A World Premiere with Minnesota Opera

BASED ON THE NOVEL BY KATE DICAMILLO
MUSIC BY PAOLA PRESTINI
LIBRETTO BY MARK CAMPBELL

A miraculous journey.
Edward Tulane is a toy rabbit who thinks of himself as quite exceptional. Content in his easy life, his world is upturned when he is separated from his loving family. Based on the best-seller by local author Kate DiCamillo, Edward Tulane takes us on a miraculous journey, from the depths of the deep blue sea to the streets of Memphis. Perfect for the young and young at heart, this Minnesota original shows us a true miracle—that even the most broken of hearts can learn to love again.

Sung in English with English captions projected above the stage.

Music by Kristin Kuster
Libretto by Mark Campbell
Based on the novel by Jane Smiley

Leadership funding provided by Linda & Tom Koehn

On July 9, 2022, Des Moines Metro Opera will add a new American work to the operatic canon with its world premiere of A Thousand Acres with music by Kristin Kuster and libretto by Mark Campbell.

Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Jane Smiley, A Thousand Acres is a modern retelling of Shakespeare's King Lear set on a farm in Iowa in the late 1970s told from the point of view of Ginny, the oldest of three daughters. Larry Cook, a prominent farmer, announces at a family gathering that he has decided to divide his thousand acres between his three daughters. While Ginny and Rose acquiesce to their father's wishes, Caroline demurs and enrages her father. Ginny tries to hold the family together but Rose, recovering from cancer treatment and fearful for the fate of her two daughters, is unrepentant in her criticism both of Caroline's selfishness and Larry's bullying nature. As Larry descends into rage and dementia, all the buried family secrets are finally laid bare. 

A Thousand Acres is family drama writ large. It is a story with great scope and broad appeal with distinctive female characters that explores ideas of family conflict, patriarchy, legacy and the strength and fragility of the ties that bind us together, all told through the eyes of its central female protagonist.

Ginny: Elise Quagliata

Rose: Sara Gartland

Larry: Roger Honeywell

Jess: John Micheal Moore

Ty: Keith Phares

Director: Kristine McIntyre

Conductor: David Neely

Now one of the most performed American operas of all time, Jake Heggie’s first opera Dead Man Walking was commissioned by and premiered at San Francisco Opera in 2000. Dead Man Walking is based on a 1993 memoir of the same name by Sister Helen Prejean, which was subsequently made into an Oscar-winning movie starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. It is a heart-wrenching story of grief, grace and redemption, recounting Sister Helen’s courageous struggle to provide spiritual guidance to a condemned Louisiana murderer in the months leading up to his execution.

Heggie has become the leading living American composer of operas, having also written The End of the Affair, Three Decembers, Moby Dick, If I Were You and It’s a Wonderful Life. Sara Jobin (most recently Evgeny Onegin, 2015) returns to conduct.

Sister Helen Prejean: Elise Quagliata

Joseph De Rocher: Tim Mix

Mrs. De Rocher: Stephanie Weiss

Sister Rose: Shawnette Sulker

Conductor: Sara Jobin

Called “A Marriage of Figaro for the 1990s,” Flight has both laugh-out-loud comedy and more touching moments as the story of the refugee who lives in the airport unfolds around a colorful cast of characters who find themselves delayed in the terminal. As the delay drags on through the night, the group learns that their overnight stay will not only be physically uncomfortable, but also emotionally challenging as they navigate relationships, deception, and eventual reconciliation.

Sung in English with English supertitles.

Runtime: Approximately 2 hours, 40 minutes including two intermissions.

Single-performance Tickets On-Sale: June 15, 2021

Saturday, Jan 15, 2022, 7:30 PM

Monday, Jan 17, 2022, 7:30 PM

Wednesday, Jan 19, 2022, 7:30 PM

Friday, Jan 21, 2022, 7:30 PM

Sunday, Jan 23, 2022, 2:00 PM