Lyric Opera to stage “The Lighthouse” at Kennedy Library’s Smith Hall

The set of “The Lighthouse” in the Stephen Smith Hall of the JFK Library overlooks Dorchester Bay.The set of “The Lighthouse” in the Stephen Smith Hall of the JFK Library overlooks Dorchester Bay.

Next week fans of Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) who usually go to the Shubert Theater will be heading out to the tip of Columbia Point. Smith Hall—the multi-use space at the JFK Library with its panoramic ocean views, familiar as the site of the Museum’s Forum and Celebrate! Series— will host a first-class production of a chamber opera that takes full advantage of the vistas of Dorchester Bay.

From Wednesday through Sunday, Feb. 8-12, New England’s largest opera company will present Peter Maxwell Davies’ “The Lighthouse,” an ominous maritime tale based on a true story about three lighthouse keepers who mysteriously disappeared in 1900 from Northern Scotland’s Orkney Islands.

Stage director Tim Albery in his BLO debut, conductor and BLO music director David Angus and their design team all relished the challenges presented by this unusual venue, chosen as part of BLO’s Opera Annex series which offers audiences an opportunity to experience opera in an alternative space outside the traditional theater environment.

“A major component of Opera Annex is to select a performance space that enhances and complements the opera and to create an immersive artistic experience for audience members,” explains BLO general and artistic director Esther Nelson. “Smith Hall at the JFK Presidential Library and Museum, with its proximity to the ocean and wall of windows facing Boston Harbor, will do just that for ‘The Lighthouse.’”

Nicholas G. Russell, BLO’s director of artistic operations, adds that the JFK Library was on the Opera Annex’ short list of possible sites “from the get-go.” He further notes, “The railing visible through the glass [of Smith Hall] greatly enhances the feeling of being on top of a lighthouse.”

Equally enthused about the production is Ashmont resident Meredith Hansen, one of the BLO’s Emerging Artists, who will star in the BLO’s April production of the comic opera “The Inspector.”

“It’s very appropriate to have this opera, given its title and subject matter, at such an iconic place as the JFK library.” Hansen says. “Being right there on the water just lends that extra layer of truth to the whole production. Dorchester has such a vibrant arts community already that adding something like this to its ‘resume’ is really thrilling.”

Davies’s 75-minute one act concerns three lighthouse commissioners reporting their divergent accounts of three missing lighthouse keepers before the Court of Inquiry in Edinburgh, penetrating the fog of their memories as they recall the stormy night in question. The opera’s six male roles are performed by three singers: John Bellemer, Christopher Burchett, and BLO Emerging Artist in Residence David Cushing. The vocalists shift identities, playing the parts of both the commissioners and the vanished keepers.

Tickets begin at $33, with discounts for groups and students, and can be purchased at blo.org or by calling 617-542-6772.


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