Opera Saratoga announces DISCOVER!OPERA Program

Opera Saratoga announced DISCOVER!OPERA, a new program to introduce area high school and college students to opera by providing free tickets to select performances as part of the company’s annual Summer Festival, as well as access to related programs. This summer, Opera Saratoga will provide free tickets to students for two performances through the DISCOVER!OPERA program.

College Students may sign up for free tickets to opening night of Opera Saratoga’s double-bill on Saturday, June 30th, featuring the world premiere of Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera, and the American Premiere of Rocking Horse Winner. In Vinkensport, we enter the world of finch-sitting, where the cheating scandals are as rampant as the rivalries between contestants in a battle to see who has the most melodious bird in this cheeky and chirpy bittersweet comedy. After intermission, the world of thoroughbred racing takes the stage in Rocking Horse Winner, a modern adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s short story in which ayoung manbecomes dangerously obsessed with solving the bad luck of his family. His pursuit awakens a strange magic that enables him to predict which horses will win at the track. Prior to the performance, composers David T. Little and Gareth Williams, and librettists Royce Vavrek and Anna Chatterton, will participate in a Q&A, providing college students with the opportunity to meet four of the most exciting writers working in opera today.

High School Students may sign up for free tickets to the opening night of Opera Saratoga’s new production of The Consul, on Saturday July 7th.This riveting thriller delivers a punch as powerful and timely as its subject matter - the struggle for freedom against oppression, and the maddening nature of unrelenting bureaucracy. Winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critic’s Circle Award when it first premiered on Broadway in 1950, The Consul‘s suspenseful and timely story surprises with several magical touches and is buoyed by a richly melodic score in which love, hope, and redemption all play their part. As the national conversation has recently become increasingly focused on the plight of immigrants and refugees, the contemporary relevance of The Consul is easy to see.

“We designed the DISCOVER!OPERA program to provide access to opera for both high school and college students,” explained Opera Saratoga’s Artistic and General Director Lawrence Edelson, “ but in creating the program, we wanted to make sure we could challenge assumptions about opera that some people have and introduce students to some of the more adventurous and creative programming that Opera Saratoga offers. Our double-bill this summer features two one-act operas by living composers and librettists, with highly contrasting scores, providing students the opportunity to experience how opera is telling exciting stories today. And, The Consul is an American masterpiece that could not be more topical right now, providing us with the opportunity to explore the intersection between the performing arts, history and current events - a perfect way for students to discover that opera is very much a living, breathing, and exciting way to tell stories through music.”

For more information, visit www.operasaratoga.org.