Shepherd School Opera and Chamber Orchestra to present ‘The Return of Ulysses’

The Shepherd School of Music’s Opera Department and Chamber Orchestra will present the Houston premiere of “The Return of Ulysses” at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1, 3 and 5 at Rice University’s Wortham Opera Theatre in Alice Pratt Brown Hall.

The production will be conducted by Richard Bado, director of Rice’s Opera Studies Program, and staged by guest director Tara Faircloth. With 16 principal roles, the large cast is well-suited to the high caliber of the school’s voice students.

Monteverdi’s “The Return of Ulysses,” adapted in 1640 from Homer’s “Odyssey,” is one of the earliest operas ever written. The opera draws on contemporary themes of love, faithfulness, greed and political power through the epic tale of the hero Ulysses and his struggle to return to Ithaca after a thwarted journey of more than 20 years. Supported by the goddess Minerva and masquerading as an old beggar, he discloses his true identity and power as he confronts the unwanted suitors who have pillaged his home and wooed his long-suffering wife, Penelope.

Bado said that beyond the beautiful and dramatic music, the appeal of such an old tale is its relevance today. “The story is ancient, but the ideas are timeless. Do we get to choose our own way in life or is our course predetermined by the gods? Are humans controlled by fate, and do our choices matter (if indeed they are choices at all)? Mortals through the ages have been confronted with these questions — questions that will remain at the heart of the human condition for as long as we walk the earth.”

Monteverdi is best known as the composer of “The Coronation of Poppea,” which was presented by the Shepherd School’s Opera Department in 2010.

The opera will be presented in the original Italian with English surtitles. Tickets are $12 for general admission and $10 for students and senior citizens. For tickets, call the Shepherd School Concert Office at 713-348-8000.