Heartbeat Opera: The Extinctionist

The first installment of PS21's Modern Opera Fest will inaugurate the summer 2021 season. The Extinctionist, composed by Daniel Schlosberg with a libretto by Amanda Quaid, will be developed in a semi-staged presentation in spring 2021 at PS21 in Chatham, NY -- the premiere of the full production is planned for spring 2022. The 60-minute one-act opera is scored for four singers and four multi-instrumentalist players. Schlosberg’s music follows Quaid’s tightly-drawn libretto, from contemporary small talk to roiling dreamscape, its acute style encompassing witty gesture, expressionist stichomythia, and full-on dramatic pathos in the tradition of opera’s great mad scenes. Surrounded by apple orchards and acres of beautiful land, the open-air pavilion at PS21 is a poignant place to begin our journey on this piece questioning motherhood, climate collapse, and our relationship to nature.