Verismo Opera stays true to its name in its upcoming back-to-back, one-act opera productions of “Suor Angelica” and “Cavalleria Rusticana.”

Both of the upcoming one-act operas are verismo style — depicting the lives of everyday people. While “Suor Angelica” tells the story of a nun, Sister Angelica, “Cavalleria Rusticana” follows the lives of several intertwining lovers in a small Sicilian village.

Spearheading the productions is Verismo Opera Artistic Director and Performer Eliza O’Malley. Before she became artistic director, O’Malley performed in “Suor Angelica” with the opera.

“It’s just beautiful music,” she says. This time around, she is both directing the on-act and performing as Suor Angelica.

Each opera will be performed in full with an intermission in between the two.

“It’s like two short stories,” says O’Malley. “It’s very satisfying because the action isn’t stopped, the story isn’t stopped.”

The first opera to be performed, “Suor Angelica,” is somewhat special in the opera world for its feature of all traditionally-feminine voice parts, from soprano to contralto.

“It turns out in opera, that’s rare,” says O’Malley. “For the principal roles and the chorus, I don’t know why, but there’s always more women that want to participate, so we wanted to honor that, give them an opportunity.

“We really wanted to pull in all of the wonderful sopranos and mezzos that are in our community,” she says. In fact, they are highlighting over 20 different vocalists, with several roles in both one-acts double or even triple cast.

O’Malley says the vocal parts can be demanding. “We’re lucky because we have some singers that are capable of that in our community,” she says.

One of the trickiest parts of the performance is balancing between the emotions of the stories and the vocal precision necessary.

“The principal singers definitely have to have a certain kind of virtuosity,” said O’Malley. “I could tell you both from watching the work that they put into it and just experiencing, in ‘Cavalleria Rusticana’ there are some intense emotions and it’s like fighting nose to nose. So the hard thing is maintaining the vocal technique but also showing these extremes of emotion.”

Themes in the operas include murder, suicide, passion and tragedy. “It’s not easy music and it’s not easy emotions,” says O’Malley.

Despite the hard themes and tough techniques required, O’Malley says one of her favorite parts of “Suor Angelica” is a particularly quiet moment.

“There as this musical part where the singing stopped and there are like three or four minutes of just, decisions are being made, some bad news has just been gotten, and there’s this moment where no one is saying anything and the music is continuing,” she says. “I found it really heart-wrenching.”

“I just think it’s the biggest bargain anyone is going to have in the Bay Area,” says O’Malley. “The caliber of the voices that we got for this production is just stunning to me. From every single person in the chorus to every person that’s principal.”

If you go …

WHAT: Suor Angelica and Cavalleria Rusticana

WHEN: March 29 and April 5, 12 at 7 p.m. and March 30 and April 6, 13 at 3 p.m.

WHERE: Bay Terrace Theater, 51 Daniels Ave., Vallejo.