OperaDelaware mixes the opera stage with the boxing ring in its next production.
The performance is called “Opera DEathmatch,” and features members of Opera Delaware’s company squaring off in some of the most confrontational duets from the world of opera.
“They are presenting some really smackdown arias and confrontation scenes - music from Otello, from Rigoletto. You're going to have some Verdi, some Puccini," says Kerriann Otaño, OperaDelaware’s Vice President of Engagement.
Working with OperaDelaware on the event is native Delawarean and former boxing champ Dave Tiberi, along with some local leaders from his boxing boot camp, who will do some real life sparring in between arias.
“We'll have our beautiful, incredible, passionate singing," Otaño says. "Our opera singers will be stepping into the ring in robes, in boxing gloves, ready to fight. But then we'll also see some real sparring, some real fighting from these executives who are trained with Dave Tiberi.”
Tiberi says there is actually a lot of overlap between boxing and singing.
“While we're in the ring, just like the opera singers, you're focusing on your art, you're focusing on what you have to say and do, and so much of that takes focus and discipline," he says. "And at the same time, you want to be a crowd pleaser.”
Opera DEathmatch is November 21 and 23 at the OperaDelaware studios in Wilmington.
Delaware Public Media's arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
