Hana Hou | September 2023
Aloha mai kākou:
With the summer officially over, things are heating up at HOT!
Our education team back at it with HOT’s extensive in-school programs, including Residencies programs and Opera Express touring shows, sessions have started with our Mae Z. Orvis Opera Studio and Orvis Young Voices, and we’re finalizing plans for our Opera for Everyone student dress rehearsal series – which will be different for our 2023/2024 Season due to our moving out of the Blaisdell Concert Hall for renovations. Watch your emails and our website for more information or send an email to education@hawaiiopera.org.
The set for our first production of the season, An American Dream, is being built right now in our shop in Waipahu. The simple but effective design (see artistic rendering) is by Michelle Bisbee, who created the beautiful Hawaiian setting for our Elixir of Love last February and is creating the looks for Pagliacci and La Bohème this season.
Michelle, Associate Professor of Scenic Design at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, received her MFA in Scenic Design from the University of Arizona and her BFA in Technical Theatre from Kent State University. Prior to joining UH, Michelle worked as faculty, designer, and artisan at Trinity University, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Kent State University and for theatres across the U.S. She is also a truly delightful person – someone we are proud to have as part of the HOT ʻohana!
September also sees the launch of our second full season of Studio101, curated once again by HOT’s Artistic Director Jamie Offenbach, with two free events. For our HOT 23-24 Season Preview (Wednesday, September 20), Jamie and I will guide you through the mainstage and Studio101 seasons, including some musical samples. Then on Friday, September 22, we present HOT Young Artist bass Robert Ellsworth Feng and HOT Orvis Opera Studio Artist soprano Emily Vidler in a recital of arias and duets with “a little something in between”. Click here to reserve your seats.
There’s still time to be a HOT hero and subscribe to our 23-24 Season! Two- and three-opera subscriptions are available now and offer you the best seats in the house. Call our box office now at 808.596.7858 to learn more. You won’t regret joining us on the complete journey!
Mahalo for all you do to ensure that opera has a home here in Hawaiʻi. We can’t do it without you!
A hui hou!
Andrew
Question Corner: Do you have an “aha!” moment with opera? That performance where something clicked and you thought, “NOW I understand what all the fuss is about”?
For me, it was a performance of Verdi’s Il Trovatore I attended with my father at Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1987. Shirley Verrett sang the role of Azucena, and her rendition of the famous aria “Stride la vampa” absolutely sent chills down my spine. I’m chagrined to say I don’t remember much else about that production, but I will never forget her performance. I didn’t see Trovatore again live until many years later, at the San Francisco Opera. Dolora Zajick was Azucena for that production, and the chills came back stronger than ever…
Scroll down to the Comments field to let us know about your “aha” moment!