David T. Little's What Belongs to You Receives World Premiere Recording
Based on Garth Greenwell's acclaimed novel, David T. Little's award-winning opera receives its first recording with tenor Karim Sulayman and Alarm Will Sound conducted by Alan Pierson.
The world premiere recording of David T. Little's acclaimed opera What Belongs to You is released June 26, on Bright Shiny Things.
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Based on Garth Greenwell's award-winning novel of the same name, What Belongs to You is a deeply personal work for tenor and chamber orchestra that explores a complex and ultimately tragic relationship between an American teacher living in Sofia, Bulgaria, and a young sex worker named Mitko. Little adapted the libretto himself, distilling Greenwell's celebrated prose into a powerful one-act opera that examines desire, shame, memory, and identity.
The recording features GRAMMY Award-winning tenor Karim Sulayman and GRAMMY Award-winning ensemble Alarm Will Sound, conducted by Alan Pierson. The same artists gave the opera's world premiere in 2024 at the Modlin Center for the Arts in Richmond, Virginia, in a production directed by Mark Morris.
The opera was awarded the 2025 Music Critics Association of North America (MCANA) Award for Best New Opera and has been widely praised for its dramatic intensity and inventive score. Opera Magazine described the work as a "fascinating ... score abounding in polystylistic shifts," incorporating references to Monteverdi, Dowland, and Schubert while remaining unmistakably Little's own.
Throughout the opera, Little uses musical allusion as both dramatic and psychological commentary. The protagonist's first encounter with Mitko echoes Monteverdi's Orfeo, foreshadowing the story's descent into emotional darkness. Elsewhere, references to John Dowland's Flow My Tears, Schubert's Winterreise, and Britten's Death in Venice create a rich network of associations that illuminate the inner lives of the characters.
In his liner notes for the recording, critic Alex Ross observes that Greenwell's prose possesses an inherent musicality, one that Little preserves while transforming it into an operatic form. As the work unfolds, the narrator's perspective gradually expands beyond his own memories and desires, allowing the tragedy at the heart of the story to emerge with increasing clarity and compassion.
The release arrives during Alarm Will Sound's 25th anniversary season and precedes the opera's New York premiere, scheduled for spring 2027 at NYU Skirball, with Sulayman, Pierson, and Alarm Will Sound reprising their roles.