News for
September/October 2007
LOS ANGELES OPERA'S NEW SEASON OPENS
LOS ANGELES
-- Los Angeles Opera launches its 2007-08 season with a trifecta of major
attractions this fall. On Saturday Sept. 8, the company will open its
gala weekend celebration with Beethoven's FIDELIO, directed and designed
by Pier'Alli, conducted by James Conlon. Beethoven's only opera, FIDELIO
stars soprano Anja Kampe as Leonore, tenor Klaus Florian Vogt as Florestan,
and Matti Salminen as Rocco. Others in the cast include Eike Wilm Schulte,
Oleg Bryjak, Rebekah Camm, Greg Fedderly, Robert MacNeil and James Creswell.
On Sunday Sept. 9 at 2 pm, LA Opera will present the company premiere
of the VERDI REQUIEM. The special concert will be conducted by Placido
Domingo and performed by a quartet of world-class singers: Adrianne Pieczonka,
Stephanie Blythe, Jonas Kaufmann and Renee Pape, backed up by a full chorus.
The REQUIEM was written to honor one of the central figures of 19th-century Italian cultural life, Alessandro Manzoni. On the one-year anniversary of Manzoni's death (May 22, 1874) Verdi conducted the premiere of the Requiem at the Church of San Marco in Milan, with a repeat three days later at La Scala.
Another company premiere (of the original Met production) will take place on Sept. 27 when Leos Janacek's JENUFA is unveiled at the Music Center. Conducted by Conlon and directed by Olivier Tambosi, Janacek's tragic love story will be sung by Karita Mattila (in the title role), Eva Urbanova, Kim Begley, Joseph Kaiser, Elizabeth Bishop, Jason Stearns, Lauren McNeese, James Creswell, Margaret Thompson and Lori Ann Fuller. Production design is by Frank Philipp Schlossmann.
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave. Call (213) 972-8001 or visit laopera.com