Opera Parallèle has a fascinating season planned for 2026-27. Here's the repertory and descriptions of the three operas they'll perform; full cast information will follow in August.
SALT & SEA – WORLD PREMIERE
November 14–21
The company’s 17th anniversary will open Nov. 14–21, with the world premiere of Salt & Spirit, a new theatrical work rooted in the musical traditions of the Gullah-Geechee people of the Carolinas. This evocative production draws on a rare collection of resurfaced Gullah spirituals from the late nineteenth century, reimagining ancestral songs through a contemporary theatrical lens that blends classical, jazz, and traditional influences.
Developed and performed by tenor Victor Ryan Robertson and arranger/pianist Adrianne Duncan, in collaboration with Opera Parallèle Creative Director Brian Staufenbiel, Salt & Spirit brings these powerful songs into a richly theatrical world. Inspired by Robertson and Duncan’s song cycle, Gullah Meditations, this moving tribute to cultural memory, resilience, and storytelling honors the enduring spirit carried through Gullah-Geechee song.
The Gullah-Geechee people are descendants of enslaved Africans who worked on rice, indigo, and cotton plantations along the lower Atlantic coast. The unique nature of their enslavement on islands and in isolated coastal areas allowed them to retain many aspects of their ancestral culture in ways which are clearly visible in their contemporary arts, cuisine, music, and language.
THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY — WEST COAST PREMIERE
March 11–14, 2027
Following the company’s great success with Everest, Opera Parallèle is very pleased to be reunited with the creative team of composer Joby Talbot and librettist Gene Scheer for their poignant opera, The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, set for March 11-14, 2027. This West Coast debut will feature a newly created chamber orchestration by Ben Foskett, commissioned by Opera Parallèle.
Based on the true story of French journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby, this powerful work explores resilience, memory, and the triumph of the human spirit. Following its 2023 world premiere at The Dallas Opera, the creative team sought to bring this story to more intimate settings, deepening the audience’s connection to Bauby’s journey. With this reorchestration for chamber ensemble, Opera Parallèle enhances the story’s authenticity and emotional impact, bringing Bauby’s voice even closer.
The opera follows Jean-Dominique Bauby, who, after suffering a massive stroke, is left with “locked-in syndrome”—fully conscious but unable to move or speak, except for blinking his left eye. Trapped inside his own body, Bauby embarks on an astonishing journey of resilience, dictating his memoir of 1997, letter by letter through blinks. The opera vividly captures his struggle, memories, and imagination, weaving an emotional and immersive musical tapestry that explores the force of individual courage and the victory of communication against all odds.
Opera Parallèle’s award-winning Nicole Paiement will be on the podium and highly praised Brian Staufenbiel will direct this new production. This two-act opera will be sung in English with English supertitles.
TAKING UP SERPENTS — WEST COAST PREMIERE
May 2027
Taking Up Serpents explores themes of faith, superstition, morality, kinship, and destiny with an eclectic folk-inspired score by critically acclaimed Indian American composer Kamala Sankaram, and an original story informed by librettist Jerre Dye's family roots in the Deep South.
From “one of the most exciting composers in the country,” (The Washington Post), Kamala Sankaram’s one-act chamber opera Taking Up Serpents, will have its West Coast debut following past productions at Washington National Opera, the Glimmerglass Festival and Chicago Opera Theater.
The story regards Kayla, a 25-year-old young woman who works at Save-Mart in Gulf Shores, Alabama, and gets a phone call from her estranged mother informing her that her father, a fire-and-brimstone Pentecostal snake handling preacher, has been dangerously bitten by one of his snakes and lies dying in a hospital. Kayla’s journey home forces her to confront her troubled upbringing in this dramatic story.
Nicole Paiement will conduct the orchestra and singers in a new production created and directed by Brian Staufenbiel.
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