Andy Warhol famously declared, “in the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”  ANDY: A Popera promises to make audience members famous for 15 seconds.  In September, the pop-art icon and his concept of fame will be at the center of a mashup of opera and cabaret in a collaboration hailed as “strange, smart and entertaining” by The Philadelphia Inquirer and “brave and intriguing” byPhiladelphia City Paper.  Drawing from the life and work of Warhol, the Popera puts singing soup cans, Marilyns, and a randy banana on stage with contemporary versions of Warhol Superstars like actress Candy Darling and socialite Edie Sedgwick, his mother Julia Warhola, and feminist writer and would-be assassin Valerie Solanas. This is all to explore what Warhol has become today. What happens when a man becomes a brand?

The Bearded Ladies Cabaret is a troupe of artists who insist that art can be both intellectual and accessible, both entertaining and meaningful. Through cabaret, they tackle ideas about popular culture, sex, gender, and artistic invention. “ANDY constitutes a radical and new collaboration both in form and process.  It's a collision between the devising sensibilities of The Bearded Ladies and the epic sweep and power of the opera world,” said Bearded Ladies Artistic Director John Jarboe, who wrote the libretto and directs ANDY. “It feels like an apt collaboration for dealing with an artist as un-dismissible and experimental as Warhol.  He dangerously blurred the lines between the high and low, between the art world and the commercial world. We are blurring our own lines with ANDY. We are telling the story of a boy who becomes a brand.  It is not about Warhol’s life.  It is about the Warhol that is very much alive today not only in the art world but also in our daily routines of posting and filtering and self-framing.”

ANDY: A Popera is made possible by Knight Foundation and presented as part of the 2015 Fringe Festival.

La traviata

Music by Giuseppe Verdi | Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
Performed in Italian with English supertitles

American Premiere of production from National Opera House of Bucharest

October 2, 4m, 7, 9 & 11m, 2015
Academy of Music

Having proven herself “a house favorite” who “lights up the stage” (The New Yorker) at The Metropolitan Opera, Lisette Oropesa makes her company and role debuts as doomed courtesanVioletta. “I am really looking forward to exploring the character of Violetta,” the Cuban American soprano says. “She is extremely open-hearted, she takes a huge emotional risk – twice – and she never breaks down or falls apart. The music is very emotional, but the character has an extremely strong center.”

In the glamorous world of Paris—updated to the mid-20th century—a naive young man falls head over heels for a beautiful party girl. One of opera’s greatest romances takes a wrenching turn after they risk everything for a chance at enduring love. Tenor Alek Shrader whose “singing is distinguished by a simultaneous lyricism and verve”(Opera News), makes his company and role debut as Alfredo, who seems to be the man of Violetta’s dreams. Standing in the way of their happiness is Alfredo’s father, Giorgio (baritone Stephen Powell), whose visit shatters their idyllic love nest. Featuring Verdi’s most timeless and lyrical score, La traviata has continued to captivate audiences for more than 150 years.

Opera Philadelphia looks forward to launching the 41st season, with the American premiereof this stylish production by award-winning Scottish director Paul Curran, highlighted bya black-tie Opening Night Gala on Friday, October 2 and a FREE, HD broadcast in Independence National Historical Park that will mark the company’s fifth annual Opera on the Mall on Saturday, October 3.

Cold Mountain

EAST COAST PREMIERE
American Repertoire Program

Music by Jennifer Higdon | Libretto by Gene Scheer
Performed in English with English supertitles

A NEW CO-COMMISSION & CO-PRODUCTION with The Santa Fe Opera and Minnesota Opera in collaboration with North Carolina Opera

February 5, 7m, 10, 12 & 14m, 2016
Academy of Music

Cold Mountain, hailed as one of the “most anticipated world premieres ahead” by National Public Radio, is the first opera written by Philadelphia-based composer Jennifer Higdon, winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music. The opera is based on the National Book Award-winning novel by Charles Frazier, and features a libretto by Gene Scheer (Moby-Dick; An American Tragedy). This co-commission and co-produced opera with The Santa Fe Opera and Minnesota Opera is a compelling story of love, honor and determination. As the American Civil War is coming to an end, soldier W. P. Inman deserts the Confederate Army, walking from his hospital room in Raleigh, North Carolina, across the state to his home at Cold Mountain. The journey is arduous and recalls Homer’s Odyssey, as Inman endures many hardships on a quest to be reunited with his love, Ada Monroe.

Grammy winner Nathan Gunn, who sings the protagonist, Inman, is regarded as one of the most exciting and in-demand baritones of the day.  He has appeared as leading man on opera and musical theater stages internationally. A supporter of new works, he created the roles of Clyde Griffiths in Tobias Picker’s An American Tragedy, Father Delura in Love and Other Demons, Alec Harvey in AndrePrevin’s Brief Encounter, and Paul in Daron Hagen’s Amelia. Because of this dedication to new works, he was named Director of Opera Philadelphia’s American Repertoire Council, a steering council focused on advancing the company's American Repertoire Program, a commitment to produce new American works in ten consecutive seasons. He has appeared on the Opera Philadelphia stage as Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia (2009), Zurga in Pearl Fishers (2004) and Gugielmo in Così fan tutte (2003, 1996).

“I think Cold Mountain is going to be THE great American operatic work,” said Gunn. “The music is beautiful and amazingly dramatic in scope.”

Isabel Leonard, who will sing the role of Ada, is one of the most popular and highly sought-after mezzo-sopranos on stage today. Hailed as “beguiling” by The New York Times, she is a 2014 Grammy Award winner for Thomas Ades’ The Tempest (Best Opera Recording) and the recipient of the 2013 Richard Tucker Award. “Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain is a beautiful story filled with history, love, fear, and courage,” said Leonard. “Jennifer Higdon and Gene Scheer have now turned that story into an incredible musical journey and I cannot wait to share it with the people of Philadelphia.”

Tenor Jay Hunter Morris, who created the role of the villainous Teague, has been in the international spotlight for his portrayal of Siegfried in the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Wagner’s Ring. He has also won acclaim for the “manic intensity” (San Francisco Chronicle) of his Captain Ahab in JakeHeggie’s Moby-Dick. “The greatest moments, for me, are when I get to sing new music,” said Morris. “I love stepping into the character and stepping into the voice for the first time.”

Charles Frazier’s novel won the 1997 National Book Award and was made into a film in 2003, which was nominated for seven Academy Awards. Leonard Foglia, who directed Opera Philadelphia’s East Coast Premiere of A Coffin in Egypt in June 2014, returns to direct Cold Mountain, with Music Director Corrado Rovaris conducting the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra.

Capriccio

Curtis Opera Theatre
Music by Richard Strauss | Libretto by Clemens Krauss and the composer
Performed in German with English supertitles

A NEW PRODUCTION of the Curtis Institute of Music presented in association with Opera Philadelphia and the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

March 2, 4 & 6m, 2016
Aurora Series: Chamber Opera at the Perelman Theater

The annual co-productions from Curtis Opera Theatre, Opera Philadelphia, and the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts have been acclaimed as “must-see events for serious operagoers” by Opera News. Launched in 2008 with the Philadelphia premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, the series will mark its ninth season with a new production of Capriccio, the final opera by great German composer Richard Strauss.

Which is greater among the arts, poetry or music? The opera explores that question in an allegorical tale: the young, widowed Countess Madeleine is torn between two suitors, the poet Olivier and the composer Flamand. What will impress her more—Flamand’s music or Olivier’s words?

“Capriccio has some of the most stunningly beautiful music that Richard Strauss ever wrote,” said Mikael Eliasen, Curtis Opera Theatre Artistic Director. “In particular, the last scene of Capricciocontains Strauss at his most ravishingly erotic and meltingly, gorgeously melodic.”

Director Chas Rader-Shieber leads the talented young singers of Curtis Opera Theatre in this new production. Further details of the creative team will be announced later in the spring of 2016.

This production is funded, in part, through support from the William Penn Foundation.

The Elixir of Love

Music by Gaetano Donizetti| Libretto by Felice Romani
Performed in Italian with English supertitles

Production from The Santa Fe Opera

April 29, May 1m, 4, 6 & 8m, 2016
Academy of Music