As the nation mourned the passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia last month, many contemplated his legal legacy which endures in his decisions, opinions, and notably colorful dissents. However, the justice has also been immortalized in a much less likely place – as one of two titular characters in composer Derrick Wang’s comic opera Scalia/Ginsburg.
Politically opposite, the fact of Justice Scalia and Justice Ginsburg’s close friendship simultaneously bemused and confused the public and the media. One way in which their ideologies aligned was their love of opera. Together, the two performed as supernumeraries in Washington National opera’s 2009 performance of “Ariadne auf Naxos.”
The opera explores their relationship with what The Washington Post characterized as a pastiche with bits of Bizet, Verdi, Puccini, and Purcell. The plot itself reflects elements of Mozart’s A Magic Flute and A Christmas Carol.
After Scalia/Ginsburg premiered at conductor Lorin Maazel’s Castelton Festival this past summer, there is little to suggest whether the kitschy opera will catch-on. It may never attain the cache of Hamilton, the wildly popular new hip-hop musical about founding father Alexander Hamilton, but perhaps it will gain some popularity in its celebration of friendship in divisive political times.
I end this column short to announce that this is my final article for PN!.
I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to share my passion for more than six and a half years and to have met so many fascinating readers and local opera lovers along the way. Thank you to publisher Stephanie Penick for considering a fourteen-year-old’s request to start an arts column, and thank you to all the readers for having me!