''As One'' is a

chamber opera Chamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra. Early 20th-century operas of this type include Paul Hindemith's ''Cardillac'' (1926). Earlier small-scale operas such as Pergoles ...

for two voices and a string quartet composed and created by

Laura Kaminsky Laura Kaminsky (born September 28, 1956) is an American composer, producer of musical and multi-disciplinary cultural events, and educator. She was born in New York City, graduated from the High School of Music and Art, and studied with Joseph ...

with librettists Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed. It is a

coming-of-age story In genre studies, a coming-of-age story is a genre of literature, theatre, film, and video game that focuses on the growth of a protagonist from childhood to adulthood, or "coming of age". Coming-of-age stories tend to emphasize dialogue or internal ...

about

transgender woman A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and som ...

Hannah, depicting her journey through her transition. The opera premiered in September of 2014 at the

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...

Roles

Synopsis

Hannah is a

(portrayed by two singers, Hannah Before (a

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

) and Hannah After (a

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...

)). During the scenes, Hannah discovers her

gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the i ...

and learns to love herself in a world where she is not accepted. The opera is approximately 75 minutes long."The Arc of a Transgender Life – ''As One'' Has Its Premiere in Brooklyn"
by David Allen, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', September 5, 2014 The opera is composed of two parts. Each part represents essential moments of Hannah's

coming of age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

through a series of episodes.

Part I

The first section of the opera describes Hannah's feeling of unease in her

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

and loneliness in the world. In the climax of Part I, she is reassured that she is not alone and learns she is not the only person to feel this way.

Part II

In the second part, Hannah is experiencing life in a far larger and more complicated world. She experiences college,

hormone therapy Hormone therapy or hormonal therapy is the use of hormones in medical treatment. Treatment with hormone antagonists may also be referred to as hormonal therapy or antihormone therapy. The most general classes of hormone therapy are oncologic horm ...

, and her complicated relationship with her family. In a review for ''OperaWire'', David Salazar describes the section as follows: "We see her navigate two cities, the distance from her loved ones, and the danger of an assault before eventually escaping to nature to find the equation that will help her find her happiness."

Music and Instrumentation

The opera is scored for a

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

and two singers, and consists of 15 discrete songs which depict important moments in Hannah's life throughout her coming-of-age story.

Selected past productions

Recording

Critical reception

The critical reception for this opera was positive. The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' stated that ''As One'' has a "warm heart" and "approaches admirable universality." ''

Opera News ''Opera News'' is an American classical music magazine. It has been published since 1936 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, a non-profit organization located at Lincoln Center which was founded to engender the appreciation of opera and also support ...

'' described the music as "grounded by a rhythmic pulse that, like Hannah, retains its core identity but transitions through the opera from driving

pizzicato Pizzicato (, ; translated as "pinched", and sometimes roughly as "plucked") is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of instrument : * On bowed ...

s to a hypnotizing

ostinato In music, an ostinato (; derived from Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces include ...

", and stated that the opera "haunts and challenges its audience with questions about identity, authenticity, compassion and the human desire for self-love and peace.""''As One'' review"
by Steven Jude Tietjen, ''

'', December 2014 ''

'' said that the score "has deliberately ugly moments of slips and slides, but generally pulsates in a light

post-Minimalism Postminimalism is an art term coined (as post-minimalism) by Robert Pincus-Witten in 1971Chilvers, Ian and Glaves-Smith, John, ''A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art'', second edition (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), p. ...

", and that "''As One'' forces you to think, simultaneously challenging preconceptions and inspiring empathy." ''Washington Post'' praised the opera, saying "As One, which opened last weekend… proved to be a thoughtful and substantial piece as well as that rarest of operatic commodities — a story that lends itself to dramatization in music." ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' described its music as portraying "fiddling and

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

; now, through halting dissonances, the pain of a difficult place in the road; now, through the juxtaposition of plucked violin and singing cello, the exploration of two voices merging into a single identity." For the ''Long Beach Opera'' review'','' Bondo Wyszpolski stated that "This opera doesn’t preach or ask for our pity, but lures us with its compelling story of discovery and growth and even fulfillment. We feel compassion and gain a greater understanding of the human condition, regardless of who or what that person is."

References

External links

Score and libretto, Bill Holab Music

Musical highlights on SoundCloud

Official website
{{Portal bar, Opera English-language operas Operas 2014 operas Chamber operas LGBT-related operas Transgender-related theatre Operas set in the United States Operas by Laura Kaminsky