Muckrakers

Libretto by Sam Norman, Music by Ernie Bird

A pair of refugees. An irritable customs official. An interrogation that goes off the rails.

It’s 1900, and Andriy and Svitlana are fleeing the Russian Empire. Customs Inspector Bartleby isn’t satisfied with their credentials. Then he finds a gun in their suitcase. (Or is it something else?)

An Ellis Island tragicomedy, Muckrakers touches on immigration, citizenship, and the question of what can be lost (or found) in translation.

This 15-minute chamber opera was developed in the AOP-NYU/Tisch Opera Lab led by Randall Eng and Sam Helfrich. As part of the development process, the authors conducted research at New York’s Tenement Museum and the Ellis Island archives.

Muckrakers received sell-out performances at NYU Tisch’s Shubert Theatre and the Hudson Guild in May 2024. The stage director was Diego Alejandro González, the music director was Dmitry Glivinskiy, and the singers were Eliam Ramos, Gileann Tan and John Bellemer. Photos by Catherine Hancock.