MESSIAH: ONE WOMAN’S SACRED STRUGGLE is touching and uplifting
SALT LAKE CITY — Most people are familiar with Handel’s Messiah, a beloved oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel with text taken from the King James Bible and…
OPERA CONTEMPO’s PROTECTRESS is a promising look at a new opera.
Opera Contempo’s latest project is a semi-staged, score-in-hand, reading of Act 2 of a new opera, Protectress, by local composer Jessica Rudman and librettist Kendra Preston Leonard. The final dress…
Two Fistsfull of Western Opera in Opera Contempo’s latest offering
TAYLORSVILLE — Opera Contempo presented a delightful double bill of Western-themed operas in the Mid-Valley Performing Arts Center September 11-13, 2025. In the intimacy of the Studio 5400 black box…
Ancient and modern mix in PROTECTRESS, a work in progress
SALT LAKE CITY — Protectress (music by Jessica Rudman and libretto by Kendra Preston Leonard) falls into a category of art I am hereby dubbing “Barbie Art:” a piece of…
Opera Contempo’s TWICE THROUGH THE HEART is worth seeing — twice
SALT LAKE CITY — Twice Through The Heart (with music by Mark-Anthony Turnage and libretto adapted from a poem by Jackie Kay) is a very short (only thirty-five minutes) contemporary…