Missy Mazzoli Is Shaping The Future On And Off Of The Opera Stage
Missy Mazzoli, credit: Marylene Mey | Classical Post
Prolific composer Missy Mazzoli’s opera Proving Up, with a libretto by Royce Vavrek, was released as an album this August 2020. Pianist Natalia Kazaryan interviews Missy Mazzoli to discuss Proving Up, the future of opera, Luna Composition Lab, upcoming projects and more.
Something Radical
Natalia Kazaryan: Opera has been an important medium in your career. Can you talk about the evolution of your operatic work, which has culminated in your Metropolitan Opera commission, and how that evolution has crystalized your voice as a composer?
Missy Mazzoli: When I started making opera it felt like I had finally arrived at the place I was supposed to be as a composer. Opera synthesizes all of my interests - poetry, drama, collaboration, visual art, storytelling and so much more – and allows me to investigate fascinating, hidden and often difficult aspects of the human experience. I think that that work has evolved in its complexity and scale; my first opera was essentially a monodrama for six singers and a chamber ensemble, and I’m currently working on a grand opera for full chorus, orchestra and a small army of principals. What hasn’t changed is the subject matter; since the beginning of my operatic career I’ve made work that focuses on female characters who find themselves in extreme circumstances and are compelled to do something radical and out of character. This interest in humanity and the complexity of human relationships has been part of my work since I began writing music but has only been fully realized through my operas.
American Dream
NK: In Proving Up, we are presented with the idea of the American Dream. How does the American Dream relate to the future of art and culture, and how the arts can be relevant to society?
Missy Mazzoli, credit: Caroline Tompkins | Classical Post
MM: In my opera Proving Up I was interested in telling the story of an American family who did everything “right” but still failed, still fell victim to fate. Even just writing that sentence feels very un-American, because so much of our cultural identity is wrapped up in this idea that every success is earned, everyone has equal access to every path, and that fate and luck play no role in our destiny. The artistic world is subject to these same forces and myths. I love that there’s a more developed conversation about race and gender in the arts right now, and would love to have more discussions about class, funding, and how all of these impact access to a career in the arts. As it stands, it is far from being a meritocracy. The arts can impact society by reflecting society back at itself, and the first step is in increasing access and opportunities for underrepresented communities so that the faces onstage reflect the faces in our communities.
Future Of Opera
NK: How do you feel about the post-covid future of opera?
MM: I’m very hopeful! There are a lot of important questions being asked right now, and a lot of overdue discussions about opera’s place in the world. Opera will outlive us all, it’s just a question of whether or not we choose to harness its potential as a powerful storytelling tool for our age.
Prolific Musical Partnership
NK: You have had a very prolific musical partnership with librettist Royce Vavrek. Can you describe your musical dynamic and how you inspire each other?
MM: Royce and I are best friends; we live about a mile away from each other in Brooklyn, and often walk to each other’s houses to work on our projects. We talk nearly every day, and always have about five different conversations going on about various projects. I think we work well together because we’re extremely flexible with our work. We’re not precious about any one line or any particular musical phrase, so each aspect of the work can support the other at all times. We’re also unconditionally supportive of each other as human beings, so we feel very safe expressing our weirdest musical ideas to each other.
Luna Composition Lab
NK: You co-founded the Luna Composition Lab, which provides mentorship and invaluable artistic opportunities to aspiring female-identifying, non-binary and gender nonconforming compositional voices. How has creating this community and its providing mentorship helped aspiring composers it has worked with thus far, and what more can other organizations do to contribute to this mission?
MM: Luna Composition Lab, an organization I founded in 2016 with composer Ellen Reid in partnership with the Kaufman Music Center, has a very simple structure; we connect young female-identifying, non-binary and gender nonconforming composers in their teens with professional composers who mentor them throughout the year. This organization has exceeded all of my expectations; our alums have gone on to prestigious composition programs all over the world and have received commissions from very prominent orchestras and ensembles. Most importantly, they are able to start their musical careers with the support of not only their mentors, but a community of young composer peers all over the country. It’s tremendously important and powerful for young female-identifying, non-binary and gender nonconforming artists to have role models who look like them, who can relate to their specific lived experience. I think that other organizations can follow this model of providing mentorship and support to very young artists from under-represented populations. Once a composer is through graduate school they’re on their way to having a career and a community, but artists, particularly young women and non-White musicians, need support when they’re in their teens and are first making decisions about which path to follow.
Missy Mazzoli & Ellen Reid introduce Luna Composition Lab
The Listeners
NK: What are your upcoming projects?
MM: I’m currently finishing up a new opera called The Listeners, which will premiere at the Norwegian National Opera in March of 2021 and will come to Opera Philadelphia next fall. It’s based on an original story by Canadian playwright Jordan Tannahill, with a libretto by Royce Vavrek, and will be directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz.
Missy Mazzoli
Recently deemed “one of the more consistently inventive, surprising composers now working in New York” (NY Times) and “Brooklyn’s post-millennial Mozart” (Time Out NY), Missy Mazzoli has had her music performed by the Kronos Quartet, LA Opera, eighth blackbird, the BBC Symphony, Scottish Opera and many others. In 2018 she became one of the first two women, along with Jeanine Tesori, to receive a main stage commission from the Metropolitan Opera, and was nominated for a Grammy award. She is Composer-in-Residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and from 2012-2015 was Composer-in-Residence with Opera Philadelphia. Upcoming commissions include works for Opera Philadelphia, the National Ballet of Canada, Chicago Lyric Opera and Norwegian National Opera. Her works are published by G. Schirmer.
NATALIA KAZARYAN
From Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, pianist Natalia Kazaryan has been hailed by The New York Sun for her “prodigious ability,” remarking that she “immediately established an atmosphere of strength and confidence.” Passionate about programming works by female composers, she recently curated and performed a recital of all women composers at the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., a performance The Washington Post named “one of the best classical concerts of the summer 2019.” She reprises the program for “All Classical Portland” (OR), and continues to expand her series of lecture-recitals showcasing works of female composers, including a recent performance with the National Symphony Orchestra to celebrate the centennial of the 19th amendment (women’s suffrage). She also was recently appointed as a board member of the International Alliance for Women in Music.
