The Granada will soon be full of opera lovers.
Opera Santa Barbara will open its 2022-23 season with one of the world’s favorite operas, Puccini’s Tosca. There will be one performance only, on Saturday, October 1, 2022, at 6pm.
Tosca is an operatic thriller set in Rome during the Napoleonic wars. Floria Tosca, an opera
star, is in love with the painter Mario Cavaradossi, who, unbeknownst to her, is a resistance
organizer against the occupying Austrians. Baron Scarpia, head of the Austrian secret police,
sets off a devilish plan to turn the lovers against each other as he plots to murder Cavaradossi and fulfill his lust for Tosca.
This story of love, mystery, and politics set in historical locations in Rome has been a favorite of music theater lovers since its premiere in 1900. Opera Santa Barbara’s production will star Greek soprano Eleni Calenos, in her pandemic-delayed return to the company after her triumphs as Mimí in La Boheme in 2018, and Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly in 2019. Opera Santa Barbara’s Artistic and General Director Kostis Protopapas will conduct the Opera Santa Barbara Orchestra and Chorus.
This new multi-media production will be directed by Layna Chianakas (El amor brujo/Il tabarro, 2021) and will incorporate video projections by Yuki Izumihara (Semele, 2022) and film sequences by Zach Mendez. The opera will be sung in Italian with the English translation projected above the stage, and has a running time of 2 hours and 15 minutes including a 20 minute intermission.
Tosca is the first of four operas in Opera Santa Barbara’s 2022-23 season. True to its
commitment to presenting classics and contemporary works side by side, the company will
follow Tosca with three company premieres at the Lobero Theater: Rossini’s comedy La scala di
For more information visit www.operasb.org.
