Long Beach Opera Features AINADAMAR, et al. in 2011-12 Season
Broadway World.com : Jul 13th, 2011
Following a successful season which brought Long Beach Opera (LBO) increased ticket sales, a 20% growth in its subscriber base, and an unprecedented number of sold out performances, LBO announces its plans for 2012. The ambitious “Absurd-Bizarre- Surreal” season will include a double bill of one-acts and three full-length operas. Commenting on his selections, LBO’s Artistic and General Director Andreas Mitisek says, “I like to provide a diverse look into the world of rarely seen, little known masterworks. Each of the 2012 operas fits that category. Where most companies cozy up to composers of the 19th century, in the coming season, LBO will highlight composers of the 20th century (Francis Poulenc, Bohuslav Martinu, Astor Piazzolla) and the 21st (Osvaldo Golijov, Michael Nyman).
January/ February 2012
MARIA DE BUENOS AIRES (1968) Composer - Astor Piazzolla Libretto - Horacio Ferrer
Astor Piazzolla’s haunting “tango operita,” returns to Long Beach in a new production.
March 2012 - Double Bill
THE BREASTS OF TIRESIAS (1947) Composer - Francis Poulenc Libretto - Francis Poulenc based on the 1917 play by Guillaume Apollinaire
Poulenc’s surreal, comic gender bender begins this celebration of imagination.
THE TEARS OF A KNIFE (1928) Composer - Bohuslav Martinu Libretto - Georges Ribermont-Dessaignes Bohuslav
Closing the double bill, Martinu’s madcap, dada romp embraces the illogical.
May 2012
AINADAMAR (2003 /2005) Composer - Osvaldo Golijov Libretto - David Henry Hwang
Spanish poet and playwright Federco Garcia Lorca’s fight for political and artistic freedom is brought to brilliant life in this haunting work.
June 2012
THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT - 1986
Venue: EXPO Building, Long Beach, CA.
Saturday, June 16 at 8:00 PM Sunday, June 24 at 2:00 PM
Dr. P could see the dots, but couldn’t connect them. British composer Michael Nyman, best known in the U.S. for his multi-award winning film score for The Piano, based this opera on Oliver Sacks’neurological study of an internationally known singer and voice professor who had visual agnosia, an early stage of Alzheimer’s disease. Upon leaving Sacks’ office after his first visit, Dr. P reached for his wife’s head instead of his hat. In the actual case, as in the opera, Dr. P used music to bridge the gaps between what he saw and what he recognized. According to Sacks, the amazing thing about the case was “the power of music to organise and integrate, to knit or re-knit a shattered world into sense.” Nyman’s minimalistic score incorporates the songs by Robert Schumann which Dr. P used to help him in his daily struggle for coherence.
In 1986, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat premiered at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. This unusual chamber opera had its U.S. premiere at the American Music Festival in Philadelphia in 1987 and the piece was staged at the College of Marin in 1998 & 2001. LBO will be the first Western U.S. professional company to produce this thought-provoking work.
Long Beach Opera (LBO) is internationally known for its cutting-edge interpretations of unconventional repertory. LBO creates immediate, inventive, and often boldly avant-garde productions for an adventurous audience and stands apart from most opera companies in the number of world, American, and West Coast premieres the company has staged. Founded in 1979, it is the oldest opera company in the Los Angeles/Orange County region with a performance history of more than 90 operas ranging from the earliest works of the 17th century to operas of the 21st.
Bold site-specific stagings in such places as parking structures, a trendy nightclub, the hull of an ocean liner, an Olympic swimming pool, and a furniture warehouse, as well as performances on stages and in the seats of traditional theaters reflect the company’s desire to give modern audiences an immersive theatrical experience and to showcase opera in a new light. Through its diverse productions, special concerts, and film screenings at multiple venues in the Los Angeles/ Orange County areas, an active education program, and student matinees, Long Beach Opera continues to make opera accessible to an ever-expanding audience.
Source: http://losangeles.broadwayworld.com/article/Long-Beach-Opera-Features-AINADAMAR-et-al-in-2011-12-Season-20110713