1960-NOW: Humans land on the moon, the Berlin Wall collapses, Y2K brings in a new millennium, social media dominates our downtime, and opera takes on more diverse identities.
In this resource, you will:
Not because the story of opera is over. But because, happily, it’s still going.
We’re lucky enough to live inside a brand-new era of opera history, which means we can’t really comment on what the definitive trends of the period will be once the textbooks are written and the musical analysis is officially laid down for future generations.
While we can’t say precisely where 21st-century opera is going, we can give you some ideas on where we think it’s headed.
Here are a few movements, styles, characteristics, and conversations we feel are dominating the opera world today. It’s by no means a complete list, and we’re certain much of it is subject to change. So please: Read and listen responsibly. We wish we had an operatic crystal ball (or some sort of time-traveling spaceship that may or may not be bigger on the inside), but we don’t.
So, for now—and only for now—this is what we see coming on the opera horizon.
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Actually, that’s a lie.
Women composers have been around since the dawn of music, and plenty of them have tried their hand—quite successfully!—at opera. From Brazil’s Chiquinha Gonzaga (1847-1935) to France’s Boulanger sisters (Nadia, 1887-1979, and Lili, 1893-1918), the England’s Ethel Smyth (1858-1944), America’s Shirley Graham Du Bois (1896-1977), and beyond, female opera creators have long been a part of opera’s history.
That’s never really changed.
What has changed is the public’s willingness to champion women’s work. While opera is still largely a white male club, the pendulum is shifting, and more and more female-composed operas are reaching wider and wider audiences.
Ladies who’ve “hit it big” on today’s opera scene include Kaija Saariaho (1952-2023, who in 2016 was the first female composer to have an opera presented at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in over 100 years); Rachel Portman (born 1960); Jeanine Tesori (born 1961); Nkeiru Okoye (born 1972); Gabriela Lena Frank (born 1972); and Missy Mazzoli (1980).
But that’s a very small sampling, and the roster will only expand as we move forward.
Indeed, traditionally marginalized voices play an integral part in modern opera, both as opera creators and as operatic subjects. But the history of their marginalization and the vast, eclectic body of work they’ve developed in the face of such oppressive challenges are too extensive and too important to cover here in survey form.
Nabucco. Tristan und Isolde. Salome. Wozzeck.
As you’ve seen and heard, opera and controversy are very, very old friends.
For a long time, opera was the pinnacle of Western culture: the undefeated phenom everybody talked about around the watercooler on Mondays (or whatever the watercooler equivalent was from the 17th to the mid-20th century). It made sense, then, that earlier audiences sometimes took issue with “new” sounds that stretched musical boundaries or with stories that highlighted taboo subjects rarely mentioned in “polite” European society.
But as opera moved out of mainstream popular culture* and so-called taboos like sexuality, mental health, political conflict, and societal oppression became fair game in mass media, opera’s controversies started to feel a little… different.
Today, operas that are considered “controversial” are often labeled as such because their storylines or the conditions under which they are produced strike a cultural, social, or psychological nerve. That is to say, if there’s pusback against an opera these days, it’s more likely because of its commentary on our contemporary lives and not because it’s featured a character from outside the ruling class, broached a historically impolite subject, or broken with musical tradition.
So, to recap: Salome disrobes on stage? Shocking in 1905, but in 2024, nobody bats an eye. Yet, try to present an opera with a strong stance on an active geo-political crisis nowadays? Yeah, people are gonna talk.
And, of course, this kind of response is to be expected. And encouraged.
As opera syncs up with recent events (bye bye, Greek myths, hello updated, verismo-like plots that could easily happen to you or someone you know), the people who’ve lived through these events will justifiably have things to say about it. Similarly, observers and commentators may also (rightly) wish to raise questions about opera creators and whether their lived experiences make them ideal storytellers for certain narratives or for specific characters.
Modern operas that have sparked social dialogue along these lines include The Death of Klinghoffer (1991) by John Adams (born 1947), Emmett Till, A New American Opera (2022) by Mary D. Watkins (born 1939), Dead Man Walking (2000) by Jake Heggie (born 1961), and Blue by Jeanine Tesori.
This type of controversy also extends to productions of older operas that a) transport the action into the modern age; b) apply modern touches to familiar plotlines (i.e., R-rated versions of Don Giovanni that put the offstage activity on display for everyone to see); or c) engage in casting practices that revive racist tropes (such as “blackface” makeup in works like Otello or Aïda, or “yellowface” in operas like Turandot or Madama Butterfly) or discriminate against performers of color.
*Let’s face it, opera doesn’t even make the cut for the Grammy Awards® telecast these days. You have to read about those awards online the next day.
Opera in its original form might have moved out of the mainstream by now, but its massive effect on modern popular culture is undeniable. In recent decades, pop music has even made efforts to capitalize on the emotional one-two punch opera can have on its audiences, and the Venn diagram of what is; and, what isn’t opera has steadily gotten bigger around the middle.
Example: If we’re using a strict definition of opera as “a story told through continuous music, where characters sing instead of speak,” we have to invite rock opera to the party. These works often use rock vocals and instrumentals to follow a single story arc over the course of an album.
But many of them evolve into something more.
The Who’s Tommy (1969) is maybe the first real rock opera hit (we dare you not to start humming “Pinball Wizard” now that we’ve mentioned it). Though it was originally conceived as an LP recording, the piece went on to inspire a movie and a live Broadway show. Other rock opera albums like Lou Reed’s Berlin (1973), Green Day’s American Idiot (2004), and Pink Floyd’s The Wall (1979) have all enjoyed similar fates, with The Wall even getting its own genuine classical opera adaptation in 2016.
However.
Does this evolution mean rock operas count as actual operas?
That’s up for debate.
You can call Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera (1986) a real opera all you want, but once that electric guitar starts wailing on the title track, we’re pretty obviously in rock territory. To say nothing of the fact Phantom also shares some real estate with musical theatre as well.
And so the Venn diagram widens…
Do musicals overlap with genuine opera too? Again: Up for debate. There are plenty of beloved shows that feature through-composed scores with very little spoken dialogue (if any). Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar (released as a concept album in 1970 with a stage premiere in 1971) and Evita (originally an LP in 1976 with a stage debut in 1978—Sir Andrew sure seemed to like this method) fall into this category, as do Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s* Les Misérables (1980), Chess (originally a concept album in 1984 with a stage premiere in 1986) by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus (of the Swedish pop group ABBA), and Miss Saigon (1989, not-so-coincidentally based on Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, by the way).
Even more recent blockbusters like Jonathan Larson’s RENT (1994, also famously based on Puccini), Lin Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton (2015), and Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’s SIX (2017) lean heavily on the opera format in a “just shut up and sing” kind of way.
*Not to be confused with Arnold Schoenberg, the man credited with developing the concept of atonality.
Still, the training and performance practices necessary to get these shows off the ground aren't precisely the same as those required for conventional opera. And it’s arguable that, for more popular works like rock operas and musicals, the lyrics are often just as important as the music, if not more so—which goes against opera’s cardinal rule of music as the primary medium for storytelling. (Would a heartbreaking ballad like “I Dreamed a Dream” land as hard without the words? We legitimately couldn’t say. But we do know an aria like La Bohème’s “Quando m’en vo” would be precisely nowhere without its melody.)
At the risk of sounding like a glitchy Spotify track (That’s the 21st-century version of a broken record, yes?): There’s no right or wrong answer in all of this. But when you stop to ponder the many directions opera could take over the next 100 years, you might want to keep these opera-adjacent pieces in mind.
Plot twist! Opera has clearly had a lasting effect on pop culture, but pop culture has also had a lasting effect on opera.
Here’s something fun and anachronistic to consider: Modern age operas sometimes retcon the genre. How? They use traditional operatic styles to shed light on contemporary source material.
Exhibit A: Movies.
Though cinema arrived a few centuries (like, almost three) after opera, today’s opera composers frequently look to film—or stories made famous through film—for their librettos.
Modern opera houses frequently present works based on novels-turned-movies, including Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, Nicholas Maw’s (1935-2009) Sophie’s Choice (2002), or Kevin Puts’s (born 1972) The Hours (2022). And there are operas inspired by stories that originated on film, including The Exterminating Angel (2016) by Thomas Adès (born 1971) and Breaking the Waves (2016) by Missy Mizzoli.
For modern-day bookworms, there are also operas based on contemporary literature. Bel Canto (2015) by composer Jimmy López Bellido (born 1978) has the distinction of being an opera based on a book that was turned into a movie after it got the operatic treatment. And Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale by Poul Ruders (born 1949) made it to the stage in a 2000 opera by Poul Ruders (born 1949) well before the popular adaptation of the same story graced our TV screens in 2017. Plus, there’s Florencia en el Amazonas (Florencia in the Amazon, 1996) by Daniel Catán (1949-2011), which, though not based on a novel, was directly influenced by the magical realism embraced in the works of Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel García Márquez.
For those looking for more G-rated fare, not to worry! Children’s-lit-inspired operas—such as Coraline (2018) by Mark-Anthony Turnage (born 1960), Where the Wild Things Are (1984) by Oliver Knussen (1952-2018), The Little Prince (2003) by Rachel Portman, and The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me (2013) by Jeanine Tesori—abound!
Okay, but let’s not forget the classics, folks.
As keyed-in to the cultural zeitgeist as modern opera may be, it still stans the older mainstays of the Western canon. Which is totally understandable. It’s hard for anyone to resist putting their own spin on a masterpiece, and today’s composers are no different.
Bonus: Bored students the world over can now go to the opera rather than struggle through a lengthy tome during English class. (J/k. J/k. Books are important. Words have profound meaning. Stuffy classic works are almost always amazing when you get to know them. Keep reading, kids.)
Modern operas that offer a musical reinterpretation of a well-known Western fiction include:
From about 1600 onward, audiences got very accustomed to operas rooted in fiction and fable. And though that trend isn’t leaving us anytime soon (see above!), modern opera creators also seem ultra-fascinated by real people and real-world events. The resulting operas don’t have a name just yet, but we’re calling them “docu-operas” for now. Move over Ken Burns. (J/k again.)
Obviously, these operas aren’t literal documentries. Their stories are set to music, which means they’re naturally imbued with a sense of heightened drama and poignant emotion. And yet, the fact there are so many of these “based-on-a-true-story” operas suggests present-day audiences are interested in examining and amplifying stories from our collective history—whether that history be joyously uplifting or devastatingly disturbing. Or, as is so often the case with opera, both.
Two prominent artists in the docu-opera space are American composers Philip Glass and John Adams (not the former president, btw). And though their styles are separate and unique, both creators frequently employ rhythmically or melodically repetitive motifs—a technique that’s sometimes referred to as minimalism— that seem well suited to the psychological introspection so commonly explored in real-life narratives.
Glass’s portfolio includes Appomattox (2007/2015), a two-part opera about the final days of the U.S. Civil War and the events that led to the Voting Rights Act a century later.
His most ambitious docu-opera work, however, has to be his “Portrait Trilogy,” a set of three individual biopic operas, each exploring a historic figure who left a heavy imprint on society. The three operas are:
Adams, too, has devoted a lot of operatic time to real people who sat at real historic crossroads, most notably:
We should add that Oscar-winning film composer and Chinese native Tan Dun has likewise composed operas around remarkable moments in history, including Marco Polo (1996) and The First Emperor (2006), both of which draw on musical influences from Eastern and Western conventions.
Looking for other operas covering actual people who have left an indelible mark on the world? There are a ton!
The list goes on…
And so does opera.
Composer
Composer
Composer
Composer
Composer
Composer
Composer
The Walt Disney Concert Hall
1962: The Seattle Space Needle and JFK’s TWA Terminal, designed by Eero Saarinan (USA)
1962: Lincoln Center’s Philharmonic Hall in New York City, designed by Max Abramowitz (USA)
1962: Washington Dulles International Airport, designed by Eero Saarinan (USA)
1964: The Unisphere for the New York World’s Fair (USA)
1966: The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO, designed by Eero Saarinan (USA)
1967: Montreal’s Expo 67 features a geodesic dome by Buckminster Fuller and Habitat 67 by Moshe Safdie
1970: The Sears Tower in Chicago, IL, designed by Bruce Graham and Fazlur Khan (USA)
1971: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, designed by Edward Durell Stone (USA)
1972: The Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, CA, designed by William Pereira (USA)
1973: The World Trade Center towers, designed by Minoru Yamasaki (USA)
1973: The Sydney Opera House, designed by Jørn Utzon and Peter Hall (Australia)
1976: CN Tower in Toronto (Canada)
1978: National Gallery of Art East Building in Washington, DC, designed by I.M. Pei (USA)
1982: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, designed by Maya Lin (USA)
1982: Walt Disney World’s EPCOT Center in Orlando, FL (USA)
1989: Glass pyramids, designed by I.M. Pei, added to the Louvre in Paris (France)
1994: The Channel Tunnel (England and France)
1998: Petronus Towers in Kuala Lampur, designed by César Pelli (Malaysia)
2003: The Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA, designed by Frank Gehry (USA)
2010: The Burj Khalifa in Dubai (United Arab Emirates)
2012: The Shard in London, designed by Renzo Piano (England)
2014: One World Trade Center in New York City, designed by David Childs (USA)
2017: Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, CA, designed by Norman Foster (USA)
2019: The REACH at the Kennedy Center, designed by Steven Holl (USA)
2023: The Sphere in Las Vegas, designed by Populous (USA)
The Son of Man
1960: Lunar Landscape, sculpted by Louise Nevelson (USA)
1963: Cubi VI, sculpted by David Smith (USA)
1963: Drowning Girl, painted by Roy Lichtenstein (USA)
1964: It’s a Small World façade at Disneyland, designed by Mary Blair (USA)
1964: The Son of Man, painted by René Magritte (France)
1964: The Problem We All Live With, painted by Norman Rockwell (USA)
1968: Campbell’s Soup I, painted by Andy Warhol (USA)
1969: Needle Tower II, sculpted by Kenneth Snelson (USA)
1971: John F. Kennedy Bust, sculpted by Robert Berks (USA)
1972: Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), painted by David Hockney (USA)
1974: Empress of the Blues, painted by Romare Bearden (USA)
1981: John Lennon and Yoko Ono, photographed by Annie Lebovitz (USA)
1983: Surrounded Islands, designed by Christo and Jeanne-Claude (France)
1984: Flexible, painted by Jean-Michel Basquiat (USA)
1986: Keith Harring opens Pop Shop in New York City (USA)
1996: Infinity Dots Mirrored Room, designed by Yayoi Kusama (Japan)
1997: The Mild Mild West, painted by Banksy (England)
1999: Maman, sculpted by Louise Bourgeois (France)
2005: Georgia Aquarium mural, painted by SHAG (USA)
2018: Portrait of Barack Obama, painted by Kehinde Wiley (USA)
Please Please Me, by The Beatles
1960: Giant Steps, by John Coltrane (USA)
1961: Atmosphères, composed by György Ligeti (Romania)
1961: Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, composed by Krzysztof Penderecki (Poland)
1961: Time Cycle, composed by Lukas Foss (Germany)
1961: Composition for Synthesizer, by Milton Babbitt (USA)
1962: War Requiem, composed by Benjamin Britten (England)
1963: The Beatles’ debut album, Please Please Me (England)
1963: The electro-mechanical Mellotron is invented (England)
1963: Philips introduces the compact cassette (the Netherlands)
1964: Getz/Gilberto, by Stan Getz (USA)
1964: The Lear Jet Corporation introduces the 8-Track cartridge (USA)
1964: Robert Moog develops the first commercially available synthesizer (USA)
1964: In C, composed by Terry Riley (USA)
1965: Harold Rhodes develops the Fender Rhodes Piano (USA)
1965: A Love Supreme, by John Coltrane (USA)
1965: Requiem, composed by György Ligeti (Hungary)
1965: Mauthausen Trilogy, composed by Mikis Theodorakis (Greece)
1966: Pet Sounds, by The Beach Boys (USA)
1967: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, by The Beatles (England)
1968: Pendulum Music, composed by Steve Reich (USA)
1968: Switched-On Bach, performed by Wendy Carlos
1969: Tommy, by The Who (England)
1969: Tom Oberheim forms Oberheim Electronics (USA)
1969: Eight Songs for a Mad King, composed by Peter Maxwell Davies (England)
1969: Christus Apollo, composed by Jerry Goldsmith (USA)
1970: Bitches Brew, by Miles Davis (USA)
1970: Synchronisms No. 6, composed by Mario Davidovsky (Argentina/USA)
1970: Black Angels (Thirteen Images from the Dark Land), composed by George Crumb (USA)
1971: Mass: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers, composed by Leonard Bernstein (USA)
1971: The ARP 2600 synthesizer is developed by Alan R. Pearlman and engineer Dennis Colin (USA)
1972: Makrokosmos, Volume I, composed by George Crumb (USA)
1973: Headhunters, by Herbie Hancock (USA)
1976: Symphony No. 3, composed by Henryk Górecki (Poland)
1977: Clarinet Concerto, composed by John Corigliano (USA)
1977: Fratres, composed by Arvo Pärt (Estonia)
1977: The Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synthesizer is developed (USA)
1977: The Synclavier I digital musical instrument is released by New England Digital (USA)
1978: Music for 18 Musicians, composed by Steve Reich (USA)
1978: Ambient 1: Music for Airports, composed by Brian Eno (England)
1979: The Fairlight CMI digital sampler is released (USA)
1980: The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer is released (Japan)
1980: Roger Linn develops the Linn LM-1 Drum Computer, the first sample-based rhythm composer (USA)
1981: Glassworks, composed by Philip Glass (USA)
1982: Thriller, by Michael Jackson (USA)
1982: The Emulator I, the first commercially affordable digital sampler, is released by E-mu Systems (USA)
1982: MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is announced as a technical standard (USA/Japan)
1982: Compact Discs are introduced as a collaboration by Philips and Sony (Japan)
1982: Kurzweil Music Systems is founded by Ray Kurzweil Stevie Wonder, and Bruce Cichowlas (USA)
1983: The Yamaha DX7 digital synthesizer is released (Japan)
1986: Liberty Fanfare, composed by John Williams (USA)
1988: Street Song for Symphonic Brass, composed by Michael Tilson Thomas (USA)
1991: The MP3 digital audio compression format is established (USA)
1993: Piano Concerto No. 4 for Left Hand and Orchestra, composed by Ned Rorem (USA)
1998: Aporias: Requia for Piano and Orchestra, composed by John Zorn (USA)
1999: Napster, a peer-to-peer file sharing application, is released (USA)
1999: Energy Flow, composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto (Japan)
2001: Apple introduces iTunes and the iPod (USA)
2003: The Disintegration Loops, created by William Basinski (USA)
2004: Serenada Schizophrana, by Danny Elfman (USA)
2005: Symphony No. 3 “Circus Maximus” by John Corigliano (USA)
2006: IBM 1401, A User's Manual, by Jóhann Jóhannsson (Iceland)
2008: Spotify, an audio streaming service, launches (Sweden)
2011: Mothership, composed by Mason Bates (USA)
2012: Starburst for String Orchestra, composed by Jessie Montgomery (USA)
2022: Philharmonia Fantastique, composed by Mason Bates (USA)
Rock Steady Crew
1961: Soviet dancer Rudolph Nureyev defects to France while on tour with the Kirov Ballet (Russia)
1965: Tommy Tune debuts on Broadway in Baker Street (USA)
1966: Twyla Tharp Dance is established (USA)
1966: Bella Lewitzky forms the Lewitzky Dance Company (USA)
1971: Don Campbell forms his dance group, The Lockers (USA)
1974: Soviet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov defects to Canada while on tour with the Bolshoi Ballet (Russia)
1977: The Rock Steady Crew is formed in the Bronx, New York City (USA)
1977: The Electric Boogaloos are formed in California (USA)
1978: Pina Bausch choreographs Café Müller for Tanztheater Wuppertal (Germany)
1979: Margot Fonteyn is appointed prima ballerina assoluta of the Royal Ballet by Queen Elizabeth II (England)
1980: The Mark Morris Dance Company is created (USA)
1982: Liz Aggiss and Billy Cowie create The Wild Wigglers (England)
1983: Michael Jackson debuts the moonwalk on the Motown 25 television special (USA)
1984: Urban Bush Women is founded by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar in Brooklyn, New York City (USA)
1989: Gregory Hines leads the creation of National Tap Dance Day, May 25 (USA)
1991: Stomp, created by Steve McNicholas and Luke Cresswell (England)
1992: The Kirov Ballet is renamed the Mariinsky Ballet (Russia)
1995: Savion Glover’s Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk premiers off-Broadway (USA)
2000: Shen Wei Dance Arts is established (USA)
2000: Suzanne Farrell Ballet is founded (USA)
2001: The Debbie Allen Dance Academy is opened in Los Angeles (USA)
2001: Matthew Bourne forms the New Adventures dance-theatre company (England)
2015: Misty Copeland is promoted to principal ballerina at American Ballet Theater (USA)
Stephen Sondheim
1960: The Fantasticks, written by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones (USA)
1960: Bye Bye Birdie, written by Charles Strouse and Lee Adams (USA)
1960: Oliver!, written by Lionel Bart and Charles Dickens (England)
1961: Happy Days, written by Samuel Beckett (Ireland)
1961: Black Nativity, written by Langston Hughes (USA)
1962: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, written by Edward Albee (USA)
1963: The Guthrie Theater is built in Minneapolis, MN (USA)
1963: Marat/Sade, written by Peter Weiss (Germany)
1964: Charlie Altman invents the PAR64 lighting instrument for the New York World’s Fair (USA)
1964: Fiddler on the Roof, written by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick (USA)
1965: Man of La Mancha, written by Dale Wasserman, Mitch Leigh, and Joe Darion (USA)
1965: The Odd Couple, written by Neil Simon (USA)
1965: Jerzy Grotowski establishes the Polish Lab Theatre (Poland)
1966: Sweet Charity, written by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields (USA)
1966: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, written by Tom Stoppard (England)
1966: Cabaret, written by John Kander and Fred Ebb (USA)
1967: Hair, written by Gerome Ragni, James Rado, and Galt MacDermot (USA)
1967: You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, written by Clark Gesner and Charles M. Schulz (USA)
1969: Last of the Red Hot Lovers, written by Neil Simon (USA)
1969: 1776, written by Sherman Edwards (USA)
1970: Company, written by Stephen Sondheim (USA)
1970: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice (England)
1971: Grease, written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey (USA)
1971: Follies, written by Stephen Sondheim (USA)
1971: Godspell, written by Stephen Schwartz (USA)
1970: Jesus Christ Superstar, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice (England)
1972: Pippin, written by Stephen Schwartz, Roger O. Hirson, and Bob Fosse (USA)
1973: Eqqus, written by Peter Shaffer (USA)
1973: A Little Night Music, written by Stephen Sondheim (USA)
1973: The Rocky Horror Show, written by Richard O’Brien (England)
1974: Steppenwolf Theatre Company is formed in Chicago, IL (USA)
1974: The Wiz, written by Charlie Smalls (USA)
1975: The Marriage of Anansewa, written by Efua Sutherland (Ghana)
1975: A Chorus Line, by Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban (USA)
1975: American Buffalo, written by David Mamet (USA)
1976: Your Arms Too Short to Box with God, written by Alex Bradford (USA)
1976: Evita, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice (England)
1977: Annie, written by Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin (USA)
1978: Buried Child, written by Sam Shepard (USA)
1978: Fifth of July, written by Lanford Wilson (USA)
1979: Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, written by Stephen Sondheim (USA)
1979: Agnes of God, written by John Pielmeier (USA)
1979: Amadeus, written by Peter Shaffer (USA)
1979: Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, written by Christopher Durang (USA)
1979: Children of a Lesser God, written by Mark Medoff (USA)
1979: Crimes of the Heart, written by Beth Henley (USA)
1980: 42nd Street, written by Al Dubin, Johnny Mercer, and Harry Warren (USA)
1980: True West, written by Sam Shepard (USA)
1981: Dreamgirls, written by Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen (USA)
1982: Nine, written by Maury Yeston (USA)
1982: Brighton Beach Memoirs, written by Neil Simon (USA)
1982: Little Shop of Horrors, written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman (US)
1982: Cats, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and T.S. Eliot (England)
1982: The Real Thing, written by Tom Stoppard (England)
1982: Torch Song Trilogy, written by Harvey Fierstein (USA)
1983: Sunday in the Park with George, written by Stephen Sondheim (USA)
1983: ‘Night Mother, written by Marsha Norman (USA)
1984: Chess, written by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, and Tim Rice (Sweden/England)
1984: Starlight Express, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Richard Stilgoe (England)
1984: Glengarry Glen Ross, written by David Mamet (USA)
1984: The Foreigner, written by Larry Shue (USA)
1985: Big River, written by Roger Miller and Mark Twain (USA)
1985: WrestleMania I debuts on television (USA)
1987: Fences, written by August Wilson (USA)
1987: Les Misérables, written by Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil, and Victor Hugo (France/England)
1987: Into the Woods, written by Stephen Sondheim (USA)
1988: The Phantom of the Opera, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber (England)
1989: A Few Good Men, written by Aaron Sorkin (USA)
1990: Death and the Maiden, written by Ariel Dorfman (Chile)
1990: Assassins, written by Stephen Sondheim (USA)
1992: ETC introduces the Source Four lighting instrument (USA)
1993: Sunset Boulevard, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black (England)
1993: Angels in America, written by Tony Kushner (USA)
1994: Floyd Collins, written by Adam Guettel (USA)
1996: Ragtime, written by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (USA)
1997: Titanic, written by Maury Yeston (USA)
1997: The Lion King, directed by Julie Taymor (USA)
1997: Bat Boy: The Musical, written by Laurence O'Keefe (USA)
1998: How I Learned to Drive, by Paula Vogel (USA)
1998: Hedwig and the Angry Inch, written by Stephen Trask and John Cameron Mitchell (USA)
2001: Urinetown, written by Mark Hollmann (USA)
2002: The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, written by Edward Albee (USA)
2002: Thoroughly Modern Millie, written by Jeanine Tesori and Dick Scanlan (USA)
2003: Eurydice, written by Sarah Ruhl (USA)
2003: Avenue Q, written by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx (USA)
2003: Wicked, written by Stephen Schwartz (USA)
2003: Caroline, or Change, written by Jeanine Tesori and Tony Kushner (USA)
2005: In The Heights, written by Lin-Manuel Miranda (USA)
2006: Spring Awakening, written by Duncan Shiek and Steven Sater (USA)
2007: War Horse, written by Nick Stafford (England)
2007: QLab audio control software is released (USA)
2008: Next to Normal, written by Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt (USA)
2008: Rent, written by Jonathan Larson (USA)
2009: Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, written by Rajiv Joseph (USA)
2011: She Kills Monsters, written by Qui Nguyen (USA)
2011: Hand to God, written by Robert Askins (USA)
2012: Kinky Boots, written by Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein (USA)
2012: Choir Boy, written by Tarell Alvin McCraney (USA)
2012: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, written by Simon Stephens (England)
2013: Bad Jews, written by Joshua Harmon (USA)
2013: Fun Home, written by Alison Bechdel, Jeanine Tesori, and Lisa Kron (USA)
2013: Come from Away, written by Irene Sankoff and David Hein (USA)
2014: The Flick, written by Annie Baker (USA)
2014: An Octoroon, written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (USA)
2015: Dear Evan Hansen, written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (USA)
2015: Hamilton, written by Lin-Manuel Miranda (USA)
2016: Hadestown, written by Anaïs Mitchell (USA)
2016: The Band’s Visit, written by David Yazbek (USA)
2017: Six, written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss (England)
2019: A Strange Loop, written by Michael R. Jackson (USA)
2021: Kimberly Akimbo, written by Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire (USA)
Harper Lee
1960: To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee (USA)
1960: Hiroshima Mon Amour, written by Marguerite Duras (France)
1960: Green Eggs and Ham, written by Theodor Seuss Geisel (USA)
1961: Catch-22, written by Joseph Heller (USA)
1961: The Phantom Tollbooth, written by Norton Juster (USA)
1961: James and the Giant Peach, written by Roald Dahl (England)
1962: A Clockwork Orange, written by Anthony Burgess (England)
1962: A Wrinkle in Time, written by Madeleine L’Engle (USA)
1962: The Snowy Day, written by Ezra Jack Keats (USA)
1962: Something Wicked This Way Comes, written by Ray Bradbury (USA)
1963: The Bell Jar, written by Sylvia Plath (USA)
1963: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, written by Ken Kesey (USA)
1963: Planet of the Apes, written by Pierre Boulle (France)
1963: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, written by John le Carré (England)
1963: Where the Wild Things Are, written by Maurice Sendak (USA)
1963: Cat's Cradle, written by Kurt Vonnegut (USA)
1964: The Giving Tree, written by Shel Silverstein (USA)
1964: Harriet the Spy, written by Louise Fitzhugh (USA)
1964: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, written by Roald Dahl (England)
1965: Dune, written by Frank Herbert (USA)
1966: In Cold Blood, written by Truman Capote (USA)
1966: Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?, written by Joyce Carol Oates (USA)
1967: One Hundred Years of Solitude, written by Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia)
1967: Rosemary's Baby, written by Ira Levin (USA)
1967: Conan, written by Robert E. Howard (USA)
1967: I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, written by Harlan Ellison (USA)
1967: The Outsiders, written by S.E. Hinton (USA)
1968: The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, written by Tom Wolfe (USA)
1968: Corduroy, written by Don Freeman (USA)
1968: 2001 A Space Odyssey, written by Arthur C. Clarke (USA)
1968: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, written by Philip K. Dick (USA)
1968: The Last Unicorn, written by Peter S. Beagle (USA)
1968: Myra Breckinridge, written by Gore Vidal (USA)
1969: Portnoy's Complaint, written by Philip Roth (USA)
1969: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, written by Eric Carle (USA)
1969: Slaughterhouse-Five, written by Kurt Vonnegut (USA)
1969: The Godfather, written by Mario Puzo (USA)
1969: Master and Commander, written by Patrick O’Brian (England)
1970: The Trumpet of the Swan, written by E.B. White (USA)
1970: Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, written by Judy Blume (USA)
1971: The Lorax, written by Theodor Seuss Geisel (USA)
1971: Post Office, written by Charles Bukowski (USA)
1971: The Exorcist, written by William Peter Blatty (USA)
1971: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, written by Hunter S. Thompson (USA)
1972: Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, written by Judy Blume (USA)
1972: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, written by Judith Viorst (USA)
1973: The Onion Field, written by Joseph Wambaugh (USA)
1974: If Beale Street Could Talk, written by James Baldwin (USA)
1974: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, written by John le Carré (England)
1974: Carrie, written by Stephen King (USA)
1974: Jaws, written by Peter Benchley (USA)
1974: All the President's Men, written by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (USA)
1975: Watership Down, written by Richard Adams (England)
1975: Forever, written by Judy Blume (USA)
1976: Ragtime, written by E.L. Doctorow (USA)
1976: Interview with the Vampire, written by Anne Rice (USA)
1976: Roots, written by Alex Haley (USA)
1977: The Shining, written by Stephen King (USA)
1977: Bridge to Terabithia, written by Katherine Paterson (USA)
1977: A Spell for Chameleon, written by Piers Anthony (USA)
1978: The World According to Garp, written by John Irving (USA)
1978: The Stand, written by Stephen King (USA)
1979: The Kindred, written by Octavia Butler (USA)
1979: The Right Stuff, written by Tom Wolfe (USA)
1979: The Neverending Story, written by Michael Ende (Germany)
1979: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, written by Douglas Adams (England)
1979: Ghost Story, written by Peter Straub (USA)
1980: A Confederacy of Dunces, written by John Kennedy Toole (USA)
1981: The Red Dragon, written by Thomas Harris (USA)
1982: The Color Purple, written by Alice Walker (USA)
1982: The BFG, written by Roald Dahl (England)
1983: Discworld: The Colour of Magic, written by Terry Pratchett (England)
1983: Phantoms, written by Dean Koontz (USA)
1984: Bright Lights, Big City, written by Jay McInerney (USA)
1984: Neuromancer, written by William Gibson (USA)
1984: The Unbearable Lightness of Being, written by Milan Kundera (Czechoslovakia)
1984: The Witches of Eastwick, written by John Updike (USA)
1984: Jitterbug Perfume, written by Tom Robbins (USA)
1984: The Hunt for Red October, written by Tom Clancy (USA)
1985: Less than Zero, written by Bret Easton Ellis (USA)
1985: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, written by Laura Numeroff (USA)
1985: The Handmaid's Tale, written by Margaret Atwood (USA)
1986: The Dark Knight Returns, written by Frank Miller (USA)
1987: The Satanic Verses, written by Salman Rushdie
1987: The Bonfire of the Vanities, written by Tom Wolfe
1987: Watchmen, written by Alan Moore (England)
1987: Beloved, written by Toni Morrison (USA)
1988: Love in the Time of Cholera, written by Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia)
1989: The Remains of the Day, written by Kazuo Ishiguro (England)
1989: The Joy Luck Club, written by Amy Tan (USA)
1990: Jurassic Park, written by Michael Crichton (USA)
1990: L.A. Confidential, written by James Ellroy (USA)
1990: Get Shorty, written by Elmore Leonard (USA)
1990: Good Omens, written by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (England)
1991: American Psycho, written by Bret Easton Ellis (USA)
1991: The Firm, written by John Grisham (USA)
1991: Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, written by Douglas Coupland (Canada)
1991: Maus: A Survivor's Tale, written by Art Spiegelman (USA)
1992: The English Patient, written by Michael Ondaatje (Canada)
1992: Goosebumps: Welcome to the Dead House, written by R.L. Stine (USA)
1993: Trainspotting, written by Irving Welsh (Scotland)
1993: A Simple Plan, written by Scott Smith (USA)
1993: The Giver, written by Lois Lowry (USA)
1995: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, written by Gregory Maguire (USA)
1995: The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963, written by Christopher Paul Curtis (USA)
1995: High Fidelity, written by Nick Hornby (England)
1996: Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace (USA)
1996: Fight Club, written by Chuck Palahniuk (USA)
1996: A Song of Fire and Ice: A Game of Thrones, written by George R.R. Martin (USA)
1997: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, written by J. K. Rowling (England)
1998: The Poisonwood Bible, written by Barbara Kingsolver (USA)
1998: Holes, written by Louis Sachar (USA)
1999: The Perks of Being a Wallflower, written by Stephen Chbosky (USA)
1999: Bud, Not Buddy, written by Christopher Paul Curtis (USA)
1999: A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning, written by Lemony Snicket (USA)
1999: Stardust, written by Neil Gaiman (England)
2000: House of Leaves, written by Mark Z. Danielewski (USA)
2001: Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel (Canada)
2001: American Gods, written by Neil Gaiman (England)
2001: The Secret Life of Bees, written by Sue Monk Kidd (USA)
2001: A Single Shard, written by Linda Sue Park (USA)
2003: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night‑Time, written by Mark Haddon (England)
2003: The Devil Wears Prada, written by Lauren Weisberger (USA)
2003: Persepolis, written by Marjane Satrapi (Iran)
2003: The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini (Afghanistan)
2004: The Plot Against America, written by Philip Roth (USA)
2005: No Country for Old Men, written by Cormac McCarthy (USA)
2005: The Lightning Thief, written by Rick Riorden (USA)
2005: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, written by Stieg Larsson (Sweden)
2006: The Road, written by Cormac McCarthy (USA)
2006: American-Born Chinese, written by Gene Luen Yang (USA)
2006: Eat, Pray, Love, written by Elizabeth Gilbert (USA)
2008: The Hunger Games, written by Suzanne Collins (USA)
2011: Ready Player One, written by Ernest Cline (USA)
2011: The Martian, written by Andy Weir (USA)
2012: The Fault in Our Stars, written by John Green (USA)
2014: Brown Girl Dreaming, written by Jacqueline Woodson (USA)
2015: Between the World and Me, written by Ta-Nehisi Coates (USA)
2017: Long Way Down, written by Jason Reynolds (USA)
2019: How to Be an Antiracist, written by Ibram X. Kendi (USA)
Apollo 11
1961: Ham the chimp is sent into suborbital space and returned safely (USA)
1961: Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to orbit the earth (USSR)
1961: Alan Shepard performs the first controlled spaceflight (USA)
1962: Nick Holonyak, Jr. working for General Electric creates the first light emitting diode (LED) (USA)
1962: John Glenn performs the first controlled Earth orbit (USA)
1963: Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space (USSR)
1963: Stanley Milgram published his study of obedience to authority, the Milgram experiment (USA)
1966: The crew of Gemini 8 perform the first space docking (USA)
1966: Masters and Johnson publish Human Sexual Response (USA)
1967: The crew of Apollo 1 are killed in a fire during a ground test (USA)
1967: Vladimir Komarov dies during the failed reentry of Soyuz 1 (USSR)
1968: The crew of Apollo 8 orbit the moon and return to Earth (USA)
1969: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross publishes On Death and Dying, presenting the five stages of grief (USA)
1969: The crew of Apollo 11 successfully land on the moon and return to Earth (USA)
1970: Apollo 13 suffers a critical malfunction requiring the crew to abort and return to Earth (USA)
1971: Salyut 1 becomes the first space station in Earth orbit (USSR)
1972: Apollo 17 is the final manned lunar mission (USA)
1972: Pioneer 10 space probe reaches Jupiter (USA)
1973: The Skylab space station is launched into orbit (USA)
1977: The first atmospheric test flight of Space Shuttle Enterprise is performed (USA)
1977: The Voyager space probes are launched containing the "golden records" (USA)
1978: E.O. Wilson publishes On Human Nature (USA)
1981: The fist orbital test flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia is performed (USA)
1984: The first untethered spacewalk is performed by Astronaut Bruce McCandless (USA)
1986: Mir, the first modular space station, is established (USSR)
1986: The Space Shuttle Challenger explodes on launch, killing the crew (USA)
1996: The Roslin Institute successfully clones a sheep (Scotland)
1990: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched (USA)
1998: The International Space Station is built in orbit (Multinational)
2001: The first draft of the Human Genome Project is published (USA)
2004: NASA's Spirit rover lands on Mars (USA)
2011: The Space Shuttle program is retired after the Atlantis mission is completed (USA)
2019: The first image of a black hole is captured (USA)
2022: The James Webb Space Telescope is launched (USA)
President John F. Kennedy
1961: The Bay of Pigs Invasion by Cuban exiles ends in failure (USA)
1961: The Berlin Wall is constructed (Germany)
1962: The Cuban Missile Crisis nearly causes nuclear war (USA)
1963: Martin Luther King Jr. delivers "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington (USA)
1963: President John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, TX (USA)
1964: The Civil Rights Act abolishes segregation (USA)
1964: The Gulf of Tonkin incident escalates U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War (USA)
1965: The assassination of civil rights leader Malcolm X (USA)
1967: The Six-Day War results in Israel occupying the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank and the Golan Heights
1968: The assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy (USA)
1968: The Troubles begin in Northern Ireland (UK)
1969: The Stonewall riots in New York City instigate the gay rights movement (USA)
1973: The Supreme Court of the United States decides Roe v. Wade (USA)
1974: President Richard Nixon resigns in the wake of the Watergate scandal (USA)
1975: The Fall of Saigon ends the Vietnam War (USA)
1979: Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister (UK)
1981: Iran releases the 52 U.S. hostages held in Tehran after 444 days (USA)
1990: Nelson Mandela is released after 27 years as a political prisoner (South Africa)
1992: Dissolution of the Soviet Union (USSR)
2008: Barack Obama is elected to become the first African-American President (USA)
rock opera – an extended work featuring rock or pop vocals and rock instruments that traces a single story through song; often exists in album format, though many rock operas eventually transfer to the stage
minimalism – a compositional style from the late 20th and early 21st centuries, somewhat informed by Indian classical music; characteristics include repetitive notes or rhythmic patterns, all of which help evoke a musical mood using “minimal” (or gradual) shifts in melody and texture
Writer
Eleni Hagen
Producer
Kenny Neal for
Kennedy Center Education
Digital Learning
Updated
April 19, 2023
Unfortunately, a lot of people think they don’t, and most of them have never seen one. In this audio story, opera fan Eleni and opera skeptic Samantha discuss how their experiences with opera as children influenced their opinions of the art form as adults.
A soprano is a soprano because they can sing high and a bass is a bass because they sing low, right? Not really...
A beginner’s guide to some of opera’s most challenging female roles and a unique look at how opera does girl power.
Opera has always been addicted to love, and its romances can range from the hilarious to the dramatic. But don’t expect a standard “Boy Meets Girl” story when you take your seat at the opera house.
A quick overview of Daniel Catán’s 1996 opera, inspired by the magical realism of author Gabriel García Márquez.
A quick overview of André Previn’s 1998 opera based on the Tennessee Williams play.
A quick overview of Nicholas Maw’s 2002 opera based on William Styron’s 1979 novel.
A quick overview of Kevin Puts’ 2011 opera about the 1914 World War I Christmas truce.
A quick overview of Jake Heggie’s 2000 opera based on the book by Sister Helen Prejean.
A quick overview of Jake Heggie’s 2010 opera based on the novel by Herman Melville.
A quick overview of Philip Glass’ 2015 opera set in both the end of the 1860s American Civil War and the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement.
A quick overview of Jeanine Tesori’s 2013 opera about the animals of the first Christmas.
A quick overview of Rachel Portman’s 2003 opera based on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s timeless fairytale.
A quick overview of Jeanine Tesori’s 2019 opera that explores race, loss, and resilience.
Eric Friedman
Director, Digital Learning
Kenny Neal
Manager, Digital Education Resources
Tiffany A. Bryant
Manager, Operations and Audience Engagement
JoDee Scissors
Content Specialist, Digital Learning
Generous support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by the U.S. Department of Education. The content of these programs may have been developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education but does not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education. You should not assume endorsement by the federal government.
Gifts and grants to educational programs at the Kennedy Center are provided by A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation; Annenberg Foundation; the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Bank of America; Bender Foundation, Inc.; Capital One; Carter and Melissa Cafritz Trust; Carnegie Corporation of New York; DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities; Estée Lauder; Exelon; Flocabulary; Harman Family Foundation; The Hearst Foundations; the Herb Alpert Foundation; the Howard and Geraldine Polinger Family Foundation; William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust; the Kimsey Endowment; The King-White Family Foundation and Dr. J. Douglas White; Laird Norton Family Foundation; Little Kids Rock; Lois and Richard England Family Foundation; Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather; Dr. Gerald and Paula McNichols Foundation; The Morningstar Foundation;
The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Music Theatre International; Myra and Leura Younker Endowment Fund; the National Endowment for the Arts; Newman’s Own Foundation; Nordstrom; Park Foundation, Inc.; Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; The Irene Pollin Audience Development and Community Engagement Initiatives; Prince Charitable Trusts; Soundtrap; The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust; Rosemary Kennedy Education Fund; The Embassy of the United Arab Emirates; UnitedHealth Group; The Victory Foundation; The Volgenau Foundation; Volkswagen Group of America; Dennis & Phyllis Washington; and Wells Fargo. Additional support is provided by the National Committee for the Performing Arts.
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