THE riddle
Composed by TAMAR MUSKAL
libretto by DANIEL KRAMER
As the human race travels beyond the boundaries of the Heavens itself, so shall our mythology need to travel new distances to speak to the myth of modern man. THE RIDDLE examines the Biblical myth of Hagaar, Isaac and Sarah from tomorrow’s perspective: as the entitled inhabit space and a suffocating earth, what will the common man and woman do to survive.
GIVE NOW TO “THE RIDDLE”
CREATORS
With “an ear for the new and interesting” (The New York Times), Laura Kaminsky frequently addresses social and political issues in her work with a distinct musical language that is "full of fire as well as ice, contrasting dissonance and violence with tonal beauty and meditative reflection." (American Record Guide). Her first opera, As One (co-librettists Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed) is the most produced contemporary opera since its 2014 premiere, with 60+ productions internationally. Other operas: Some Light Emerges and Today It Rains (Campbell & Reed); Hometown to the World (Kimberly Reed); Finding Wright (Andrea Fellows Fineberg); February (co-written with Lisa Moore); Lucidity (David Cote); Upcoming: The Post Office: a chamber opera in poems (Elaine Sexton; Queen City Opera); Time To Act (Crystal Manich; dramaturgy: Amy Hutchison; Pittsburgh, Montana, Santa Barbara Operas and Boston Conservatory); Force of Nature (Fellows Fineberg; Utah Opera); Arboreal (Fry Street Quartet); Vanishing Point (Carpe Diem String Quartet); Threnody...October 2024 (pianist Mackenzie Melemed). Awarded the Polish Gold Cross of Merit (Zloty Krzyż Zasługi RP) by the President of Poland for exemplary public service/humanitarian work, Kaminsky has been recognized by the NEA, Koussevitzky Music Foundation at the Library of Congress, Opera America, Chamber Music America, and USArtists International, among others. On the faculty at SUNY Purchase and Boston Conservatory/Berklee, Kaminsky is a mentor for Seattle Opera's Creation Lab.
Tamar Muskal
Composer
Elaine Sexton’s latest collection of poems is Site Specific: New & Selected Poems (Grid Books, 2025). Her four previous books of poetry are: Sleuth (New Issues, 2003), Causeway (New Issues, 2008), and Prospect/Refuge (Sheep Meadow Press, 2015), and Drive (Grid Books, 2022). Her poems, art reviews, book reviews, and works in visual art have appeared in journals and anthologies, textbooks and websites including American Poetry Review, Art in America, Poetry, Ploughshares, O! the Oprah Magazine, and Poetry Daily.
She has written the libretto for THE POST OFFICE, a chamber opera in poems, in collaboration with composer Laura Kaminsky, commissioned by Queen City Opera and developed by Opera Fusion: New Works/Cincinnati Opera. Her recent iPhone pics have been included in the Carriage Trade gallery’s annual Social Photography exhibition, NYC. An avid book maker and micro-publisher, she is the author of several chapbooks, and has curated site-specific events with accompanying limited-edition chapbooks, and periodicals, among them Hair and 2 Horatio.
She teaches text and image and poetry at Sarah Lawrence College and has been guest faculty at New York University and in the graduate writing program at City College (CUNY). She is regularly invited to teach poetry, bookmaking, and art writing at arts and writing programs and centers in the U.S. and abroad, among them Poets House, Hudson Valley Writers Center, and Arts Workshop International (Assisi). She teaches private workshops in her studio and online. Formerly a senior editor at ARTnews and visual arts editor for Tupelo Quarterly, she is the editor and publisher of the micro press, Em Dash Books.
Elaine Sexton
Librettist
Link to THE POST OFFICE Booklet
Information
Duration 70' / no intermission
Commission The commissioning of Tamar Muskal for THE RIDDLE received funding from OPERA America’s Discovery Grants for Female Composers program, supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. THE RIDDLE will receive a public workshop produced by AOP in April 2026 at the DiMenna Center, Cary Hall.
Premiere TBA
Roles 7 singers (2 sopranos, 1 mezzo, 2 countertenors, 1 baritone, 1 bass)
Instrumentation Piano, Frame Drum, Cello, Beatboxer, Electronics