Join us for this season's Opera in Concert!

In one evening, audiences will travel from an early 20th-century European reinterpretation of an Italian fairytale set in China, to a 21st-century musical dreamscape born of British literature and Asian-American collaboration.

A striking fairytale pairing from two very different worlds...

Busoni’s urbane, witty Turandot, based on Carlo Gozzi’s 18th-century play and steeped in commedia dell’arte tradition, receives a rare outing in its 1971 concert version. In vivid counterpoint, Unsuk Chin’s Puzzles and Games is a fantastical sequence drawn from her acclaimed 2007 opera Alice in Wonderland, with a libretto by Tony Award–winner David Henry Hwang. 

Rarely performed and full of theatrical daring, this double bill is also part of the renewed recognition of Busoni as one of the 20th century’s most important composers and teachers; while Chin’s score brims with playful rhythmic invention, dazzling orchestration, and a surreal sense of wonder, refracting Lewis Carroll’s world through a modern, global lens.

Join us!

MANNES OPERA
Emma Griffin, Managing Artistic Director
Cris Frisco, Music Director

MANNES ORCHESTRA
David Hayes, Music Director and Conductor

Turandot: Ferruccio Busoni (1917; concert version 1971)

Puzzles and Games: Unsuk Chin (2017; from 2007 opera Alice in Wonderland)
Libretto by David Henry Hwang

Conducted by Tong Chen
Directed by Mikhaela Mahony

This production will be available for online On-Demand viewing following the live event. Stay tuned for dates and details.

MANNES OPERA

Under the leadership of Managing Artistic Director Emma Griffin (since 2018), Mannes Opera has become a vital program in the training and study of opera for the next generation of performers and makers. In both workshops and full productions, Griffin, her team, and their students have collaborated with and produced work by composers such as Mark Adamo, Ricky Ian Gordon, David T. Little, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Rachel Peters, Huang Ruo, Kamala Sankram, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Kate Soper and Greg Spears. Establishing the school as a new work incubator, Mannes Opera has partnered with industry leaders in the support of contemporary opera, bringing companies such as Wolf Trap Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Beth Morrison Projects, Opera Saratoga and others into collaborative projects with students and guest artists. This close engagement and collaboration with industry leaders is crucial to preparing students to thrive as impactful and empowered professionals.

Balancing the focus on contemporary work is a robust program of classical works in innovative productions — operas by composers such as Mozart, Puccini, Gluck, and Handel. By engaging with the rich tradition of classical repertoire, and by drawing on the best opera and theater makers that NYC has to offer, Mannes Opera trains students to be professional artists with a curiosity for the new, an understanding of the past, and a devotion to the multi-dimensional craft of opera.

Students at Mannes flourish in a one-of-a-kind creative community, with opportunities to collaborate across performance, design, technology, and entrepreneurship. In this vibrant and supportive environment, emerging artists are uniquely prepared to thrive as versatile, impactful and empowered creative professionals.