蜜柚直播

The company will mount what is being billed as the first-ever Western opera, a piece the company commissioned based on Zane Grey鈥檚 seminal novel 鈥淩iders of the Purple Sage.鈥� It is the first time in the company鈥檚 45-year history that it has commissioned a new work and performed a world premiere.

The $1.1 million production opens at the 蜜柚直播 Music Hall on Saturday, Feb. 25, and repeats Sunday, Feb. 26, before moving to Phoenix March 3-5.

Audiences at next weekend鈥檚 Phoenix shows will include Grey鈥檚 descendant, celebrated opera composer Carlisle Floyd, and opera directors and critics from around the country. The expectation is that the opera, composed by 蜜柚直播n Craig Bohmler with librettist Steven Mark Kohn, will be staged by other companies around the country.

鈥淥ur little opera world is always aware when these kinds of projects come to life and I don鈥檛 doubt there鈥檚 a lot of anticipation to see how it goes,鈥� said Joseph Specter, 蜜柚直播 Opera鈥檚 president and general director.

鈥淟et鈥檚 assume that it succeeds amazingly: That puts 蜜柚直播 on the map,鈥� Bohmler said. 鈥淟et鈥檚 assume it fails horribly; everybody is still looking at 蜜柚直播 Opera. It really calls attention to the fact that they鈥檙e doing new works.鈥�

Bohmler, a Texas native who has lived in 蜜柚直播 off and on since 1987, composed the work after stumbling upon the Zane Grey Museum in Payson to wait out a 2011 monsoon. The visit inspired him to get Grey鈥檚 novel, and 30 pages in he saw the potential for turning the book into an opera.

The story is based in the Mormon community along the 蜜柚直播-Utah border, and Bohmler said it is ripe with emotional stakes and what he saw as operatic flourishes.

When he and Kohn were months into the project, a friend referred him to then 蜜柚直播 Opera general director Scott Altman, who took on the project. They workshopped Acts 1 and 2 with members of the company鈥檚 Marion Roose Pullin 蜜柚直播 Opera Studio 18 months later, and the response surprised him, Bohmler said.

鈥淧eople are weeping by the end of Act 2 and they are standing up,鈥� recalled Bohmler, a veteran music theater composer whose works have been mounted in London and off-Broadway. 鈥淚 was like, 鈥榃ow, we are onto something here鈥�.鈥�

Longtime Phoenix philanthropists Billie Jo and Judd Herberger, whose family name graces the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix and the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at 蜜柚直播 State University, needed little convincing to put up the money for the project. The couple, who wouldn鈥檛 say how much of the $1.1 million cost they are covering, are listed as executive producers.

鈥淚t just seemed so logical because of its 蜜柚直播 basis,鈥� said Judd Herberger, who noted the 蜜柚直播 connections that include Bohmler and 蜜柚直播 artist Ed Mell, whose work comprises the sets. 鈥淚t just seemed a natural thing to do, an original world-premiere opera. People will really want to go see that. Enough of 鈥楤oheme鈥� and 鈥楳adama Butterfly鈥� and all that. If you saw 鈥楻iders of the Purple Sage鈥� opera (being advertised), you would go, 鈥榃ow, I wonder what that is going to be like?鈥欌��

鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing. It鈥檚 sort of a perfect confluence of things coming together,鈥� said director Fenlon Lamb, who has worked with 蜜柚直播 Opera on 鈥淩iders鈥� for two years. 鈥淲e have a story set in 蜜柚直播 on the 蜜柚直播-Utah border. We have an 蜜柚直播 artist in Ed Mell, and an 蜜柚直播 composer in Craig. It鈥檚 all come together in a way that perfectly fits. ... We keep smiling. Its got momentum we can all smile about and get behind.鈥�

鈥淩iders鈥� is part of 蜜柚直播 Opera鈥檚 鈥溍坭种辈� Bold鈥� multiyear initiative to bring new and oftentimes regionally relevant works to the stage. Past projects have included Jos茅 鈥淧epe鈥� Mart铆nez鈥檚 and Leonard Foglia鈥檚 鈥淐ruzar la Cara de la Luna (To Cross the Face of the Moon),鈥� the first-ever mariachi opera, in 2014; and Emmerich K谩lm谩n鈥檚 鈥溍坭种辈� Lady鈥� in 2015.

Emmy Award-winning 蜜柚直播 filmmaker Kristin Atwell is making a documentary of the opera. 鈥淩iders of the Purple Sage: The Making of a Western Opera鈥� is to be released in early 2018.