OPERA IN EDEN

June 15, 2025, 7:00pm

Thalia Theater Leonard Nimoy
2537 Broadway
New York, NY 10025

American Lyric Theater presents three new one-act operas in concert written by Resident Artists in the Composer Librettist Development Program.

Conductor: Kelly Kuo
Pianist: Jason Wirth

FOURTH WAVE BEAUTY QUEENS

Composer: Kathleen Tagg
Librettist: Laura Barati

FOURTH WAVE BEAUTY QUEENS delves into the relationship between Délia, a feminist academic researching extreme beauty treatments, and her mother, Flora. When Délia receives rare prototypes of the latest, miracle anti-aging and weight loss treatments as a gift, she and Flora are forced to face their ultimate temptations. A darkly comedic mother-daughter story, FOURTH WAVE BEAUTY QUEENS explores the competing desires and gordian knot of living within the female gaze.

GIOVANNI/A

Composer: Del’Shawn Taylor
Librettist: C.S. Hanson

Secrets. Forbidden love. Dreams that dare not be told. Within the confines of a Benedictine monastery in 16th century Padua, monks Nico and Giovanni are devoted to work and prayer until attraction threatens their peaceful existence. The Abbot, no stranger to friendly spying, just wants to keep things in order. When secrets are unleashed, Giovanni’s truth boldly challenges the rules of the monastic community.

THE SHADOW

Composer: Ivette Herryman-Rodríguez
Librettist: Sam Norman

A simple experiment goes terribly wrong. A man accidentally detaches himself from his shadow, which flits off into the night. No matter how hard he tries, he’s unable to recover it, and eventually he is forced to move on… until the evening he receives an unexpected visitor.)Adapted from the twisted tale by Hans Christian Andersen, THE SHADOW explores the fragility of identity, and how easily reality itself can be usurped by a good story.