SLOW DUSK

Floyd’s first opera is based on his own short story “A Lengthening Shadow,” which takes place in the sandhills of the Carolinas and features familiar themes of poverty and religious fundamentalism. Sadie and Micah plan to marry, against the wishes of Sadie’s family who oppose the relationship because their families belong to different religious sects. Despite their poor land prospects, they dream of working hard and building a future together. While Sadie’s aunt Sue attempts to dissuade her, tragedy strikes, dashing the young couples’ hopes.

THE SOJOURNER AND MOLLIE SINCLAIR

Written in the 60's as a one-act tale of 18th-century Scottish immigrants, to commemorate North Carolina’s Tercentenary. This comedic opera in one act covers the story of Mollie Sinclair and Dougald MacDougald, a Scottish laid, as they navigate settling amongst the people of colonial North Carolina. Despite having been in the colonies several years, Dougald finds it difficult to let go of his Scottish heritage and set aside his loyalty to his homeland. Living in America brings many new challenges and customs, including a march against King George's stamp act. The Scottish clansmen must decide if they will join their community to fight against this new law or remain loyal to the their country's king.

Dr. Joshua Wentz moved to Los Angeles in 2016 to take a position as a music professor at Los Angeles Mission College, a Hispanic-serving institution of higher learning, in Sylmar. Almost immediately, he realized that the students coming into his music classes from the NE San Fernando Valley were seriously lacking in musical background, experience, and education. He wondered why students over the years were coming to college less prepared and struggling to do well academically. After some research, he realized that most of the feeder schools in and around Sylmar didn't have strong music programs — many had no music programs at ALL!

This was a major factor that helped Wentz realize the need for music education in the SFV and led to the creation of Mission Opera. This lack of music education, paired with the absence of performance opportunities and hands-on training for community college students, helped the realization that Mission Opera could target and help multiple disadvantaged communities. Mission Opera is a performing arts education nonprofit who produces 3-4 full, mainstage operas each year. Also, our Boxtop Opera Educational Outreach program serves part of our mission to go into low-funded schools in and around LA to teach children about opera and classical music, through live performances with three singers, a pianist and a sound tech with a "box" of props and costume pieces. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we had various types of instrumental and vocal music online programs and went into over a dozen local schools to assist teachers in teaching music - a hard-to-covert discipline - during the pandemic.

Mission Opera strives to produce high-quality, accessible opera and musical theater, to provide members of the community the opportunity to participate at all levels of these productions, and to afford both participants and audiences enjoyment and a deeper appreciation of opera and musical theater.