Organization

Admin

Singer

Mezzo-soprano

Emily D'Angelo

Jess

Tenor

Joseph Dennis

Eric

Bass

Morris D Robinson

Commander

Frederick Ballentine

Trainer

Conductor

Daniela Candillari

Stage director

Michael Mayer

Set designer

Mimi Lien

Costume designer

Tom Broecker

Lighting designer

Kevin Adams

Choreographer

David Neumann

Dramaturge

Paul Cremo

Kyle Miller

Sensor

The Metropolitan Opera

Washington National Opera

Michael Butler

Kill Chain: Mission Coordinator

Video designer

Kaitlyn Pietras

Jason H Thompson

Sound designer

Palmer Hefferan

Chorus master

Steven Gathman

Soprano

Teresa Perrotta

Also Jess

Child vocalist

Willa Cook

Joshua Dennis

Kill Chain: Ground Control

Baritone

Rob McGinness

Kill Chain: Joint Terminal Attack Controller

Jonathan Patton

Kill Chain: Safety Observer

Sergio Martinez Salazar

Kill Chain: Judge Advocate General

Orchestra

Washington National Opera Orchestra

Others

Washington National Opera Chorus

English

Grounded

Washington D.C.

United States

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Grounded Tesori

Public

Private

Approved

Jess is a hot shot F-16 fighter pilot, an elite warrior trained for the sky. When an unexpected pregnancy grounds her, she’s reassigned to the “chair force” to control drones in Afghanistan from the comfort of a trailer in Las Vegas. But war “with all the benefits of home” isn’t clear-cut. As Jess tracks terrorists by day and rocks her daughter to sleep by night, the boundary between her worlds becomes dangerously permeable.

From Tony Award®–winning composer Jeanine Tesori (WNO’s acclaimed Blue in our 2022–2023 season) comes the unmissable world premiere of Grounded. Adapted from the play by George Brant and featuring his libretto, Grounded is a story about what it means to wage war at a distance abetted by technology. Mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo stars as a pilot and mother shaken into a downward spiral as her separation between career and home crumbles. In a first for opera stages, massive LED-screen technology will immerse audiences in the psychological and social implications of war-by-proxy. What comes at the cost of technological advancement? What’s lost when technology distances us from the horror of war? And what price is inflicted upon the operator of a lone drone in a blue sky?

Commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera
Developed by the Metropolitan Opera/Lincoln Center Theater New Works Program

Grounded is a co-production of the Metropolitan Opera and Washington National Opera.

Music by Jeanine Tesori / Libretto based on the stage play by George Brant
In English with Projected English Titles

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble

Co-Producer