Christopher Burchett in North Dakota's first opera premieres

Christopher Burchett in Soldier Songs

Barihunk Christopher Burchett, who showed off that he look pretty hot in a pair of skivvies in David T. Little's Soldier Songs, is about to make history in Fargo, North Dakota. On March 28th and 30th at the Fargo Moorhead Opera, he'll be part of the Poe Project Double Bill, which is comprised of two one-act operas, Buried Alive and Embedded, which were commissioned by American Lyric Theater as part of Edgar Alan Poe centennial back in 2009. These will be the first opera premiere ever presented in the state.

Composer Jeff Myers and librettist Quincy Long's Buried Alive draws on themes of anxiety and mortality from Poe’s story “The Premature Burial,” as a painter’s nightmares of death start to become real. It will be directed by Larry Edelson.

Composer Patrick Soluri and librettist Deborah Brevoort's Embedded was inspired by Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado.”  The libretto revolves around a TV news anchor who finds herself on the other side of the headlines. It will be directed by Sam Helfrich.

Aaron Sorensen & Jonathan Blalock

Burchett will be joined in both operas by soprano Caroline Worra, soprano Sara Gartland, mezzo soprano Jennifer Feinstein, bass Nathan Stark and tenor Jonathan Blalock, who was recently awarded a Barihunks Calendar Grant along with bass Aaron Sorensen to make a joint West Coast recital debut in 2014.

Tickets for the world premiere production of the Poe Project may be purchased online.

Fargo-Moorhead Opera was founded in 1968 and and is the only full-season opera company from Omaha to Winnipeg and Minneapolis to Billings. The company tours regularly throughout North Dakota and rural Minnesota as a part of its commitment to bring opera to communities that have never before experienced live opera.