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They are two of the most-requested operas by Opera North patrons, said Evans Haile, general director of the company. Both operas will be performed at Lebanon Opera House. The theme for next year’s programming, Haile said, is fantasy and storytelling.
In recent years, Opera North has staged a third opera at Lebanon Opera House, in addition to its programs of lighter music and song at historic sites throughout the Upper Valley. In 2018, however, Opera North is going in a different direction, Haile said. (The company has also chosen not to perform this holiday season Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors.)
Because the company is working with the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in Cornish to turn Blow-Me-Down Farm, a 43-acre site along the Connecticut River into an arts park with both regional and national reach, Opera North is going to present four dates in July 2018 at Blow-Me-Down Farm. The program, called “Singers and Swingers,” will feature both Opera North’s artists-in-residence and circus performers. There will be two matinees and two evening performances.
Opera North will continue to present evenings of music during Summerfest on its annual Lake Sunapee cruise and at such sites as the Fells in Newbury, N.H. Some locations remain to be named.
“We wanted to do something that was family-friendly that helps to broaden our audience, and attract as many people to see this wonderful space,” Haile said. It is also a chance, he added, for Opera North to “expand and collaborate with other people and organizations.”
Tickets and dates are now available online through operanorth.org. Subscribers can take advantage of a 15 percent discount through Jan. 2.
Nicola Smith can be reached at mail@nicolasmith.org.