Florida Grand Opera to Live Stream NO EXIT, 3/1

Florida Grand Opera's second installment of "Unexpected Operas in Unexpected Places," No Exit, a contemporary and edgy one act opera by Andy Vores, will be offered via live streaming on Saturday, March 1 at 10pm. The live streaming technology is made available by Xero Media Group and can be viewed at no charge by clicking the "No Exit live streaming banner" at www.FGO.org.

"It will be very exciting! Not only are we bringing this opera to a lounge setting on Miami Beach," remarked Susan T. Danis, FGO's General Director and CEO, "but we are also adding a high tech element that will allow anyone in the world to view this unique opera live. I can't wait!"

With the support of a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation as part of its Knights Arts Challenge, Florida Grand Opera (FGO) is proud to be part of the three-year "Unexpected Operas in Unexpected Places" program. The program is designed to bring lesser-known works to unique venues throughout South Florida in an effort to expose new audiences to opera.

"Sometimes it's about taking opera out of the opera house to revitalize the art form for new audiences, bringing audiences something they consider traditional in a completely unexpected way," said Susan Danis.

With "Unexpected Operas in Unexpected Places," FGO has created an opportunity to tap into Miami's ever-growing community of young art lovers while also breaking down common stereotypes about the art form being boring, stuffy, or drawn-out. Proving that this production is anything but, FGO uses the local bar scene with a lounge setting as its stage and puts audience members in the middle of the action.

"No Exit is both rich and empty at the same time - and that gave me the chance to make some tight and grizzly musical statements along with sections of dark, acid humor, and others of loss and sadness; a very varied journey in a short span of time," remarked Vores about his adaptation of Existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre's celebrated play of the same name. No Exit is about three damned souls that are condemned to spend all of eternity together in a room with no exits, which they eventually discover is hell.

As this chamber opera begins, three damned souls, Garcin, Inez, and Estelle, are brought to the same room and locked inside by a mysterious valet. They had all expected torture devices to punish them for eternity, but instead find a plain room where they have been placed together to make each other miserable. They quickly realize that "hell is other people."

The cast will be made up of members of Florida Grand Opera's Young Artist Program, with mezzo-soprano Caitlin McKechney reprising her celebrated performance as Inez from the Chicago Opera Vanguard production of 2009. McKechney recently appeared as Tisbe in La Cenerentola and the Third Lady in The Magic Flute with Nashville Opera as well as Maddalena in Rigoletto with Opera Memphis.

The cast also includes soprano Riley Svatos, tenor Casey Finnigan, and baritone Carlton Ford. Svatos most recently appeared to acclaim as Helen Niles in FGO's Mourning Becomes Electra. Finnigan made his FGO main stage debut on January 25 as Abdallo in Verdi's Nabucco. Ford makes his FGO main stage debut as the Servant in Thaïs, and this coming summer appears at Glimmerglass as Harlekin in Ariadne auf Naxos.

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