The Mannes Opera is led by managing artistic director Emma Griffin and operates within the College of Performing Arts at The New School. With a curiosity for the new and a devotion to craft, we are a training program for operatic artists of the 21st century.
Opera is the art of the present. We are making contemporary art in deep engagement with the present moment. We engage with the rich tradition of classical repertoire as a means of better understanding the world today.
We nurture whole artists. Singers are makers, musicians, and storytellers. We train students to be professional artists with agency and control over what they do and how they do it. The better our students know who they are, what they want, and where they excel, the better prepared they are to create the artistic work of the 21st century.
We draw on the best opera and theater makers NYC has to offer. We put our students into direct contact with leading professionals in the performing arts. Collaboration challenges our students to work with greater rigor and commitment, knowing that they are part of the fabric of NYC's performing arts community.
Our deep commitment to teaching, producing, and supporting contemporary opera is combined with a rigorous curriculum that grounds our work in the rich history of the operatic canon. We recognize that the work of today is in contact communication with the work from our past; we are musicians and storytellers who use the medium of opera to innovate, improvise, and create.
For questions about The Mannes Opera, please email us at mannesopera@newschool.edu. To learn more about applying to Mannes, visit our admissions page or email performingarts@newschool.edu.
The New School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.