Minnesota Opera to Premiere 'The Many Deaths of Laila Starr' on Oct. 31

Minnesota Opera will present the world premiere of "The Many Deaths of Laila Starr" on Oct. 31 at the Ordway Music Theater, with performances running through Nov. 8.

The new opera is by composer-librettist team Kamala Sankaram and Minita Gandhi. Minnesota Opera commissioned and developed the work through its New Works Initiative, the company's program dedicated to creating new operatic repertoire.

The production adapts the acclaimed graphic novel of the same name by writer Ram V and artist Filipe Andrade. The source material's move from comics page to opera stage marks a notable crossover between graphic literature and new music theater.

Who is staging and conducting?

Mary Birnbaum directs the production. Christopher Franklin conducts. Rohit Gijare provides the choreography.

The creative team pairs an established American conductor with a director and choreographer whose names will be familiar to followers of contemporary opera and South Asian-led performance work.

Who sings in the cast?

The premiere cast features:

• Leela Subramaniam
• Omar Najmi
• Efraín Solís
• Mariam Mouawad
• Ashraf Sewailam
• Emily Finke

What languages will the opera use?

Audiences will hear the work sung in both English and Hindi. English captions will be projected above the stage, making the bilingual score accessible to the full house.

The engagement spans roughly a week and a half, from the Oct. 31 opening night to the final performance on Nov. 8.

The premiere represents a concrete outcome of Minnesota Opera's New Works Initiative, the commissioning pipeline that has positioned the Saint Paul company as a significant producer of new American opera. For Sankaram, whose operas have drawn attention for their formal inventiveness, and for Gandhi, the Ordway performances offer a first public test of a story that already carries a devoted readership from its graphic-novel incarnation.