Some readers may recall that, earlier this month, this site announced the participation of Opera Parallèle (OP) in the fifth annual Expansive showcase. Around that same time, OP finalized its own coming season of three operas, all of which will be premiere productions, all sung in English. The first of these will be a world premiere, and the remaining two will be West Coast premieres. Specifics are as follows:
Saturday, November 14, Thursday, November 19, and Saturday, November 21, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, November 15, 3 p.m., Z Space, Salt & Spirit: Tenor Victor Ryan Robertson developed this theatrical work inspired by the musical traditions of the Gullah-Geechee people of the Carolinas. The score is based on Gullah spirituals reimagined through classical, jazz, and traditional influences. This will be the world premiere performance, staged by Brian Staufenbiel. Details have not yet been finalized, but there will be an on-stage pianist. The venue is located in the Mission at 450 Florida Street.
Thursday, March 11, and Saturday, March 13, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, March 14, 3 p.m., Blue Shield of California Theatre, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: The narrative is based the true story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, who was both journalist and editor for the French Elle magazine. He suffered a massive stroke, after which he could only communicate by blinking his left eye. Gene Scheer created a libretto for this story, working with composer Jody Talbot. Ben Foskett provided a chamber orchestration of Talbot’s score on an OP commission. The opera will be sung in English with English supertitles. The venue is located in Yerba Buena Gardens, south of Mission Street and west of 3rd Street.
Poster design for Taking Up Serpents (from the OP Web site)
Saturday, May 8, Wednesday, May 12, Thursday, May 13, and Saturday, May 15, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, May 9 and May 16, 2 p.m., Z Space, Taking Up Serpents: Librettist Jerre Dye created an original story based on his family roots in the Deep South. He partnered with Indian-American composer Kamala Sankaram to create “an eclectic folk-inspired score.” This one-act chamber opera was first performed by the Washington National Opera, followed by productions at the Glimmerglass Festival and the Chicago Opera Theater.
As of this writing, OP has not yet created Web pages for ordering tickets for anything other than the Expansive showcase, cited on this site at the beginning of this month; presumably, further information will be forthcoming through the OP home page.
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