Today we’d like to introduce you to Beth Morrison.

Hi Beth, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started as an opera singer in my studies and early career. Early on, I began working for the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and quickly rose through the ranks to Administrative Director, where I as able to have a vision for something much larger than myself as a performer. That broad reach was thrilling to me, and I quickly decided that management was more my calling. After several years in that leadership role, I began to miss production; however, the opera I was seeing at that time left me cold and bored, while the avant-garde theater I was seeing was thrilling, visceral, and compelling to someone in their 20’s (me at the time). I started dreaming of a new kind of opera, something that more closely mirrored what I was experiencing in theater, as well as stories of our time, and music that was fresh and new. This lead me back to school, and I went to the Yale School of Drama to do a degree in Theater Management and Producing. After receiving my MFA, I moved to New York to start Beth Morrison Projects. It was a challenge as I knew hardly anyone in New York, and arrived with about $200 in my bank account. I started a job at Pace University in the Musical Theater program teaching singing, and kept that job for six years as I bootstrapped the company. I made a decision early on to try and produce at least 4 projects a year- they would need to be lean, but cool and with the aesthetic that I was trying to bring into the art form. I began seeking like minded composers to create the works, as well as directors, designers and performers. After about 4 years, I had amassed a body of work and people could see what I was trying to do. The press started and then the foundations, donors, and presenters became interested in the work. Today I would be called a disruptor, but back then that term didn’t exist. The next big mile stone was the start of my festival PROTOTYPE, which I co-founded with HERE Arts Center in 2013. I wanted to create a black box opera movement, in the same way that theater had done decades before. All these years later, I can safely say that we succeeded in doing so, which is thrilling. The festival is now in its 12 season. BMP is in its 18th season, and along the way we have produced two Pulitzer-prize winning operas and a Grammy-nominated one. We’ve commissioned and produced over 60 world-premieres and toured the work around the world to 19 companies. The company is now 13 full-time staff members and we continue to push the art form and field forward. Along the way, I personally have received a few honors as well, including the Musical America Artist of the Year/ Agent of Change, as well as a Kennedy Center Next50 honor.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Of course, there are many many struggles along the way. Trying to pioneer a new way of doing things is not easy, and it was often very lonely. Financial challenges are a constant, no matter how much more money we seem to raise, it is never enough- particularly in this current economy with outrageous costs. Doing productions are 50% more expensive than they were pre-pandemic. However, we are nimble and able to expand and contract as needed, and have always done so along the way. The other challenge is not having a venue. I am constantly reliant on the gate keepers at the institutions in order to get my work up.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Opera News said “Beth Morrison is her own genre.” This was a particularly satisfying quote for me, as I really did set out to do something completely new in the opera art form. Combining multi-media and many different styles of music, I seek out composers and theater artists who aren’t afraid to push the boundaries of the form.

Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
The podcasts that I have in rotation are: The Daily, How I Built This, Esther Perel (Where shall we begin), Hard Fork PBS Newshour is a nightly thing for me
New York Times, daily
Vanity Fair, Vogue, Opera America magazine
Rotation of listening to the operas that we’ve commissioned and the band 30 Seconds to Mars
NPR

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bethmorrisonprojects.org
• Instagram: @bethmorrisonprojects
• Facebook: @bethmorrisonprojects
• Twitter: @BMPOpera
• Youtube: @bethmorrisonprojects.org

Image Credits
Black Lodge by David T Little and Anne Waldman/ Michael Joseph McQuilken filmmaker (film still) p r i s m by Ellen Reid and Roxie Perkins/ photo by Maria Baranova Old Man and the Sea by Paola Prestini/ Royce Vavrek/ Karmina Silec- photo by Jill Steinberg Angel’s Bone by Du Yun/ Royce Vavrek/photo by Michael Joseph McQuilken