George Tsz-Kwan Lam
Composer
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NOA New Work Expo

 


Mister Javier’s Lesson Plan (in development)

Music by George Tsz-Kwan Lam

Mister Javier’s Lesson Plan is a new one-act chamber opera based on a story from the prose and poetry collection Antiman by queer Indo-Guyanese poet Rajiv Mohabir. In the story, Rajiv begins his first class as a second-grade ELL teacher in Brooklyn by teaching an alternative account of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in Guanahani and the devastation of the Taíno people. When Rajiv meets the father of one of his students at a parent-teacher conference, he suddenly questions whether he has gone too far. The opera interweaves the story with Mohabir’s poem “Why Whales Are Back In New York City”, in which the author imagines the return of humpback whales to Queens from the perspective of immigrants in New York.

Mister Javier’s Lesson Plan was selected as a semi-finalist in the 2023 Opera Theatre of Saint Louis New Works Collective call for proposals. This project is currently seeking new commission consortium partners.

Rajiv Mohabir (author)

George Tsz-Kwan Lam (composer)

    • Rajiv (Baritone)

    • Chorus, Assistant Principal, Amanda (soprano)

    • Chorus, Cardo (mezzo-soprano)

    • Chorus, Alonso (tenor)

    • Chorus, Mr. Colón (bass-baritone)

  • 2023-24

    • Selected as a semifinalist in the 2023 Opera Theatre of Saint Louis New Works Collective new opera competition.

    • Presented as part of the 2024 NOA Conference New Work Expo.

    • Open for co-commissioning partners to support the workshop phase.

    2024-25

    • Identify librettist and dramaturg to join the collaborative team; draft excerpts.

    • Hold workshops on excerpts with co-commissioning partners.

    • Identify partners for workshop performance.

    2026-27

    • Hold workshops on the full piano-vocal draft with co-commissioning partners.

    • Identify partners for world premiere performances.

    • Complete revisions and orchestrations.

  • Please find a full proposed scenic breakdown here.

Work Samples

Underwater Acoustics is a concert aria by George Tsz-Kwan Lam on the poem by Rajiv Mohabir. The work was composed by Lam as the 2018 composer-in-residence for the Chautauqua Opera Company.

Sissieretta Jones, Carnegie Hall, 1902: O Patria Mia (2018), on the poem by Tyehimba Jess, was written for soprano Kayla White. Below is a performance of the work in March 2019 by Kayla White and Jeremy Gill (piano), presented at the OPERA America Emerging Artist Recitals at the National Opera Center.


Heartbreak Express (2015, 55’)

Opera in One Act
Libretto by John Clum, Music by George Tsz-Kwan Lam

Robert Maril, John Callison, Karen Hayden

“... an unpretentious gem”
— James Jorden, New York Observer

Inspired partly by Tai Uhlmann’s documentary film For The Love Of Dolly, the opera follows four Dolly Parton “superfans” waiting to meet their idol for the first time. Sisters Darlene and LuAnne entered an essay contest and won the chance to meet Dolly Parton in person. Darlene thinks this encounter with Dolly will improve their lives, but LuAnne is not so sure. Longtime partners Don and Travis have amassed a vast collection of Dolly memorabilia. They poured their life savings into making a new Dolly doll and came to get Dolly’s blessing to manufacture the new dolls. The opera follows the four fans as they meet in the waiting room and ends in a quintet (with Dolly’s mysterious Assistant) as they describe their life-changing encounters with the superstar.

Heartbreak Express was premiered by Rhymes With Opera (New York, NY) and was subsequently produced by Marble City Opera (Knoxville, TN). Heartbreak Express is a featured opera in musicologist Andrew Sutherland’s 2022 monograph Queer Opera.

Cast

  • LuAnne (Soprano)

  • Darlene (Mezzo-Soprano)

  • Assistant (Countertenor)

  • Travis (Baritone)

  • Don (Bass-Baritone)

Performances

  • World Premiere: November 2015 (Rhymes With Opera, New York, NY)

  • Tennessee Premiere: October 2022 (Marble City Opera, Knoxville, TN)

Work Samples

Website

Reviews


Rumpelstiltskin (2018, 60’)

Opera in One Act
Libretto by John Clum, Music by Ruby Fulton and George Tsz-Kwan Lam

Robert Maril and Elisabeth Halliday-Quan as Rumpelstiltskin

The story of Rumpelstiltskin, collected by the Brothers Grimm, dates as far back as the 17th century. In this 21st-century adaptation, a wicked witch cursed two unsuspecting people to join together as one creature named Rumpelstiltskin. To earn their freedom, they must take a child from their mother and break her heart. However, the two will be cursed forever if anyone learns their name. Rumpelstiltskin bargains with a young woman and grants her the power to turn straw into gold. In return, they ask for her first-born child. When she refuses, Rumpelstiltskin gives her a seemingly impossible way out: “Find my name, and you may keep your child!” There is also a special surprise: the audience becomes the chorus!

Cast

  • Woman/Rumpelstiltskin (Soprano)

  • Girl/Queen (Soprano)

  • Witch/Father/King (Tenor)

  • Man/Rumpelstiltskin (Baritone)

Performances

  • World Premiere: May 2018 (Rhymes With Opera, New York, NY)

Work Samples

Website