David B. Devan, General Director & President of Opera Philadelphia, says:

“I am proud of the wide artistic palette of the 2020-2021 season, with its balance of new, contemporary works and honoring the canon. I’m always thrilled when we bring a new opera into the world, and Woman with Eyes Closed is extra special because Jennifer Higdon is our own­ – Philadelphia’s own. That we’ve been able to provide an artist of her standing and experience with a voyage of discovery is very exciting.”

Devan is especially proud of the singers who have been assembled to sing company and role debuts in the 2020-2021 season. He continues:

“We’ve really hit our stride in casting, creating opportunities for emerging artists as well as established artists to sing a role for the first time. What I love about new roles are that they are a dynamic interplay between the artist and audience discovering something together.”

Festival O20 packages and full-season subscriptions are now on sale at operaphila.org, or by calling 215-732-8400 (Monday through Friday, from 9am to 5pm). Single tickets will go on sale on Monday, June 1, at operaphila.org or by calling 215-732-8400.

About the Festival O20 productions (Sep 2020)

Woman with Eyes Closed (world premiere)
Music by Jennifer Higdon; libretto by Jerre Dye
Commissioned and produced by Opera Philadelphia
Sep 17, 19, 22, 24 & 26
Perelman Theater
Performed in English with English supertitles

O20 launches with the world premiere production of Woman with Eyes Closed, a new Opera Philadelphia commission from Pulitzer Prize laureate, three-time Grammy-winner and Philadelphia resident Jennifer Higdon, whose first opera, Cold Mountain, won a 2016 International Opera Award after its acclaimed East Coast premiere at Opera Philadelphia. Her second opera, Woman with Eyes Closed,was inspired by the real-life 2012 theft of seven masterpieces from Rotterdam’s Kunsthal Museum. At first, the mother of the prime suspect confessed to incinerating these priceless artworks to protect her son, but she subsequently denied it. Never recovered, their fate remains shrouded in mystery.

Higdon initially found herself drawn to the story’s unsolved puzzle, and then to one of the missing works itself: Lucian Freud’s 2002 painting Woman with Eyes Closed. The composer’s emotional response was shared both by librettist Jerre Dye, whose past commissions include works for Washington National Opera and Seattle Opera, and by German director Christian Räth, a “real genius” (Musical America) whose productions have graced stages from the Vienna State Opera to the Metropolitan Opera.

Committed to capturing the unsolved mystery at the story’s heart, the creative team devised multiple endings; each audience will see the plot play out in one of three different ways. And by casting the thief’s mother as their protagonist, and having her see in Freud’s painting an irresistible resemblance to her own dead mother, the team found in their story a way to explore the power of art. As Higdon explains: “It’s about the characters. And also transformation. How the experience of art, or in this case the theft of art, can transform someone.”

Dye adds: “This was my challenge as the librettist: so, art lands in the hands of someone who has no understanding of art and no relationship with art. What does it take for that art to create an emotional reaction in her heart and mind?”

Higdon created the central role of Mona, mother of the thief, expressly for Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Grand Finals-winner Meredith Arwady, “a young contralto with deep notes that feel like a force of nature” (LA Times). In Opera Philadelphia’s world premiere production, Arwady will be joined by tenor Kevin Ray, also seen this season at LA Opera and the Met, who plays the part of her son, thief Tomas. Making her company debut, British-Singaporean mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron, “a knockout performer” (The Times of London), sings the Museum Curator. Rounding out the cast as the police inspector is Chinese bass Wei Wu, who makes his Opera Philadelphia debut this spring in Madame Butterfly, and was last seen in Santa Fe Opera’s Grammy-winning recording and world premiere production of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, in which he “almost stole the show” (Washington Post).

Macbeth (new production)
Music by Giuseppe Verdi; libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and Andrea Maffei
Sep 18, 20, 23, 25 & 27
Academy of Music
Performed in Italian with English supertitles

Festival O20 brings a major new Opera Philadelphia production of Macbeth to the Academy of Music. Verdi’s adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy portrays the timeless corrosiveness of power in a new staging that Helpmann Award-winning Scottish director Paul Curran, calls “a dark journey into the dark recesses of the mind.” The former Artistic Director of the Norwegian National Opera, Curran’s recent highlights include La donna del lago at the Metropolitan Opera, The Tsar’s Bride at London’s Royal Opera House, and a “vibrant new production” (Opera News) of Carmen at Opera Philadelphia in the 2017-18 season.

Curran’s contemporary production showcases Sondra Radvanovsky, “one of the Metropolitan Opera’s top Verdi sopranos” (New York Times). After dazzling Philadelphia audiences as the O17 Festival Artist, Radvanovsky returns to make her eagerly anticipated role debut as Lady Macbeth. She gives four performances of the role (Sep 18, 20, 23 & 27), and “rising star” Polish soprano Ewa Płonka (OperaWire) makes her company debut with a fifth (Sep 25). They partner with Italian baritone Roberto Frontali, celebrated for his headlining appearances at the Metropolitan Opera and La Scala, in his company debut in the title role.  Also making company debuts are Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Grand Finals-winning tenor Richard Trey Smagur as Macduff and tenor Rafael Moras, praised for his “incisive and energetic singing” (Opera News), as Malcolm. Completing the cast of principals is bass Patrick Guetti, a “standout whose sound [is] warm and rich” (Washington Post), who returns to Philadelphia as Banco after appearing in 2018’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Corrado Rovaris, Opera Philadelphia’s Jack Mulroney Music Director, leads from the pit.

El Cimarrón (new production)
Music by Hans Werner Henze; libretto by Hans Magnus Enzensberger
Based on the autobiography of Esteban Montejo as related to Miguel Barnet
Sep 19, 21 & 24
The Barnes Foundation

With the grandeur of an epic poem, Hans Werner Henze’s 75-minute drama, El Cimarrón (The Runaway Slave), tells the story of Esteban Montejo, a Cuban born into slavery in 1860 who, as a young man, escaped bondage on a sugar plantation, survived in the jungle, fought for Cuban independence from Spain, and lived to describe it all before dying at the age of 113. The work is a tour-de-force for four musicians – baritone, flute, guitar and percussion – all of whom are also called upon to play percussion throughout.

Bass-baritone Sir Willard White makes his highly anticipated Opera Philadelphia debut as Montejo. Born in Jamaica, White commenced his musical training at the Jamaican School of Music before studying at the Juilliard School in New York. Since making his operatic debut with New York City Opera in 1974, he has sung regularly at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera and San Francisco Opera; the opera houses of Munich, Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Geneva, Hamburg, Los Angeles, Madrid and Paris; and the Glyndebourne, Aix-en-Provence and Salzburg festivals. As The Guardian puts it, “Pity anyone who appears on the same platform as baritone Willard White. He has so much presence he can eclipse an entire symphony orchestra and chorus with a mere twitch of an eyebrow.”

Lawrence Brownlee
Festival Artist
In recital with Michael Spyres: Sep 16
The Barnes Foundation
Additional programming to be announced 

American tenor Lawrence Brownlee is not only “one of the world’s leading bel canto stars” (The Guardian), but “one of the most in-demand opera singers in the world today” (NPR). After headlining Opera Philadelphia’s world premiere production of Charlie Parker’s YARDBIRD in 2015, he was appointed in 2017 as Artistic Advisor to the company, in which capacity he strives to expand its repertoire, diversity efforts and community initiatives. He starred in Cycles of My Being – a new song cycle about the male African American experience, created by MacArthur Fellows Tyshawn Sorey (now Opera Philadelphia’s Composer-in-Residence) and Terrance Hayes – which was commissioned and premiered by Opera Philadelphia in collaboration with Lyric Opera of Chicago and Carnegie Hall.

Now Opera Philadelphia is thrilled to present the Grammy-nominated tenor as the O20 Festival Artist. In addition to a slate of masterclasses and special events to be announced on June 1, Brownlee will give a gala duo recital of bel canto favorites at the Barnes Foundation with fellow tenor Michael Spyres. Under the leadership of Opera Philadelphia’s Corrado Rovaris, the pair recently recorded a program of Rossini’s operatic duets entitled Amici e Rivali, due for release this fall on the Erato label of Warner Classics. When the two tenors performed bel canto duets at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw last season, Bachtrack marveled: “What a bountiful programme, and what a pair of dynamite performers! … They were both sensational.”

“Curtis in Concert”
Co-presented with the Curtis Institute of Music
Sep 18 & 25
Field Concert Hall, Curtis Institute of Music

“Afternoons at AVA”
Co-presented with the Academy of Vocal Arts
Sep 19 & 26
Helen Corning Warden Theater, Academy of Vocal Arts

Hear today's leading singers alongside the opera stars of tomorrow as singers trained at Philadelphia's two acclaimed vocal training institutions, the Curtis Institute of Music and the Academy of Vocal Arts, perform in recital at their historic and intimate concert halls.Internationally renowned soprano Joyce El-Khoury (Liù, Turandot) returns to the acclaimed Academy of Vocal Arts to perform in Saturday afternoon recitals with current students; rising soprano Ashley Milanese (Frasquita, Carmen) comes back to the legendary Curtis Institute of Music for Friday afternoon concerts with the young voices of Curtis Opera Theatre. Additional singers and repertoire to be announced.

“Late Night Snacks”
Presented in partnership with The Bearded Ladies Cabaret and FringeArts
Part of Festival O20 and the 2020 Fringe Festival
Sep 12-Oct 4
Pop-up location to be announced

Festival attendees can also savor a range of “Late Night Snacks,” as some of O20’s most distinguished opera stars unleash their more fabulous alter egos in a series of informal, inclusive cabaret nights alongside artists across drag, cabaret, dance, and other music genres at a pop-up location to be revealed later this year. Operatic luminaries who let down their hair in the series’ inaugural season included mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe and countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, who premiered their “bold, sometimes bawdy” shows (Opera News) in Philadelphia before bringing them to New York for reprises at Lincoln Center and the Guggenheim, respectively, this past January. As Phindie marveled after Blythe’s appearance as Blythely Oratonio in “Late Night Snacks” last year, “Festival O … is designed to build new audiences for the art form. … It’s hard to imagine a show that would do that better than this one.”

About the winter and spring productions (Jan, April & May 2021)

Oedipus Rex(concert performances)
Music by Igor Stravinsky
Jan 29 & 31
Academy of Music
Performed in Latin with English supertitles

It was Stravinsky who launched music’s neoclassical movement, and according to no less a figure than Leonard Bernstein, Oedipus Rex was the most “awesome product” of the Russian composer’s neoclassical years. A Handelian opera-oratorio for orchestra, narrator, soloists and male chorus, its Latin libretto was translated from Jean Cocteau’s French interpretation of Sophocles’s archetypal Greek tragedy. Despite its Classical inspiration, however, there is a continuity between the dramatic grandeur of the work and Stravinsky’s later religious ones. And although Oedipus Rex is seldom performed, its drama, wit and consummate artistry does full justice to the composer’s formidable legacy.

Making his long-awaited company debut, Maestro Robert Spano, longtime Music Director of both the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Aspen Music Festival and School, leads the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra and Chorus in two dramatic concert performances of Stravinsky’s masterwork on the Academy of Music stage. Joining Maestro Spano as soloists are tenor William Burden, bringing his “emotional intensity” and “elegant singing” (New York Times) to the title role; bass-baritone Mark S. Doss, lending his “resonant and well-shaded baritone” (OperaWire) to the role of Créon; and mezzo-soprano Rehanna Thelwell, whose “rich, deep and striking vocal presence” makes her “a singer to watch” (South Florida Classical Review), in her company debut as Jocasta; and a returning Sir Willard White (Festival O20’s El Cimarrón) as Tirésias. Each concert opens with Les noces, Stravinsky’s exhilarating 1923 dance cantata about a 19th-century Russian folk wedding.