2025 Grantees | Next Stage Grants | OPERA America

Press Released: 17 Nov 2025

OPERA America Awards $165,000 in Next Stage Grants Supporting Subsequent Productions of North American Works

OPERA America is pleased to announce grants totaling $165,000 to seven opera companies through its Next Stage Grants program.

Next Stage Grants support subsequent productions of existing, under-performed North American works that deserve additional attention from producers, audiences, and critics. The grants provide opera companies with the opportunity to edit, adjust, and refine the works for new audiences.

Grants were awarded to seven opera companies:

LA Opera (Los Angeles, CA) for The Old Man and the Sea by composer Paola Prestini and librettist Royce Vavrek
Maryland Opera (Baltimore, MD) for Oshun by composer B.E. Boykin and librettist Jarrod Lee
Nashville Opera (Nashville, TN) for Fortuna the Time Bender vs. The Schoolgirls of Doom by composer and librettist Jason Powell
Opera Southwest (Albuquerque, NM) for Salsipuedes: a Tale of Love, War and Anchovies by composer Daniel Catán and librettists Eliseo Alberto and Francisco Hinojosa
Resonance Works (Pittsburgh, PA) for The Jungle Book by composer Kamala Sankaram and librettist Kelley Rourke
Soundstreams (Toronto, ON) for Pimooteewin by composer Melissa Hui and librettist Tomson Highway
Washington National Opera (Washington, D.C.) for Treemonisha by composer and librettist Scott Joplin; New performing edition by composer Damien Sneed and playwright Kyle Bass

(See below for additional information about the productions.)

Next Stage Grants support the costs to present an existing production or originate a new production, and OPERA America’s Professional Company Members can apply as a sole applicant or as part of a consortium. The program offers supplemental support for revisions to the score, libretto, and/or orchestration.

Grantees were selected by an independent panel of experts consisting of Rose Freeman, stage director, teacher, and producer of theater and opera; Daniel Fung, executive director, Youth Music Monterey County; Shawn Okpebholo, composer and conductor; and Pelham Pearce, executive director, Eastern Shore Art Center.

More information about OPERA America’s grant programs is available at Grants & Awards.

LA Opera

The Old Man and the Sea (premiered 2023)
Paola Prestini, composer
Royce Vavrek, librettist

LA Opera will present Paola Prestini’s The Old Man and the Sea during the 2026–2027 season as part of its ongoing collaboration with Beth Morrison Projects. Inspired by Hemingway’s novel and featuring a libretto by Royce Vavrek, the work explores themes of aging, legacy, and our relationship to oceans. The production will star Nathan Gunn, Measha Brueggergosman, Rodolfo Girón, and Yvette Keong. They will be joined on stage by the renowned cellist Jeffrey Zeigler.

Maryland Opera

Oshun (premiered 2023)
B.E. Boykin, composer
Jarrod Lee, librettist

Maryland Opera celebrates opera and is committed to bringing the beauty and excitement of live opera to audiences throughout the state of Maryland. New Voices in Opera offers fully or semi-staged performances of new operas to all ages and backgrounds. The company’s inaugural performance features some familiar creatives to the DMV performance scene, including Oshun by composer B.E. Boykin and Kandake by composer Tim Amukele, both with stories by Librettist Jarrod Lee.

Nashville Opera

Fortuna the Time Bender vs. The Schoolgirls of Doom (premiered 2012)
Jason Powell, composer and librettist

Nashville Opera presents the regional premiere of Jason Powell’s Fortuna the Time Bender vs. The Schoolgirls of Doom. This comedic work pits our fearless heroine, Fortuna, as she fights her nemesis, the evil Headmaster, and his malicious minions, The Schoolgirls of Doom. Add Joe, a wannabe superhero sidekick; his loving, sensible girlfriend, Elizabeth; and a neurotic, overly emotionally involved Narrator, and you have all the ingredients for a night of madcap mayhem for the entire family.

Opera Southwest

Salsipuedes: A Tale of Love, War and Anchovies (premiered 2004)
Daniel Catán, composer
Eliseo Alberto and Francisco Hinojosa, librettists

Opera Southwest, in partnership with Albuquerque’s National Hispanic Cultural Center, will create a new production of Salsipuedes: a Tale of Love, War and Anchovies, a WWII-era tragicomedy opera set in the Caribbean and performed in three acts. Two newly married men are mistakenly taken aboard a warship, where they become entangled in a corrupt government plot to sell their island’s most valuable commodity: anchovies.

Resonance Works

The Jungle Book (premiered 2022)
Kamala Sankaram, composer
Kelley Rourke, librettist

Resonance Works is thrilled to announce the Pittsburgh premiere of Kamala Sankaram and Kelley Rourke’s The Jungle Book from November 21–23, 2025. The Jungle Book breathes new life into the beloved novel by Rudyard Kipling, showing audiences of all ages the importance of empathy, acceptance, and finding your pack. This heartwarming piece features the Pittsburgh Youth Chorus and nationally renowned guest artists under the baton of Artistic and General Director Maria Sensi Sellner.

Soundstreams

Pimooteewin (premiered 2008)
Melissa Hui, composer
Tomson Highway, librettist

Pimooteewin, The Journey, celebrates Indigenous language and storytelling. Set in the Cree language by legendary author Tomson Highway, it features music by Melissa Hui. This opera adapts an archetypal Cree story that tells how Weesageechak (the Trickster) and Misigoo (the Eagle) try to bring back the spirits of their loved ones to the world of the living; chaos ensues. A one-act opera, Pimooteewin is part of a Soundstreams’ double-bill touring production Two Odysseys: Pimooteewin/Gállábartnit. The creative team for Two Odysseys includes Yvette Nolan, director; Marta Fjellheim Sarre, choreographer; and David Fallis, music director. It’s scored for two vocal soloists, chamber choir, chamber ensemble, narrator, and three actors/dancers.

Washington National Opera

Treemonisha (premiered 1972)
Scott Joplin, composer and librettist
New performing edition by composer Damien Sneed and playwright Kyle Bass

An American opera by Scott Joplin, Treemonisha portrays African American lives in the Postbellum period and purports education as the way to advance. The work remains in incomplete form by Joplin, which has contributed to its infrequent performance. Composer Damien Sneed and playwright Kyle Bass created a new performing edition that WNO will premiere in a production directed by opera legend Denyce Graves, with WNO Cafritz Young Artist Viviana Goodwin as Treemonisha.