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Stephen Schwartz
Schwartz receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, April 8, 2008
Background information
Born	(1948-03-06) March 6, 1948 (age 64) New York City
Genres	Theater/Film
Occupations	Lyricist, Composer
Years active	1970–present

Stephen Lawrence Schwartz (born March 6, 1948) is an American musical theatre lyricist and composer. In a career spanning over four decades, Schwartz has written such hit musicals as Godspell (1971), Pippin (1972) and Wicked (2003). He has also contributed lyrics for a number of successful films, including Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), The Prince of Egypt (1998; music and lyrics) and Enchanted (2007). Schwartz has won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics, three Grammy Awards, three Academy Awards and has been nominated for six Tony Awards.

Early life and education[link]

Schwartz was born in New York City, the son of Sheila Lorna (née Siegal), a teacher, and Stanley Leonard Schwartz, who worked in business.^[1] He grew up in the Williston Park area of Nassau County, New York, where he graduated from Mineola High School in 1964.^[2] He also studied piano and composition at the Juilliard School while attending high school.^[3] Schwartz graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 1968 with a BFA in drama.^[4]

Early career[link]

Upon returning to New York City, Schwartz went to work as a producer for RCA Records, but shortly thereafter began to work in the Broadway theatre. He was asked to be the musical director of the first American rock opera, The Survival of Saint Joan. He was credited as the producer of the double album of the soundtrack with the progressive rock group Smoke Rise on Paramount Records. His first major credit was the title song for the play Butterflies Are Free; the song was eventually used in the movie version as well.

In 1971, he wrote music and new lyrics for Godspell, for which he won several awards including two Grammys. This was followed by the English-language texts, in collaboration with Leonard Bernstein, for Bernstein's Mass, which opened the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. In 1972, the long-running Pippin premiered on Broadway. Schwartz had begun writing songs for Pippin while in college, although none of the songs from the college version ended up in the Broadway production. Both Pippin and Godspell continue to be frequently produced.

Two years after Pippin debuted, Schwartz wrote music and lyrics of The Magic Show, which ran for just under 2,000 performances. By mid-1974, at age 26, Schwartz had three smash hit musicals playing in New York simultaneously. Next were the music and lyrics of The Baker's Wife, which closed before reaching Broadway after an out-of-town tryout tour in 1976. However, the cast album went on to attain cult status, which lead to several subsequent productions, including a London production directed by Trevor Nunn in 1990 and, in 2005, a highly–acclaimed production at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey.

In 1978, Schwartz's next Broadway project was a musical version of Studs Terkel's Working, which he adapted and directed, winning the Drama Desk Award as best director, and for which he contributed four songs. He also co-directed the television production, which was presented as part of the PBS "American Playhouse" series. In 1977, Schwartz wrote a children's book called The Perfect Peach. In the 1980s, Schwartz wrote songs for a one-act musical for children, The Trip, which 20 years later was revised, expanded and produced as Captain Louie. He then wrote music for three of the songs of the Off-Broadway revue, Personals, and lyrics of Charles Strouse's music for the musical Rags.

Later career[link]

In 1991, Schwartz wrote the music and lyrics for the popular musical Children of Eden. He then began working in film, collaborating with composer Alan Menken on the scores for the Disney animated features Pocahontas (1995), for which he received two Academy Awards, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). He also provided songs for DreamWorks' first animated feature, The Prince of Egypt (1998), winning another Academy Award for the song When You Believe. He wrote music and lyrics for the original television musical, Geppetto (2000), seen on The Wonderful World of Disney. A stage adaptation of this piece premiered in June 2006 at The Coterie Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri, and was entitled Geppetto and Son., and is now known as Disney's My Son Pinocchio: Geppetto's Musical Tale. A version created for young performers, entitled Geppetto & Son, Jr. had its world premiere on July 17, 2009 at the Lyric Theatre in Stuart, Florida. It was presented by the StarStruck Performing Arts Center.

In 2003, Schwartz returned to Broadway, as composer and lyricist for Wicked, a musical based on the novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which tells the story of the Oz characters from the point of view of the witches. Schwartz won a Grammy Award for his work as composer and lyricist and producer of Wicked's cast recording. On March 23, 2006, the Broadway production of Wicked passed the 1,000 performance mark, making Schwartz one of four composers (the other three being Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jerry Herman, and Richard Rodgers) to have three shows last that long on Broadway (the other two were Pippin and The Magic Show). In 2007, Schwartz joined Jerry Herman as being one of only two composer/lyricists to have three shows run longer than 1,500 performances on Broadway.

After Wicked, Schwartz was tapped to contribute music and lyrics for a new musical that was commissioned to celebrate the bicentennial of the birth of Hans Christian Anderson. The production entitled Mit Eventyr or "My Fairytale" opened at the Gladsaxe Theatre in Copenhagen in the fall of 2005. The American premiere of My Fairytale took place in the summer of 2011 at the PCPA Theatrefest of California and was directed by the composer's son Scott Schwartz.

Schwartz returned to Hollywood in 2007 and wrote lyrics for the hit Disney film Enchanted, again collaborating with Menken. Three songs from the film, "Happy Working Song," "That's How You Know," and "So Close," were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. He has also written the theme song for the Playhouse Disney show Johnny and the Sprites, starring John Tartaglia. A recent project is incidental music for his son Scott Schwartz's adaptation of Willa Cather's My Ántonia.

In 2008, Applause Theatre and Cinema Books published the first ever Schwartz biography entitled Defying Gravity, by Carol de Giere. The book is a comprehensive look at his career and life, and also includes sections on how to write for the musical theatre.

Turning to the pop world in 2009, Schwartz collaborated with John Ondrasik in writing two songs on the Five for Fighting album Slice, the title track as well as "Above the Timberline." Ondrasik became familiar with Schwartz based on his daughter's affection for, and repeated attendance at performances of, the musical Wicked.

In September 2011, the Northlight Theatre in Chicago premiered Schwartz's new musical, Snapshots which featured music and lyrics by Schwartz, book by David Stern, and was directed by Ken Sawyer. It blended together "some of the best-loved music with some of the genuinely wonderful lesser known gems of (the) renowned Broadway composer".^[5]

On March 22, 2012, the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus released Testimony, composed by Schwartz with lyrics taken from submissions to Dan Savage's It Gets Better project. ^[6]

Awards and nominations[link]

Schwartz has won many major awards in his field, including three Oscars, four Grammys, four Drama Desk Awards, one Golden Globe Award, the Richard Rodgers Award for Excellence in Musical Theater and a self-described "tiny handful of tennis trophies".^[7]

He has received six Tony Award nominations, for Wicked, Pippin, and Godspell, music/lyrics; Rags, lyrics; and Working, music/lyrics, and book.^[8]

In April 2008, Schwartz was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2009, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame,^[9] and in January 2010 he was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.^[10]

Personal life[link]

Schwartz married Carole Piasecki on June 6, 1969. They have two childen, Jessica and Scott.^[1]

Major works[link]

Stage[link]

• Butterflies Are Free (1969) title song (play and movie)
• Godspell (1971) composer, lyricist
• Mass (1971) English texts (in collaboration with Leonard Bernstein)
• Pippin (1972) composer, lyricist
• The Magic Show (1974) composer, lyricist
• The Baker's Wife (1976) composer, lyricist
• Working (1978) adaptation, direction, composer, lyricist of 4 songs
• Personals (1985) composer of 3 songs
• The Trip (1986) children's show – composer, lyricist
• Mayor (1985) lyricist
• Rags (1986) lyricist
• Children of Eden (1991) composer, lyricist
• Der Glöckner von Notre Dame (1999 Berlin) lyricist to Alan Menken (stage version of Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame); Michael Kunze translated the lyrics to German
• Wicked (2003) composer, lyricist
• Tiruvasakam – 2005 English translation of selected verses of the Tamil hymn on Lord Siva by Manickavasagar; Indian composer Ilaiyaraaja wrote the music.
• Snapshots (2005)
• Captain Louie (2005)
• Mit Eventyr – My Fairy Tale (2005) (contributed 6 songs)
• Séance on a Wet Afternoon (2009), opera^[11]
• Houdini (2013/2014)^[12]

Recordings[link]

• Reluctant Pilgrim (1997)
• Uncharted Territory (2001)

Books[link]

• The Perfect Peach (1977) children's book
• Defying Gravity (2008) Biography

Film[link]

• Godspell (1973) composer, lyricist
• Pocahontas (1995) lyricist
• The Rock (1996) main theme arranger
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) lyricist
• The Prince of Egypt (1998) composer, lyricist
• Enchanted (2007) lyricist

Television[link]

• Working, director
• Geppetto (2000) composer, lyricist
• Johnny and the Sprites (2005) theme song

Choral[link]

• The Chanukah Song (We are Lights)
• Kéramos
• Testimony (2012)

References[link]

Sources[link]

• Anderson, Ruth. Contemporary American composers. A biographical dictionary, 1st edition, G. K. Hall, 1976.
• Green, Stanley; Taylor, Deems. The world of musical comedy. The story of the American musical stage. As told through the careers of its foremost composers and lyricist, A. S. Barnes, 1980.
• Kasha, Al. Notes on Broadway. Conversations with the great songwriters, Books, Inc., 1985.
• Press, Jaques Cattell (Ed.). ASCAP Biographical Dictionary of Composers, Authors and Publishers, fourth edition, R. R. Bowker, 1980.
• Suskin, Steven. Show tunes 1905–1991. The songs, shows and careers of broadway's major composers, Limelight Editions, 1992.

External links[link]

• Stephen Schwartz official site home page
• Stephen Schwartz official fan site
• The Schwartz Scene blog with podcasts of Stephen Schwartz talks
• Stephen Schwartz Interview for MusicalTalk
• Stephen Schwartz's audition tips at MusicalSingers.com
• Musical writing tips from Stephen Schwartz at MusicalWriters.com

Stephen Schwartz may refer to:

• Stephen Schwartz (composer) (born 1948), American musical theater and film lyricist and composer
• Stephen Suleyman Schwartz (born 1948), journalist, political author, and historian
• Steven Schwartz (vice-chancellor) (born 1946), vice-chancellor of Macquarie University in Australia
• Steve Schwartz, founder of software recovery company Unitrends
• Stephen E. Schwartz (born 1941), atmospheric scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory

See also[link]

• Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz, American Magic: The Gathering player

This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Ernie Manouse (born September 1, 1969 in Binghamton, New York) is an American television host, radio personality, writer and producer. He currently hosts the interview show InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse, produced by HoustonPBS. His work with HoustonPBS has met critical acclaim in the southern United States, earning him numerous KATIE awards and regional Emmy Awards ^[1][2]

Early life[link]

Manouse was born Ernest David Manouse in Binghamton, New York. He is of Greek descent. He attended Loyola University Chicago and studied to be a music video director. While in college, he guest-hosted Outlook, a Chicago-based radio show, with a classmate. Their radio presentation received such a positive reaction that Outlook hired them permanently.^[1]

Career[link]

Manouse began his career in television with NBC Network News, then moved into radio withWLS and WLUW in Chicago, and then back to TV at HoustonPBS. Ernie has since worked his way through many aspects of talk shows – from producing sex therapy call-in radio shows Sex Talk and The Phyllis Levy Show to hosting his own brand of chat and magazine programs.^[1] He can also be seen on PBS Stations across the country hosting numerous pledge and entertainment specials, including three of public television’s most successful pledge events with financial guru Suze Orman.

In 1996, Ernie moved to Houston, Texas and spent six years hosting and producing the daily magazine program WeekNight Edition which evolved into WeekDAY and became Houston’s most celebrated local television program, earning multiple Emmy and Houston Press Club awards. Manouse shared with Matthew Brawley the 2006 Katie Award for "Outstanding Interview/Talk Show" for the Southern region.^[3] In October 2002, Manouse helped to create and produce the local prime time magazine show The Connection, which he hosted for two years.^[4] In 2004, Manouse launched the syndicated series InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse.^[5] This award winning series is distributed nationally to PBS stations across the country, and airs in more than 100 cities in the U.S. and the Virgin Islands.^[4] The show features Manouse in unedited, one-on-one interviews with noted personalities such as Patti LuPone and Jamie Foxx. Manouse thoroughly researches his guests before interviewing them, and arranges an informal setting to encourage spontaneous discussion.^[1] Another area of broadcasting that Manouse has explored is late night talk, and on February 9, 2005, Manouse launched The After Party, combining arts coverage and light-hearted interviews reminiscent of Johnny Carson and Jack Parr.^[6] The show received positive reviews from both critics and audiences alike, garnering the coveted Emmy nomination for "Best Entertainment/Variety program" in its first season. The program ended its run on November 15, 2006 after over 50 episodes.

In 2006, Manouse produced and anchored A Conversation on RACE for HoustonPBS. He also produced the political Red, White & Blue and moderated the 2002 Houston Mayoral Debates, the 2008 Texas Supreme Court Judicial Debate, and the 2008 Texas US Senate Debate. In 2009, Manouse became the anchor and producer of Houston 8, a weekly current events discussion series. He also hosted the 2009 HoustonPBS Spelling Bee, the largest regional qualifying spelling bee for the national Scripps Spelling Bee.^[1]

After seven nominations for the Lone Star (Texas) regional chapter of the Emmy Awards, Manouse won three Emmys in 2009. He won for Best Information Series and Best On-Air Talent. He also won an Emmy for his work on the Houston Spelling Bee in the category of Best Event Coverage.^[7] Manouse is also a voice actor. He has done the English voiceovers for over a dozen Japanese anime videos produced by ADV Films including Gilgamesh, Le Chevalier D'Eon and Cromartie High School.^[2]

Community involvement[link]

Manouse is an active member of the Houston LGBT community. Manouse has hosted community events such as the U.S. Military Ball, and The Cattle Baron’s Ball. He serves on the advisory board of both Stages Repertory Theatre and Dominic Walsh Dance Theater. He served as Vice President of Public Affairs for the Greater Houston United Services Organization (USO).^[1] He was also vice president of the Houston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

References[link]

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "Ernie Manouse". Houston ARCH. http://houstonarch.pbworks.com/Ernie-Manouse. Retrieved 2010-05-11. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "IMDB". http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1966471/. Retrieved 2010-05-11. 
3. ^ 2006 Katie Award: Press Club of Dallas (2006-11-19). "Winners of the 2006 Katie Awards" (PDF). Press release. Retrieved 2007-04-22.
4. ^ ^{a b} "HoustonPBS". http://www.houstonpbs.org/site/PageServer?pagename=con_innerviews_ernie. Retrieved 2010-02-25. 
5. ^ HoustonPBS (January 2004). "InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse" (MS-Word). Press release. Retrieved 2007-04-22.
6. ^ HoustonPBS (January 2005). "The After Party" (PDF). Press release. Retrieved 2007-04-21.
7. ^ http://www.lonestaremmy.org/_archives/2009_winners.php

External links[link]

• [1] USO Houston
• [2] InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse
• [3] Houston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
• [4] Ernie Manouse's website

Diane Paulus (born 1966 in New York City, USA) is an American director of theater and opera^[1] who became Artistic Director of the American Repertory Theater (ART) at Harvard University in 2009.^[1] Paulus was nominated for the Best Director Tony Award for her revival of Hair. She has received the 2009 Harvard College Women’s Leadership Award and the Columbia University IAL Diamond Award.^[2]

Education[link]

Paulus attended the Brearley School, studied dance at New York City Ballet and trained in classical piano.^[1] In 1988, she graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a Bachelor's degree in Social Studies and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa.^[3] She earned a Master's degree from the Columbia University School of the Arts.^[1]

Career[link]

Paulus and her husband, Randy Weiner, along with a few other theater school graduates established a small theater troupe in New York City called Project 400 Theatre Group.^[1][4] With Project 400, Paulus and Weiner specialized in creating avante-garde musical productions which married classic theater and modern music.^[5] Paulus' first production with the group was a rock version of The Tempest.^[5] Other productions included an R&B Phaedra and a hip-hop Lohengrin.^[5]

In collaboration with Weiner, Paulus co-created The Donkey Show, a disco adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream which ran off-Broadway from 1999 to 2005.^[6] Critics cited the production as an exemplary of a trend in which edgy avante-garde theater had become fashionably mainstream.^[7]

In May 2008, Paulus was named the artistic director for the Harvard University American Repertory Theater. Harvard chose Paulus after a 16-month search to replace Robert Woodruff in an effort to revitalize the program.^[8] Paulus' first production was a revival of The Donkey Show.^[6] Paulus previously taught courses at Columbia and Yale University.^[8]

Paulus was selected by American Theatre magazine as one of the 25 theatre artists who were asked to share their vision of coming developments in the next 25 years in the theatre world.^[9] In her comments she talks about her goal to "revolutionize" the theatre experience by making it more interactive, letting the audience participate and making theatre content more "open source."

In 2010, Paulus directed Il mondo della luna (The World on the Moon), an opera by Joseph Haydn, in the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History. A Gotham Chamber Opera, in partnership with the Museum and in association with American Repertory Theater, Paulus' production fused live opera and stargazing using the 180-degree dome with projections courtesy of NASA. Video of Il mondo della luna

Paulus was slated to direct Paul Simon's The Capeman at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park for the Public Theater in August 2010.^[10]

In 2011, at the American Repertory Theater,she staged a production of the opera The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, which transferred to Broadway in 2012 and will be going on national tour in 2013.

Personal[link]

Paulus was born Diane Marie Paulus in New York City in 1966, the daughter of a New York television producer. On October 1, 1995, she married fellow Harvard graduate Randy Weiner.^[3] They have two daughters.

Selected works directed[link]

• The Donkey Show, a disco adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream which ran off-Broadway from 1999 to 2005. It was revived in 2009 for Paulus' first production as director of the ART.^[6]
• The 40th Anniversary Concert Production of Hair at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park for the Public Theater as well as the subsequent production of Hair on Broadway which won a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical and for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Director.
• Another Country by James Baldwin at Riverside Church
• Turandot: Rumble for the Ring at the Bay Street Theatre.
• The Golden Mickeys for Disney Creative Entertainment.
• Best of Both Worlds, a gospel/R&B adaptation of A Winter’s Tale produced by Music-Theatre Group and The Women’s Project. Co-written by Diedre Murray. It was revived in 2010 at the ART.
• The Karaoke Show, an adaptation of Comedy of Errors set in a karaoke bar, produced by Jordan Roth Productions.
• Running Man by jazz composer and frequent collaborator Diedre Murray and poet Cornelius Eady.
• Swimming with Watermelons, created in association with Project 400, the theater company she co-founded with her husband Randy Weiner.
• Brutal Imagination.
• The Obie-award winning Eli's Comin, featuring the music and lyrics of Laura Nyro.
• At Chicago Opera Theater: Le Nozze Di Figaro, Turn Of The Screw, Cosi Fan Tutte, and all three Monteverdi opera, Il Ritorno D’Ulisse In Patria, L’Incoronazione Di Poppea, and Orfeo.^[11]
• Johnny Baseball 2010 Play at the ART.^[12]
• Amaluna The 2012 Cirque Du Soleil touring show. ^[13]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Diane Paulus website
• IBDB page
• American Repertory Theater

Lauren Flanigan (born May 18, 1959) is an American operatic soprano who has had an active international career since the 1980s. She has enjoyed a particularly fruitful partnership with the New York City Opera, appearing with the company almost every year since 1990. She has sung more than 100 different opera roles on stage during her career, often appearing in contemporary works or more rarely staged operas.^[1] Opera News stated that, "Flanigan has enjoyed one of the most distinctive careers of any artist of her generation, one marked by a high volume of contemporary works. Modern composers love her because of her innate musicality, dramatic power and lightning-fast skills and instincts."^[2]

Education and early career[link]

Flanigan was born in San Francisco, California, the daughter of Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch parents. In 1971, at the age of 12, she appeared as Flora in Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw with the San Francisco Western Opera Theatre. Her portrayal of Flora resulted in being offered a full scholarship to study music, violin and voice in the pre-college program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. While there she studied voice with Alice Taylor. She went on to earn a Bachelor of Music degree from Boston University where she was a voice student of Mac Morgan.^[3] She pursued graduate studies in vocal performance with Judith Raskin at the Manhattan School of Music, earning a Master of Music degree in 1984.^[4] In 1986 she was accepted as a post graduate student in voice at the Juilliard School.

Flanigan credits much of her early experience to the singular interest of Dr. Robert Larsen of the Des Moines Metro Opera where in 1985 she was cast as Clorinda in Gioachino Rossini's La Cenerentola and as Curley's Wife in Carlisle Floyd's Of Mice and Men. This was followed by performances in 1987 as Musetta in Giacomo Puccini's La bohème and Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw; 1989 as Rosalinda in Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus; and 1990 in Britten's Peter Grimes. In 1986 she performed the role of Leila in Georges Bizet's Les Pecheurs de Perles for the Hawaii Opera Theatre. In 1987 she appeared in the world premiere of Stewart Wallace's Where's Dick? with Opera Omaha under the direction of Anne Bogart. She later reprised that role at the Houston Grand Opera in 1989.^[5] She returned to Omaha in 1988 to perform the role of Sophie Scholl in the United States premiere of Udo Zimmermann's Weiße Rose.^[6]

In 1990 Flanigan sang the role of Christine in Richard Strauss' Intermezzo with the Glimmerglass Opera,^[7] returning there two years later to portray the Governess in The Turn of the Screw.^[8] In 1991 she made her debut at the Seattle Opera as Donna Anna in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni, later returning there as the Governess and as Violetta in Giuseppe Verdi’s La traviata. In 1992 she sang the role of the Bride/Wife/Mother in the United States premiere of Judith Weir's The Vanishing Bridegroom at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.^[9]

Singing in New York City[link]

Flanigan made her debut at the New York City Opera (NYCO) in October 1990 as Musetta in La bohème with Jianyi Zhang as Rodolfo, Geraldine McMillian as Mimi, Peter Barcza as Marcello, and Joseph Colaneri conducting.^[10] She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera the following year as Lucienne in the world premiere of John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles. She returned to the Met in 1993 to portray the role of the Foreign Princess in Antonín Dvořák's Rusalka (with Gwynne Geyer in the title role and Ben Heppner as the Prince) and Giselda in Giuseppe Verdi's I Lombardi alla prima crociata (opposite Luciano Pavarotti and Samuel Ramey). She made her last appearance to date at the Met on October 6, 1994 as Musetta to the Mimì of Angela Gheorghiu and Rodolfo as Richard Leech.^[11]

While Flanigan's appearances at the Met have been limited, she has remained a constant presence at the NYCO for the past two decades. For this company, she created the title role in the world premiere of Hugo Weisgall's Esther on 8 October 1993^[12] and the role of Eve in the premiere of Deborah Drattell's Lilith in November 2001. Some of the other roles she has sung with the company include Ursula in Mathis der Maler (1995), the Governess in The Turn of the Screw (1996), Anna I in Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins (1997), Lady Macbeth in Giuseppe Verdi's Macbeth (1997 and 2001), Abigail Borden in Jack Beeson's Lizzie Borden (1999), Greta in Drattell's Festival of Regrets (1999), Susan B. Anthony in Virgil Thomson's The Mother of Us All (2000), Elizabeth I in Gaetano Donizetti's Roberto Devereux (2000), Marietta in Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Die tote Stadt (2001), Christine Mannon in Marvin David Levy's Mourning Becomes Electra (2003), the title role in Samuel Barber's Vanessa (2007), and Cleopatra in Barber's Antony and Cleopatra (2008–2009). She was most recently heard with the company in a revival of Weisgall's Esther in 2009 and in 2011 as Myra in Stephen Schwartz's Séance on a Wet Afternoon.^[13]

Flanigan has also appeared in numerous concerts and operas at Carnegie Hall. Carnegie Hall notably commissioned composer Philip Glass's Symphony No. 6, Plutonian Ode, specifically for her.^[14]

Other work in the United States and abroad[link]

In March 1996 Flanigan made her debut at La Scala as Abigaille in Giuseppe Verdi's Nabucco under conductor Riccardo Muti.^[15] On 6 September 1996 she made her debut at the San Francisco Opera as Yaroslavna in Alexander Borodin's Prince Igor, with Sergei Leiferkus in the title role.^[16] In 1998 she made her debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Christine Mannon in Marvin David Levy's Mourning Becomes Electra. She appeared at the Santa Fe Opera in 2000 as the Prima Donna in Hans Werner Henze's Venus und Adonis. She returned to Chicago in 2004-2005 to portray Tulip in the world premiere of William Bolcom's A Wedding.^[17] On 2 June 2007 she created the title role in the world premiere of Thomas Pasatieri’s Frau Margot at the Fort Worth Opera.^[18] She has also appeared at the Bavarian State Opera, the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and the Teatro San Carlo.^[19]

Recordings[link]

Flanigan has sung on recordings of Ned Rorem's The Sun Cantata, Amy Beach's Cabildo, Thomas Pasatieri's Frau Margot, Pasatieri's Monologues, Philip Glass's Symphony #6 Plutonian Ode, Gustav Mahler's Symphony #8, Deems Taylor's Peter Ibbetson, and Howard Hanson's Merry Mount. In 2002 her recording of Richard Strauss’s Die Liebe der Danae was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording.^[14]She can be seen as the Ice Skating Opera Diva in the major motion picture Death to Smoochy.

Awards and honours[link]

• Betty Allen Prize from the New York City Opera
• Diva Award from Emmanuel Ungaro
• An award from American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers for her commitment to performing the works of living composers.
• Artist of the Year Award from the Center for Contemporary Opera.
• She is featured in the books Bad Behavior and The Irish Face.
• Thrice named one of the “Top 100 Irish Americans” by Irish America Magazine for her concert series Comfort Ye, which raises food and clothing for New York’s homeless.^[14]
• The Spirit of the City Award from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine for enlivening the musical life of New York City.
• The Distinguished Alumni Award from Boston University.

References[link]

External links[link]

Lauren Flanigan at the Internet Movie Database