Opera Idaho and the Egyptian Theatre have teamed up to bring you online ticket sales. Which means you can order single tickets for all of Opera Idaho’s productions and concerts wherever you have access to a computer and the internet: at home, at work, on your Blackberry or IPhone. The convenience of online ticket sales also includes the ability to order tickets when you want to instead of waiting for the box office to open, standing in line or being put on hold.

“We are very pleased with this new level of customer service for Opera Idaho patrons,” said Cheryl Haas, Opera Idaho director of marketing. “The online ticketing, combined with the Egyptian’s new software system, will give us more information about who our audience really is.”  The new software will allow Opera Idaho staff to track different levels of ticket sales and to better capture information about who attends the opera. 

Season subscription sales will still be made through the Opera Idaho office. Call 345.3531 x2.

To order online, follow these easy steps:

Composer Jim Cockey with Executive Director Mark Junkert

Become part of the creative process when Opera Idaho presents a showcase of a new opera work-in-progress by Idaho composer Jim Cockey on Monday, April 26 at 7:30 pm at the Opera Idaho Studio.

The evening will feature the 20 minutes of the work which Jim has composed thus far, followed by feedback from the audience, which Jim will take into account as he completes the piece.

Performing the piece will be:

Penny Odysseus – Michele Detwiler, mezzo soprano
Dee Motolemus – Tara Victoria Smith, soprano
Melanie Thius – Vernae Buck, mezzo soprano
Yuri Machus – Geoff Friedley, tenor
Andy Neus – Michal Jarolimek, bass
Phil Mius – Alex Burns, baritone
Calypso – Tara Victoria Smith, soprano
John Odysseus – Geoff Friedley,tenor

Accompanist – Felix Eisenhauer

The work is a modern re-telling of the Odyssey tale, says Jim. John, the hero, is a corporate CEO who, after war breaks out in the Middle East, is detained by terrorists for seven years. His wife Penny, acting CEO for the company, fends off several executives who are plotting a hostile takeover in John’s absence. Libretto is by Idaho playwright Bernadine Cockey.

Jim just returned from Hyannis, Mass. where his work, The Gift of the Elk, a piece for Native American flute and symphony orchestra premiered with the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra. Jung-Ho Pak conducted the CCSO, which also commissioned the piece. We caught up with Jim and asked him about this new work, his first foray into composing for opera. (Watch for a story in the Statesman’s Scene Magazine Friday, April 23. 2010.)

Opera Idaho: What was the genesis of this work?

Jim Cockey: When I wrote Symphony #2, it had a scene that was quite dramatic and I had a blast writing it. Ever since then, I”ve wanted to write opera. I approached Mark Junkert and I got Berni on board as librettist.

Opera Idaho: Describe your composing process.

Jim Cockey: I like to be in my ‘composing space’ in my house. It helps to have a work habit. I like to get up in the morning and compose. By noon, either I keep going or I’m done for the day and keep the rest of my life going. Sometimes inspiration or deadlines keep you working all your waking hours!

Working in opera is great fun because I get to run around the house singing! It’s been a terrific experience — I absolutely love this medium. Bringing these characters to life allows me to be a writer and part director, roles I’ve never done before. When I talk about writing, I mean bringing the characters to life. Music is my way of giving them life.

Opera Idaho: How do you and (former wife) Berni collaborate as composer and librettist?

Jim Cockey: This is a full collaboration. We’ll work separately — she wrote the libretto alone and I composed the music alone, but we comment on each other’s work. Before we write, we do quite a bit of conceptualizing together. Then we get together and revise as need. So we meet before during and after we actually write.

Berni has also worked in production for several Opera Idaho shows this season. Her play, Night Among the Hunters, received third place in a national competition sponsored by Writer’s Digest.

Like many opera companies across the country, Opera Idaho is struggling with the effects of this prolonged recession. Ticket sales are down, donations are down, expenses are up and we must adjust our schedule (and budgets) to accomodate these shifting factors to stay financially healthy.

Those who already have single tickets for Our Town will be contacted by Opera Idaho regarding compensation.  Additionally, season subscribers will have the choice between the following methods of compensation: 

• 2 extra tickets to South Pacific
• 2 extra tickets to one production of their choice in the 2010-2011 season
• A refund of 15% of the single ticket price (the savings from buying a season ticket).

Moving Our Town to the October slot in our 2010-2011 season allows us to save money in this fiscal year and keeps us within sight of our bottom line budget.  The costs of venue rental, music rights, performers, musicians and advertising will be deferred to our next fiscal year when, hopefully, the recession will have receded.

Opera Idaho remainds committeed to bringing an American opera to Boise audiences each year for the next five years.  Ned Rorem’s Our Town, based on Thornton Wilder’s Pultizer Prize-winning play, will initiate the series in October 2010.  The previews for the remaining operas under consideration will be presented in September 2010.  An online vote will take place in the month preceding Our Town to determine the People’s Choice for the American opera to be performed in the 2011-2012 season.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact Opera Idaho at 208-345-3531.

Boise State and Opera Idaho Collaborate on Terrence McNally’s Tony Award-winning play Master Class

8 p.m. Jan. 21-23 and 28-30 and 2 p.m. Jan. 24 and 31 in the Morrison Center Recital Hall

Tickets $15 general admission/$10 Boise State students at Select-a-Seat or at the door.

Master Class Home Page

Idaho Stateman Article -

Press Release provided by BSU.

Veteran actress Lynn Allison (right) invokes the spirit of iconic opera singer Maria Callas in a production of Terrence McNally’s award-winning play, “Master Class”.  Allison is joined by an all-professional cast, including pianist Del Parkinson (center), singers Leslie Mauldin (left) and Ryan Olsen and actress Valerie Baugh. Photo by Allison Corona

Veteran actress Lynn Allison (right) invokes the spirit of iconic opera singer Maria Callas in a production of Terrence McNally’s award-winning play, Master Class. Allison is joined by an all-professional cast, including pianist Del Parkinson (center), singers Leslie Mauldin (left) and Ryan Olsen and actress Valerie Baugh. Photo by Allison Corona.

The departments of Music and Theatre Arts are partnering with Opera Idaho to present Terrence McNally’s Tony Award-winning play Master Class at 8 p.m. Jan. 21-23 and 28-30 and 2 p.m. Jan. 24 and 31 in the Morrison Center Recital Hall. Tickets are $15 general and $10 for Boise State students at Select-a-Seat outlets or www.idahotickets.com. Tickets also may be purchased at the door. The play is intended for mature audiences.

Master Class is based on a series of Juilliard master classes given by the great opera singer Maria Callas, one of the most compelling and controversial artists of our time. Vividly and often comically, McNally’s play captures the essence of Callas as she alternately destroys and inspires three eager Juilliard opera students with her brutally honest critiques, recollections of her illustrious career and turbulent life, and unwavering commitment to the sacrifices artists make for their creations.

The collaborative production involves Boise State’s departments of Music and Theatre Arts and the Idaho CoOPERAtive, a professional development group for singers housed in the Music Department and co-founded by associate professor and head of voice studies Laura Rushing-Raynes. Thanks to a College of Arts and Sciences Community Engagement Grant and sponsorship by Opera Idaho, it is a professional production starring Boise favorites Lynn Allison in the lead role of Maria Callas and Boise State piano professor Del Parkinson as her master class accompanist.

Allison is a celebrated actress known best for her work with the Idaho Shakespeare Festival and Boise Contemporary Theater. The upcoming performance of “Master Class” is the realization of a long-smoldering pipe dream she shared with Rushing-Raynes in 2001. Boise State had an ideal venue and a pool of faculty and community talent, and Allison had the clout and inspiration to spark what promises to be a thrilling evening of theater and music.

“There is a lot of talent in the area and not a lot of places to put it, so it makes sense to share resources and find ways to do ‘environmental’ theater,” said Allison, referring to the fact that the Morrison Center Recital Hall is a natural backdrop for a play about students in a music class. Not only does it take advantage of an existing resource, it also adds a dimension that a set cannot, blurring the line even more between real and imagined.

Also blurring that line is the fact that Callas speaks directly to the audience, suggesting (and sometimes demanding) they do their own reflecting on the meaning of art and what happens when an artist surrenders to passion and the pursuit of greatness.

“While the play is incredibly funny, it also is deeply reflective, forcing Callas to ask, ‘What have I done? What have I sacrificed? What have the rewards truly been?’ ” said Rushing-Raynes.

“Her memories and the music feed on each other, and her personality informs the performance. She is a force,” Allison said. “The play is about her frustrations as well as those moments when she surrenders to the beauty of her students’ voices, when they finally understand.”

The cast also features singers Leslie Mauldin and Ryan Olsen (a member of Boise State’s adjunct voice faculty) as well as actress Valerie Baugh (a member of Boise State’s adjunct theatre arts faculty). The production will be directed by theatre arts professor Ann Hoste and musically coached by Rushing-Raynes. Stage management will be provided by Opera Idaho, for which Rushing-Raynes recently conducted Amahl and the Night Visitors, with Baugh as assistant-director. Mauldin is singing in Opera Idaho’s upcoming production of Rossini’s Cinderella, further underscoring the partnership.

“The message of the Community Engagement Grant is, whatever you’re doing, be effectively outreaching and interfacing with community members and organizations,” Rushing-Raynes said. “This project fulfills that message, and we hope it will be the first of many more such collaborations.”

Following the two Sunday matinee performances on Jan. 24 and 31, the cast will invite the audience to participate in a discussion and demo of an actual master class, featuring Boise State voice students being taught by cast members Mauldin and Olsen, both accomplished voice teachers.

For more information, visit the Master Class Home Page

Two performances at The Auditorium at South Junior High, 3101 Cassia, Boise

Oct. 30 (7:30 pm) and Sunday, Nov. 1 (2:30 pm) with The Boise Philharmonic

Single Tickets on sale now — call 387-1273, T-Su 11am – 6pm

For one day, we’ve done away with the most often-cited reason people don’t attend opera … high ticket prices! To inaugurate its season series of Sunday matinees, Opera Idaho is offering all tickets for the Nov. 1 performance at one low price of $34.

Listen to our radio spots about Faust.

“The greatest love story”

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“Mephistopheles here”

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More opera than ever in our history, varied repertoire, a new home at the Egyptian Theatre, multiple performances, Sunday matinees, and artistic collaborations … a season of change that we know you’ll enjoy. And, season tickets represent a 15% savings!

Subscriptions begin at $99 for six events, with the best seats available for $299. Seats will be assigned with priority given by order date. As a subscriber, your tickets are exchangeable for another performance of the same opera.

Visit our Tickets page to order.