Pagliacci
March 14 + 16, 2025
Friday, March 14
7:30 PM
Sunday, March 16
2:00 PM
pagliacci
Coming Soon!
Composer
Ruggero Leoncavallo
Librettist
Ruggero Leoncavallo
Conductor
Jerome Shannon
Run Time
2 Hours Including One 20-Minute Intermission
Language
Italian with English Supertitles
The Artists
Ben Gulley*
as CanioAmerican tenor Ben Gulley has been hailed as “outstanding” (Opera News) and “startlingly gifted” (San Francisco Classical Voice). An exceptionally versatile artist, Mr. Gulley’s recent seasons have included feature roles in opera, solo engagements, concert, film work, touring and important appearances abroad. Recent artistic and critical triumphs include his 2022 Broadway World Best Actor In A Musical award-winning debut as Quasimodo in Dennis DeYoung’s Hunchback of Notre Dame with Skylight Music Theater (2022), a debut as Cavaradossi in Tosca with Sarasota Opera (2022), Tenor Soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra (2021) and Tenor Soloist in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde opposite mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung with the Belgian National Orchestra in Brussels and Namur, Belgium (2021).
Recent and upcoming season highlights for 2022-2023 and beyond include engagements with the Asheville Symphony(“Night at the Opera”), Hidden Valley Music Seminars, the Tallahassee Symphony (“Viva Verdi!”), Tenor Soloist in Verdi’s Requiem with Orchestra Iowa, Radames in Aida with Fort Worth Opera, Tenor Soloist in Bruckner’s Te Deumwith the Belgian National Orchestra in Brussels, Belgium, and Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera Orlando. In April of 2023, Gulley enjoyed a triumph with Portland Opera, jumping into the role of the Prince in Rusalka on two days’ notice and traveling directly to a dress rehearsal with no prior musical or stage rehearsals.
Amber Monroe*
as Nedda“A crystalline lyric soprano and a superb singing actress” (Seen and Heard International), Amber R. Monroe’s current season includes company debuts with Chattanooga Symphony and Opera singing Mimì in La bohème and Opera Birmingham singing Nedda in Pagliacci, which she also sings for her return to Glimmerglass. Additionally, she joins the Arlington Chorale for Vivaldi’s Gloria and Margaret Bonds’ The Ballad of the Brown King, and Lehigh University for Ein deutsches Requiem. Other recent credits include Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni/Opera Columbus), Nedda (Pagliacci/El Paso Opera), Countess Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro/Kentucky Opera), and Clara (Porgy and Bess/Opera Western Reserve). She was a featured soloist with the U.S. Naval Academy and the University of Maryland for Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 and the Capital City Symphony for Knoxville: Summer of 1915.
Ms. Monroe is a recent alumna of the Cafritz Young Artists Program at Washington National Opera, debuting as Ines in Il trovatore, followed by Isabelle in The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson and Mimì in La bohème. Other apprenticeships include Santa Fe Opera, the Merola Opera Program, and The Glimmerglass Festival.
Weston Hurt*
as TonioDuring the 2023-2024 season, baritone Weston Hurt joins the roster of The Metropolitan Opera for the first time, covering Alvaro in Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas. Last season featured several returns to signature roles, including Germont with Lyric Opera of Kansas City in their covid-postponed La traviata, Scarpia with Arizona Opera in Tosca, and Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with New Orleans Opera. On the concert stage, he joined Opera Roanoke for Britten’s War Requiem, the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra for Verdi’s Requiem, and Madison Opera for their outdoor Opera in the Park concert.
Notable opera engagements have included his role debut as the title character in Nabucco at Seattle Opera, his debut with New Orleans Opera as Germont in La traviata, his house and role debut with Houston Grand Opera as Scarpia in Tosca, his role debut as Iago in Otello with Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, and a return to Seattle Opera in another role debut as Talbot in Maria Stuarda.
Charles Eaton*
as SilvioHailed as a “swaggeringly charismatic baritone with a versatile voice,” Charles H. Eaton’s 2024-2025 season begins with a return to Minnesota Opera to make his role debut as Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette. He also makes his company and role debut as Silvio in Pensacola Opera’s Pagliacci. Mr. Eaton rounds out his 2023-2024 season as a resident artist at Minnesota Opera with role debuts as Sam in Trouble in Tahiti and Schaunard in La bohème. He then joins the Filene Artist program at Wolf Trap Opera, performing Ponchel in Silent Night and Brother in Seven Deadly Sins. Notable appearances in previous seasons include Fedorov in the world premiere of The Christmas Spider Opéra Louisiane, the baritone soloist in Fauré’s Requiem at Carnegie Hall, the English Ambassador in The Ghosts of Versailles with the Château de Versailles Spectacles, and Carl-Magnus in A Little Night Music with Madison Opera. He is a graduate of young artist programs at The Glimmerglass Festival, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Opera Colorado, and a third place winner of both the 2023 Saengerbund Awards and the 2021 Lotte Lenya Competition.
Micah Perry
as Beppe2024-25 Jan Miller Studio Artist
Hometown | Brookings, SD
Education | M.M. Baylor University, B.M. South Dakota State University
Recent Work | Die Fledermaus, Quisisana Resort; Carmen, Austin Opera; 2023 Studio Artist, Wolf Trap Opera
This Season at Pensacola Opera | Basilio/Don Curzio in The Marriage of Figaro, Beppe in Pagliacci, Mato in The Bear Who Couldn’t Fish
Jerome Shannon
as ConductorPraised for his “skill and verve” (New York Times), Shannon celebrates nearly 30 years as a professional operatic pianist, vocal coach, conductor and administrator. During this time, Maestro Shannon has held leadership positions with Sarah Caldwell’s Opera Company of Boston (Artistic Administrator, Assistant Conductor, Conductor), Virginia Opera (Artistic Administrator, Associate Artistic Director, Conductor), Pensacola Opera (Music Director and Principal Conductor, Artistic Director), Shreveport Opera (Music Director and Principal Conductor), Mobile Opera (General and Artistic Director, Principal Conductor) and the Janiec Opera Company of the Brevard Music Center (Resident Conductor and Vocal Coach).
John Hoomes
as Stage DirectorMr. Hoomes has been the artistic director of Nashville Opera since 1995. Also a freelance stage director, he has directed over 150 productions of opera and music theatre in the US, South America, and Canada. The New York Times declared his Nashville Opera world premiere of Elmer Gantry “An Operatic Miracle…in Nashville.” A June 2010 Opera News feature article acknowledged, “Hoomes has proved himself one of the most interesting stage directors in the regional market today with a seemingly limitless knowledge of repertoire.”
Since receiving his masters degree at Indiana University, Mr. Hoomes has worked for many professional opera companies including Opera Lyra Ottawa, Teatro Colón, Cincinnati Opera, The Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Opera Philadelphia, Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, and Opera Columbus.
Mr. Hoomes has directed, among numerous other productions, Salome, Rigoletto, Tosca, The Pearl Fishers, La Bohème, Carmen, and Der Rosenkavalier for Nashville Opera; Madama Butterfly and Carmen for Kentucky Opera; Die Fledermaus and Susannah for Indianapolis Opera; The Marriage of Figaro, Rigoletto, and La Bohème for Opera Carolina; Don Giovanni, Elmer Gantry, and Salome for Florentine Opera; Don Giovanni for Opera Cleveland; Ernani and Jenufa for Sarasota Opera; and Turandot for The Opera Festival of New Jersey, Nashville Opera, Opera Columbus, Opera Memphis, and Opera Carolina.
Recently Mr. Hoomes staged the world premieres of Robert Aldridge’s Elmer Gantry, which was recorded on Naxos Records, and songwriter Marcus Hummon’s chamber opera Surrender Road at Martha Rivers Ingram Hall in Nashville. He also directed the Southeastern professional premiere of two contemporary pieces, Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine and Peter Maxwell Davies’ The Lighthouse. In fall 2009 Mr. Hoomes directed the Tennessee premiere of The Fall of the House of Usher by composer Philip Glass, a groundbreaking multi-media production, critically acclaimed both by the Wall Street Journal and Opera News.
Production & Creative Team:
Conductor, CODY MARTIN
Stage Director, COREY MCKERN
Chorus Director, CODY MARTIN
Costume Designer, GLENN AVERY BREED at WARDROBE WITCHERY
Wardrobe Supervisor, KENDALL DAYTON
Hair & Makeup Designer, BRITTANY RAPPISE
The Music
The Venue
The Saenger Theatre is the premier entertainment venue in Downtown Pensacola. Seating just over 1,500 patrons, Pensacola Opera has been performing here for years.
Street parking is available as well as a nearby parking garage on Jefferson St. Downtown parking is free on Sundays.
Street Address:
118 S. Palafox Place
Pensacola, FL 32502
Events Beyond the Stage
Meet the Artists Reception
Friday, March 14
10:30 PM
Director's Champagne Brunch
Sunday, March 16
11:45 AM