PHILADELPHIA (AP) 鈥� Missy Mazzoli received an Opera Philadelphia composing commission around the time first was running for president, inspiring her to settle on a sect with faithful followers as a starting point with her librettist, Royce Vavrek.
鈥淭he role of a charismatic leader in our society, the need to feel like you鈥檙e part of a tribe, part of community,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd just the idea of turning an opera chorus into a cult seemed really juicy.鈥�
Mazzoli and Vavrek created 鈥淭he Listeners,鈥� a two-hour expose of psychological manipulation given its U.S. premiere on Wednesday night at the Academy of Music, two years after its first performances at the Norwegian National Opera. Their work portrays a school teacher who hears an unknown low-pitched hum, is alienated from her husband and daughter and finds a group of similar people that become enthralled with a leader named Paul Devon (baritone Paul Cook).
鈥淚t just opened my eyes to how people are so interested in joining cults and feeling that sense of relationship with other people and connection and how sad, how lonely people are out there,鈥� said soprano Nicole Heaston, who sings the starring role of Claire Devon. 鈥淭hey need that one person to say, 'I鈥檓 going to make this OK for you.鈥樷��
Bringing in new opera audiences
In the opening of general director Anthony Roth Costanzo鈥檚 first season as that lowered tickets to $11, the company said the crowd of 1,862 included 58% new attendees.
A production filled with profane language and sexual situations sparked noticeable audience engagement that included laughter, guffaws for projected online commentary and applause for arias and duets. The reaction in Norway was more subdued.
鈥淚n Oslo it was this really kind of fascinating anthropological visit of America,鈥� director Lileana Blain-Cruz said. 鈥淲e were working with a lot of Norwegians. It was: What is America? What is Americana? What is the Southwest to people who鈥檝e never been there, who鈥檝e only kind of experienced America for television? How do you display the kind of angst and loneliness that is particularly American? And it鈥檚 funny that being in Philadelphia, there鈥檚 an immediate recognition that was like: All right. We get this. This is us.鈥�
How 鈥楾he Listeners鈥� was created
Mazzoli, who turns 44 next month, was born in the Philadelphia suburb of Lansdale, received degrees from Boston University鈥檚 College of Fine Arts and the Yale School of Music, and was Opera Philadelphia's composer in residence from 2012-15.
She met Vavrek at Carnegie Hall in 2009 when they were at a workshop of David T. Little鈥檚 鈥淒og Days,鈥� for which Vavrek wrote the libretto. Mazzoli gave him a flier for a workshop of her 鈥淪ong from the Uproar: The Lives and Deaths of Isabelle Eberhardt鈥� He wound up collaborating on the 2012 work they also teamed on 鈥淏reaking the Waves鈥� (2016) and 鈥淧roving Up鈥� (2018).
Vavrek, a 41-year-old from Alberta who like Mazzoli lives in Brooklyn, invited Canadian author Jordan Tannahill to watch the 2015 Oscars at his apartment and later asked Tannahill to sketch out some ideas for a cult opera. Vavrek and Mazzoli picked two of the five, and Tannahill followed up with a four-to-seven page treatment that led to Vavrek鈥檚 libretto. Tannahill also wrote a novel version of 鈥淭he Listeners鈥� that was published in 2021 and is the basis for a to be televised this fall, starring Rebecca Hall.
Mazzoli was inspired for a character based on Ma Anand Sheela, an assistant to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh featured in the Netflix 2018 documentary 鈥淲ild Wild Country.鈥� She also watched 鈥淗oly Hell鈥� about the Buddhafield cult, 鈥淕oing Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief鈥� and 鈥淪educed: Inside the NXIVM Cult.鈥�
There are surround speakers to create the hum and a large cast of 22 singers plus the chorus. During rehearsals in Oslo two years ago, Mazzoli and Vavrek added two video confessional moments for Claire and Angela Devon, scenes given a larger-than-life impact by projections.
鈥淭hrough the research I myself became more much more sympathetic to people who were just looking for a community,鈥� Mazzoli said. 鈥淐ults are made up of people whose parents kicked them out because they鈥檙e gay or who are super shy and never found a community of people, friends in college. It could be anything 鈥� or who feel trapped in a marriage or feel trapped in a dead end job.鈥�
鈥淲hat was striking was that all of these cults followed the same pattern,鈥� she added. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a sort of predictable series of events involving manipulation, lying and then someone sort of taking up the card from the bottom of the house of cards and the whole thing falls very quickly.鈥�
Next steps for 鈥楾he Listeners鈥�
鈥淭he Listeners鈥� also will be repeated in Philadelphia on Friday and Sunday, and there will be additional performances at the Aalto Music Theatre in Essen, Germany (Jan. 25 to March 22) and the Lyric Opera of Chicago (March 30 to April 11).
Mazzoli and Vavrek also are working on 鈥淟incoln in the Bardo,鈥� based on George Saunders鈥� novel, which premieres at the Los Angeles Opera in February 2026 and goes to New York鈥檚 Metropolitan Opera that October. 鈥淭he Galloping Cure,鈥� about the opioid crisis, debuts in Scotland in August 2026.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a very internalized space when you鈥檙e being creative,鈥� Vavrek said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 something really beautiful about the actual sharing of something that you鈥檝e been imagining for so long.鈥�
Ronald Blum, The Associated Press
