Finger Lakes Opera (FLO) has unveiled its 2024 Summer Season, which features the highly anticipated world premiere of the groundbreaking opera Two Corners, by B.E. Boykin and Jarrod Lee. This is the first ever commissioned work for FLO.
According to Finger Lakes Opera Executive Director Elizabeth Long, “FLO has entered its second decade of producing professional opera and the 2024 Summer Festival features many firsts. This will be the first summer FLO will present not one, but two operas. This is the first summer that soprano Kearstin Piper Brown, who just returned to Rochester fresh off her triumphant Metropolitan Opera debut, will be featured on FLO’s mainstage…And of course, 2024 marks the third phase of the Two Corners project which will culminate in the world premiere performances, right here in Rochester.”
Summer Season highlights include:
•Behind the Curtain – On May 22 at 7 p.m., on the stage of Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of Music, FLO will present a free panel discussion moderated by Dr. Crystal Sellers Battle, Eastman School of Music’s Associate Dean of Equity and Inclusion. Battle will lead a discussion on the Two Corners creative process and the themes explored therein. Panelists include Composer B.E. Boykin, Librettist Jarrod Lee, Soprano Kearstin Piper Brown, and FLO Artistic Director, Conductor, and Founder Gerard Floriano. This program is sponsored by the George Walker Center for Equity and Inclusion in Music. The event is free with online registration.
•Juneteenth Celebration – On June 14 at 7 p.m., at Mount Olivet Baptist Church, FLO kicks-off its 2024 Summer Festival with a free program that will be emceed by News 10 NBC-WHEC anchor Deanna Dewberry. The program will feature the Mount Olivet Sanctuary Choir with Wings of Praise Flag Ministry and FLO singers from the cast of Two Corners. The event is free with online registration.
•Out Loud at the MAG – On June 26 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Vanden Brul Pavilion in the Memorial Art Gallery, FLO will host a fun, happy-hour event featuring their 2024 Young Artists.
•Two Corners – On June 28 at 7 p.m. and June 30 at 2 p.m. on the Mainstage Theatre of the Timothy Wentworth Arts Building on the Brighton Campus of Monroe Community College, FLO will present the world premiere of its first ever commissioned work Two Corners. The groundbreaking new opera explores the relationship between two lifelong friends, one white and the other Black, growing up in the Civil Rights Era south. As the friends reconnect and reminisce, they realize their memories aren’t the same. The story ultimately explores what it truly means to be a friend. Also joining the singers will be performers from Garth Fagan Dance. For the second year in row, Garth Fagan Dance Artistic Director Norwood “PJ” Pennewell will provide original choreography for a FLO production. Singing the lead role will be Rochester’s very own soprano Kearstin Piper Brown, one of the most sought-after lyric sopranos in the country. This will be Brown’s debut role on FLO’s mainstage. She is back in Rochester after recently debuting with The Metropolitan Opera in New York City where she starred as Evelyn in Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in my Bones.
•Gianni Schicchi – On July 12 at 7 p.m. and July 14 at 2 p.m., on MCC’s Mainstage Theatre, FLO will close its 2024 Summer Festival with two performances of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, an uproarious show that will feature FLO’s 2024 Young Artists.
For ticket information and full listing of all 2024 Finger Lakes Opera Summer Festival events, visit http://www.fingerlakesopera.org.
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