First for Gasser at SF Opera

‘The Secret Garden” opens this Friday at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley.

When the San Franciso Opera and Cal Performances open “The Secret Garden” Friday, March 1 at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, it will be more than just another world premiere.

The multi-media production is also the first family opera ever commissioned by the San Francisco Opera and the first opera of any kind composed by Nolan Gasser of Petaluma.

Nolan Gasser

“It’s been such a thrilling experience,” Gasser said, on his way to a rehearsal in San Francisco. “(SF Opera General Director) David Gockley is a brilliant man with a forward-looking vision about opera commissioning … it’s essential to the ecosystem of opera.”

The story of “The Secret Garden” follows an emotional arc from darkness to light, as two wounded children become transformed by their relationship to each other and to the earth.

“That’s a message that everybody needs to hear, even those of us who are lucky enough to live in Sonoma County,” Gasser said. “The story is grounded in the belief that working in nature, planting the seeds and getting your hands dirty, is what enables souls and spirits to heal.”

Gockley, who commissioned “The Little Prince” to be performed at the Houston Grand Opera in 2003, asked Gasser to write an opera for all ages, after hearing his orchestral works.

Gasser worked with librettist Carey Harrison to come up with a few ideas for the project, but “The Secret Garden” always climbed to the top.

“It’s a title that’s quite well known, and it’s transgenerational,” Gasser said. “You have grandmothers, mothers, daughters, granddaughters and boys as well who know and love the story.”

Harrison, a well-known British writer and son of actor Rex Harrison, narrated Gasser’s symphony, “Cosmic Reflection,” during its 2009 premiere at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

“We had already talked about collaborating on an opera,” Gasser said. “So I came armed with my own librettist.”

Based on the 1911 book by Frances Hodgson Burnett, the opera libretto stays true to the original children’s classic, unlike the 1991 Broadway musical, which changed the focus to the adults.

“For us, it’s really the story of these kids,” Gasser said. “I love the idea of writing something that’s inclusive of families and touches an audience that may not necessarily come to the opera.”

The production lasts just two hours including intermission, in order to keep young people with short attention spans engaged in the storyline.

“There’s some compression that happened, but all of the important parts are definitely there,” said director Jose Maria Condemi, artistic director of Opera Santa Barbara.