“What Belongs to You,” David T. Little’s opera based on the Garth Greenwell novel, introduced last fall at the University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center, has won the 2025 Best New Opera award from the Music Critics Association of North America.
In the September 2024 premiere performances, Little’s opera, a musical monodrama, starred tenor Karim Sulayman, with the score played by the new-music ensemble Alarm Will Sound, which co-commissioned the work with the Modlin Center. The production was directed by Mark Morris and conducted by Alan Pierson.
“Little’s score is perhaps his most refined creation to date, blending recollections of Schubert and Britten with more experimental textures,” the awards panel stated. “The writing for voice is elegant throughout, the instrumentation intensely atmospheric.”
A report on the award by Susan Brodie for the Music Critics Association’s website, Classical Voice North America:
‘What Belongs To You’ Captures Critics’ Prize For Best New Opera
My review of the premiere:
Letter V 