Works & Process: The Metropolitan Opera: Lincoln in the Bardo by Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek
About This Event
At the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Works & Process presents The Metropolitan Opera's Lincoln in the Bardo, with music by Missy Mazzoli and a libretto by Royce Vavrek. Mazzoli—one of the first women commissioned by the Met—and Vavrek join a lineup that includes dancers from Miami City Ballet and Patricia Delgado, highlighting the project’s pairing of contemporary opera and choreography.
About Lincoln in the Bardo(opera)
Presented at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, this Works & Process program centers on The Metropolitan Opera’s *Lincoln in the Bardo*, with music by Missy Mazzoli and a libretto by Royce Vavrek, developed in collaboration with dancers from Miami City Ballet and Patricia Delgado. The opera adapts George Saunders’s 2017 novel, moving between grief, politics, and the chorus of the dead in a liminal cemetery world. Its New York presentation underscores a recent shift in major opera institutions toward new American work and new authorial voices. The piece’s documentary-like multiplicity of perspectives translates naturally into staged movement, where bodies can carry what language leaves unresolved.
About the Artists
Miami City Ballet
Miami City Ballet, under the visionary leadership of artistic director Gonzalo Garcia, brings the vibrant spirit of dance from Miami Beach to the heart of New York City. Renowned for their dynamic performances and innovative choreography, the company is a highlight at the Solomon R.
Patricia Delgado
Patricia Delgado is an American ballet dancer, répétiteur and teacher. She joined the Miami City Ballet in 2000, was promoted to principal dancer in 2007 and left in 2017. Since then, she performs as a freelance dancer, stages works by her husband Justin Peck, and teaches ballet at The Juilliard School part-time.
The Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred to colloquially as the Met, the company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager.
Missy Mazzoli
Missy Mazzoli is an American composer and pianist who has received critical acclaim for her chamber, orchestral and operatic work. In 2018 she became one of the first two women to receive a commission from the Metropolitan Opera House.
Royce Vavrek
Royce Vavrek is a Canadian-born Brooklyn-based librettist, playwright, dance scenarist, musical theatre writer and filmmaker known for his collaborations with composers David T. Little, Missy Mazzoli, Mikael Karlsson, Ricky Ian Gordon, Paola Prestini and Du Yun, soprano Lauren Worsham, producers Beth Morrison and Lawrence Edelson, and conductors Steven Osgood, Julian Wachner and Alan Pierson.