Really Spicy Opera (RSO) is a non-profit performing arts organization that produces live opera and musicals in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

. RSO is a professional opera company that operated in Boston from 2006 to 2013; it has been based in the Twin Cities since 2014. Its programming includes a mix of new musicals and new operas, with occasional classic musicals and operas. It is a member of

Opera America __NOTOC__ Opera America (stylized as OPERA America) is a New York–based service organization promoting the creation, presentation, and enjoyment of opera in the United States. Almost all professional opera company, opera companies and some semi-pr ...

and the only opera company in Minnesota with a primary focus on new operas and musicals. The company celebrated its 10th anniversary in June 2016 with a performance of the three-act Italian opera, ''

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had c ...

'', composed by

Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for List of compositions by Giuseppe Verdi, his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma ...

, at the Capri Theater in Minneapolis.Appelbaum, Hanne. '"Fascinating, Striking ''Rigoletto''.". ''Twin Cities Arts Reader'', June 4, 2016. RSO also toured across the United States and Canada in 2017-2019, was an ensemble in residence at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2018, and performed in France in 2020.

About

Really Spicy Opera has staged more than one dozen world premieres of musical works for the stage, including Aaron Krerowicz's ''Simple Gifts: A Copland Opera'', Julia Smith's ''The Here and Now: Love in the 21st Century'', and Leanna Kirchoff's ''The Clever Artifice of Harriet and Margaret''.Minnesota Fringe Festival. "The Clever Artifice of Harriet and Margaret." ''The Clever Artifice of Harriet and Margaret'', an adaptation of Alice Gerstenberg's play ''Overtones'', was the winner of the National Opera Association's 2012-2014 Chamber Opera Composition Competition.Considine, Basil. "Opera minus the high costs and testosterone." ''Twin Cities Daily Planet'', January 24, 2015. Its 2017 tour of ''Game of Thrones: The Musical'' was named one of the top highlights of the 2017 Tampa International Fringe Festival by ''Creative Loafing''. RSO appears regularly at festivals, concerts, and symposia. The company toured France in January 2020, giving the first-ever modern performances of André Grétry's ''Émilie, ou la belle esclave'' at the

Bibliothèque Nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

and th
Fondation des États-Unis

Recent history

The company staged the world premiere of ''Game of Thrones: The Musical'' at the 2016 Minnesota Fringe Festival, winning the ''Twin Cities Arts Readers Best of Fringe and Critic's Pick awards. In 2017, Really Spicy Opera embarked on a series of national and international Fringe Circuit tours, including performances of ''Game of Thrones: The Musical'' on the Hawaii Fringe Festival Circuit (including the O'ahu and Maui Fringe Festivals), the Tampa Fringe Festival, and appearances at the Orlando and Montreal Fringe Festivals. The company also performed in Nashville, Tennessee during its spring tours. RSO has achieved both critical and commercial success: ''Game of Thrones: The Musical'' was the best-selling show at its venue at the 2017 O'ahu Fringe Festival and the best-selling show overall of the 2017 Tampa International Fringe. Its world premiere of ''A Pickle'' by Deborah Yarchun completely sold out at the 2017 Minnesota Fringe Festival and was certified as the best-selling show of the festival by capacity. Its show PolySHAMory was praised by the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', received the Technician's Pick award at the 2018 Tampa International Fringe Festival, and was named a "Don't Miss" show by Montreal Rampage in 2019. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Really Spicy Opera cancelled its mainstage season, diverting funds to start the Aria Institute for Composers and Librettists, an intensive online training program for opera writers. The program has since been funded by the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, Minnesota State Arts Board, and National Endowment for the Arts.

Leadership

Really Spicy Opera has been led since its inception by founder Basil Considine, who serves as the producing Artistic Director.

Repertoire

Really Spicy Opera specializes in world premieres of new musicals and operas, which form the vast majority of its repertory. Some works that it premiered, such as '' The Clever Artifice of Harriet and Margaret'', have entered the new opera repertory. The company occasionally produces classic musicals and operas, including Verdi's ''

'' in 2016 and Jason Robert Brown's '' The Last Five Years'' in 2017. '' The Frat Party'', which was staged by the company in 2014, was named a semi-finalist in The American Prize's 2017 composition competition for theatre. According to ''Arts National'', Really Spicy Opera follows the programming model of a 17th-century touring French opera company.

Venues

Like many itinerant companies in the Twin Cities, RSO has no permanent home. It has performed at Minnesotan venues including main stages such as the Capri Theater, the Ritz Theater, the now-defunct New Century Theater; area churches; and Bryant-Lake Bowl's Cabaret Theater.

Music and theatre education

Founder Basil Considine was named to ''Musical America'' Magazine's Top 30: Movers & Shapers list for 2018 in partial recognition for the company's outreach programs.

Aria Institute

In July 2020, Really Spicy Opera launched an online opera writing training programming for composers and librettists called The Aria Institute. The Aria Institute is co-directed by Anne Wieben, Basil Considine, and Tess Altiveros, with a schedule and programming supports designed to engage more women in writing opera.

Recent mainstage productions

* ''Meow and Forever'' (2023) by Jodi Goble * '' Émilie, ou la belle esclave'' (2020) by André Grétry * '' PolySHAMory'' (2018, 2019; multiple stagings) by Kate Robards * '' The Princess Pirate Party Musical'' (2018) by Basil Considine * '' A Pickle'' (2018) by Deborah Yarchun * '' Amahl and the Night Visitors'' (2017) by Gian Carlo Menotti * '' A Pickle'' (2017; multiple stagings) by Deborah Yarchun * '' Ain't that Rich'' (2017) by Kate Robards * '' The Last Five Years'' (2017) by Jason Robert Brown * '' Game of Thrones: The Musical'' (2017; multiple stagings) by Basil Considine * '' Game of Thrones: The Musical'' (2016) by Basil Considine * ''

'' (2016) by

* '' The Clever Artifice of Harriet and Margaret'' (2015) by Leanna Kirchoff * '' The Frat Party'' (2014) by Basil Considine

References

{{authority control Minnesota opera companies Arts organizations based in Minneapolis Music organizations based in the United States Non-profit organizations based in Minnesota Musical groups established in 2006 2006 establishments in Minnesota