Michael Daugherty: Jackie O

Jackie O was co-commissioned in 1995 by the Houston Grand Opera and Banff Centre and premiered in 1997 with great success. Inspired by Jacqueline ”Jackie” Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994), the opera focuses on the dramatic turning point of her life in the 1960s. The music composed for Jackie O explores the interplay of various musical idioms associated with ”high” opera and ”popular” musical theatre, rock and jazz.