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Biography
Kelley Rourke is a librettist, translator and dramaturg. She has collaborated with composers including John Glover, Laura Karpman, Ben Moore, Kamala Sankaram and Wang Lu on new operas. Her modern English adaptations of numerous standard and not-so-standard operas have been hailed as “crackingly witty” (The Independent, London) and “remarkably well wedded to the music and versification in arias” (New York Times). She has written libretti for four youth operas, with performances across the country. In collaboration with artists including Tharanga Goonetilleke, Amy Severson, Erik Teague and S.Katy Tucker, she has created print and video adaptations of operatic stories.
Her work has been commissioned and performed by the Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Boston Lyric Opera, Young People's Chorus of NYC, Seattle Opera, Minnesota Opera, Carnegie Hall, Urban Arias (Washington, DC), Met LiveArts, Houston Grand Opera's HGOco, San Francisco Conservatory, Milwaukee Opera Theatre, American Opera Projects, Atlanta Opera, Kentucky Opera, Walnut Hill School for the Arts, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Nautilus Music-Theater, among others.
Kelley has been engaged as a guest lecturer at Boston University, Carnegie Mellon University, NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, Walnut Hill School for the Arts, and University of Maryland College Park; and as librettist mentor for Washington National Opera's American Opera Initiative. She was founding editor of Opera America magazine and a contributor to the New Grove Dictionary of American Music. Kelley is resident dramaturg for The Glimmerglass Festival
Kelley holds degrees in piano performance and arts management. Her work as a collaborative writer is supported and informed by more than two decades of practicing and teaching yoga and mindfulness. Kelley has been engaged to teach classes and workshops in a variety of specialized settings, including vocal studios, workplaces, a safe house for survivors of human trafficking, and elementary and secondary schools. She is a co-developer and trainer for a wellness curriculum that has been implemented in public schools in New York City, Houston, Indianapolis, El Paso and Columbia, SC.
Upcoming premieres include The Jungle Book (Kamala Sankaram) at Glimmerglass, The Beekeeper (Wang Lu) at Chicago Opera Theater, Eat the Document (John Glover), and adaptations of Trovatore, The Magic Flute, and La Périchole for The Glimmerglass Festival's 2021 Lawn Stage.
OPERA America/Opera.ca Grants Awarded
Click here to learn more about OPERA America granting programs.
| GRANT NAME | YEAR | Opera Grants for Women Composers: Commissioning Grants | 2015 |
Productions
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Artist Information
All information is derived from OPERA America's Season Schedule of Performances and titles databases which date back to 1991. OPERA America is constantly updating this data. If you feel that a work or an artist has been omitted or that information is incorrect, please use the linked forms below. Title Information Form Artist Information Form
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