Serene Karplus, Nederland. We dined on tapas in the sunset, our rising stars not in some distant skies, but tableside, regaling us with shimmering song. They sang arias from operas, the famous and familiar as well as the lesser known. 

Opera tells stories - classic and modern, comic and tragic. Weaving in the emotion of music throughout the tale embeds another dimension beyond the written page or the  visual camera. Live opera vibrates the body and soul.

Our performers that evening represented the mission of the nonprofit Boulder Opera Company – to make this old art form accessible, inspiring and engaging, enriching our community, and providing opportunity to engage with local musicians. Their goal is to bring opera to the people, friendly and fun as it was always intended. Their class comes not from hobnobbing with the highbrow, but from reaching out to all ages with an experience of the stunning beauty of the human voice and the harmonies of the finest composers.

When Barcelona born Dianela Acosta moved to Boulder to raise her family, she missed her high-demand operatic career in New York. Seeking an outlet in her new home, she found a city teeming with talented artists and athletes of all kinds, but an opera desert.

She set to work building an opera company, wearing hats as disparate as nonprofit founder and fundraiser to theatrical and musical director around her desire to bring this art form to the masses. Her top notch vocal qualities served well in attracting superb voices with which to mount productions. Shows include summer opera in the park, children’s fare in winter, gala recitals in fall, and their mainstage production in spring. Their outreach includes youth workshops and summer camps, pub and cabaret performances, voice lessons for all ages, and private hire performances.

Now in its seventh season, the company continually attracts new talents, recently relocating another from the east coast to settle happily in Nederland. With a name that will become a familiar household word in these parts, Lizzy Hayes steps us with the joy and verve of a talented star.

Dianela and Lizzy perform with their fellow vocal artisans this weekend and next in a pair of short one-act operas they’ve dubbed “operatizers”. The first is a comedy of errors by a modern composer spinning beautiful melodies, sung in English, only a half hour in length. “Signor Deluso”, by Thomas Pasatieri, spins beautiful melodies around a witty tale with precise comedic timing. The second is a classic of the dramatic repertoire, a beautiful tragedy with powerful music and a famous intermezzo with piano/string quartet more recognizable and famous than the opera name “Cavalleria Rusticana” by Pietro Mascagni.

Performed at the intimate Nomad Playhouse on Quince just east of Broadway in north Boulder, both evening and matinee performances make the show accessible to all schedules. Opening Friday, May 3 and continuing, May 4, 8, and 11 for evening shows, it closes with a matinee on Sunday, May 12.

Tickets range from $20-$40, with an even lower priced special deal for our Mountain Peak Life friends attending with us on Sunday, May 12, at the 2pm matinee show. Contact us at 303-258-0799 to attend our outing that day or order tickets direct for other show times at www.boulderoperacompany.com.

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All ages of adults are welcome at all events. Sign up for all meals and events at 303-258-0799. Meals are served at the Nederland Community Center. Please call two days ahead for lunch reservations (more for dinners and breakfasts if possible). Missed the deadline? Call anyway. Please note that all age 60+ are welcome at meals regardless of ability to contribute financially.

(Originally published in the May 2, 2019, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)