Stewart Wallace (born 1960,

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

) is an American composer and

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. In formal Jewish worship, a cantor is a person who sings solo verses or passages to which the choir or congregation responds. In Judaism, a cantor sings and lead ...

Biography

The son of Marsha J. Wallace and Dr. Sidney Wallace, Wallace is one of three siblings in his family. Wallace attended the University of Texas at Austin. Without formal training in composition, Wallace has spent much of his career composing experimental

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

s, from the dance-centered ''Kabbalah'' (1989) to the surrealist ''Hopper's Wife'' (1992). Two of his operas have been premiered at the Houston Grand Opera, '' Where's Dick?'' (1989) and ''

Harvey Milk Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk was born and raised in ...

'' (1995). His opera '' The Bonesetter's Daughter'' is based on the novel of the same name by

Amy Tan Amy Ruth Tan (born on February 19, 1952) is an American author known for the novel '' The Joy Luck Club,'' which was adapted into a film of the same name, as well as other novels, short story collections, and children's books. Tan has written ...

, who wrote the opera's libretto. ''The Bonesetter's Daughter'' premiered at

San Francisco Opera San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when h ...

in 2008. In 2010, Wallace was in a bicycle accident that resulted in traumatic brain injury and prevented him from composing, for a five-year period. Wallace and Korie prepared a revised 2-act version of ''Harvey Milk'' for Opera Parallèle in San Francisco, who jointly commissioned the revision with

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL) is an American summer opera festival held in St. Louis, Missouri. Typically four operas, all sung in English, are presented each season, which runs from late May to late June. Performances are accompanied by th ...

, with an intended premiere performance run in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic caused the postponement of this scheduled San Francisco production. The revised 2-act version of ''Harvey Milk'' received its premiere at

on 11 June 2022. Wallace married the US television journalist Dianne Festa in 1999.

References

External links

Official website of Stewart Wallace

Schott Music page on Stewart Wallace
1960 births 20th-century classical composers American male classical composers American classical composers American opera composers Male opera composers Jewish American classical composers Jewish classical musicians Living people Musicians from Philadelphia 21st-century classical composers 21st-century American composers 20th-century American composers Classical musicians from Pennsylvania 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American Jews {{opera-bio-stub