FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 10, 2021
CONTACT: Suzanne Rorick, Executive Director, srorick@toledoopera.org
Toledo Opera Announces 2021-22 Season; Tickets Available Now
In-person performances to begin in October; season features two Verdi favorites plus Blue, contemporary opera on race and policing named Best New Opera of 2020
Toledo Opera today announced plans to return to the Valentine Theatre for an in-person 2021-2022 performance season. Beginning in October, the season will feature three main-stage productions — its first in more than a year.
“The performing arts have a unique power to bring people together, and that’s something our community needs now more than ever,” said Suzanne Rorick, Toledo Opera’s Executive Director. “We’re deeply grateful to our audiences for bearing with us through the challenges of the past year, and we’re thrilled to welcome them back for a truly historic season.”
The company’s 63rd season brings together iconic Toledo Opera favorites with cutting-edge contemporary works. Opening on October 8 and 10 with Verdi favorite Il Trovatore, the season will also feature Blue, Tazewell Thompson’s 2019 opera focusing on police violence, which was named Best New Opera of 2020 by the Music Critics Association of North America. The season will conclude with La Traviata, another beloved Verdi classic.
Toledo Opera productions will observe all relevant public-health regulations current at the time of performance, and may take additional safety measures as required by the venue, or recommended by public-health authorities.
Rorick underscored that the Opera continues to closely monitor current public health guidance, and will maintain regular communication with ticket holders about any health-related changes to season plans.
“The health and safety of our audiences, performers, and staff have always been our highest priority, so the details of the opera-going experience may look different than in past years,” said Rorick. “Now that COVID-19 vaccinations are readily available in Ohio, and the percentage of the population vaccinated is rising daily, we look forward to safely providing our audiences with the kind of world-class live performances they’ve come to expect from Toledo Opera.”
Three-show subscriptions and single tickets are available now at toledoopera.org.
View or download the season brochure
2021-22 Season Schedule
Il Trovatore
October 8 & 10, 2021
Valentine Theatre
Not seen by Toledo Opera audiences since 2008, Il Trovatore makes its triumphant return to the Valentine stage this fall. Set in Spain, Verdi's lush music tells the story of sorcery, familial revenge, bitter rivalry, and forbidden love. Count di Luna is obsessed with Leonora, a young noblewoman in the queen’s service, who does not return his love. She loves the troubadour Manrico, leader of the partisan rebel forces. In di Luna's past, a bohemian woman seeks revenge for the murder of her mother. All of the confluent story lines culminate in tragedy, conducted by Maestro Adam Turner and staged by director Jeffrey Buchman.
Starring Metropolitan Opera Soprano Jennifer Rowley as Leonora and Carl Tanner as Manrico. Performed in Italian with English supertitles.
To learn more about our Il Trovatore cast and production team and buy tickets now, visit: https://www.toledoopera.org/events/main/il-trovatore/
Blue
February 11-13, 2022
Valentine Theatre
Named Best New Opera of 2020 by the Music Critics Association of North America
An African American couple in Harlem anticipates the birth of their firstborn, a son, with both hope and fear. As the baby grows into a young man, the mother worries for his future, and the father tries to prepare his son for the realities of 21st century America, while wrestling with his own identity as a police officer, a “Black man in blue.” When their deepest fears come true, the family is forced to navigate a devastating reality seeking answers and support from their church and community. Toledo Opera presents the Tony Award®–winning composer Jeanine Tesori and NAACP Theatre Award–winning librettist Tazewell Thompson’s new opera inspired by contemporary events and Black literature. Influenced by gospel music and using vivid flashbacks, Blue places timely issues at the forefront of modern opera and invites audiences to the emotional epicenter of their impact. Blue stars Allen Michael Jones as The Father and Krysty Swann as The Mother. Chelsea Tipton, II conducts and librettist Tazewell Thompson directs.
To learn more about our Blue cast and production team and buy tickets now, visit: https://www.toledoopera.org/events/main/blue/
La Traviata
April 22 & 24, 2022
Valentine Theatre
Featuring some of Verdi’s most beloved arias and memorable characters, La Traviata tells the tragic love story of a Parisian courtesan who struggles to free herself from her social constraints and follow her heart. At a party in her Paris salon, Violetta meets Alfredo and quickly falls for him. After the lovers run away together, they live in bliss for a very short time. However, Alfredo's father, Giorgio, starts to interfere, concerned that Violetta's bad reputation will affect the marriage prospects of Alfredo's sister. Violetta’s health and declining circumstances make for a typically tragic operatic ending.
La Traviata will star internationally renowned soprano, Kathryn Lewek as Violetta, and tenor Zach Borichevsky as Alfredo. Together, this real-life couple will bring a smoldering romantic energy to one of Verdi’s most iconic scores, stage directed by Toledo favorite Marc Verzatt.
To learn more about our La Traviata cast and production team and buy tickets now, visit:
https://www.toledoopera.org/events/main/la-traviata/
ABOUT TOLEDO OPERA
The mission of Toledo Opera is to enhance the cultural fabric of the region by creating opera experiences that celebrate, both in the theater and beyond its walls, what is unique to opera: dramatic, passionate stories expressed through glorious music and the powerful voices of classically trained singers.
Having opened its first season in 1959 with Verdi’s Aida in the 3,500 seat Paramount Theater in downtown Toledo, Toledo Opera continues to produce quality opera each season. Subsequently, the Opera performed in the Toledo Museum of Art’s Peristyle Theater and the Stranahan Theater. In October 1999, the Opera opened its fortieth anniversary season with performances in the newly renovated 900-seat Valentine Theatre. That venue has now become its home, with the company’s main stage productions, three each year, taking place there. For the past five years, one of the productions has been an American 20th-21st century opera. In April 2018, for the first time in its history, Toledo Opera premiered an opera, Douglas Tappin's I Dream. The Toledo Symphony Orchestra plays at the Opera's performances, with the Toledo Opera Chorus and Children’s Chorus performing as needed. In 1987, the company began offering educational programs for children and youth which now include An Opera Is a Story for preschoolers, Opera on Wheels for elementary students, and Student Night at the Opera for middle and high school students. In 2018, the Opera put on two, two-week summer Opera Camps, one in collaboration with the Toledo School for the Arts and one at the Marathon Center for the Performing Arts in Findlay.
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.