Press Releases
Contact:
Colleen Flanigan
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
312-704-8420 ext. 25
cflanigan@chicagooperatheater.org
RELEASE DATE: August 12, 2008
CHRISTOPHER ALDEN TO DIRECT THE OPENING PRODUCTION OF
CHICAGO OPERA THEATER’S 2009 SPRING FESTIVAL SEASON
MOZART’S LA CLEMENZA DI TITO
Christopher Alden replaces Diane Paulus
CHICAGO, IL (August 12, 2008)—Chicago Opera Theater (COT) announces that Christopher Alden will direct the opening production of their 2009 Spring Festival Season: Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito. Christopher Alden replaces Diane Paulus. This marks Alden’s COT debut, with Jane Glover conducting.
“I’m thrilled to have Christopher Alden stage Mozart’s wonderful final opera for Chicago Opera Theater,” said General Director Brian Dickie. “COT continues to make our operas more innovative and intriguing, and Alden fits in perfectly with this mission.”
Christopher Alden’s career spans 30 years of producing opera all over the world, working with such companies as Houston Grand Opera, Washington Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and San Francisco Opera. He has also co-directed, along with his twin brother David Alden, the Mozart / da Ponte opera cycle for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim.
Diane Paulus withdrew from the production because of scheduling conflicts due to her new position as Artistic Director for American Repertory Theatre.
“COT has had a long and wonderful relationship with Diane, and I am extremely proud of the work she’s done for COT—Orfeo, L'incoronazione di Poppea, and Don Giovanni to name just a few,” Dickie continued. “We wish her the best, and look forward to having her back at COT in due course.”
La clemenza di Titoopens April 18th, 2009 and has not been seen in Chicago in over 20 years. Alden joins one of the world’s most revered Mozart interpreters, Jane Glover conducting her eighth opera with Chicago Opera Theater. Scenic designer Andrew Cavanaugh Holland, a regular collaborator with Alden, also makes his COT debut.
La clemenza di Tito, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, runs for five performances only on April 18, 21, 26, 29 and May 1, 2009 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park--205 East Randolph Drive.
Chicago Opera Theater Tickets
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.
La clemenza di Tito is also on sale now in a Festival Weekend Package with La tragédie de Carmen on May 1 and 2, 2009.
Individual tickets for La clemenza di Tito goes on sale January 19, 2009.
ABOUT CHICAGO OPERA THEATER
Founded in 1974 by Alan Stone, Chicago Opera Theater has carved a significant place for itself in the operatic life of Chicago and has reached an audience of hundreds of thousands through its main stage performances, outreach, education and young artist programs.
Since Brian Dickie’s appointment as General Director in 1999, COT has evolved as an opera company that is young, fresh, and colorful - an image well suited to its surroundings at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park.
CHRISTOPHER ALDEN (Director)
Christopher Alden is regarded as one of America’s most foremost stage directors and has created innovative and exciting productions for opera companies throughout the world.
At the opening of the 2008/09 season, Mr. Alden will revive his successful production of Tosca at Opera North in Leeds, followed by two new productions: Handel’s Partenope at English National Opera in London and The Makropulos Affair at the Prague National Theater in the Czech Republic.
Mr. Alden has produced for the most distinguished opera houses in the United States including Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Pittsburgh Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and the Spoleto Festival. He has enjoyed a particularly close relationship with the San Francisco Opera, where he has staged numerous productions, including Les Contes D’Hoffmann, L’Incoronazione di Poppea, I Vespri Siciliani, La Cenerentola, Virgil Thomson’s The Mother of us All, as well as the American premieres of Reimann’s Ghost Sonata and Henze’s Das Verratene Meer. Other US highlights include productions of L’Italiana in Algeri, The Glassblowers, and Britten’s Rape of Lucretia for the New York City Opera and Glimmerglass Opera. In collaboration with his twin brother, David Alden, he also staged the three Mozart/Da Ponte operas with the Chicago Symphony conducted by Daniel Barenboim.
Mr. Alden also maintains close ties to the European opera houses where his productions have been presented at the Opera Comique in Paris, the Grand Theatre de Geneve, the Flemish Opera, the National Theater in Mannheim, and the Greek National Opera, among others. Past season highlights include a new production of Nabucco atthe Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Basel Opera, Orfeo in Oslo, and Aida atthe Deutsche Oper Berlin. In the UK, Mr. Alden is also closely associated with Opera North, the Scottish Opera, and the English National Opera.
Highlights of past seasons include Monteverdi’s Orfeo at Glimmerglass Opera, Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Basel Opera followed by the New York premiere of Elliot Carter’s What Next? at the Miller Theatre (in celebration of Mr. Carter’s 100th birthday), his debut at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein with Verdi’s Nabucco, a new production of Aïda for the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Monteverdi’s Orfeo in Oslo.
Alden opened the 2003-2004 season for the San Francisco Opera with its premiere of The Mother of Us All, a work he has directed with Glimmerglass Opera and New York City Opera. Following his Pittsburgh Opera production of The Flying Dutchman last season, he returned to England to direct new productions of La Vida Breve, L'occasione fa il Ladro, Pagliacci, and Djamileh for Opera North.
He has staged opera for Basel Opera, New Israeli Opera, Welsh National Opera, English National Opera, Scottish Opera, Opera Comique in Paris, and Handel's Imeneo for Glimmerglass Opera and New York City Opera.
ANDREW CAVANAUGH HOLLAND (Scenic Desginer)
Andrew’s most recent collaboration with Christopher Alden and Therese Wadden was on the critically acclaimed production of Elliot Carter’s, What Next?, at the Miller Theater at Columbia University. Currently, Mr. Holland is serving as Designer in Residence at American University in Washington, DC where he has designed productions of Hay Fever, Tartuffe, Do I Hear a Waltz? and Machinal. Other credits include Weber’s Der Freischutz for Opera Boston, The Threepenny Opera for Long Beach Opera, The Fear Project for The Barrow Group (NYC), and Romeo and Juliet for The Juilliard School. For two years Andrew served as interim professor of scenic design at Ithaca College, in Ithaca, NY. While there, he designed numerous productions including Grease, The Merry Widow and The Seagull.
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