LIBRETTIST

Opera San José Carmen Press Kit

Philip LittellSince writing the libretto for “The Dangerous Liaisons,” Philip Littell

has provided the words for operas, oratorios, cantatas, song cycles,

and symphonies for American composers including Conrad Susa, Ste-

phen Hartke, Michael Torke, Frank Ticheli, Jake Heggie, David Conte,

and Robert Seeley. Susa and Littell’s “Liaisons” received its premiere

at the San Francisco Opera in 1994, was broadcast on PBS later that

year, and recently received its second staging at the Washington

Opera. Their church opera “The Wise Women,” commissioned by the

American Guild of Organists in 1995, is also frequently performed. “The

Dreamers,” an opera by David Conte, followed in 1996, for the Sonoma

City Opera. That year also saw Heggie’s song cycle “Eve-song,” Hart-

ke’s cantata “Sons of Noah,” and, for the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, Seeley’s successful “Naked

Man,” which has since been performed by choruses throughout the country.

A native of New York City, Littell has lived in Los Angeles since 1976, where his first career as an actor

led him to work in Shakespeare, avant-garde plays, cabaret, rock bands, and performance art. His

work as an actor also led him directly to opera when he was cast as the Dancing Master in the Long

Beach Opera’s staging of “Ariadne auf Naxos/Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme.” He has his own theater

company, Red Tie, where he performs, writes, and directs cabaret and musicals with his collaborator,

composer Eliot Douglass. [From program notes to “Streetcar Named Desire” by the San Francisco