OPERA San Antonio Announces 2020-2021 Season
San Antonio, TX, July 7, 2020 - Today OPERA San Antonio announces its 2020-21 season. OSA has been carefully monitoring the pandemic and the impact it continues to have on the operatic arts across the globe. The company will return to live performances at the Tobin Center on May 6 and 8, 2021, with Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. The production features Metropolitan Opera star Brenda Rae in the title role, Scott Hendricks as Enrico, and Scott Quinn as Edgardo. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic OSA is reimagining the fall and winter of 2020-21. The season was to have opened with the company’s first ever production of a Mozart opera, his masterpiece Don Giovanni. The continuation of OSA’s winter concert series would have been an intimate production of Astor Piazzolla’s delightful and dark tango opera María de Buenos Aires at the Pearl Stable. For the safety of patrons, artists, and staff these productions have been postponed to a future season. Despite these postponements, OSA is committed to producing a full schedule of offerings including digital content and an outdoor, socially-distanced concert pending the status of public gatherings.
“As difficult as it is to reimagine the 2020-21 season, we are embracing the opportunity for change,” says General & Artistic Director E. Loren Meeker. “We will push our artistic and collaborative boundaries through digital interaction designed to connect us not only to our patrons and donors, but to the entire community of San Antonio. I believe in the power and relevancy of opera to bring us together and look forward to an exciting return to the Tobin Center in the spring with the extraordinary cast of Lucia.”
Lucia di Lammermoor is the story of a young and innocent woman crushed between two selfish and willful men - a brother who wants her as a pawn to fulfill his dreams of restoring his family’s power and a lover who cannot see past his own pride. Between them they drive her to madness and a frightening conclusion. The opera contains one of the most famous scenes in opera - Lucia’s mad scene. Tickets for Lucia di Lammermoor will go on sale this fall through the Tobin Center.
During the pandemic OSA has actively produced new digital content which will continue into the 2020-21 season. “Beyond the Production” is a series where E. Loren Meeker and Francesco Milioto interview guest artists live on the OSA Facebook Page and YouTube Channel on Fridays at 12 p.m. CDT. OSA will also continue “Cocktails and Conversation,” a Zoom gathering timed to coincide with a streamed broadcast from a major opera house. OSA patrons are guided through a conversation about the opera with the help of a special guest artist who lends their experience and insight.
OSA will continue to produce new digital content over the summer. “Explore Opera for Kids!” is a five-part series of fun, interactive, and educational videos released throughout July and August in collaboration with the San Antonio Public Library. Sponsored by the Opera Guild of San Antonio, these videos feature the four talented, local members of OSA’s newly created Apprentice Artist Program.
On August 1, 2020 at 1 p.m. CDT, in partnership with Fort Worth Opera, OSA audiences can take part in a virtual masterclass. E. Loren Meeker and soprano Jennifer Rowley will hold an online, public masterclass with the young artists of Fort Worth Opera. Interested patrons can register for a Zoom link that will allow them to participate in the class.
On August 25, 2020 at 7:00 p.m. CDT Texas Public Radio (KPAC) will broadcast OSA’s live recording of Puccini’s masterpiece Tosca on their “Tuesday Night at the Opera” program. The performance features Jennifer Rowley, Michael Chioldi, and Rafael Davila with Francesco Milioto conducting the San Antonio Symphony.
In the fall OSA will partner with major Texas organizations to present new, digital productions pre-released to OSA donors and patrons before they are made available to the general public. Digital productions will be paired with programming that includes virtual guest artist appearances and a lecture series.
OSA’s social media accounts will provide updates on these digital projects in the coming months. Additional details on the 2020-21 season are available on the OPERA San Antonio website: www.operasa.org
About OPERA San Antonio
OPERA San Antonio’s mission is to produce opera of uncompromising artistic quality and to enrich our community through educational outreach and social engagement. The company is committed to preserving and sharing opera as an art form that is relevant, inspirational, and accessible to residents and visitors of all ages and backgrounds. The civic premise of OPERA San Antonio is that the community needs, and the citizens deserve, access to the major performing arts.