Next Stage Grants
Next Stage Grants support Professional Company Members and their producing partners in presenting the second or subsequent production of existing, under-performed North American works.
OPERA America’s multi-decade support of new work has helped make contemporary opera integral to the repertoire in communities across the country. Yet, only a select number of works live on beyond their initial premiere.
Next Stage Grants, first offered from 1995 to 1998, and revived in 2020, allow opera companies to mount new productions of previously performed new operas with the opportunity to edit, adjust, and refine the works for new audiences.
Next Stage Grants are supported by Gene Kaufman, Terry Eder-Kaufman, and New Vision for NYC Opera, with additional support from the Mellon Foundation. From 1995–1998, the program was supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Grant Details
Next Stage Grants are offered biennially with awards up to 50% of performance costs: up to $25,000 to present an existing production, up to $50,000 to originate a new production, or up to $75,000 to originate a new production as part of a consortium. Supplemental support is available for score, libretto, or orchestration revisions.
Eligibility: OPERA America’s Professional Company Members based in the United States and Canada may apply.
Professional Company Member staff can log in to view loan guidelines and application deadlines. To learn about becoming a Professional Company Member, visit Organizational Membership.
Meet the Grantees
2020 Recipients
Opera Company | Work | Composer | Librettist |
---|---|---|---|
Anchorage Opera | Missing | Brian Current | Marie Clements |
El Paso Opera | Frida | Robert Xavier Rodriguez | Migdalia Cruz and Hilary Blecher |
IN Series | I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky | John Adams | June Jordan |
Knoxville Opera | Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom | Nkeiru Okoye | Nkeiru Okoye |
Michigan Opera Theatre | X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X | Anthony Davis | Thulani Davis |
Odyssey Opera | The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe | Dominick Argento | Charles M. Nolte |
Opera Parallèle | Harvey Milk | Stewart Wallace | Michael Korie |
Opera Saratoga | Sky on Swings | Lembit Beecher | Hannah Moscovitch |
Learn more about grant projects in the press release.
2001 Recipients
Opera Company | Work | Composer | Librettist |
---|---|---|---|
Opera Pacific | Dead Man Walking | Jake Heggie | Terrence McNally |
Opera Pacific | Little Women | Marc Adamo | Marc Adamo |
San Francisco Opera | The Mother of Us All | Virgil Thomson | Gertrude Stein |
1999 Recipients
Opera Company | Work | Composer | Librettist |
---|---|---|---|
Autumn Leaf Performance | Yo Soy La Desintegracion | Jean Piche | Jan Muckle, Frido Kahlo |
Boston Lyric Opera | Akhnaten | Philip Glass | Shalom Boldman, R. Isreal |
Brooklyn Academy of Music | Monsters of Grace | Philip Glass | Colemen Barks |
Central City Opera | Street Scene | Kurt Weill | Langston Hughes |
Edmonton Opera | Beatrice Chancy | James Rolfe | George Elliott Clarke |
Indianapolis Opera | Buoso'S Ghost | Michael Ching | Michael Ching |
Opera Theatre of Saint Louis | Miss Havisham's Fire | Dominick Argento | John Olon-Scrymgeour |
OperaDelaware | Central Park | Bearer, Drattel, Torke | McNally, Wasserstein, Gurney |
San Diego Opera | Of Mice and Men | Carlisle Floyd | Carlisle Floyd |
The Washington Opera | The Crucible | Robert Ward | Bernard Stambler |
Utah Opera | Of Mice and Men | Carlisle Floyd | Carlisle Floyd |
1998 Recipients
Opera Company | Work | Composer | Librettist |
---|---|---|---|
Amarillo Opera | Jumping Frog of Calaveras County | Lukas Foss | Jean Karsavina |
Boston Lyric Opera | Akhnaten | Philip Glass | Philip Glass |
Chicago Opera Theater | The Good Soldier Schweik | Robert Kurka | Lewis Allan |
Dicapo Opera Theatre | A Chekhov Trilogy | Richard Wargo | Richard Wargo |
Florentine Opera | The Picture of Dorian Gray | Lowell Liebermann | Lowell Liebermann |
The Glimmerglass Festival | The Mother of Us All | Virgil Thomson | Gertrude Stein |
Lyric Opera of Chicago | Mourning Becomes Electra | Marvin David Levy | Henry Butler |
Madison Opera | Help, Help the Globolinks | Gian Carlo Menotti | Gian Carlo Menotti |
Minnesota Opera | Street Scene | Kurt Weill | Langston Hughes |
New York City Opera | Lizzie Borden | Jack Beeson | Kenward Elmslie |
San Diego Opera | A Streetcar Named Desire | André Previn | Philip Littell |
Virginia Opera | The Tender Land | Aaron Copland | Horace Everett |
1997 Recipients
Opera Company | Work | Composer | Librettist |
---|---|---|---|
Autumn Leaf Performance | Kopernicus | Claude Vivier | Claude Vivier |
Chicago Opera Theater | Shining Brow | Daron Aric Hagen | Paul Muldoon |
The Dallas Opera | The Tempest | Lee Hoiby | Mark Shulgasser |
The Glimmerglass Festival | Of Mice and Men | Carlisle Floyd | Carlisle Floyd |
The Glimmerglass Festival | Dreamkeepers | David Carlson | Aden Ross |
Lyric Opera of Kansas City | Vanessa | Samuel Barber | Gian Carlo Menotti |
Madison Opera | Thunder of Horses | Cary John Franklin | Michal Patrick Albano |
Minnesota Opera | Transatlantic | George Antheil | George Antheil |
Musical Traditions | The Little Girl Dreams of Taking the Veil | Erling Wold | Carla Harryman, Erling Wold |
New York City Opera | Emmeline | Tobias Picker | J.D. McClatchy |
Opera Carolina | The Crucible | Robert Ward | Bernard Stambler |
Opera Theatre of Saint Louis | Transformations | Conrad Susa | Anne Sexton |
Tulsa Opera | Dreamkeepers | David Carlson | Aden Ross |
The Washington Opera | Dangerous Liasons | Conrad Susa | Philip Littell |
Vineyard Theatre | You Don't Miss Water | Diedre Murray | Cornelius Eady |