Seattle Opera has commissioned the company's first opera since Speight Jenkins became the company's General Director—Amelia, an original story which uses the theme of flight as a motif for exploring the human condition. Amelia, currently in the early stages of its creation, will premiere on Seattle Opera's mainstage in May 2010. The two-act opera is being composed by renowned American composer Daron Hagen, with a libretto by American poet and writer Gardner McFall, based upon a story by Stephen Wadsworth. Wadsworth will also direct the production. The first workshops for the opera will be held this December in New York.

The opera will be set during a 30-year period from 1966 to 1996 and will address man's fascination with flight, the Daedalus/Icarus myth around flight, the American experience in Vietnam, and the human dilemmas that arise when vehicles of flight are used as vehicles of exploration, adventure, and finally, of war. The opera explores the universal themes of love, loss, healing, and renewal.

• read the synopsis
• read the seattle opera press release (3/27/07)
• read the libretto
• request more information