GSU Opera Theater presented "Our Town,” especially in 2023 – on what would have been Ned Rorem’s 100th birthday. Dr. JJ Hudson, the Valerie Adams Professor of Opera, directed. Atlanta Opera’s Rolando Salazar guest-conducted the GSU Symphony Orchestra and welcomed nationally renowned Projection Artist Brittany Marenda to the production.
The citizens of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, move through their lives with regularity and grace. In this small, proud community, children are born, soda shops are frequented, weddings are celebrated, and funerals are faithfully attended. Yet, in all this regularity, there exists the extraordinary … if one can recognize it.
Thornton Wilder’s 1938 play, “Our Town,” is a beloved American classic. It has inspired radio, television, and film adaptations, including a highly successful 1940 film with music by Aaron Copland. However, rights for an operatic adaptation were granted only recently to librettist J.D. McClatchy and distinguished American composer Ned Rorem. Like Wilder's play, their stunning opera, “Our Town” (2006) is both intimate and expansive.
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