By David B. Devan, Opera Philadelphia

In November, Opera Philadelphia is once again expanding our civic footprint and diversifying operatic experiences for Philadelphia audiences by launching an annual series that will offer fully staged operas in unexpected venues around the city.

Opera in the City, which brings the art form outside of traditional opera houses and into the community, will launch in November with the American Premiere of composer Ana Sokolović’s renowned Svadba–Wedding, in collaboration with FringeArts.  This series is about getting outside of the usual and doing different things with opera, and to say this project is different would be an understatement. We look at this as another transformative initiative for the company and the city, bringing new audiences to opera in new and unexpected places.

The production, funded in part by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, takes place on the night before a wedding.  On Friday, Oct. 18, we welcomed the cast and crew to Philadelphia for their first rehearsal and everyone is excited to be performing the opera in the U.S. The piece follows a bride Milica (Jacqueline Woodley) and her five girlfriends (Shannon Mercer, Laura Albino, Virginia Hatfield, Andrea Ludwig, and Krisztina Szabó) prepare for her marriage in a raucous and intoxicating a cappella tour de force. Opera News called the work “dazzlingly inventive,” enthusiastically endorsing the opera as “a piece to appeal not just to new music enthusiasts but to those interested in the wider possibilities of music theatre in general.”

The singers’ extended vocal technique will leave you begging for more.  Luckily, more is on the menu: After the performance, ticketholders will join the singers in a Balkan wedding celebration, featuring traditional cuisine and live Balkan dance music from the West Philadelphia Orchestra.

Special thanks to Dennis Scholl and everyone at Knight Foundation for helping us to bring opera out of the traditional performance hall and into new neighborhoods in Philadelphia to engage new audience members.