Opera Roanoke Announces 2021-22 Season Lineup

Opera Roanoke has announced the lineup for its upcoming 2021-22 season, featuring three productions. The season opens with a production of Bartok's "Bluebeard's Castle", running in November.

Learn more about the full season and how to purchase tickets at https://operaroanoke.org/season-46.

Check out the full lineup below!

Béla Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle

Performance Dates:
Friday, November 5, 2021 | 7:30pm
Sunday, November 7, 2021 | 2:30pm

Length: 70 minutes

Ever wonder what lurks in the deep recesses of someone's mind? Maybe it's more than you want to know. Bluebeard's new bride, Judith, is about to get more than she bargained for when she moves into her new husband's looming dark castle.

In this psychological opera-thriller, Judith's new home becomes a house of horrors when she unlocks each of Bluebeard's seven doors, which he had hoped to keep locked forever. How far is she willing to go to unlock something that should be kept secret?

Don't miss this dynamic production of Bartók's spinetingling operatic masterpiece-a powerful and cinematic score that brims with beauty, color and suspense.

This performance is the American premiere of the chamber orchestra version by Eberhard Kloke.

Lawrence Brownlee: Cycles of My Being

Performance Date:
Sunday, April 24, 2022 | 2:30pm

Length: 60 minutes

From coast to coast and across the pond, tenor Lawrence Brownlee has become one of the most in-demand operatic stars of our generation. He's garnered such acclaim as to be named a "tour de force" (Washington Classical Review) and "in a word, breathtaking" (Broadway World).

His passion project, a collection of songs entitled Cycles of My Being was first premiered in 2018 at Opera Philadelphia and has since been heard at Carnegie Hall, Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Kennedy Center, among others.

Piano-Percussionist Composer Tyshawn Sorey and Poet Terrance Hayes, both MacArthur 'Genius' Grant Winners, collaborated with Brownlee to create a song cycle that reflects on what it means to be a black man living in America today. You will not want to miss the power and beauty of this moment, one that reflects on where we have been as a nation and shines a light on our future.

Giuseppe Verdi: Messa da Requiem

Performance Dates:
Friday, May 13, 2022 | 7:30pm
Sunday, May 15, 2022 | 2:30pm

Length: 90 minutes

Considered one of the composer's most dramatic vocal works, Verdi's Requiem is a monumental feat of musical and humane spiritual expression. As the capstone to Opera Roanoke's 46th season, this towering work showcases four soloists, a double chorus and a large orchestra, all performing on the highest plains of musical and expressive profundity. As a sonic experience alone, this great masterpiece never fails to leave an indelible impression.

A requiem is most often a musical setting of a Catholic funeral mass. While not particularly religious himself, Verdi composed this piece in memory of his friend, Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian poet, novelist, and cultural icon of his time. Though not technically an opera, NPR has called Verdi's great work an "Opera in disguise" because of its powerfully dramatic writing, both vocally and symphonically, which is a quintessential characteristic of Verdi's operas.

Our performances of Verdi's Requiem serve as an invitation to our community to reflect on what we have all gone through, what we may still be dealing with, and that we are still here together.