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Stewart Wallace Receives the Virgil Thomson Award in Vocal Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters

May. 29, 2026

Stewart Wallace has received the Virgil Thomson Award in Vocal Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. This prestigious biennial award is given to "an exceptional composer of vocal works."

Notably, the German premiere production of Stewart Wallace and Michael Korie's opera, Harvey Milk Reimagined is currently in repertory at the Theater für Niedersachsen in Hildesheim, under the direction of conductor Sergei Kiselev and director Vincent Stefan. 

Harvey Milk Reimagined is inspired by the life and martyrdom of San Francisco's first openly gay elected public official. Milk had a foot in two separate ghettos: one gay, one Jewish. He was a boy in Long Island at the time of the liberation of the concentration camps in Europe at the end of World War II. Like many Jews of his generation, he clearly saw that remaining silent was no longer a moral option. His sense of moral outrage and courage stems from this time. When he began to transfer these lessons to himself as a gay man, he transformed himself from a closeted Wall Street businessman into an outspoken leader of the gay community.

In this work, Stewart Wallace and Michael Korie have radically reimagined the score with an emphasis on its mythic elements as a celebration of Harvey Milk’s life. This new Harvey Milk is streamlined. It’s taut and visceral.


Trailer: Harvey Milk Reimagined at the Theater für Niedersachsen

To learn more about Stewart Wallace, visit schott-music.com.

Stewart Wallace
Harvey Milk Reimagined (2020)
libretto (Eng) by Michael Korie
Harvey Milk · high baritone - Dan White · tenor - Scott Smith · tenor - Dianne Feinstein · soprano - George Moscone · bass - Anne Kronenberg · mezzo-soprano - Henrietta Wong · soprano - The Messenger · countertenor - Young Harvey · boy tenor - Mama · mezzo-soprano - Closet Lover Jack · baritone - mixed chorus

2(2pic).1(ca).2(bcl, ecl).1(cbsn)-2.1(pictpt).1.btbn.1-timp.1perc(glsp, chimes, vib, tam-t, b.d, piatti, tri, wdbl, tempbl, anvil, cowbell, police whistle, drum set (s.d, 4tom-t, kick drum, crash cym)-kbd-str(min 4.3.3.2.2)
108'

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