The first performance of the inaugural tour of a newly commissioned opera is coming to Cranbrook on March 17.

The Symphony of the Kootenays has joined forces with Nelson Community Opera to bring the new work to the Key City Theatre for one show only.

“We’re thrilled to be able to present a new and exciting work to local music lovers,” said Symphony manager, Amanda Ball.  “It is extremely rare for opera to go on tour, so having Cranbrook included in the tour of a world premiere is a real privilege.  This particular work is doubly interesting to us because the composer, Don Macdonald, is the brother of one of the Symphony of the Kootenays directors.”

B.C. composer, Don Macdonald, together with BC playwright, Nicola Harwood, were commissioned in 2009 by Nelson’s Amy Ferguson Institute to create this new full length opera.

“It has taken us three years and over $100,000 to get this opera to the point where we can bring it to theatres around the Kootenays,” said Marty Horswill, producer of the opera. “After all this effort and expense we felt we owed it to everyone involved to take the risk and tour this new work to the widest audience possible.  We’re all looking forward to bringing the Kootenay’s very own opera to life on the stage of the Key City Theatre, “ Horswill concluded.

Entitled KHAOS, the ancient Greek word for the space between heaven and earth, the new opera is a re-imagining of the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone set in a contemporary world of climate change and looming global catastrophe.

Librettist, Nicola Harwood, recounted that she and Macdonald were looking for a subject matter that was both current and universal in its appeal.

“We hit upon the myth of Demeter and Persephone and we wondered what this myth might look like in today’s world? So our re-telling of the Demeter and Persephone legend asks the question: ‘What if civilization’s greed and unrelenting drive for progress prevented Persephone from returning to Earth to console her grieving mother?  Would Demeter’s grief and rage end life on Earth as we know it?’”

As an internationally recognized, award-winning, film score composer, Don Macdonald is very familiar with the role music plays in advancing the dramatic flow on the big screen.  “Opera is the same except the action is on a stage, the dialogue is sung and the music is front and centre, not just in the background,” he said.  “To be commissioned to write an opera with its huge palette of musical colours and powerful emotions was the opportunity of a lifetime.”

KHAOS producer Horswill described Macdonald’s music as poignant and lyrical at times and jagged and threatening at others.

“With influences from the grand operatic tradition and also from Broadway and jazz, Mr. Macdonald’s music is both extremely compelling and highly atmospheric,” said Horswill. “It engages you immediately and never lets you go.”

Nelson Community Opera’s world premiere production of KHAOS takes place at the Capitol Theatre in Nelson March 8, 9 and 10 and then travels to Cranbrook the following weekend.  Show time for the Cranbrook performance is 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 17. Tickets are on sale now at the Key City Theatre box office or by phone with Visa or Mastercard at 250-426-7006 – $30 for adults and $20 for students and seniors.

The touring production features a cast of 7 soloists, a 16 member chorus, and a behind-the-scenes crew of over 15 directors, designers and technicians.

Readers interested in learning more about the new opera should log onto the KHAOS website at www.khaosopera.com, where they can also hear excerpts from the new work.

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