Written by Aaron Copland in plain English, the piece centers on Laurie, an adventurous young woman coming of age on the American prairie. The protagonist wrestles with the decision to stay in her small town tending to her family’s farm or leave to pursue her new relationship.
“There's a lot of just love of beauty of nature and country, so it's really appropriate for America's 250th,” Prima donna Rachel Kobernick said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour" July 13. “It's also amazing to do it in such a beautiful place like Park City because we get to really experience the nature as we bring these characters to life.”
She will share the lead role with the nonprofit’s Executive Director and Co-founder Lena Goldstein. Though both sopranos, their approaches to playing Laurie will differ Saturday and Sunday.
“It’s really wonderful to be able to have two different perspectives come at the same role,” Kobernick said. “We each bring something really unique to the role and our castmates get to experience a run of the show in two different ways. There’s so much to explore with an opera and a plot.”
“The Tender Land” is different from other operas: the performers sing in English rather than French or Italian. This makes the piece approachable for American audiences.
“It being in English is a singular experience for some new opera goers, in that it’s very accessible,” Kobernick said. “There isn’t that element of translation, so that definitely makes it unique and less barrier to communicate with our audiences.”
Typically, the cast spends months translating the opera text to fully understand their characters but they didn’t have to do that this time.
“You can immediately dive into the character and your interpretation because we already speak the language,” Kobernick said. “In that way we can really communicate our dramatic intention with the audience.”
The opera will be accompanied by a chamber orchestra of thirteen players.
The event starts at 5 p.m. each night with the show from 6-8 p.m. Tickets start at $75 and are available for both evenings. The price includes complimentary refreshments, live folk music and a cash bar.
For tickets and more information, visit parkcityopera.org.
“The Tender Land” is the first of two Park City Opera shows this summer. In August, the nonprofit will perform “Roméo et Juliette,” a three-hour French opera.
