Prof. Justin Vickers, A.Mus.D.

WTF

After the Premiere: When Is an “Epilogue” Not the End? Benjamin Britten’s Silent “Epilogue” to The Holy Sonnets of John Donne By Justin Vickers

In my eighth essay for After the Premiere, I look at an unknown song that Britten discarded from his cycle of Donne Sonnets. I hope you’ll subscribe, follow, share, and read along with me. 🎶❤️🇬🇧

After the Premiere: Avoiding the Comfortable. Michael Egel and the Mechanics of “Risk” at Des Moines Metro Opera By Justin Vickers

My latest After the Premiere looks at Des Moines Metro Opera’s Michael Egel and the mechanics of “risk” in contemporary opera: risk as a technology of listening and governance, not a slogan. I call it the “Egel Method.” Please subscribe and follow. 🎶

After the Premiere: Listening with the Composer. Ethics, Vulnerability, and the Afterlife of Missy Mazzoli’s “The Listeners” Listening as Power. A two-part After the Premiere essay on belief, authority, and the ethics of hearing in contemporary opera. (Part 2 of 2)

🎶 Speaking with Missy Mazzoli and finding myself immersed in her creative soundworld gets to the heart of The Listeners — and more broadly, the role of the composer in society. Please subscribe and follow! ⚡️

After the Premiere: Do You Hear It? Belief and Authority in Missy Mazzoli’s and Royce Vavrek’s “The Listeners” Listening as Power. A two-part After the Premiere essay on belief, authority, and the ethics of hearing in contemporary opera. (Part 1 of 2)

Just absolutely thrilled to share the first of this two-part Substack series on Missy Mazzoli’s opera The Listeners. Please check it out, subscribe and follow what is one of the only scholarly opera-focused blogs on Substack! I’d love you to join me. 🎶💛🎉

Trump Says Kennedy Center Will Close for 2-Year Reconstruction Project

Of course this project is intended to diminish the tsunami of justifiable criticism that Little Lord Trumpet has generated by appending his name to our nation’s performing arts center.

After the Premiere: Cal McCrystal, Comic Tradition, and the Serious Work of Making Opera Welcoming After the Premiere: “Three Visions of Opera Now”  (2/3) In this short series — “Three Visions of Opera Now” — I draw on recent conversations with three major figures working across very different corn...

Please have a look at the next chapter of my blog, “After the Premiere”! 🎶💛🎉

#RedbirdScholar

After the Premiere: Christopher Alden on Revival, Surrealism, and Why Handel Keeps Catching Up to Us After the Premiere: “Three Visions of Opera Now” (1/3) In this short series — “Three Visions of Opera Now” — I draw on recent conversations with three major figures working across very different corne...

Here we go!
Dive in with me….
💛🎶🎉

Opinion | I’m Bidding My Opera Career Adieu. Here’s Why.

Amazing column. I’m Bidding My Opera Career Adieu. Here’s Why. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/o...

“After the Premiere”: Why Does Justin Vickers Have a Blog, Anyway? Welcome to “After the Premiere”Opera, Vocal Music, Archives, the Industry, and Musical AfterlivesBy Justin VickersOpera culture invests enormous symbolic weight in premieres. We mark first performance...

I did a thing…. & it’s really scary! Please have a look at my new blog, “After the Premiere.” I’ve got a great opening series of essays based on recent discussions with Christopher Alden, Cal McCrystal, and André de Ridder. I hope you’ll join me, & share with your networks. 💛🎶

www.justinvickers.com

We’ve got a cover reveal! #ChildhoodandtheOperaticImaginary Such an exciting journey. @oxfordunipress.bsky.social Editing this with Joy Calico has been absolutely incredible! And our contributors’ essays on four continents’ children’s operas are awe-inspiring!

Catch the 'unmissable' ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ BEN AND IMO, featuring the 'astonishing' Samuel Barnett and Victoria Yeates before 17 May at the OT.

🎟 orangetreetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/ben...
📸 Ellie Kurttz

Ordering!

OMG — how awesome! Let’s get a coffee if you have a moment!

The only apology that “she and her church” owe the public is that not enough churchgoers are incensed by this second term. His keen claims of “mental institutions” dumping immigrants here belies that 45**/47 is too stupid to comprehend the term asylum, and thus thinks it’s a mental asylum. (2/2)

Bishop Budde struck a nerve! I love his attempt to take away the years of learning and toil that culminated in achieving a Bishopric, and on the unironically-named Truth Social, at that. And at that, at the Washington National Cathedral — literally centered in the heart of American politics. (1/2)

Morten Morland: How I draw Donald Trump The Sunday Times cartoonist’s local art shop has had to order more orange ink since he was re-elected

www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Peter Pears (1910–1986) | Art UK Peter Pears (1910–1986) by Diana Cumming (1929–2024), 1961, from Britten Pears Arts

artuk.org/discover/art...

And I love Diana Cumming’s electric portrait of Pears that is referenced.

Just gorgeous, Chris. Makes me homesick for my adopted Suffolk.

Nice example of the impact of ephemera: things that are designed to be disposable background material like chopstick sleeves build up to tell a story if accumulated in numbers.

Heartened to see this. I’ve loved exploring the world of climbing boys in Britten’s children’s opera “The Little Sweep” as part of a new book I’m editing with Joy Calico: “Childhood & the Operatic Imaginary since 1900” for @cambridgeup.bsky.social More updates to come about our amazing contributors.

This is the real church.

My adorable husband, The Mikey, holding my first book, dedicated to him. (With co-editor Vicki Stroeher—whose hubby is also a Mike—we dedicated the book to our Mikes.) 🎶🇬🇧

Proud moment: ‘Britten in Context’ for @cambridgeup.bsky.social with another to follow…!

This.

And as bell hooks asserted: “If we want a beloved community, we must stand for justice, have recognition for difference without attaching difference to privilege.”

Ultimate Christmas Eve and Christmas morning shenanigans with my wonderful husband, the Mikey. Color me grateful. 🎶🤩

Mary, Queen of Scots | Buy Opera Tickets for 2024/25 | ENO Book your tickets to experience ENO's premiere of Thea Musgrave's grand and thrilling opera about the Scottish queen on the London Coliseum stage.

I’m grateful to have been commissioned to write a programme essay about Thea Musgrave’s ‘Mary, Queen of Scots’ for the 2025 English National Opera prod. (And for the @royalphilsoc.bsky.social!) Thea is an international treasure—and is claimed by the US, as well.
🎶🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇬🇧🇺🇸

www.eno.org/whats-on/mar...