Palm Beach Opera Presents THE TALES OF HOFFMANN at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts

Palm Beach Opera continues its record-breaking season with Jacques Offenbach's spellbinding “The Tales of Hoffmann” Friday, March 1 through Sunday, March 3 at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. The company opened the season with Puccini's “Tosca,” which is now its top-grossing production of the past 15 seasons.

With a combination of emotional depth and musical brilliance, the opera tells four stories in one. Real-life writer E.T.A. Hoffmann (well-known as the author of “The Nutcracker”) steps into his own fantastical world as he recounts the tales of his passionate romances and villainous rivals. With dynamic characters and evocative melodies, which include Offenbach's famous “Barcarolle,” the opera's supernatural spectacle will captivate new operagoers and devoted fans alike.

Palm Beach Opera Chief Conductor David Stern, founder of Opera Fuoco in France, brings his expertise in French-style to the musical leadership of this production, which NPR dubbed “one of the grandest and most expressive of all 19th-century French operas.”

Widely sought after across North America and beyond for his vivid storytelling and clever productions, David Gately directs in his return to Palm Beach Opera for the first time since “The Marriage of Figaro” in 1995. 

Making his company debut as Hoffmann is Australian-Chinese tenor Kang Wang, of whom Opera Today reported, “His voice was intensely beautiful, and its scope was breathtakingly powerful.” Dominick Chenes, praised by Opera News as singing with “elegance, richness of tone and idiomatic flair,” makes his role debut as Hoffmann on March 2.

Starring in the tour-de-force role of the Four Heroines is world-renowned coloratura soprano Kathryn Lewek. Lewek last appeared with Palm Beach Opera as the Queen of the Night in Mozart's Die Zauberföte in 2021, and holds the record for most performances of that iconic role in the history of the Metropolitan Opera. Originally conceived as a showcase for a single soprano who would portray all of Hoffmann's love interests, the wide-ranging vocal demands of the Four Heroines often necessitates splitting the assignment between multiple singers. Lewek impressively appeared as the Four Heroines in Berlin, and will repeat the achievement at the Salzburg Festival this summer following her Palm Beach performances. On March 2, the role of Hoffmann's elusive loves will be performed by soprano Erika Baikoff, a recent alumna of the Met's Lindemann Young Artist Program who makes her PBO debut.

Zachary Nelson makes his role debut as the Four Villains in his fifth Palm Beach Opera production, last appearing as Escamillo in Carmen. Mark Delavan (noted by The New York Times for his “vocally impressive and dramatically arresting” performances) returns on March 2 to the role he performed in 2014 with Palm Beach Opera.

In a Palm Beach Opera debut, Emily Fons will star as the Muse of Poetry/Nicklausse, a role she has performed at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Julius Ahn, who returns to Palm Beach Opera after a 2011 appearance in “Madama Butterfly,” will mark a role debut as the Valet Tenors. Palm Beach Opera Resident Artists Devin Eatmon, Edward Bland, Ben Brady and Cloe San Antonio also join the cast in comprimario roles.

Tickets

 

“The Tales of Hoffmann” will be sung in French with English supertitles projected above the stage. Performances are Friday, March 1 and Saturday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 3 at 2 p.m. Tickets start at $25 and are available for purchase online at pbopera.org or by calling the box office at 561-833-7888.

Palm Beach Opera offers many ways to enhance its production of “The Tales of Hoffmann.”  A limited number of seats are available for the Opening Night Dinner on March 1 at the Cohen Pavilion at the Kravis Center. Palm Beach Opera's 2024 Season culminates with Vincenzo Bellini's cherished “Norma” on April 5-7 at the Kravis Center. 

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