Press Releases
Contact:
Colleen Flanigan
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
312-704-8420 ext. 25
cflanigan@chicagooperatheater.org
RELEASE DATE: MARCH 12, 2008
CHICAGO OPERA THEATER ANNOUNCES
THE 2009 SPRING FESTIVAL SEASON!
Highlights of their 35th anniversary season include
the Chicago premiere of Owen Wingrave,
the first Chicago staging of La tragédie de Carmen,
and the Chicago Opera Theater premiere of La clemenza di Tito.
CHICAGO, IL (March 6, 2008) — General Director Brian Dickie announces Chicago Opera Theater’s 2009 Spring Festival Season and their 35th anniversary season with three new productions. As is the custom at Chicago Opera Theater (COT), the season includes three operas long neglected here in Chicago: Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito (April 18, 21, 26, 29, May 1, 2009); an adaptation of George Bizet’s Carmen called La tragédie de Carmen (May 2, 5, 10, 13, 15, 2009); and Benjamin Britten’s Owen Wingrave (May 16, 20, 22, 24, 26, 2009).
“Each year as I plan for future seasons, I am thrilled by the vast repertoire in the opera world—so much of it that Chicago hasn’t seen nor heard,” says General Director Brian Dickie. “For our 35th anniversary season, I chose three overlooked masterpieces that fit in perfectly with Chicago Opera Theater’s role as a vibrant, innovative, and different kind of opera company.”
In his eight years as COT General Director, Brian Dickie has given the city 17 Chicago premieres—and he adds one more to his roster with Benjamin Britten’s Owen Wingrave. Conductor Steuart Bedford, a close collaborator with Britten, will join COT for this highly anticipated production. Bedford conducted the first staged performance of Owen Wingrave in 1973. Director Ken Cazan and designer Peter Harrison bring their remarkable creativity to Owen Wingrave as they did to COT’s past productions of Death in Venice and Duke Bluebeard’s Castle. This new production features two legendary singers—Robin Leggate, who won raves for singing von Aschenbach in COT’s Death in Venice in 2004, and Rebecca Caine, the original Cosette in Les Misérables. The gifted and charming baritone Matthew Worth sings the title role.
Opening the 2009 Spring Festival Season is Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito. Last seen in Chicago 20 years ago, the opera is a story of passion, revenge, and forgiveness—the perfect subjects for virtuoso arias performed by a trio of young stars hand .picked by Brian Dickie: Dominic Armstrong (Emperor Tito), Amanda Majeski (Vitellia), and Renata Pokupic (Sesto). These brilliant young performers shine even brighter when led by two of the world’s most revered Mozart interpreters and COT favorites: conductor Jane Glover and director Diane Paulus.
Coming to Chicago for the first time is an intimate adaptation of a classic work: La tragédie de Carmen. The world-famous and innovative director Peter Brook, along with the playwright Jean-Claude Carrière and composer Marius Constant, remastered George Bizet’s original Carmen creating an exhilarating eighty-minute opera with four singers. COT’s Resident Conductor Alexander Platt leads the opera with Andrew Eggert making his Chicago Opera Theater directorial debut. Singing the role of Carmen is Sandra Piques Eddy, who sang to great acclaim in two previous COT productions—as Béatrice in Béatrice et Bénédict in 2007 and as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro in 2005.
The 2009 Spring Festival Season will mark the first time Chicago Opera Theater will perform in repertory allowing patrons to see two of the three productions over the same weekend. This truly transforms Chicago Opera Theater into a Spring Festival where opera lovers from all over the world will spend the weekend in Chicago to experience Opera LESS Ordinary.
Founded in 1974 by Alan Stone, Chicago Opera Theater is proud to present its 35th Season in 2009.
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Chicago Opera Theater performs at The Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park—205 East Randolph Drive.
Season Subscriptions are on sale now to COT’s 2009 Spring Festival Season. Prices range from $90-$345 and include a ticket to all three operas. COT also offers a 50% discounted student rate in most sections. Tickets may be purchased online at ChicagoOperaTheater.org or by phone at 312.704.8414.
Two 2009 Festival Weekends are scheduled as follows: May 1st and May 2nd will include La clemenza di Tito and La tragédie de Carmen and May 15th and 16th will include La tragédie de Carmen and Owen Wingrave. More information on weekend packages and prices will be available in the fall of 2008 at ChicagoOperaTheater.org.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
La clemenza di tito
April 18, 21, 29 and May 1 at 7:30pm
April 26 at 3:00pm
Conductor: Jane Glover
Director: Diane Paulus
Cast Includes:
Tito: Dominic Armstrong
Vitellia: Amanda Majeski
Sesto: Renata Pokupic
Servilia: Charlotte Dobbs
Sung in Italian with English supertitles.
George Bizet
La tragÉdie de carmen
adapted by Marius Constant, Peter Brook, and Jean-Claude Carrière
May 2, 5, 13, 15 at 7:30pm
May 10 at 3:00pm
Conductor: Alexander Platt
Director: Andrew Eggert
Cast Includes:
Carmen: Sandra Piques Eddy
Don Jose: Noah Stewart
Micaela: Krenare Gashi
Sung in French with English supertitles.
Benjamin Britten
OWEN WINGRAVE
May 16, 20, 22, 26 at 7:30pm
May 24 at 3:00pm
Conductor: Steuart Bedford
Director: Ken Cazan
Production Designer: Peter Harrison
Cast:
Owen Wingrave: Matthew Worth
Spencer Coyle: Matt Boehler
Lechmere: Brian Anderson
Miss Wingrave: Mary Jane Johnson
Mrs. Coyle: Rebecca Caine
Mrs. Julian: Brenda Harris
Kate Julian: Fiona Murphy
General Sir Philip Wingrave: Robin Leggate
Sung in English with English supertitles.
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