BY KAREN BOSSICK

The proceeds from Friday night’s Temptations Tribute will help cover some of the expenses for its Sun Valley Opera’s 2019 winter concerts.

And Sun Valley Opera Co-Founder Frank Meyer promises it will be its best ever and with good reason.

“It’ll be the first time we’ve had a huge opera star. And not only will we have one but two,” he said.

Indeed, the opera, which snagged Alfie Boe just as he was ready to hit the stratosphere, will have Kate Aldrich and Michael Fabiano this winter. And, if that’s not enough, it will also have a former member of the Irish singing group Celtic Thunder, which appears frequently on PBS-TV.

• The Winter Festival will kick off on Dec. 28 with a glamorous holiday party featuring American mezzo-soprano KateAldrich in the soon-to-be-opened Argyros Performing Arts Center. Aldrich has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera and others, having risen to international fame in 2001 through her starring role in Zeffirelli’s “Aida.”
• Tenor Michael Fabiano, who has appeared as Rodolfo in the Metropolitan Opera’s “La boheme” and as Alfredo in the opera’s “La traviata,” will perform at a Diva Party and concert the first weekend in February in the Argyros Performing Arts Center.
• Derecho Parker and the BYU Symphony Orchestra will perform an evening of Broadway and opera favorites on March 16. The show will be presented at the Church of the Big Wood since the Argyros Performing Arts Center is reserved for the Sun Valley Film Festival that evening.
• American-born baritone Emmett O’Hanlon, who parlayed his parents’ Irish roots into a gig with the hit Irish group Celtic Thunder, will perform a cabaret-style show at the Argyros Performing Arts Center.

“All of these shows are designed for people who may have no interest in opera because they will include popular and Broadway classics, in addition to opera numbers,” said Meyer.