Omaha, NE, Feb. 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For Embargoed Release: February 27, 2023
Media Contact: Kyle Thomas, Director of Marketing and Communication
(402) 661-8433
kthomas@operaomaha.org
OPERA OMAHA ANNOUNCES 2023/2024 SEASON
Opera Omaha has a breathtaking 2023/24 season in store, filled with three enthralling productions and captivating artists. This collection of operas will feature the lavish grandeur of artistry that our productions are known for with both timeless and fresh works, delivered, as always, with the highest level of talent in the industry.
WHAT WE REAP. WHAT WE SOW.
Are our circumstances always the consequence of our choices? Do we really get what we deserve? What do we bring upon ourselves and what is predestined by fate?
This season Opera Omaha examines the fruit of the seeds planted by characters searching for love, independence, and fulfilment. Three heroines, one crafting her love, one preserving her love, and one memorializing her love, each tend the paths given to them in hopes of a different outcome.
“The 23/24 season is the perfect balance of comedy, tragedy and imagination” commented General Director, Allison Swenson. “We are pleased to present fresh productions of Don Pasquale and La Traviata, and to introduce Omaha audiences to El último sueño de Frida y Diego. There is no substitute for live performance, especially in our beautiful Orpheum Theatre, and we hope you will join us and be inspired."
Opening the season is the hilarious, DON PASQUALE. Hijinks and cunning flourish in this delightful comic opera. A crochety miser is thwarted in his attempts to thwart his nephew out of an inheritance. With the guise and wit of a clever young woman and a family friend, the old man becomes tangled in the vines of his own buffoonery.
Baritone Jorell Williams will make his role and Opera Omaha debut as the miserly Pasquale with returners Vanessa Becerra (The Marriage of Figaro 2023, Les Enfants Terribles 2019) and Taylor Stayton (Falstaff 2018, L’elisir d’amore 2018) as the young lovers and Luis Alejandro Orozco in his Opera Omaha debut as the puppet master, Dr. Malatesta.
The season continues in February with one of the most iconic, romantic, and tragic stories of all time, LA TRAVIATA. Scandalous love between a courtesan, the iconic Violetta, and an upper crust young man blissfully blooms until societal expectations force her to confront what sacrifices she is willing to make in exchange for his honor. This exquisite, traditional staging of one of the art form’s most popular operas flourishes with the passion, hope and costs of love.
Two Opera Omaha favorites, soprano Andriana Chuchman (Capulets & Montagues 2020) making her role debut as the lavish and fading Violetta, and conductor Steven White (Eugene Onegin 2022, Marriage of Figaro 2023) will lead this splendid production. Making Opera Omaha debuts are tenor Brian Vu as the passionate Alfredo and baritone Hyung Yun as his father, Giorgio. At the helm will be sought after director, E. Loren Meeker also making her company debut.
In the Spring, Opera Omaha presents EL ÚLTIMO SUEÑO DE FRIDA Y DIEGO (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego). By the light of candles, through the fragrance of marigolds, the famous muralist Diego Rivera longs to see his deceased wife Frida Kahlo just once more before he dies. With the pathway back to earth open on Día de los Muertos, Frida and Diego imagine their tumultuous love and passion by journeying through her paintings and memories, blossoming their relationship and exploring the cultivation of their lives.
TICKETS AND INFORMATION
Season tickets for Opera Omaha’s 2023/24 Season are available now. Visit www.TicketOmaha.com to purchase or call Opera Omaha at (402) 34OPERA (346-7372).
Ticket Omaha’s Box Office hours: Monday through Friday 10:00 am–5:00 pm; Saturday 10:00 am–6:00 pm during performance season.
SEASON ARTWORK
To create the artwork for the 23-24 season, Opera Omaha commissioned Omaha artist Nathaniel Ruleaux. Nathaniel Ruleaux is an award-winning artist and culture worker currently located on unceded land of the Umónhon & Očhéthi Šakówiŋ in Nebraska. A partner, father, and member of the Oglala Lakota Nation, his work combines modern art with traditional indigenous imagery. He is a founding member of Unceded Artist Collective. Recently, he created work for the national 2022 Indigenous Futures Survey & the Natives Vote 2020 campaign. In addition to creating visual art, he is a classically trained actor and educator. He received his MFA in Theatre from the University of Houston’s School of Theatre and Dance after receiving a BA in Theatre Performance at the Johnny Carson School of Theatre & Film at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. View his work and learn more at nathanielruleaux.com or by following @nathanielruleaux on Instagram and TikTok.
Don Pasquale | October 27 & 29, 2023
Composed by Gaetano Donizetti
Libretto by Giovanni Ruffini
Cast
Don Pasquale | Jorell Williams*
Norina | Vanessa Becerra
Dr. Malatesta | Luis Alejandro Orozco*
Ernesto | Taylor Stayton
Conducted by Gary Thor Wedow
Directed by Octavio Cardenas*
La traviata | February 16 & 18, 2024
Composed by Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
Cast
Violetta | Andriana Chuchman
Alfredo Germont| Brian Vu*
Giorgio Germont | Hyung Yun*
Annina | Jaime Marie Webb*
Conducted by Steven White
Directed by E. Loren Meeker*
El último sueño de Frida y Diego | May 3 & 5, 2024
The Last Dream of Frida and Diego
Composed by Gabriela Lena Frank*
Libretto by Nilo Cruz*
Commissioned and Produced by San Diego Opera, San Francisco Opera, Fort Worth Opera, and DePauw University, School of Music, with generous support from the University of Texas Austin College of Fine Arts.
Cast
Frida Kahlo | Stephanie Sanchez*
Diego Rivera | Levi Hernandez
Catarina | Laura León*
Leonardo | César Aguilar
Directed by Lorena Maza*
* Opera Omaha Mainstage Debut
ABOUT OPERA OMAHA
Opera Omaha is a growth-minded, high energy, and innovative company with a demanding mission: producing opera performances in multiple formats and styles and co-creating artist-led programs for a variety of community service organizations.
Since 1958, Opera Omaha has led its rich artistic community by producing a season of original mainstage productions, presented at the historic Orpheum Theater, and smaller productions and musical events throughout the community. Opera Omaha is internationally known for its productions of eight world premieres and four American premieres of classical masterpieces and is highly regarded regionally for extensive community engagement and education programs. In 2018, Opera Omaha launched its ONE Festival, an innovative new spring festival, and a groundbreaking civic action initiative, the Holland Community Opera Fellowship — work that is key to Opera Omaha’s ongoing transformation from a performing arts organization to a cultural resource for the community.
Visit www.operaomaha.org for more information.
For General Director and Artist Interviews, please contact Kyle Thomas - kthomas@operaomaha.org
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