American Modern Opera Company (AMOC*) founded in 2017 by Matthew Aucoin and Zack Winokur, builds and shares a body of collaborative work. As a group of dancers, singers, musicians, writers, directors, composers, choreographers, and producers united by a core set of values, AMOC* artists pool their resources to create new pathways that connect creators and audiences in surprising and visceral ways.
In 2022, AMOC* served as Music Director for the Ojai Music Festival–the second ensemble and first explicitly interdisciplinary company to hold the position in OMF’s 75-year history. Over the Festival’s four days, AMOC* offered 18 performances, eight world premieres, and six new theatrical productions. In the 2022/23 season, AMOC* premiered a new production of Harawi at Festival Aix-en-Provence, DeSingel (Antwerp), Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), and stARTfestival (Leverkusen), an affecting interpretation of Olivier Messiaen’s song cycle that breaks open its explorations of love and death into a newly physicalized and theatrical dimension; the world premiere of Bobbi Jene Smith’s Broken Theater at UNC Chapell Hill, OZ Arts in Nashville and La MaMa in New York City; a chamber version of John Adams’s El Niño, conceived by Julia Bullock, at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine; and the New York premieres of Carolyn Chen’s How to Fall Apart at the Baryshnikov Arts Center and Anthony Cheung’s the echoing of tenses at the 92nd Street Y.
Additional activities included an interdisciplinary performance residency at Brown University, a concert of new music composed by AMOC* artists at the Clark Art Institute, exhibition opening performances at Tina Kim Gallery (“House of the Inhabitant Who Refused to Participate,” curated by Charlap Hyman & Herrero) and Hauser & Wirth (Jenny Holzer’s “Demented Words”), and a closing season chamber concert featuring composers Cassandra Miller, Andrew McIntosh, Fang Man, Gabriella Ortiz, Vivaldi and AMOC* Company Members Matthew Aucoin and Doug Balliett at the Baryshnikov Arts Center.