50 years of opera
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Pagliacci, 2013
Rigoletto, 2014
outstanding arts leader, chooses instead
to generously give gifts. With regard
to Opera Idaho, she was there in the
beginning as a leader, a performer and
sustainer, and her support continues.
Without her vision and generosity, such
cultural gems as Opera Idaho, Ballet
Idaho, and the Boise Philharmonic might
not exist.
The 2014-15 season also saw Opera
Idaho’s Resident Company presenting an
abridged version of The Barber of Seville
to elementary schools in the Treasure
Valley.
During the 2015-2016 season Opera
Idaho’s Operatini series found a home
in the Sapphire Room of the Riverside
Hotel. There, patrons gathered to dine
and to enjoy a program presented by
cast members of upcoming mainstage
productions, and a martini created to
honor the current show.
Papageno and Tamino set off on their
journey with magic bells and a magic
Gianni Schicchi, 2014
flute in the fall of 2015. In December,
Amahl and his mother hosted
unexpected guests in Menotti’s Amahl
and the Night Visitors. The performance
was so popular it became a holiday
staple for several seasons. In January
of 2016, the company produced Verdi’s
La traviata in Boise’s Egyptian Theatre
and in a semi-staged version in Ketchum,
Idaho. Pirates stalked the stage that
spring in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The
Pirates of Penzance, presented by The
New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players.
And who could have imagined an opera
performed in an airplane hangar? That
is exactly where Tom Cipullo’s Glory
Denied took place. It is the true story of
the longest held prisoner of the Vietnam
War.
The season also saw innovations of
another sort. An educational program
called Rising Stars was designed to assist
aspiring high school vocalists as they
prepared for college auditions. Students
received solo coaching, auditions
preparation, and training in stage
movement. Engaged students were
able to mingle and learn from opera
professionals and perform opera scenes.
By fall of 2016 board president Andrew
Owczarek stated that the company
had achieved 40,000 exposures across
the length and breadth of Idaho.
The repertoire of Opera Idaho now
included a range of both classic and
contemporary operas. The 2016-17
selections included Schubert’s The
Winterreise Project that featured only
a soloist and a pianist. Next came an
opera with a full chorus -- Puccini’s
Tosca. Before the Boise performances,
the opera was performed in Ketchum.
The season also included J. Strauss’s Die
Fledermaus and Massenet’s Werther.
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