The University of Nebraska–Lincoln opera program will present Leos Janacek’s “The Cunning Little Vixen” at 5 p.m. Oct. 3 and 4 in the outdoor patio of Kimball Recital Hall.
The production — which is free and open to the public — will be fully amplified, allowing for all in attendance to hear the performance from anywhere on the lawn or surrounding sculpture garden.
Due to COIVD-19, facial coverings are required for campus events and all participants are encouraged to maintain six feet of physical distance between individuals. Additional details on health-related protocols will be available here.
Staged by William Shomos, director of opera, the 90-minute performance will be sung in English with projected supertitles.
For Shomos, presenting the opera outside was the best chance at producing an opera during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Back in very early April, I was looking ahead, considering how we might produce an opera in a pandemic fall,” he said. “What if we were faced with every imaginable restriction short of the university being shut down and totally remote? For me, there seemed to be one obvious and only solution if I wanted to present live opera, and that was to do it outside. I thought of how much I have always enjoyed outdoor concerts and began to ask, ‘Why not?’ The ideas flowed from there.”
“The Cunning Little Vixen” is a story of the cyclical nature of life, featuring a forester, his family, a rescued vixen fox cub and other creatures of the forest.
“It’s a story about life, love and rebirth,” said Karin Berg, an undergraduate voice major, who is playing the role of the forester’s wife. “It is a lively, fun and meaningful story that I think we can all enjoy and relate to.”
Olivia Hacker, a first-year graduate student who is playing the vixen, said the outdoor experience enhances the story and performance.
“Honestly, this work almost begs to be presented outdoors,” Hacker said. “I think we’re all able to explore the story better due to the outdoor space, in that, nature is automatically included as the narrative sphere.”
Hacker describes the vixen as “feminine, witty, adventurous and quite strong-willed.”
“Her adventures throughout the opera whisk along, intertwining aspects of her risk-taking lifestyle with the instincts of other animals and humans,” she said. “Let’s just say she knows how to leave an impression.”
The singers will perform from the patio of Kimball Hall’s main entrance, with excursions into the grass and foliage. A nine-piece chamber group, the Trace Chamber Society, led by Rebecca Nederhiser, will perform orchestration from behind the singers in the lobby of Kimball Hall. A large LED screen will frame the playing space with illustrations that will unfold the story. The performers playing various animal characters will be operating large-scale puppets.
“While there’ll be a limited number of reserved chairs for the audience, I hope people will look forward to bringing blankets and lawn chairs to enjoy the opera from any vantage point they like,” Shomos said.
Illustrations featured during the performance were designed by David Tousley, an alumnus of the university’s Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film. The animal character puppets were created by Andy Park, artistic director of the Nebraska Repertory Theatre, and Jill Hibbard, alumna of the Carson School.
