Opera Theatre St. Louis Offers Sneak Peek at New Works Collective Offerings

By Andrea Arnold On Mar 5, 2024

For an art form sometimes perceived as stodgy, opera goes way out of its way to bring in new voices and sharp new talents. There’s no better example of that than Opera Theatre of St. Louis’ New Works Collective, which breaks boundaries with every opera it mounts.

Year one of the New Works Collective explored Black queer youth and drag ball culture, “the true story of an Asian American dance band heading to the Supreme Court to fight for the right to call their band The Slants” and a student taking inspiration from groundbreaking Black female inventors — talk about a fascinating cornucopia of stories you did not expect to see in operatic form!

The collective is now in its third year, and to really mix things up this time, they even let the community help decide which operas will get mounted, narrowing the candidates from 130 artists to three. Now you can get a sneak peek at the results of that process at Meet the Makers: An Insiders’ Look at OTSL’s New Works Collective.

The free event at the 560 Music Center (560 Trinity Avenue, University City) kicks off at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5. Details at facebook.com/events/1384275208860299.

Past Opera Theatre of St. Louis premieres have ended up at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Why not say you saw these rising stars’ works here first?

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