Opera San José Extends Virtual Hit LOVE & SECRETS; Ticket Sales Must Close June 13

Due to popular demand, Opera San José has announced the extension of its critically acclaimed digital offering, Love & Secrets: A Domestic Trilogy, tales of passion and yearning in which three couples contend with the tumult, joy, and heartache of love.

The 82 minute production is offered with subtitles in Spanish and Vietnamese, in addition to English, furthering its accessibility to two of the largest populations in Opera San José's home region. Conducted by Opera San José Music Director Joseph Marcheso and Resident Conductor Christopher James Ray, who lead members of the Opera San José Orchestra, and directed by Resident Director Tara Branham, this trilogy of fully-staged works is now available via online streaming for a limited time.

Tickets (which include 30 days of on-demand viewing access) are available on a pay-what-you-can basis beginning at $15 per household until 11:59pm (PDT), Sunday, June 13. For more information or to purchase tickets, the public can visit operasj.org or call (408) 437-4450 (open Monday through Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm).

The three short operas featured in this trilogy include Wolf-Ferrari's Il segreto di Susanna, a drawing room comedy of errors in the nineteenth-century Italian opera buffa tradition, in which an innocuous secret threatens a young newly-wed couple's chance at happiness. The 52 minute one-act opera features Resident Artists soprano Vanessa Becerra and baritone Efraín Solís, conducted by Joseph Marcheso. For the first time since the pandemic, the artists were joined by members of the Opera San José orchestra, whose safe participation was made possible with the implementation of rapid, day-of COVID-19 testing, and other extensive protocols. Irony and whimsy follow in Ned Rorem's Four Dialogues, based on the poetry of Frank O'Hara, in a classic "guy-meets-girl" tale marking one couple's relationship from love's first blush to the pangs of its bitter end. This 20 minute work is performed by celebrated local artist, soprano Marnie Breckenridge and Resident Artist tenor Carlos Enrique Santelli. The achingly gorgeous harmonies of Tom Cipullo's The Husbands concludes the intimate triptych. This haunting meditation based on William Carpenter's prose poem Rain, summons visions of seasons long past in a stunning rumination on widows, tenderly keeping their departed spouses forever present in their hearts. This 10 minute work featuring Resident Artists mezzo-soprano Ashley Dixon and baritone Eugene Brancoveanu, is conducted by Christopher James Ray.

Opera San José's production of Love & Secrets: A Domestic Trilogy was praised by the San Francisco Chronicle as "Hard to resist. First rate," adding that it was "a testament to what a company can accomplish even during a pandemic." Opera News went on to call it "Charming. Effortless," noting that that "OSJ and [Director Tara] Branham fully embraced the artistic opportunites afforded by film." Other critics have hailed it as "Exquisite." (BroadwayWorld) and "Captivating." (Berkshire Fine Arts).

This performance was captured in the Opera San José Heiman Digital Media Studio. Every precaution was taken for the protection of the company's members and crew, with health and safety protocols meeting or exceeding local and state COVID-19 guidelines. Members of the creative team included Tara Branham (Stage Director), Steven C. Kemp (Set Designer), Alyssa Oania (Costume Coordinator), David Lee Cuthbert (Lighting Designer), ChrisTina Martin (Hair and Makeup Designer), and Rapt Productions (Video Production).

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