The Secret River at Mead Botanical Gardens

Opera Orlando brings back its first commissioned new work, The Secret River - an opera for all audiences. Based on the young adult book by Pulitzer Prize winning author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, The Secret River is a one-act chamber opera set in Central Florida during the Great Depression. With a libretto by Pulitzer Prize and Grammy award-winner Mark Campbell and music by University of Central Florida Pegasus professor Stella Sung, The Secret River follows the journey of Calpurnia, a young, intelligent girl with a robust imagination as she searches for a secret river to help her family and small town. This story for all ages demonstrates the power of trusting one’s imagination and the goodness within us all.  
This imaginative, heartfelt, and inspiring production features musicians from the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and members of the Opera Orlando Youth Company under the baton of Everett McCorvey, founder and music director of the American Spiritual Ensemble, with stage direction by Dennis Whitehead Darling and puppetry created and performed by Michelee Puppets.