Company Profile
Opera Parallele
Company Overview
Opera Parallèle is a professional, non-profit company that develops and presents contemporary operas that aspire to high musical and dramatic standards, embracing modern aesthetics, social relevance, and the creative use of technology to engage audiences in a compelling new culture of dramatic vocal works.
In the artistic landscape of the San Francisco Bay Area, Opera Parallèle (OP) has experienced a remarkable growth trajectory over the past six years. Its artistic success has been lauded by the media and the public as the company continues to delight audiences with its innovative productions and musical excellence.
The company’s goal is to give a sense of intimacy to its productions and to encourage an on-going place in the repertoire to earlier contemporary works. Under the artistic leadership of Founder and Artistic Director and Conductor, Nicole Paiement, OP presents a wide range of 20th and 21st century works, commissions re-orchestrations of contemporary grand opera as well as new operas. These productions provide a platform to bring together new audiences and emerging talent through workshops, seminars, readings of new works, and educational outreach programs. Eager to expose the Bay Area’s youth and adults to contemporary opera, OP’s 3-tiered educational outreach program introduces opera, in depth, to a wide range of age groups.
The company has earned significant national and international attention for its high-impact production and performance style. Among its many accolades and awards the company was awarded the First Prize in the Professional Performance category from the National Opera Association’s Opera Production Competition in two successive years, for its Orphée and The Great Gatsby productions.
Opera Parallèle, by its very name, is committed to collaboration with Bay Area artists and institutions. Institutional collaborators have included SFMOMA, the de Young Museum, the Contemporary Jewish Museum, the California Academy of Sciences, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the San Francisco Girls Chorus, La Tania Baile Flamenco, the African-American Arts & Culture Complex, the San Francisco Public Library, SFJAZZ, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and ZSpace.
The annual budget is just over $1 million, and the organization is poised for significant growth. To lead the organization in the realization of both near term and long range goals a full time professional Executive Director is now being recruited.
Company History
Artistic director Nicole Paiement founded Ensemble Parallèle (now Opera Parallèle) to perform new music and to collaborate with various artists such as dancers, choreographers, and visual and multimedia artists — as the Ensemble’s name suggests, in parallel. These collaborations allowed Opera Parallèle to reach a wider-ranging and younger audience.
In 2007 Opera Parallèle began to focus exclusively on contemporary opera. In February of that year, the organization presented the world premiere of Lou Harrison’s opera Young Caesar. Its productions have included the California premiere of Alban Berg’s opera Wozzeck in the chamber orchestration by composer John Rea (2010); the San Francisco Bay Area premiere of Philip Glass’ opera Orphée (2011); and The Four Saints in Three Acts opera collaboration with SF/MOMA (2011). In February 2012 Opera Parallèle embarked on the world premiere of the chamber orchestration of John Harbison’s opera The Great Gatsby. 2013 was a year filled new works from Osvaldo Golijov’s riveting opera Ainadamar and Opera Parallèle’s Graphic Opera Project Gesualdo – Prince of Madness. In addition, Opera Parallèle thrilled audiences with Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti. In 2014, Opera Parallèle presented Mahagonny Songspiel (Kurt Weill) in conjunction with Les Mamelles de Tirésias (Francis Poulenc) which was a huge success, and Anya 17 (Adam Gorb), an intense, moving, new opera. In 2015, Opera Parallèle brought back a “masterful and remarkably potent revival” (Joshua Kosman) of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, and an almost entirely sold-out run of Tarik O’Regan’s Heart of Darkness. In the 2015/16 season, OP collaborated with SFJAZZ for 8 sold out shows of Champion: An Opera in Jazz by Terence Blanchard, and presented Peter Maxwell Davies’ mystery thriller The Lighthouse. The 2016/17 season begins with a third Hands-on-Opera commission, Xochitl and the Flowers, presents Jonathan Dove’s Flight in February 2017, and Les Enfants Terribles by Philip Glass in honor of the composers 80th birthday.
Opera Parallèle has also earned significant national and international attention for its high-impact production and performance style. OP was awarded the First Prize in the Professional Performance category from the National Opera Association’s Opera Production Competition in two successive years, for its Orphée and Gatsby productions.
OP also develops new works and new modes of presentation through its Opera Lab project. In 2015, Opera Lab worked to use projections and other visual media in innovative ways for the May production of Tarik O’Regan’s Heart of Darkness.
Eager to expose the Bay Area’s youth and adults to contemporary opera, Opera Parallèle 3-tiered educational outreach program introduces opera, in depth, to a wide range of age groups.
Notable Accomplishments / Recognition
In the artistic landscape of the San Francisco Bay Area, Opera Parallèle (OP) has experienced a remarkable growth trajectory over the past six years. Its artistic success has been lauded as the company continues to delight audiences with its innovative productions and musical excellence.
Opera Parallèle presents productions that aspire to high musical and dramatic standards, embracing modern aesthetics, social relevance, and the creative use of technology. OP’s interactive educational and outreach programs give Bay Area children direct involvement with opera and expose diverse populations of all ages to vital operatic art.
Find out more at www.operaparallele.org