Jefferson & Poe is a lyric opera in two acts with music by Damon Ferrante

Damon Ferrante

Damon Ferrante is an American composer whose works have been performed in concert halls and performance venues throughout North America, most notably, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space, Guild Hall, and Theatre Project....

 and libretto by Daniel Mark Epstein

Daniel Mark Epstein

Daniel Mark Epstein is an American poet, dramatist and biographer.Epstein earned his B.A. from Kenyon College...

.

The opera takes place at Monticello

Monticello

Monticello is a National Historic Landmark just outside Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was the estate of Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, third President of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia; it is...

 on a March evening in the early nineteenth century and portrays two love stories: one between an elderly Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...

 and Sally Hemings

Sally Hemings

Sarah "Sally" Hemings was a mixed-race slave owned by President Thomas Jefferson through inheritance from his wife. She was the half-sister of Jefferson's wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson by their father John Wayles...

 and the other between a young Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...

 and the daughter of Jefferson and Hemings.

The work received its premiere at Theatre Project in Baltimore

Baltimore

Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

and at Symphony Space in Manhattan in 2005.