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As a composer, Mr. Aucoin twists familiar harmonies and sounds with elements of jazz and other complex rhythms. His opera librettos feature allusions to mythology, religion and history woven around the passions of larger-than-life characters.

Composer. Poet. Conductor. There doesn’t seem to be much that Medfield’s Matthew Aucoin can’t do.

A Far Cry plays con spirito—and without a baton.

Composer-librettist Matthew Aucoin reflects on the Whitmanesque journey behind Crossing.

Now 24, Matthew Aucoin (oh-COIN) has become one of the most sought-after young voices in classical music. He also is one of the most ambitious, setting himself the goal of transforming opera into something other than musical spinach for a new generation. He is as close as the art form comes to a triple threat, racking up accomplishments as a composer, conductor and pianist. In the past year, he has received commissions from the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass., and signed on to develop new works for the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Since graduating from Harvard last year, Aucoin has been in constant motion, performing and conducting in Italy, working at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, writing a new opera for the American Repertory Theater, and serving as the composer in residence at the Peabody Essex Museum. Soon he’ll begin a two-year fellowship with the Chicago Symphony. During a rare break, Aucoin spoke with the Gazette about his life after Harvard.

Matthew Aucoin has been recently commissioned to write an opera for The National Civil War Project.

The American Repertory Theater and Harvard University are among four universities and five performing arts organizations — all of them in former Union or Confederate territory — teaming up for an ambitious project inspired by the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.

As the REM song goes, “It’s the end of the world as we know it — and I feel fine.” But for the two mismatched characters in “The Last Two People on Earth: An Apocalyptic Vaudeville,” life isn’t so free and easy — at least not at first —  as they deal with their last-man-standing status with song, dance and schtick. Existential angst is here performed by appealing opposites Mandy Patinkin and downtown performance artist Taylor Mac. The odd coupling works well, each playing to his own strengths in this musical two-hander that starts off twee but ends up terrific. The show will please both artists’ camps and looks promising for future engagements, but whether it crosses over to the mainstream will depend on theatergoers’ attraction to high concept and low comedy.

Patinkin and Mac share a wonderful chemistry. They’re like chalk and cheese, their differences in demeanor and energy contrasting nicely and bringing out the best in one another. The program notes tell us that Patinkin and Mac came up with the show when they realized they liked a lot of the same music.