JERRE DYE

UNITED STATES

WRITER

About

Jerre Dye is a Chicago-based librettist and playwright. He is the recipient of the Award for Dramatic Literature from the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Current and recent opera commissions include: a commission for Opera Philadelphia with Jennifer Higdon; Taking Up Serpents for Washington National Opera with Kamala Sankaram; The Falling and The Rising for the U.S. Army Field Band Chorus, Seattle Opera, Arizona Opera, San Diego Opera, Texas Christian University, and Opera Memphis with composer Zachary Redler; Chautauqua Stories for Chautauqua Opera; BY/IN for Opera Memphis with composers Sankaram, Sam Shoup, Redler, and Robert G. Patterson; and The Parksville Murders, a filmed, episodic, virtual reality opera for Opera On Tap/New York with Sankaram. In 2014, Dye completed the libretto for Ghosts of Crosstown, a new short opera cycle in collaboration with Opera Memphis; Movin Up in the World with Redler (subsequent performances at the National Civil Rights Museum and Missouri State University); Abandoned with Kamran Ince (featured at the Opera America Annual Conference in San Francisco as part of the New Works Sampler 2014); Ivonne with Nathaniel Stookey (featured at the Opera America Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. as part of the New Works Sampler 2015); and Mitch and the Moon with Jack Perla. His play Cicada had its Chicago premiere in 2014 with Route 66 Theatre Company, while Distance was premiered in 2016 with Strawdog Theatre Company; both works were nominated for Jeff Awards. Other works for the stage include: Short/Stories, Threads, The New Adventures of Hansel and Gretel, Wild Swans, and Live Studio Audience. His adaptation of Stravinsky’s A Soldier Tale with Iris Orchestra was praised by the San Francisco Classical Voice for its expressive power.