Story/Teller Arts: The Hours with The Metropolitan Opera, Michael Cunningham, Eve Gigliotti, Greg Pierce, and Anne Fernald

In Conversation

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  Michael Cunningham

  Michael Cunningham

  Michael Cunningham’s most recent novel, Day, was published in November 2023. Among his other novels are The Hours, Specimen Days, By Nightfall, and The Snow Queen. His essays and short stories have appeared in the New Yorker, the Atlantic, the Paris Review, and other publications.

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  Greg Pierce

  Greg Pierce

  The Vermont native’s Slowgirl, the inaugural play of Lincoln Center’s Claire Tow Theater (LCT3), was subsequently produced by Steppenwolf Theatre and the Geffen Playhouse, among others. LCT3 also produced Her Requiem (Lincoln Center Theater commission). Cardinal was commissioned and produced by Second Stage Theatre. Pierce’s two musicals with composer John Kander are The Landing (Vineyard Theatre in New York) and Kid Victory (coproduction of Vineyard Theatre and Virginia’s Signature Theatre). With director Stephen Earnhart, Pierce co-wrote The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (Edinburgh International Festival premiere, later seen at the Singapore Arts Festival). Vermont Stage Company commissioned and produced Pierce’s The Quarry, with music by his brother Randal. Pierce has received fellowships from the Edward F. Albee Foundation, Yaddo, The Djerassi Institute, the New York Public Library, and the Baryshnikov Arts Center. He has held a commission from Manhattan Theatre Club/Sloan Foundation. Fellow Travelers, Greg’s first opera in collaboration with composer Gregory Spears was based on Thomas Mallon’s 2007 novel and received its world premiere at Cincinnati Opera in June 2016. Pierce is an alumnus of Oberlin College (B.A.) and Warren Wilson College (M.F.A. in Creative Writing). He is a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Writers Guild of America.

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  Eve Gigliotti

  Eve Gigliotti

  Mezzo-soprano Eve Gigliotti has won critical acclaim for her work spanning both the dramatic repertoire and contemporary opera, notably, originating the roles of Ruth in the world premiere of Dark Sisters (Muhly/Karam), and Dodo in the world premiere of Breaking the Waves (Mazzoli/Vavrek).

  ​A celebrated presence at the Metropolitan Opera, Gigliotti’s roles during the 2023-2024 season include Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Gertrude in Roméo et Juliette (conducted by Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin), and a reprisal of the role of Nelly in Puts/Pierce’s celebrated opera, The Hours. In over 60 performances at the house during the last few seasons, the mezzo-soprano has appeared in a wide range of roles, including Madame de la Haltière (Cinderella), Gertrude (Brett Dean’s Hamlet), Sally (The Hours), and Mary (Der fliegende Holländer).

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  Anne Fernald

  Anne Fernald

  Anne Fernald is the author of Virginia Woolf: Feminism and the Reader (Palgrave, 2006) and the editor of a textual edition of Mrs. Dalloway for Cambridge University Press (2014). She edited a special issue of Mfs: Modern Fiction Studies on Women’s Fiction, New Modernist Studies, and Feminist Theory (June 2013). Her articles have appeared in Feminist Studies, Modern Fiction Studies, Guernica (online), Open Letters Monthly (online), and multiple edited collections. In June of 2009, she organized the 19th Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf, hosted at Fordham’s Lincoln Center Campus and focusing on the theme of Woolf and the City. Her work pays particular attention to the essay, and this research focus informs her work as the Writing Director (in charge of first-year composition classes) at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus.