Nellie Bly was a pioneer of investigative journalists everywhere. Her inside story on the horrific conditions at the Women’s Lunatic Asylum in 1887 brought her international fame.
It’s also the subject of an opera by American composer Rene Orth and Canadian playwright Hannah Moscovitch that will see its Canadian premiere over four performances on June 16, 18, 20, and 21, 2026 as part of Luminato’s 20th anniversary festival. The bold contemporary opera will be produced by Tapestry Opera and co-presented by Luminato Festival, and the Canadian Opera Company, in association with TO Live.
“10 Days is a thrilling contemporary opera, and a powerful story about the trailblazing investigative journalist, Nellie Bly, brought to life by the uniquely talented duo of Hannah Moscovitch and Rene Orth,” says Tapestry Opera’s Artistic Director, Michael Mori. “We are proud to have commissioned this work and even prouder to collaborate with the Canadian Opera Company and Luminato Festival together for its Canadian premiere.”
Although she’d already written hard hitting stories about female factory workers, and the plight of women under restrictive divorce laws, in 1887, Nellie Bly, aka Elizabeth Jane Cochran, found herself unemployed and near penniless. So, at just 23 years old, she talked herself into an undercover assignment reporting on women in what were then called madhouses for Joseph Pulitzer’s the New York World.
After establishing herself as someone with mental health issues by staying up all night, refusing to sleep, and making wild claims about the other residents of a boarding house where she was staying, she was taken by police and stood before a judge. According to the findings of a police officer, judge, and one doctor, she was deemed insane, and sent to first to Bellevue Hospital, then Blackwell’s Island.
After ten days, New York World stepped in to secure her release, and her resulting piece on the reprehensible conditions and treatment of the women in the institution made history.
10 Days In A Madhouse was originally commissioned by Tapestry Opera and Philadelphia Opera, and was awarded the title of Best New Opera by the Music Critics Association of North America in 2024.
The story is based on Bly’s exposé, which focuses on the stigmas and prejudices that governed the treatment of women’s mental health, and the systems that dealt with it. It was society’s way of sweeping women’s legitimate issues under the rug, and containing them.
What happens when you tell the truth, and no one believes you?
“Luminato Festival is proud to support the Canadian premiere of this visionary new opera that champions twentieth-century whistleblower Nellie Bly,” says Olivia Ansell, Artistic Director, Luminato Festival.
“This type of important collaborative partnership between Tapestry Opera, Luminato Festival, Canadian Opera Company, and TO Live champions the work of Canadian creators and artists to festival audiences on the world stage.”
COC General Director David Ferguson adds, “Nellie Bly’s fearless commitment to truth resonates as powerfully today as it did in her time, and there is truly no better art form than opera for conveying the magnitude of her remarkable courage. In partnering with Tapestry Opera, Luminato Festival, and TO Live, the Canadian Opera Company is proud to champion bold, contemporary creators, supporting work that reminds us all of the extraordinary impact a single voice can have.”
Award-winning theatre director Joanna Settle, who previously collaborated with Moscovitch on the 2018 opera Sky on Swings at Opera Philadelphia, leads the production team. American designer Andrew Lieberman will create a dark labyrinth on the stage, one that embodies both the physical asylum, and the tortured mindscape of its residents.
Canadian conductor and the Canadian Opera Company’s Price Family Chorus Master Sandra Horst leads musical direction. The opera’s score includes both electronic and acoustic elements to mirror the tensions on the stage.
The cast includes names that are already beloved by Toronto audiences.
Canadian soprano Mireille Asselin stars as Nellie, with American mezzo-soprano Taylor-Alexis DuPont in the role of Lizzie, an asylum inmate who Nellie befriends. American baritone Jorell Williams performs the role of the asylum’s malicious namesake, Dr. Josiah Blackwell.
Canadian soprano Lauren Pearl reprises her role from the world premiere in Philadelphia as Nurse/Matron, a menacing role that personifies institutional sadism.
10 Days in a Madhouse will be presented in English with English SURTITLES™.
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