<h3 style="text-align: center;"><em>U.S. Premier to be Broadcast on Nov. 10<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></em></h3>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">By Alan Schuster<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></h4>
“Marnie” is a brand new opera that breaks the traditional mold with its sweeping, cinematic scope and rapidly moving action. Written by Nico Muhly, a 37-year-old American contemporary classical composer, the opera is based on Winston Graham’s novel, which in turn inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s suspenseful thriller of the same name starring Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery. <span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>

The story’s titular character, played by Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, is an enigmatic young woman who makes her way through life by lying and stealing, embezzling from her employers before moving on and changing her identity. When Marnie’s current boss catches her red-handed, he blackmails her into a loveless marriage, leaving Marnie with no choice but to confront the hidden trauma from her past. Two shocking events near the end of the story send the troubled woman to the brink of suicide and she eventually must face the trauma from her past which is the root cause of her behavior. <span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>

Performing opposite Leonard is Christopher Maltman as her blackmailing husband, Mark Rutland; Iestyn Davies as his brother Terry; Janin Kelly as Mrs. Rutland; and acclaimed mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves as Marnie’s mother.

Robert Spano makes his Metropolitan Opera debut as conductor. Marnie is a co-commission and co-production with London’s English National Opera, where the production premiered in 2017. <span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>

<i>Tickets now available. All seats general admission. Adults $20; OLLI members $18; Students $10. Located at 805 Carteret St, Beaufort. Order at centerforthearts.com, or call 843-521-4145.</i>