and a skilled businessman, photographer Thomas Askew specialized in portraits of middleclass and professionally rising Blacks. His extant works include portraits of nursing students, lawyer’s families, and young businessmen, refuting racist visual caricatures that were prevalent at the time. His images showed a broad range of Black experience and received international attention when his work was included in the 1900 Paris Exposition as part of “The Exhibit of American Negroes” curated by W.E.B Du Bois, Thomas Calloway, and Danielle Murray. Born enslaved, Askew married and pursued work upon emancipation. In 1884, he is listed as an employee at the CW Motes Studio. He later opened his own studio at his home on Summit Avenue in Atlanta. Unfortunately, his home, studio, equipment and much of his work was destroyed by the Great Fire of Atlanta in 1917. (A self-portrait of photographer Thomas Askew. Date unknown. Image courtesy Library of Congress.)

Ragland & Sahin

composer Dave Ragland

Dave Ragland is a four-time Emmy-nominated composer, conductor, vocalist, and educator. Based in Nashville, TN, Ragland received the 2022 Adams-Owens Composition Prize from the African-American Art Song Alliance, the 2021 American Prize in Composition, two Telly Awards, and two MidSouth Regional EMMY nominations for his work as composer and audio engineer of One Vote Won (2020), a production of the Nashville Opera commemorating the centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment for woman’s suffrage. Most recently, Ragland collaborated with librettist Mary McCallum to create the children’s opera Charlie and the Wolf for the Cedar Rapids Opera, and the educational opera Beatrice for Oregon’s Portland Opera. Additional composition credits include LA Opera, Nashville Ballet, Washington National Opera, The America/Beautiful Project, Intersection Contemporary Ensemble, chatterbird, and the Alias Chamber Ensemble. Ragland was the 2020 Grady-Rayam Negro Spirituals Foundation composer-in-residence and a member of the inaugural cohort of composers for the National Teachers of Singing (NATS) Mentoring Program.

librettist Selda Sahin

Selda Sahin wrote original songs for the feature film American Reject in collaboration with Derek Gregor. Additionally, their musical Modern, about a group of Amish teens on their Rumspringa was developed in 2019 at The Village Theatre’s Festival of New Musicals, the ASCAP Grow a Show Workshop, and the NYC Stephen Schwarz ASCAP workshop. The work received further development at the Bloomington Playwrights Project in February 2022. With Autumn Reeser and Derek Gregor, Sahin is developing a new musical titled Particle, which saw its original development at the Imagen program at Michigan State University in 2021. Sahin wrote the lyrics to the musical short film Grind starring Anthony Rapp. Her musical All Fall Down (music and lyrics) was developed at the New York Musical Theatre Festival, Penn State NuMusicals, and TheatreLab. She wrote the lyrics to the children’s musical He Said/ She Said, which is available for licensing via Broadway Licensing. Her talents were rewarded with a single-song publishing contract by Anthem Entertainment for “Filling Space,” and her song “The Storm” was a finalist for the Great American Song Contest. She received an EMMY Award for her work on Passion at Lincoln Center.

Steele Roots

historical figure: Carrie Steele Logan

In 1887 Atlanta, a 50-something Carrie Steele Logan stands in Central Railroad Station holding a baby. Michael, a man in his 20’s in modern-day clothes exits a train, and we transition to present day Oakland Graveyard, and as Michael stands at Carrie’s grave, we realize that he is a descendant of one of the many abandoned babies Carrie saved and cared for long ago. In a nebulous, abstract merging of time and place, we learn that the baby Carrie holds is Michael’s.

Carrie Steele Logan (c. 1829 – 1900)

For more than 36 years, Carrie Steele Logan worked in public, first as a matron at the Macon, GA, train depot, then as a maid at Atlanta’s Union Station depot. As a formerly enslaved woman, she had learned to read and write early in her life and is described as a “noble Christian.” Her compassion moved her to help the hungry, half-clad, and uneducated children she saw wandering the streets by sheltering them in her home and in an abandoned boxcar. She began to plan to build a home for the children whose lives were so desperate. To raise money, she wrote an account of her life, placing a small book for sale to the public. The book sold well, and in total, she raised $5,0000 from books sales and through direct solicitation to benefactors.

She was able to build an orphanage, a three-story brick building, and brought in 50 homeless little ones after the building was dedicated on June 20, 1892. The children attended school, were taught domestic and farm skills, and were trained in Bible studies. The updated and relocated facility, now called the Carrie Steele-Pitts Home, continues to provide shelter and services to children. (Photo of Carrie Steele Logan, public domain.)

Sosa & Martinez

composer Jorge Sosa

Jorge Sosa is a Mexican-born composer currently residing in New York City. His music reflects an eclectic mix of styles and influences including traces of folk and traditional music from around the globe, chant, polyphonic vocal repertoire, Afro-Latin rhythms, jazz harmonies, and electronic music. His hybrid, multimedia experiment, Alice in the Pandemic presented online (2020) was described as “…sending your consciousness on the Cosmic Turnpike where the exit ramps are never permanent” by ICON magazine. Combining expansive lyricism and melodrama with electronic sounds noise, and colorful harmonies, Sosa has explored the violent world of drug trafficking in his opera La Reina (2016) and the complex relationships among immigrants as they struggle to find identity in a new place in I Am A Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams (2019). His opera scene Samiir’s Feast (2022) was commissioned and performed by the activist opera company White Snake Projects and he was commissioned to develop The Rising Tide for Boston Children’s Chorus on the subject of climate change. During the 2023 season, Sosa will premiere the puppet opera Monkey that was commissioned by White Snake Projects in Boston, and the comic opera The Beehive, commissioned by the University of Northern Iowa. Sosa is an associate professor at Molloy University in Long Island, NY.

librettist Alejandra Martinez

Alejandra Martinez returns to the 96-Hour Opera Project for a second time having been a finalist in 2022. Paired with composer Jorge Sosa, the team produced an original scene inspired by Atlanta’s heritage titled Buford Highway Dreams. She has been recognized by Opera America, Fort Worth Opera, and The Atlanta Opera for her creative writing as a librettist and lyricist. She is honored to have studied dramatic writing with Cherrie Moraga and Migdalia Cruz. Most recently, she has been invited to collaborate with composer Laura Intravia for the Boston Singers’ Resource initiative

FUSE: Collaborations in Song, producing the original song cycle You and I, I and You. Responding to the pandemic restrictions, Martinez was proud to partner with Matthew Recio on an outdoor cantata, The Hollow, about mental illness and recovery. During Summer 2022, her monodrama, The Queen, My Lord, Is Dead, was produced at UCLA with music by Tomàs Peire Serrate. Currently, she is working on a new Spanish-language opera, Escobar, with composer Matteo Neri.

The Gardener historical figure: Carrie Steele Logan

The year is 1900. We see a young woman crying on the tomb of Carrie Steele Logan, in Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta. As she mourns, the scene transitions to the day when her birth mother met Carrie at the Atlanta Train Depot. Her mother was about to abandon her baby, as she was not able to parent the child herself. Carrie convinces her to leave the child in her care. She will become her parent. Carrie has a revelation; she will work to provide a home for children in need. “It is appointed to me in my old age to accomplish what I believe to be a great and glorious work,” ... “and one that shall live long after my poor frail body has dropped into the dust whence it came.”

Carrie Steele Logan (c. 1829 – 1900)

For more than 36 years, Carrie Steele Logan worked in public, first as a matron at the Macon, GA, train depot, then as a maid at Atlanta’s Union Station depot. As a formerly enslaved woman, she had learned to read and write early in her life and is described as a “noble Christian.” Her compassion moved her to help the hungry, half-clad, and uneducated children she saw wandering the streets by sheltering them in her home and in an abandoned boxcar. She began to plan to build a home for the children whose lives were so desperate. To raise money, she wrote an account of her life, placing a small book for sale to the public. The book sold well, and in total, she raised $5,0000 from books sales and through direct solicitation to benefactors. She was able to build an orphanage, a three-story brick building, and brought in 50 homeless little ones after the building was dedicated on June 20, 1892. The children attended school, were taught domestic and farm skills, and were trained in Bible studies. The updated and relocated facility, now called the Carrie Steele-Pitts Home, continues to provide shelter and services to children. (Photo of Carrie Steele Logan, public domain.)

Forsyth County Is Flooding (with the Joy of Lake Lanier)

composer Marcus Norris

Dr. Marcus Norris’ childhood foray into music came through producing rap beats on pirated software, installed on a Windows 98 computer that he Macgyvered together from spare parts. He came to composing concert music later and transferred that same imagination to writing music of all kinds. This cross-genre mastery resulted in Beyoncé asking Norris to orchestrate several songs for her and 50-piece orchestra as part of her surprise 2023 Dubai return to live performance. Miss Tina Knowles-Lawson chose Marcus as Music Director for the 2022 Wearable Art Gala, with South Side Symphony accompanying Chloe Bailey, Halle Bailey, and Andra Day. Norris founded South Side Symphony in 2020, which he describes as “like a younger, more ratchet version of The Roots, plus lush live strings and horns.” As a film composer, the Boston Herald praised his “impressively orchestral score” for Adamma Ebo’s 2022 film Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul

librettist Adamma Ebo

Adamma Ebo wrote and directed the feature film Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul, starring Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown, which sold to Focus Features and Monkeypaw at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, and had a wide theatrical release. In 2022, she also entered into a TV overall deal with 20 th Television Studios with Adanne Ebo, her twin sister and writing partner. With her sister, their TV writing credits include the upcoming Amazon series Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Batman: Caped Crusader. They’ve also set up two pilot specs: Supply, 404 with Gloria Sanchez Productions, and MRC; and Supashawty Girls, Funkamatic Bangbang with 20 th Television Animation. Adamma has also directed an episode of FX’s Atlanta season four and three episodes (including the finale) of Amazon’s and Donald Glover’s Swarm. Adamma is a Spelman College and UCLA Film School graduate, and is a lover of all things video games, fashion, anime, naps, and daydreaming about the perfect Keyblade design.

Forsyth County Is Flooding (with the Joy of Lake Lanier)

Synopsis

When mysterious, un-moppable puddles begin appearing all over Forsyth County, Georgia, an odd couple duo that consists of an atheist private investigator, and a self-proclaimed witch team up to uncover what the hell is going on. But one thing is clear. Whether this is just a series of weird pranks—or if there’s something dark and supernatural afoot—these puddles continue to appear. Not only that—they’re getting bigger. So, our mismatched duo has got to do something; or else face that all of Forsyth County may end up completely underwater.

Scene Description

This scene is the first scene of our opera, where we meet all of our main characters— as well as these damn puddles—and begin to discover just how bad (and weird) things have been getting in Forsyth County these days.

Norris and Ebo on-screen during the 2022 96-Hour Opera Project, in quarantine due to COVID-19.

Photo: Felipe Barral/The Atlanta Opera Studio

Judges

Mark Campbell

The Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award-winning works of librettist/lyricist Mark Campbell are among the most successful in the contemporary opera canon. Mark has written 40 opera librettos, lyrics for seven musicals and text for six song cycles and four oratorios. His works include Silent Night, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, The Shining, As One, Dinner at Eight, among many others. Mark mentors future librettists and composers in the American Opera Project and American Lyric Theater. In 2020, he created and funded the Campbell Opera Librettist Prize, the first award for opera librettists in the history of the art form, and in 2022 co-created the True Voice Award to help with the training of transgender singers, administered by Washington National Opera. www.markcampbellwords.com

Andrea Davis Pinkney

Andrea Davis Pinkney is the acclaimed librettist for the Houston Grand Opera’s The Snowy Day, with composer Joel Thompson, a work based on the beloved bestselling classic by Ezra Jack Keats. The opera has been hailed by the New York Times for its ability to “change perceptions about Black identity and attract new audiences to opera.” Additionally, Andrea is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of numerous books. She is a four-time NAACP Image Award nominee, and has been inducted into the New York Writers Hall of Fame. She and her work are the subject of the Emmy-nominated film, Andrea Davis Pinkney: National Author Engagement. Andrea is also the recipient of both the Regina Medal and the Kerlan Award, for her singular body of work and distinguished contribution to the field of literature.

Priti Gandhi

Priti Gandhi joined Portland Opera as Artistic Director in the fall of 2021, as part of a new collaborative leadership team structure for the company. An artistic and strategic leader, her role leads the discussions for season planning, casting, developing the young artist program, and oversight of the company’s community engagement and educational programs. Previous to her post in Portland, she was Vice President of Artistic at Minnesota Opera.

Doug Hooker

Doug Hooker has recently been appointed CEO of the Midtown Connector Park project, an initiative to build a public park over a portion of the connector highway in Atlanta. He serves on the boards of several community organizations. He is a Special Fellow of the Urban Studies Institute, of Georgia State University, where he teaches urban and regional governance. Doug has supported Atlanta’s arts community, at various times serving on the boards of the Fox Theatre, the Trey Clegg Singers, the Aurora Theatre, the Atlanta Music Project, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and The Atlanta Opera. He has a lifelong love of music. He studies oboe with Barbara Cook, and he sings with the Trey Clegg Singers. He has composed several works for orchestra, choir, and solo voice. He most recent works are a symphony (Without Regard to Sex, Race, or Color) that received its premiere in February 2022 and a string quartet (Pandemic Elegy) that premiered in February 2023.

Tinashe Kajese-Bolden

Tinashe Kajese-Bolden is an award-winning director, actor, educator, and serves as the Co-Interim Artistic Director of the Alliance Theater. She was named the BOLD Women’s Leadership Circle Artistic Director Fellow for Atlanta’s Alliance Theater and is a Princess Grace 2019 Award winner for directing. She received a Map Fund Award to develop All Smiles for theater for the Very Young, a work that centers on the experience of children on the autism spectrum. Her directing credits include Native Gardens (Karen Zacarias) at Virginia Center Stage, Nick’s Flamingo Grill (Phillip DePoy), a world premiere at the Alliance Theater, Eclipsed (Danai Gurira) at Synchronicity Theater, Ghost (Indris Goodwin) at the Alliance Theater. As an actor, Kajese-Bolden has worked on and Off-Broadway, at regional theaters, and on television and film. She appeared in the NAACP Image Award winning mini-series

The Bobby Brown Story, with Oprah Winfrey in the HBO film The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and in numerous television roles including Cherish the Day, Valor, The Inspectors, Outcast, Powers, Greenleaf, Cold Case, and others.

The Atlanta Opera Staff

EXECUTIVE

Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. General & Artistic Director

Tomer Zvulun

Managing Director

Micah Fortson

Executive Assistant & Board Liaison

Misty Reid

ARTISTIC/MUSIC

Carl & Sally Gable Music Director

Arthur Fagen

Director of Artistic Administration

Meredith Wallace

Artistic Associate

Annie Penner Gilstrap

PRODUCTION

Director of Production

Robert Reynolds

Associate Director of Production

Meggie Roseborough

Senior Technical Director

Terry Harper

Technical Director

Joshua Jansen

Assistant Technical Director

Ben Cole

COSTUME

Costume Shop Director

Sarah Burch Gordon

Chorus & Orchestra Manager

Chris Bragg

Orchestra Librarian

Phil Parsons

Production Finance Coordinator

Robbin Anderson

Production Stage Manager

Megan Bennett

Lighting Supervisor

Marissa Michaels

Costume Shop Manager

Cristine Reynolds

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & EDUCATION

Director of Community Engagement & Education

Jessica Kiger

Education Manager

Kendall Roney

Community Engagement & Education Coordinator

Jonesia Williams

New Works Administrator

Cara Consilvio

DEVELOPMENT

Chief Advancement Officer

Paul Harkins

Associate Director of Development – Leadership Giving

Jessica Langlois

Associate Director of Development – Major & Planned Gifts

Jonathan Blalock

Annual Giving & Events Coordinator

Gloria Lin

FINANCE

Chief Financial Officer

Toula Argentis Controller

Inga V. Murro

ADMINISTRATION

Chief Administrative Officer

Kathy J. White

Development Operations Coordinator

Diana Burns

Senior Institutional Giving Officer

Elana Grossman

Database Manager/Analyst

Gokul Parasuram

Development Project Manager

Aaron Walker

Staff Accountant

Camelia Johnson

Bookkeeper

Ruth Strickland

Director of Human Resources

Kenneth R. Timmons

MARKETING, COMMUNICATIONS, & AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT

Director of Sales & Marketing

Rebecca Brown

Director of Communications & PR

Michelle Winters

Senior Manager, Ticketing Services

Renee Smiley

Guest Services Concierge

Emily Crisp

THE ATLANTA OPERA FILM STUDIO

Director of The Atlanta Opera Film Studio

Felipe Barral

GLYNN STUDIO ARTISTS

Bruno Baker

Edwin Jhamal Davis

Gretchen Krupp

Creative Services Manager

Matt Burkhalter

Sales & Marketing Manager

Ashley May King

Box Office Associate

Chauncey Sims

Film Associate

Amanda Sachtleben

Kameron Lopreore

Alexis Seminario

Special Thanks

The Atlanta Opera would like to thank the following people and organizations for their help in making the 96-Hour Opera Project possible:

The Antinori Foundation Grand Prize is sponsored by The Antinori Foundation

Oakland Cemetery Foundation

Co-Executive Director

Richard Harker

Director of Education and Youth Programs

Charvis Buckholts

Genealogist & Historian

Dr. DL Henderson

Atlanta History Center

Vice President of Digital Storytelling

Kristian Weatherspoon

Morehouse College

Chair of The Division of Creative & Performing Arts

Dr. Uzee Brown, Jr.

Director Of The Morehouse College Glee Club/ Academic Program Director Of Music

Dr. David E. Morrow

Director, Event Support Services

James E. Smartt

Senior Administrative Specialist

Stephanie Whittaker

James & Susan Anderson

PQ Phan

Elena Kholodova

Arthur Fagen

Brandall Jones