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Presented by Ohio State's Office of Academic Affairs, the Wexner Center, and Opera Columbus and produced by Beth Morrison Projects
Ohio Premiere
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An innovative reimagining of Hemingway's beloved classic into a contemporary operatic masterpiece—complete with water on stage.
Based on the Ernest Hemingway 1952 novella, this innovative adaptation of The Old Man and the Sea is the result of a collaboration between illustrious composer Paola Prestini, librettist Royce Vavrek, and conductor and stage director Karmina Šilec. Breathtakingly staged with eight pools of water enhanced with dynamic lighting, costumes, and sound, the performance combines the Hemingway text with original portraits of everyday life to create a look at aging, legacy, and our relationship to the ocean.
Onstage you’ll hear music from longtime collaborators and muses of Prestini’s including Jeffrey Zeigler as the featured cellist, as well as percussionists and a 16-person chorus featuring students from Ohio State’s School of Music. The cast brings to life the book’s pivotal characters: Santiago, Manolin, and the wife, who’s rewritten as La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, a goddess in the Afro-Caribbean faith Santería found floating off the coast of Cuba in 1628. Themes of baseball, ecology, religion, and economy paint a conflict between progress, tradition, passion, and exploitation, ultimately shedding contemporary perspectives on this timeless tale. (100 mins., no intermission)
Music by Paola PrestiniLibretto by Royce Vavrek Directed and cocreated by Karmina ŠilecBased on the novel by Ernest Hemingway
Presented by the Wexner Center for the Arts and Opera Columbus.
Produced by Beth Morrison Projects in association with VisionIntoArt and Arizona State University Cultural Affairs and its division of ASU Gammage.
Lead commissioning support provided by Arizona State University Cultural Affairs and its division of ASU Gammage. Commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects, Carolina Performing Arts at the University of North Carolina, VisionIntoArt, Krannert Center of the Performing Arts, and Jill & Bill Steinberg.
The commissioning of Paola Prestini for The Old Man and the Sea received funding from OPERA America’s Opera Grants for Women Composers program supported by Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. Additional support provided by New York State Council on the Arts with the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Developmental residencies for The Old Man and the Sea provided at MASS MoCA and ASU Gammage.
Presented in collaboration with Opera Columbus.
PERFORMING ARTS PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BYDoris Duke Foundation
WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BYGreater Columbus Arts CouncilThe Wexner FamilyInstitute of Museum and Library ServicesMellon FoundationEvery Page FoundationOhio Arts Council, with support from the National Endowment for the ArtsCampusParcNationwide FoundationLois S. and H. Roy Chope Fund of The Columbus FoundationThe Columbus FoundationAxium Packaging
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BYOhio History Fund/Ohio History ConnectionDavid Crane and Elizabeth DangLouise Lambert Braver
Next Performing Arts
The Old Man and the Sea
