Tesoris' GROUNDED nominated for Grammy Award

0000: The Metropolitan Opera's recording of GROUNDED, distributed by Clasart Classic, is nominated for the renowned Award in the category Best Opera Recording.

Two-time Tony Award–winning composer Jeanine Tesori’s powerful opera GROUNDED, commissioned by the Met and based on librettist George Brant’s acclaimed play, is nominated for a Grammy Award in the category Best Opera Recording. GROUNDED wrestles with the ethical quandaries and psychological toll of 21st-century warfare. Mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo, for whom Tesori wrote the leading role, portrays Jess, a hot-shot fighter pilot whose unplanned pregnancy takes her out of the cockpit and lands her in Las Vegas, operating a Reaper drone halfway around the world. As she adjusts to this new way of doing battle, she struggles to balance life as a wife to Eric and mother to their daughter, Sam, and fights to maintain her sanity and moral compass at work where she is called to rain down death remotely. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the podium, leading a cast that also features tenor Ben Bliss as the Wyoming rancher who sweeps Jess off her feet. Michael Mayer’s high-tech staging, using a vast array of LED screens, presents a variety of perspectives on the action, including the drone’s predatory view from high above.

“Emily D’Angelo … turns the evening into compelling theatre. The Canadian mezzo-soprano may only be thirty years old but already has the intelligence, charisma and confidence needed to pull off opening the Met season; in Jess she finds an ideal showcase for her vocal and theatrical capabilities.” (Bachtrack)

“Tesori’s GROUNDED scores a dark triumph in Met season opener” (New York Classical Review)

Production year 2024
Duration 2:10
Producer The Metropolitan Opera
Distribution TV Clasart Classic
Composer Jeanine Tesori
Orchestra / Band The Metropolitan Opera
Libretto George Brant
Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Choir The Metropolitan Opera
Stage Director Michael Mayer
Soloist Emily D'Angelo
Soloist Ben Bliss