Shakespeare’s tragic love story returns to the Utah Opera stage to open the company’s 2018-2019 season. Composed by Charles-Francois Gounod with libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, Utah Opera Chorus Master Michaella Calzaretta and Conductor Robert Tweten come together musically to deliver a stellar production sung in French by a cast of 54 supported by the 53-member Utah Symphony. With the … Read more
Recently, the administration and staff of the Salt Lake City Public Library met to clarify its strategic roadmap as part of its long-range efforts to continue developing the civic cultural campus that includes the City Library in the heart of downtown. As Peter Bromberg, library executive director, explains, it’s continuing the efforts started 20 years … Read more
Leave it to Utah Opera to close out its 40th season with the ultimate party opera. Filled with Champagne, duplicitous identities and disguises, Die Fledermaus drew hearty laughter and applause on opening night. Gracing the Utah Opera stage for the fourth time, Johann Strauss Jr.’s light-hearted operetta is sung in English with English supertitles. And … Read more
Soprano Clara Hurtado-Lee is looking forward to testing out the acoustics in the soaring and spacious Urban Room atrium of the City Library. Perched on the overhang on one of the floors above the main space, a trained opera singer can fill the entire vast space with her voice. For the second year at the … Read more
Utah Opera’s 2016-2017 season closes with one of Mozart’s most popular operas, Don Giovanni. The 2016-17 season has been marked by serious operas with themes ranging from PTSD and the effects of war, to violence against women and political expression. Don Giovanni continues that trend with an updated production that shines a stark light on Giovanni’s … Read more
Utah Opera’s 2016-2017 season has played to the moodier and dramatic side of human nature this year, and Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor is no exception. This tale of a woman manipulated into turning her back on true love and marrying another has tragic consequences. Utah Opera added more drama to the production with a last-minute cast … Read more
Utah Opera kicks off its 2016-2017 season with one of the most beloved and often-performed productions–Carmen. Bizet’s opera Carmen is a spectacular work, brimming with fiery passion, ceaseless drama and memorable music. Utah Opera’s 2016 production is a solid and straightforward telling that is pleasing enough, but falls a bit short of greatness. Carmen follows … Read more
Utah Opera’s third annual Libretti & Libations features talented mixologists who curate artisanal cocktails inspired by the season’s opera productions. From October 8-16, ten participating restaurants in Salt Lake and Park City will offer craft cocktails inspired by Utah Opera’s production of the devastating and sultry tale of Bizet’s “Carmen” as a way of … Read more
Sometimes art’s most appreciated beauty arises randomly to the observer’s delight. The cathedral-like atrium in the City Library’s Urban Room, just one of the many high-traffic areas of the Utah Arts Festival, is a musician’s dream for acoustics, especially for opera singers. Perched in the middle of the overhang on the second floor, a singer … Read more
It doesn’t take much to have a good production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. The opera is so charming that as long as you have some good voices, you’re pretty much guaranteed a pleasant experience. Having a great production, however, takes an amazing amount of work. Not only do the voices need to be … Read more