The Stoughton Opera House will be participating in the city's Norwegian Syttende Mai Folk Festival on Saturday, May 19. We have several events lined up and will be open for tours in between performances (see below for details).
Saturday, May 19 Opera House Schedule
The theatre will be open to visitors between the hours of 9am-10am and 12:30pm-2:30pm. During the rest of the day, the theatre will be in use for performances.
Sid Boersma and Hardanger Friends: 10am - 10:45am
Sid is a Hardanger Fiddle player and fiddle teacher from Stoughton, Wisconsin. He has been playing this beautiful instrument for more years than he chooses to admit. He also plays bluegrass but prefers Norwegian music, and is interested in keeping the Hardanger fiddling tradition alive and well.
Edvard Grieg Chorus: 11:30am-12:15pm
For over 90 years, Madison’s Edvard Grieg men’s chorus has performed Norwegian, spiritual and secular songs for the public. The choir is named for one of Norway’s most famous concert pianists and composers. Grieg’s Romantic-era music borrowed from Norway’s traditional folk music themes and gave the country a national music identity. Modern listeners know Grieg’s work from television, video games and movie scores. The men’s chorus performs annually at the Syttende Mai festival.
The Yellow Boat: 3:30pm-4:30pm | Admission $12
Presented by the Stoughton Center for the Performing Arts, The Yellow Boat is based on the true story of David and Sonja Saar's son, Benjamin, who was born with congenital hemophilia, and died in 1987 at the age of 8 of AIDS related complications. A uniquely gifted visual artist, Benjamin's buoyant imagination transformed his physical and emotional pain into a blaze of colors and shapes in his fanciful drawings and paintings.
A Scandinavian folksong tells of three little boats: "One was blue, one was red, and one was yellow as the sun. They sailed far out to sea. The blue one returned to the harbor. The red one sailed home too. But the yellow boat sailed up to the sun." Benjamin always concluded his bedtime ritual by saying, "Mom, you can be the red boat or the blue boat, but I am the yellow boat.”
Recommended for children ages 8 and older, parents, families and adults.