Missy Mazzoli’s Lincoln in the Bardo Praised in the New Yorker
Bard composer in residence Missy Mazzoli
Bard Composer in Residence Missy Mazzoli’s opera Lincoln in the Bardo had its premier at the Metropolitan Opera on October 19. The New Yorker wrote a profile of Lincoln in the Bardo, which is an adaptation of a novel by George Saunders, assessing the musical, literary, and performance aspects of the opera and placing the work in the context of Mazzoli’s broader career. “Mazzoli, once best known for her indie-electro band, Victoire, has emerged as one of our leading dramatic composers, and the opera,” wrote Nathan Heller. “Lincoln in the Bardo, written with her longtime librettist, Royce Vavrek, is both her first Met commission and the company’s first première by a woman.” The premier was previously covered by Opera News.
Lincoln in the Bardo finds the former American president in a cemetery at the end of the Civil War, where he is grieving the death of his 11-year-old son, and encounters a variety of lingering ghosts. Artistic director of the Graduate Vocal Arts Program, Stephanie Blythe, is also featured in the opera. “Mazzoli, who has trained as a death doula, is known for burrowing deep into specific worlds,” writes Heller. “In Lincoln in the Bardo, she has produced a rich twenty-first-century score with musical shadows of both the Civil War era and the Halloween graveyard.”
Mazzoli is faculty member in the Bard Music Program and the Bard College Conservatory of Music, whose mission is to provide the best possible preparation for a person dedicated to a life immersed in the creation and performance of music. She teaches classes on composition and new music, as well as giving private studio instruction for composition majors at Bard.
Post Date: 11-04-2026
Lincoln in the Bardo finds the former American president in a cemetery at the end of the Civil War, where he is grieving the death of his 11-year-old son, and encounters a variety of lingering ghosts. Artistic director of the Graduate Vocal Arts Program, Stephanie Blythe, is also featured in the opera. “Mazzoli, who has trained as a death doula, is known for burrowing deep into specific worlds,” writes Heller. “In Lincoln in the Bardo, she has produced a rich twenty-first-century score with musical shadows of both the Civil War era and the Halloween graveyard.”
Mazzoli is faculty member in the Bard Music Program and the Bard College Conservatory of Music, whose mission is to provide the best possible preparation for a person dedicated to a life immersed in the creation and performance of music. She teaches classes on composition and new music, as well as giving private studio instruction for composition majors at Bard.
Post Date: 11-04-2026