- Jeanine Tesori
Grounded (2023)
- Domenico Music Notes (World)
Commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera Developed by the Metropolitan Opera/Lincoln Center Theater New Works Program Grounded is a co-production of the Metropolitan Opera and Washington National Opera.
Unavailable for performance.
- 3(III:pic).2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4.3.3.1/timp.3perc/pf(cel)/str
- Male chorus
- Treble, Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, Tenor, Tenor, Baritone, Bass
- 2 hr
- George Brant
- English
Programme Note
Cast List
Principals
JESS: Mezzo-soprano – Ace F-16 Fighter pilot reassigned to drone operation
ERIC: Tenor – Jess's husband, a rancher, passionate, midwestern, both feet on the ground
COMMANDER: Bass – 50's/60's, experienced warrior, with the nobility of a veteran of past wars
TRAINER: Tenor – 20's-30's, show off, true believer in the new technology
SENSOR: Baritone – 19-year-old dude, video game master, chews gum, into cars
SAM – Jess and Eric's 5-year-old daughter (amplified)
ALSO JESS: Soprano – Jess's dissociated self in Act II when her mental state disintegrates
Chorus (TTBarB)
Fighter Squadron, Bar Pilots, Trainees, Drone Squadron, Mall Squadron
Chorus Solo Roles
Kill Chain (offstage)
MISSION COORDINATOR: Tenor
GROUND CONTROL: Tenor
JOINT TERMINAL ATTACK CONTROLLER: Baritone
SAFETY OBSERVER: Baritone
JUDGE ADVOCATE GENERAL: Bass
SOLO PILOT 1: Tenor
SOLO PILOT 2: Tenor or Baritone
SEAT WARMER: Baritone
GROUND CREW: Spoken
Silent roles
OBSERVERS – 2 male supers, 30's-40's; stoic watchers/note-takers in dress uniform – dressed differently from pilots
Synopsis
Jess is a hot shot F-16 fighter pilot, an elite warrior trained for the sky. When an unexpected pregnancy grounds her, she’s reassigned to the “chair force” to control drones in Afghanistan from the comfort of a trailer in Las Vegas. But war “with all the benefits of home” isn’t clear-cut. As Jess tracks terrorists by day and rocks her daughter to sleep by night, the boundary between her worlds becomes dangerously permeable.
Media
Features
- 2024 Opera Highlights
- Ahead of Opera America’s 2024 Opera Conference and the World Opera Forum, Wise Music Classical invites you to explore new highlights from our opera catalogue. Across major premieres, new productions, and first recordings, our composers and their collaborators explore both timely issues and the timeless themes of love, desire, and belonging.
- New Opera Highlights from Wise Music Classical
- Wise Music Classical invites you to explore new highlights from our opera catalogue. In these recent and upcoming premieres, new productions, and premiere recordings, our composers and their creative collaborators explore subjects ranging from the historical (Hadrian, X: The Life and Times of Malcom X, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) to the futuristic (Oryx and Crake), the fantastic (El Ultimo Sueño de Frida y Diego, Florencia en el Amazonas, Die Kinder des Sultans) to the thoroughly contemporary (Grounded, Blue, Innocence, The Shell Trial). Threaded throughout these works are perennial themes of loss, longing, magic, art-making, and community.
More Info
- Washington National Opera Premieres 'Grounded' by Jeanine Tesori
- 19th September 2023
- Jeanine Tesori's Grounded receives its world premiere on October 28, 2023 with Washington National Opera at The Kennedy Center.