Photo Flash: Opera San Jose Presents IL TROVATORE

This February, Opera San José will highlight the raw emotions that drive Giuseppe Verdi's turbulent tale of love and revenge in its production of Il trovatore. Featuring an emotional, heart-stopping score, this mesmerizing story of romance, obsession, and retribution will be conducted by Joseph Marcheso, Opera San José's Music Director and Principal Conductor, and directed by Brad Dalton, acclaimed for staging major opera productions for San Francisco Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, and many other international companies. It will be presented at the magnificent California Theatre, the elegant 1927 former movie palace meticulously restored to opulent splendor and now one of the world's most intimate opera houses.

Il trovatore will be performed February 15 - March 1, 2020 (dates/times below) at the California Theatre, 345 South 1st Street, San José. For tickets ($55-$195) or more information, visit operasj.org or call (408) 437-4450.

Based on the play El trovador by Spanish playwright Antonio García Gutiérrez, Il trovatore is known for its powerful score full of breathtakingly beautiful arias and one of the most famous choral melodies ever written, the "Anvil Chorus." Mixing personal vendetta, a doomed love triangle, and a gypsy's lifelong obsession for revenge into one dramatic love story, this classic four-act Italian opera has become a beloved favorite of audiences around the world.

Il trovatore by composer Giuseppe Verdi and librettist Salvatore Cammarano will be sung in Italian with English supertitles with a run time of approximately three hours, including intermission. The creative team includes Joseph Marcheso (Conductor), Brad Dalton (Stage Director), Steven Kemp (Set Designer), Elizabeth Poindexter (Costume Design), Alyssa Oania (Costume Director), Michael Palumbo (Lighting Designer), ChrisTina Martin (Wigs/Makeup), and Christopher James Ray (Chorus Master). Christopher Ray, Opera San José's current Resident Conductor, will be conducting on February 28th and March 1st.

Opera San José (OSJ) will bring a cast of accomplished artists to the stage in this production. American soprano Kerriann Otaño stars as Leonora, a noble lady-in-waiting to the Queen of Aragon. A current member of OSJ's resident company, Otaño won raves recently as the Mother and the Witch in the company's well-received production of Hansel and Gretel. She was a 2017 National Semi-Finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a recent graduate of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at Washington National Opera.