Really Spicy Opera Returns To Twin Cities Performances With Showcase Of New Operas By Minnesota Writers 

Minneapolis-based Really Spicy Opera returns to live, in-person performances this Sunday with a free concert of new opera excerpts by Minnesota writers at the Lake Harriet Bandshell. This 5:30-7 p.m. performance, offered through Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board's Music & Movies Event Series, will present music from 10 operas created through RSO's Aria Institute for Composers and Librettists. The first half of the program includes six arias, two duets, a quartet, and a quintet. The second half consists of the world premiere performance of Meow and Forever: a romance in two cats [sic]. This opera co-written by Jodi Goble and Basil Considine explores the adventures of women dating women after college, with musical highlights including a trio with singing cats.

The Aria Institute for Composers and Librettists is one of three long-term, intensive opera writing training programs in the United States. Founded in 2020 by Tess Altiveros, Anne Wieben, and Basil Considine, the Aria Institute uses a unique model informed by 18th- and 19th-century examples that centers performers in the creative process. The program has trained more than 120 alums from 6 countries since its pandemic launch. Alums who trained in the Aria Institute have gone on to receive major fellowships, awards and commissions, including from entities such as the Kennedy Center and Sydney Opera. The Aria Institute was a key element in Really Spicy Opera's State Department-backed tours of France and Madagascar in 2022, and its model for centering women's voices was incorporated into teacher training in Madagascar. The Aria Institute will travel to Germany in 2024 through the DAAD exchange program.

Sunday's program will include operatic takes on running off to join the circus, airline travel, gardening disasters, the meaning of art, in-law strife, natural disasters, family drama and (of course) romance in all of its flavors. Notably, 20% of the featured writers identify as trans, 33% identify as racial-minorities, 67% identify as LGBTQ+, and 75% identify as women - a reflection of the Aria Institute's success in reaching groups that have been historically underrepresented in writing American opera.

An example of the featured music is the aria, "Gardens of Blight", written by St. Paul-based playwright Tiffa Foster and composer Jamey Guzman. After being forced out as a high-powered CEO, Rose decides to take over the local gardening club - only to discover first-hand that gardening is harder than it looks. The larger opera, Green Thumbed, is inspired by Foster's experience training as a master gardener and observing the social dynamics of gardening clubs as mingling places that cross social strata. Music from the opera, which has been developed through the Aria Institute, has been presented to great acclaim in France, Germany and Madagascar. Soprano Elena Stabile will bring the role to life on Sunday.

"We founded the Aria Institute with the goal of changing not just how opera sounds, but also what you see onstage," said RSO artistic director Basil Considine. "When you change who writes opera, you immediately start to see new stories, new takes and new types of characters."

"It's a joy to see each new piece come in," said RSO managing director Anne Wieben. "The excitement of seeing each draft come in, then evolve and finally burst onto stage is terrific!"

Sunday's performance will feature an ensemble of eight opera singers and six instrumentalists. Really Spicy Opera's work is made possible by grants from the City of Minneapolis, Minnesota State Arts Board, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Network of Ensemble Theaters.

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