A CENTURY OF CREATIVITY
THE MACDOWELL COLONY 1907-2007

Final dress rehearsal for the world premiere of Our Town

Photo from Rorem's production of 'Old Town'

enlarge imageFinal dress rehearsal for the world premiere of Our Town
Ric Cradick.
by the Indiana University Opera Theater, February 24, 2006.
Photograph.  Ned Rorem Collection,
Music Division, Library of Congress. (82)
Digital ID #mc0082

Our Town

Many composers wanted to turn Our Town into an opera, but Thornton Wilder refused them all—including Aaron Copland, who wrote the film score for the 1940 movie version.  In 2001, Wilder’s nephew and literary executor, Tappan Wilder, granted permission for the first operatic rendition of Our Town.  Premiered in 2006 by the Indiana University Opera Theater, Our Town, the opera, features a libretto by J. D. McClatchy and a score by Ned Rorem—both MacDowell Colony Fellows.

Courtesy of Indiana University Opera Theater

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