American Lyric Theater presents The Opposable Thumb

American Lyric Theater (ALT) announces its return to live performances with a workshop performance of The Opposable Thumb by composer Jorge Sosa and librettist Julian Crouch. The performance, part of the company's popular InsightALT series, will take place on Friday, October 1, 2021 at 7pm at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, 450 W. 37th Street in Manhattan. All audience members will be required to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 to attend, and will also be required to complete a health-screening prior to entry and to wear a mask during the performance. https://www.altnyc.org/

American Lyric Theater's past InsightALT programming has provided New York City audiences with advance previews of critically acclaimed operas including JFK by David T. Little and Royce Vavrek, and The Long Walk by Jeremy Howard Beck and Stephanie Fleischmann, among others. The company's last public performances prior to the pandemic were sold-out InsightALT concerts of two family oriented operas, Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Fallen Giant by Evan Meier and E.M. Lewis, and The Halloween Tree by Theo Popov and Tony Asaro.

The Opposable Thumb was commissioned by American Lyric Theater under the auspices of the company's nationally acclaimed Composer Librettist Development Program. Based on various true accounts of the last two hundred years, this fascinating work questions whether mankind is superior to the animals that are contained behind the bars of a zoo's cages, or just another ape with an opposable thumb, and a trigger pulling finger. "The opera takes place in a zoo inside a city under siege," explains composer Jorge Sosa. "It explores the relationships between a series of broken characters who are forced into a high risk, high-tension situation. Soldiers from opposite sides are trapped with innocent zoo keepers as they await the invading army's last offensive. Food is completely gone and if war does not kill them, hunger surely will. 

We learn about their stories of survival and how war, violence and conflict have upended their lives. Parallel to these human characters, we have a chorus of animals who have escaped from the zoo. The animals provide us with their own perspective of what it feels like to be trapped in a cage, hunted, and persecuted. Through the opera, the human characters search deep inside to find and develop empathy for the 'other' and regain a sense of basic humanity."

The concert of The Opposable Thumb is the culmination of a ten-day developmental workshop and will feature Flora Wall, Heather Johnson, John Viscardi, Christian Sanders, Zachary James, Sydney Anderson, Laura Soto-Bayomi, Heather Hill, Chantal Freeman, Kimberly Sogioka, and Kirsten Sollek. The concert will be conducted by David Neely, with pianist Jason Wirth. After the performance, there will be an open discussion exploring the creative process with the composers and librettists, moderated by ALT's founder Lawrence Edelson. 

Tickets for InsightALT: The Opposable Thumb are available for $25. For further information, or to purchase tickets, please visit https://www.altnyc.org/public-events.

ABOUT AMERICAN LYRIC THEATER (ALT)

Great Operas Don't Just Happen. American Lyric Theater (ALT) was founded in 2005 by Lawrence Edelson to build a new body of operatic repertoire by nurturing composers and librettists, providing an incubator for their 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. 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. In 2020, ALT reinforced its commitment to racial justice and equity through the creation of the Opera Writers Diversity and Representation Initiative (OWDARI), the goal of which is to increase participation in the CLDP by BIPOC artists; and ultimately, increase BIPOC artists' contributions to the national canon of new operas. Through discussions catalyzed by the OWDARI, ALT has transitioned to a shared leadership model through which ALT's founder Lawrence Edelson now shares artistic and curatorial responsibilities with the company's recently appointed Associate Artistic Director, conductor Kelly Kuo. Working together with ALT's board of directors and artistic staff, Lawrence and Kelly are leading the company's efforts to create more equitable opportunities for BIPOC artists through all of the company's programs. ALT is home to the Composer Librettist Development Program, the only full-time, multi-year program in the country for emerging opera composers, librettists, and dramaturgs, with a highly credentialed faculty led by Mark Adamo, Anthony Davis, Cori Ellison, Lawrence Edelson, Kelly Kuo, and Adriana Zabala, and a proven track record for developing the skills of gifted artists, incubating successful operas, and fostering lasting collaborations. Prominent alumni of the CLDP include composers Christopher Cerrone, Kamala Sankaram, and Jeremy Howard Beck; and librettists Royce Vavrek, Stephanie Fleischmann and Deborah Brevoort. Audiences around the country are enjoying operas developed through the CLDP and by CLDP alumni at a wide variety of venues, including Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Opera Saratoga, Utah Opera, The PROTOTYPE Festival, and many more. For more information about American Lyric Theater, please visit http://www.altnyc.org.

American Lyric Theater's mentorship programs for composers, librettists and dramaturgs are made possible by generous lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, the Howard Gilman Foundation, the Howard & Sarah D. Solomon Foundation, The Dubose and Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund, OPERA America's Innovation Grants / The Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, the Amphion Foundation, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, and the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University.