Tickets for the fall cycle go on sale at 10am on September 9.
The Atlanta Opera reinvents its business model for the 2020-21 season with the "Big Tent" series. Comprising six new chamber opera productions in open-air venues, this innovative new series prioritizes the health and safety of audiences, artists and backstage personnel while maintaining the exceptional level of music and storytelling that make The Atlanta Opera "one of the most exciting opera companies in America" (Opera Wire). The series launches this fall with alternating presentations of Pagliacci (Oct 22-Nov 13) and The Kaiser of Atlantis (Oct 23-Nov 14), staged in a custom-designed open-air tent on a baseball field at Atlanta's Oglethorpe University. Directed by Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. General & Artistic Director Tomer Zvulun, both productions are entirely new and share a common theme, being built around the concept of a traveling circus caught in the middle of a dystopian world pandemic. Under the direction of Ryan McKinny, Felipe Barral and Zvulun, they will both be filmed for future broadcast.
The "Big Tent" series' name is a nod to its colorful home, which will travel to three prominent greater Atlanta locations over the course of the 2020-21 season. Pairing popular chamber operas with more experimental choices, the revised six-production season builds on the success of The Atlanta Opera's award-winning Discoveries series, which presents smaller, seldom-staged works in nontraditional spaces. Scheduled for next spring, the season's four remaining productions will be announced later this fall. Two years ago, The Atlanta Opera created a new strategic plan, with a stated mission to "Reimagine Opera." General & Artistic Director Zvulun, the "innovative risk-taker ... bringing change to The Atlanta Opera" (Opera News), says: "I believe that crisis reveals character and provides opportunities for change. This pandemic has devastated so many lives and businesses. But it has also been a major catalyst in accelerating a shift to a business model that we have been discussing for years: creating a company of players, performing in non-traditional spaces, and developing our video and streaming capabilities." To launch The Atlanta Opera's first foray into film, each production will be digitally captured by the company's newly formed digital media department, with the goal of wide distribution. The cast for each of the six 2020-21 productions will be drawn from the Atlanta Opera Company Players: twelve world-class singers living in the Atlanta metro area or within a few hours' drive, who have been hired for the duration of the season. Drawing on the region's exceptional talent pool, and reflecting its vitality and diversity, these handpicked artists are sopranos Jasmine Habersham and Talise Trevigne; mezzos Jamie Barton, Daniela Mack and Megan Marino; tenors Alek Shrader and Richard Trey Smagur; baritones Michael Mayes and Reginald Smith Jr.; bass-baritone Ryan McKinny; and basses Kevin Burdette and Morris Robinson. Zvulun explains: "It's not a coincidence that we chose a circus tent in an open field as our performance environment this season. Beyond the practical considerations of safety, mobility and scale, the circus represents a certain grit, a certain perseverance. At present, artists have been thrown into the most frightening, unexpected eras of their lifetimes. By choosing to perform, while maintaining safety and social distancing, we are saying something about our community: Atlanta needs art, Atlanta needs live performance. This community, these artists are nimble enough, creative enough, gritty enough to find a way." The fall productions will be presented in nine performances each, on alternate nights, at Oglethorpe University. In Pagliacci, Leoncavallo's beloved story of fatal jealousies in a commedia dell'arte troupe, Reginald Smith Jr., "one of the most exciting baritone sounds to come along in years" (Opera News), sings Tonio and Grammy-nominated soprano Talise Trevigne, who recently wowed Atlanta audiences in the title role of Porgy and Bess, sings Nedda. Zvulun's completely original, socially distanced take on the opera explores whether "the show must go on" in a pandemic, in a meta-commentary on the plight of artists in our time.Videos