Opera Omaha Announces ONE Festival 2019

Opera Omaha's ONE Festival returns March 30 - April 14, 2019 with new explorations and exciting work that exemplify innovation and the power of opera. Led by Omaha native and Opera Omaha General Director Roger Weitz (Chicago Opera Theater, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts) and Festival Artistic Director James Darrah, ONE amplifies the Omaha creative spirit by curating a cadre of interdisciplinary, world-class artists to rethink how contemporary opera is made. Each of the festival's handpicked creatives is an Artist-in-Residence, partnering across mediums to push beyond operatic norms. Together they bring to life two staged operas, a performance series exploring the operatic form, and various films, lectures, and intimate pop-up classical concert experiences.

Artist-driven and consciously curated, ONE Festival 2019 deconstructs the multi-disciplinary structure of opera through thought-provoking productions, exhibitions, installations, concerts and social gatherings that bring local and visiting artists together as one collaborative community. With an emphasis on experimentation and new work, ONE fosters an environment that encourages and celebrates bold risks and transformative storytelling. Often presented in intimate and unexpected venues, the festival places artists and audience in direct communication, further activating a culturally vibrant city.

This spring, ONE Festival Artistic Director James Darrah directs a new site-specific production of Philip Glass' Les Enfants Terribles with choreography by Gustavo Ramírez Sansano, and acclaimed theatre director Lileana Blain-Cruz directs a new production of Gounod's Faust. In partnership with Film Streams, Ross Karre curates CINEsound, a series of Cinémathèque-inspired screenings exploring sound in film and featuring new scores to silent films performed live by members of International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). Other tentative events include the premiere of Ellen Reid's interactive musical playground installation, Playground, with her new composition titled Run, and Christopher Emile's multi-site dance and video work FOR RESEARCH ONLY.
ONE 2019 promises to once again afford its audiences "a chance to peer into the operatic laboratory" (The Toronto Star) and engage some of the more inventive experiments in modern opera.