View the 40th Anniversary Season Program!
Programs will be available at all performances and online.
In celebration of our 40th Anniversary, we have selected a season that reflects the history of our organization while showcasing the progress we have made artistically as a company. Puccini’s La Bohème and Rogers and Hammerstein’s Carousel will be the perfect combination of music and drama, lush orchestrations, and powerful singing. The shows will feature some of our favorite main stage artists, alumni of our Artist in Residence program, as well as local singers who are well known to our patrons. We have entered our 40th season stronger than ever, and we can’t wait to continue this operatic journey with you.
40th Anniversary Season
Puccini’s La bohème
January 20 & 22, 2023
One of opera’s most romantic stories makes a long-anticipated return to the Saenger stage. La bohème follows Mimì and Rodolfo from their first meeting to their final devastating moments, capturing their impassioned relationship through the lens of Giacomo Puccini’s masterful, lush orchestrations. From Musetta’s famous waltz, “Quando m’en vo,” to the rousing second act outside the Café Momus—featuring our wonderful Pensacola Opera Chorus—this beloved work features some of opera’s most hummable melodies. Newly appointed Artistic Director Corey McKern makes his mainstage directorial debut with a recently introduced new production from New Orleans Opera and set designer Steven C. Kemp, featuring Bizhou Chang and Adam Diegel as the ill-fated Mimì and her adoring Rodolfo, alongside Flora Hawk and Robert Mellon as on-again-off-again couple Musetta and Marcello. The Pensacola Symphony Orchestra will be conducted by Jerome Shannon in his first production as Principal Guest Conductor.
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
March 17 & 19, 2023
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel changed the face of American musical theatre when it premiered on Broadway in 1945. Carousel barker Billy Bigelow falls for mill worker Julie Jordan—but when the unthinkable happens, Billy must answer for his actions and try to make things right. Closing our 40th Anniversary Season, this musical of operatic proportions comes to Pensacola in a visually stunning production from Virginia Opera and set designer Erhard Rom, directed by Broadway stage director Greg Ganakas. Richard Rodgers’s timeless score is full of favorite tunes, including “If I Loved You,” “June is Bustin’ Out All Over,” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” Carousel will be helmed by newly appointed Music Director Cody Martin, leading members of the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra and Pensacola Opera Chorus. Robert Wesley Mason and Katrina Galka star as Billy Bigelow and Julie Jordan, and 2021-22 Artist in Residence Imara Miles returns in the role of Nettie Fowler.
Add-On Concert
Forty Forward – A Special Anniversary Concert Celebrating Four Decades of Opera in Pensacola
November 12, 2022
Celebrate with us as we commemorate forty years of Pensacola Opera in a special, one-night-only gala concert like no other. Joined by the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra, Pensacola Children’s Chorus, and our incredible Opera Chorus, we also welcome back some of our company’s most celebrated guest artists for a program of opera’s greatest arias and ensembles.