The Listeners

Overview

Co-presented with Opera Philadelphia

A thriller about social rejection, suburban loneliness, and the seductive power of cults and charismatic leaders in a divided nation.

Composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Varek follow up on their acclaimed 2016 world premiere Breaking the Waves. The Listeners examines the lengths to which we, as Americans, are willing to go to find a sense of place and purpose, and the ways in which charming leaders can exploit these needs to their own ends.

A middle-class mother (soprano Nicole Heaston) living in a southwestern U.S. suburb notices a “hum,” a high-frequency environmental noise that only a select few people, the “Listeners,” can hear. A community organization quickly forms to solve the mystery of the hum, but when the de facto leader (Kevin Burdette) suggests a spiritual significance, the meetings become increasingly cult-like. Is this community of “Listeners” on a collision course with destruction?

Music by Missy Mazzoli. Libretto by Royce Vavrek. Based on an original story by Jordan Tannahill. Co-commissioned and co-produced by Opera Philadelphia, Norwegian National Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. Learn more.

SUPPORT
Opera Philadelphia’s 2024-2025 Season is brought to you by the Artistry Now Matching Fund and Barabara Augusta Teichert. Academy of Music productions are made possible with support from Judy and Peter Leone. Major support for The Listeners has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, with additional support from OPERA America’s Opera Grants for Female Composers program.

About the Artist

A fast-rising composer on the contemporary music scene, Missy Mazzoli’s talent draws audiences equally into concert halls and rock clubs. Her unique music reflects a trend among composers of her generation who combine styles, writing music for the omnivorous audiences of the 21st century. She inhabits a gorgeous and mysterious sound-world that melds indie-rock sensibilities with formal training from Louis Andriessen, Martijn Padding, Richard Ayers, and others. Practically speaking, she amasses music in layers not normally found together but in ways that create matchless vertical harmonies. Learn more about Missy.

Royce Vavrek is an Alberta-born, Brooklyn-based librettist and lyricist known as “an exemplary creator of operatic prose” (The New York Times) and "the indie Hoffmanstahl" (The New Yorker). Learn more about Royce.

 

Credits