Curiosity, intergenerational connections and the contributions of Black women to science are at the heart of Stephanie Lucianovic’s children’s book, Hello, Star, and now the book is set to become a family-friendly opera. The work, commissioned by Opera Parallèle as part of its Hands-On Opera program, will have three performances at San Francisco’s Children’s Creativity Museum beginning Saturday, Oct. 25.
But in a first-time collaboration with the gallery 836M, Opera Parallèle will be previewing the work in advance of the world premiere. The residency kicks off Sept. 25 with a conversation between composer Carla Lucero, Lucianovic, and, joining the conversation virtually, librettist Jarrod Lee.
Céline Ricci, programming director of 836M, also a singer who founded the Ars Minerva opera company, wanted to show a work-in-progress in a series of behind-the-scenes events that invite audiences to participate in the opera’s development. These include a choral singing workshop that explores the power and joy of making music together (September 27), and an open rehearsal (Oct. 11).
Explained Ricci: “Every year we have a theme and the 2025 theme is dialogue. Inviting an opera company made sense, [because] opera is a meeting point of different forms of arts. The underlying thing was to show people what is behind an opera creation and various components of that. Singing is part of opera [and] we show the audience what singing is by [having them] participate in a workshop that [helps] them understand what an opera is.”
Nicole Paiement, founder and artistic director of San Francisco-based Opera Parallèle, is committed to presenting works that explore relevant social and cultural themes. She said she’s excited about working on Hello, Star.
“I wanted to bring uplifting ideas on the stage, and also wanted to find a story for young people that would bring science and music together in a poetic way, because we are moving into AI and [discovering] how that will affect our world of art.”
The story seems like a perfect vehicle for that purpose: a young Black girl, Celeste, learns that a bright light in the sky is coming from a dying star and promises to keep it company until the light goes out. As she grows older, she dedicates her life to understanding the mysteries of space.
Hello, Star has also proved a good fit for composer Carla Lucero, whose many credits include having been a director of music at Hal Roach Studios and creating the score for Las Tres Mujeres de Jerusalén (The Three Women of Jerusalem), a commission from Los Angeles Opera that premiered in March 2022. Since Paiement had previously conducted her music, Lucero was eager to work with her again.
“She’s an amazing conductor,” acknowledged Lucero, “and her being a woman, I thought, ‘This is great.’ So, she put me on the hunt for a story that has a beautiful message, and that resonates with me, as well — something positive and beautiful and beyond us.
Lucero came upon Lucianovic’s book and found a YouTube video of her reading it. “It was such a beautiful story in such a simple way that really addresses endless possibilities: don’t give up on your dreams; immortality; the continuum of life and death. The whole idea is that we’re stardust, and out of something that dies, that matter becomes something else.”
Paiement felt similarly. “It’s something we all need — young or old — having that resilience and the courage to pursue your dreams. That’s the story of Celeste.”
Baltimore-based Lee, the librettist, had an important hand in shaping the material. “He wrote a backstory that wasn’t there,” Lucero said, “and made a much bigger story so that it would appeal to people of all ages and still keep that idea of wonder that children have.” Paiement admits to being attracted to the work’s strong female lead character. “Opera has, as we all know, so many male heroes. There are female heroes, but they [usually] kill someone,” she said with a chuckle.
“We have enjoyed identifying stories with the underlying fact that women have courage and resilience and have looked for operas that promote the idea that women are strong and capable. In our [2019] commission [Today It Rains, about painter Georgia O’Keeffe], that was very important to us.
In addition to the casting of a young and adult Celeste, her mother, and her grandfather, Hello, Star features a mixed-gender chorus of 10, which was important for Paiement, who began the Hands-On Opera program in 2013. Offering students from various age groups the opportunity to participate in producing and performing an opera, the initiative has been a great success.
“I like them to be active participants in the opera rather than sitting in the audience,” noted Paiement. “There are smaller roles taken out of the chorus that give the opportunity for strong [singers] to have a bit of a solo. Part of the goal is to help young singers.”
The creators all agree that, at a time when science in the United States has been under unprecedented attack, it’s essential to bring an opera like Hello, Star to the stage and even to have it publicly workshopped. And they’re not the only ones: The Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins has signed on as a co-commissioner.
“It makes you realize,” Paiement pointed out, “that science has what art also has — the aspect of curiosity and wonder. We shouldn’t compartmentalize areas. The world is moving forward, and we need to embrace all the research that is being done and then try to identify how to continue to grow and learn from what is happening.
“Change,” she stressed, “is not our enemy. If we’re willing to look at it through a [different] lens, it can be empowering, so that we don’t feel intimidated but empowered by the doors it opens. And [we should] also have awareness of what it is, rather than just being scared of something. This story lends itself well in that way.”
