BY KAREN BOSSICK
“Carmen,” “Dead Man Walking” and “The Merry Widow” will take the stage in Opera Idaho’s 2021-2022 season.
The 49th season will start up in-person performances at The Morrison Center in Fall 2021, marking the company’s first return to full-scale productions since “La Boheme” in February 2020. There also is a free Opera in the Park performance and a Christmas collaboration with Boise Contemporary Theatre.
The lineup:
- Opera in the Park, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 10 at the Julia Davis Bandshell in Boise
This free outdoor concert –the first Opera Idaho has thrown—will feature Idaho native soprano and Opera Idaho Artistic Advisor Cecilia Violetta Lopez and three other national artists performing pieces from opera and musical theatre. They will be accompanied by a live orchestra.
- “The Merry Widow”—7:30 p.m. Oct. 8-9, The Morrison Center
Cecilia Violetta Lopez returns as Hanna in Franz Lehar’s charming, uplifting comedy that boasts a stream of memorable melodies. It follows a wealthy young widow on her quest for love as her burgeoning romance with a former ex is hampered by mishap, intrigue and misadventure. Sung in English.
- “All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914”—Dec. 4-19 at Boise Contemporary Theater
This is Opera Idaho’s first co-production with Boise Contemporary Theater. Peter Rothstein’s musical drama is based on a remarkable true story during World War I about an extraordinary Christmas Eve of camaraderie, music, and peace, and is told in the words and songs of the men who lived it.
- “Carmen”—7:30 p.m. Jan. 28 and 2:30 p.m. Jan. 30 at The Morrison Center
Bizet’s “Carmen” is one of the most performed operas in Opera Idaho’s history. Set in southern Spain, it tells the story of the downfall of Don José, a naïve soldier who is seduced by the wiles of the fiery gypsy Carmen. José abandons his childhood sweetheart and deserts from his military duties yet loses Carmen's love to the glamorous torero Escamillo. Tenor Joshua Dennis returns as Don José, as does director Andrew Nienaber. Sung in French.
- “An American Dream”—7:30 p.m. March 11 and 2:30 p.m. March 13 at The Egyptian Theatre
Jack Perla’s chamber opera premiered in 2015 at Seattle Opera. Set during World War II, this opera explores the lives of two women: a Japanese-American forced to leave her home, and a German-Jewish immigrant preoccupied by those she left behind. While this opera is a piece of fiction, the story was crafted from interviews with residents of Puget Sound, Wash., who were sent to internment camps, such as the one in Minidoka, during WWII. Returning to Opera Idaho are baritone Ryan Bede, as well as conductor Jen Drake and director Gordon Reinhart. Sung in English.
- “Dead Man Walking”—7:30 p.m. April 22, 2022 and 2:30 p.m. April 24 at The Egyptian Theatre
Now one of the most performed American operas of all time, Jake Heggie’s first opera will be making its Opera Idaho premiere. Commissioned by and premiered at San Francisco Opera in 2000, it is based on a 1993 memoir of the same name by Sister Helen Prejean, which was subsequently made into an Oscar winning movie starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. It is a heart-wrenching story of grief, grace and redemption, recounting Sister Helen’s courageous struggle to provide spiritual guidance to a condemned Louisiana murderer in the months leading up to his execution. Sung in English.
Opera Idaho has been producing opera in Boise for nearly 50 years. In the past two years it’s reached more than 40,000 people through performances, education outreach programs and children’s choruses.
For more information, visit http://operaidaho.org