Creation Lab 2023: Final Projects

Creation Lab rehearsal © David Jaewon Oh

Hello World is set in the not too-distant future. Fives, a broken-down service robot, and Vista, a sophisticated android, find refuge in a dark basement. While taking shelter from an indifferent world that sees them as disposable machines, the artificial lifeforms consider sacrificing everything in a desperate bid for freedom. Hello World is one of six short operas recently showcased at the 2023 Jane Lang Davis Creation Lab Performances in the Opera Center.

Launched two years ago, Creation Lab cultivates the next generation of opera storytellers, focusing on Washington State composers and librettists ages 18-30 through a months-long development process that includes table readings, music workshops, and mentoring and coaching from established opera professionals, like librettist Kelley Rourke and composer Damien Geter.

Meet This Year's Creation Lab Artists

 

Top, from left: James T Washburn (librettist), Aaron Jin (librettist), Steven Tran (composer), Drew Swatosh (composer), Rheanna Atendido (librettist and composer). Middle: Brian Dang (librettist), Christopher Reed (composer), Chess Albaneze (composer), Mirabai Kukathas (librettist), Elise Winkler (composer). Bottom: E. Lily Yu (librettist), Rico Lastrapes (composer) & Larisa Juno (librettist) and Paul Stovall (composer) & Julia Koyfman (librettist). 

Seattle Opera announces the inaugural cohort of the Jane Lang Davis Creation Lab, which aims to support a new generation of storytellers in opera. The initiative is open to Washington artists ages 18–30 of all backgrounds—including those without opera experience. The 15 people selected will create short works, which will be performed in Tagney Jones Hall at the Opera Center in 2021.

“Opera cannot continue without new stories and new voices to complement great works of the past,” said Seattle Opera General Director Christina Scheppelmann. “I am so glad that the project has attracted high-caliber and accomplished artists, who bring diverse experiences to the program."

In addition to musicians and theaters artists, participants include a fiction writer, a film producer, a Juilliard student, and more.