Jeanine Tesori

b. 1961

American

Summary

Jeanine Tesori is an award-winning composer of musical theatre and opera. Along with Missy Mazzoli, Tesori is one of the first female composers commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera.

Tesori's operas include Blue (libretto by Tazewell Thompson) premiered in July 2019 at Glimmerglass Opera with future performances at Washington National Opera and Chicago Lyric Opera; A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck (libretto by Tony Kushner) premiered at Glimmerglass Opera in 2011; The Lion, The Unicorn and Me (libretto by J.D. McClatchy on the book by Jeanette Winterson) premiered at Washington National Opera in 2013; and the forthcoming Grounded (libretto by George Brant based on his play).

Best known for her musical theater works her award-winning catalog includes Fun Home (Tony Award, Pulitzer finalist); Caroline, or Change (Olivier Award); Violet; Shrek; Thoroughly Modern Millie; Twelfth Night; A Free Man of Color; and by The Public at Central Park: Mother Courage. She is currently the Supervising Vocal Producer for Steven Spielberg's forthcoming film of West Side Story. She is also the founding Artistic Director of Encores! Off-Center, and a lecturer at Yale University.

News

Performances

There are no upcoming performances

Features

  • Opera Highlights Summer Fall 2024
    • Opera Highlights Summer Fall 2024
    • 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.
  • Celebrating Women Composers
  • New Opera Highlights from Wise Music Classical
    • 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.
  • The Best Recordings of 2022 from Wise Music Classical
  • International Women's Day 2020
    • International Women's Day 2020
    • This International Women’s Day, we have released an update of our Celebrating Women Composers: A Timeline interactive brochure. Read the feature to find out more.

Photos

Discography