Talented creative teams. Powerful stories. All-original opera.

WNO’s acclaimed commissioning program for contemporary American opera enters another exciting season—showing how short opera can move and inspire us!

Talented composer-librettist teams will showcase three world premiere one-act operas with the Cafritz Young Artists among the casts.

This season’s creatives include composers Dave Ragland, Christopher Dietz, and Dan vanhassell and librettists Anita Gonzalez, Faiza Alex Manaa, and Hannah Mikka Odsinada. American Opera Initiative (AOI) mentorship is led by Director Christopher Cano, Artistic Advisor Kelley Rourke, conductor Robert Spano, librettist mentor Thulani Davis, and composer mentor Anthony Davis.