Luminary Composition Teacher Nadia Boulanger’s Only Opera Has US Premiere

Catapult Opera in New York City will stage Nadia Boulanger’s La ville morte.

What’s Up: Catapult Opera in New York City recently announced it will present Nadia Boulanger’s only opera, La ville morte, in 2024. The presentation will be the US premiere of Boulanger’s work, and will be presented as a co-production with the Greek National Opera.

Refresher: Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979) is best known as composition teacher to many of the 20th century’s starriest composers, including Philip Glass, Elliott Carter, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Grażyna Bacewicz and Quincy Jones. Yet, she was an accomplished composer and conductor in her own right. Boulanger herself studied composition with Gabriel Fauré and composed many orchestral, vocal, chamber and piano works. She was the first woman to conduct many major symphonies, including the BBC, New York Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Her opera, La ville morte (1910), was a collaboration with the pianist and composer Raoul Pugno.

Digging Deeper: Nadia Boulanger had a gift for supporting and encouraging other composers. These included her many students, her sister Lili Boulanger, and her romantic and artistic partner, Raoul Pugno. Some believe that as Lili and Pugno died, Nadia lost the will to continue creating and promoting her own works. Bravi to these two companies for continuing to support Boulanger’s important music.

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Sara Schabas

Sara Schabas is a soprano and writer born and bred in the heart of Toronto’s musical community. When she’s not singing opera, you can find her covering Carole King on the ukulele, biking through the Annex and advocating the merits of Puccini.