American Lyric Theater

American Lyric Theater (ALT) was founded in 2005 to build a new body of operatic repertoire for new audiences by nurturing composers and librettists, developing sustainable artistic collaborations, and contributing new works to the national canon.

ALT is not an opera company by any traditional definition. Many opera companies commission and perform new works; but ALT is the only company in the United States that offers extensive, full time mentorship for emerging operatic writers. While the traditional company model focuses on producing a season, ALT's programs focus on serving the needs of artists, developing new works, and collaborating with producing companies to help usher those works into the repertoire.

The Composer Librettist Development Program (CLDP) is at the heart of all of ALT's programs. The CLDP is the only full time mentorship program for emerging operatic writers in the United States. The program is tuition free for composers and librettists selected through an open, competitive application process. The CLDP is structured around a core curriculum of classroom training and hands-on workshops with some of the country's leading working artists, including composer/librettist Mark Adamo (ALT's Director of Professional Development), composer Anthony Davis, dramaturg Cori Ellison, librettist Michael Korie, stage director Rhoda Levine, and conductor Lucy Arner. Since launching the CLDP in 2007, ALT has provided intensive personalized mentorship to 25 gifted emerging artists. 6 to 8 new Resident Artists will be welcomed to the CLDP for the 2011-12 season.

In 2006, ALT commissioned its first main stage work: THE GOLDEN TICKET, a new opera based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by American composer Peter Ash. Under a new collaborative producing model, ALT developed a partnership with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis to present the world premiere of THE GOLDEN TICKET, which took place in June 2010 to tremendous critical and audience acclaim. The European Premiere of THE GOLDEN TICKET took place in October 2010 at Ireland's Wexford Festival Opera, and the opera will next be presented in partnership with The Atlanta Opera in March 2012. In 2009, ALT initiated a second main stage commission, THE POE PROJECT: a trilogy of one-act operas inspired by the fiction of Edgar Allan Poe being written by six Resident Artists from the CLDP. ALT is currently developing two additional full-length operas for future fully-staged production in collaboration with producing opera companies, and anticipates commissioning at least one new full-length opera from CLDP Resident Artists and alumni annually.