BILLINGS — Opera may not be the first thing that comes to mind when people think of Billings, but for more than two decades, Rimrock Opera has worked to make the centuries-old art form a part of the city's cultural scene.
This weekend, the company will celebrate a major milestone: its 40th mainstage production.
Hear a preview of the opera here:
Rimrock Opera will stage Giacomo Puccini's opera "La Bohème" at Skyview High School, bringing together local performers and guest musicians for one of the organization's largest productions in recent years.
For Amy Schendel, the Fine Arts Education Coordinator for Billings Public Schools, the production is both a professional and personal milestone.
Schendel first worked with the production in 2005, when she stage-managed and directed the chorus for an earlier staging of "La Bohème." She sang in the 2010 production alongside both of her children, who performed in the children's chorus. This weekend marks her first return to the stage with the group since 2019 — and her son will perform in the pit orchestra.
This weekend, she returns to the stage as Mimi.
"I think what's really special to me is the fact that this is a Billings, Montana organization," Schendel said. "It's very near and dear to my heart, Rimrock Opera as a whole, but La Bohème for sure.”
Founded in 1999, Rimrock Opera has produced as many as several shows a year, including large-scale productions at the Alberta Bair Theater. In recent years, the company has adapted to changing circumstances and smaller venues.
"Its involvement in the community has kind of ebbed and flowed over those years,” said Schendel.
The opera tells the story of a group of young artists living in poverty in Paris. At its center is a romance between the poet Rodolfo and Mimi, a young woman battling tuberculosis.
"The four characters are sort of starving artists. Bohemians, La Boheme means the Bohemians," said Daren Small, current Assistant Professor of Voice in the music department at MSU Billings, who has performed in several operas over the years. "In two hours, you get to sort of see these friendships, where they exist, and how they blossom, and it's just, it's real people singing about real problems in real life.”
"Unfortunately, not a happy ending that way, but still beautiful nonetheless,” said Schendel.
While the story was first performed in 1896, cast members say its themes remain deeply relatable to modern audiences.
Frank Anthony Ruiz, a guest artist from Utah who plays Rodolfo, said the opera's lasting appeal comes from its focus on ordinary moments.
"The reason I love this opera so much is because it tells a story about the beauty and the simplicity of the small things that we are going to remember over the course of our lives," Ruiz said. “More specifically, meeting the person that you're going to spend the rest of your life with.”
The production also marks guest director Andy Meyers' first experience directing an opera. Meyers, the former artistic director of Fort Peck Summer Theatre, said he was drawn to the piece's emotional depth.
"There's humor in it. There's love in it. There's tragedy in it. It's sort of the perfect opera piece," Meyers said. "The opera art form is just so emotional, and you can let the musical emotion just flow you through it.”
“Everybody has been really humble. Everybody has been really collaborative, and honestly, this is one of the better productions of the show that I've ever done," added Ruiz. "It's been really awesome.”
In a city far from the nation's largest opera houses, the company provides audiences with an opportunity to experience professional-level opera close to home while creating opportunities for local artists to perform alongside visiting talent.
Company members say one of their goals is to challenge the perception that opera is exclusive and make the art form more accessible to the community.
"It's not, you know, for the rich or the snooty ... It wasn't until I got involved that I went, oh wait a second, this is like real people that I know and love," Schendel said. "When it comes to the arts, we need all of it."
“When you experience things in live theater, there's a certain human connection that happens between the characters between the audience, and the characters between all of the instrumentalists and the singers, and there's just this magic,” said Small. "When that happens, like, I'm getting goosebumps at the moment just thinking about it.”
For Ruiz, opera's power begins with the human voice itself.
“Operatic singing is the rawest sound that a human can make ... It's something that only the human voice can do,” he said. "What we're singing is resonating at a frequency that just really works well for the human ear, and no instrument resonates at that frequency."
As Rimrock Opera celebrates its 40th production, organizers hope audiences leave with more than an appreciation for a classic opera. They hope people discover that opera can be accessible, emotional, and relevant, even in Montana.
“It's a special art form and really wonderful that we can offer that to our community,” said Small.
"I think people can come and watch the story, and even if they're worried because they don't know Italian, I think the emotion of these actors will carry them through," Meyers said. "I just think Billings should be so proud that this is in their community, because it's really, it's staggering."
"La Bohème" plays at Skyview High School Saturday, June 6, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, June 7, at 2 p.m. Tickets are $25, or $15 for students.
