Note from the composer: Jackie O is a celebration of musical life in the late sixties, a pop opera that explores the interplay of musical idioms associated with “high” and “popular” culture in America. To compose these various idioms into my musical language, I draw on my background as a musician who came of age during the sixties, playing in rock and jazz ensembles, performing in avant-garde improvisation groups, and paying my dues as a cocktail pianist in nightclubs, while also being trained as a composer of concert music in the symphonic tradition. –Michael Daugherty