THE JUNIPER TREE Comes to Opera Orlando This Month

Opera Orlando is back On the Town to close its All for Art season, making a “wish for art” May 10 and 11 with an operatic retelling of the Grimm Fairy Tale The Juniper Tree. This contemporary chamber opera by composers Philip Glass and Robert Moran with a libretto by Arthur Yorinks, is a grisly tale about a jealous and scheming stepmother who decapitates her stepson and serves him up in a stew to his unsuspecting father, only to then be killed herself by the stepson who is reincarnated as a beautiful bird, is a beautifully haunting and hypnotic opera with some of Glass’ most tuneful melodies. 

“The Juniper Tree is not your typical opera,” shares artistic director Grant Preisser. “The story, though macabre, unfolds in such a beautiful way, driven forward by Philip Glass and Robert Moran’s minimalist soundscape. It is extremely theatrical, and we are excited to transform the Alexis and Jim Pugh Theater into an immersive storybook world for our audiences.”

The Florida premiere of The Juniper Tree promises to be a mesmerizing feast for the senses led by local stage director John DiDonna and featuring members from his Victorian spook troupe Phantasmagoria. With international conductor and pianist Geoffrey Loff on the podium conducting members of Alterity Chamber Orchestra, Mr. DiDonna has conceived a captivating production with dance, spectacle, larger-than-life puppets created by Orlando Family Stage, and of course, gorgeous singing by Opera Orlando Studio Artists and Youth Company. 

Mr. Didonna is no stranger to Opera Orlando, who with Phantasmagoria has appeared in the Company’s productions of The Girl of the Golden West and Pagliacci/Pulcinella. An actor, writer, and director, Mr. DiDonna is the program chair and artistic director of theater at Valencia College and founder of Phantasmagoria. He is a graduate of Syracuse University and the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, and he has contributed a lot to the Central Florida arts scene in a variety of capacities, including producing and writing Stripped, 33rd, Nothing Happened, Bathory: The Blood Countess, and a tribute to Samuel Beckett.

Making his Company debut, international conductor Geoffrey Loff is currently a full-time music staff member at the renowned Staatsoper Berlin, a 2023 U.S. Solti Conducting Grant recipient, and holds two degrees from the University of Miami. Previously, he was an assistant conductor at Houston Grand Opera, Music Director of HGOco, and a conducting fellow at the prestigious Aspen Conducting Academy.

A fitting end to the Opera’s 2023-24 season, all four of the Studio Artists are featured in The Juniper Tree. Mezzo-soprano Linda Maritz Collazo takes on the dubious role of the Stepmother, with soprano Laura Corina Sanders singing the role of her Daughter, baritone José Cuartas singing the role of Father, and tenor David Soto Zambrana singing the multiple roles of the vendor. Rounding out the cast, Opera Orlando welcomes back soprano Lauren Williams in the role of Mother, and the Son is sung by Youth Company member Lang Cao making his professional role debut with the Company.

Opera Orlando is also excited to partner once again with puppet designer Nic Parks, whose work was last seen in the 2022 production of The Magic Flute and the 2021 world premiere of the Opera’s first commissioned work The Secret River. These previous productions were produced with MicheLee Puppets led by beloved arts leader Tracey Conner. The Company was devastated by her passing, but very happy that her legacy and love for puppetry lives on through Orlando Family Stage. There truly is no one who better lived the mantra “All for Art” in the Orlando community, and Opera Orlando lovingly dedicates this production of The Juniper Tree to her.

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