Boosey & Hawkes Signs Composer Jeanine Tesori
Boosey & Hawkes, a Concord company, has signed acclaimed composer Jeanine Tesori to represent her entire classical music catalog, including existing and future works. Tesori is celebrated for her contributions to opera and musical theatre, including works such as Grounded and Blue.
Composer Jeanine Tesori ... clearly knows how to write for the voice, providing striking arias and wonderful duets and quartets, with exquisite, multilayered harmonies.” —Chicago Sun-Times
Boosey & Hawkes, a Concord company, is pleased to announce the signing of renowned composer Jeanine Tesori, representing all existing and future classical music compositions. A two-time Tony Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Tesori is celebrated for her powerful works for the stage, including the 2023 opera Grounded, presented at Washington National Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, as well as acclaimed musical theatre works such as Fun Home, Kimberly Akimbo, Caroline, or Change, and Thoroughly Modern Millie. This signing agreement expands Tesori’s longstanding relationship with Concord, which also licenses Fun Home through Concord Theatricals.
B&H will now represent Tesori’s complete operatic catalog:
- Grounded (2023)
- Blue (2016)
- The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me (2012)
- A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck (2010)
Tesori's works have been presented at some of the most prominent opera houses in the world, including Washington National Opera, Dutch National Opera, and English National Opera. She is one of the first women to be commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera. Her most recent opera, Grounded, which was presented at the Washington National Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, is based on librettist George Brant’s acclaimed stage play and tells the story of a US Air Force pilot reassigned to drone warfare after an unexpected pregnancy. The Washington Post praised the score for its “accommodating lyricism and surprising delicacy and daring.” Deutsche Grammophon will release the Met Opera’s 2024 broadcast of the opera in digital audio format on August 22.
Her 2016 opera Blue, with a libretto by Tazewell Thompson, won the Music Critics Association of North America Award for Best New Opera. It tells an emotionally impactful and relevant story of a Black police officer grappling with the killing of his teenage son. Tesori noted, “At this stage in my career, I want to write about subjects that I feel are missing in the operatic canon.”
Tesori’s first opera, A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck, created with Tony Kushner following their collaboration on Caroline, or Change, draws inspiration from the life of Eugene O’Neill. The one-act work premiered at the Glimmerglass Festival in 2011, directed by Francesca Zambello. The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me, a family opera with libretto by J.D. McClatchy and based on the book by Jeanette Winterson, premiered in 2013 at Washington National Opera. The Washington Post praised its “fresh energy and charm.”
Looking ahead, Tesori will serve as Lincoln Center’s Visionary Artist during the 2025–2026 season. Her residency will include curated concerts, large-scale community choir performances, and cross-campus collaborations. Highlights include a staged concert performance of Blue (November 15), co-presented by the Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and Lincoln Center Theater at David Geffen Hall.
Tesori states:
"It's an honor to join the Boosey & Hawkes roster, alongside legendary composers like Leonard Bernstein and Béla Bartók—figures who have shaped my musical imagination since childhood. I’m excited to collaborate with this global team to share my operas with audiences around the world."
Steven Lankenau, Senior Vice President of Boosey & Hawkes, states:
“I have always been a fan of Jeanine’s work, and am thrilled at the opportunity for Boosey & Hawkes to represent a core part of her catalog. She is a dynamic and inspiring presence, with an incredible gift for putting powerful modern stories into song.”
Learn more at www.boosey.com/Tesori.
About Jeanine Tesori
Jeanine Tesori is one of the most influential and inventive composers creating music today, with a genre-spanning body of work that includes opera, musical theatre, and film. She is a two-time recipient of the Tony Award® for Best Original Score and a two-time Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and her operas have been presented by Washington National Opera, The Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Dutch National Opera, English National Opera, and more.
Tesori’s operas include A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck (libretto by Tony Kushner); The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me (libretto by J.D. McClatchy); Blue (libretto by Tazewell Thompson), which received the MCANA Award for Best New Opera; and Grounded (libretto by George Brant). She is one of the first women to be commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera.
In the 2025-2026 season, Tesori serves as Lincoln Center’s Visionary Artist, with highlights including a staged concert performance of Blue, panel discussions, large-scale community performances, and campus-wide collaborations.
She currently serves as Professor in the Practice of Music and Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies at Yale University and as a Creative Associate at the Juilliard School. Tesori’s classical catalog is published by Boosey & Hawkes.
> www.boosey.com/Tesori
About Boosey & Hawkes
Boosey & Hawkes, a Concord company, is the world’s leading publisher of contemporary classical music. Its blue chip catalogue of 20th-century masters includes Bartók, Bernstein, Britten, Copland, Prokofieff, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, Strauss and Stravinsky alongside an eminent front list of composers that includes John Adams, Unsuk Chin, Anna Clyne, Brett Dean, Detlev Glanert, Osvaldo Golijov, HK Gruber, Karl Jenkins, Elena Kats-Chernin, Magnus Lindberg, James MacMillan, Steve Reich, Mark-Anthony Turnage and Eric Whitacre.
> www.boosey.com
About Concord Music Publishing
Concord Music Publishing is a global, full-service, independent music publisher offering bespoke creative support from its A&R, Synchronization and Marketing teams and diligent administration by its in-house Copyright, Licensing, Income Tracking and Royalty departments. Based in Nashville with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, London and Berlin, Concord Music Publishing owns or administers more than 600,000 copyrighted musical works. Spanning nearly two centuries of song, through a vast array of genres and territories, Concord represents the world’s most celebrated songwriters, composers and lyricists.
> www.concord.com
Photo: Nina Wurtzel