Monthly Archives: July 2014

Fun Ways You Can Support HOT

Hey there Opera Lovers!

It takes a village to move a mountain and HOT is able create World-Class Opera and offer innovative Education & Outreach Programs because of your Support of HOT! Here are a few ways you can continue to help HOT as a volunteer or the next time you go shopping!

2014 Annual Campaign Kick-off

The Aloha United Way is conducting its 2014 Annual Campaign Kick-off on Friday, August 29th, at Tamarind Park. As a recipient of AUW’s support, we are currently looking for a handful of positive & energetic volunteers to represent HOT from 6-9am by sporting an HOT t-shirt, “sign waving”, “making shaka”, and thanking their generous donors. In exchange for your participation in this event, free breakfast and coffee/tea will be offered after the sign waving, as well as parking validation. If you are interested in helping out HOT and AUW or have any questions, please email Renson Madarang, Development Associate, at r_madarang@hawaiiopera.org no later than Wednesday, August 13th.

This September – Give Aloha

This September, Foodland is hosting its Annual Fundraising Drive to Give Aloha, an opportunity to support your favorite non-profit organization, throughout the month.

For every $1 you donate (up to $249), Foodland and Western Union Foundation will match each donation up to a total of $350,000. The proceeds will be distributed to all of the non-profits participating. Since the program began in 1999, a grand total of more than $21 million has been raised for Hawaii’s charities!

Please spread the word, support this great cause, and remember to select Hawaii Opera Theatre!

To make your HOT donation, please mention the organization code, 77600, while shopping at Foodland with your Maika’i Card!

Shop on Amazon & Smile for HOT

Did you know that now you can enjoy shopping and giving back to your favorite non-profit organization at the same time!

Just click here the next time you are looking for something online, log-in to Amazon Smile via your Amazon and shop. It’s that easy! You surf the site, choose what you wish to purchase, and Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of all your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to Hawaii Opera Theatre whenever you shop using AmazonSmile.

Thank you and have a HOT time while you ‘smile’ the next to you shop on Amazon!

Hawaii Opera Theatre’s Annual Meeting to be held on July 30

Honolulu, Hawaii – Hawaii Opera Theatre (HOT) will hold its Annual Meeting for Members on Wednesday, July 30, 2014, at the Pacific Club, starting at 530p. Highlighting the meeting will be a presentation by HOT’s Artistic Director Henry Akina and Executive Director Simon Crookall, with reception to follow.

HOT experienced a successful year artistically, with three acclaimed productions on Oahu and made its return to Maui for the first time in eight years. Financially, the company saw significant growth in ticket sales by 31%, which resulted in an increase of income by 21%. The company also experienced a rise in support from the community, with contributed income growing to $1.1 million. Of note, HOT was able to reduce expenses by 11% from the previous fiscal year.

HOT’s Education & Outreach Team brought 77 performances of its Opera Express Program to students on four islands. This past year’s Opera Express showcased a condensed production of The Mikado and the cast was comprised entirely of Orvis Opera Studio Members. HOT Education & Outreach also held 4 Opera Residencies on the island of Oahu. The Residency program provides an opportunity for a school to transform into an opera production company, where students are the cast, creators, and producers of an opera for their community. This year also saw the creation of the Orvis Young Voices Studio, which provides Hawaii’s young singers (grades 7-12) the opportunity to explore and develop in solo voice performance.

This past March, HOT, the Islands’ only operatic company, announced the 2014-2015 Opera Season. Last season saw the presentation of a production from another company (Portland Opera’s Pagliacci & Carmina Burana) for the first time in nearly 40 years, the upcoming season will also feature two productions brought in from Finland’s renowned Savonlinna Opera Festival (Madam Butterfly) and the Glimmerglass Festival (The Flying Dutchman).

HOT also reverses a trend seen across the nation by expanding its repertoire to four full-scale productions. This includes the creation of a contemporary opera, Siren Song, which will be held in a new venue developed by Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu’s evolving Arts & Warehouse District of Kaka’ako.

Should a member of the press wish to attend the Annual Meeting, please RSVP with the HOT Administrative Office at (808) 596-7372 by July 25, 2014.

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Since 1961, Hawaii Opera Theatre (HOT), formerly a division of the Honolulu Symphony Society and incorporated in 1980, has served to enhance the quality of life in Hawaii by presenting opera performances of the highest standards, while maintaining fiscal responsibility. Through four productions annually in the Neal S. Blaisdell Concert Hall, HOT offers opera to almost 18,000 residents and visitors each season thereby increasing the public’s awareness and exposure to opera as a multi-media art form.

HOT’s educational programs for youth serve as both catalyst and active participant in the artistic education of Hawaii’s youth. Opera for Everyone provides a special performance of each opera for a large and enthusiastic audience of students. Resident Ensemble takes operas specially adapted operas, into elementary and middle schools with special tours to all neighbor islands. HOT’s Mini Residency program takes our education and production staff members into an elementary school to work with students and teachers to compose an opera production centered around curriculum components. Adult education is offered with Opera Highlights, a non-credit course at the University of Hawaii; Opera Previews, at the Honolulu Academy of Arts; pre-performance Lanai Lectures on the Neal S. Blaisdell Concert Hall lanai; and other presentations at stores or shopping centers.

Led by Artistic Director, Henry Akina, and Executive Director Simon Crookall, HOT partners with the Hawaii Symphony. Auditions are held, generally in NY, to cast principal roles from mainland, European, Asian and local singers. The Opera Chorus is a local volunteer organization.

2014-2015 Single Tickets Now On Sale

Single Tickets to Hawaii Opera Theatre’s 2014-15 Opera Season go on sale July 28

Honolulu, Hawaii – Hawaii Opera Theatre (HOT), the Islands’ only operatic company, announced the 2014-2015 Opera Season this past March. Reversing a trend seen across the nation and for the first time in nearly 20 years, HOT has expanded its repertoire and is presenting four full-scale productions. This includes a contemporary opera, Siren Song, which will be held in a new venue developed by Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu’s evolving Arts & Warehouse District of Kaka’ako.

Kicking off the season is Giacomo Puccini’s beloved and iconic Madam Butterfly (October 10, 12, & 14, 2014), directed by HOT Artistic Director, Henry Akina. Set in the mid-19^th century, this tale of love and deceit follows the story of Cio-Cio San (“Butterfly” in Japanese) whose romance with the American Naval Officer Pinkerton seems too good to be true. This timeless story has inspired audiences for centuries. Its popularity has seen spin-offs in film, television, and most notably, the Broadway musical Miss Saigon. The production was originally directed by Akina for the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland (2009 & 2014). Local fashion Designer Anne Namba, who joined Akina’s Artistic Team in June’s The Mikado, also worked on the costumes for the production and will be back with HOT in October. At the conclusion of its current run in Finland, the set will be shipped and travel through the Panama Canal to Honolulu.

Following Puccini’s classic, the trade winds pick up as Richard Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman (February 13, 15, & 17, 2015) sails to the stage. This Wagnerian epic has captivated audiences for more than 150 years. Set along the Norwegian coast, legends tell of a ghost ship, The Flying Dutchman, captained by a man simply known as the Dutchman, whose curse is to wander the seas. His only chance comes once every seven years. Should he find a wife that will be true to him, he’ll be set free. The production was originally conceived at the Glimmerglass Festival in New York.

The nautical theme continues as a young sailor finds himself falling in love with a mysterious woman after he ‘met’ in response to a Lonely Hearts Ad. The romance blossoms with one catch: they have never met. What begins as the experience of young love for the sailor evolves into a catfish scandal turned naval investigation. Find out what happens as HOT breaks new artistic ground with the contemporary opera Siren Song, written by one of the new generation of English composers, Jonathan Dove. This production will be under the stage direction of HOT’s award-winning Artistic Director, Henry Akina. Siren Song (March 20, 21, 22, 27, & 28, 2015) will be performed in at 445 Cooke Street in one of the newly revitalized warehouses owned by Kamehameha Schools on Cooke Street.

HOT brings the 2014-15 Opera Season to a its conclusion by serving up close shaves and meat pies when Stephen Sondheim’s darkly brooding tragedy, Sweeney Todd, is brought to life on the Blaisdell stage (April 24, 26, & 28, 2015). Directed by Karen Tiller, the opera explores the revenge of one man, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, whose bloodlust is satisfied in a way that only opera can deliver.

Single Tickets for the HOT Opera Season go on sale on July 28, 2014, and can be purchased online at www.HawaiiOpera.org by contacting the HOT Box Office at (808) 596-7858. Season Subscriptions are also available through the HOT Box Office.

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2013-2014 Season Highlights – The Mikado

The 2013-2014 Opera Season closed but shall live on in memory! Check out these pics from HOT’s acclaimed production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s classic, The Mikado!

Henry Akina directed a modern take of the production with characters costumed by local designer, Anne Namba, in the fashion Harajuku Girls, Anime, and Yakuza! You can catch the work of both in HOT’s 2014-2015 Season opener, Madam Butterfly!

2013-2014 Season Highlights – Pagliacci & Carmina Burana

The 2013-2014 Season may be history, but you can still enjoy killer clowns and the debauchery of monks in these pics from HOT’s production of Portland Opera’s Pagliacci & Carmina Burana!

The stage was packed with talent as the world-class opera performers joined forces with the amazing BodyVox Dance troupe from Portland, to stage an Artistic masterpiece for Honolulu audiences. It was the first time in decades that HOT brought in a production from another company but it willl not be the last!

Next up we have Madam Butterfly, of which the same production was originally staged by the Savonlinna Opera Festival (2009 & 2014), and directed by HOT’s Artistic Director Henry Akina.

2013-2014 Season Highlights – Turandot

HOT’s production of Turandot was exceptional featuring a talented cast of performers including Soprano Susan Foster, known around the world for the role of the Ice Princess. Joining Ms. Foster as Calaf was the rising star Tenor Jay Hunter Morris and the stellar Soprano Janai Brugger as Liu. These international stars surely gave our local audience a treat!

You can catch Puccini once more when the 2014-2015 Opera Season of Life Changing Journeys kicks off with Madam Butterfly this October!