Opera Parallèle to Perform at Grace Cathedral

Next month Opera Parallèle will continue its twelfth season with a West Coast premiere to be presented at Grace Cathedral. The opera is “Sophia’s Forest,” composed by Lembit Beecher working with a libretto by Hanna Moscovitch. This is a one-act opera that relates the story of a young girl, Sophia, who immigrated to the United States after surviving a traumatic journey through the chaos of a civil war in her homeland.

The narrative is structured around three temporal periods. In the overall framework, the adult Sophia reflects on two episodes in her past. The earlier of these is a recollection of her homeland and the civil war that forced her to escape with her mother, Anna, and her sister, Emma. The more recent recollection involves her experiences, at the age of nine, as an immigrant to the United States.

The title character will be sung by soprano Maggie Finnegan. Other roles include Sophia’s mother Anna, sung by mezzo Kindra Scharich, and her sister Emma, sung by young sopranos Virginia Ko and Samantha Fung, who appear, respectively, in the two flashback scenes. In addition, Sophia herself is performed as a child by actor Charlotte Fanvu. The music will be performed by the Del Sol Quartet joined by percussionist Divesh Karamchandani. The score will also include Sound Sculpture electronics created by the composer, an example of which is shown below:

Staging will be directed by Brian Staufenbiel. The conductor will be Nicole Paiement. The other members of the creative team will include costume designer Mariseley Cortés Fonseca, scenic designer Jon Altemus, and lighting designer Aaron Curry. At the beginning of next month Opera Parallèle will begin its Artist-in-Residence tenure at Saint Joseph’s Art Society at 1401 Howard Street in San Francisco. All rehearsals will take place at that venue.

These will include an open rehearsal for the general public, which will take place on Tuesday, February 15, beginning at 6 p.m. and expected to last about 90 minutes. The performances themselves will take place at 8 p.m. on Thursday, February 24, Friday, February 25, and Saturday, February 26, along with a 5 p.m. performance on Saturday. The venue will be Grace Cathedral, located at the top of Nob Hill at 1100 California Street. All tickets are being sold through a single Tix Web page with hyperlinks for the individual performance dates and times. Prices range from $35 to $145, and each performance has a map showing where seats are available.