The Metropolitan Opera and Le Poisson Rouge Announce Fall Concerts

The Metropolitan Opera and Le Poisson Rouge are joining forces for the first time ever to present two concert events this season. The first is a special one-night-only program, curated by Thomas Adès, at Le Poisson Rouge on Friday, October 26, with two performances at 6:30 and 9pm. Timed to coincide with the new Met production of Adès's opera, The Tempest, "Le Poisson Rouge & The Met: An Evening with Thomas Adès & The Tempest" will feature Adès at the piano in a program featuring excerpts from the opera, performed by Met singers, as well as chamber works by Charles Ives, Henry Purcell, Igor Stravinsky, and Michael Tippett, some in new arrangements by Adès.

Tickets are available through Le Poisson Rouge for $35 (seated) or $30 (standing) at (212) 505-3474 or lepoissonrouge.com. The program is subject to change. Underwriting for the Adès concerts has been provided by a generous gift from Robert L. Turner.

Adès, widely considered one of today’s greatest composers, makes his Met debut this season conducting The Tempest. The work, in a co-production with L’Opéra de Québec and the Wiener Staatsoper, Vienna, receives its Met premiere on October 23 and runs through November 17.

“An Evening with Nico Muhly, Two Boys, and other works” will take place in May 2013 (details will be announced at a later date). This concert, which will be curated by Muhly and also feature the composer on piano, will be presented in advance of the fall 2013 Met premiere of Muhly’s Two Boys, an opera commissioned by the Met in a co-production with the English National Opera. 

Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, commented:  “Our ongoing quest to expand our horizons and reach new audiences now takes us to lower Manhattan, where Le Poisson Rouge has successfully staked out a new platform for classical music. We’re pleased to join forces with them.” 

David Handler, co-founder, Le Poisson Rouge, commented, “Le Poisson Rouge is delighted to be teaming up with the Metropolitan Opera to present this bespoke collection of works curated by Thomas Adès in celebration of Shakespeare's The Tempest. The evening, featuring prominent Met artists and the composer himself at the piano, marks the first of what we hope to be many fruitful collaborations between LPR and the Met, and promises to be a very special occasion for us all.” 

Adès’s The Tempest opens at the Metropolitan Opera on October 23 with eight performances through November 17. The Live in HD transmission will be on Sunday, November 10 at 1pm. Tickets are available at (212) 362-6000 or metopera.org. 

Related programs tied to the Met presentation of Adès’s The Tempest will be presented at Works & Process at the Guggenheim on October 8 and the Shakespeare Society on October 15. Details are available at guggenheim.org and shakespearesociety.org. 

Renowned as both a composer and a performer, Thomas Adès works regularly with the world’s leading opera companies and festivals. Adès’s first opera, Powder Her Face (commissioned by Almeida Opera for the Cheltenham Festival in 1995), has been performed all over the world, seen on television, and is available on CD and DVD. The Tempest, Adès’s second opera, was commissioned by London's Royal Opera House, where it premiered in 2004, and has been seen in Europe and North America. Adès’s music has attracted numerous awards and prizes, including the prestigious Grawemeyer Award in 2000, of which he is the youngest ever recipient.

Le Poisson Rouge is a multimedia art cabaret founded by musicians on the site of the historic Village Gate. Dedicated to the fusion of popular and art cultures in music, film, theater, dance, and fine art, the venue's mission is to revive the symbiotic relationship between art and revelry; to establish a creative asylum for both artists and audiences.