Amelia: The Libretto

In the new opera Amelia, a first time mother-to-be, whose psyche has been scarred by the loss of her pilot father in Vietnam, must break free from anxiety to embrace healing and renewal for the sake of her husband and child. Set against a thirty-year period from the 1960s to the 1990s, the story interweaves one woman's emotional journey, the American experience in Vietnam, and elements of myth and history to explore our fascination with flight and the dilemmas that arise when vehicles of flight are used for exploration, adventure, and war. This is an intensely personal libretto by American poet Gardner McFall, whose father was a Navy pilot who served in Vietnam and was lost in the Pacific. It moves from loss to recuperation, paralysis to flight, as the protagonist, Amelia, ultimately embraces her life and the creative force of love and family.

Librettist Gardner McFall is the author of two volumes of poetry, The Pilot's Daughter and Russian Tortoise, as well as two children's books. She lives in New York and teaches at Hunter College.

"By treating the plight of one woman who underwent a great loss as a little girl and who, now pregnant, is determined to break what she feels is a cycle of destruction, Gardner McFall taps into elemental feelings. . . . In 2010, when Amelia receives its premiere at Seattle Opera, the full meaning of Gardner McFall's extraordinary words will become clear." - From the Foreword by Speight Jenkins, General Director of Seattle Opera

With an intensely personal libretto by American poet Gardner McFall, whose father was a Navy pilot lost in Vietnam, this new opera explores man's fascination with flight and the dilemmas that arise when vehicles of flight are used for exploration, adventure, and war.

Gardner McFall teaches at Hunter College in New York and is the author of two books of poetry and two children's books.