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It should come as no surprise that Opera Omaha is supported in part by the community and in part by a particular subset of the community that has invested in the connoisseurship of opera called the Opera Omaha Guild. I’ve met members at various events and engagement opportunities over the last few months, but there were many new faces at the cheerful gathering of Opera Omaha Guild’s Annual Victorian Tea in the home of Melissa Marvin. Within the bright yellow walls, members, friends, and family came together for reasons that we can all relate to: the consumption both of food and of beautiful art. I counted myself lucky to n...

Don't miss this iconic production at Opera Omaha, Oct 19th and 21st! Tickets start at $19: https://ticketomaha.com/Productions/pagliacci A big thank you to all who attended or spoke at the third Opera In Conversation of Pagliacci! In case you missed it, here are some takeaways from “Art for Community Connection and Resiliency": Our third Opera in Conversation for the production of Pagliacci brought together three local artists, Courtney Cairncross, Rita Paskowitz, and Paula Wallace, to speak on how communities use art and shared experiences to build connection, community resiliency, and overcome trauma. While the relationship with Pagliacci might not at first be obvious, the production actually served as...

Don't miss this iconic production at Opera Omaha, Oct 19th and 21st! Tickets start at $19: https://ticketomaha.com/Productions/pagliacci A big thank you to all who attended or spoke at the second Opera In Conversation! In case you missed it, here are some takeaways from “Verismo Opera”: Head of Music Sean Kelly explored the verismo opera movement, including famous works and composers like Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, and the elements of this musical style. The stylistic changes of the time were apparent in the music both orchestrally and vocally. Verismo was drawn from the naturalism literary movement in France; it was thought that literature should approach life as a scientist would ...

Don't miss this iconic production at Opera Omaha, Oct 19th and 21st! Tickets start at $19: https://ticketomaha.com/Productions/pagliacci A big thank you to all who attended or spoke at the first Opera In Conversation! In case you missed it, here are some takeaways from “Opera and Film: Fellini and Italian Neorealist Cinema”: Both verismo style opera (such as Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo) and Italian neorealist cinema (such as La Strada by Frederico Fellini) sought to bring to light marginalized lifestyles and people of society rather than those of kings, nobles, and the wealthy. This trend can also be traced in visual art and literature from Édouard Manet, Gustave Flaub...

Don't miss this iconic production, Pagliacci, at Opera Omaha, Oct 19th and 21st! Tickets start at $19: https://ticketomaha.com/Productions/pagliacci Clown-inspired characters have appeared many times onstage but also onscreen. Why are we so fascinated with them? Is it the iconic face paint, the goosebump-inspiring kit of creepy props… or is it the blatant contradiction displayed by many clowns in popular culture? In the case of Stephen King’s It, Pennywise the Clown is a combination of innocence and terror. Batman’s iconic Joker is gleeful and sociopathically violent. As for Leoncavallo’s Canio in Pagliacci, he is a combination of buffoonery and hot jealousy. Fellini, in his film I Clowns...

Don't miss this iconic production, Pagliacci, at Opera Omaha, Oct 19th and 21st! Tickets start at $19: https://ticketomaha.com/Productions/pagliacci Pagliacci, a work of the 2018-19 Opera Omaha season telling the tale of street performers Canio and Nedda and a love triangle, has been cited in seemingly distinct platforms for many years. The work is referenced by a line in the jazz song The Masquerade is Over , first recorded by Larry Clinton and His Orchestra in 1939, and carried on by many other jazz singers, including the well-respected songstress Billie Holiday, which incorporates the lyrics "I guess I'll have to play Pagliacci and get myself a clown's disguise / And ...

We are pleased to announce that two additional resident Fellows have been selected for the Holland Community Opera Fellowship for the 2018-2019 Season: Kate Pomrenke and José Maldonado. Pomrenke and Maldonado will join first-year Fellows Jessica Johnson Brock and Chabrelle Williams, bringing the program to its full capacity of four resident Fellows for the second year of the program. All four artists will participate in the season-long residency, which has vastly expanded Opera Omaha’s ability to serve the community with professional opera programs, while honoring long-time Opera Omaha benefactor Richard D. Holland. Kate Pomrenke Soprano Kate Pomrenke recently completed her Master of Music in Vocal Performance at Bowling Green Sta...

Here are all of the exciting events happening during the final week of the ONE Festival, April 16-22! This is the last chance to attend any and all of these events, so make sure to put them on your schedule! MONDAY | April 16 Staged reading of Medea by Euripides 6p | Creighton Lied Education Center for the Arts Presented by Creighton University's Department of Fine and Performing Arts, in partnership with Opera Omaha TUESDAY | April 17 Proving Up Gallery Tour 11:30a | KANEKO Ariodante Open Session 7:30p-9:30p | Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts WEDNESDAY | April 18 Proving Up Gallery Tour 5:30p | KANEKO The Wreck 7:30p | 1407/1409 Jackson Street THURSDAY | April 19 Ariodante Open Session 11:30a-1:30p | Bemis ...

Mezzo-soprano Naomi O'Connell returns to Opera Omaha this season as Neris in the upcoming production of Medea after appearing last season as the Stewardess in Jonathan Dove's production of Flight. Read the article below to learn more about Ms. O'Connell's life on and off the stage. Where do you spend most of your year? I travel a lot in this job, and packing up suitcases for a couple of months of hopping around the country is a given, but I share an apartment with my husband in New York City, which is where we call home. What is your all-time favorite opera? Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmélites is a m...

Here are all of the exciting events happening during the second week of the ONE Festival, April 9-15! TUESDAY | April 10 Ariodante Open Session 6p-8p | Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts WEDNESDAY | April 11 ONEmore: Healing Arts 12p | Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center ONEmore: Written - Spoken - Sung Gallery Hours 2p-6p | The Union for Contemporary Art Lincoln-based artist Matthew Sontheimer’s exhibition, That’s right…I still don’t have a website. will be explored through a performative installation. THURSDAY | April 12 ONEmore: Written - Spoken - Sung Gallery Hours 2p-6p | The Union for Contemporary Art Lincoln-based artist Matthew Sontheimer’s exhibition, That’s right…I still don’t have a website. ...