News

Last November, the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York called for an “artistic reinvention” of the form in an op-ed headlined “How to Save Opera in America? Make It New Again.”

Opera companies battling pandemic losses, audience and donor declines, and competition from streaming media need to find new ways to sustain themselves, Peter Gelb wrote in the New York Times, and that starts on the stage.

Maybe he had that in mind back in 2018, when he commissioned composer Missy Mazzoli to write a new opera for the Met. Mazzoli (CFA’02) seems likely to be a prominent player in opera’s future in America after what anyone would call a pretty good 2024.

MacArthur “Genius” Karen Russell speaks to composer Missy Mazzoli, her friend and operatic partner, about her new novel, The Antidote, and why the Dust Bowl isn’t just an American story.

Future San Francisco Opera seasons will continue to feature new works, including the co-commission of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s The Galloping Cure, examining addiction and the opioid crisis.

“Mazzoli is a once-in-a-generation magician of the orchestra… [The Listeners] is perhaps her most original work to date… sinuously songful vocal lines; furtively expressive instrumental solos; a harmonic language that finds newness and strangeness in the interstices of traditional tonality; unerring narrative pacing.” Alex Ross, The New Yorker

Composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek follow up on their acclaimed 2016 world premiere Breaking the Waves with a thriller about the seductive power of cults and charismatic leaders in a divided nation. The Listeners examines the lengths to which we, as Americans, are willing to go…

We are thrilled to announce our annual festival, which will be held from June 17-22, 2024 in San Francisco.
The 2023–24 fellows—Maria Emiliano, Ilaria Hawley, Haeon Lee, Peyton Nelesen, Marvel Roth, and Hannah Wolkowitz—will travel to San Francisco to participate in six days of workshops, masterclasses, networking events, performances, and more. Get to know the fellows on our website.

Follow this LINK to watch the NPR Music Tiny Desk Premiere with music my Missy Mazzoli, featuring Mazzoli on keyboard and Jennifer Koh on violin. “The two artists have been collaborating for 15 years and this ferocious and beautiful set…

“[Missy Mazzoli] proved an ideal choice [for BBC’s Total Immersion], with large and small works to her credit, and a recognisably individual voice…The contrasting Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) and These Worlds in Us packed in imaginative orchestral effects. The Violin…

Missy Mazzoli’s latest opera The Listeners with libretto by Royce Vavrek opens Opera Philadelphia’s 2024-2025 season. Performances September 25th, 27th, 29th.

Missy Mazzoli’s album Dark with Excessive Bright nominated for BBC Music Magazine’s 2024 Awards in the “Premiere” Category. “A showcase of orchestral works by the New York-based composer, performed by two Norwegian ensembles. At its heart are two takes on her…

Missy Mazzoli’s Dark with Excessive Bright album featured on Alex Ross’s “Notable Classical Recordings of 2023” list in The New Yorker.

Missy Mazzoli’s debut orchestral album Dark with Excessive Bright featured on the New York Times’ “Best Classical Music Albums of 2023” list.