Our Mission*
Now in its 7th year, American Modern Opera Company (AMOC*) is broadly recognized as one of the most consequential companies, producing and presenting some of the most significant interdisciplinary art. Founded in 2017 by composer Matthew Aucoin and director, choreographer, and dancer Zack Winokur, AMOC* was established with the mission of building and sharing a body of collaborative work. The company is comprised of 17 of today’s most sought-after composers, choreographers, directors, vocalists, instrumentalists, dancers, writers, and producers, all united by a commitment to collective authorship and long-term, generative relationships with other creators. AMOC* connects artists and audiences in visceral and surprising ways. Frequent collaborations with guest artists and partner organizations are also essential to the development of AMOC*’s productions, enriching the company’s core artistic vision.
AMOC* maintains a robust national and international touring schedule, upholds a rigorously equitable compensation model, and is deeply committed to making its performances financially accessible. In its inaugural 2018-19 season, AMOC* launched the Run AMOC! Festival at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, MA, which The New York Times described as “blindingly impressive.” In 2022, AMOC* served as Music Director for the 75th Ojai Music Festival, presenting 18 performances, 8 world premieres, and 6 new theatrical productions.
In 2022/23, AMOC* reached audiences through 34 performances across 10 U.S. venues and digital platforms, including the world premiere of Bobbi Jene Smith’s Broken Theater at La MaMa Moves! in New York, as well as New York premieres of Carolyn Chen’s How to Fall Apart at Baryshnikov Arts Center and Anthony Cheung’s the echoing of tenses at 92nd Street Y. AMOC* made its international debut at Festival d’Aix with Harawi in July 2022, offering a fresh interpretation of Olivier Messiaen’s song cycle. In 2023, Harawi then toured across Europe and Gay Guerrilla premiered at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
In 2023/24, AMOC* expanded its annual collaboration with the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC with sold-out performances of a new arrangement of John Adams’ El Niño, and formed co-production partnerships with DACAMERA (Houston), MOCA (Los Angeles), Opera Omaha, Stanford Live, and Yale University, among others. In June 2024, AMOC* premiered The Comet / Poppea, a groundbreaking new opera directed by Yuval Sharon, created in collaboration with composer George Lewis and The Industry. The Los Angeles Times praised the production as “…what American opera needs most of all… It has huge ramifications for the wide world we now occupy.” In spring and summer 2024, AMOC* engaged in an interdisciplinary performance at Brown University and presented a concert of new music at the Clark Art Institute. AMOC* plans to announce an expansive slate of future programming in late fall 2024.
“…revitalizing what American music theater can mean with several of our most revolutionary young talents”
“…blindingly impressive… preternaturally talented”
Our Values*
NEW WORK: We focus on the creation of new work. When we do engage with a canon of existing works, we ensure that we are adding new dimensions and perspectives to it.
POWER IN THE COLLECTIVE: We value the artistic agency and individual contributions of every company member, and we create work that is explicitly made possibly by the multi-disciplinary perspectives and accumulated learning we have fostered as a company. When a given project requires a hierarchical structure, we examine that structure and make sure it is being deployed appropriately for the project at hand.
FELLOWSHIP: We invest in holistic engagement and deep relationships among our artists. Our process promotes distributed authorship and varied forms of engagement across all artists and disciplines.
PARTNERSHIP: We recognize the limits of our knowledge, and because of this, we value relationships and collaborations with artists and other partners outside the company. When we engage with outside partners, we respect their contributions and welcome them fully into the creative process.
APPROACH TO AUDIENCE: We believe that the context in which an audience experiences a work is as important as the work’s content, and so we strive to create pathways to entry for our work.
SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS: We ask what the intended outcome is of each work that we create as a company. We come to a consensus that the work at hand does not harm, and that it communicates clearly.
SUSTAINABILITY: We are a company that is generative and re-generative in its core values, creative process, and membership, and that strives to nurture, create, document, and reflect on a body of work.
“Everything for AMOC is sacred in that it needs to perform at the highest level, but nothing is so sacred that it can’t be rethought musically, socially, racially, sexually, theatrically, physically”
“Many in the arts these days talk a big game about interdisciplinary collaboration, but few walk the walk like AMOC”
“gloriously raucous”