Stonewall (opera)

[2] Stonewall was commissioned by New York City Opera (NYCO), and features music by Iain Bell, libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winning Mark Campbell, and direction by Leonard Foglia.

The NYCO relaunched from bankruptcy in January 2016 and had to cut the schedule from sixteen performances of four operas in 2017–18 to just Stonewall this season, plus several works in smaller venues.

[19] Stonewall was commissioned by the NYCO and its General Director Michael Capasso who matched up composer Iain Bell, and librettist Mark Campbell.

[19] Campbell based the characters on “the diverse people I’ve had the privilege to know and love as a gay man who has lived in downtown New York for several decades”, from his imagination rather than composites.

[20] He wrote two jukebox songs, recorded with iconic girl group legend Darlene Love, with lyrics by Campbell opening Part II.