Voiced Gender Signifiers Within ‘As One’ A Chamber Opera: Annotated Bibliography

‘As One’, a popular modern chamber opera by composer Laura Kaminsky, presents the transition of transgender woman, Hannah. Hannah, however, is casted and composed as two separate voices, a baritone and mezzo-soprano, thus creating “Hannah before” and “Hannah after”. In doing so, a dichotomy of thought surrounding the attributes of a binary based practice of vocalization and character representation is created. Through the analysis of gender theory, voiced gender theory, and the ‘As One’ chamber opera, storytelling of complex gender-based characters may be solidified within biased gender compositional and musical tools. In discovering these repetitive actions through socially constructed stereotypes and historical opera practices, recognition of gendered practices of composition, understandings of their usage within given performances, and the adaptation of these patterns may be used to invoke powerful yet inclusive future productions and compositions