Press Releases
Contact:
Colleen Flanigan
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
312-704-8420 ext. 25
cflanigan@chicagooperatheater.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CHICAGO OPERA THEATER ANNOUNCES THE 2008 SPRING SEASON!
Highlights include: Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Jane Glover and Diane Paulus, a new production and Midwest premiere of John Adams’ A Flowering Tree, and Handel’s masterpiece Orlando
CHICAGO, IL (March 28, 2007)—Chicago Opera Theater (COT) presents the most anticipated season since General Director Brian Dickie arrived in 1999. The centerpiece of the 2008 Spring Season’s many highlights is the Midwest premiere of John Adams’ A Flowering Tree with John Adams conducting two performances. The 2008 Spring Season opens with Mozart’s Don Giovanni, again reuniting the critically lauded pair of conductor Jane Glover and director Diane Paulus. Concluding the 2008 Spring Season is Orlando, a Handel masterpiece neglected on Chicago’s professional stages for over 20 years! In the tradition of Chicago Opera Theater, all 3 operas are new productions. The Spring Season opens April 30th and closes on June 8th, 2008.
“We were delighted to present the Midwest premiere of John Adams’ Nixon in China in 2006, and A Flowering Tree will mark Chicago Opera Theater’s 32nd Chicago premiere,” said General Director Brian Dickie.
John Adams will conduct the first two performances and Joana Carneiro, Assistant Conductor at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, will conduct the last three.
Based on a southern Indian folk tale, A Flowering Tree is about a beautiful but poor girl who falls in love with a handsome prince—and has the magical gift of transforming herself into a flowering tree. Currently cast is soprano Natasha Jouhl as Kumudha (the young girl) and baritone Sanford Sylvan as the Storyteller.
Brian Dickie continues, “I consider the 2008 Season ideally balanced with A Flowering Tree surrounded by two masterpieces—Don Giovanni and Handel’s Orlando.”
Conductor Jane Glover and director Diane Paulus team up to produce one of Mozart’s most popular operas: Don Giovanni. Ms. Glover and Ms. Paulus are consistently heralded by both the press and audiences alike—and Don Giovanni marks their seventh collaboration with Chicago Opera Theater! Don Giovanni will be sung by Iain Paterson, and the cast also includes Matthew Boehler (Leporello), Michael Colvin (Don Ottavio), Rhoslyn Jones (Donna Anna), Isabel Leonard (Zerlina), Krisztina Szabó (Donna Elvira), and Benjamin Wager (Masetto).
The final production of COT’s 2008 Spring Season is Handel’s Orlando, a story that depicts a great soldier’s emotional unraveling when he discovers his true love’s commitment to another man. “Since Brian Dickie arrived as general director Chicago Opera Theater has become the place to catch Handel operas staged with a bold theatrical flair that’s fresh and cutting edge,” raves the Chicago Tribune. Mr. Dickie brings together another unique duo for Orlando: Renowned British conductor Raymond Leppard, who led the greatly acclaimed COT productions Dido and Aeneas and Il Viaggio a Reims, and young Australian director Justin Way who wowed audiences in 2006 with COT’s The Abduction from the Seraglio. The Orlando cast includes Tim Mead (Orlando), Andriana Chuchman (Dorinda), Kate Mangiameli (Angelica), and David Trudgen (Medoro).
*********
Chicago Opera Theater performs at The Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park--205 East Randolph Drive.
Season Subscriptions for the 2008 Spring Season range from $90-$345 which include a ticket to all three evenings. COT also offers a 50% discounted student rate in most sections. Tickets may be purchased online at ChicagoOperaTheater.org and by phone at 312.704.8414.
Chicago Opera Theater gratefully acknowledges our 2008 Spring Sponsors:
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
City Arts Grants, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs
The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, Production Sponsor of Don Giovanni
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Lead Production Sponsor of A Flowering Tree
Mr. and Mrs. William D. Staley, Production Sponsor of A Flowering Tree
The Mazza Foundation, Production Sponsor of A Flowering Tree
OPERA America, sponsor of A Flowering Tree’s New Audience Development project
A Flowering Tree: By arrangement with Hendon Music, Inc., a Boosey & Hawkes company, publisher and copyright owner.
2008 SPRING SEASON
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
DON GIOVANNI
April 30, May 3, 6, 9 at 7:30pm, May 11 at 3:00pm
Conductor: Jane Glover
Director: Diane Paulus
Set Designer: Riccardo Hernandez
Costume Designer: David Woolard
Lighting Designer: Aaron Black
John Adams
A FLOWERING TREE
May 14, 17, 20, 23 at 7:30pm, May 25 at 3:00pm
Conductor: John Adams (May 14, 17)/ Joana Carneiro May 20, 23, 25)
Director: Nicola Raab
Production Designer: George Souglides
Lighting Designer: Aaron Black
George Frideric Handel
ORLANDO
May 28, 31, June 3, 6 at 7:30pm, June 8 at 3:00pm
Conductor: Raymond Leppard
Director: Justin Way
Production Designers: Andrew Hays, Kimm Kovac
Lighting Designer: Aaron Black
