March 3, 2026

For the first time, Kamehameha Schools Hawaiʻi’s Hōʻike will take the stage at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Performing Arts Center, reviving its original Hawaiian opera “Keaomelemele” and continuing a defining campus legacy.

First performed in 2013, “Keaomelemele” returns with a new cast and crew, ready to tell the epic of Paliuli, a chiefess who journeys across Hawaiʻi pae ʻāina in search of love only to discover something much deeper.

“She is able to ground herself in her culture, in her kanaka identity…to build that foundation,” director Alohi Gronquist KSH’06 said. “Once she had that firm foundation to stand on, as a mana wahine, she was powerful in and of herself. She had arrived.”

More than a traditional romance, it's a story about loving who you are, where you come from and the people that surround you.

“It’s this idea that through grounding yourself in… nā mea Hawaiʻi, you are a stronger kanaka and you can give more to the lāhui,” Gronquist said. “And you cannot have lāhui with [only] one kanaka.”

That commitment to the collective shapes the entire production. Every student, whether speaking or silent, must carry the story because visually bringing the epic to life is no small task. The original production memorably featured a giant bird puppet that soared across the stage. But this year’s hōʻike is also preparing for an international audience when they perform this at Scotland’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August. The team is leaning into elemental design and intentional staging, painting the moʻolelo so clearly that even audiences unfamiliar with ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi can follow the emotional arc.

“For the audience, we’re creating images, feelings and movements and making sure that that is portrayed…through costume design, choreography, blocking — all of the different elements,” Gronquist said. “It is a much more Integrated process of showing what is happening as opposed to just telling what is happening.”

That integration is part of a tradition kumu Eric Stack helped establish when he directed the first Hawaiian opera on campus. At the time, it was just an experiment to create something new rather than adapt a Western form.

“We wanted to create this genre that was expressly Hawaiian,” Stack said.

For Stack, opera represented the highest level of performance with orchestra, voice and staging fully integrated. Bringing that level of artistry into ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi mattered. Looking back, he sees it less as innovation and more as kuleana.

“It’s not as much pride as just having the honor — the opportunity to actually be able to do this,” Stack said. “No matter what generation does this story, it’s still part of us. It’s just a continuum.”

Be part of the Keaʻau campus legacy and witness a new generation carry Hawaiian opera forward.