Pocket Opera Workshop
July 13-19, 2020
About The Workshop
The 2020 Rhymes With Opera Pocket Opera Workshop (P.O.W.) will bring together six composer fellows in a weeklong series of online workshops on composing for the operatic stage. For this year’s workshop, all sessions will be facilitated remotely, and will take place from July 13 through July 19, 2020.
RWO composers Ruby Fulton and George Lam will lead the workshop series, which will cover topics such as text setting, writing for specific performers, working with the voice, dramaturgy and working with a director, and ways to workshop, develop, and produce your own work. Upon acceptance, composer fellows will work on short pieces composed specifically for RWO’s ensemble vocalists Elisabeth Halliday-Quan, Bonnie Lander, and Robert Maril. The week-long workshop will culminate in a closed reading of these new works, along with feedback from all composer fellows and the RWO ensemble.
There is no application fee. All accepted composer fellows will receive free tuition for the 2020 Pocket Opera Workshop.
Eligibility
The Pocket Opera Workshop is open to all composers who are at least 18 years old as of May 1, 2020;
Composers who are in the emerging stages of their careers and/or composers of traditionally under-represented groups are strongly encouraged to apply;
All composer fellows must be available for online sessions from July 13 through July 19.
Application
Prepare the information below before you apply:
Your contact information;
Brief description on your background with vocal composition and your interest in joining the 2020 Pocket Opera Workshop;
URL links to two samples of your work (recording and score), links need to be active through the end of June, 2020;
Your availability for online workshops during the week of July 13-19.
The deadline for the 2020 P.O.W. has now passed. Accepted fellows will be notified by mid-June. For all inquiries, please email info@rhymeswithopera.org.
About the P.O.W.
Launched in 2013 as the New Chamber Music Workshop, the Rhymes With Opera Pocket Opera Workshop has brought together both composers and vocalists in both New York City and Baltimore to explore creating new works for the operatic stage. In 2020, the P.O.W. has been relaunched as a workshop that focuses on composers. For the first time in its history, the entire workshop will be conducted remotely, allowing participants to join the workshop without geographical restriction. The 2020 workshop will be led by RWO composers George Lam and Ruby Fulton.
RWO Composers
Composer and musician Ruby Fulton (b.1981) writes music which invites listeners to explore non-musical ideas through sound. Her musical portfolio includes explorations of mental illness, Buddhism, philosophy, psychedelic research, addiction, and chess strategy; and collaborative interdisciplinary projects with thinkers and makers in the sciences and literary, movement, and visual arts. She teaches composition and music theory at the University of Idaho Lionel Hampton School of Music.
Hong Kong-born composer George Tsz-Kwan Lam (b. 1981) grew up in both Hong Kong and Winthrop, Massachusetts. George works primarily on projects that intersect music, theater, and musical placemaking. Recent works include The Emigrants commissioned by New Morse Code, Shrewsbury Fair (2017) for Oak Middle School in Shrewsbury, MA, and three new works for the Chautauqua Opera Company as their 2018 composer-in-residence. George Lam is Assistant Professor of Music at York College, The City University of New York.