Festival Opera bigger, better

It's the 15th anniversary of the Utah Festival Opera, and the company is bigger — and perhaps better — than ever.

"When I say this is the biggest season yet, that is an understatement," founder and artistic director Michael Ballam said by phone from his Logan office. "The orchestra is half again as large as it's ever been before," and the company he estimated to be about 300 strong.

Finding housing for all of them in Logan during the summer, Ballam said, is quite a trick. And the total number of patrons for the festival nearly rivals Logan's population.

This year, the festival's number of full productions has increased from four to five. Verdi's "Il Trovatore," Frank Loesser's "The Most Happy Fella," Gershwin's "Porgy & Bess," Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein's "Show Boat," and Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's "West Side Story" will all come to life with original staging, costumes and scenery.

In addition to the established annual concerts, such as "Musica Magnifica," "Carnivale Operafesta" and the Youth Symphony, the festival is adding performances of the children's classic "Peter and the Wolf."

And, as always, there will be screenings of classic films. "There's about 136 events happening between July 11 and August 11 — more than we've ever had before," said Ballam.

The season will open with "Il Trovatore," Verdi's tale of tragic revenge. Utah native Carla Rae Cook will return to the Ellen Eccles stage in the role of Azucena — a role that, she says, requires a large range and a "very solid vocal technique top to bottom, and the beauty of the sound of Verdi has to be a '10.' This opera, written by Verdi, is considered perhaps one of his greats."

In this production, the goal is to "bring the music alive and characterization alive as close to Verdi as we possibly can," Cook said.

"Il Trovatore," is a rather large opera — four acts. And in spite of the tragic ending, Cook says that the audience will walk away with an uplifted feeling.

Ballam said that "The Most Happy Fella" is a work he's wanted to do for 15 years, "in large part because the woman who created the part of Rosabella — Jo Loesser — is a very good friend of the opera company." Loesser is also the wife of Frank Loesser, who wrote the work.

"'Fella' is rather operatic in its scale," Ballam said. "It was a major departure from the things that were happening in 1956."