Pacific Opera Project Announces 10th Anniversary Season In 2020

Pacific Opera Project (POP) announces its 2020 season productions, marking the company's 10th anniversary season of accessible, affordable, and entertaining opera curated by Artistic Director Josh Shaw. Having produced its first show in July 2011, POP's most recent production, The Mikado, was the company's 35th production to date, totaling 29 different operas at 12 venues. In just the past two years, POP's live streams have garnered over 155,000 views.

Of his programming, Josh Shaw says, "I picked shows that will challenge and stretch us artistically and musically along with a few crowd favorites and one production we did in the early years I thought deserved to be seen by more people. The 10th anniversary season will feature six productions and seven operas from baroque to modern; tragedy, comedy, fantasy, operetta, a show perfect for kids, table seating, a traditional theater, a warehouse, and more - something for everyone."

The 2020 season opens with an artistically and musically boundary-pushing double bill featuring Puccini's Gianni Schicchi alongside Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges at Occidental College's Thorne Hall on Saturday, January 25 at 3pm; Saturday, February 1 at 7pm; and Sunday, February 2 at 3pm. These two one-act operas feature lush orchestrations and large ensemble casts in a family-friendly production.

The season continues with Mozart's Così fan tutte at The El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood, CA on Saturday, March 28 at 7pm; Sunday, March 29 at 3pm; Thursday, April 2 at 8pm; Saturday, April 4 at 7pm; and Sunday, April 5 at 3pm. A revival of POP's 2013 Gone with the Wind production, Così fan tutte will be sung in Italian and does not follow the plot of the movie, but instead recreates iconic scenes and uses the most famous lines from the movie as supertitles.

Summer brings a US premiere production of a rare Vivialdi opera, Ercole su'l Termodonte, to the Highland Park Ebell Club on Friday, July 10; Saturday, July 11; Friday, July 17; Saturday, July 18; Thursday, July 23; Friday, July 24; and Saturday July 25. All performances are at 8pm. The opera is based on the ninth Labor of Hercules, where Hercules is tasked with capturing the sword of Antiope, the queen of the Amazons. Recently rediscovered hiding in libraries in Münster, Paris, and Turino, Ercole su'l Termodonte is Vivaldi's 16th opera, written in 1723 and premiered in Rome, during the Pope's ban on women in opera. The original cast featured seven castrati (many en travesti) and one tenor. POP will employ a mix of countertenors, mezzos, tenors, and sopranos performing these roles with a small period orchestra.

Following the success of The Mikado in the 2019 season, POP presents Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates Of Penzance in September 2020, with location and exact dates TBA.

On Saturday, November 7 at 7pm; Sunday, November 8 at 3pm; Friday, November 13 at 8pm; Saturday, November 14 at 7pm; and Sunday, November 15 at 3pm, POP presents Carlisle Floyd's Susannah at The Vortex. Written in 1955 and adapted from the Apocryphal tale "Susannah and the Elders," the story is set in rural Tennessee and focuses on a young girl falsely accused of seducing elders of a country church. An extremely moving and powerful opera, as relevant as ever in this era of #metoo and #timesup, Susannah will be an immersive experience for attendees and will feature a large orchestra.

POP's modern take on Puccini's La boheme AKA "The Hipsters" returns to The Highland Park Ebell Club on Friday, December 4; Saturday, December 5; Thursday, December 10; Friday, December 11; Saturday, December 12; Thursday, December 17; Friday, December 18; and Saturday, December 19. All performances are at 8pm. Two new batches of hand-crafted, vegan, organically-sourced hipsters will take the stage for what is quickly becoming an annual Los Angeles holiday tradition. In POP's production of La boheme: AKA "The Hipsters," an 1830's Parisian garret becomes a present day Los Angeles loft apartment during a particularly cold SoCal winter. LA's housing crisis comes to life on stage as an artist, poet, philosopher, musician, and seamstress become a graphic designer, screenplay writer, English major, indie-rocker, and fashion designer dealing with the timeless issues of life, love, jealousy, and overdue bills. This production is the inspiration behind POP's signature logo, "Hipster Puccini."

Pacific Opera Project is dedicated to providing quality opera that is innovative, affordable, and entertaining in order to build a broader audience for the art form. For more information, please visit pacificoperaproject.com, email info@pacificoperaproject.com or call 323-739-6122.

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