Jessica Murphy Moo

Jessica Murphy Moo wrote the librettos for Lyric’s 2019/20 opera for young audiences, Earth to Kenzie, a co-commision between Lyric Opera of Chicago and Seattle Opera, and for Lyric’s 2018/19 Season’s chamber opera, An American Dream, a commission by Seattle Opera. Murphy Moo is editor of Portland magazine, the award-winning publication of the University of Portland. She is former senior communications manager for Seattle Opera, as well as an adjunct instructor teaching nonfiction writing for the University of Washington’s Professional and Continuing Education division. Murphy Moo was formerly a staff editor at The Atlantic and fiction editor at Memorious, an online literary magazine. Her fiction has appeared in The Atlantic, Image, Memorious, and Signs of Life, an anthology for Seattle-based writers. Her nonfiction has appeared in Portland magazine, Poets & Writers magazine, ParentMap, The Tablet, Boston College magazine, and The Atlantic Online, among other publications. Murphy Moo was a 2016 fellow at Tapestry Opera’s Librettist Composer Laboratory Workshop. She is an alumna of the College of the Holy Cross (B. A.) and Emerson College (M. F. A.). Murphy Moo has held teaching positions at Emerson College, Harvard University, Boston University, Seattle Pacific University, University of Washington, and Seattle Opera.