Sierra Madre Playhouse presents Haunted, a compelling one-act dance opera with music by Paul Salerni and libretto by former California Poet Laureate Dana Gioia. Back-to-back performances are set for Friday and Saturday, June 5 and 6, 8:00 PM, at the historic venue. Based on Gioia’s narrative poem “Haunted,” this dance opera recounts a passionate but doomed love affair wrapped in a ghost story, which, at the end, takes a direction no one expects.
Haunted, scored for baritone, three dancers, violin, piano, and percussion, combines Salerni’s musical acumen with Gioia’s poetry to form rich and unique narratives. The Sierra Madre Playhouse production, conducted by composer Paul Salerni, features Aron Kallay; piano; Nick Terry; percussion; Shalini Vijayan, violin; Rod Gilfrey, baritone; and dancers Dawson Walker, Avery Zerr, and Ayesha Orange. The production team includes Aron Kallay, musical director; Jamila Glass, choreographer; and Ayesha Orange assistant choreographer.
The opera was premiered at Lehigh University in 2019.
Salerni’s collaboration with Gioia began in 1987 when Salerni set Gioia’s poem Garden on the Campagna. Since then, in addition to their one-act dance opera Haunted, they have written the one-act opera Tony Caruso’s Final Broadcast, which won the National Opera Association’s Chamber Opera Competition in 2007, three narrated Italian fables for orchestra, and 17 art songs. A second one-act dance opera The Room Upstairs is in the final stages of creation.
Salerni has been hailed for creating music that “pulses with life, witty musical ideas and instrumental color” (The Philadelphia Inquirer). He served as Composer in Residence for Brooklyn’s Concerts on the Slope chamber music series from 2022-2023, and his orchestral commissions include works for the New Haven Symphony, the Allentown Symphony, the San Diego Chamber Orchestra, the Northeast Pennsylvania Philharmonic, and the Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra. His chamber music and songs appear on the Albany, Bridge, Navona, and New Focus labels. Salerni is the NEH Distinguished Chair in the Humanities and Professor of Music at Lehigh University. He received a Ph.D. in composition from Harvard University, where he studied with Earl Kim.
Gioia studied music for many years and originally hoped to be a composer. As a poet, he has collaborated with numerous composers and musicians, mostly from the classical tradition but also in jazz and rock. Gioia has written six opera libretti and his poems have been set to music by such artists as Dave Brubeck, Ned Rorem, David Conte, Paquito D’Rivera, and Beth Anderson. He served as California’s poet laureate from 2015 to 2018. As Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts from 2003 to 2009, Gioia created and supported many major musical programs including NEA Jazz Masters, Great American Voices, and the American Masterpieces tours in musical theater, chamber music, and choral music. He previously served as the classical music critic for San Francisco Magazine from 1997 until 2003.
For tickets ($35) and information, please call 626.355.4318 or visit www.sierramadreplayhouse.org. Sierra Madre Playhouse is located at 87 West Sierra Madre Boulevard, Sierra Madre, CA 91024.