Photo by Kristen Loken
The 2013 Merola Opera Program honors the centennial of Benjamin Britten's birth with a production of his 1946 The Rape of Lucretia on July 11 and 13. The venue is new to the program: Everett Auditorium at 450 Church Street in San Francisco.
Conducted by Mark Morash and directed by Peter Kazaras, the performances feature mezzo-soprano Kate Allen in the title role, Chris Carr as Tarquinius, soprano Linda Barnett as Female Chorus; tenor Robert Watson as Male Chorus, mezzo-soprano Katie Hannigan as Bianca, soprano Alisa Jordheim as Lucia, baritone Efraín Solís as Junius, and bass-baritone David Weigel as Collatinus.
The two-act chamber opera (written for Kathleen Ferrier, who created the title role) follows the story of Lucretia, a faithful wife who is ravished by Tarquinius, her husband's fellow soldier. The characters are simultaneously actors and witnesses, forced to relive their roles in this heartbreaking and poignant tragedy as they attempt to come to terms with what has happened to them and with what they have done. Kazaras has chosen to set the production in a present-day military court because, he says:
The production asks relevant questions that affect us all today: How do we as a society hold ourselves responsible for violence against women? At what point does a passive witness to violence become a guilty party?
The production is underwritten, in part, by the Bernard Osher Foundation, the Frances K. and Charles D. Field Foundation, and the Jack H. Lund Charitable Trust. Morash is sponsored by Barbara K. Jackson, Josephine Maxon, Miss Vivienne E. Miller, and Hiroko Prather; Kazaras is sponsored by Mike and Rusty Rolland.