Opera Theatre of St. Louisā 2022 Festival Season isnāt underway just yet ā its production of Georges Bizetās āCarmenā is still a week away ā but the organization has already announced its lineup of operas for 2023.
Ā The season will run from May 20 to June 25 with mainstage productions of Scott Joplinās āTreemonisha,ā Pucciniās āTosca,ā Mozartās āCosi fan tutteā and Carlisle Floydās āSusannah," plus OTSLās annual Black Music Month Celebration and āCenter Stageā young artist showcase.
The productions will be staged at Webster Universityās Loretto-Hilton Center. Each of them will feature accompaniment by members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.
OTSLās āTreemonishaā will mark the world premiere of a new, expanded version of Joplinās original, which was published in 1911 but never staged during his lifetime. The reimagined version features a new prologue and epilogue by composer Damien Sneed and librettist Karen Chilton, who wrote āThe Tongue and the Lashā for OTSLās 2021 āNew Works, Bold Voicesā lab. āTreemonishaā will be conducted by George Manahan and directed by Charlotte Brathwaite. Performance dates are May 20, 26, June 3, 6, 8, 11, 21 and 24.
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Carlisle Floydās well-known āSusannahā will be staged for the first time by OTSL on June 10, 14, 16, 18, 22 and 24. It will be conducted by former St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Resident Conductor Gemma New and directed by Patricia Racette, OTSL Artistic Director of Young Artist Programs.
āToscaā was last presented by OTSL in 2003. Its new production, directed by OTSL Artistic Director James Robinson and conducted by OTSL Principal Conductor Daniela Candillari, will be held May 27, June 1, 7, 9, 13, 17, 21 and 25. āCosi fan tutte,ā directed by Tara Branham and conducted by Jeri Lynne Johnson, will be performed on June 4, 7, 10, 15, 17 and 23.
The āCenter Stageā young artist showcase, conducted by Candillari and curated by Racette and Robinson, will be held on June 20. The date for the Black Music Month Celebration, curated by Sneed, has yet to be determined.
OTSL General Director Andrew Jorgensen says, āPlanning an opera season is a years-long project. Singers, directors and conductors are often booked two or three years out. We began working on this new version of āTreemonishaā a couple of years ago.ā
āSusannah,ā meanwhile, was originally planned for OTSLās 2020 season, which was scuttled due to the pandemic.
Along with āToscaā and āCosi fan tutte,ā Jorgensen says, the 2023 season āis the best of what an Opera Theatre season can be: four great operas that we canāt wait to bring to our stage.ā
āRunning through all of them is a theme about gender roles and about strong women in leadership,ā he says. āAnd we have many amazing women leaders helming these productions ā directors, designers, conductors ā and thatās so important. We hope (the operas) will give us an opportunity during the year leading up to the season to talk about things that matter, to talk about the issues these operas spark and to excite our community about the operas and the artists who will be coming to Opera Theatre next season.ā
Season subscriptions for the 2023 Festival Season are now available. More information can be found at ExperienceOpera.org/2023 or by calling the box office at 314-961-0644.