Friday, January 23, 2026—Norman Maclean’s A River Runs Through It is a semi-autobiographical account of his relationship with his brother Paul and their upbringing in an early 20th century Montana family in which “there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing.” Originally published in 1976, it is recognized as one of the definitive American stories of the twentieth century and a classic depiction of the American West. In celebration of the book’s 50^th anniversary in 2026, Opera Montana presents the world premiere of a new operatic adaptation of Maclean’s beloved story. With music by award-winning composer Zach Redler and a libretto by Matt Foss and Kelley Rourke, based on Maclean’s novella, A River Runs Through It premieres in September 2026 at the Ellen Theater in Bozeman, with additional October performances in Missoula, where some of the story is set. Opera Montana Artistic Director Michael Sakir conducts the world premiere, with stage direction by Foss, scenic and video design by Kristin Ellert, and lighting design by Stephen Sakowski. Montana PBS will film the world premiere performances for a future broadcast.

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“A River Runs Through It is a Montana story, but it’s also a universal one, and I can’t think of a more fitting inspiration for Opera Montana’s first commissioned opera,” said General Director Susan Miller. “Zach Redler, Matt Foss, and Kelley Rourke bring voice and emotional complexity to the story in new and profound ways. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its publication, there couldn’t be a better time to bring it to the stage.”

“Turning a well-known literary – and movie – classic like A River Runs Through It into an opera is a challenging undertaking,” said John N. Maclean, the son of Norman and himself the author of Home Waters, Fire on the Mountain, and other works. “The reward is a fresh perspective from a talented cast and writers who explore themes of love, loss – and fly fishing, of course – to bring the familiar characters to new life. My father would have been delighted to see his story on stage and his words, often only a heartbeat away from poetry, turned to song.”

In the opera, as in the novella and in director Robert Redford’s Academy Award-winning 1992 film adaptation starring Brad Pitt, Craig Sheffer, and Tom Skerritt, brothers Paul and Norman are adults who have grown apart. Paul, always a free spirit, is in more trouble than he cares to admit. Meanwhile, Jessie, Norman’s wife, is worried about her own brother, Neal, who has left Montana for California and seems to have lost his way. She hopes a family fishing trip will have a salutary effect for all concerned. On the river, Paul and Norman bond over Neal’s hopeless big-city ways, giving Norman an opening to try to help his brother, but Paul brushes his concerns aside. When Paul realizes his troubles are mounting, he suggests that he and Norman travel home to visit their parents and take their father fishing. That fishing trip—which will turn out to be their last—is a snapshot of where they have come from, how their roles have shifted, and their abiding love.

“For me, at its core, A River Runs Through It is an opera about family, faith, and the beauty we all share,” said composer Zach Redler, whose first opera, The Falling and the Rising, has been performed by numerous U.S. opera companies. “The music is composed with the intention of being incredibly accessible for a variety of audiences. Bluegrass, country, jazz, honky-tonk, Copeland, Maslanka, and others served as inspiration to create both the breadth and romantic nature of the Montana land- and river-scape as well as the intimacy of a marital feud and the boisterousness of a tin-roofed backwoods bar.”

The opera will feature an instrumental ensemble of 24 musicians and a cast of seven principal singers in the story’s central roles. Baritone Schyler Vargas stars as Norman, the recently married eldest brother; tenor Michael Kuhn is Paul, the youngest brother, a newspaperman, gambler, and an artist with a fly rod; soprano Christine Taylor Price is Jessie, Norman’s fierce, funny, loving wife; tenor Ryan Bryce Johnson is Neal, Jessie’s brother; mezzo-soprano Megan Marino is Heidi (“Rawhide”), a local woman who fancies Neal and believes in love; mezzo-soprano Phyllis Pancella is Clara, Norman and Paul’s mother; and bass-baritone David Pittsinger is John, Norman and Paul’s father, a Presbyterian minister.

“It would be difficult to find a story that is more distinctly Montana, but in that specificity of A River Runs Through It comes this incredible reach and universality,” said co-librettist and stage director Matt Foss. “You don’t have to spend any time standing up to your waist in a frigid river to recognize the rhythms of this story. It is the specific that invites us into shared, more universal experiences of family and love and trying to help those we are closest to - especially when we don’t know how or what to do.”

“Opera is an art form built on big emotions—feelings so intense and complicated that words alone are not enough,” said co-librettist Kelley Rourke. “It is hard to imagine a better starting point for an opera than A River Runs Through It, a complex meditation on love and all the other feelings that flow from it--frustration, joy, and grief, to name but a few. Working with Zach and Matt to reimagine the story for the operatic stage has been an emotional journey of its own as we studied both the book and the family history that inspired it.”

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The production of A River Runs Through It received funding from OPERA America’s Opera Fund, part of a North American effort to enhance the quality, quantity, and creativity of new opera and music theater. “We are deeply grateful to OPERA America for their generous support, which helps make this momentous premiere possible,” said Opera Montana Artistic Director Michael Sakir. “Zach, Matt, and Kelley have created an opera that honors the beauty, humor, and heartache of Norman Maclean's timeless work while illuminating it through their fresh, sincere contemporary voices. It is a privilege to bring this story to the stage with them.”

‍River Runs Through It

Music by Zach Redler

Libretto by Matt Foss and Kelley Rourke

Based on the novel by Norman Maclean

By kind permission of The University of Chicago Press,

Jean Maclean Snyder and John N. Maclean

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Commissioned and premiered by Opera Montana

With funding from Carol Glenn & Sal Lalani, Drs. Dennis & Anne Wentz, and Ron Lerner, in loving memory of his wife, Jane Lerner.

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World Premiere
September 18-20 and 25-27, 2026

The Ellen Theatre, Bozeman, MT

October 3 & 4, 2026
In collaboration with Missoula Symphony Orchestra
University of Montana’s Dennison Theatre, Missoula, MT

Running time: Approximately 90 minutes with no intermission

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A special preview performance and workshop will take place on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, at National Sawdust Theatre in Brooklyn, NY. A collaboration between National Sawdust, Seagle Festival, and Opera Montana, this performance will feature John Maclean, the son of A River Runs Through It’s author Norman Maclean, reading passages from the novella paired with the corresponding musical pieces from the opera. For more information, visit https://www.nationalsawdust.org/.

About the Creative Team

Zach Redler is a composer, musicologist, music director, pianist, and educator whose work has been performed in concert halls, opera houses, and theaters around the world. They are the recipient of the American Theatre Wing’s Jonathan Larson Award, ASCAP’s Max Dreyfus Award, and the American Prize for Opera Composition. As a musicologist, Zach’s research on and publications of Marcel Tyberg’s music has culminated in multiple premieres and recordings. Zach spent fifteen years working on the music teams of musicals on Broadway, regionally, and globally. Zach has received commissions from Opera Memphis, Seattle Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, Opera Montana, Arizona Opera, San Diego Opera, Opera on the James, American Opera Projects, and the United States Army Field Band and Soldiers Chorus. Zach has served on the music faculties of New York University, Manhattan School of Music, and Molloy College. Currently, Zach mentors opera writers as a part of Seattle Opera’s Creation Lab and is the music program director at the Dublin School in New Hampshire.

Matt Foss is a professional playwright and screenwriter whose credits include The Meyerhold Center (Moscow, Russia), Red Tape Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Oracle Theatre, American Blues Theatre, The Jewish Ensemble Theatre and Tipping Point Theatre. He has worked as an actor, director and writer with Montana Shakespeare in the Parks for the past twenty years. In 2016, his touring production of The Glass Menagerie performed at Russia’s Moscow Art Theatre. He is a recipient of the Kennedy Center’s David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award and his adaptations and productions have won multiple Joseph Jefferson Awards-Chicago’s top theatre prize. Foss was the co-writer and producer of the award-winning short film, Sons of Toledo (2021) and feature film Lone Wolves (2024) and was named one of the Austin Film Festival and Movie Maker Magazine’s Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch. He is a member of the WGA-East.

Kelley Rourke is a librettist, translator and dramaturg. Libretti include Eat the Document, Right Now, Lucy, and Stay (John Glover); The Beekeeper (Wang Lu); The Emissary (Kenji Oh); Jungle Book (Kamala Sankaram); Wilde Tales and And Still We Dream (Laura Karpman); and Odyssey and Robin Hood (Ben Moore). She is the recipient of Opera America’s 2024 Campbell Opera Librettist Prize. Her work has been commissioned and performed by the Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Opera Australia, Welsh National Opera, Washington National Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Chicago Opera Theater, Seattle Opera, American Composers Orchestra, Minnesota Opera, Carnegie Hall, Met LiveArts, Opera Parallèle, On Site Opera, American Opera Projects, Detroit Opera, and Calgary Opera, among others. Kelley is resident dramaturg for The Glimmerglass Festival and Artistic Advisor for Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative.

About Opera Montana

Opera Montana, established in 1978, creates and inspires community and collaboration through opera, musical theatre, and educational engagement. It presents three mainstage productions each year and a statewide school tour featuring Indigenous artists and music. The Opera Montana Veterans Chorus brings local veterans together through music. Its free ticket program “Opera for All” is intended to make professional performances financially accessible for the community. Opera Montana is committed to the values of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

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