Elmer Gantry

Elmer Gantry is a 2007 American opera by Robert Aldridge to a libretto by Herschel Garfein based on the 1927 novel by Sinclair Lewis of the same name. The Nashville Opera presented the world première in November 2007. Elmer Gantry was conceived almost two decades before its première. The Boston Lyric Opera and Boston Music Theatre Project put on a workshop production of the first act in 1992. An agreement was made to move forward on a full production which Boston Lyric later dropped. John Hoomes, the artistic director of the Nashville Opera, picked up production in 2003 after previewing the opera at a new works showcase. Performances Elmer Gantry premiered in 2007 at the Nashville Opera, with a subsequent performance at Montclair State University in 2008. The Florentine Opera Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, produced the opera in March 2010, which was recorded and released on CD by Naxos Records. A third production was completed at the University of Minnesota in November 2010. The opera was performed in March 2014 at the Tulsa Opera. The Naxos recording of the Florentine Opera Company's March 2010 production won two 2011 Grammy Awards.