Royce Vavrek is an Alberta-born librettist and lyricist who has been called “the indie Hofmannsthal” (The New Yorker) and “one of the most celebrated and sought after librettists in the world” (CBC Radio). His opera “Angel’s Bone” with composer Du Yun was awarded the 2017 Pulitzer Prize.

His collaborations include operas with Missy Mazzoli (“Breaking the Waves”, “The Listeners”), Mikael Karlsson (“Melancholia”), David T. Little (“Dog Days”, “JFK”), Paola Prestini (“Silent Light”, “The Old Man and the Sea”), and Ricky Ian Gordon (“27”, “The House Without a Christmas Tree”); as well as contemporary dance projects with Guillaume Côté (“Crypto”) and Drew Jacoby (“Evidence of it All”, featuring Oscar-nominated actress Rosamund Pike).

Upcoming commissions include “Agnes” for Icelandic Opera (with Daníel Bjarnason),  “Lincoln in the Bardo” for The Metropolitan Opera (with Missy Mazzoli), “Fanny and Alexander” for La Monnaie (with Mikael Karlsson), “Indians on Vacation” for Edmonton Opera/Against the Grain (with Ian Cusson) and “My Family // Cambodia, 1975” (with Vivian Fung) supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.

Royce holds a BFA in Filmmaking and Creative Writing from Concordia University and an MFA in Musical Theater Writing from NYU. He is an alum of American Lyric Theater’s Composer Librettist Development Program.