Prima Donna

Prima Donna is an opera in two acts with music by Rufus Wainwright to a French language libretto by Wainwright and Bernadette Colomine. The opera premiered at the Palace Theatre, Manchester, on 10 July 2009 at the Manchester International Festival. Development Originally, Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter Gelb and André Bishop, artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater (LCT), commissioned this opera for eventual presentation in New York City. By August 2008, although Wainwright had made progress on the composition, the Metropolitan Opera withdrew its support of the commission, reportedly because of disagreement with Wainwright over his choice to present the opera in French, whilst the Metropolitan Opera and LCT insisted on English for the language of the libretto. According to Gelb, "presenting a new opera that is not in English at the Met, when it could be in English, is an immediate impediment". While Wainwright was initially open to the idea of translating the text into English, he said the French became "too entrenched in the music". In addition, the Met would not be able to premiere Prima Donna earlier than the 2014 season, and Wainwright insisted he "wanted to get it out as soon as possible". In October 2008, Opera North, the Manchester International Festival, Melbourne Festival Australia and Luminato Festival Toronto announced their plans for joint presentation of the opera, with conductor , director Daniel Kramer, designer Antony McDonald, and Janis Kelly performing the lead role alongside Rebecca Bottone, William Joyner and Jonathan Summers. With a workshop scheduled for January 2009, Wainwright revealed in a Brazilian TV show interview that his opera was to premiere in Manchester, United Kingdom in July 2009. In December 2009, Sundance Channel aired a 90-minute documentary, directed by George Scott, titled Prima Donna spotlighting the history of Wainwright's career and his attempt to "create classical opera from scratch".