Claude & Marcel
Thursday, November 19, 2026 | 7:30 p.m.
Music Hall • Wilks Studio
Music by Alyssa Weinberg
Libretto by Stephanie Fleischmann
Stage Direction by Elkhanah Pulitzer
Conducted by Jonathan Khuner
Claude & Marcel tells the story of Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, who formed one of the most daring creative partnerships of the avant-garde in the early 20th century. Romantic partners, collaborators, and radical thinkers, the two women created surrealist photographs that challenged gender, identity, and power decades before those conversations entered the mainstream. Living on the island of Jersey during World War II, the pair transformed their artistic imagination into acts of resistance against Nazi Germany. Disguised and working in secret, they produced subversive propaganda—poems, pamphlets, and messages designed to demoralize German soldiers—slipping them into pockets, vehicles, and public spaces. Arrested and sentenced to death for their actions, they ultimately survived the war, leaving behind a legacy of courage, defiance, and boundary-breaking art. Their story is one of love, creativity, and resistance—two artists who proved that imagination itself can be a powerful act of rebellion.
The OF:NW workshop of Claude & Marcel will be led by director Elkhanah Pulitzer and conductor Jonathan Khuner. The opera will receive its world premiere at West Edge Opera in August 2027.
Tickets are Pay-What-You-Wish starting at $15/ticket for adults (suggested price: $35), and free for full-time students (one ticket per valid student ID).
DISCOVER
Learn more about Opera Fusion: New Works, a partnership between Cincinnati Opera and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) dedicated to fostering the development of new American operas.