New Opera "The Miraculous Staircase" Premieres this Weekend

“The Miraculous Staircase”, an original opera by Richard Chiarappa, will be performed this Sunday, November 10, 4:00 p.m., at St. John’s Lutheran Church, 520 Paddock Avenue, Meriden, CT. Admission is free, with a good will offering.

According to legend, this spiral wooden staircase was built in 1878 by a travelling carpenter (perhaps it was St. Joseph himself, some say) in answer to the prayers of the Sisters of Loretto, who needed an innovative solution to a perplexing engineering problem in their newly-constructed chapel. “When I read the legend of The Miraculous Staircase some years ago I was struck by the beauty and mystery of the story,” said Richard. “And I felt it had the right ingredients to be set to music: some nuns, a carpenter, a bishop, a blind girl — and a miracle!”

Richard spent the entire summer of 2011 writing his opera. Once completed, though, his challenge was finding a producer. He found one in opera singer and director Dr. Margaret Astrup, professor of voice at Western Connecticut State University (WCSU), who recognized the opportunity develop a new work for the operatic repertoire while giving her students the unique experience of being the original cast to develop a new opera for the stage. With that kind of support, Richard was soon able to record his opera with Dr. Astrup’s talented, enthusiastic students and fifteen members of the West Hartford Symphony Orchestra, where he is the Music Director. This will be the opera’s first public performance, and will feature the original cast from WCSU, preceded by a short talk by the composer.