Met Opera, Lincoln Center Theater commission work about detained Ukrainian children

NEW YORK (AP) — A Ukrainian composer has been commissioned to write an opera about mothers from that country going into Russia to rescue their forcibly detained children. The Metropolitan Opera and Lincoln Center Theater say 42-year-old Maxim Kolomiiets will compose the work to a libretto by George Brant, whose “Grounded” with composer Jeanine Tesori premieres at the Washington National Opera on Oct. 28 and travels to the Met in the autumn of 2024. Met general manager Peter Gelb hopes the company can present the new work by 2027 or ’28. The story is fictional but based on events in Ukraine and The Hague.