Caitlin Claire Vincent

Biography

Caitlin Vincent is an American librettist and lyricist whose writing has been praised as “nuanced and honest” (DC Theatre Scene), “intriguing” (The Baltimore Sun), and “a luminous standout” (The Huffington Post).

Her opera Better Gods, with composer Luna Pearl Woolf, premiered in January 2016 at the Kennedy Center as part of Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative. With sold-out performances, the work was acclaimed as “fascinating and heart-wrenching” (DC Metro Theatre Arts), told “with brutal honesty through Caitlin Vincent’s stirring libretto” (Broadway World). In November 2013, Vincent’s opera Uncle Alex, with composer Joshua Bornfield, was premiered by Washington National Opera as part of a trio of new 20-minute works for the American Opera Initiative.

In August 2017, Vincent and composer Douglas Buchanan won the 2017-19 Sackler Music Composition Prize, which commissioned a new one-hour opera about Bessie Coleman, the first African-American female aviator, and Miriam “Ma” Ferguson, the first female governor of Texas. In 2021, Vincent and composer Timothy Takach were named finalists for the 2023 Domenic J. Pellicciotti Opera Composition Prize.

Other operatic works include Camelot Requiem (The Figaro Project, 2013); Prix Fixe (Florida Atlantic University, 2015; Fresh Squeezed Opera Company, 2017); The Art of Fugue: The Opera (Aberfoyle Baroque & Passepied Baroque Performing Arts, 2016; Boston Early Music Festival Fringe, 2017); Nullipara (Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, 2018); Ella Que Llora (University of North Carolina, 2019); and Tienda (Schubert Club of Minnesota, 2019; Augsburg University, 2020; The Duffy Institute, pending 2022). Vincent has also written two highly-acclaimed comic adaptations of Mozart operas: The Figaro Project, based on Le Nozze di Figaro (The Figaro Project, 2009; The Zeiders American Dream Theatre, 2015), and Who Killed Don Giovanni?, based on Don Giovanni (The Figaro Project, 2011; Cowtown Opera, 2019).

Also noted for her work in song repertoire, Vincent has had works premiered at the Oxford Lieder Festival, Wigmore Hall, and Carnegie Hall, including Godiva (2019) with composer Juliana Hall and Little Black Book (2019) with composer Susan LaBarr. In December 2020, bass-baritone Zachary James premiered AHAB, Vincent’s latest collaboration with Juliana Hall, as part of the award-winning visual album Call Out.

A classically-trained soprano, Vincent holds degrees from Harvard University, Peabody Conservatory, and Deakin University in Australia. She is currently on faculty at the University of Melbourne.