Bravo Opera - Board

STEPHEN SCHWARTZ
Multiple award winning composer

Schwartz first major credit was the title song for the play BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE, but he is perhaps best known for his composing and new lyrics for the smash Broadway musical, GODSPELL, for which he won several awards, including two Grammys. This was followed by his collaboration with Leonard Bernstein for Bernstein’s MASS and two more Broadway successes: PIPPIN and THE MAGIC SHOW. His film work includes multiple collaborations with composer Alan Menken, including Disney animated features POCAHONTAS, for which he received two Academy Awards and another Grammy, and THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. Mr. Schwartz also won another Academy Award for his work on THE PRINCE OF EGYPT. Mr. Schwartz’s most recent box office smash and worldwide success, is the musical WICKED. His first opera, SEANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON, premiered at Opera Santa Barbara in the fall of 2009 and is coming to New York City Opera next Spring

TOD MACHOVER
Composer / Inventor MIT Media Lab

He is widely recognized as one of the most significant and innovative composers of his generation, and is also celebrated for inventing new technology for music, including Hyperinstruments which he launched in 1986. Machover studied with Elliott Carter and Roger Sessions at The Juilliard School and was the first Director of Musical Research at Pierre Boulez's IRCAM in Paris. He has been Professor of Music and Media at the MIT Media Lab (Cambridge, USA). His operatic compositions, which include:VALIS (1987), a science fiction opera – called 'the first opera of the 21st century" byThe New York Times – "Magic" opera for magicians Penn & Teller; Brain Opera (1996/8), Resurrection (1999). His latest opera, Skellig based on the award-winning novel by David Almond and commissioned by the Sage Gateshead (UK), received its world premiere there to public acclaim and rave reviews in November 2008.

STEPHEN PAULUS
Award Winning Composer ASCAP Board Member

One of today's pre-eminent composers of opera, Paulus has written nine works for the dramatic stage. The Postman Always Rings Twice was the first American production to be presented at the Edinburgh Festival, and has received nine productions to date. Commissions and performances have come from such companies as the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Washington Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Berkshire Opera Company, Minnesota Opera, and Fort Worth Opera, among others, as well as many universities and colleges.

PAUL CREMO
Dramaturg, Metropolitan Opera

several years as an A&R executive at the Sony Classical record label, Paul Cremo became the Dramaturg at the Metropolitan Opera, overseeing the Met/Lincoln Center Theater Commissions Program, a workshop venture for developing new works. He also supervises development of several works scheduled for production at the Met and acts as literary advisor for the Met Titles subtitling program. As a writer and creative executive he has been involved in the development of film, theater, television, book and recording projects for over twenty years. He was VP of Development for Sony Classical Films, a Development Executive for Spring Creek Productions at Warner Brothers, and has served as a freelance consultant on numerous plays and screenplays.