NEXTGEN 3 FINALISTS
Harriet Steinke and Anuj Bhutani 

“We had ten remarkable semi-finalists at BMP:NEXTGEN 3, and selecting the two finalists was no easy task,” says Morrison. “Harriet and Anuj bring strikingly different compositional voices and aesthetics, yet both possess a rare ability to transform the personal into something universally resonant in a deeply theatrical way. I’m incredibly excited to see what they create with their first BMP commissions.”

Anuj Bhutani is a quickly emerging composer, performer, vocalist, and producer whose “alternately celestial and dark” music (John Schaefer, WNYC New Sounds) often features visceral grooves; ethereal, meditative spaces; a combination of acoustic instruments and electronics, narrative depth, and genre-fluidity. Bhutani's MANU (directed by Rory Pelsue) weaves a personal story of institutional trauma with the Hindu flood myth of survival, as two narratives collide and collapse into one. Through live performance and a hybrid musical language, it becomes a work about endurance, identity, and the force of memory in shaping who we are and who we become.

Harriet Steinke is a composer from Detroit, Michigan whose music has been commissioned by chamber ensembles, orchestras, soloists, festivals, and presenters across the U.S. Her work is often inspired by poetry and other word-based art forms, and much of her music explores the big capabilities of small ideas. Steinke's Monna Innominata (directed by Nina Goodheart) reimagines Christina Rossetti’s 1881 sonnet cycle of the same name, shifting the lens to the “Unnamed Woman” at the center of centuries of poetry. Blending text and song, the work turns the audience into the “Reader,” unraveling a story shaped by misreading, assumption, and a secret at its core."

BMP:NEXTGEN 3 at National Sawdust
Saturday, May 16 at 8pm
Sunday, May 17 at 3pm

Tickets
Artist/student: $22.50 (plus fees)
General: $35 (plus fees)

National Sawdust is located at 80 N 6th Street at the corner of Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  The venue (see map) is a short distance from the L and G trains, multiple bus lines, and the ferry system.

ABOUT BMP:NEXTGEN

First launched in 2017–18, BMP:NEXTGEN was created to empower and inspire the next wave of visionary composers, singers, and artists. By bridging the gap between academic study and professional artistry, this program nurtures emerging talents and offers them the platform and resources they need to revolutionize opera and music-theatre. To begin each cycle of the project, aspiring composers are invited to submit vocal works up to ten minutes in length. Out of these submissions, ten first round semifinalists are selected, and their vocal works are produced by BMP in a weekend program of new vocal music. Two composers are then chosen by a panel of invited industry professionals to win commissions for 30-minute vocal-theatre works for the next round of the competition, which takes place the following season in a showcase of each finalist’s work. Ultimately, one of these two finalists is selected to commission an evening-length vocal-theatre work, including the development and World Premiere production of their composition, which will play in New York and Los Angeles. To date, Beth Morrison Projects has completed 2 cycles of BMP:NEXTGEN with Emma O’Halloran & Niloufar Nourbakhsh as previous winners. 

ABOUT ANUJ BHUTANI

Described as “a force multiplier with more talents than time” (PATRON Magazine), Anuj Bhutani is a quickly emerging composer, performer, vocalist, and producer whose “alternately celestial and dark” music (John Schaefer, WNYC New Sounds) often features visceral grooves; ethereal, meditative spaces; a combination of acoustic instruments and electronics, narrative depth, and genre-fluidity. His work has been presented by Beth Morrison Projects and LA Performance Practice at venues including National Sawdust and the Banff Centre. He’s won an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant and taken part in American Composer’s Orchestra’s Earshot, NewAm Composer’s Lab and residencies at Loghaven, Avaloch Farm Music Institute and Atlantic Center for the Arts, among others. His work has been commissioned or performed by Ashley Bathgate, Raleigh Civic Symphony, Metropolis Ensemble, Verdant Vibes, Switch~ ensemble, the William Paterson University Percussion Ensemble, and more. 
For more information, visit Anuj Bhutani's website. 

ABOUT HARRIET STEINKE

Harriet Steinke is a composer from Detroit, Michigan. Her music has been commissioned by chamber ensembles, orchestras, soloists, festivals, and presenters across the U.S. Her work is often inspired by poetry and other word-based art forms, and much of her music explores the big capabilities of small ideas. Her career highlights include a multi-year residency with the Detroit-based new quartet Virago, who released the debut EP of Steinke’s concert-length work Listening for Bells in 2022.  From 2022-23 she collaborated with the vocalist Molly Yuko McGuire on a 50-minute song cycle called Hymnal, setting the poetry of Indianapolis-based poet and friend Alessandra Lynch. Most recently, her full-length instrumental Mass for reed quintet was premiered in 2025 by the GRAMMY-winning Akropolis Reed Quintet at concerts in Detroit and New York City. She has received a Charles Ives Scholarship award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters as well as composition fellowships at the Tanglewood, Aspen, and Norfolk summer music festivals. She was most recently awarded the Hermitage Prize in composition at the Aspen Music Festival, earning her a 2026 residency at the Hermitage artist retreat in Florida. She studied music and English at Butler University where her primary mentor was composer Michael Schelle and later completed graduate studies in music composition at the Yale School of Music where she studied with composers Martin Bresnick, David Lang, Aaron Jay Kernis, and Chris Theofanidis.  "Steinke" is pronounced in two syllables [STINE-kee].  
For more information, visit Harriet Steinke's website. 

ABOUT BETH MORRISON PROJECTS

Celebrating its 20th anniversary season, Beth Morrison Projects (BMP) is a leading creator and producer of new opera and music theatre, driven by a fierce commitment to telling the stories of our time, cultivating the next generation of artists, and shaping a more inclusive, innovative, and relevant future for the field. Founded in 2006 by “contemporary opera mastermind” (LA Times) Beth Morrison—named one of Musical America’s Artists of the Year—BMP has become “a driving force behind America’s thriving opera scene” (Financial Times).

With offices in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, BMP operates nationally and internationally, having commissioned, developed, produced, and toured more than 65 works in 15 countries. Its productions include the Pulitzer Prize–winning Angel’s Bone (Du Yun/ Vavrek)  and p r i s m (Reid/ Perkins), and three GRAMMY™-nominated operas including Black Lodge (Little/ Waldman), Adoration (Kouyoumdjian/ Vavrek), presented at leading venues and festivals worldwide.

Central to BMP’s mission is artist development through programs like Producer Academy and BMP: NextGen, which support emerging producers and composers through mentorship, training, and commissioning opportunities. BMP is also the driving force behind PROTOTYPE Festival, co-founded in 2013 and now solely curated and produced by BMP, widely recognized as one of the world’s leading festivals of contemporary opera and theatre.

Through its productions, partnerships, and programs, BMP continues to redefine opera for the 21st century and build a vibrant, sustainable future for the art form.

More information at Beth Morrison Proects.