Contemporary Opera

Operas written in the 20th and 21st centuries boast the same dizzying variety seen in music at large. Prewar operas like Richard Strauss's controversial Salome, the atonal cri du cœur of Alban Berg's Wozzeck, and George Gershwin's jazzy Porgy and Bess helped pave the way for the musically and psychologically inventive works to come. Some of the more recent operas that have found regular places in the repertory include those by Benjamin Britten, Gian Carlo Menotti, John Adams, Philip Glass, Kaija Saariaho, George Benjamin, Charles Wuorinen, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Unsuk Chin. Browse our collection of contemporary operas below!