https://www.susanbywaters.com/home daily 1.0 2023-11-29 https://www.susanbywaters.com/works daily 0.75 2026-05-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5977b4e220099e60353203cf/49a06f09-75a8-4a8c-a964-43c5994ff606/DSC04660.jpg Works - Constance, a Confession Part IV: BAPTISM (full opera 90’; part iv 27’) photo by Silin Chen music by Jasmine Galante Experiments in Opera’s Writers’ Room 4.0 Constance, a Confession is a journey following one woman’s devotion to the long art of the con. The opera starts with a surprising act of violence in a grad school art class, and continues as Constance finds work as a psychic, becomes a wellness influencer and grows her online empire into a cult — with deadly consequences. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5977b4e220099e60353203cf/efabdb3d-81c3-46a4-89b1-d9d845bafd44/c-and-p-telephone-co-man-on-phone.jpg Works - We’re sorry to hear that 30’, SATB choir with 4 soloists using vocoder music by zachary james ritter commissioned & premiered 2026 with choral chameleon We’re sorry to hear that is a study of the dehumanization that enables those in power to maintain distance from the tragedies they create. This piece depicts conversations between four soloists (with electronic harmonizer) and a bureaucratic customer service representative, played collectively by the choir. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5977b4e220099e60353203cf/0739b234-d1c1-4298-a67f-da93cfdcd329/1024px-Image_of_a_ghost%2C_produced_by_double_exposure_in_1899.jpg Works - My wife is a ghost 70’ - opera, 7 performers music by bard college composition class commissioned and premiered 2024 by bard college Beginning with a Halloween seance, a teenager named Amelia and her friends conjure the spirit of Lizzie, the infamous ghost who haunts their town. When she appears, the teens are horrified – until they can’t get her to leave. Eventually, Amelia and her parents are forced to call Lizzie’s widower, who reveals the truth. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5977b4e220099e60353203cf/f0a1808d-4ebf-49bf-9ae5-4bf326ff6bc7/oran-missouri-waiting-room-in-doctors-office.jpg Works - an ending 12’ - film opera, 2 performers music by sam beebe commissioned 2024 by strange trace An ending is a dark comedy that follows a woman who is given a terminal diagnosis – and only 10 minutes left to live. It begins with the woman in the doctor’s office, receiving this news of her imminent mortality, and continues through her extremely brief attempt at making meaning of her life. But through precious time spent waiting for the doctor’s receptionist, voicemails left to her parents, and a meaningless argument with her girlfriend, she faces the banalities that often get in the way of the purposeful life we try to create for ourselves. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5977b4e220099e60353203cf/85e45334-3484-4c8d-bf3d-b91579c3811d/Daughter%2Bof%2BGod.jpg Works - Daughter of God 60’ - opera, 1 performer music by christopher bell commissioned 2024 by LOAM ensemble Leah, a Christian influencer fighting a decade-long battle with cancer, faces the end of her life and her empire. With her options for further treatment dwindling, she takes advantage of an innovative new technology: uploading her consciousness to an AI model named Thea to continue her work. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5977b4e220099e60353203cf/1623103538536-AVEPSLNFCGK5DABQ58D8/download.jpeg Works - The Windows opera (60’) music by Elizabeth Gartman based on the life and disappearance of barbara newhall follett commissioned by guerrilla opera, premiere 2027-2028* The Windows is a chamber opera based on the life and unsolved 1939 disappearance of writer Barbara Newhall Follett. Told through a ghost story, it is a first-person experience of the insanity brought on by oppression, and an exploration of what it means to escape. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5977b4e220099e60353203cf/1647898271850-6L9NAHSHMTHRTP1VTQ5A/sun-with-face.jpeg Works - It is a comfort to know chamber opera (30’) music by elizabeth gartman commissioned and premiered 2022 by BMP: Next Gen Initially inspired by the 1956 social and psychological study When Prophecy Fails, It is a Comfort to Know follows members of a death cult predict the end of the world, as foretold by their Leader. However, when that prophecy fails to deliver, they are faced with a decision: admit they are wrong, or choose to be right – no matter the cost. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5977b4e220099e60353203cf/f045862b-5e80-4988-8a51-dc22c49d2d9c/Gustave+Dore+-+Jephthahs+daughter+and+her+companions+-+%28MeisterDrucke-650401%29.jpeg Works - Moritura Filia chamber work text by susan bywaters music by elizabeth gartman inspired by carissimi’s oratorio jephte commissioned and premiered 2023 by ensemble chemie https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5977b4e220099e60353203cf/1656468630152-VK1SNQVUNDIYCFS8J34D/why+wont+you+let+me+look+right+at+you.jpeg Works - Why won’t you let me look right at you? chamber work text by susan bywaters music by jens ibsen premiered august 2022 at sao paolo contemporary composers festival https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5977b4e220099e60353203cf/55a8c206-124c-4fc3-b5ad-cdada4c61579/1385532320120.jpg Works - The New Motive Power chamber opera music by elizabeth gartman, 60’ Inspired by the life of John Murray Spear, a Unitarian minister, abolitionist, and eventually spiritualist in antebellum New England. The text relies heavily on his verbatim dictations of the messages he heard from the spirits of the beyond. John and others believed this energy was spiritual, and that the new messiah, which he called “The New Motive Power”—would be born of electricity, a machine made of invisible wires that would connect and lead us all. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5977b4e220099e60353203cf/1623103210031-ND4DDF2CIPEB2GNOKES8/weight Works - [weight], a song text by susan bywaters music by elizabeth gartman performed in bmp: next gen cycle 2, round 1 cw: this work discusses body dysmorphia, eating disorders and self harm. work sample below https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5977b4e220099e60353203cf/1623100611857-APL82U9CRBHPD7VUWLQZ/trees Works - when you leave me, three songs text by susan bywaters music by elizabeth gartman https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5977b4e220099e60353203cf/1579619924819-NZHNR4WZC94HJ5SSZYIM/image-20150805-22496-1rvnrf4.png Works - it is the end of time, a song music by elizabeth gartman text by susan bywaters https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5977b4e220099e60353203cf/1647899576715-WQQ1QH5M2DU0Q0AQMRF6/bradford.jpeg Works - know, an opera libretto by susan bywaters based on the story of thomas bradford https://www.susanbywaters.com/about daily 0.75 2026-05-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5977b4e220099e60353203cf/9490b449-2c2e-486a-9b13-e8f8e7c52dff/IMG_0526.jpg About Susan Bywaters is a poet, librettist, and writer based in New York City. Her most recent libretti, including Threesome with Angela Yang (Boston Opera Collaborative), An ending with Samuel Beebe (Strange Trace), The Windows with Elizabeth Gartman (Guerilla Opera), Daughter of God with Christopher Bell (LOAM), and My Wife is a Ghost (in collaboration with the Bard College Composition program in an initiative led by Missy Mazzoli) have been commissioned by companies and schools across the US. Her darkly comedic opera It is a Comfort to Know, composed by Elizabeth Gartman, was a runner-up in the Beth Morrison Projects Next Gen in 2022; this is following the success of their prior collaboration on [Weight], featured in Beth Morrison Projects Next Generation in May of 2021 and the recipient of the William Schuman Award for Most Outstanding Score from BMI Foundation in the same year. In 2026, she was named the recipient of the Lotos Foundation Prize in the Arts and Sciences for her work as a librettist. Also a playwright, poet, and prose writer, Susan has collaborated on over fifteen art songs and chamber works, and is writing a collaborative experimental memoir titled The Long Shadows with the women in her family. https://www.susanbywaters.com/contact daily 0.75 2023-06-30