AMERICAN LYRIC THEATER RECEIVES $35,000 GRANT
FROM THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS
TO SUPPORT THE COMPOSER LIBRETTIST DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Jane Chu announced today that American Lyric Theater (ALT) is one of 1,023 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. ALT is recommended for a $35,000 grant to support the Composer Librettist Development Program – the only full time professional mentorship initiative for emerging operatic writers in the country.
NEA Chairman Chu said, “The NEA is committed to advancing learning, fueling creativity, and celebrating the arts in cities and towns across the United States. Funding these projects like the one from American Lyric Theater represents an investment in both local communities and our nation’s creative vitality.”
This award marks the sixth consecutive grant that ALT has received from the NEA for the Composer Librettist Development Program (CLDP). ALT’s flagship initiative, the CLDP provides unprecedented professional instruction and guidance to gifted emerging operatic writers. Starting in the 2013-2014 Season, ALT expanded the program nationally through the use of HD videoconferencing technology. The CLDP faculty includes some of the country’s foremost artists, including composer/librettist Mark Adamo, composer Paul Moravec, librettists Mark Campbell and Michael Korie, and dramaturg Cori Ellison. Recent guest teachers and lecturers have included composers Kaija Saariaho, Nico Muhly, Stewart Wallace, Christopher Theofanidis, Ricky Ian Gordon, John Musto, and Anthony Davis, and librettists Donna DiNovelli, Stephen Karam, and Gene Scheer.
Lawrence Edelson, Founder and Producing Artistic Director of ALT commented on the grant, stating, “We are deeply honored by the ongoing support we continue to receive from the NEA. Since we launched the CLDP in 2007, the program has become a model of innovation for the field, inspiring many opera companies to increase their investment in the development of operatic writers. Thanks to the support of the NEA and our other funders, over the past eight years, we have been able to provide personalized, intensive mentorship to 38 composers and librettists. The work of our alumni is now being seen by audiences nation wide – something that would simply not be possible without the NEA’s investment in the CLDP.”
“This season alone,” Edelson continued, “many CLDP alumni are premiering new works at opera companies around the country: in November, two short operas, The Investment and Daughters of the Bloody Duke, with libretti by alumni Niloufar Talebi and David Johnston, respectively, premiered at the Washington National Opera; in February The Property with libretto by alumnus Stephanie Fleischmann and music by Wlad Marhulets premiered at Lyric Opera of Chicago; and in July The Long Walk by Jeremy Howard Beck and Stephanie Fleischmann, commissioned by ALT and developed through the CLDP, will premiere at Opera Saratoga, and Scalia/Ginsburg by alumnus Derrick Wang will premiere at the Castleton Festival. I am thrilled that the artists who have participated in our program are contributing important new works to the 21st century operatic repertoire – and we are equally thrilled that the NEA continues to play such a vital role in making that possible.”
Art Works grants support the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and enhancement of the livability of communities through the arts. For a complete listing of projects recommended for Art Works grant support, please visit the NEA website at arts.gov.
ABOUT AMERICAN LYRIC THEATER
American Lyric Theater (ALT) was founded in 2005 by Lawrence Edelson to build a new body of operatic repertoire for new audiences by nurturing composers and librettists, developing sustainable artistic collaborations, and contributing new works to the national canon. Many opera companies commission and perform new works; but ALT is the only company in the United States that offers extensive, full-time mentorship for emerging operatic writers. While the traditional company model focuses on producing a season, ALT’s focus is on serving the needs of composers and librettists, developing new works, and collaborating with larger producing companies to help usher those works into the repertoire. Operas developed through the CLDP and by CLDP alumni have been presented by a wide variety of companies, including Chicago Lyric Opera, Washington National Opera, Tulsa Opera, Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Urban Arias, Center City Opera, San Francisco Conservatory, New York City Opera VOX, and Beth Morrison Projects. In 2012, ALT was the first company dedicated to artist mentorship rather than operatic production to be recognized by OPERA America as a Professional Company Member – a testament to ALT’s service to the field. For more information about American Lyric Theater, please visit www.altnyc.org
ALT’s mentorship programs for composers and librettists are supported by lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts; and additional funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, The Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, The Amphion Foundation, The Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation, The ASCAP Foundation Irving Caesar Fund, and New Music USA’s Cary New Music Performance Fund.
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