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Opera Philadelphia Presents the World Premiere of Gregory Spears's Sleepers Awake

Apr. 22, 2026

Last night, Opera Philadelphia presented the world premiere of Gregory Spears's latest opera, Sleepers Awake conducted by Corrado Rovaris and directed by Jenny Koons at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. In addition to composing the music, Spears serves as the work's librettist, drawing inspiration from the subversive "Sleeping Beauty" play by Swiss writer Robert Walser. In this version, waking up isn't a rescue; it’s an annoyance. And while the title suggests a nod to J.S. Bach's ebullient Cantata 140, "Wachet Auf" which calls us to be watchful and ever ready, Spears explores the comfort of the dream state and a yearning for a slower, less tumultuous time.

Sleepers Awake features the chorus in a uniquely starring role. This is, as Patrick Clement James notes in an insightful article for Parterre Box, "What distinguishes the opera, however, is not only its subject matter but also how that material is expressed. Rather than centering the drama on individual protagonists, Sleepers Awake shifts focus to the collective. For this project, the community is intentionally foregrounded... The structural innovation is also thematic: the chorus is no longer the background against which individual drama is projected but the primary vehicle for the work’s emotional labor."

Speaking to Joshua Barone for The New York Times, Spears noted, "For this piece, I wanted to make a fairy tale that we thought was familiar mysterious again,” Spears said. “I like Robert Walser because in his writing, everything is mystified in a playful way. Something that is ordinary like sleep, which is a kind of repetitive ceremony, becomes all the sudden really unusual. Which, I think, is the way it actually is, but we get used to looking at it a different way.”

Read the entirety of Mr. Barone's excellent in-depth feature here.

Audiences have two more opportunities to see Sleepers Awake in Philadelphia: April 24 and 26, and limited tickets remain.

To learn more about Gregory Spears, visit schott-music.com.

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