Boston University Opera Institute is thrilled to announce this season of projects and productions. Each fall, we put on the annual Fringe Festival, which is a collaboration between CFA School of Music’s Opera Institute and School of Theatre. Fringe features new and rarely performed significant works in the opera and theatre repertoire, bringing performances and audiences together in unique theatrical settings.

And in the spring, two mainstage operas invite the BU community and beyond to experience the exceptional talent of the students in the program, within incredible productions supported by the School of Theatre.

2024 – 2025 Season

Fall 2024 Fringe Festival

Dark Sisters (chamber version)

October 11 – 13, 2024
Studio ONE

Composed by Nico Muhly • Libretto by Stephen Karam • Arranged by Nate Thatcher
Allison Voth, music director
Rose Freeman, stage director
Gordon Cheung, conductor

Dark Sisters, written by BUTI alum Nico Muhly (BUTI’96,’97), follows one woman’s dangerous attempt to escape her life as a member of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) church, a sect that split from mainstream Mormonism in the early 20th Century largely because of the LDS Church’s renunciation of polygamy. The male founders of the Mormon faith (Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, chief among them) loom large in American history; Dark Sisters puts the women front and center. Presented under license from G. Schirmer, Inc. o/b/o Chester Music Ltd./ St. Rose Music Publishing Co.

Siren Song (Opera in 1 Act)

October 19 – 20, 2024
Studio ONE

Music by Jonathan Dove • Libretto by Gordon Honeycombe and Nick Dear
William Lumpkin, Conductor
Matthew Larson, Coach & Music Preparation • Claire Choquette, stage director

Siren Song is a bizarre, true story. A young sailor on HMS Ark Royal exchanges letters with a beautiful and successful model. Over time a romantic and passionate relationship develops, but a meeting proves increasingly difficult to arrange. Presented under license by Peters Edition Limited, copyright owners.

Tickets

Mainstage

Florencia en el Amazonas

February 27 – March 2, 2025
Joan and Edgar Booth Theatre

Music by Daniel Catán • Libretto by Marcela Fuentes-Berain
William Lumpkin, conductor
Amy Hutchison, stage director

Steeped in the beautiful style of magical realism, the opera follows the journey of the legendary diva Florencia Grimaldi and her fellow passengers on a boat ride down the Amazon. As they travel through the magical rainforest toward their destination, the opera house in Manaus, each passenger harbors a secret hope of what the trip will bring.

Gianni Schicchi/Suor Angelica

April 24 – April 27, 2025
Tsai Performance Center

Music by Giacomo Puccini • Libretto by Gioachino Forzano
William Lumpkin, conductor
Nathan Troup, stage director

Suor Angelica tells the story of a woman who bears a child out of wedlock and is sent to a convent for penance. After seven years, she is visited by her aunt, the Principessa, who brings unexpectedly tragic news of her child, which sets in motion a series of actions that ultimately result in forgiveness and peace.

The comic-opera Gianni Schicchi begins with the death of wealthy Florentine Buoso Donati, and his seemingly distraught family who actually are mourning the fact that they have been excluded from his will. They turn to the local imposter specialist Gianni Schicchi who helps turn the tables, but not in the way they intended. Considered a comic masterpiece and inspired by a painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, this dark satire is based on a true story mentioned in Dante’s Inferno.