BRJMarch23Flipbook - Flipbook - Page 14
Photo by Kelly Joyce
The Arts
Performers of Passion,
A Mission with Heart
By Sara Catherine Lichon
Photos by Kelly Joyce and Michael Willis
F
Cassidy Dixon as Adina and ensemble members: Kent Walley, Emily
Niemeyer and Noah Donahue
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blackriverjournal.com
Photo by Michael Willis
Stephen Walley
or Stephen Walley, Artistic Director of the new Gladstone-based opera
company Opera Magnifico, opera is all about the drama. The theatrical
flair of golden age and bel canto opera, a style where the singing is “a lot
bigger, and more visceral, with more emotion” than your standard opera, captivated
Stephen while he studied music in high school and college. There was something
about how bel canto singers held their notes, how they made audiences feel something that drew him to it. “That’s the reason I like opera, because of that emotional
place, and not just watching someone sing a pretty song. I want to experience the
drama, the excitement, the comedy, and everything like that.”
That need to chase such a feeling led to a small production of La Bohème by
Stephen and his friends in early 2022. Originally a passion project, this one production quickly caught spark and exploded into a professional company that is
now spreading the bel canto feeling throughout the Gladstone area, while also pro-
