Portland, OR (May 7, 2024) – Portland Opera is delighted to announce the company’s 60th anniversary season. Kicking off the 2024/2025 season is the highly anticipated production of The Shining, based on Stephen King's iconic novel. Set in the eerie confines of the remote Overlook Hotel, this chilling opera, with a haunting score by Pulitzer and Grammy-winning composer Paul Moravec and a gripping libretto by Mark Campbell, will take place at the Newmark Theatre on March 15, 19, 21, and 23m, 2025. Next, Portland Opera will present Giuseppe Verdi's classic comedy Falstaff. This new production will reimagine Shakespeare’s Windsor, England with video projections. Performances will take place at the Keller Auditorium on May 10, 16, and 18m, 2025. 

In addition to its mainstage productions, this fall Portland Opera will present the world premiere of Shizue: An American Story, part of Portland Opera to Go's Our Oregon project. This youth opera illuminates the remarkable life of Shizue Iwatsuki and her journey from Japan to Oregon. Like thousands of other Japanese Americans, she experienced both hope and horror in America—from the luscious taste of fresh strawberries from her fields to the injustice in America's incarceration camps. This is the second new work in the Our Oregon series, which commissions youth operas that highlight the experiences of Oregonians through a variety of lenses. The story is central to Oregon history and speaks to the deep emotional impact art can have for a community trying to heal and grow.   
After the world premiere, this show embarks on a two-month, statewide tour. For more than 20 years, Portland Opera to Go has shared educational arts experiences with communities around the region. 

“Our new season embodies resilience, beauty, creativity, and emotion—all the elements that make opera one of the most passionate and unique artforms to experience,” shares Sue Dixon, general director. “As we move into a new artistic home, we reflect on our storied past and look forward to our bright future. The pieces this season are chosen to pack an emotional punch and highlight the gamut of operatic experience.” 

The 24/25 season will see additional progress toward the company’s strategic goal of curating collaborations and commissions that harness the creativity and spirit that are unique to this place. In the spring of 2025, Portland Opera will workshop the company’s commission, Jubilee, by composer Damien Geter (Portland Opera's interim Music Director and co-Artistic Advisor) and librettist Lorene Cary. Jubilee connects the heroic story of the original Fisk University Jubilee Singers with their current Grammy-winning descendants, and investigates Black legacy, love, death, trauma, and joy. This opera will be written for 8 operatic soloists and a 15-piece orchestra. During the 24/25 season Portland Opera will also collaborate with the creative team of The Factotum to support the continued development of this excellent and exciting new opera for a future season. 

Throughout the summer months, Portland Opera will share opera for free in unexpected places with Opera a la Cart—Portland Opera’s award-winning mobile performance venue. The cart will be found around town in community gathering places like farmers’ markets, city parks, neighborhood festivals, street fairs, and wineries, as well as at other public events throughout the Portland metro area and region. 

The company is also delighted to welcome a new class of Portland Opera Resident Artists for the 2024/25 season. The incoming roster of artists will be announced soon and will also include a Resident Artist Collaborative Pianist returning for a second season.  

Portland Opera 2024/25 Season Casting

The Shining 

March 15, 19, 21, 23M, 2025 

7:30 PM | 2PM Matinee 

Newmark Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, Portland 

Sung in English with English captions. 

The performance is approximately 2 hours, performed with one intermission.  

With the Portland Opera Orchestra & Chorus. Also featuring local artists and the Portland Opera Resident Artists. 

In this chilling tale, the Torrance family arrives at the remote Overlook Hotel as the off-season, winter caretakers, hoping for time to rest, write, and reconnect. But as the snow starts to fall, malevolent forces awaken within their new home and their son Danny, gifted with a sixth sense, starts experiencing terrifying visions. The pressure builds as his father Jack is consumed by the demons of his past—and the more dangerous ghosts of the Overlook. Experience an unnerving journey through madness and the supernatural in this gripping adaptation of Stephen King’s iconic novel.   

With a score by Pulitzer and Grammy-winner Paul Moravec and a libretto by Mark Campbell (Silent Night, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, As One) this opera thrills and chills while also including sweeping melodic moments.  

"Moravec’s lyrical and, at times, frightening score joins the human narrative with the supernatural. At its root, it is a story about love, forgiveness and family, but with spinetingling twists that keep you on the edge of your seat,” reveals director Erin Neff. 

This co-production, set in 1977, includes rich scenic design and vivid projections. Performed in English with English captions. 

Published by and presented with the permission of Subito Music Corporation. 

A co-production by Opera Parallèle, Hawai’i Opera Theatre, and Portland Opera. 

Falstaff 

May 10, 16, 18M, 2025 

7:30 PM | 2PM Matinee 

Keller Auditorium 

222 SW Clay, Portland 

Sung in Italian with English captions. 

The performance is approximately 2 hours and 23 minutes, performed with one intermission. 
  

With the Portland Opera Orchestra & Chorus. Also featuring local artists and the Portland Opera Resident Artists. 

This fast-paced and rollicking comedy revolves around the witty, yet scheming, Sir John Falstaff. Vanity gets the better of our knight as he attempts to woo two wealthy married women with the hopes of financial gain. After sending identical love letters, Falstaff’s flimsy plan is revealed, and Alice Ford and Meg Page hatch a plan of their own to expose him. Merriment and mischief are at the heart of this opera, as our beloved buffoon endures humiliations (such as being thrown into the Thames in a laundry basket) but ultimately uncovers his humility and in the end, love prevails.  

Verdi ended his prolific career with this final masterpiece, considered one of the best comedic operas ever written, based on Shakespeare’s Henry IV and The Merry Wives of Windsor. 

Director David Radamés Toro explains, “Falstaff is probably the most perfect operatic comedy next to The Marriage of Figaro. Its musical and dramatic timing sets up every joke and every moment. As Mozart did in Figaro, Verdi finds moments of real honesty amongst all the silliness to give us a theatrical event with heart, humor, and exquisite music.” 

Our new production reimagines Shakespeare’s Windsor, England with video projections.   

Performed in Italian with English captions.   

Subscriptions for Portland Opera’s 24/25 season are available now; and single tickets will be on sale in the summer. For more information, and to purchase subscriptions, visit portlandopera.org, or call Patron Services at 503-241-1802.  

Portland Opera is grateful for the ongoing philanthropic support from our individual patrons and generous donors, James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, Marie Lamfrom Charitable Trust, National Endowment for the Arts, Oregon Arts Commission, Oregon Community Foundation, Regional Arts and Culture Council, including support from the City of Portland, Multnomah County, and the Arts Education & Access Fund.

Dates, programming, artists, and details for Portland Opera’s 24/25 season are subject to change.  

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