MNOP+
Throughout the 2024-2025 Season
Deepen your connection to opera.
These special, artist-driven events get you closer to the artists and their process in the intimate setting of the Luminary Arts Center.
- Songs of Sun & Snow with Evan LeRoy Johnson and Celeste Marie Johnson*
- An Evening of Russian and American Songs with David Leigh and Mario Antonio Marra
- Notte Napulitano with Mario Antonio Marra and Resident Artists
- Nymphs, Spinners, & Witches: The Magical Feminine in Opera An Evening with the MN Opera Chorus
- Warm Embrace: Songs to Escape the Cold with Ann Toomey and Joseph Li
- Warren Jones Residency Recital
Cast & Creative Team
Learn MoreSongs of Sun & Snow
Evan LeRoy Johnson, tenor and Celeste Marie Johnson, piano
Saturday, November 16th, 2024 | 7pm, MacPhail Center for Music*
Tenor Evan LeRoy Johnson (Romeo and Juliet) and Celeste Marie Johnson (MNOP Principal Coach and Chorus Director) will perform songs in recital by Respighi, Sibelius, Puccini, and Tchaikovsky. This brother/sister duo are born and raised Minnesotans and are both alumni of MN Opera programs – Evan in Project Opera and Celeste as a Resident Artist.
Recital
David Leigh, bass and Mario Antonio Marra, piano
Wednesday, December 18, 2024 | 7pm, Luminary Arts Center
David Leigh (bass) and Mario Antonio Marra (MN Opera Head of Music) will perform an evening of songs in recital at the Luminary Arts Center. Program to include music by Glinka, Rachmaninoff, Duke, Ives, and Shostakovich.
Notte Napulitano
MN Opera Resident Artists
Thursday, February 27, 2025 | 7pm, Luminary Arts Center
MN Opera Resident Artists will perform in a unique evening of Neapolitan music at the Luminary Arts Center. The program will be curated and narrated by fluent Italian speaker and MN Opera Head of Music and Director of Resident Artist Program Mario Antonio Marra, who will share duties at the piano with Resident Artist pianist Fumiyasu Kawase.
Nymphs, Spinners, & Witches: The Magical Feminine in Opera
An Evening with the Minnesota Opera Chorus
Friday, February 28, 2025 | 7pm, Luminary Arts Center
Twenty-four talented soprano and alto artists of our MN Opera Chorus will perform an eclectic concert of scenes from Rusalka, Cendrillon, Macbeth, and more, alongside works by Nadia Boulanger and Libby Larsen, interspersed with narration, prose, and poetry. The program will be curated and conducted by MNOP Chorus Director Celeste Marie Johnson, with Resident Artist Fumiyasu Kawase at the piano.
Recital
Ann Toomey, soprano and Joseph Li, piano
Saturday, March 1, 2025 | 7pm, Luminary Arts Center
Ann Toomey (soprano) and Joseph Li (MNOP Vice President, Artistic) will perform a multi-genre concert of classical, jazz, and more at the Luminary Arts Center.
Recital
Warren Jones Residency Recital
Saturday, March 8, 2025 | 7pm, Luminary Arts Center
Warren Jones, in collaboration with Head of Music Mario Antonio Marra, will curate a program of songs that the Resident Artists will present. The pianists for the event will include Warren Jones and Fumiyasu Kawase.