As much as I love opera, new operatic compositions, their respective composer haven’t made as big an impact in the collective imaginations as they used to when Händel or Mozart were around. So, in terms of cultural relevancy, influence and fame, I pondered on what the new millennium’s musical equivalent to opera would be? I would surprise no one by saying pop and rock music, of course. This organically evolved into this list of contemporary tunesmiths that I hope would consider writing an opera one day.

But before we start and delve into this exercise we have to lay down a couple ground rules and qualifiers, otherwise this list would be impossibly long and the speculative would turn into the absurd.

First: All the inductees had to be living and primarily known for work in the rock/pop realms and its respective subgenres. Comfort at music and lyric crafting had to be evident.

Second: All had to be neophytes to composing an opera.

Third: No jazz or film composers as they deserve a similar list all to themselves.

Fourth: In case of bands, no more than one member per band.

Fifth: This could have been a very arbitrary list so every inductee had to have shown some level of musical and compositional maturity. Bonus points were awarded for having a formal musical education, arranging/producing credits or having dabbled in instrumental or film score compositions. Let’s begin.

1. BJÖRK

Eclectic, opulent, cryptic, unique, experimental, the queen of weird… It’s hard to give a narrow description of her music, or of Björk herself for that matter. A child prodigy that enrolled in music school at 6 and made her recoding debut at 12. Her oeuvre is layered, textured and totally unpredictable. From her more accessible “Debut” and “Post” through the basically a cappella “Medúlla” up to the more avant-garde “Biophilia” and “Vulnicura” she is not afraid to take risk. Her music has already been associated with opera. Her album “Verspertine” was staged as an opera in Mannheim in 2018. Björk authorized the use of her music but wasn’t involved in the production. I hope I get to hear a full fledged opera from her.

3. Thom Yorke (Radiohead)

Thom Yorke is one of two artists on this list that is just skip and a hop away from possibly venturing into operatic waters. He recently premiered two contemporary classical compositions: the 20-minute piano duet “Don’t fear the light” and the more songlike “Gawpers.” Quiet a feat for someone who never bothered to learn how to read music. The Radiohead lead singer’s music has a tense dreamy or hypnotic quality. The eerie chord progressions and harmonies dominate his music. His melodies’ semi tonal small movements combined with big jumps to another chord tone have proven to be very effective at telling stories. His contribution to last year’s “Suspiria” remake was arguably the best part of an otherwise polarizing movie. I think Thom just needs to find the right story to tell and maybe will get a new millennium Singspiel from him.

3. William Butler (Arcade Fire)

Until a couple of years ago I was, to my detriment, only marginally aware of Arcade Fire. It was actually through an opera singer that I began to research and love their music. Renée Fleming’s almost brooding rendition of “Intervention” in her rock crossover album “Dark Hope” gave me the needed push to plunge into their music head first. William Butler work outside of Arcade Fire include the fabulously atmospheric soundtrack to the film “Her”. This shared work earned him an academy award nomination for best score. Nothing to look down upon. A slight hint of Satie in this soundtrack makes it a dreamy, velvety master work. A tempering contrast for Spike Jonze’s kooky yet heartwarming movie.

4. Imogen Heap

People outside the UK might be most familiar with Imogen Heap as the singer of “Can’t Take it in” and “Speeding Cars” from the first Narnia movie and the series “The OC” respectively. Her music has been described as equal parts “Casablanca” and “Blade Runner.” Classically trained in piano, cello and clarinet she is known for combining electronic samples, orchestral arrangements, unusual instruments and ambient sounds. Her “formal music” credits include scoring, arranging and conducting the music for the first nature film with crowd sourced footage called “Love the earth” as well the incidental music for the blockbuster play (not musical) “Harry Potter and the Cursed child”. All her music is available in instrumental form as well; have a listen you’ll be pleasantly amazed.

5. Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails)

Yes, that Trent Reznor. The Nine Inch Nails lead singer with the emo look. Isn’t industrial rock in a weird and counterintuitive way inherently operatic? His transition into long format composing has been via the movie business. From producing the soundtrack to “Natural Born Killers” to his moody score for David Fincher’s “The Social Network”. This Academy Award winning beat driven score for the Facebook biopic may not scream opera but give his “Gone Girl” an unbiased listen. The music is instrumental (no pun intended) in making the story of intrigue work. We can all agree that making music in service of a story being told is also part of successful opera scoring. His movie music has garnered him not just the Oscar but a Golden Globe and a Grammy, maybe it’s time for Reznor to consider moving into operatic pastures.

6. Peter Gabriel (Genesis)

The Genesis co-founder and former lead singer is no stranger to grandiose and larger than life projects. His OVO album, the only redeeming thing to come out of the otherwise disastrous Millenium Show, features some of the most melodically rich music from Gabriel. The track “Downside-Up” recruited “Cocteau Twins” singer Elizabeth Fraser’s elfin soprano to great effect. Some write off the whole OVO record as mediocre, but you can’t deny Gabriel’s ambition and vision. Try out other not so familiar tunes from him and I guarantee you’ll find the seed for the operatic. The cozy “Curtains”, that builds on new agey synthesizers to a quiet anticlimax is a good example and don’t forget that he composed the Golden Globe nominated score for Martin Scorsese’s “Last Temptation of Christ,” something worth revisiting even though some of the world music percussion included hasn’t aged all that well…

7. Sufjan Stevens

Have a good listen to the “Call me by your name” soundtrack. Not just Sufjan’s songs but all of it. His three contributions are paired with Ravel, Adams and Bach so seamlessly that one would think they were always meant to be together. His music has been around the indie scene for years but the success of the movie has brought him a lot more attention in recent years. His recordings are an experiment in a wide arrange of musical styles but the one that inspired his inclusion on this list is the the conceptual “Illinois,” its orchestral arrangement give his music a lyrical, sexy and melancholy quality that would be great for operatic music.

8. Florence Welch

(Florence and the Machine)

An opera singer friend of mine and me made an interesting experiment for this article. Once this list was finalized we got on the piano and sang many songs from its composers in a purely operatic “vocalise” fashion. Florence’s “Over the Love”, a contribution to Baz Luhrman’s “Great Gatsby”, felt eerily at ease in this world. The new millennium’s answer to Kate Bush and Tori Amos. Welch’s often mercurial songs tend to veer into the operatic not just musically but even in her contralto singing. A dramatic and eccentric musical story teller. Her “Final Fantasy XV” classically inspired tracks, “I Will Be,” “Too Much Is Never Enough,” and even her rendition of “Stand by me” are a few beats away from being a part of an oratorio.

9. Chris Martin (Cold Play)

Why do so many people like to hate “Cold Play”? I heard reasoning ranging from “they’re too safe” to “they make no effort in making likable music”. The same reasons my vocal teacher at the conservatory gave me to defend her dislike of Verdi. I would argue that there is nothing wrong in comfort food opera. Instantly hummable tunes like “Clocks” or “Viva la Vida” are today’s “La Donna e Mobile”. But behind that guise of likable simplicity, there are deeply emotional colors and lush melodies. “Fix you” is such heart-wrenching lament that deserves a tragic opera heroine to accompany it.

10. Jonsi (Sigur Rós)

Sigur Rós´ front man has had his music featured in TV and movies from epics like the “How to train your dragon” franchise and “Game of thrones” to more intimate works like “Boy Erased”. His first and only solo album “Go” has a very ethereal feeling thanks to a paring of acoustic instruments with composer Nico Muhly´s string arrangements and Jonsi´s countertenor vocals. He has a keen instinct of highlighting lyrics with melodies, be it in English, Icelandic or his invented glossolalia language “Hopelandic”. Björk’s country man has also a flair for the extravagant. Is there something in the Icelandic air? The scenic landscape maybe?

Most Promising Newcomer: Lorde

Bare with me and hear me out. I know she’s still only on her second album and calling her a candidate for writing an opera in the future might a be a bit premature. But take a look at her very thoughtful and mature writing. This introspective kiwi is only 22 years old! Unconventional musical styles, experimental forms and use of modal music (look for clever use of mixolydian in her breakout hit “Royals” or the more recent “Green Light”). Trust me, I venture to predict at least a contemporary classic composition is in her future. But don’t take my word for it, give her concept album “Melodrama” a try.

There were so many amazing artists that were included in my original mile long list. Its length was the primary reason I laid the ground rules mentioned above. Sadly, this meant some of my favorite and most natural choices had to be excluded.

Still, they do deserve a small mention.

The departed: Freddy Mercury, David Bowie and Prince are sadly no longer with us but I thought had a well-deserved place on this list.

The veterans: These artists had already written an opera: Rufus Wainwright (Prima Donna & Hadrian), Roger Waters (Ça Ira & Another Brick in the Wall) and José Cano (Luna). John Paul Jones’ “Ghost Sonata” is set to premiere soon as well. Maybe for another list…

Wrong Genre: Quincy Jones, and Danny Elfman. One is considered primarily a Jazz Musician, and even though Elfman started out in the new wave band “Oingo Boingo” he is now considered primarily a film composer.

Sorry Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead), Win Butler (Arcade Fire) and Atticus Ross (Nine Inch Nails), the one person-per-band rule was hard to enforce but a necessary evil.

The adjacent: In the last phases of writing this article I decided that a stage musical was ultimately too close to opera for the composers to be considered complete neophytes in music drama composition. That meant Tori Amos (“The Light Princess”), Sting (“The Last Ship”) and Phil Collins (“Tarzan”) sadly had to be excluded.