The Secret River - Piano Workshop

Be part of the creative process as Opera Orlando presents the piano workshop for its newly commissioned work The Secret River, with music by Stella Sung and a libretto by Pulitzer prize- winner Mark Campbell. The Secret River is a one-act chamber opera based on the young adult book of the same name by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. A Pulitzer prize- winning author, Ms. Rawlings was well known for her novel, The Yearling, and several other writings that chronicled her experiences living in and around Central Florida. Her young adult book, The Secret River, was published posthumously in 1955 and subsequently awarded a Newbery Honor Book Award.

The Secret River is set in Central Florida during the Great Depression. Its central figure is Calpurnia, a young, intelligent girl with a robust imagination. Calpurnia learns from her mother and father that her family and community have fallen on hard times and that many people are going hungry. To help them, she decides to visit a wise woman in the forest named Mother Albirtha, who tells Calpurnia of a secret river that teems with fish, but that she will only find it when she overcomes her fears and believes in her own imagination. Calpurnia ventures into the forest, finds the river, and brings home enough food to feed her family and the community. This workshop will feature the cast singing through the work for the first time with piano. It is a critical part of the development process, as it provides an opportunity to make changes and improvements to the piece in its early stages.

The opera will premiere in December of 2021 as part of the 2021-22 MainStage series at Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. The production will feature musicians from the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and members of the Opera Orlando Youth Company under the baton of Everett McCorvey, founder and music director of the American Spiritual Ensemble, with stage direction by Dennis Whitehead Darling and costumes by Jessica Jahn.