ABOUT THE COMPOSER

American composer-librettist Mark Adamo’s work has been present in full force in concert halls and opera houses this year. London’s Opera Holland Park gave the U. K. premiere of his first opera, Little Women, in July of 2022; that same month, Pittsburgh Festival Opera introduced its filmed version his second opera, Lysistrata, and Tanglewood Institute introduced the windorchestra version of the Overture to Lysistrata, arranged by Peter Martin. For the New York premiere of Last Year, his concerto for cello and string orchestra which refracts Vivaldi’s Four Seasons through the prism of climate change, Mei-Ann Chen leads soloist Jeffrey Zeigler and the American Composers’ Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in October. Teatro Colón, in Buenos Aires, gives the Argentine premiere in Buenos Aires of Little Women in November; that same month, Boston Modern Orchestra Project gives the East Coast premiere of The Lord of Cries, the opera, after both Euripides and Stoker, Adamo co-created with composer John Corigliano for Santa Fe Opera in 2021. These performances will be recorded for the work’s premiere release on CD. The autumn of 2021 saw the first performances of Last Year in San Francisco and in Houston, followed, in December, by Chicago Opera Theater’s new production of Becoming Santa Claus, Adamo’s fourth opera, which was conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya (CFA’10) and directed by Kyle Lang. This followed the warmly received Dutch premiere by the Dutch National Opera Academy of Little Women, given in Amsterdam in January of 2020.

Other notable commissions include Aristotle, for Thomas Hampson and the Jupiter String Quartet, by Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; Four Angels: Concerto for Harp and Orchestra, for the National Symphony Orchestra. The Racer’s Widow, for New York Festival of Song; and the cantata Late Victorians, for Eclipse Chamber Orchestra, which recorded it on its all-Adamo recording for Naxos. His choral work has been commissioned and performed by Chanticleer, Conspirare, The Esoterics, The Gregg Smith Singers, Choral Arts Society in Washington, Young People’s Chorus of New York City, and The New York Virtuoso Singers. His music is published exclusively by G. Schirmer. (markadamo.com)