Join Calien Lewis, Opera Maine’s dramaturg, for insights into a summer of not to be missed Opera. Learn tips on what to look for and listen to in Verdi’s Aida and Ricky Ian Gordon and Mark Campbell’s Rappahannock County. Including audio and video examples. Scenic Designer for Aida Germán Cárdenas-Alaminos will share about the scenic design process, sharing a model and inspiration for the design.

Calien Lewis is a retired attorney who specialized in poverty law and non-profit management during her varied career (which included stints as a college instructor in genre courses and composition; executive director of a national peace organization and most recently, Executive Director of the Maine Bar Foundation). She has formal studies in music and theatre and has worked with Opera Maine since 1997, serving as a board member, scenery painter, prop master and dramaturg. She has researched for the production team and presented Opera Maine’s repertory in various venues. Her pre-opera conversations have been featured for over a decade.  

Germán Cárdenas-Alaminos, Scenic Designer, is an architect, scenic designer and painter born in Mexico City, who joined the Theater and Dance Department at Bowdoin College in 2019. Aida is his second production with Opera Maine, also designing for The Flying Dutchman in 2022. He has taught and served as resident scenic designer previously at Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ. He continues to work locally in Maine for Theater at Monmouth and Portland Stage Company. Bowdoin College design credits include Henry VI part II, Cows of War and The Wolves. Other design credits are: Last ship to Proxima Centauri, The age of Bees, Sofonisba, Anthony and Cleopatra, Amphitryon, These seven sicknesses, Assassins, L’enfant et les sortileges, Jelly’s last Jam and Eclipsed.