2010 Grant Awards: Access to Artistic Excellence

[ March 12, 2009 deadline ]

Artists Communities | Dance | Design | Folk & Traditional Arts | Literature
Local Arts Agencies | Media Arts | Museums | Music | Musical Theater
Opera | Presenting | Theater | Visual Arts

Some details of the projects listed below are subject to change, contingent upon prior Endowment approval.

Opera

Academy of Vocal Arts
Philadelphia, PA
$15,000
To support the world premiere of The Scarlet Letter, by composer Margaret Garwood. Performances will take place in Centennial Hall in Haverford, Pennsylvania, and at Merriam Theater in Philadelphia.

American Lyric Theater Center, Inc.
New York, NY
$15,000
To support the Composer Librettist Development Program. The full-time resident artist program will provide professional training for emerging opera composers and librettists.

American Opera Projects, Inc.
Brooklyn, NY
$10,000
To support the commission and developmental phase of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, by composer and librettist Herschel Garfein and stage direction by Mark Morris. Based on the 1966 play and 1990 film by Tom Stoppard, the work will be transformed into a two-act opera for six principal roles, three smaller roles, and 16 instrumentalists.

Atlanta Opera
Atlanta, GA
$20,000
To support a new production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute). The company will develop a program tailored for middle and high school students of area public schools and an educational touring production that will reach student and adult audiences in several Atlanta public schools.

Austin Lyric Opera
Austin, TX
$20,000
To support performances of L'Etoile (The Star), by Emmanuel Chabrier. Education and outreach activities will accompany the performances.

Austin Lyric Opera (Consortium)
Austin, TX
$15,000
To support performances of the chamber opera The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, by composer Michael Nyman. In partnership with the Austin Chamber Music Center, the production will be part of the Austin Chamber Music Society's Annual Festival.

Berkeley Opera (Consortium)
Berkeley, CA
$12,500
To support performances of Caliban's Dream, by composer Clark Suprynowicz and librettist Amanda Moody. The collaboration with Sixth Street Playhouse will enable the company to expand its audiences to Santa Rosa.

Boston Academy of Music (aka Opera Boston)
Boston, MA
$20,000
To support Opera Boston's world premiere of Madame White Snake, by composer Zhou Long and librettist Cerise Lim Jacobs. The Chinese community specifically will be targeted through educational and outreach activities related to the production.

Boston Lyric Opera Company, Inc.
Boston, MA
$25,000
To support a new production of The Turn of the Screw, by Benjamin Britten. Performances will be accompanied by community events through partnerships with area Boston cultural institutions.

Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre
Cedar Rapids, IA
$15,000
To support a production of Salome, by Richard Strauss. The production will be filmed in HD and broadcast statewide by Iowa Public Television.

Central City Opera House Association
Denver, CO
$20,000
To support a new production of Three Decembers, by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer. Based on an original text by playwright Terrence McNally, the musical theater work combines spoken text, soloists, and ensembles accompanied by an onstage chamber orchestra.

Chicago Opera Theater
Chicago, IL
$20,000
To support a new production of Three Decembers, by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer. Based on an original text by playwright Terrence McNally, the musical theater work combines spoken text, soloists, and ensembles with an onstage chamber orchestra.

Cincinnati Opera Association
Cincinnati, OH
$25,000
To support a production of Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg). The opera will serve as the centerpiece for the company's 90th anniversary season.

Dallas Opera
Dallas, TX
$25,000
To support a new production of Donizetti's Anna Bolena. Accompanying outreach activities will include lectures, panel discussions with the artists, and a radio broadcast on Classical WRR-FM.

Des Moines Metro Opera, Inc.
Indianola, IA
$15,000
To support the Opera Iowa Touring Educational Troupe. The program will engage artists to reach students in underserved rural Midwestern schools.

Florentine Opera Company, Inc.
Milwaukee, WI
$20,000
To support an audio recording and performances of Elmer Gantry, by composer Robert Aldridge and librettist Herschel Garfein. Naxos International will create a compact disc recording for release in November 2011 and digital tracks will be available for download.

Florida Grand Opera, Inc.
Miami, FL
$25,000
To support performances of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. Performances are planned at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami and the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale.

Fort Worth Opera Association, Inc.
Fort Worth, TX
$20,000
To support the world premiere of Before Night Falls, by composer Jorge Martín with a libretto by Martin and Dolores M. Koch. The artistic team will include conductor Joseph Illick, stage director David Gately, set designer Riccardo Hernandez, and costume designer Claudia Stephens.

Glimmerglass Opera, Inc.
Cooperstown, NY
$30,000
To support performances of Aaron Copland's The Tender Land. Educational activities related to the productions will include pre-season lectures and pre-performance talks.

Gotham Chamber Opera, Inc.
New York, NY
$10,000
To support the commission, development, and premiere of Dark Sisters, by composer Nico Muhly and librettist Stephen Karam. The opera will serve as the centerpiece of the company's 10th anniversary season.

Hawaii Opera Theatre
Honolulu, HI
$22,000
To support performances of Wagner's Die Walküre (The Valkyrie). The production marks the first time that an opera from The Ring cycle will have been performed in the state, and it also will serve as a focal point for the company's 50th anniversary season.

Houston Grand Opera Association, Inc.
Houston, TX
$30,000
To support performances of Puccini's Tosca. Educational components will include pre-performance lectures, teacher workshop events, and lecture presentations.

Long Beach Opera
Long Beach, CA
$20,000
To support performances of Nixon in China by composer John Adams and librettist Alice Goodman. Outreach activities through a partnership with the Nixon Library and Museum in Yorba Linda will include exhibitions and symposia comprising leading Nixon scholars and former Nixon administration staff members.

Los Angeles Opera Company (Consortium)
Los Angeles, CA
$50,000
To support the commission, production, and performances of a new opera, The Tower of Babel, by composer James MacMillan with libretto by award-winning British poet Michael Symmons Roberts. The collaboration is part of LA Opera at the Cathedral, a partnership that presents free opera performances in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

Los Angeles Opera Company
Los Angeles, CA
$105,000
To support performances of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Nibelung's Ring). The production will employ the use of new technologies for lighting, flying, stage machinery, projections, and unique effects using specially designed software and hardware.

Lyric Opera of Chicago
Chicago, IL
$100,000
To support a new production of Hercules, by G.F. Handel. Community engagement opportunities will include a Hercules Discovery Series panel discussion, pre-performance lectures, and community lectures at public libraries throughout the Midwest.

Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Inc.
Kansas City, MO
$15,000
To support performances of Verdi's Rigoletto. Education and outreach activities will accompany the performances.

Madison Opera, Inc.
Madison, WI
$15,000
To support a production of The Turn of the Screw, by Benjamin Britten. The production continues the initiative recently established by the company to present chamber opera as an expansion of the mainstage performance series.

Merola Opera Program
San Francisco, CA
$25,000
To support master teachers and instructors at the professional training program for singers, apprentice coaches, and an apprentice stage director. Participants will receive private coaching and attend master classes for intergenerational exchange between veterans in the opera field and emerging newcomers.

Metropolitan Opera Association, Inc. (aka The Met)
New York, NY
$125,000
To support a new production of The Nose, by Dmitri Shostakovich. Renowned Shostakovich interpreter Valery Gergiev will conduct a cast led by Tony-award winning baritone Paulo Szot, tenor Andrei Popov, and tenor Gordon Gietz.

Metropolitan Opera Association, Inc. (aka The Met) (Consortium)
New York, NY
$50,000
To support The Met: HD Live in Schools Education Program. In collaboration with the New York City Department of Education, the project will serve students in New York City high schools, one in each borough.

Michigan Opera Theatre
Detroit, MI
$35,000
To support a new production of the children?s opera The Very Last Green Things. Performances will be accompanied by educational outreach activities.

Minnesota Opera Company
Minneapolis, MN
$25,000
To support a new production of Donizetti's Roberto Devereux. Based on Francois Ancelot's Elisabeth d'Angleterre and featuring a text by Salvatore Cammaran, the opera centers on the tragic love affair between Queen Elizabeth I and Robert Devereux, Earl of Sussex.

Nashville Opera Association
Nashville, TN
$15,000
To support Nashville Opera On Tour. The series of initiatives and programs will be customized to reach specific audiences.

New York City Opera, Inc. (aka City Opera)
New York, NY
$35,000
To support a performance of Puccini's Madama Butterfly. City Opera will present in-school, out-of-school, and adult education programs that reach out to diverse communities.

Opera America, Inc.
New York, NY
$110,000
To support the continued development of web and multi-media resources and publications to provide access to and documentation of the opera field. The national service organization for opera will provide essential support to member artists and companies in realizing artistic excellence and service to their local communities.

Opera America, Inc. (Consortium)
New York, NY
$25,000
To support the Singer Workshop Series. The service organization will collaborate with Boston Lyric Opera to design singer training workshops in Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore.

Opera Company of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA
$25,000
To support performances of Tea: A Mirror of Soul, by composer Tan Dun and librettist Xu Ying, with accompanying educational and outreach activities.

Opera for the Young, Inc.
Madison, WI
$12,500
To support artists' fees for a multi-state tour of a new production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance. Diane Garton Edie has condensed and adapted the operetta into a child-friendly version without sacrificing essential story line, language, or representative musical score.

Opera Memphis, Inc.
Memphis, TN
$14,000
To support performances of Puccini's Madama Butterfly. In addition to the performances, the company will produce a live, admission-free simulcast at the Levitt Shell in Overton Park.

Opera New Jersey, Inc. (Consortium)
Princeton, NJ
$20,000
To support the production of George Bizet's Carmen. In collaboration with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the project will involve fully staged performances that will be presented in various locations in the state: McCarter Theater in Princeton, State Theatre in New Brunswick, and New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark.

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis
St. Louis, MO
$75,000
To support the world premiere of The Golden Ticket, by American composer Peter Ash with libretto by Donald Sturrock. Based on Roald Dahl's novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the opera expects to hold great appeal for children and adults.

Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center (aka Ryan Opera Center)
Chicago, IL
$35,000
To support a comprehensive singer training and professional development program. Faculty will provide a multidisciplinary program of study to prepare young artists for professional operatic careers.

Pensacola Opera, Inc.
Pensacola, FL
$12,500
To support a semi-staged concert version of Jerome Kern's Show Boat. Educational community outreach programs will complement the performances.

Piedmont Opera, Inc.
Winston-Salem, NC
$12,000
To support a new production of Robert Ward's The Crucible (1961). The company will work in cooperation with the University of North Carolina School of the Arts on the production.

Pittsburgh Opera Theater, Inc. (aka Opera Theater of Pittsburgh)
Pittsburgh, PA
$15,000
To support a new production of The Beggar's Holiday, by composers Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn and librettist Dale Wasserman. Multifaceted education and outreach programs will focus on the work and its relevance to Pittsburgh's jazz legacy.

Pittsburgh Opera, Inc.
Pittsburgh, PA
$30,000
To support performances of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro). The company will develop education and community engagement programs and corresponding written materials focusing on the theme and content of the opera.

Portland Opera Association Inc.
Portland, OR
$20,000
To support new productions of a chamber opera triple-bill comprising Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti and Monteverdi's one-act operas Il Ballo Delle Ingrate and Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. The artists will include the Portland Opera Studio Artists (POSA) and the POSA Chamber Opera.

Portland Opera Repertory Theatre (aka PORTopera)
Portland, ME
$10,000
To support a new opera production of Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel. A multinational children's chorus will rehearse and perform with the professional singers and orchestra and receive coaching in singing and acting.

San Diego Opera Association
San Diego, CA
$40,000
To support a new production of Verdi's Nabucco. Activities designed around the production will include a student dress rehearsal for youth from schools in San Diego County and Tijuana, Mexico; pre-performance lectures; and an artists' roundtable discussion.

San Francisco Opera Association
San Francisco, CA
$120,000
To support Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Nibelung's Ring). Educational outreach and enrichment activities will include an Insight panel discussion in San Francisco's Herbst Theater featuring members of the cast and production team and preview lectures that will be held at various venues throughout the Bay Area.

Santa Barbara Opera Association
Santa Barbara, CA
$12,500
To support Opera Al Fresco! The admission-free concert will be held at the Sunken Gardens of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse.

Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe, NM
$75,000
To support the first fully-staged production of Life Is a Dream, by composer Lewis Spratlan and librettist James Maraniss. Education and outreach programs will include free public lectures about the opera and a symposium involving the composer and librettist.

Sarasota Opera Association, Inc.
Sarasota, FL
$17,500
To support performances of Giuseppe Verdi's Giovanna d'Arco (Joan of Arc). The scheduled work marks the 26th production of the company's multi-year commitment to the Verdi Cycle initiative.

Seattle Opera
Seattle, WA
$80,000
To support a new production of Amelia, by composer Daron Hagen and librettist Gardner McFall. Performances of the opera will be accompanied by preview talks, lectures, and radio broadcasts.

Tacoma Opera Association
Tacoma, WA
$12,500
To support a new production of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) and related educational outreach activities. With a focus on Figaro, activities will include workshops for educators such as Enriching Curriculum through Opera and Student Night at the Opera for school groups and military families from nearby Fort Lewis.

The Princeton Festival
Princeton, NJ
$15,000
To support a production of G.F. Handel's Ariodante. Current educational programming will be expanded in order to introduce and build audiences for the production.

Tulsa Opera, Inc.
Tulsa, OK
$16,500
To support a production of Don Quichotte, by Jules Massenet. Various community outreach activities will coincide with the production, such as small-scale preview performances in bookstores and churches featuring Studio Artists, pre-curtain lectures, and school programs.

University of Kentucky Research Foundation
Lexington, KY
$15,000
To support a production of George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess. The production team will create a new multi-media approach to set design which will utilize high-definition rear video projection of pre-production footage shot of the actual cast on location.

Virginia Opera Association, Inc.
Norfolk, VA
$12,500
To support the production of the American classic Porgy and Bess, written by George Gershwin, libretto by DuBose and Dorothy Heyward. In celebration of the work's 75th anniversary, the production will be accompanied by statewide educational and outreach activities designed for both students and adults.

Washington National Opera
Washington, DC
$50,000
To support performances of Hamlet, by Ambroise Thomas. Based upon Shakespeare's classic play, this adaptation follows Hamlet in his pursuit to avenge his father's death and eventually become King of Denmark.

Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts
Vienna, VA
$18,000
To support professional training programs for singers and fully staged opera performances. Filene Young Artists and Opera Studio Artists will receive individualized training from music and language coaches, directors, and conductors.

National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20506

What's this?