December 16, 2014

Scenic City Opera (SCO) is a brand new Chattanooga-based opera company formed to produce high-quality, affordable opera productions for the tri-state area. The company will specialize in presenting lesser-known operatic works from the 18th through 20th centuries, and plans to start with 2 semi-professional, fully-staged productions with orchestra, beginning in Spring, 2015.

Laura Sage, SCO Founder & Executive/Artistic Director, recently moved back to the Chattanooga area after founding and running Lyric Opera of Los Angeles for about 12 years. The LA-based company had a similar mission of producing lesser-known operatic works, some of which she hopes to resurrect in Chattanooga in coming years.

“I’m so excited to bring my operatic vision to Chattanooga,” said Sage. “This is my childhood home, and I was so disappointed to discover that the Chattanooga Opera stopped producing major works a few years ago. But I also saw my move back as an opportunity to resurrect high-quality, yet affordable, opera in the area. I’m looking forward to working with the immense amount of talent here.”

As its first production, Scenic City Opera will present a fun, unique take on Mozart’s “Abduction from the Seraglio” as an episode of Star Trek, complete with Klingon bad guys, the ubiquitous Vulcan, and more. The production will feature a new English translation and setting by Director Josh Shaw from the Pacific Opera Project, Los Angeles. Shaw’s original staging premiered at the Southern Illinois Music Festival earlier this summer, and his upcoming Pacific Opera Project presentation in Los Angeles is expected to sell out.

“This is just the kind of production I love because it takes opera, an art form thought by many to be so stuffy and boring, and makes it immediately accessible to a large segment of the population,” says Shaw. “”ou don’t need to know anything about opera, and only some basics about Star Trek, and you’re going to enjoy this show. What better combination than some of Mozart’s finest virtuosic vocal fireworks and some silly Star Trek shenanigans!”

Sage and Shaw worked together in California on the Lyric Opera of Los Angeles productions of Wagner’s “Die Feen” and a double bill of “The Telephone” by Menotti and “La Voix Humaine” by Poulenc.

The SCO’s second production will be Heinrich Marschner’s “Der Vampyr,” a fantastic, campy, romantic vampire romp from 1821. Specific dates for both productions are to be determined, but “Abduction from the Seraglio” is likely to be in June, and “Der Vampyr” in October, 2015.

Auditions for all roles in both operas, including chorus, will take place on January 10, 2015 and will be open to singers within driving distance of Chattanooga. There will be a small stipend available for all principals. Please visit their website for details (www.sceniccityopera.org).

Sage specializes in working within a very tight budget, and brings many other skills to the SCO, including her prior experience as an arts administrator. She is a professional violinist and soprano, and has been pursuing a degree in arts management from UMASS Amherst.