Approaching Ali: A Chamber Opera in One Act had its world premiere at the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C., on June 8, 2013, under the directorship of Nicole A. Watson. The opera was commissioned by Washington National Opera.[3] In 2015, the opera was staged by North Carolina Opera.[4] In 2023, the opera was staged by both Opera Las Vegas and Opera Louisiane.[citation needed]
The story is about a boy in North Carolina in the early 1960s who is galvanized to overcome some traumatic childhood events when he sees Muhammad Ali on television. More than twenty years later, as a writer on the brink of middle age, he now seeks to rekindle that spirit by visiting his boyhood hero in person at his mother's home in Louisville, Kentucky.
