While not quite a teenager, Marble City Opera has done a lot of living as Knoxville’s chamber opera company. This next season, 2024-25 will be the company’s twelfth since it first trod the boards in 2013. Designed with a mixture of special events and mainstage productions, one might ask: “What’s in store for season number twelve?”
There will be three main productions scheduled for October, April, and June. The first production of the mainstage season is the Tennessee premiere of dwb (driving while black), a one-act, one-woman opera composed in 2018 by Susan Kander with a libretto by Roberta Gumbel. The performances will be on October 11 and 12, 2024 at the Old City Performing Arts Center in Knoxville.
The second production in Marble City Opera’s mainstage season is Francis Poulenc’s The Human Voice, based on a play by Jean Cocteau. The one-act opera will be sung in English and performed on April 3, 4, and 5, 2025 at Historic Westwood in Knoxville.
The final production will be Ruggero Leoncavallo’s classic Pagliacci performed in three different locations on three different days. The opera will be presented on June 5, 2025 at the Tennessee Amphitheater in Knoxville; on June 6, 2025 at the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum in Vonore; and on June 7, 2025 at A.K. Bissell Park in Oak Ridge.
Special events throughout the season include a concert titled Tenors, Tuxedos, and Stalactites inside Historic Cherokee Caverns in Knoxville, on August. No spelunking is necessary. On November 14, MCO and The Cutting Edge Classroom will partner on an event that includes a performance of Bon Appétit!, a short opera composed by Lee Hoiby with a libretto adapted from two episodes of Julia Child’s The French Chef. After the opera, guests will be guided by one of the Cutting Edge instructors to prepare and bake their own cakes, which they will take home to enjoy.
On January 25, 2025, Marble City Opera will host its annual Pop-Up Opera Party fundraising gala in the Dogwood Center at the Knoxville Botanical Gardens. The event features delicious food, an auction, and surprise operatic performances popping up during the course of the evening. Another special event is scheduled for March 6, 2025 at Ossoli Circle in Knoxville, where Jake Heggie’s Eve Song cycle will be presented in concert and performed by soprano Kayla Beard.
Related
