Musician-turned-lawyer Derrick Wang's opera about Justices Scalia and Ginsburg recently held its first full reading. (Justice Thomas would be the perfect audience member, since he would never talk during the show.)
The opera Scalia/Ginsburg had its first full rehearsal and reading at the University of Maryland. Derrick tells us the plot is reminiscent of Mozart and Schikaneder's The Magic Flute. The two Justices have to pass through three cosmic trials, meanwhile coming to some agreements on certain points of law. Along the way, they're judged by the "Commentator," a character based on the Commendatore from Don Giovanni. Logan Webber, a tenor, plays Justice Scalia; Suzanne Karpov, a coloratura soprano, is Justice Ginsburg; and Ethan Greene (center), a bass, is the Commentator.
Derrick attended Harvard, Yale, and Peabody to study music before getting his JD from Maryland. Reading a Supreme Court opinion by Scalia that reminded him of an 18th century rage aria was the inspiration that started the opera last year. "I was looking to develop the idea of operatic precedent," says Derrick. As a court opinion uses quotes from influential holdings to develop new points of law, he wanted to take the same kind of approach in writing the opera. That's also why there is a mash-up of different languages and operas featured, including Carmen, Der Rosenkavalier, and La Boheme (which are also some of the Justices' favorites).
Maryland Opera Studio interim director Nick Olcott tells us Derrick asked for very specific voice types based a lot on the voice types that the Justices would wish to have. Derrick says that in opera the soprano is often a bit passive; he wanted to subvert that. He's now in conversations with various organizations, both musical and legal, about further performances of Scalia/Ginsburg. There will be a free reading of an excerpt at the Smithsonian American Art Museum on April 6. The Washington National Opera will present a scene from it later this spring through its young artist program. The next step after a reading, Derrick says, is to work toward a premier production.
