Kelley Rourke
Kelley Rourke is a librettist, translator and dramaturg. With composer John Glover, she wrote the opera Lucy (Milwaukee Opera Theatre, Nautilus Music-Theater, American Opera Projects, UrbanArias) and the orchestral song cycle Natural Systems (New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall, San Francisco Conservatory’s BluePrint Series); the duo teamed up with baritone/guitarist Andrew Wilkowske to create Guns ‘n Rosenkavalier (Milwaukee Opera Theatre, Mill City Opera, Rockwood Music Hall). The Glimmerglass Festival commissioned Kelley to write the youth operas Odyssey (2015), with music by Ben Moore, and Wilde Tales (2016), with music by Laura Karpman. Kelley has also created fifteen new English adaptations for standard and not-so-standard repertory, which have been heard at companies including English National Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, Washington National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, The Atlanta Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Apotheosis Opera, among others. These collaborations with dead composers have been hailed as “crackingly witty” (The Independent, London) and “remarkably well wedded to the music and versification in arias” (New York Times). Upcoming projects include Robin Hood with Ben Moore (The Glimmerglass Festival, 2017) and a new evening-length piece, with music by John Glover, for Del Sol Quartet and Jesse Blumberg. Kelley is resident dramaturg for both The Glimmerglass Festival and Washington National Opera. www.kelleyrourke.com
