The Opéra Parallèle season continues the tradition of nonconformity

Since its founding 15 years ago, which now feel like decades, Opera Parallelèle has distinguished itself by presenting a groundbreaking and unusual repertoire.

The company is outdoing itself with the 2024-2025 season, which will see the return of Everest by composer Joby Talbot and librettist Gene Scheer (6–17 Nov.), the world premiere of The pigeon keeper by composer David Hanlon and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann (7–9 March 2025) and the long-awaited new production of Harvey Milk by composer Stewart Wallace and librettist Michael Korie (31 May – 7 June 2025).

With a few historical exceptions—such as Kurt Herbert Adler’s three-decade reign at the San Francisco Opera (1953–1981) and John Crosby’s tenure as founder of the Santa Fe Opera (1956–2000)—most opera companies, regardless of size, are dominated by a group of board members, executives, artists, and major donors. Not so with Opera Parallèle.

Not alone, but by any means necessary, General and Artistic Director Nicole Paiement and Creative Director Brian Staufenbiel have created, sustained and thrived at OP through thick and thin. Here’s what they say about the upcoming season.

Payment: “Our upcoming season continues to build on OP’s mission and goals to create opera that resonates with our community through its relevant storytelling, innovative productions, and collaboration. We truly believe in opera’s ability to spark awareness and conversation and bring communities together. This upcoming season reflects all of that.”

Staufenbiel: “As Creative Director and Stage Director of Opera Parallèle since its inception, I have built many close relationships with designers who have collaborated with me and OP to push boundaries and create new possibilities on stage.

“This season we are taking Everest to new heights as we look to the stars at the California Academy of Sciences and use 3D technology to create the first animated planetarium opera. A hand-crafted textile wall provides the backdrop for our world premiere of The pigeon keeperAnd in partnership with our LGBTQ family and community, we are creating a new production of Harvey Milk which is brought to life by flying sculptures which (combined) with projection mapping of historical film material from the 1970s form an unusual spatial construct.”

This production of Everest at the Morris Planetarium of the California Academy of Sciences will build on previous performances of the work by Opera Parallèle, which combined complex graphic novel-style imagery with a soaring sound world. The opera is based on the true story of an ill-fated expedition to the summit of Mount Everest in 1996.

The pigeon keeper is a world premiere at the Cowell Theater in Fort Mason, surrounded by the sounds of seagulls and sea lions. The opera consists of 10 scenes and is set in a coastal village where young Orsia discovers a mute refugee boy. Determined to find him a home, she meets the pigeon keeper, an outsider. By opening his heart to the refugee boy, the pigeon keeper frees the child’s voice and a family’s grief is healed.

The full cast and creative team will be announced in September, but the participation of the San Francisco Girls Chorus under the direction of Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe has already been confirmed.

Composer Hanlon says: “The librettist Stephanie Fleischmann and I began working on The pigeon keeper 2018 (amid constant images of refugees’ perilous attempts to cross the Mediterranean). We wanted to tell a story of these crossings and connect it to the many folk tales where a host’s hospitality is tested and a stranger may not be what they seem.

“The pigeon keeper is a modern fable that shimmers with magical realism and indelible characters: a taciturn boy plucked from the waves, a grieving fisherman, his exuberant daughter, an eccentric teacher, a kindly widow, and the ethereal pigeon keeper, the outsider who calls out to his birds and all the characters to find their way home.”

The “reinvented” Harvey Milk is performed at the Blue Shield of California Theater at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Revised since its world premiere at the Houston Grand Opera in 1995 and its debut at the San Francisco Opera in 1996, this version now has two acts instead of three, features new music, and a tighter cast. It was originally scheduled for an earlier season at the Opera Parallèle, but was postponed due to the pandemic.

Composer Wallace says: “We now have what we originally hoped for, which is a kind of mythical interpretation of (Milk’s) life and his development as an activist.” Paiement says: “The basis of our collaboration with Stewart and Michael was to take a new look at Harvey Milkto create a new and tighter version with a much more dramatic arc. This fresh perspective on the opera is sure to resonate with audiences and celebrate Milk’s brave work in a powerful new way.”

Production on OP is scheduled to coincide with Milk’s 95th birthday and mark the beginning of Pride Month. Casting and creative team will be announced in mid-September.

“Harvey Milk is the perfect opera for OP’s 15th anniversary,” says Staufenbiel, “because it is the culmination of so many operas we have produced that have LGBTQ stories and characters, from Caesar in The young Caesar to (Federico) García Lorca in Ainadamarby Emile Griffith in champion to Tim and Hawk in Fellow travelers — and who could forget Billie Jean King in Balls“Harvey Milk is an important LGBTQ citizen and a local and international hero whose story must be told in opera, here and around the world.”