Announcing the Premiere of a New Opera
Opera Ithaca announces the world premiere of We Wear the Sea Like a Coat,
with music by Sally Lamb McCune and a libretto by Yvonne Gray and Rachel Lampert. The
co-production with Ithaca College runs March 3-6, 2022 at the Hoerner Theater, Dillingham Center, Ithaca College. Thursday-Saturday shows start at 8 pm. The Sunday matineé is at 2 pm.
We Wear the Sea Like a Coat tells the contemporary story of an American couple living on an island in Orkney, Scotland for a year. Sara, an oceanographer, is on an environmental
assignment. Jonathan, a writer, is newly unemployed. As outsiders, they find
themselves at the center of conflict between conservation and exploitation. In a
radically changing world, they face their own existential questions about building a
family. As truths unfold, Sara is forced to come to terms with what matters most.
We Wear the Sea Like a Coat is the first opera from award-winning composer Sally
McCune. It also marks the first collaboration between noted playwright and Kitchen
Theatre Artistic Director Emerita Rachel Lampert and Orcadian poet Yvonne Gray.
Since 2019, the opera has been workshopped and incubated in Opera Ithaca’s Inside
the Creative Process Series.
The premiere is directed by Ben Robinson and conducted by Christopher Zemliauskas. The cast includes Elena Galvàn, Dann Coakwell, Steven Stull, Mariya Kaganskaya, and Brad Bickhardt. We Wear the Sea Like a Coat is the third premiere of a new work by Opera Ithaca since the company’s founding in 2014.
Ticket prices range from $10-$18. The box office opens February 21.
https://www.ithaca.edu/2021-2022-season
Free parking is available next to Dillingham Center (F Lot).
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