Michael R. Jackson opera Complications in Sue announces world premiere recording

13-08-26

The world premiere recording of Complications in Sue, a new opera from A Strange Loop writer Michael R. Jackson starring cabaret icon Justin Vivian Bond, will be released this August.

BCM+D Records will release the recording on 21 August 2026, captured live during Opera Philadelphia’s world premiere production at the Academy of Music earlier this year.

Featuring a libretto by Pulitzer and Tony Award winner Jackson, Complications in Sue follows the life of one woman across ten vignettes, with each scene taking place during a different decade of her life.

Justin Vivian Bond created and stars in the title role of Sue, with the libretto based on an original idea by Bond.

Each of the opera’s ten sections is scored by a different composer, bringing together Andy Akiho, Alistair Coleman, Nathalie Joachim, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Rene Orth, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Kamala Sankaram, Dan Schlosberg and Errollyn Wallen.

The project marks the operatic debut of Michael R. Jackson, whose musical A Strange Loop won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Drama before going on to win Best Musical at the Tony Awards.

“Complications In Sue is and will always be one of my proudest artistic achievements,” Jackson said.

He added that the recording would allow the work to reach audiences who were unable to see its original run, saying: “I hope that this release is only the beginning of the world’s exposure to Sue’s complications.”

The recording also features four opera singers portraying the various people and figures who enter Sue’s life across the decades.

Soprano Kiera Duffy, mezzo-soprano Imara Miles, tenor Nicky Spence and bass-baritone Nicholas Newton each perform multiple roles, ranging from Mrs. Claus and a newscaster to the algorithms which shadow Sue during her later years. All four also take on the role of Death.

Bond said the project began with an idea they had “whimsically threw out as a joke”, before developing into a collaboration with the show’s extensive creative team.

“Every single person who worked on this little miracle of an opera blew my mind,” Bond said. “If I’m a witch, I must be a powerful one!”

Caren Levine conducts the production, which is co-directed by Zack Winokur and Raja Feather Kelly.

Complications in Sue received its world premiere at Opera Philadelphia in February 2026, with the production subsequently cited by The New York Times among its Best Classical Music and Opera of 2026.

The world premiere recording of Complications in Sue will be released by BCM+D Records on 21 August 2026. Visit the official site HERE