Opera Orlando To Present THE SECRET RIVER At Mead Botanical Garden

Opera Orlando will present THE SECRET RIVER, its first commissioned opera, March 6 and 7 at 7:30 p.m. outdoors on The Grove Stage at Mead Botanical Garden.

Based on the Newbery Honor-winning novel by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon, the opera features music by University of Central Florida Pegasus Professor Stella Sung and a libretto by Grammy Award and Pulitzer Prize winner Mark Campbell. The work traces the lives of a Central Florida African American family during the Great Depression and was originally premiered by Opera Orlando in December 2021.

“Opera Orlando premiered The Secret River in December 2021, and bringing the production back to Mead Botanical Garden, where we first workshopped it, feels like the perfect way to celebrate Central Florida and the Company's 10th Anniversary,” said Artistic Director Grant Preisser. “This is a homecoming in every sense. We get to share Mother Albirtha's magical forest with audiences under the stars, exactly where this story belongs."

Leading up to the performances, the company has hosted community engagement events, including visits to the Eatonville Library and Legacy Pointe featuring cast members performing arias and reading from the original story. On March 5, Opera Orlando will present a free student matinee performance.

On March 6 at 12 p.m., the company will also present a program at the Orange County Regional History Center featuring University of Florida professor Kenneth Kidd, composer Stella Sung, and members of the cast for a discussion of the novel and its operatic adaptation.

The production will be conducted by Bethune-Cookman University professor Karl Van Richards, with stage direction by Ayọ̀fẹ́mi Jeriah Demps and choreography by Maxine Montilus. Community collaborators include dancers from Inez Patricia School of Dance and puppetry originally created by MicheLee Puppets, now Orlando Family Stage.

The cast includes soprano Sabrina Langlois as Calpurnia, soprano Renée Richardson as Cassandra, bass-baritone Lloyd Reshard as Augustus, mezzo-soprano Kimberly Hernández reprising her role as Mother Albirtha, soprano Amy Cofield as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and members of the Opera Orlando Youth Company.

The production is dedicated to the memories of puppeteer Tracey Conner and stage director Dennis Whitehead-Darling.