OPERA American Awards $100,000 to 7 Female Composers

Discovery Grants aim to identify, support, and help develop the work of female composers writing for the operatic medium, raising their visibility and promoting awareness of their compositions.

Written By

NewMusicBox Staff

Opera Grants for Female Composers

(l to r): Jing Jing Luo, Odaline de la Martinez, Kitty Brazelton, Kamala Sankaram, Su Lian Tan, Patricia Leonard, and Laura Karpman.

OPERA America has announced the recipients of Discovery Grants from the Opera Grants for Female Composers program, made possible through The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. From among 61 eligible applicants, an independent adjudication panel selected seven composers to receive a total of $100,000 to support the development of their opera compositions.

The recipients of Discovery Grants are:

Kitty Brazelton for The Art of Memory
Laura Karpman for Balls
Patricia Leonard for My Dearest Friend
Jing Jing Luo for Ashima
Odaline de la Martinez for Imoinda
Kamala Sankaram for The Privacy Show
Su Lian Tan for Lotus Lives

The Opera Grants for Female Composers program, launched in December 2013, is implemented in two-year cycles. The focus of the program alternates between Discovery Grants, which are awarded directly to composers, and Commissioning Grants, which are given to opera companies. This recent group of Discovery Grants initiates the second cycle of granting. Discovery Grants aim to identify, support, and help develop the work of female composers writing for the operatic medium, raising their visibility and promoting awareness of their compositions. In addition to receiving financial assistance, grant recipients will be introduced to leaders in the field through a feature in Opera America Magazine and at future New Works Forum meetings and annual conferences. Supported works will be considered for presentation at future annual conference New Works Samplers.

The independent adjudication panelists for the Discovery Grants included director Sam Helfrich, composer Laura Kaminsky, composer Libby Larsen, mezzo-soprano Margaret Lattimore, conductor Anne Manson, and coach/conductor Laurie Rogers.

Information for the second round of Commissioning Grant applications will be announced in December 2015.

(–from the press release)