The Opera America Female Composer Grant will provide funds for new opera

USC School of Music faculty member, Fang Man, was a recipient of an Opera America Female Composer Grant to have her new opera, “Golden Lily,” produced.

The grant is meant to find women who write operas, raise their profiles within the field, and commission works from them. Composers must be able to document their ability to compose theatrical works for the classically trained voice and instrumental ensemble.

The organization announced the first group of recipients of its Opera Grants for Female Composers on April 1. Eight composers and their proposed projects were chosen from among 112 eligible applicants. Each will receive a $12,500 grant to help develop her opera.

In addition to financial assistance, grant recipients will be introduced to leaders in the field through a feature in Opera America magazine, and at future New Works Forum meetings and annual conferences. Supported works will be considered for presentation as part of the New Works Forum in January 2015 and New Works Samplers at future annual conferences.

Opera America provides opera companies with administrative, technical and financial support, as well as educational projects. Their new grant program, Opera Grants for Female Composers, is a two-year program underwritten by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.

The winning composers and their projects are: Anna Clyne (“As Sudden Shut”); Michelle DiBucci (“Charlotte Salomon: Death and the Painter”); Laura Kaminsky (“As One”); Kristin Kuster (“Old Presque Isle”); Anne LeBaron (“Psyche & Delia”); Fang Man (“Golden Lily”); Sheila Silver (“A Thousand Splendid Suns”); and Luna Pearl Woolf (“The Pillar”).

The adjudication panel included the vocal coach Susan Ashbaker; the composers Douglas Cuomo and David T. Little; the mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer; and the librettist and composer Gene Scheer.