BOZEMAN — The folks at Opera Montana are gearing up for their first commissioned piece, "A River Runs Through It," an iconic piece of Montana literature.
Susan Miller, the general director of Opera Montana, visited Montana This Morning on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, and shared how plans are coming together for the world premiere in September 2026 at the Ellen Theater in Bozeman, in celebration of the book’s 50th anniversary.
According to Opera Montana, 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.
“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 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.”
“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.”
According to Opera Montana's website, 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.
