Benjamin Wenzelberg’s senior thesis, NIGHTTOWN — an opera that reimagines two episodes of James Joyce’s Ulysses — was produced in March by Lowell House Opera and featured singers Elijah McCormack and Leo Balkovetz, who spoke with the Boston Globe about their experiences as trans opera singers.
The most important thing, [Wenzelberg] said, was to give everyone a comfortable environment to exist as themselves, whoever they might be. “I just believe so fervently that bringing your voice to an opera production means bringing your whole self. I mean that term widely — your singing voice, your artistic voice, your expressive voice,” he said. “And I’ve said to this cast … ‘I want you to feel like you’re bringing who you are to these roles.’”
A.Z. Madonna, “Trans opera singers find their voice in ‘NIGHTTOWN’”