While student singers will understandably be keen to learn roles in ‘classical’ operas, there are advantages for them in performing new, unfamiliar works while in training. They can make such roles their own without regard to tradition or famous exponents. And the music colleges, with a huge amount of free labour at their disposal, may well consider it their duty to champion new opera when the larger houses can ill afford to take those risks. London owes a debt of thanks, therefore, to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama for bringing Missy Mazzoli’s 2018 opera Proving Up to the Milton Court Theatre recently and there was no doubt that the young cast gave it their all and a lot more besides.

Missy Mazzoli (b. 1980) is a major force to be reckoned with in the USA and her operas flourish in the fertile soil of the American contemporary-opera scene. New operas by her will be premiered later this year at the New York Met (October) and the Edinburgh Festival (August). Her music is a far cry from the ingratiating, easy-listening style of Mark Adamo’s Little Women (seen at Opera Holland Park in 2022) or even Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking (ENO 2025). So, what with Angel’s Bone at ENO Manchester/London this year, Einstein on the Beach and Mazzoli’s own Breaking the Waves (ENO 2027), American opera is fast conquering the UK’s contemporary opera scene as well. (Meanwhile, the RBO hasn’t yet managed to stage a single John Adams opera - an omission which is barely credible). 
Unlike Breaking Waves which is set in Scotland, Proving Up is American to the bone, its action taking place on the prairies of Nebraska following the state’s admission to the Union in 1867. The federal Homestead Act allowed migrants to claim free land if it was settled and cultivated for a period of five years. The process of supplying the required affidavits was known as Proving Up. It goes without saying that the legalities and fees involved excluded participation in the scheme by Native Americans.
Trees on the prairies were few and far between, and so the settlers constructed sod houses made from the thick prairie turf. To qualify as a dwelling, a glass window was required to be in place but, as glass was a rare and expensive commodity, this was a problem which could be circumvented by passing a window between neighbours in time for the Inspector’s visit. 
“What makes a home? Who owns the land?” is a recurring theme of Proving Up. After five long years, struggles against ‘drought, hail, locusts, dust and snow’, and two  daughters already dead, it’s nearly time for the Zegner family to prove up. They even have the precious glass. Those two daughters, one of them taller than the other, appear as ghosts, helpfully acting as commentators on the story. “Where did Pa obtain the glass?” they ask. It soon transpires that Pa stole the window. Wracked with guilt, he descends into drink. His eldest son Peter (a silent role) is immobilised too, so the onus falls on the youngest member of the family, Miles, to perform the feat of carrying the window to their distant neighbours who, if they can prove up, will entice the inspector to the area. This venture reckons without the appearance of the Sodbuster, a mysterious demonic creature, who might, or might not, be an incarnation of the Inspector.
And so we have a drama which could hardly be more grounded in historical fact but which yields a piece of magical surrealism. Such a transformation is refreshing indeed and is matched at every turn by Mazzoli’s music. This isn’t an overly complex sound world and it’s certainly not ‘difficult’. But it is strikingly fresh. Apparently, the composer aimed to portray the dryness of the landscape - there are frequent prayers for rain. Instead, I found her harmonies lush and resonant. Often that consonance was widely spaced, which evoked the expanse and awe of the prairies, while more ephemeral textures filled the space in between and lent an eeriness to the sound.
The production by Amy Lane extracted every ounce of drama from the text and faithfully served the music. The sod house set and costumes by Anna Yates were of the period and were enhanced by the less-is-more lighting by Toby Ison. Towards the end of the opera, the sudden transformation of that precious glass into a mirror that reflects the darkness of the past is the work’s climax and was the production’s most memorable moment. Only the grave felt not quite right: rather than something that one climbs or is thrown into, here it looked confusingly like an inviting bed in the corner of the living room which characters rolled in and out of and curled up in. 
A young cast portraying older characters can sometimes be less than convincing, but this was certainly not the case here. Twm Tegid (baritone) as Pa and Lowri Probert (soprano) as Ma Zegner both have powerful, resplendent voices with stage personalities to match. Vocally and visually they dramatised their sufferings tellingly. Laura LeVoir as the Littler Daughter (soprano) and Miranda Kettlewell (mezzo) as the Taller Daughter possess both beautiful voices and excellent acting skills and blended perfectly in their many duos. Sebastian Hill (tenor) as Miles is an appealing lyric tenor with a sure-fire future and shone movingly in the “Does a window make a home?” aria. Only Aidan O’Donnell (bass-baritone) coped manfully, but seemed not quite at home, in the challenging role of the Sodbuster with its unforgiving extremes of tessitura; unsurprisingly, the part seems to require an older, experienced performer with a more developed lower register. 
The 13 players in the pit sounded as though the musical style was natural to them. This is, after all, a chamber opera, and every nuance tells. James Henshaw’s conducting ensured a perfect ensemble between stage and orchestra. The music is so well-written that exciting or exuberant passages never overwhelm the singers and every word came across clearly, mid-west accents to boot. All-in-all, it was necessary to remind oneself that this was not a professional company. Dominic Wheeler, the Head of Opera Studies at the Guildhall, should be proud of this five-star show.
Edward Lambert attended the performance on Friday 5 June.

​https://www.planethugill.com/2026/06/every-nuance-tells-missy-mazzolis.html