96-Hour Opera Festival winners premiere - 'Forsyth County is Flooding (With the Joy of Lake Lanier)' in Atlanta

Adamma Ebo and Marcus Norris, winners of the 96-Hour Opera inaugural festival in 2022. (Courtesy of Raftermen)

The 96-Hour Opera Festival is a competition for emerging composers and librettists from underrepresented backgrounds. Five teams have four days to create and stage a 10-minute operatic work that a panel of professionals will judge.

The winners receive $10,000 and a commission from The Atlanta Opera to create a chamber opera. Marcus Norris and Adamma Ebo won the inaugural festival in 2022, and their opera, “Forsyth County is Flooding (With the Joy of Lake Lanier),” will have its world premiere at the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center on June 15. 

“City Lights” producer Summer Evans spoke with Norris, who wrote the music and lyrics, and Ebo, who wrote the book and story.