Composer Johanny Navarro and librettist Marcus Yi present a guest artist master class, kicking off their week-long residency with SMTD OperaLab and Voice & Opera, in preparation for the orchestral workshop production of Navarro and Yi's new comic opera, Working for the Macbeths. In this master class, the composer/librettist team will work with several cast members on scenes from the opera and engage in a Q&A session.

This event is free and open to the public with generous support from the Sally Fleming Master Class Series.

Working for the Macbeths will have two performances, at 7:30 pm on April 10 and 11 in McIntosh Theatre, with Jayce Ogren conducting and Chía Patiño directing.

ABOUT THE GUEST ARTISTS

Puerto Rican-born composer JOHANNY NAVARRO creates music inspired by Afro-Caribbean aesthetics, blending vibrant rhythms with contemporary forms. Her works span opera, orchestral, and chamber music, with commissions from the Multicultural Music Group, Inc., Boston Opera Collaborative, The Victory Players, American Harp Society, Inc., and Emory University Symphony Orchestra. Acclaimed for her operatic achievements, she received Opera America’s Discovery Grant for ¿Y los Pasteles? (2022) and was a finalist in Atlanta Opera's "96-Hour Opera Project" with Atlanta: 1906 with libretto by Deborah D.E.E.P Mouton. As the Schwartz Artist-in-Residence, she premiered Marejada de los muertos (2023). Navarro is currently developing Working for the Macbeths (2022) with librettist Marcus Yi.

MARCUS YI is an award-winning theatre writer/composer/director, and performer based in New York. Marcus was an inaugural member of the 92nd Street Y Musical Theater Development Lab Collective, a 2021-2022 New Victory LabWorks Artist, and a Resident Artist with the American Lyric Theater. He has been commissioned by The Kennedy Center, Queens Council on the Arts, Yangtze Rep, the EST / Sloan Project, First Stage, Really Spicy Opera, Atlanta Opera, and American Lyric Theater. He is a NYSCA / NYFA Artist Fellowship Awardee (2025), NYSCA Support for Artists Grantee (2022, 2024), and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Creative Engagement Grantee (2019, 2023).

WORKING FOR THE MACBETHS

Composer: Johanny Navarro | Librettist: Marcus Yi

Commissioned by American Lyric Theater
Lawrence Edelson, Artistic and General Director
Kelly Kuo, Associate Artistic Director

Working for the Macbeths was developed under the auspices of the Composer Librettist Development Program at American Lyric Theater in New York City, which is made possible through lead funding from the Mellon Foundation, the Howard Gilman Foundation, the Dubose and Dorothy Heyward Memorial Trust, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

WORKING FOR THE MACBETHS will receive its world premiere at Pittsburgh Opera on February 27, 2027.