News for
January/February 2004
JANUARY & FEBRUARY ARE BIG MONTHS FOR L.A. OPERA
LOS ANGELES -- With a debut local recital by mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli (Feb. 8), plus a new production of Puccini's MADAMA BUTTERFLY (directed by Robert Wilson), and the return of David Hockney's spectacular production of DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN by Richard Strauss, Los Angeles Opera's winter 2004's cup runneth over.
Bartoli, an opera superstar, will appear in recital with pianist Sergio Ciomei. A back-to-back Grammy Award-winning singer, Bartoli will perform a variety of pieces from her repertoire, including selections from her new CD, The Salieri Album, which celebrates the music of composer Antonio Salieri.
MADAME BUTTERFLY will be performed Feb. 12 through March 14, starring the Chilean soprano Cristina Gallardo-Domas in the role of Cio-Cio-San. John Matz will sing Pinkerton, Greg Fedderly, Goro. Robert Wilson's production of the opera opened in Paris in 1993 and has become a modern classic. Los Angeles Opera now presents a new production based on his original designs.
"Wilson's stylized orientation, the extreme simplicity of the sets and costumes, the unhurried and precisely choreographed movements and the infinitely flexible lighting create an intensely emotional visual atmosphere, parallel to, yet detached from, Puccini's emotionally loaded music," said the International Herald Tribune.
Kent Nagano conducts; the stage director is Jean-Yves Courregelongue.
DIE FRAU
OHNE SCHATTEN (The Woman Without Shadow) is considered by many to be Richard
Strauss' finest score. In this return production, Los Angeles Opera (in
a co-production with Royal Opera House, Covent Garden) will once again
feature David Hockney's sets, Ian Falconer's costumes and Alan Burrett's
lighting design. The star-studded cast includes Robert Dean Smith, Inga
Nielsen, Doris Soffel, Wolfgang Brendel and Linda Watson. Nagano conducts
again, with stage direction by Patrick Young.
DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN will be performed Feb. 22 through March 13.
Dorothy Chandler
Pavilion, Music Center, 135 N. Grand Ave. Call Ticketmaster or (213) 365-3500
or visit www.losangelesopera.com.
Disability access: (213) 972-077. TDD (213) 972-7615.