American librettist Emily Anderson has written thirteen chamber operas ranging in length from 75 to 10 minutes. Subjects include Love and Death, rape as a weapon of war, comic remakes of Don Giovanni and Giovanna d’Arco, the Second Coming, and a rollicking country house farce starring a talking rat. Her most recent is Clown Song, the story of a wily German circus master who saves two Jews from the Nazis by disguising them as clowns. She also works as a lyricist for Conspirare, an acapella choir in Austin, Texas.
Works have been performed in Paris, New York, and Beijing, as well as many towns in France and in Knoxville, Tennessee. Commissioning companies include the Paris-based Opéra de Poche, Knoxville’s Marble City Opera, and Gathering Light, a US-Paris museum coalition. Scores were set by composers Evan Fein, Larry Delinger, and Griffin Candey.
The author of The Pursuit of Happy Results and All-American Comfort Food, Emily spent a number of years in academia, then wrote for cable television. She lives in Knoxville where she serves on the Board of Directors of the Knoxville Opera Company, spends as much time as possible in Paris, and is married to the artist Barry Spann.