Cincinnati Opera’s season reveals opera in grand mutations: a rarely performed masterpiece, a classic re-imagined, a world premiere grounded in Afrofuturism, a contemporary chamber work and two intimate studio sessions.
The season runs June 18 through Aug. 2.
It’s thrilling to hear the human voice going from obsession to rage to grief, sometimes in less than 10 minutes. And this season provides the full range of emotional expressions.
The four operas feature charismatic, independent and fully realized women performed by leading artists and rising stars.
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Artistic director Evans Mirageas views his 21st season with the company as continuing a commitment to artistic excellence and innovation.
“We’re one of the few American companies with resources to do the grandest of the grand and the newest of the new,” Mirageas said. “Audiences have multiple opportunities to experience it all this season.”
Richard Strauss’ Salome opens the season after a 25-year absence. Mirageas describes this one-act masterpiece as “cataclysmic.” Based on a German translation of the play by Oscar Wilde, Salome takes place over an evening in which the teenage princess agrees to perform the dance of the seven veils for her stepfather, Herod, in exchange for the head of John the Baptist, who rejects Salome’s lustful obsession.
“Obsession is the opera’s compelling force,” Mirageas said. “Everyone is caught up in their own webs of desire until it reaches the pitch of a horror movie.”
The opera’s roles demand sustained dramatic singing throughout the opera’s single act. Soprano Kathryn Lewek makes her role debut as the tempestuous princess, following her acclaimed Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto last season.
“It was a bold choice because Salome is usually sung by a dramatic soprano (Lewek is known for singing coloratura roles),” Mirageas said. “But she was determined to do it, and she may go on to be one of the leading Salomes today.”
John the Baptist is portrayed by bass-baritone Alfred Walker, who has sung leading roles throughout the world and appeared last month singing Porgy in the May Festival’s concert setting of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. Tenor Chad Shelton is the wily Herod, a role he’s performed at the Metropolitan Opera, and his wife Herodias is the great mezzo, Michelle DeYoung. Members of Cincinnati Ballet appear in the infamous Dance of the Seven Veils.
Veteran director Jose Maria Condemi, University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music associate professor of opera, stages the production. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra will be augmented to 80 musicians led by the renowned conductor Robert Spano, music director of Washington National Opera and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.
The highly anticipated world premiere of Lalovavi in July marks the first of three operas commissioned through Cincinnati Opera’s Black Opera Project, funded by the Mellon Foundation. An Afrofuturist story set in the third millennium features debuts for composer Kevin Day and librettist Tifara Brown, with Cincinnati Opera debuts for conductor Kevin Miller, and director Kimille Howard.
“Kevin Day’s score is stunningly beautiful and so cinematic,” Mirageas said. “There are gorgeous orchestral passages and brilliant vocal writing for an all-star cast.”
Bass Morris Robinson, the acknowledged godfather of the Black Opera Project, sings Titan, the aptly named ruler of Atlantis. Soprano Britteny Olivia Logan, CCM alum and an award-winning artist, is Titan’s daughter Persephone. Her mother, Niamara, is portrayed by Talise Trevigne, and in another company debut, genre-defying artist G. Thomas Allen sings Ivavi.
Lalovavi is also the first opera to incorporate Tut, a language created by enslaved Africans to secretly teach spelling and reading.
“Using Tut helped me convey the resilience of Black enslaved people and to celebrate joy in every part of life,” said librettist Tifara Brown.
Classic and contemporary works conclude the season. George Bizet’s Carmen returns in a production setting the action in a non-specific Hispanic country in the 1950s, a decadent society under the government’s military control. The great mezzo soprano and activist J’nai Bridges makes a welcome return as the fiercely independent Carmen, a role she owns, according to Mirageas.
“J’nai inhabits the role with Carmen’s ‘live free or die’ attitude and with scrupulous musicianship,” Mirageas said. “She understands completely that no one has to overact: the drama is in the music and she’s faithful to the score.”
Tenor Matthew White is her hapless lover Don Jose and American bass-baritone Ryan McKinny plays the dashing bullfighter Escamillo. Anderson Nunnely makes his directorial debut and Ramón Tebar leads the CSO in Bizet’s unforgettable score.
In the intimate Wilks theater, Ricky Ian Gordon’s Orpheus and Eurydice re-imagines the classic story as a song cycle in two acts for soprano with Orpheus expressed by solo clarinet confronting loss, love and moving on.
CSO’s principal Christopher Pell plays Orpheus, joining CCM alum Heidi Middendorf as Eurydice, accompanied by a chamber ensemble made up of CSO musicians and members of Cincinnati Ballet.
The Wilks Theater is the setting for two Studio Sessions offered throughout the season. On June 25, “Sound & Soul 2.0: The Gospel of Tomorrow” goes beyond celebrating gospel. Hosted by Lalovavi librettist Tifara Brown and featuring pianist Kevin Miller and Donald Lee III and countertenor G. Thomas Allen, the performance is designed as a ritual, exploring the rich history of Black American music, from spirituals through gospel, jazz and the depth of classical excellence and the Afrofuturist horizon.
Tenor Matthew White makes his solo recital debut on July 1 with a program of arias and music from his Appalachian roots. Mirageas noted that White is working with The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles. Niles, a composer, balladeer and author who sang character tenor roles with Cincinnati Opera in its early seasons. When White isn’t accompanying himself on banjo, he’ll be accompanied will be James Maverick.
Reflecting on the start of his third decade with Cincinnati Opera, Mirageas takes pride in maintaining the company’s commitment to artistic excellence while taking a leading role in creating new works that reflect the depth of American experiences.
“We cherish great operas and help create the future,” Mirageas said.
Cincinnati Opera performs at Music Hall, located at 1241 Elm Street in Over-the-Rhine. For more information or to purchase tickets, click here.
