Organization

Conductor

Joshua Horsch

Stage director

Audrey Chait

Singer

Tenor

Dylan Morrongiello

Miles Zegner

Soprano

Christina Mancheni

Mrs Johannes Zegner

Baritone

Joseph Lodato

Mr Johannes Zegner

Mezzo-soprano

Kayla Wilkens

Zegner Sister 1

Hilary Grace Taylor

Zegner Sister 2

Bass

William Meinert

The Sodbuster

Opera Las Vegas

English

Proving Up

Las Vegas

United States

Proving Up Mazzoli

Public

Approved

In this haunting and harrowing tale, composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek compel you to discover the brooding heart of the American Dream. With a chilling investigation into the physical and emotional hardship of settling the West, this piece is a riveting counterpoint to the often overly glamorized backward glances.

The Homestead Act of 1862 — by which settlers, mainly west of the Mississippi River, could acquire public land they’d farmed, or “prove up” — contained an odd provision: To be considered for the land grant, the homesteads, among other requirements, had to include a glass window. Based on a true story, Ms. Mazzoli conjures aural bleakness with an uncanny, confident mixture of instrumental savagery and eerie lightness. The shadowy sound of guitars drifts through the music; chaotic refractions of hoedown fiddling occasionally explode within a landscape of jittery unease. Mazzoli’s colorful, fragmentary, and evocative contemporary score perfectly complements Vavrek’s terse, cogent texts.

Proving Up by Mazzoli, From (2022/2022), Directed by Audrey Chait,, Conductor Joshua Horsch

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Program, About & Synopsis

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues