Missy Mazzoli's Met Debut Caps a Boom in American Contemporary Opera

This week, the Metropolitan Opera will debut Missy Mazzoli's Lincoln in the Bardo, while San Francisco Opera plans to present The Galloping Cure in the fall of 2027. Additionally, a recording of Breaking the Waves has been released this year. Michael Zwiebach highlights a notable change in the treatment of American opera, which saw little support from the Met during the 1970s and 1980s. In contrast, the San Francisco Opera featured productions such as Britten's Death in Venice (1974) and Argento's Postcards from Morocco (1976). After a 38-year gap without a Pulitzer for new operas, recent winners since 2010 include Zhou Long's Madame White Snake (2011) and George Lewis's The Comet (2025 finalist), with John Adams's Nixon in China (1987) credited for this shift.