Missy Mazzoli Becomes First Woman to Receive Sole Met Opera Commission With 'Lincoln in the Bardo'

Missy Mazzoli's operatic adaptation of George Saunders' novel 'Lincoln in the Bardo' marks the first time the Metropolitan Opera has commissioned a work solely from a woman. Saunders himself has called the piece a 'masterpiece.' The composer addressed the significance of the commission while arguing that 'entertainment needs to not be a bad word,' pushing back against the idea that accessibility and artistic ambition are in conflict. Mazzoli's work draws on Saunders' Booker Prize-winning novel, which depicts Abraham Lincoln mourning his young son Willie in a Georgetown cemetery amid a chorus of ghosts. The commission represents a milestone for the Met, an institution long criticized for the scarcity of women composers and conductors on its mainstage. Mazzoli has become one of the most performed composers of her generation, with prior operas including 'Breaking the Waves' and 'Proving Up.' Her Met premiere places her at the center of ongoing debates over gender equity in classical music's largest houses.