WORKS
OPERA
Libretto
COMPUTING VENUS (80")
Music by Timothy C. Takach
Based on historical events, Computing Venus traces the later years of Maria Mitchell (1818-1889), the famed American woman astronomer who became the first professor of astronomy at Vassar College. The opera follows Mitchell’s work to cultivate the next generation of women astronomers, even as growing movements outside her classroom threatened to close the world of science to her students forever. Focusing on Mitchell’s struggles against shifting public opinion and rumors about her own sexuality, Computing Venus provides a fascinating glimpse into the life of a groundbreaking historical figure who paved the way for women in STEM in America.
LEAVING GATSBY (30")
Music by Juliana Hall
At the end of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is murdered in his pool by George Wilson, a mechanic who believes Gatsby killed his wife Myrtle in a car accident. In reality, it was Gatsby’s lover Daisy was driving the car—and unbeknownst to her, Myrtle was her husband Tom’s mistress. In Fitzgerald’s version of events, Daisy and Tom leave New York before hearing about Gatsby’s murder. And the reader is simply left wondering. . . how did Daisy react to Myrtle’s death? And why did she leave with Tom instead of staying with Gatsby?
Set in the minutes before she leaves New York, LEAVING GATSBY provides a glimpse into the mind and motivations of Fitzgerald’s most complicated heroine. As Daisy struggles to choose between the past and the future, LEAVING GATSBY asks whether we can ever truly leave our past—or our mistakes—behind.
BEYOND (12”)
Music by Lisa Neher.
This micro-opera is set in a distant future, where humans have built a generation of life-like androids to support their travels through space. Set in the waiting area outside a ship dismantling center, Beyond follows two androids – 142-6 and 513-2—as they consider what waits for them beyond the door. A compelling meditation on life, death, and what it truly means to be human.
Commissioned by the 2024 Strange Trace Stencils Festival.
THE BLOOD VOTE (60”)
Music by Jenny Game.
The Blood Vote is a ground-breaking opera circus experience by composer Jenny Game and librettist Caitlin Vincent, in which famed Australian suffragist Vida Goldstein (1869-1949) faces the inevitability of Invention. Transgressing notions of high and low art, The Blood Vote celebrates the skills of the human body and the human voice, generating a spectacular immediacy with the audience.
Premiered: October 2023, Melbourne Fringe Festival
TIENDA (60")
Set against the framework of the Mexican repatriation efforts of the 1930s, this chamber opera tells the story of Luis Garzón, a Mexican musician who immigrated to Minneapolis in 1886 and opened a small Mexican grocery store, or tienda, in St. Paul in the 1920s. Shifting between Luis’s shop in the 1930s and his early years in America, Tienda explores the immigrant experience: what must be left behind—and what cannot be forgotten—on the journey to a new home.
Premiered: May 2019, Schubert Club of Minnesota
Second production: January 2020, Augsburg University, MN
BESSIE AND MA (60")
Music by Douglas Buchanan
Commissioned by the Sackler Music Composition Prize
Inspired by historical events, Bessie and Ma tells the story of two trailblazing figures from the early 20th century: Elizabeth "Bessie" Coleman, the first female African-American aviator, and Miriam "Ma" Ferguson, the first female governor of Texas. Framed by the moments leading up to Bessie's death in 1926, the opera interweaves significant moments from each woman's life.
Premiered: March 2019, University of Connecticut
ROSIES (15")
ROSIES follows three women working on the assembly line of a Michigan bomber factory in 1944. Despite their different backgrounds, the three have found a shared purpose and unexpected freedom through their work at the factory. With news of an unexpected victory overseas, however, each is faced with the prospect of the war ending sooner than expected.
Excerpts premiered: October 2017, "Semper Soiree," Semperoper Dresden
THE ART OF FUGUE: THE OPERA (20")
Music by J.S. Bach, Purcell, and Palestrina.
Commissioned by Gary O'Connor.
Inspired by Bach's Coffee Cantata, The Art of Fugue: The Opera outlines the classic conundrum faced by a music-loving father and son: to Baroque or not to Baroque? Scored for 3 singers and harpsichord.
Premiered: December 2016, Aberfoyle Baroque & Passepied Baroque Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.
Second production: June 2017, Boston Early Music Festival Fringe
BETTER GODS (60")
Commissioned by Washington National Opera, Francesca Zambello, Artistic Director
Told through the eyes of an American journalist, Better Gods is the story of Queen Lili'uokalani, the last reigning monarch of Hawaii, who fought to preserve her people's culture when the island was annexed to the United States. Scored for 6 singers and chamber ensemble.
Premiered: January 2016, Washington National Opera
"The story of the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy got an intriguing retelling...[with]...a tight, precise libretto by Caitlin Vincent..." - Steven Mark, Honolulu Star-Advertiser
"The story, as told with brutal honesty through Caitlin Vincent's stirring libretto, is a bold choice to be told at the Kennedy Center..." - Keith Tittermary, Broadway World
UNCLE ALEX (20")
Commissioned by Washington National Opera,
Francesca Zambello Artistic Director.
Set against the framework of Ellis Island at the turn of the 20th century, Uncle Alex tells the story of one immigrant family and the simple, yet heroic act that changes their lives forever.
Premiered: November 2013, Washington National Opera
Second production: January 2018, Thompson Street Opera Company
"...the stakes in this opera are immediate and riveting...Ms. Vincent's libretto was a luminous standout..." - Susan Dormady Eisenberg, The Huffington Post
"...a nuanced and honest character portrait..."- Susan Galbraith, DC Theatre Scene
CAMELOT REQUIEM (120")
Commissioned by The Figaro Project.
Written in honor of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Camelot Requiem begins immediately after the President's death on November 22, 1963 and follows those closest to him as they come to terms with a world that will never be the same. Scored for 10 singers and chamber orchestra.
Premiered: May 2013, The Figaro Project, Baltimore, Maryland
"...[An] intriguing and largely persuasive piece...reflective and unhurried..."
- Tim Smith, The Baltimore Sun
WHO KILLED DON GIOVANNI? (130")
Premiered: May 2012, The Figaro Project, Baltimore, Maryland.
At the end of Mozart's Don Giovanni, the black-hearted Don is dragged down to Hell for all eternity. But is that what really happened? Murder is on the menu in this inventive and entertaining adaptation of the classic opera...as a whodunit! Sung in Italian with English dialogue. Scored for 8 singers and piano accompaniment.
Second production October 2019, Cowtown Opera, Calgary, Canada
"A humorous and inventive look at the original..." - The Sybaritic Singer
"An English dialogue that upholds the integrity of Mozart's operatic legacy...snappy, engaging, hysterical, and edifying..." - Operagasm.com
THE FIGARO PROJECT (130")
Premiered: May 2009, The Figaro Project, Baltimore, Maryland.
This comic adaptation of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro follows neurotic librettist Lorenzo da Ponte as he deals with writer's block, rebellious characters, and the general chaos of writing a libretto for a new opera. Sung in Italian with original English dialogue. Scored for 11 singers (concert-style), 1 actor, and piano accompaniment.
Second production May 2014, Zeiders American Dream Theater, Virginia Beach, Virginia.
SONG & CHAMBER MUSIC
Lyrics
HONEYED VOICES (12”)
Music by Lisa Neher.
In this song cycle for two voices and piano, a woman contends with the sirens driving climate change. Commissioned by Cristina Gallo as part of the Siren Songs project.
Premiering 2024.
THANKS A LATTE (3.5")
Music by Lori Laitman
In this comic song, a woman hopes to make a positive impression on the good-looking barista. Featured on the GRAMMY-nominated vocal album 40@40.
BARBECUE (3”)
Music by Paul Smith.
Spoofing the musical styles of Schubert and Schumann, this comic song considers the very dramatic dilemma of finding a possum in your barbecue. For high voice and piano.
Premiered 2023.
THE WOMAN BEHIND THE SLEIGH
Music by Tony Solitro
This comic song cycle follows Mrs Claus as she prepares and recovers from yet another holiday season.
AHAB (8”)
Music by Juliana Hall
A monodrama for bass-baritone and piano based on the infamous Captain Ahab from Moby-Dick.
Premiered as part of Zachary James' award-winning visual album CALL OUT (2020).
ELLA QUE LLORA (15")
Music by D. J. Sparr
This monodrama for soprano and chamber wind ensemble was loosely inspired by the myth of La Llorona, or the Weeping Woman. According to folklore from Central and South America, La Llorona is the ghost of a woman who drowned her children and now wanders along the banks of a river, looking for them and weeping. While the figure is often framed as an antagonist in popular culture, Ella Que Llora leaves it to the audience to decide whether the woman’s actions were accidental or not.
Premiered: October 2019, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
LITTLE BLACK BOOK (18")
Music by Susan LaBarr
A comedic song cycle about unsuccessful relationships.
1. Five
2. John
3. Vince
4. Steve
5. James Squared
6. Where are they now?
Premiered: October 2019, Carnegie Hall, NYC
Other performances: March 2020, University of Incarnate Word, San Antonio
GODIVA (8”)
Music by Juliana Hall
A monodrama for soprano or mezzo-soprano and piano inspired by the legend of the Lady Godiva.
Premiered: September 2019, Beverley Chamber Music Festival,
Other performances: October 2019, Oxford Lieder Festival, UK; October 2019, Carnegie Hall, NYC; March 2020, Blackheath Halls, UK; December 2020, Wigmore Hall, UK; March 2021, Hawaii Public Radio
SENTIMENT (12”)
Music by Juliana Hall
An unaccompanied monodrama for solo soprano or mezzo-soprano about the version of ourself we try to present to the world.
Premiered: June 2019, Calliope’s Call, Boston
Other performances: October 2019, St. Louis Opera Collective, Missouri; November 2019, Cornell University, New York; March 2020, University of Maryland
NULLIPARA (40")
Music by D. J. Sparr
This monodrama for soprano, chamber ensemble, and electronics traces the emotional journey of a woman as she struggles to conceive a child. Interweaving traditional fertility myths with key moments in the woman's experience, Nullipara explores the varied and often devastating impacts of infertility, which currently affects more than 6 million women in the United States.
Premiered: July 2018, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble
MODERN MUSE (15”)
Music by Kevin Wilt
Song cycle for female voice and cello inspired by the modern women of Greek mythology.
1. Daphne
2. Medusa
3. Cassandra
4. Pandora
5. Persephone
Premiered: September 2017, The Apollo Fund at OPERA America, NYC
Other performances: July 2018 (excerpts), KC VITAS, Kansas City
PRIX FIXE (20")
Commissioned by the composer and Florida Atlantic University
This darkly comic monodrama follows aging socialite Rebecca Manchester as she reflects on her life and love of opera. Over the course of an extravagant prix-fixe dinner, however, it becomes clear that Rebecca is much more than a simple enthusiast.
Premiered: November 2015, Florida Atlantic University
Second production: June 2017, Fresh Squeezed Opera Company
"A fun, frothy satire about an aspiring opera singer...Caitlin Vincent's witty lyrics had the audience laughing throughout..."
- Steven Pisano, Feast of Music
CHORAL MUSIC
Lyrics
PIPE DOWN (SATB + PIANO) 3.5”
Music by Melissa Dunphy.
Commissioned by the ACDA Eastern Regional Middle School Honor Choir. Premiering 2024.
I DUG UP A ROSE (SATB + PIANO) 3.5”
Music by Lisa Neher.
Commissioned by Porter-Gaud School Choirs.
Premiered 2023.
To purchase score, visit: https://www.lisanehermusic.com/store/p84/i-dug-up-a-rose.html
