Thursday, October 12, 2023

Opera Parallèle Season to Begin in Two Weeks

Poster design for The Emissary (from the ODC event page)

Towards the end of this month, Opera Parallèle will begin its 2023–24 season with the first of several premiere productions. This will be the seventh iteration of the Hands on Opera community engagement program. The title of the opera, which will be given its world premiere with two performances, is The Emissary. This is the English title of a novel by Japanese author Yoko Tawada, which has been translated into English by Margaret Mitsutani. The libretto is by Kelley Rourke, drawing upon Mitsutani’s English text. It has been set to music by Kenji Oh.

This is very much an opera for the immediate present. The narrative spans several generations, but the primary focus is on the psychological stress on the younger generation arising from the angst triggered by the alarming news of deteriorating environmental conditions. The production will be staged by Yayoi Kambara, and Nicole Paiement and Jaco Wong will share conducting duties. The cast will feature soprano Angela Yam in the role of Mumei and baritone Bradley Kynard as Yoshiro. The performance will also include the Lick Wilmerding High School Chorus. The instrumental ensemble will be a sextet for flute, doubling on piccolo (Jessie Nucho), clarinet and bass clarinet (Leslie Tagorda), violin (Bronwyn James), cello (Constantine Janello), piano (Keisuke Nakagoshi), and percussion (Carols Alvarez).

Performances will take place on Friday, October 27, and Saturday, October 28; but all tickets for Friday have been sold. However, there will be two performances on Saturday at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. The venue will be the ODC Theater at 3153 17th Street on the northwest corner of Shotwell Street. Ticket prices are between $10 and $50 with free admission for anyone aged 21 or younger. ODC has created a Web page with hyperlinks for purchasing tickets for the two available performances.

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