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Contemporary Operas by Women Composer
Contemporary Operas by Women ComposersJudith Weir (1954-)
1. The Black Spider (1985)
2. The Consolations of Scholarship (1985)
3. A Night at the Chinese Opera (1987)
4. The Vanishing Bridegroom (1990)
5. Blond Eckbert (1994)
6. Armida (2005
Dame Ethel Smyth (1858 – 1944)
1. Fantasio (1898)
2. Der Wald (1902)
3. The Wreckers (1902-11)
4. The Boatswain’s Mate (1916)
5. Fęte Galante (1923)
6. Entente Cordiale (1926)
Kaija Saariaho (1952-)
1. L’Amour de loin (2000)
2. Adriana Mater (2006)
3. La Passion de Simone (2006) [oratorio]
4. Emilie (2010)
Thea Musgrave (1928-)
1. The Abbot of Drimock (1955)
2. A Christmas Carol (1978-79)
3. The Decision (1965)
4. Harriet, The Woman Called Moses (1984)
5. Mary, Queen of Scots (1975-77)
6. The Mocking-Bird (2000)
7. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (and opera for radio) (1981)
8. Pontalba (2003)
9. Simón Bolívar (1992)
10. The Story of Harriet Tubman (1990)
11. The Voice of Ariadne (1972-73)
Shulamit Ran (1949-)
1. Between Two Worlds (1997)
Amy Beach (1867-1944)
1. Cabildo (1932)
Abigail Al-Doory (?)
1. Tonya and Nancy: The Rock Opera (2006?)
Peggy Glanville-Hicks (1912-1990)
1. Caedmon (1933)
2. The Transposed Heads. A Legend of India (1953)
3. The Glittering Gate (1957)
4. Nausicaa (1961)
5. Sappho (1963)
Marta Ptaszynska (1943-)
1. The Lovers of the Valldemosa Cloister (about the life of Chopin)
2. Oscar of Alva (1989)
3. Mister Marimba (opera for children) (1998)
Victoria Bond (?)
1. Mrs. President (2002)
2. A More Perfect Union (2004)
3. Clara (?)
4. Travels (1994)
Deborah Drattell (1956-)
1. Lilth (1998)
2. The Festival of Regrets (1999)
3. Marina Tsvetaeva: A Captive Spirit (2000)
4. Nicholas and Alexandra (2003)
5. Best Friends (2005)
Nancy Van de Vate (1930-)
1. Hamlet (2009)
2. Where the Cross is Made (2003)
3. Im Westen Nichts neues (2000)
4. All Quiet on the Western Front (1999)
5. Nemo: Jenseits von Vulkania (1995)
6. Nemo: Beyond Vulkania (English version) (1995)
7. Der Herrscher und das Madchen (1995)
8. In the Shadow of the Glen (1994)
9. The Death of the Hired Man (1958)
10. Der Tod des Tagelohners (1958, rev. 1998)
Carol Barnett (?)
1. Snow (1992)
Margaret Sutherland (1897-1984)
1. The Young Kabbarli (1964)
Paula M. Kimper (1956-)
1. Patience and Sarah (the first LGBT themed opera) (1998)
2. The Captivation of Eunice Williams (2004)
3. The Bridge of San Luis Rey (in progress)
4. Fanny Otcott (2009)
5. Sojourner Truth (2011)
Gladys Smuckler Moskowitz (1928-)
1. Chicken Little, The Sky is Falling (2007)
2. The Fountain of Youth (?)
3. The Masque of the Red Death (?)
Mona Lyn Reese (?)
1. The Three Fat Women of Antibes (1998)
2. Choose Life! Uvacharta Bachayim (?)
3. Music and Mime at the Five and Dime (?)
Helena Michelson (?)
1. The Game (2010)
Ronnie Reshef (?)
1. Requiem for the Living (?)
Sheli Nan (?)
1. Saga: Portrait of a 21st-Century Child
Zae Munn (1953-)
1. Witness (2006)
Julie Mandel (?)
1. I Wish, I Wish, I Wish (?)
2. Catherine (?)
Beth Wiemann (1959-)
1. Deeds (2002)
Chris Lastovicka (?)
1. Crossing the Horizon (?)
Katarzyna Brochocka (?)
1. Happy Garden of Life (2009)
Elizabeth R. Austin (1938-)
1. The Marquise of O. (2011)
Elaine Fine (?)
1. Sister Beatrice (2004)
2. Emma (2005)
3. The Snow Queen (2002)
Augusta Read Thomas (1964-)
1. Ligeia (1994)
2. Sun Songs – Three Micro-Operas (2004)
Roxanna Panufnik (?)
1. The Music Programme (1999)
2. Inkle and Yarico (1996)
Amy Scurria (1973-)
1. Five Haiku (1998)
2. Esperanza Rising – A Children’s Opera (2009)
3. Pearl (in progress)
Julia Perry (1924-1979)
1. The Cask of Amontillado (?)
Regina Harris Baiocchi (?)
1. Gbeldehoven: No One’s Child (1996)
2. Dreamhoppers (1987)
Dorothy Rudd Moore (1940-)
1. Frederick Douglass (?)
2. From the Dark Tower (?)
Arlene Sierra (?)
1. Faustine (in progress)
Amy Beach (1867-1944)
1. Cabildo (1932)
Peggy Glanville-Hicks (1912-1990)
1. Caedmon (1933)
2. The Transposed Heads (1953)
3. The Glittering Gate (1957)
4. Nausicaa (1961)
5. Sappho (1963) (unproduced)
Louise Talma (1906-1996)
1. The Alcestiad (1958)
Miriam Gideon (1906-1996)
1. Fortunato (1958)
Ruth Schontal (1924-2006)
1. The Courtship of Camilla (1980)
2. Jocasta (1997)
3. Princess Maleen (1989)
Mary Carr Moore (1873-1957)
1. The Oracle (1894(
2. Narcissa, or the Cost of Empire (1911)
3. The Leper (1912)
4. Memories (1914)
5. Harmony (1917)
6. The Flaming Arrow, or The Shaft of Ku’Pish-ta-ya (1922)
7. David Rizzio (1928)
8. Los Rubios (1931)
9. Flutes of Jade Happiness (1933)
10. Legende Provencale (unperformed, orchestral score lost)
Alice Parker (1925-)
1. The Martyrs’ Mirror (1971)
2. The Family Reunion (1975)
3. Singers Glen (1978)
Barbara Harbach (1950-)
1. O Pioneers! – An American Opera (2009)
Karólína Eiríksdóttir (?)
1. Shadow Play (2006)
2. Man Alive (1999)
3. Nagon har jag sett / I Have Seen Someone (1988)
Elizabeth Maconchy (1907-1994)
1. The Sofa (1957, rev. 1966)
2. The Three Strangers (1958, rev. 1967, 1969, 1977)
3. The Departure (1961, rev. 1977)
4. Johnn and the Mohawks, children’s opera (1969)
5. The King of the Golden River (1975, rev. 1976)
Jean Coulthard (1908-2000)
1. The Return of the Native (1956-79)
2. When Tempests Rise (1988) [Cantata drawn from the opera Return of the Native]
Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969)
1. The Adventure of King Arthur, radio opera (1959)
Jacqueline Fontyn (1930-)
1. Virus Alert, children’s opera (2002)
Vivian Adelberg Rudow (1936-)
1. String of Pearls (1987)
2. Love Chain (String of Pearls arranged for male voice) (1987)
Gloria Coates (1938-)
1. Fall of the House of Usher (1962-64), unfinished
2. The Portrait Libretto (?), unfinished
Judith Lang Zaimont (1945-)
1. Goldilocks and the Three Bears (1985)
Judith Shatin (1949-)
1. Follies and Fancies (1981)
Beth Anderson (1950-)
1. Queen Christina (1973)
2. Riot Rot, radio opera (1983)
3. The Fat Opera, musical (1991)
Libby Larsen (1950-)
1. The Silver Fox (1979)
2. Moon Door (1976 & 1980)
3. Tumbledown Dick (1980)
4. Clair de Lune (1984)
5. A Wrinkle in Time (1991)
6. Barnum’s Bird (2000)
7. Dreaming Blue (2002)
Cecilia McDowall (1951-)
1. Deep Waters Go Fish (2000)
Kaija Saariaho (1952-)
1. Kaukainen rakkaus (L'Amour de loin) (2000)
2. Adriana Mater (2005)
3. Emilie (2008)
Anne LeBaron (1953-)
1. The E. and O. Line (1993)
2. Blue Calls Set You Free (1994)
3. Croak (The Last Frog) (1996)
4. Pope Joan (2000)
5. Wet (2005)
6. Sucktion (2008)
7. Cresent City (2007-2010, in progress)
Nancy Gunn (1956)
1. Trap Nest (1993)
Julia Wolfe (1958-)
1. The Carbon Copy Building (1999)
Elaine Fine (1959-)
1. The Snow Queen (2002)
2. Sister Beatrice (2004)
3. Emma (2005)
Rachel Portman (1960-)
1. The Little Prince (2003)
Susan Botti (1962)
1. Wonderglass (1993)
2. Telaio: Desdemona (1995)
Elena Ruehr (1963-)
1. Toussaint Before the Spirits (2003)
Charlotte Seither (1965-)
1. Anderes / Selbst (2000)
2. One-Woman-Opera (2004)
Dorothy Hindman (1966-)
1. Pandora’s Box (1999)
2. Louise: The Story of Magdalen (2002)
Juliet Kiri Palmer (1967-)
1. Stitch (2008)
Roxanna Panufnik (1968-)
1. Inkle and Yarico (1996)
2. The Music Programme (1999)
Aleksandra Vrebalov (1970-)
1. Altezura (2007)
2. Mileva (2011)
Persis Parshall Vehar (?)
1. A Hill of Bones (1993)
2. French Friends (?)
3. Bukowski: Larger Than Life (?)
4. George Sand (?)
5. The 4th Wise Man (?)
6. Eleanor Roosevelt (2011)
Lera Auerbach (1973-)
1. The Blind (?)
Mary E. Caldwell (1909-2003)
1. A Gift of Song (?)
2. In the Fullness of Time (?)
3. Pepito’s Golden Flower (?)
4. The Night of the Star (?)
Unsuk Chin (1961-)
1. Alice In Wonderland (2007)
Vivian Fine (1913-2000)
1. The Women in the Garden (1978)
2. Memoirs of Uliana Rooney (1994)
Elena Firsova (1950)
1. A Feast in Time of Plague (1973)
2. The Nightingale and the Rose (1991)
Gabriela Lena Frank (1972-)
1. A Night at the Alhambra Café
Adriana Hölszky (1953)
1. Giuseppe et Sylvia (1998)
Betsy Jolas (1926-)
1. Le Pavillon au bord de la Rivičre (1975)
2. Le Cyclope (1986)
3. Schliemann (1993)
Nicola LeFanu (1947)
1. Dawnpath (1977)
2. The Story of Mary O’Neill (a radio opera) (1986)
3. The Green Children (1990)
4. Blood Wedding (1992)
5. The Wildman (1995)
6. Light Passing (2004)
Missy Mazzoli (?)
1. Song from the Uproar: The Lives and Deaths of Isabelle Eberhardt (2010)
Misato Mochizuki (1969- )
1. Die Grosse Bäckereiattacke (2008)
Meredith Monk (1942- )
1. Vessel (1971)
2. Education of the Girlchild (1973)
3. Quarry (1976)
4. Atlas (1991)
5. Three Heavens and Hells (1992)
Isabel Mundry (1963-)
1. Das Madchen aus der Fremde (2004)
2. Ein Atemzug, die Odyssee (2003)
Jocelyn Pook (1960-)
1. Bobby Baker – How to Live (2004)
2. Ingerland (2010)
Alice Shields (1943-)
1. The Odyssey of Ulysses the Palmiped (Odyssey 1) (1968)
2. Odyssey 2 (1970)
3. Odyssey 3 (1975)
4. Shaman (1987)
5. Wraecca (1989)
6. Mass for the Dead (1993)
7. Apocalypse (1994)
8. Criseyde (2010)
Sheila Silver (1946-)
1. The Thief of Love (2000)
2. The Wooden Sword (2007)
3. The White Rooster (2010)
Katia Tchemberdji (1960-)
1. Max Und Moritz: Kammeroper Nach Wilhelm Busch (1997)
Helen Windsor (?)
1. The Adventures of Thumbelina (1953)
Paola Prestini (?)
1. De Deo (2011)
Dorothy Cadzow (1916-2001)
1. Ondine (1958?)
Anna Hostman
1. What Time Is It Now [opera about Alzheimers disease]
Compiled by Amy Scurria, June 2011
Addendum by Karen Amrhein
Lera Auerbach: The Blind (G. Schirmer / Associated Music
Publishers)
Mary E. Caldwell: Pepito’s Golden Flower (Schirmer)
Unsuk Chin: Alice In Wonderland (Boosey &
Hawkes)
Vivian Fine (Schirmer): The Women in the Garden, Memoirs of
Uliana Rooney
Elena Firsova: Feast In Time Of Plague (Schirmer)
Gabriela Lena Frank: A Night at the Alhambra Café (Schirmer)
Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre: Cephale et Procris
Peggy Glanville-Hicks: The Transposed Heads
Adriana Hölszky: Giuseppe et Sylvia (Schirmer)
Betsy Jolas: Le Pavillon au bord de la Rivičre (Heugel), Le
Cyclope (Leduc), Schliemann (Salabert)
Libby Larsen: Barnum’s Bird (OUP), Clair de Lune (ECS),
Dreaming Blue (OUP), Eric Hermannson’s Soul (OUP), Every Man Jack (Libby
Larsen), Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus (ECS), Moon Door (ECS), Mrs.
Dalloway (ECS), Picnic (LL), The Silver Fox (ECS), A Wrinkle in Time (ECS)
Anne LeBaron: The E. & O. Line, Blue Calls Set You Free,
Croak (The Last Frog), Pope Joan, Wet, Phantasmoagoriettas, Crescent City,
Sucktion, Crescent City
Nicola LeFanu: Blood Wedding, Dawnpath, The Green Children
Elizabeth Maconchy (Chester Novello): The Departure, The
Sofa, The Three Strangers
Missy Mazzoli (Schirmer): Song from the Uproar: The Lives
and Deaths of Isabelle Eberhardt
Misato Mochizuki: Die Grosse Bäckereiattacke (Schirmer)
Meredith Monk: Atlas
Isabel Mundry (Breitkopf & Härtel): Ein Atemzug, die
Odyssee
Thea Musgrave (Chester Novello): The Abbot of Drimock, A
Christmas Carol, The Decision, Harriet, The Woman Called Moses, Mary, Queen of
Scots, The Mocking Bird, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Pontalba, Simón
Bolívar, The Story of Harriet Tubman
Jocelyn Pook: Ingerland (Chester Novello)
Rachel Portman: The Little Prince (Chester Novello)
Shulamit Ran (Presser): Between Two Worlds [The Dybbuk]
Kaaia Saariaho (Chester Novello): L’Amour de loin,
Adriana Mater, Emilie
Alice Shields (www.aliceshields.com/operas): Criseyde,
Apocalypse, Mass for the Dead, Shaman, Odyssey 1 (and 2 & 3)
Sheila Silver (www.sheilasilver.com/opera/): The Thief of
Love, The White Rooster, The Wooden Sword
Dame Ethyl Smyth: The Wreckers, The Forest (the first opera by a woman composer to be performed by the Metropolitan Opera)
Katia Tchemberdji: Max Und Moritz: Kammeroper Nach Wilhelm
Busch (Schirmer)
Augusta Read Thomas: Ligeia
Judith Weir (Chester Novello): Armida, The Black Spider,
Blond Eckbert, Heaven Ablaze in His Breast, Miss Fortune, A Night at the
Chinese Opera, Scipio’s Dream
Helen Windsor: The Adventures of Thumbelina (Schirmer)
Addendum by Vinny Fuerst
Women Composers Who Have Written Operas:
Elizabeth Maconchy
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/maconchy.html#maconchy_works_by_genre
Jean Coulthard
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/coulthard.html#coulthard_works_by_genre
Grazyna Bacewicz
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/bacewicz.html#bacewicz_works_by_genre
Jacqueline Fontyn
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/fontyn.html#fontyn_works_by_genre
Nancy Van de Vate
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/van_de_vate.html#van_de_vate_works_by_genre
Vivian Adelberg Rudow
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/rudow.html#rudow_works_by_genre
Elizabeth R. Austin - she just told me she's completing her first!
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/austin_elizabeth.html
Gloria Coates
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/coates_gloria.html#coates_gloria_works_by_genre
Marta Ptaszynska
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ptaszynska.html#ptaszynska_works_by_genre
Judith Lang Zaimont
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/zaimont.html#zaimont_works_by_genre
Shulamit Ran
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ran.html#ran_works_by_genre
Judith Shatin
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/shatin.html
Beth Anderson
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/anderson_beth.html#anderson_beth_works_by_genre
Barbara Harbach
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/harbach.html#harbach_works_by_genre
Libby Larsen
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/larsen.html#larsen_works_by_genre
Cecilia McDowall
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/mcdowall.html#mcdowall_works_by_genre
Kaija Saariaho
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/saariaho.html#saariaho_works_by_genre
Anne LeBaron
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/lebaron.html#lebaron_works_by_genre
Tracey Rush
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/rush.html
Nancy Gunn
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/gunn_nancy.html#gunn_nancy_works_by_genre
Julia Wolfe
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/wolfe_julia.html#wolfe_julia_works_by_genre
Elaine Fine
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/fine_elaine.html#fine_elaine_works_by_genre
Beth Wiemann
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/wiemann.html#wiemann_works_by_genre
Rachel Portman
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/portman.html#portman_works_by_genre
Susan Botti
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/botti.html#botti_works_by_genre
Elena Ruehr
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/ruehr.html
Augusta Read Thomas
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/thomas_augusta_read.html#thomas_augusta_read_wor
ks_by_genre
Charlotte Seither
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/seither.html#seither_works_by_genre
Dorothy Hindman
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/hindman.html#hindman_works_by_genre
Juliet Kiri Palmer
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/palmer.html#palmer_works_by_genre
Roxanna Panufnik
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/panufnik_roxanna.html#panufnik_works_by_genre
Aleksandra Vrebalov
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/vrebalov.html#vrebalov_works_by_genre
Amy Scurria
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/scurria.html#scurria_works_by_genre
Regina Harris Baiocchi
- Gbeldehoven
Carol Barnett
http://www.carolbarnett.net
Amy Marcy Cheney Beach
Victoria Bond
- three operas and is working on another about Clara Schumann
Miriam Gideon
Peggy Glanville-Hicks
Susan Kander
- The Giver
Thea Musgrave
- Mary, Queen of Scots
- A Christmas Carol
- Harriet: A Woman Called Moses
Julia Perry
- Edgar Allen Poe's The Bottle/The Cask of Amontillado
- Oscar Wilde's The Selfish Giant
Mary Carr Moore
Dorothy Rudd Moore
- Frederick Douglass
Vivian Adelberg Rudow
- Purple Ice! [A mono opera for one woman]
Ruth Schoenthal
Arlene Sierra
- Faustine
Louise Talma
Mary Watkins
Elena Kats-Chernin
Iphis
Matricide, the musical
Mr Barbeque, music theatre piece
The Rage of Life
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Books on Operas by Women
Women Writing Opera: Creativity and Controversy in the Age of the French Revolution
by Jacqueline Letzter and Robert Adelson
Operas by Women in Twentieth Century America [Doctoral Thesis/Dissertation, 2008]
by Holly Ann Schwartz
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