Madison, Wi. – Madison Opera is partnering with Wisconsin Public Radio to present recorded broadcasts of its
entire 2025/26 season during the month of June: Puccini’s La Bohème on Saturday, June 6; the world premiere
of Scott Gendel and Sandra Flores Strand’s Everlasting Faint on Saturday, June 13; and Mozart’s Così fan tutte on
Saturday, June 20. All broadcasts begin at 12noon Central. Listeners can tune in to their local WPR station or
listen online at www.wpr.org.
Madison Opera’s productions have aired on Wisconsin Public Radio every spring for over two decades, allowing
local listeners to re-live the season and sharing the company’s performances with listeners around the state and
around the world.
“It is thrilling to be able to share our season outside the walls of the Overture Center for the Arts,” says Kathryn
Smith, General Director of Madison Opera. “Our 2025/26 season was sensational, from La Bohème and Così fan
tutte to the amazing world premiere of Everlasting Faint, and I am so glad that many more people will get to
hear it.”
“The WPR Music Network is excited to partner again with Madison Opera to present these three wonderful
productions to our statewide audience, all hosted by WPR’s Lori Skelton,” says Peter Bryant, Program Director of
WPR Music. “Listeners will also have the chance to hear Lori’s interviews with the performers—a fascinating way
to learn more about the music and characters.”
The broadcast season begins on June 6 with La Bohème, Puccini’s classic opera about the lives, loves, and losses
of a group of young artists in a Bohemian quarter of Paris. It was recorded on November 7, 2025, and stars
Renée Richardson, Emily Secor, Terrence Chin-Loy, Kyle White, Wm. Clay Thompson, Lifan Deng, and Alex Taylor,
conducted by John DeMain.
On June 13, listeners will hear the broadcast premiere of Everlasting Faint, with music by Scott Gendel and
libretto by Sandra Flores-Strand, recorded at its world premiere on February 13, 2026. A young woman has died
of unknown natural causes – or so the doctor declares. Her ghost returns and tells her mother that her husband
murdered her. Shaken and resolute, her mother embarks on a journey to find out the truth and deliver justice
for her daughter. Based on the true story of the 1897 Greenbrier Ghost, Everlasting Faint is a ghost story, a true
crime drama, and an all-American opera. The large cast stars Katherine Pracht, Andrew Bidlack, Tori Tedeschi
Adams, Emily Birsan, Alan Dunbar, Matthew Treviño, Robert A. Goderich, Alexandra Burch, Madison Barrett,
Ryan Nash, Lifan Deng, and Oliver Thornburgh, conducted by Stephanie Rhodes Russell.
The broadcast season concludes on June 20 with Mozart’s Così fan tutte, a delightful romantic comedy about
two sisters, two suitors, a drunken wager about the nature of fidelity – and the complications that ensue when
young love and flirtation encounter reality. It was recorded on April 24, 2026, and stars Sarah Tucker, Sun-Ly
Pierce, Emily Treigle, Martin Luther Clark, Laureano Quant, and Andrew Wilkowske, conducted by Emily
Senturia.
All performances featured the Madison Opera Chorus and Madison Symphony Orchestra. Each opera broadcast
features intermission interviews with cast members and the conductor, conducted by WPR’s Lori Skelton.
Published on May 22, 2026
