Howard Reich
Writer
Librettist Howard Reich is the son of two Holocaust survivors. He has written six books, including The Art of Inventing Hope: Intimate Conversations with Elie Wiesel, the basis for his new 2026 opera, The Dialogue of Memories. Reich is also the Emmy-winning writer-producer of three documentary films, including Prisoner of Her Past (based on his book of the same name), which aired on American public television. Reich is the author-scenarist of the ballet Kimiko’s Pearl and covered the arts for the Chicago Tribune from 1978-2021. He holds two honorary doctorates and served on the jury for the Pulitzer Prize in Music four times, including the first time a jazz work won: Wynton Marsalis’ Blood on the Fields (1997).