Dolora Zajick, mezzo-soprano and former Adler Fellow

Earlier this month, the San Francisco Opera announced its 2013-14 season, which includes the world premiere of an opera based on Stephen King's 1992 book, Dolores Claiborne.  I don't know about all of you, but even though it's not one of Stephen King's scary novels, I'm still very excite! 

Plus, if ever there was a Stephen King book that was suitable for opera adaptation, it's this one.  Instead a horror book full of monsters and ghostly manifestations, Dolores Claiborne is a psychological thriller with murder, repressed memories, and sexual abuse, things that have found themselves at home in operas from The Rape of Lucretia to Tosca.  I actually love the movie version of the book with Kathy Bates, so I can't wait to see how the story manifests itself as an opera. 

The brand new opera's music will be composed by Tobias Picker, with its libretto by J.D. McClatchy.  A favorite in San Francisco, Dolora Zajick, will be playing the title role, soprano Elizabeth Futral will sing the part of Vera Donovan, and Sarah Biller will play Dolores' daughter, Selena.  McClatchy has stated that the opera will be sung in "American verissimo style," and the words will be basic American vernacular without any "pretty English."  I'll admit that I know very little about opera, but the idea of an opera in everyday language seems unusual and intriguing to me.   Also, just looking at pictures of Dolora Zajick makes me feel like she'll do well with the role; she sort of manifests the mental image I had of Dolores while reading the book.

The opera is set to open September 18th and run through October 4th.  For those of you who would like to read the book before experiencing the opera, you can purchase a copy of Dolores Claiborne here.  Happy reading, and happy listening!