Joachim is one of ten composers contributing to the company’s February 2026 World Premiere of Complications in Sue at the Academy of Music. This new opera unfolds in 10 vignettes by Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning playwright Michael R. Jackson (A Strange Loop) in his first opera libretto. Each scene will take place in a different decade in the life of the main character, named Sue, performed by MacArthur Genius and cabaret icon Justin Vivian Bond. With four opera singers playing different characters in her life, the music for each scene up to eight minutes in length will be created by a different composer, including Joachim and former Opera Philadelphia resident composers Missy Mazzoli (Breaking the Waves, The Listeners) and Rene Orth (10 Days in a Madhouse).

“I am thrilled to join Opera Philadelphia as Composer-in-Residence, and also to contribute to a season of exciting premieres and performances,” Joachim said. “As a Philadelphia resident, it's been wonderful to watch how the company has become a pioneer in the city's cultural scene and has made opera more inclusive and accessible for the community at large. I'm honored to take part in these efforts and to have the opportunity to develop new and ambitious work.”

“We are delighted to welcome Nathalie Joachim as resident composer at Opera Philadelphia,” said Sarah Williams, Opera Philadelphia’s Director of New Works and Creative Producer. “Her music is deeply personal, fearless, and rooted in community, exactly the kind of voice that expands what opera can be. Nathalie’s artistry and vision will inspire new ways of storytelling and connection, and I can't wait to see how her residency sparks bold, resonant work for our audiences.”

For more than a decade, Opera Philadelphia’s Composer in Residence program has provided composers with opportunities for exploration and creative development in the field of opera. The first comprehensive operatic program of its kind in the country, it provides composers with highly individualized creative development such as connecting with experts, detailed work with singers, and working with the company to further their study of creation and exploration in opera. Recent Composers in Residence have included Courtney Bryan and Tyshawn Sorey, and many have debuted song cycles, digital shorts, and full operas with the company. The Composer in Residence program is made possible by the Mellon Foundation. Learn more about the Composer in Residence program and former program participants at operaphila.org/composers.

Joachim is Assistant Professor of Composition at Princeton University and is regularly commissioned to write for orchestra, instrumental and vocal ensembles, dance, and interdisciplinary theater.  In February 2026, Joachim appears at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society with her new work Solitude + SPACE. She is also composing another Philadelphia world premiere for June 2026 with The Crossing choir as part of ArtPhilly’s What Now: 2026 festival, in which she sets the words of Benjamin Franklin’s Thirteen Virtues.

Recent and upcoming highlights include new works for the New York Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, St. Louis Symphony, Spoleto Festival USA, and more. Her landmark project, Fanm d’Ayiti, an evening-length work for flute, voice, string quartet and electronics, celebrates and explores her personal Haitian heritage and received a Grammy nomination for Best World Music Album. Joachim’s highly anticipated sophomore album, Ki moun ou ye - an intimate examination of ancestral connection and self - was co-released by Nonesuch Records and New Amsterdam Records in early 2024 and deemed “one of the year’s most creatively and personally ambitious albums” (SPIN Magazine).

Joachim is a 2024-2025 Scholar-in-Residence at the Museum of Modern Art, a United States Artist Fellow, and co-founder of the critically acclaimed duo Flutronix. She is an alumnus of The Juilliard School and The New School.