Quick Take
On Nov. 29 and 30, the Santa Cruz Opera Project will be hosting "Opera on Tap" at Woodhouse Blending and Brewing on the edge of downtown.
Opera famously suffers from a perception problem, or rather a few perception problems. Per the stereotype, it’s only for the erudite, it’s aesthetically wildly over the top, you better get out the tux and the ball gown (and tiny binocular-style eyeglasses) to attend, it only takes place in enormous intimidating performance palaces, and it belongs entirely to 18th-century Europe.
None of that is at all relevant to the performers and artists of the Santa Cruz Opera Project. The local group is all about igniting a love of opera for audiences, and, especially in Santa Cruz in 2025, that means dispelling those stubborn misperceptions.
To that end, the organization’s latest event is coming to a venue that is going to remind no one of scenes from “Amadeus.” On Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 29 and 30, SCOP will be hosting “Opera on Tap” at Woodhouse Blending and Brewing on the edge of downtown Santa Cruz.
Opera at Woodhouse is not unprecedented. In 2023, SCOP staged a production of Puccini’s “La Boheme” at Woodhouse. This time, however, a group of six singers will be performing a series of arias that correspond to particular brews on the pub’s menu. Santa Cruz Opera Project’s Lori Schulman calls it a “pairing,” like cheese with wine.
“Our intention was always to partner with local businesses and bring opera to untraditional venues,” said Schulman, the co-founder of the group and a coloratura soprano who is one of SCOP’s principal singers. “We really want to bring it up close to people, to have them feel what we feel as artists, being right in the middle of all the amazing voices and drama and not set apart from it.”
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