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2023-24 All for Art Season Announcement

Opera Orlando is “All for Art” this coming season, with three original and visually stunning productions on the MainStage of Steinmetz Hall at Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Subscription packages are on sale now and include a Puccini masterwork, an opera about the remarkable life of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, and a Game of Thrones-inspired Donizetti classic. Subscribers can also take advantage of a special add-on production as the Opera returns to the Alexis and Jim Pugh Theater to conclude the season with a rarely performed Philip Glass opera.

 

“Opera, from its inception, has been a collaboration of all the arts: theater, dance, visual art, and of course, music and this season is really designed to celebrate that,” shares Opera Orlando general director Gabriel Preisser. “It will be a season of incredible art, singing, and grand opera fit for Steinmetz Hall!”

 

TOSCA  |  music by Giacomo Puccini and libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa

sung in Italian with English supertitles

 

Friday  |  October 27, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday  |  October 29, 2023 at 2 p.m.

 

Opera Orlando’s 2023-24 season kicks off with Puccini’s tragically grand Tosca. As war and rebellion ravage the city of Rome, the celebrated and passionate opera diva Floria Tosca finds herself caught in a web of religious and political intrigue, betrayal, and jealousy as she tries to save her lover, the painter and firebrand Mario Cavadorossi, while being coveted by the villainous and corrupt Baron Scarpia. 

 

This taut melodrama unfolds on stage at Steinmetz Hall in a brand new and sumptuous production led by stage director Josh Shaw and conductor Eiki Isomura, with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra in the pit. They are joined by an international cast that includes Greek-soprano Eleni Calenos as the luminous and fiery Tosca with acclaimed tenor Nathan Granner as the fearless and dashing Cavaradossi. They are both making their Company debuts, while baritone Daniel Scofield returns to Orlando as the treacherous and forceful Scarpia. 

 

The cast also includes 2023-24 studio artists, members of the Opera Orlando chorus, and the Opera Orlando Youth Company

 

FRIDA  |  music by Robert Xavier Rodriguez with a book by Hilary Blecher and lyrics and monologues by Migdalia Cruz

sung in English and Spanish with both Spanish and English supertitles

 

Friday  |  January 26, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday  |  January 28, 2024 at 2 p.m.

 

No one was more “All for Art” than the incredible Mexican surrealist painter Frida Kahlo, and her life story takes Steinmetz Hall by storm as Opera Orlando presents Robert Xavier Rodriguez’s operatic celebration of the artist in Frida. This poetic and beautiful retelling of Frida’s life reveals a woman of extreme magnetism and originality, an artist whose sensual vibrancy came straight from her experiences: her childhood during the Mexican Revolution; a devastating accident at age eighteen that left her crippled and unable to bear children; her tempestuous marriage to muralist Diego Rivera and intermittent love affairs; her association with the Communist Party; her absorption in Mexican folklore and culture; and her dramatic love of spectacle.

 

Robert Xavier Rodríguez’s score, written for chamber orchestra, mixes mariachi-style orchestrations, classical opera, and hints of Mexican folk songs for an authentic, alluring musical reflection of Frida all played masterfully from the pit by the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Argentinian Maestro Jorge Parodi. Collaborating with Maestro Parodi in developing this all-new production will be stage director John de los Santos, and Opera Orlando is happy to welcome back Mexican-soprano Cecilia Violetta López to sing the iconic title role. Venezuelan-baritone Bernardo Bermudez also headlines the cast and makes his Company debut as Frida’s formidable husband Diego Rivera.

 

The cast also includes 2023-24 studio artists, members of the Opera Orlando chorus, and the Opera Orlando Youth Company.

 

LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR  |  music by Gaetano Donizetti and libretto by Salvadore Cammarano

sung in Italian with English supertitles

 

Friday  |  April 19, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday  |  April 21, 2024 at 2 p.m.

 

Opera Orlando heads to Westeros as it closes its 2023-24 MainStage series with a Game of Thrones-inspired take on Donizetti’s bel canto masterpiece Lucia di Lammermoor. A tale of love, jealousy, betrayal, and madness, Lady Lucia Ashton is torn between allegiance to her family and her love for Edgardo—sworn enemy to the Ashton household. A forced marriage leads to tragic ends for all involved in this gorgeous operatic treatment of Sir Walter Scott’s gothic romance.

 

Steinmetz Hall is transformed into the North country in this dark, original production designed and directed by Opera Orlando artistic director Grant Preisser, with Robert Wood conducting the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. Opera Orlando general director and Grammy award-winning baritone Gabriel Preisser leads a stellar cast as Lucia’s duplicitous and desperate brother Enrico with the stunning American soprano Marnie Breckenridge in the title role of Lucia. Chinese baritone Zaikuan Song sings the role of the cleric Raimondo, and Opera Orlando welcomes back acclaimed tenor Ben Gulley as Lucia’s passionate lover Edgardo. 

 

The cast also includes 2023-24 studio artists, members of the Opera Orlando chorus, and dancers from the Orlando Ballet.

 

SUBSCRIBER ADD-ON

 

THE JUNIPER TREE  |  music by Philip Glass & Robert Moran and libretto by Arthur Yorinks based on a tale by the Brothers Grimm

sung in English with English supertitles

 

Friday  |  May 10, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday  |  May 11, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.

 

Opera Orlando returns to the Alexis and Jim Pugh Theater to conclude its 2023-24 All for Art season with a dark retelling of Grimm’s The Juniper Tree, a contemporary chamber opera by composers Philip Glass and Robert Moran to a libretto by Arthur Yorinks. This tale about a jealous and scheming stepmother who murders her stepson and serves him up in a stew to his unsuspecting father, only to then be killed herself by the stepson who is reincarnated as a beautiful bird, is a haunting and hypnotic opera with some of Glass’ most tuneful melodies. 

 

In partnership with Victorian spook troupe Phantasmagoria and MicheLee Puppets, local stage director John DiDonna has conceived a feast for the senses with dance, puppetry, spectacle, and of course, gorgeous singing. International conductor Geoffrey Loff leads a fantastic cast featuring Opera Orlando 2023-24 season studio artists and the Opera Orlando Youth Company

 

Opera on the MainStage subscriptions start at $75 and are on sale NOW through the Dr. Phillips Center’s Bill & Mary Darden Box Office (445 S. Magnolia Avenue, Orlando), online at www.DrPhillipsCenter.org, or by calling (407) 839-0119, ext. 0. Take advantage of early bird pricing available through July 5, and save up to $65. Individual tickets for The Juniper Tree are also available as a special subscriber add-on.

 

In addition to its signature Opera on the MainStage series, Opera Orlando has planned a full season of events. The Opera will Sing for Art with its Summer Concert Series on August 13, 20, and 27 at the University Club of Winter Park, featuring soprano Marnie Breckenridge, tenor Isaac Hurtado, and soprano Sarah Tucker, who will all be on stage throughout the season. The Company will also go “On the Town” March 8 and 9 with a site-specific production of Dvorák’s Rusalka at the Art and History Museums - Maitland, and tickets and tables are already selling for the Opera’s annual The Mozart Dinner: Mozart and Mariachis on stage at Steinmetz Hall, January 27. 

 

See YOU at the Opera!

 

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About Opera Orlando:     Celebrating, expanding, and sharing the world’s greatest art form,  the 2023-24 season marks Opera Orlando’s eighth season producing high-quality operatic entertainment and educational programs that engage Central Florida audiences.

 

Stay up to date with Opera Orlando’s season online at www.OperaOrlando.org, and follow and like the Opera’s Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts to share in all the Company has planned for 2023-24.

 

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