From the Musicians of the Minnesota Opera Orchestra
Highlight & Retrospective: SILENT NIGHT Chorus "Sleep"
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Another “Highlight & Retrospective” post: November 2018 the Minnesota Opera Orchestra (59 musicians strong!) performed the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Silent Night, by composer Kevin Puts and librettist Mark Campbell, for the second time (originally commissioned, workshopped and premiered, by MN Opera, 2011). This clip features the wonderful MN Opera Chorus and orchestra in the “Sleep Chorus."
This season there is no November MN Opera production at the Ordway and neither the MN Opera Orchestra nor the MN Opera Chorus is performing (instead there is a stripped-down, 19-piece chamber ensemble of MNOP Orchestra musicians and no chorus performing at the Luminary black box). This is because the Luminary is too small to use the MN Opera Orchestra and full chorus.
2 out of 5 MainStage productions at the Ordway involving full orchestra have been cut from the season, with no plans to increase in the future. This means a 41% cut to the majority of our musicians work and a 41% cut to the orchestra playing together. Without maintaining our work together as an orchestra, we cannot survive --we cannot retain our excellent players and cannot continue to attract a talented and diverse pool of players to our auditions and we cannot maintain our high artistic level and reputation.
We are trying to negotiate a fair contract that re-establishes our job security and our work together as an ensemble so that the opera orchestra and the opera company can continue to thrive. Minnesota Opera CAN afford to support its orchestra and CAN'T afford not to.
We still don’t have basic financial information. The president and GD of MN Opera is avoiding basic questions. We need you to let opera leadership and the board know that this is not how we do things in Minnesota! 612-342-9583 | rtaylor@mnopera.org
Watch the video clip here: