The Pittsburgh Opera is world class, and their 2024-2025 season is jam-packed with an exciting lineup of performances. Viewers can get two performances in one with Pagliacci and Cavalleria Rusticana, two intense romantic dramas back to back, billed as “an adulterous double feature” at the Benedum Center on November 9-17. In January and February, Armida will take you to ancient Jerusalem during the Crusades. This is the first time the opera is doing this production that Haydn called “his best work.” Catch Armida on January 25-31 and February 2.
Looking ahead to the spring, look out for a new interpretation of Madama Butterfly with an all-Japanese cast and a fantastical set inspired by the use of virtual reality from March 22-30. They’re then closing out the 2024-2025 season with Woman With Eyes Closed. This is the world premiere of a new opera by Jennifer Hagan inspired by a real-life art heist. Woman With Eyes Closed, with its multiple plot lines, also promises the possibility of a new ending every night. So, during its run on April 26 and 29 and May 2 and 4, go more than once!
Christian Cox, Director of Marketing and Communications, provided TABLE with a few behind the scenes highlights of this season.
Behind the Scenes of the Pittsburgh Opera 2024-2025 Season
What was the decisionmaking behind putting Pagliacci and Cavalleria Rusticana on a double-feature?
Christian Cox: Within the opera world, this is a popular double feature for a number of reasons. Both operas are relatively short, just a little over an hour each, so you can see two different shows in the same time (or less time) that one longer opera may take. They are from the same era, with similar themes and settings, so they complement each other well. Logistically, they use a lot of the same set pieces, so there are some good production efficiencies that enable us to give our audiences two operas for the price of one.
The last time the Opera perfomed these two productions Pittsburgh was 1996. What’s changed since then?
Christian Cox: Technology has changed quite a bit. Patrons weren’t able to receive their tickets via text message and add them to their mobile wallets back in 1996, for example. We didn’t have digital program books patrons could access from their smartphones back then either. Lighting design has advanced significantly in the past three decades. But part of the beauty of opera is its timelessness – the parts of it that don’t change. This is the same music, the same singing, the same plot, that these shows had not just in 1996, but when they premiered in the 1890s. Patrons get the privilege of witnessing the same artistic creations that audiences have been seeing for almost 150 years all around the globe. It contributes to our shared humanity. Fundamentally, opera is storytelling through music and song; that has not changed and will not change.
What are some of the themes that unite all of the productions in the 2024-25 season?
Christian Cox: Opera deals with the full range of the human experience. A lot of our shows this season involve love and betrayal; sacrifice and revenge; deception and devotion.
The production of Madama Butterfly in the spring with its all-Japanese cast and futuristic-inspired setting sounds really unique. What are some of the ways this version of the show has changed and modernized it?
Chris Cox: Madama Butterfly has a poignant story, and some of the most beautiful music and singing you’ll ever hear. That’s why it remains one of the most performed operas in the world more than a century after it was written. However, certain aspects of it have not aged well. In particular, we are sensitive to audience concerns such as cultural appropriation and exoticism. This production is an attempt to address those concerns in a thoughtful, meaningful way while maintaining the integrity of the original story. The main story is still set in early 20th-century Nagasaki, but this production accesses that setting through a different lens.
What are some of the most interesting or notable costume and set design choices from this season?
We always enjoying designing and building our own sets and costumes. This season, we are able to do that both for Armida, in January, and our world premiere of Woman With Eyes Closed, in April/May. And as you alluded to above, the vibrant, hyper-realistic colors in the Madama Butterfly costumes and set provide a tremendous amount of pop.
Are there any particularly striking/unusual musical moments in the productions from this season?
Chris Cox: Every opera we produce has striking music – otherwise we don’t produce it. Audiences will particularly enjoy “Vesti la giubba” from Pagliacci and “Un bel dí vedremo” from Madama Butterfly. Those arias have seeped into the public consciousness, through movies, television, commercials, etc. Even if someone didn’t know what they’re from, they’ll immediately recognize them in the operas.
Story by Emma Riva / Photo courtesy of the Pittsburgh Opera
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