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View Current Tales
Star Artists and Company Premieres: the Exciting 2008-2009 Season04-21-2008
An innovative blend of repertoire, ranging through many periods and cultures;
Visually and dramatically exciting new productions created through a variety of superb collaborations between directors and designers (read more about the 2008-2009 productions);
Many of today's most acclaimed international voices cast alongside the most promising rising talent in the opera field today.
The season opens with Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio, the story of a dedicated wife who takes great risks to pose as a male prison guard, ultimately hoping to free her husband from political captivity. Starring in the title role as Leonore (who poses as Fidelio) is soprano sensation Christine Goerke. Her husband, Florestan, is portrayed by exciting American tenor Anthony Dean Griffey, who spent the month of March 2008 in the title role of the Metropolitan Opera's Peter Grimes. Bass-baritone Greer Grimsley makes his long-awaited return as Don Pizarro, Florestan's captor. Music Director Corrado Rovaris conducts this rousing dramatic opera, replete with themes of freedom, justice and the triumph of true love.
In November, Rossini's delightful comedy The Italian Girl in Algiers takes the stage with Maestro Rovaris conducting the acclaimed voices that left Philadelphia smiling with the happily-ever-after ending of Cinderella in 2006. Mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose is the mischievous Isabella; tenor Lawrence Brownlee is her enslaved lover Lindoro; and buffo bass Kevin Glavin is the bumbling ruler of the harem in this vocally acrobatic, comic masterpiece that played to enthusiastic audiences in its last OCP appearance in 2000.
Returning for the first time in over 15 years is one of the most beloved and revered operas in the entire repertoire - Puccini's Turandot. Featuring the renowned hit aria "Nessun Dorma" and personifying all that grand opera offers in drama, spectacle and vocal daring, Turandot promises two important debuts. Soprano Francesca Patané, whose leading roles this season include Turandot for Rome Opera and Lady Macbeth in Leipzig, sings the role of the icy princess who condemns her suitors to death if they cannot answer her riddles. As the brave Calaf, who endeavors to win her love, tenor Francesco Hong makes his American debut. The charismatic, Korean-born tenor resides in Italy, where he is a frequent Verdi and Puccini hero at leading companies such as Florence, Bologna and Palermo. Soprano Ermonela Jaho sings the role of Liù, after her performances as Mimì in the 2006 OCP production of La bohème won Philadelphia's heart, and Principal Conductor Emeritus Maurizio Barbacini returns to lead the Opera Company Orchestra for this Italian classic.
In March 2009, the Opera Company once again offers a Curtis Opera Theatre production to its audience as a special, collaborative endeavor to enhance the subscriber experience. Alban Berg's Wozzeck, which has been long absent from the Philadelphia opera scene, will be produced by Curtis at the Perelman Theater, in association with Kimmel Center Presents.
April 2009 features a double-bill of two one-act operas. First, Ravel's French confection L'enfant et les sortilèges tells the story of a spoiled and ill-behaved child who meets a rude awakening when the objects in his nursery and garden turn on him. Mezzo-soprano Lauren McNeese, a frequent leading lady with both Lyric Opera of Chicago and Los Angeles Opera, sings the title role of this sweeping orchestral work that features both adult and children's choruses. Then, in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, when an aged relative passes away and does not will his fortune to his family, the clever title character has an artful and comic plan to redistribute his riches - all in the name of love. Baritone Mark Stone, who sang Ford in Falstaff last season, is the charismatic title role, with tenor Stephen Costello returning as Rinuccio, following his success in the recent Cyrano as Christian. He teams up with real-life fiancée and star soprano Ailyn Pérez making her second OCP appearance of the season as Lauretta, who sings the famed aria "O mio babbino caro." Maestro Corrado Rovaris leads this pairing of comic operas.
The Opera Company is proud to be presenting its first-ever production at the Perelman Theater in June 2009. This elegant, 500-seat house at the Kimmel Center offers OCP the opportunity to produce works that call for an intimate production style. The inaugural production of Benjamin Britten's revered chamber work The Rape of Lucretia features the return of the dynamic pairing of tenor William Burden as the Male Chorus, and baritone Nathan Gunn as Tarquinius, who tries unsuccessfully to tempt Lucretia to be unfaithful to her husband. Soprano Tamara Mumford makes her Company debut in the title role in this moving, contemporary production - a sure sell-out, and available only to Opera Company subscribers!
