10 LGBTQ+ OPERAS YOU SHOULD KNOW 🌈
#HappyPride from @360ofopera & our Guest contributor @thelibrettist (Fabrizio Funari) 💫
Fabrizio put together a fantastic list of 𝟭𝟬 𝗟𝗚𝗕𝗧𝗤+ 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘀 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 🏳️🌈 🎶
In no particular order, they are:
1. Stonewall
Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall uprising and the 75th year of New York City Opera (NYCO), general director Michael Capasso debuted the world premiere of the LGBTQI+ focused new opera by Iain Bell and Mark Campbell, “Stonewall” on June 21, 2019.
Currently the only opera company that houses a series supporting Pride Month, NYCO establishes a unique opportunity for audiences abound to explore lesser-known stories on a grand scale.
Based in NYC, the librettist Mark Campbell tells the story of an array of individuals that seek more from life while on their journey of self-discovery. And it may be hard to imagine NYC in 1969, unless one experienced it themselves. Therefore, here are a few facts, shared by director Leonard Foglia in the NYCO program, that shed light on this time:
https://operawire.com/new-york-city-opera-2018-19-review-stonewall/
Photo: Sarah Shatz
2. As One
A compelling and thought-provoking story about Hannah, a transgender woman, as she endeavors to resolve the discord between herself and the outside world. As One is a celebration of the human character revealed through drama, music, and film.
https://www.operacolumbus.org/as-one/
Photo: Matthew Staver
3. Fellow Travelers
At the height of the McCarthy era in 1950s Washington, D.C., recent college grad Timothy Laughlin is eager to join the crusade against communism. A chance encounter with a handsome State Department official, Hawkins Fuller, leads to Tim’s first job—and his first love affair with a man. Drawn into a maelstrom of deceit, Tim struggles to reconcile his political convictions and his forbidden love for Fuller—an entanglement that will end in a stunning act of betrayal.
https://www.cincinnatiopera.org/fellow-travelers
Photo: Dan Norman
4. Champion
Champion tells the story of Emile Griffith, a closeted bisexual boxer who knocked out Benny “Kid” Paret in 1962 after his opponent mocked him as a “maricón” during a pre-fight press conference. This fateful third Welterweight title-match between the two rivals proved fatal for Paret, who died from the beating ten daysafter the fight. It was also traumatic for Griffith, who would be tormented throughout his life with guilt over killing a fellow athlete.
Blanchard’s opera introduces Griffith as an elderly man, confused with dementia from years of pugilistic abuse, reliving his inner and outer struggles in a series of flashbacks.
https://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2016/3/Reviews/SAN_FRANCISCO__Champion.html
Photo: https://www.ft.com/content/b73e62b0-de48-11e2-9b47-00144feab7de
5. 27
27 (or Twenty-Seven) is an opera by composer Ricky Ian Gordon and librettist Royce Vavrek in a prologue and five acts, that explores the relationship of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, and the salons that they hosted at their residence at 27 rue de Fleurus in Paris.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27_(opera)
Photo: Ken Howard/Opera Theatre of Saint Louis
6. Before Night Falls
Based on the book of the same name, Before Night Falls is the story of Rey (Reinaldo Arenas), a Cuban writer who faces a terrifying situation in his homeland: neither is he free to be and to express himself artistically, nor is he free to leave. He is persecuted and silenced, but he resolves to escape.
Through deceit and luck, he successfully flees the island. Once outside that “island prison” he realizes the irony that although he is now “free” he forever carries within him the sense of persecution, and in addition, hesuddenly faces his own premature death. Rey hastens to write his memoir (which is the substance of this opera) before he dies– “before night falls” – to give witness to his struggle for personal, political, and artistic freedom, a universal and perennial struggle. His character is both irrepressible and joyful; his story at once tragic and uplifting– a perfect combination for opera.
https://www.operaamerica.org/applications/nawd/newworks/details.aspx?id=182
Photo: https://www.cubanheritage.com/before-night-falls-an-opera/
7. Patience and Sarah
Based on the novel of the same name by Isabel Miller, Patience and Sarah has been described as the first lesbian opera and as the first mainstream gay-themed opera. The plot of the opera follows that of the novel fairly closely, with the wealthy and well-educated Patience and the poor farmer’s daughter Sarah falling in love and sharing their dreams of leaving Connecticut to go pioneering.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patience_and_Sarah_(opera)
Photo: Maria Baranova
8. Death in Venice
The writer Gustav von Aschenbach is depressed and suffering from writer’s block. An encounter with a mysterious Traveller makes him decide to travel south to Venice to refresh his imagination. At his hotel in Venice, Aschenbach is struck by the beauty of Tadzio, a Polish boy who is holidaying with his family.
https://www.roh.org.uk/tickets-and-events/death-in-venice-by-david-mcvicar-details
Photo: ENO/ Hugo Glendinning
9. Angels in America
Prior Walter (Andrew Garland) is a 30-year-old New Yorker recently diagnosed with AIDS. Prior’s neurotic partner Louis Ironson (Aaron Blake) shacks up with the closeted Mormon lawyer Joe Pitt (Michael Weyandt), and Joe, in turn, leaves his Valium-addicted wife Harper (Sarah Beckham-Turner).
The opera is based on both parts of the Angels in America fantasia, however the script was re-worked and condensed to fit both parts into a two and half hour show. Composer Peter Eötvös explains: “In the opera version, I put less emphasis on the political line than Kushner…I rather focus on the passionate relationships, on the highly dramatic suspense of the wonderful text, on the permanently uncertain state of the visions.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_in_America
https://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-
theater/reviews/angels-in-america-the-opera_81450.html
Photo: Sarah Shatz
10. Young Ceasar
The work is a kind of prequel to Handel’s Giulio Cesare, focusing on Gaius Julius Caesar’s sad days—the death of his father, his marriage to Cornelia and his military service in Asia Minor.
Robert Gordon provided a meticulously researched libretto overladen with historical detail; characters intone dry descriptions of ceremonial etiquette or Roman politics in Harrison’s lengthy pentatonic recitatives. Things get juicier in the second half, when Gaius is sent on a mission to the Black Sea kingdom of Bithynia to request naval reinforcements from Nicomedes IV. He and the king strike up an intense love affair until Caesar remembers his Aunt Julia’s admonition that “Only the dead can afford the luxury of limitless time” and returns to Rome to fulfill his heroic destiny.
https://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2018/7/Recordings/HARRISON__Young_Caesar.html
Photo: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-young-caesar-20170613-htmlstory.html
Which ones of these operas are you familiar with? We hope this list inspires you to make some new discoveries! 🏳️🌈
Happy Pride Month!
Xoxo 💋