Operas have made history
Satyagraha (Philip Glass, 1980): Scenes from the formative years of Mahatma Gandhi, with an appearance by Martin Luther King Jr. Minimal and mystical.
Nixon in China (John Adams, 1987):
Established the template for headline subjects, though not realistic action. One reviewer of a 2011 revival in Toronto: “The Chairman has no clothes.”
The Death of Klinghoffer (Adams, 1991):
Disabled American cruise ship passenger murdered by articulate terrorists. Few operas are as widely hated (and, therefore, defended).
Marilyn (Ezra Laderman, 1993):
About the screen siren Monroe. Created a sensation before (but unfortunately not after) its debut by the New York City Opera.
Powder Her Face (Thomas Adès, 1995):
Based on the Duchess of Argyll’s appetites (including oral sex) as revealed during her 1963 divorce. Tango rhythm. Still around.
Harvey Milk (Stewart Wallace, 1995; revised 1996):
About the assassinated San Francisco politician. Drag characters and opera-within-opera courtesy of Maria Callas. Seldom revived.
Dead Man Walking (Jake Heggie, 2000): Sister Helen guides a convicted murderer through death row. Exploitative or effective? Either way, still getting staged.
Doctor Atomic (Adams, 2005):
Robert Oppenheimer and other stars from the Manhattan Project build an atomic bomb. John Donne offers poetic relief.
Fallujah (Tobin Stokes, 2016):
Focusing on a serviceman back from the 2004 battles in Iraq. Canadian commission from a Canadian composer, but the performances have been American.
Ours (John Estacio, 2016):
Priest seeks the fallen after the Newfoundland Regiment advance on Beaumont Hamel in the 1916 Battle of the Somme.
Shalimar the Clown (Jack Perla, 2016):
Nice boy from Kashmir turns terrorist after the bad American ambassador takes away his sweetheart. Based on the novel by Salman Rushdie.
Missing (Brian Current, 2017):
Missing and murdered Indigenous women given voice on the stages of City Opera Vancouver and Pacific Opera Victoria.
The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs (Mason Bates, 2017):
Peppy one-act portrait of the entrepreneur, premièred in Santa Fe. Surprisingly restrained use of technology.