Regarded as one of the most versatile musicians before the public today, John Musto is quickly becoming one of America’s most sought after opera composers. Collaborating with librettist Mark Campbell, Musto’s brilliant one-act opera LATER THE SAME EVENING was inspired by five Edward Hopper paintings including “Room in New York,” one of the UNL Sheldon Museum of Art’s treasured holdings from its permanent collection.
The opera imagines the lives of the figures in these paintings, ingeniously brings them to life, and connects them as characters—both directly and tangentially—on one evening in New York City in 1932. In the words of National Post critic, Robert Fulford, "Hopper's people, rather like Vermeer's, are usually seen waiting--and we never know for what. Audaciously, the opera ends the waiting, breathes life into Hopper's subjects, and lets them connect. We watch them shatter Hopper's compositions, replacing confident and carefully organized art with the messiness of life.”
The production will be staged by UNL Director of Opera, William Shomos. in the Sheldon Museum of Art for one performance only on Tuesday, April 28 at 7:30 p.m. This event is FREE and open to the public.