Happenings at Skylark - June 2022
Photo Credit: Glenn Trygstad
Summer is (finally) here! What’s not to love about that? It’s time to enjoy Minnesota’s lakes and parks with some fun in the sun! Take time, too, to enjoy the opera and music theater events coming to a local venue near you. There are a lot of great happenings this summer. Check out some of them below with our Skylark Connections.
Skylark for Seniors Performances Continue
Skylark’s summer will be filled with Skylark for Seniors events featuring singers who call Minnesota home. Now in its third season, our popular performances at senior residences will continue throughout the summer in the Twin Cities area. Skylark for Seniors performances are joyful, one-hour performances of selections from opera, operetta, and Broadway that lift the spirits of folks who would not otherwise have an opportunity to enjoy live opera. Our performers engage with senior audiences and create unforgettable moments and lasting memories.
Amahl and the Night Visitors Returns to Park Square Theatre
Skylark Opera Theatre will again present Amahl and the Night Visitors on the Andy Boss Thrust Stage at Park Square Theatre in St. Paul. This family-oriented opera has powerful messages of hope, charity and compassion that reach into our hearts. It’s a magical story, sung in English, with a cast that is a mix of familiar and new Minnesota-based vocal artists. We look forward to welcoming you this holiday season. Tickets will be on sale beginning in September.
Keep Advocating for Arts Support!
Summer also brings campaigning by candidates running for the state legislature. The 2022 Minnesota legislative session concluded with budget bills in limbo and much of the budget surplus, including a $100 million COVID relief bill for support of the arts, unspent. It is important to keep the arts alive and bring back jobs for the 57% of creative workers laid off during the long performing arts intermission imposed by the COVID pandemic. A great deal of progress was made at the legislature this past session, but more advocacy work is needed to keep Minnesota arts vibrant. With the 2022 election nearing, it’s vital to inform candidates of the importance of the arts to their local communities and the districts they are campaigning to represent. Please let them know of your support of the arts and ask them for theirs in the 2023 legislative session.
Thanks for Supporting Skylark Opera Theatre
Like every opera and music theater group, Skylark Opera Theatre experienced a long intermission. Our successful return to live-stage productions, first with Amahl and the Night Visitors and most recently with our sold-out run of Eugene Onegin, is a strong demonstration of our commitment to presenting intimate, engaging opera and music theater. We could not have emerged from the experience of the past two and a half years without the support of our corporate and foundation sponsors and individual donors. But the current economic environment presents new challenges—costs for our upcoming productions are increasing. As you plan your non-profit donations this year, please keep Skylark Opera Theatre on your support list. You can donate securely by clicking here.
Skylark Connections
Congratulations to Skylark Connections Justin Spenner (Cosi fan Tutte, The Most Happy Fella) and Skylark’s music director Carson Rose Schneider (The Most Happy Fella, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Eugene Onegin) for taking first prize at the Edvard Grieg Society of Minnesota Art Song Competition on May 7th! Justin and Carson are also part of our popular Skylark for Seniors performances. Another Skylark Connection, Thore Dosdahl (Amahl and the Night Visitors), was a finalist in the competition.
You can see Skylark Connections Kaitlin Klemencic and Melanie Wehrmacher participating in Elision Playhouse’s Flight of Short Musicals June 9-11. Kaitlin was part of the cast of Skylark’s production of Amahl and the Night Visitors in December 2021, and Melanie shared her theater talents as the costume designer for Amahl and the Night Visitors and Eugene Onegin. You’ll find more information at this link.
Gary Briggle, Skylark Opera Theatre’s interim artistic director, is busy this summer appearing in History Theatre’s Glensheen On Tour. Performances in Duluth are June 1-5 and 9-12, then on to Alexandria June 21-26 and June 28-July 2. Twin Cities audiences can see Gary’s performance in Glensheen at the History Theatre in St. Paul beginning July 9 through July 24. Also appearing in Glensheen is Skylark Connection Jen Maren (Candide, Seasons Greetings from Skylark). You will find more information and ticketing information at this link.
Be sure to check out Great Theatre’s production of Grease playing July 21-23 at the Ledge Amphitheater in Waite Park. Skylark Board member, Allyson Tolbert Richert, is the Program Director for Great Theatre. For more information and tickets go to their website.
Skylark Connection Adam Qualls will be appearing in Artistry Theater’s production of Shrek the Musical playing from July 15-August 14th in the Schneider Theater at the Bloomington Center for the Arts. Tickets are on sale now. Production and ticketing information is available at this link. Adam was the assistant stage manager for Skylark’s recent production of Eugene Onegin.