Opera Parallèle announces the 2024-25 season

Opera Parallèle has announced its 2024-25 season, presenting a bold and innovative repertoire that pushes the boundaries of contemporary opera. In celebration of its 15th anniversary, the company is set to captivate audiences with a trio of groundbreaking productions.

The season will be marked by the world premiere of The Pigeon Keeper, an opera co-commissioned by Opera Parallèle from composer David Hanlon and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann; the West Coast debut of a completely reimagined production of Harvey Milk, celebrating the legendary activist on what would have been his 95th birthday; and building on the company’s highly successful transformation of the opera Everest into a graphic novel film, the work will be presented in another completely unique format, Everest: Opera in the Planetarium, providing a visual and unprecedented immersive sound.

Everest: Opera at the Planetarium

November 6-17, 2024

Morrison Planetarium, California Academy of Sciences

Everest, the internationally acclaimed opera composed by Joby Talbot with a libretto by Gene Scheer, will be presented in a bold new iteration, Everest: Opera in the Planetarium. Based on the true story of an ill-fated 1996 expedition to the summit of Mount Everest, this evocative production delivers a breathtaking experience using complex graphic novel imagery and a booming world of sound. In a new partnership with the Academy, audiences will reach new heights in the immersive 360-degree environment of the Morrison Planetarium, one of the largest and most advanced fully digital domes in the world. Opera Parallèle will guide audiences on a lyrical adventure fusing vivid imagery with the visceral power of a pre-recorded cast of renowned singers and captivating orchestration, in a multi-dimensional dome environment for a truly unique experience.

Everest: Opera in the Planetarium will be presented November 6-17, 2024 at the California Academy of Sciences’ Morrison Planetarium in Golden Gate Park, with several dates and screening times to be announced. Tickets will go on sale from August 1.

World premiere of

The pigeon keeper

March 7-9, 2025

Cowell Theater, Fort Mason Arts and Culture Center

Opera Parallèle will present the world premiere of The Pigeon Keeper, composed by David Hanlon with a libretto by Stephanie Fleischmann. This new work promises to captivate with its captivating story and breathtaking musical composition. Organized into ten scenes, the poignant story takes place in a seaside village, where young Orsia discovers a mute refugee boy. Determined to find him a home, she meets the Pigeon Keeper, a stranger. By opening his heart to the refugee boy, the Dovecote releases the child’s voice and a family’s grief is healed. This magical new work explores themes of otherness, belonging, connection and home.

While full details regarding the cast and creative team will be announced in September, this new opera will include the participation of Opera Parallèle’s frequent partner, the multi-award winning San Francisco Girls Chorus, led by Artistic Director Valérie Sainte- Agatha. Three performances are scheduled for March 7-9, 2025 at the Cowell Theater at the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. Tickets will go on sale in mid-September.

The Pigeon Keeper is a co-commission of the Opera for All Voices Initiative of Santa Fe Opera, Opera Parallèle, Opera Omaha and Opera on the Avalon. Opera Parallèle’s production will also be co-produced with Opera Omaha and Opera on the Avalon.

Reimagined’s West Coast debut

Harvey Milk

May 31-June 7, 2025

Blue Shield of California Theater, Yerba Buena Arts Center

In a fitting tribute to gay rights icon and activist Harvey Milk, Opera Parallèle will produce a brand new, highly anticipated production of Harvey Milk by composer Stewart Wallace and librettist Michael Korie. Recently revised to two acts instead of three, with new music and a tighter cast from its sprawling original premiere at the Houston Grand Opera in 1995 and its San Francisco Opera debut in 1996, this reimagined version of Harvey Milk was at originally intended for an earlier season of Opera Parallèle, but was delayed by the pandemic and subsequently presented in St. Louis in 2022.

Interviewed by the New York Times about the new version, composer Stewart Wallace said: “…if we wanted to do it, we would have to go to Opera Parallèle. We now have what we initially hoped for, which is to say a sort of mythical interpretation of his life and his evolution into an activist. » For Nicole Paiement, general and artistic director of Opéra Parallèle, “The basis of our collaboration with Stewart and Michael was to take a new look at Harvey Milk, to rework him in a new, tighter version with a much more dramatic arch. This new perspective on opera is sure to resonate deeply with audiences, honoring Milk’s courageous work in a new and powerful way.

The formidable and tragic opera celebrates Harvey Milk’s lasting legacy and contributions to the nascent LGBTQ+ movement, his beginnings in New York and his move to San Francisco, later becoming the first openly gay man in 1978 to be elected to a public service in California. Milk served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for 11 months before he was assassinated, along with then-Mayor George Moscone, at San Francisco City Hall.

Opera Parallèle will present Harvey Milk from May 31 to June 7, 2025 at the Blue Shield of California Theater, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, coinciding with what would have been Milk’s 95th birthday and marking the start of Pride Month, June 2025. Casting and creative team details as well as ticket on-sale dates will be announced by mid-September.

Opera Parallèle is a professional opera company based in San Francisco that develops and performs contemporary operas. Since its inception by award-winning conductor and general and artistic director Nicole Paiement and creative/scenic director Brian Staufenbiel, Opera Parallèle has been dedicated to expanding the operatic repertoire and engaging diverse audiences through innovative and compelling productions .

Highlights of past mainstage productions include the Philip Glass/Jean Cocteau trilogy of Orphée, Les Enfants Terribles and Beauty and the Beast; the champion of Terrence Blanchard; The Walking Dead Man by Jake Heggie; Ainadamar, Fountain of Tears by Osvaldo Golijov; Heart of Darkness by Tarik O’Regan; the recent double bill of Vinkensport by David T. Little, or even The Finch Opera and Balls by Laura Karpman; and the West Coast premiere of Fellow Travelers by Gregory Spears and Greg Pierce. In 2023, San Francisco Classical Voice readers voted Opera Parallèle “Best New Music Ensemble.”

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