Double Bill of SCALIA/GINSBURG and TRIAL BY JURY Comes to Pacific Opera Project

 Pacific Opera Project presents the LA premiere performances of Scalia/Ginsburg in a double bill with Gilbert & Sullivan’s Trial by Jury on November 17, 2023 at 7:00 p.m.; November 18, 2023 at 7:00 p.m.; November 19, 2023 at 3:00 p.m.; November 24, 2023 at 7:00 p.m.; November 25, 2023 at 7:00 p.m.; and November 26, 2023 at 3:00 p.m. at The Highland Park Ebell Club with food and wine at table seating.

Hailed as “a dream come true” (Ruth Bader Ginsburg), a “perfect…jewel” (Opera Today), and “the kind of opera that should be everywhere” (OperaWire), Scalia/Ginsburg is a one-act operatic comedy by composer-librettist Derrick Wang about the unlikely friendship between U.S. Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia — and the pivotal moment that would change the Supreme Court for years to come. Artistic Director Josh Shaw’s new libretto for Trial by Jury moves the setting from England to a 1980s divorce court. 

Scalia/Ginsburg cast members include tenor Robert Norman (POP, Opera Santa Barbara) as Scalia; soprano Rachel Policar (The Why Collective, Anchorage Opera) as Ginsburg alongside her role as Angelina in Trial by Jury; bass Paul An (LA Opera, Chicago Opera Theater) making his debut with POP as The Commentator in Scalia/Ginsburg and also as The Usher in Trial by Jury. Additional Trial by Jury cast members include Todd Strange (LA Master Chorale, LA Opera) as Edwin; William Grundler (Opera Santa Barbara, Opera San Luis Obispo) as The Judge; David Harrington (Mission Opera, Lyric Opera of Orange County) as The Foreman; and Christine Li (recently Gretel in POP’s Hansel and Gretel) as The Council. Caleb Yanez Glickman conducts this production directed by POP’s Founding Artistic Director, Josh Shaw.

Settling into the new POP HQ AKA “The POPera Shop,” POP launches PARS – The POP Artists Recital Series this fall at its new Highland Park headquarters, featuring intimate performances by POP singers and instrumentalists. This follows the new POPeretta summer camp, in addition to POPs wide range of digital and in-school educational programming including My First Opera for kids in grades K-12, and Opera Explorers for kids in grades K-5.