Omer Ben Seadia, who directed Opera Santa Barbara’s (OSB) production of L’italiana in Algeri in 2015, returns to the Granada Theater as stage director for OSB’s 25th Anniversary Season opener, La bohème, Nov. 9 and 11.
Performances will be at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 9, and 2:30 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 11.
Ranging in price from $29-$204, tickets can be purchased online at granadasb.org or by calling 805-899-2222.
After more than a decade with the Israeli Opera, Seadia moved to the United States in 2012 and has established herself as one of opera’s fresh new voices.
She is a graduate of the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music’s opera directing program and was the Merola Opera’s 2014 Apprentice Stage Director.
Recent productions include Idomeneo for Wolf Trap Opera; Steal a Pencil for Me, Opera Colorado; and Faust, Tulsa Opera. Upcoming are Ariadne auf Naxos, Cincinnati Opera; Elektra, Canadian Opera Company; and Josephine/After Life, Opera Colorado.
“When fulfilling my mandatory military service in Israel, I was stationed right across from the opera in Tel-Aviv. I would sneak out to watch whenever possible,” Seadia said.
In her view, La bohème reflects the lives of real people who were living the “bohemian” lifestyle at the time of Puccini’s writing. Speaking of the central characters, Mimi and Rodolfo and Musetta and Marcello, Seadia said:
“As the story unfolds and the circumstances of their bohemian lifestyles weigh down on them, we see each of the relationships tested, bringing them to a more mature understanding of love and friendship.”
In the end, their idealism comes at a heavy cost. “Yet,” she writes, “when they think back (as we all do) on their blundering blistering adventures, the loves they’ve had and lost — they’ll know that when it was good, there was nothing like it.”
Opera Santa Barbara’s La bohème features tenor Nathan Granner as Rodolfo and soprano Eleni Calenos as Mimi, the star-crossed lovers. OSB baritone Luis Alejandro Orozco sings the role of Marcello, and Elle Valera, last season’s Chrisman Studio Artist, returns as Musetta.
Kostis Protopapas, Opera Santa Barbara artistic and general director, will conduct the orchestra. Seadia will direct the opera.
Opera Santa Barbara’s 25th Anniversary season includes an Anniversary Gala Concert and Party, Jan. 26, at the Lobero Theater; OSB premiere productions of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin (sung in Russian) March 1 and 3, and Robert Ward’s Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, The Crucible, April 26 and 28.
For more, visit operasb.org.
— Marylove Thralls for Opera Santa Barbara.