As magic shows, pop stars and mega-artists return to the Strip, Las Vegans now has another live performance option: opera.

Opera Las Vegas returns to the stage on Friday night, picking up a season delayed by almost 15 months and celebrating a new season set to begin later this year.

The company, the Nevada chapter of the nonprofit and advocacy group Opera America, also received a $ 16,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The grant supports its highly targeted Living Composers and Librettists initiative, a three-year program that showcases new works, said Jim Sohre, general manager of Opera Las Vegas.

“We are trying to give a second or third performance or more of recently composed and premiered works so that they can take hold and establish themselves in the canon of opera, just like the ‘Barber of Seville'”, Sohre said. “You just had to do it to become popular. “

Opera Las Vegas is one of more than 1,100 projects across the country to receive grants, totaling nearly $ 27 million.

“As the country and the arts sector begin to envision a return to a post-pandemic world, the National Endowment for the Arts is proud to announce funding that will help arts organizations such as Opera Las Vegas fully re-engage with their partners and their audiences, ”Ann Eilers, interim president of the National Endowment for the Arts, said in a press release announcing the grant. “While the arts have supported many during the pandemic, the chance to come together and share artistic experiences is its own necessity and its own enjoyment.”

The grant will go to the West Coast and workshop premieres of “The House Without a Christmas Tree”, “Approaching Ali”, “Strawberry Fields” and “Letters to Lily”. All are part of the 2021-2022 season.

Opera Las Vegas last performed in February 2020 at its fundraising gala, Sohre said. They spent the pandemic creating video programming, including performances of “The Magic Flute” and his recorded video of his educational program, “Who’s Afraid of Opera?” for teachers and students in the Clark County School District.

But the return to the stage is exciting, said Sohre.

“(I feel) just a little bit excited to be back in the theater,” he said. “We’re very relieved that the characters can actually interact on stage and be close to each other. Everyone is delighted to communicate with music again.

Opera Las Vegas will premiere a series of two “Don Pasquale” shows Friday and Saturday at Historic Fifth Street School, 401 S. Fourth St, Las Vegas. Tickets and additional timetable information are available online at lasvegasopera.com.

In July, the company will perform “Scalia / Ginsburg,” a comedy about the friendship between opera-loving Supreme Court justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The rescheduled season will end with performances of “The Ghosts of Gatsby”. Both operas were part of the Living Composers and Librettists Initiative last year.

McKenna Ross is a member of the body of Report for America, a national service program that places reporters in local newsrooms. Contact her at [email protected] Follow @mckenna_ross_ on Twitter.