Royce Vavrek
Royce Vavrek is a Canadian-born Brooklyn-based librettist, playwright, dance scenarist, musical theatre writer and filmmaker known for his collaborations with composers David T. Little, Missy Mazzoli, Mikael Karlsson, Ricky Ian Gordon, Paola Prestini and Du Yun, soprano Lauren Worsham, producers Beth Morrison and Lawrence Edelson, and conductors Steven Osgood, Julian Wachner and Alan Pierson.
He has been called "the indie Hofmannsthal", a "Metastasio of the downtown opera scene", "an exemplary creator of operatic prose", and "one of the most celebrated and sought after librettists in the world".
His opera Angel's Bone with composer Du Yun was awarded the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Music.
Life and work
Born in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada, Vavrek studied piano and musical composition in high school and also sang in a chorus, but was even more drawn to writing for theatre, writing some 17 plays at that time, and filmmaking. But following an undergraduate degree in filmmaking from Concordia University and a master's from New York University in musical theater writing, he enrolled in the American Lyric Theater's Composer Librettist Development Program which established his career as an opera librettist.His work has been commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, Norwegian National Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Glimmerglass Opera, Tapestry Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Opera Omaha, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Brooklyn Philharmonic, The Kitchen, Alarm Will Sound, Opera America, American Lyric Theater, Beth Morrison Projects, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, among others. His recent commissions include operas for the Royal Swedish Opera, La Monnaie, The Icelandic Opera, and the Prototype Festival. Vavrek's filmmaking credits include From Sky and Soil, which was created as part of the Corus Young Filmmakers Initiative for broadcast on the W Network, through a prize administered by the Canadian Film and Television Production Association.
Vavrek is gay.
Artistic influences and comparisons
Vavrek has suggested that his work is heavily influenced by cinematic auteurs including Neil LaBute, Lars von Trier, Catherine Breillat, Wong Kar-Wai, Mike Leigh, Larry Clark, playwrights Martin McDonagh and Sam Shepard, novelists Richard Ford, Miriam Toews and Larry McMurtry and Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards.His libretti have been compared to the work of Alban Berg, Maya Angelou and Edward Albee.
Opera libretti
Nora at the Altar-Rail Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera Song from the Uproar: The Lives and Deaths of Isabelle Eberhardt Dog Days 27 Maren of Vardø: Satan's Bride O Columbia Angel's Bone JFK Breaking the Waves The House Without a Christmas Tree Proving Up Silent Light The Wild Beast of the Bungalow Jacqueline The Puppy Episode The Listeners The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage Melancholia The [Old Man and the Sea] Adoration Fanny and Alexander Indians on VacationDance scenarios
Crypto- ''Evidence of it All''
Musical theater book and lyrics
Oratorios, cantatas, and song cycles
Am I Born Stoned Prince Naamah's Ark The Hubble Cantata Epistle Mass- ''So We Will Vanish''
Selected songs and concert works
Hybrid Dreams Elena Red-Thread Smirk I A Song for Wade 1882 Songs Last Nightfall Canvas archaeology Bluetooth Islands A Mural Alien Summers Monkey Cowboys Violations Strip Mall Penance The Librettist as a Boy Brother E---- Union- ''Knoxville: Summer of 2015''
Films
Sacrifice Good Woman From Sky and Soil I Will Not Be Sad Anymore- ''Pig and Bear''