Prima Donna (opera)

Development

In an attempt to bring younger audiences into the realm of opera, Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter Gelb and André Bishop, artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater, held meetings with several contemporary artists to discuss possible contributions to their innovative commissioning project. According to Bishop, each team would be offered a $50,000 commission and the entire project was estimated to cost around $2 million, split by the Met and Lincoln Center Theater. Each team or composer was expected to submit a piano-vocal score without a timetable, which would then undergo workshops overseen by LCT. By June 2007, Wainwright was the furthest along of all the contributing artists, having already started the writing process and revealing 30 minutes of excerpts to officials associated with the project. By December 2007, Wainwright stated he'd "written the first act and most of the second act in sketch form and has almost finished the libretto", and that he'd have more time to dedicate to the project once his tour schedule completed. Wainwright had completed piano and voice parts by February 2008, and began tackling orchestrations.

With a workshop scheduled for January 2009, Wainwright revealed in a Brazilian TV show interview that his opera would premiere in Manchester, United Kingdom in July 2009. He stated the world premiere would be "somewhere small so that if it's a complete failure, nobody [would know] about it".

Separation from the Met

In August 2008, it was revealed that Wainwright dropped plans to compose a work for the Metropolitan Opera in a dispute over the language of the libretto and the potential date of production. Wainwright wanted the opera to be in French, while the Met and LCT insisted on English. According to Gelb, "presenting a new opera that is not in English at the Met, when it could be in English, is an immediate impediment". While Wainwright was initially open to the idea of translating the text into English, he said the French became "too entrenched in the music". In addition, the Met wouldn't be able to premiere Prima Donna earlier than the 2014 season, and Wainwright insisted he "wanted to get it out as soon as possible". Both Wainwright and Gelb have stated there are no hard feelings and they are sorry the collaboration did not work out as originally planned. Wainwright confirmed that the premiere would still be held in July 2009 at the Manchester International Festival in the United Kingdom.

In October 2008, it was announced that the work would be produced in partnership with Opera North as a joint production commission by the Manchester International Festival, Melbourne Festival Australia and Luminato Festival Toronto, with Pierre-André Valade conducting the orchestra, Daniel Kramer directing, designing by Antony McDonald, and Janis Kelly performing the lead role alongside Rebecca Bottone, William Joyner and Jonathan Summers. The Guardian stated Wainwright was working with two student assistants from Yale, but that he would be orchestrating the opera himself. With the first act already orchestrated and vocal score with piano reduction almost completed, the Manchester International Festival requested delivery of a full score in February 2009. Like Wagner, Wainwright wrote both the libretto and music, but admitted "writing words [was] much harder than writing music". He also claimed that arias would be clearly defined and that no microphones or amplification would be utilized. Following the Manchester premiere performances, London performances at Sadler's Wells Theatre were scheduled for April 2010, and the North American premiere took place June 1010 at the Luminato festival in Toronto, with Wainwright present.

In December 2009, Sundance Channel aired a 90-minute documentary directed by George Scott titled Prima Donna spotlighting the history of Wainwright's career and his attempt to "create classical opera from scratch".

Further performances

Following the Manchester premiere, London performances at Sadler's Wells Theatre were held in April 2010, and the North American premiere took place June 2010 at the Luminato festival in Toronto, with Wainwright present. Prima Donna had its NYC debut on February 19, 2012 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music with performances running through the 25th.

Prima Donna's revival

In 2015, Wainwright launched a new version of his first opera, accompanied by a film directed by Francesco Vezzoli, featuring Cindy Sherman as the Prima Donna. The finale was shot in Paris during spring 2015 and produced by Petite Maison Production, before it premiered in Athens in September.

Synopsis

Place: The Paris apartment of Régine Saint Laurent, the world's most acclaimed operatic sopranoTime: Bastille Day, 1970

From the Manchester International Festival:

"As early-morning light floods into a Paris apartment, a woman struggles to rouse herself from a fitful night's sleep. Once a soprano with a powerhouse voice and a reputation to match, she's now a forlorn figure, disdained by critics and forgotten by audiences. But the diva is determined to prove her doubters wrong: all she asks is a chance to reprise the role that made her reputation all those years ago..."

Album

In March 2014, Wainwright began raising funds via PledgeMusic to record a two-disc album of the opera. A portion of the funds will benefit the Kate McGarrigle Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by Wainwright and his sister Martha Wainwright to raise money to combat sarcoma. The organization is named after Wainwright's mother, Kate McGarrigle, who died from the rare form of cancer in 2010. Pet Shop Boys vocalist Neil Tennant will be contributing to the album.