Opera has existed as an artform for more than 400 years, telling stories of romance, comedy and tragedy that have lived on for centuries. “Carmen” premiered in Paris in 1875, and Puccini’s “La Bohème” premiered in Italy in 1896. History books can now include the premiere of “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay,” a co-production between the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and the Metropolitan Opera, which debuts Nov. 15 at IU Bloomington’s Musical Arts Center.
Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Chabon, “Kavalier and Clay” tells the story of two cousins in New York during the 1940s — one a refugee from wartime Prague and the other a closeted queer Brooklynite. The pair create “The Escapist,” a comic book superhero who battles Nazis and frees the oppressed.
Commissioned by the Met, the new opera marks the first co-production between the esteemed opera house and Jacobs. After its premiere at IU, “Kavalier and Clay” will open the 2025-26 season on the Met’s stage in New York City.
The collaboration has offered students a rare opportunity to participate in a new production’s origin story while working alongside the most prestigious names in the business.
“Partnering with the most reputable and exciting opera house in the world helps students clearly see the connection between what they’re doing in school and where they’re going to be working and developing as professional artists after their educational experience,” said Catherine Compton, managing director of the Jacobs School of Music Opera and Ballet Theater.
Students are working with the likes of Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher, a leading stage director at both the Met and Lincoln Center, and Emmy Award-winning choreographer Mandy Moore. The music for “Kavalier and Clay” was composed by Grammy Award-winner Mason Bates, and the libretto was written by International Opera Award-winner Gene Scheer. Grammy-winning conductor Michael Christie will take the baton in the orchestra pit.
Bates and Scheer have been on site during the five-week rehearsal process, and students have developed their roles alongside Paul Cremo, the Met’s dramaturg.
“Witnessing the collaborative nature of the art form and the different elements that come together to make an opera shows our students what opera can be at its best,” Compton said.
Students participated in a costume fitting before the summer. Many of the costumes were constructed in Budapest, while others will come directly from the Met’s stock.
The set was designed and constructed in London and shipped to Bloomington to be reassembled on the IU Musical Arts Center’s state-of-the-art stage, which is often compared to the Met’s stage. The immersive set includes video and projection elements, transporting the audience to locations central to the story, like Prague during World War II and New York City during the Golden Age of Comics.
“I think the audience will be moved by the music,” said Veronica Siebert, a second-year vocal performance graduate student who plays the role of Rosa Saks. “When you look at the greatest operas, like ‘Carmen’ and ‘La Bohème,’ people leave with something stuck in their head, and I think that will happen.”
Siebert, whose parents both graduated from IU and went on to sing opera across the world, including at the Met, said the story told in “Kavalier and Clay” addresses social and political issues from the past that can still apply to society today.
In addition to staging contemporary operas like “Kavalier and Clay” and the world premiere of “Anne Frank” in 2023, Jacobs stages classic operas and ballets that have been reimagined for modern performers and audiences. In early 2024, the school premiered “La Bayadère: Reimagined,” which removed Orientalist clichés and set the story in 1930s Hollywood to create a dazzling reimagining of a classic ballet. An upcoming performance of Georges Bizet’s “Carmen,” an operatic staple that portrays violence against women, will feature the lead character as a feminist icon who challenges the patriarchy.
The renewed operas preserve the music and stories that opera lovers have appreciated for centuries, without outdated tropes.
Tickets for the “Kavalier and Clay” premiere are still available.
