The Listeners (2021)

With the American premiere of “The Listeners” at Opera Philadelphia in September, Missy Mazzoli cemented her stature as one of today’s most skilled and ingenious opera composers. She and her longtime librettist, Royce Vavrek, working from a story by Jordan Tannahill, craft a clear yet layered, rivetingly theatrical tale about eco-anxiety, mysticism and cult dynamics that barrels toward an ending equal parts satisfying and scary. This is opera as it should be: thrilling on the level of drama, music and performance all at once, with Mazzoli’s lyrical melodies and unsettling harmonies at its core."

"The unmissable opera of the fall season wasn’t at the Met, but at Opera Philadelphia, where Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s “The Listeners” had its American premiere in September. A black comedy about cult membership, with an excellent cast, the piece showed off Mazzoli’s gift for inventive yet restrained orchestral textures that let clear, lyrical vocal lines speak plainly.

Mazzoli and long-time librettist Royce Vavrek have established themselves as opera’s queen and king of creeping dread, producing works of psychological horror that give A24’s last half-decade of films a run for its money...

Vavrek’s writing is excellent; Claire is right on the edge of sympathetic—you just know she’d describe herself as an “empath.” Her daughter, here played with astounding power by soprano Lindsay Reynolds, is the right balance of stroppy teen bitchiness and underlying pathos.  The minor characters, other cult members, are expeditiously and effectively rendered.

Mazzoli’s score is alive and anthropomorphic; it scuttles with nasty little percussion clicks. It prowls with leaden paws on the keyboard, growing louder and closer. In the choruses, it buzzes and swarms.  It moans with sliding brass and eventually, it roars, crackling with electronics. Sometimes it nuzzles against you with lyricism so sweet and fierce that you can’t help but open the side door to it and let it in.

Above all, Mazzoli is a once-in-a-generation magician of the orchestra. Wagner commented that in opera the orchestra should act as a medium of premonition, indicating what is foreordained but not yet foreseen. Mazzoli does this instinctively, making our hackles rise.

Most of all the opera is a story about vulnerable people’s struggle to cope with life, and about how vulnerable we are to manipulation when the foundations of our lives collapse.

Here Mazzoli, in collaboration with librettist Royce Vavrek and writer Jordan Tannahill, has succeeded in creating a credible portrayal of real people in demanding situations, combined with biting and hyper-topical social criticism.

Just as fully, it is the music throughout that is the supporting dramatic element. Mazzoli’s orchestral palette is strikingly rich, while she also writes well for voices.

With virtuoso operatic craftsmanship, Mazzoli creates a dark and psychologically charged atmosphere, where every little dramatic turn is expressed musically.