Be present for a rare behind-the-scenes opera experience. Time to Act is a newly commissioned opera by composer Laura Kaminsky and librettist Crystal Manich, confronting the American epidemic of gun violence through the voices of high school students navigating trauma, identity, and healing. This special event marks the commercial audio recording of the opera for national release on the award-winning classical label Bright Shining Things.
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Captured in a semi-staged live recording session, these performances invite a limited audience into the room as the opera is recorded in real time. This is not a traditional fully staged performance—but a working recording environment where the music is shaped, revisited, and preserved. Audience members are offered a rare opportunity to witness how a new opera is brought to life and launched into the world.
Performed by students from Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s renowned voice and opera programs, this recording represents the culminating phase of a national commissioning consortium led by Pittsburgh Opera, with Opera Santa Barbara, Opera Montana, and Boston Conservatory at Berklee.
Following its world premiere in Pittsburgh this February, these performances mark the New York City debut of Kaminsky’s powerful new work. A brief talkback with artists and creators will follow the April 22nd performance.
Synopsis
Build the world you want to see.
A group of high school students prepares a production of Sophocles’ Antigone, joined by a new student, Alona, who carries a formidable secret. As rehearsals unfold, the students confront questions of grief, responsibility, activism, and moral courage—discovering how art can become a catalyst for action in a fractured world.
Creative Team
Laura Kaminsky is the composer of As One, now the most-produced contemporary opera in America. Crystal Manich, an Emmy Award nominee and longtime collaborator with Pittsburgh Opera, has created works for stage, film, and circus seen across the U.S., Europe, Argentina, and Australia.
Artistic and Production Team
Andrew Bisantz, Conductor
David Gately, Stage Director
Elaine Martone, Record Producer (Grammy Winner, Producer of the Year)
Gintas Norvila, Recording Engineer (Cleveland Orchestra, NPR)
Isaí Jess Muñoz, Producer, Boston Conservatory at Berklee
Please note the following for this performance:
This is a seated performance. If you require accessibility accommodations, please email boxoffice@nationalsawdust.org.
ABOUT LAURA KAMINSKY
Laura Kaminsky joined the faculty of Boston Conservatory at Berklee in 2024 as a professor of composition. With “an ear for the new and interesting” (New York Times), she frequently addresses social and political issues in her work with a distinct musical language that is “full of fire as well as ice, contrasting dissonance and violence with tonal beauty and meditative reflection” (American Record Guide). Her first opera, As One (with librettists Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed), is the most produced contemporary opera since its 2014 premiere, with more than 65 productions internationally.
Her other operas include Some Light Emerges and Today It Rains (Campbell and Reed); Hometown to the World (Kimberly Reed); Finding Wright (Andrea Fellows Fineberg); February (cowritten with Lisa Moore); Lucidity (David Cote); Upcoming: The Post Office, a chamber opera in poems (Elaine Sexton; Queen City Opera); Time to Act (Crystal Manich with dramaturgy by Amy Hutchison, presented in collaboration with the Pittsburgh, Montana, and Santa Barbara operas and Boston Conservatory); Force of Nature (Fellows Fineberg; Utah Opera); Arboreal (Fry Street Quartet); Vanishing Point (Carpe Diem String Quartet); and Threnody…October 2024 (pianist Mackenzie Melemed). Awarded the Polish Gold Cross of Merit (Zloty Krzyż Zasługi RP) by the president of Poland for exemplary public service and humanitarian work, Kaminsky also has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, Koussevitzky Music Foundation at the Library of Congress, Opera America, Chamber Music America, and USArtists International, among others. Kaminsky also is on the faculty at SUNY Purchase and serves as a mentor for Seattle Opera’s Creation Lab.
ABOUT CRYSTAL MANICH
Crystal Manich is an Emmy Award nominated, versatile Latiné international creative director and writer whose works for stage, film, and circus have been seen across the United States, Europe, Argentina, and Australia. She has held several Artistic Director positions as well as having served as adjunct faculty at UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and Rider University, and is a commissioned librettist. She is represented by United Talent Agency.