Another Sunrise: Identity & Conflict

Join us leading up to Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, for Identity & Conflict—featuring Another Sunrise and post-concert panel discussion.

To save her life, a Jewish woman during WWII denies her identity. Her story is portrayed in Another Sunrise by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer. The question of identity during conflict has impacted Jews for centuries and the struggle affects many others as well.

The Atlanta Opera presents this work honoring Holocaust Remembrance Day, which falls during The Opera’s mainstage performances of Die Walküre by Richard Wagner (a controversial anti-Semite whose works are effectively banned in Israel to this day).

COMMUNITY CONVERSATION
Rabbi Peter Berg, Tomer Zvulun, and Gene Scheer are joined by moderator Lois Reitzes for a post-concert discussion. Raising the questions of identity, personal choices, social pressures, and living in the world today, this concert and panel discussion seek to examine the choices people make during a crisis. Further, the evening is an opportunity to discuss the dangers of bigotry, especially in the hands of influential artists.

General Seating Tickets: $25

Tickets available through The Temple

WEDNESDAY
May 1, 2024
6:30 pm

Soloist

Esther Tonea

Romanian-American soprano Esther Tonea is a recent graduate of San Francisco Opera’s Adler Program, winner of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, and Richard F. Gold Career Grant recipient. Tonea’s recent engagements have included singing the title role in G.F. Handel’s Semele, Le Nozze di Figaro (Countess Almaviva), and as soloist in Carl Orff’s Carmina burana and W.A. Mozart’s Coronation Mass, and various recitals across the U.S.

A frequent collaborator with composer Jake Heggie, Tonea performed in the world premiere of If I Were You (Diana) and workshopped Callie Van Lew in Intelligence.

Conductor

Clinton Smith

Clinton Smith returns to Arizona Opera to conduct the world premiere of Frankenstein with performances in Phoenix and Tuscon. He will make his Indianapolis Opera debut conducting Charlie Parker’s Yardbird and will serve on The Atlanta Opera’s coaching and conducting staff. He also joins Georgia State University’s vocal coaching staff this academic year.

Clinton’s 2022-23 season included a return to Dayton Opera to conduct Charlie Parker’’s Yardbird with the Dayton Philharmonic in the pit. He returned to Arizona Opera and led an orchestral workshop of the newly commissioned Frankenstein and conducted members of the Atlanta Symphony at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church for their annual presentation of Messiah. On the orchestral stage, he made his guest conducting debut with the Georgia Philharmonic, leading two subscription concerts.

Clinton Smith’s 2021-22 season included a return to Dayton Opera to conduct L’elisir d’amore and Opera Las Vegas to conduct Strawberry Fields/Trouble In Tahiti. He covered Tosca and Attila at Sarasota Opera, and made his Opera Company of Middlebury conducting debut with Orphée aux Enfers. When home in Atlanta, he regularly coached The Atlanta Opera’s young artists. He spent his ninth summer on the music staff at Santa Fe Opera covering the world premiere of Corgliano/Adamo’s The Lord of Cries.

Mr. Smith’s recent appearances on the podium include The Atlanta Opera, Florentine Opera, Arizona Opera, Dayton Opera, Opera Orlando, Kentucky Opera, Opera Birmingham, Tacoma Opera, Opera Las Vegas, Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Pacific Northwest Opera, University of Michigan, Baldwin-Wallace University, and have included the preparation of over sixty operas in German, Italian, French, English, Czech, Russian, and Mandarin. He served on Santa Fe Opera’s music staff for nine seasons.

On equal footing in the orchestral world, Mr. Smith recently concluded a collective nine years as music and artistic director of both Orchestra Seattle/Seattle Chamber Singers and the St. Cloud Symphony, conducting over 60 orchestral, oratorio, chamber, pops, educational, and holiday concert performances. While music director of OSSCS, he saw subscriptions double and worked in tandem with the managing director to double annual fundraising events. Among his many accomplishments include conducting seven to ten subscription concerts a season, creating a chamber music series, annual Messiah performances, and partnering with numerous cultural and educational organizations including the Hong Kong Association of Washington, the Seattle Chinese Arts Group, German Consulate, Cornish College, and Seattle University, to name a few. He launched a composer competition which premiered a new work annually, and a concerto competition to showcase local talent. His carefully curated programming focused on locally relevant themes, and explored an enormous breadth of musical styles and genres.