Kristine McIntyre's take on CARMEN

Kristine McIntyre will return to Kentucky Opera to direct the Brown-Forman 2011/12 Season opener - CARMEN  (CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA & I PAGLIACCI 2010  |  WERTHER 2008). With Maestro Joseph Mechavich the duo will be reinventing this classic tragedy for Kentucky Opera audiences.
In this video, McIntyre discusses some of the significant differences from Kentucky Opera's production in comparison to what has been performed for the last century.



Kentucky Opera will open CARMEN on Friday, September 23 at 8pm with a matinee performance on Sunday, September 25 at 2pm. 
Due to popular demand a third performance of CARMEN will take place on Friday, September 30 at 8pm.
Tickets for this not to be missed show, are now available by calling 502.584.7777 or online here.

Madame Butterfly Previews are in!

Yunah Lee as Cio-Cio San in Kentucky Opera's Madame Butterfly. Photo by J. David Levy.

Tonight is the Final Dress Rehearsal for Madame Butterfly and we are expecting a full house. We invite schools and donors to join us for this rehearsal which makes the experience mutually beneficial. Middle & high school students get to see live opera in its grandest setting and our singing actors and musicians have the opportunity to get a live response from an audience. I have heard many stage directors say these students are the best audience. They aren't afraid to react when something is funny or surprising. They are honest and outright with their experiences.

I would like to encourage anyone who wants to see the final opera of the 2010 Brown-Forman Fall Season, don't wait. We honestly only have 100 vacant seats (as of Tuesday 11/16) available for the entire weekend. GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!! 502.584.7777!

Our dear friends at the LEO have given us a great write up after Bill Doolittle spoke with Maestro Joe Mechavich and Soprano Yunah Lee.
Read the article here.

If you missed it, Selena Fry of Louisville.Com spoke with our fabulous wig & makeup designer, Sue Sittko Schaefer. Read her article here.

We were expecting a story yesterday from the Courier Journal. Andrew Adler was going to write a guest spot for us. He spoke to David Roth who is stage directing this piece, and our Cio-Cio San, Yunah Lee. Here it is Wednesday, and no story. Do let us know if you see it~

We have video!!

This video is from Kentucky Opera's 2005 production with Ailan Zhu as Cio-Cio San and Stephen Mark Brown as B.F. Pinkerton.

Tonight's the Night!

Tonight, Friday, September 25, 2009 the Brown Theatre will be transformed into a grand opera house when Kentucky Opera opens the 2009 Brown-Forman Fall Season with La Traviata.

We have extremely limited seating for this evening as the Grand Gala has everyone all excited (and rightly so) but there are great seats still available for Sunday, September 27 at 2pm. Call for tickets 502.584.7777 before they're gone!

Here are some pictures from the Final Dress Rehearsal by O'Neil Arnold.

*SPOILER ALERT!!!

Some photos may reveal specific plot elements of the story.

Kentucky Opera Chorus looks and sounds amazing on the stage of the Brown Theatre. This is the party that opens act I and these are the people that helped make it look so good:

Stage Director: James Marvel
Set Design : Edwardo Sicango
Costume Design: John Lehmeyer
Lighting Design: Jeff Bruckerhoff
Wig & Make-Up Design: Sue Stitko Shaefer
Choreographer: Diana Dinicola

Metropolitan Opera star, Elizabeth Futral stars at Violetta, and Sébastien Guèze makes his U.S. Debut as Alfredo.Sempre libera degg'io at the end of Act I


Donny Ray Albert as Garmond in Act II.



Sébastien Guèze Act II scene 2


Flamenco Louisville dances in the end of Act II

*Unfortunately, she dies at the end...


There are more pictures on our Facebook Fan page.

Arts and Social Media.

Andrew Adler featured yours truly in his latest Courier Journal article. Now you all know who is the main blogger for Kentucky Opera. I do have a few others that contribute, and I am always open to more. Lets give a shout out to the Wagnarian and Holly the Pirates of Penzance costume designer.

One element to the whole social media/ PR world that wasn't addressed in Andrew's story - with my social media activities, I don't have the third party endorsement that increases value. So it's not just about what I write and post, its also trying to get others to write and post about the opera too.

Finding the right blogger is a challenge. There isn't a yellow pages directory of bloggers in your area broken down by beats. Google blog search is pretty good, and really the only resource to find the right writer. While it would be great if Brian Dickie, blogger for Chicago Opera Theatre, it is doubtful that a Kentucky Opera mention on his blog would actually result in a ticket sale. So area is important.


Pitching to a blogger is very similar to pitching to traditional media reporters. You have to know their beat; I wouldn't ask Robin Garr to write a story about Howard Kaplan, the costume designer extraordinaire who the opera brings in at least once a year. Garr is a food guy and that is his beat. So, I wouldn't ask Jason Falls to write about the music of La Traviata because he writes solely about social media. Jason may however reference Andrew's article and the opera may get a reference from that.





It helps to know the bloggers off line. When I found Consuming Louisville, I was able to connect with the talented Michelle Jones (who writes about everything Louisville) at one of the Social Media Club of Louisville meetings and after taking her to lunch, I learned how she prefers to be approached for stories.



Just like how the Opera is striving for personal connections with its audience through the various receptions, connecting through social media has given us another layer to interact. I have really enjoyed developing the social media component to our marketing strategies and I am sure that the future will bring more interesting and creative ways to mingle with opera audiences.

Leave your comments, we love comments!

Giving Thanks for Werther

It seems as though just yesterday we were having a fun romp with Don Quixote in the Brown Theatre. Amid the holiday festivities, Kentucky Opera will present Werther at the Kentucky Center. It's not the candy, it's pronounced Vair- tair.

Our photographer J.David Levy slipped me a few images from the piano dress rehearsal on Sunday, just to share with our blog readers.


Garrett Sorenson sings the role of our tragic hero, Werther. A poet so in love with Charlotte, that all he can do is compose poems for her beauty and grace. Sorenson has an easy task with this as the object of his affection on stage is his wife in real life, Elizabeth Batton. The couple will be on WHAS 11 in the noon hour on Wednesday, November 26. Be sure to tune in.


If you just can't wait until Wednesday, listen to a podcast interview on Classical 90.5 between the couple and Scott Dowd.

Be aware that it doesn't end well for our romantic poet. He does himself in, and we at Kentucky Opera are in no way condoning the violence of suicide.


Tickets are available by calling 502.584.7777 or by clicking here.

From the Pirates Costume Designer part 3

The summer build for Pirates of Penzance is winding down. The day after Labor Day we will be greeting three of the Studio Artists with costume fittings on their first day in residence. I hope they are ready for us. The it's time to pack it up and get out of the way because Otello is coming!

It's been an incredibly productive summer session. Dresses, nightgowns, mob caps, Pirate gear, children's costumes and even 3 parasols have come out of the costume shop this summer. The Our pattern maker Margaret Fenske and our milliner Shari Cochran will proceed through September without us, and we will see hats and principal costumes in October. I can't wait!

Photo: Hats in progress by Shari Cichran.

Posted by Holly

From the Pirates Costume Designer

PART 2
We have entered the final third of the summer build. Where did June and July go? However, a grand milestone has been achieved. The last mockup for the chorus ladies was fit last Wednesday! And we fit the last chorus gent for the summer. Plus a had a very productive second fitting with Natalie Krupansky, our Ruth. She was a sweetheart and drove in from Lexington just for us. As ever, Margaret’s patterns were right on, and the stitching was super. A few minor adjustments, and we will see Natalie in October for a final check and to fit some boots. Now it’s on to finish assembling the children’s costumes, which we will fit again in October when we are closer to performance and the children will have grown all they are going to before Opening Night.

Posted by Holly

A note from Heather: I did take some video of this fitting (it was all proper and G rated) and as soon as I can work out some editing details, I will post the video here.

Behind the Scenes: Costume Shop

We are starting to get the hang of this whole blog thing.
Check out this fun behind the scenes You Tube slide show!



Costume design by Holly Jenkins Evans

Posted by Heather