American Mother

opera
2024/25

Duration c. 85’
Instrumentation soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone, bass – chorus – orchestra: 2.2.2.2-4.3.2.1-3P-Hp-Strings (98543)
First Performance 31 May 2025, Theatre Hagen, Germany; Joseph Trafton conductor
Libretto by Colum McCann, based on a book by Diane Foley and Colum McCann
Directed by Travis Preston
Commissioned by Theatre Hagen

Further Performances
9.6.25 Theatre Hagen, Germany; Mit Ensemblemitgliedern und Gästen des Theaters Hagen, Chor des Theaters Hagen, Philharmonisches Orchester Hagen
14.6.25 Theatre Hagen, Germany; Mit Ensemblemitgliedern und Gästen des Theaters Hagen, Chor des Theaters Hagen, Philharmonisches Orchester Hagen
18.6.25 Theatre Hagen, Germany; Mit Ensemblemitgliedern und Gästen des Theaters Hagen, Chor des Theaters Hagen, Philharmonisches Orchester Hagen
26.6.25 Theatre Hagen, Germany; Mit Ensemblemitgliedern und Gästen des Theaters Hagen, Chor des Theaters Hagen, Philharmonisches Orchester Hagen

Charlotte has a worldwide, exclusive publishing agreement with Birdsong

American Mother is a story of grief, loss, terror, war, motherhood, faith, and forgiveness. Based on the book of the same name, American Mother tells the true story of Diane Foley, the mother of murdered American war correspondent James Foley, as she sits down to talk to the man convicted of brutally imprisoning and beheading her son. The opera takes place in one day (2021), yet moves back and forth over the years, alternating between scenes of Diane and her son’s killer – Alexander Kotey – and scenes of James held captive, 7 years earlier.