Artist Zhang Huan's SEMELE Brings 450-Year-Old Ming Dynasty Temple to BAM's Stage, Now thru 3/10

Semele by George Frideric Handel will be presented by the Canadian Opera Company at BAM's Howard Gilman Opera House (30 Lafayette Ave), conducted by Christopher Moulds and directed by Zhang Huan tonight, March 4, 6 and 10 at 7:30 p.m. and March 8 at 3 p.m.

Handel's most sensuous opera unfolds amid acclaimed artist Zhang Huan's daring and provocatively playful stage direction. In his first directorial and design foray into lyrical theater, Zhang blends the Greek myth of Semele with the contemporary true story of an ill-fated Chinese love triangle -- all set within the walls of an actual 450-year-old Ming Dynasty temple.

Zhang discovered the shrine in a small town several hours west of Shanghai and had it disassembled and transported to his factory-sized Shanghai studio. This process is documented in a video which plays during the opera's overture. In the video the audience learns that during the excavation of the temple, Zhang discovered several domestic relics including the diary of a man who lived in the temple a little more than 20 years ago. The diary tells the painful story of one man's sense of responsibility, his feelings of helplessness for his family, and his love and hatred for his beautiful wife, Ruan Jinmei, who was unfaithful to him. The husband murders one of her lovers, resulting in his arrest and subsequent execution by firing squad.

The heaviest set/scenery in BAM's history, the 17-ton temple is painstakingly reconstructed piece-by-piece, and manifests as Semele's physical and dramatic core. The shrine is magically transformed by exquisite lighting into an altar, a palace, a crematory, and heaven. The ornate wooden structure provides fertile ground for Chinese-born fashion designer Han Feng, who created the luxurious costumes made with colorful patterned traditional Chinese silks and Baroque tailoring.

With appearances by debaucherous monks, a giant inflatable puppet, sumo wrestlers, a flaming gong, and an aroused donkey, Zhang Huan layers cultural taboos and ribald humor with classical compositions, creating a bold and contemporary fable. This astonishing East-meets-West production premiered at Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels in 2009, was presented at the Beijing Music Festival in 2010, and made its North American premiere with the Canadian Opera Company in 2012.

The production features the Canadian Opera Company's esteemed cast led by the internationally renowned coloratura soprano Jane Archibald in the title role and conducted by Christopher Moulds. The cast of Semele also features Colin Ainsworth (Jupiter), Hilary Summers (Juno/Ino), Katherine Whyte (Iris), Kyle Ketelsen (Cadmus/Somnus), and Lawrence Zazzo (Athamas).

The production features set design by Zhang Huan, costume design by Han Feng, original lighting design by Wolfgang Göbbel, and lighting recreation by Willem Laarman. This is a co-production of Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels and KT Wong Foundation.

Tickets start at $35 (weekday) and $45 (weekend). For ticket information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit BAM.org.

Master Class:

Semele: Behind the Scenes
With Neil Kutner and Paul Bartlett
Mar 8 at 10am
BAM Fisher (Leavitt Workshop)
Tickets: $45

About the artists:

Zhang Huan was born in 1965 in Anyang, Henan Province, China, and currently lives and works in Shanghai and New York. He is one of the most vital, influential, and provocative contemporary artists working today. The layers of ideas Zhang Huan explored in his early performance art, conceived as existential explorations and social commentaries, have carried through to the more traditional studio practice he embraced upon moving to Shanghai in 2005, after living and working for eight years in New York City.

Zhang was active in Beijing in the 1990s, where he was considered one of the foremost avant-garde artists in the country. In 1988, he relocated to New York and worked in various mediums. He returned to Shanghai in 2005 and established Zhang Huan Studio, where he continues his artistic work. He has created new forms and genres, including an ash painting technique, sculpting in cowhide, door carvings, and feather woodcuts. While he considers himself a Buddhist, it was only after a 2005 trip to Tibet that his works strongly referred to the religion. In 2011, Zhang's Buddhist sculpture, Three Heads Six Arms, was installed outside 1881 Heritage in Hong Kong. The impact of this sculpture lay in its considerable height of 26 feet.

Zhang's works have been exhibited in the 2002 Whitney Biennial, Rituals at the Akademie der Ku?nste in Berlin, and Haunted: Contemporary Photography/Video/Performance at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. His solo exhibitions include Q Confucius at Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai; Neither Coming Nor Going at Pace Gallery in New York; Ashman at PAC Museum in Milan; and Zhu Gangqiang at White Cube in London. In 2014, Storm King Art Center presented his exhibition Zhang Huan: Evoking Tradition. Zhang Huan has been represented worldwide by Pace Gallery since 2007.

After beginning her professional opera career in her native Canada, Jane Archibald made her San Francisco Opera debut in 2005 as Elvira in L'Italiana in Algeri, and was an Adler Fellow and Merola participant with San Francisco Opera. As a member of the ensemble of Vienna State Opera, Archibald successfully debuted major coloratura roles including the Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflo?te), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier and Werther), Eudoxie (La Juive), and Musetta. She performed Queen of the Night for the Ope?ra de Marseille, Opera Toulouse, and the Frankfurt Opera, and gave significant role debuts as Cleopatra in Marseille and Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos) in Geneva. Last season, she appeared as Adele in a new production of Strauss' Die Fledermaus at the Met following her debut there as Ophe?lie in Thomas' Hamlet. Other recent engagements include Olympia at the Opernhaus Zu?rich, Zerbinetta in Munich, and at the Royal Opera House as well as Strauss' Four Last Songs with Symphony Nova Scotia. This season's engagements include Strauss' Four Last Songs in Montreal, Ligeti's Requiem with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Ko?nigin der Nacht at the Opera National de Paris, her Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) role debut for the Canadian Opera Company, as well as Konstanze for the Festival d'Aix en Provence.

Recent concert highlights include Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate with Lorin Mazel and the Orchestra of La Scala, Brahms' Requiem with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Michael Tilson-Thomas, Messiaen's Poe?mes pour Mi with Christian Thielemann and the Berlin Philharmonic, and Mozart arias with the Camerata Salzburg and Louis Langre?e. Her first solo CD, a program of Haydn coloratura arias won the 2012 JUNO Award for Classical Album of the Year. A Canada Council grant recipient, she was also the 2006 winner of the Sylva Gelber Foundation award for the most talented musician under 30.

English conductor Christopher Moulds grew up in Halifax and studied piano with Fanny Waterman at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and at the Royal College of Music. He began his career in 1991 as a member of the music staff of English National Opera and was chorus master for Glyndebourne Festival from 1994-98, before beginning an international conducting career. He has worked for opera companies including Bavarian State Opera, Berlin State Opera, Komische Oper Berlin, Cologne Opera, Dutch National Opera, Theater an der Wien, Bolshoi Theatre, Ope?ra national de Lyon, Opera North, and ENO. Engagements include La clemenza di Tito with the Vienna Philharmonic at the Salzburg Festival, the Russian premiere of Handel's Orlando with Musica Viva Orchestra (returning to conduct Ariodante), L'incoronazione di Poppea for Theater an der Wien, Orfeo for Opera North, Dido and Aeneas for Berlin State Opera, Die Zauberflo?te at the Bolshoi Theatre, a new production of Telemann's Der geduldige Socrates for Zu?rich Opera, and La finta giardiniera for Glyndebourne's 2014 Tour. He made his Royal Opera debut in 2015 conducting Orfeo for the Royal Opera at the Roundhouse, Camden.

Moulds' concert work includes performances with orchestras such as Akademie fu?r Alte Musik Berlin, Concerto Ko?ln, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Mozarteaumorchester Salzburg, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

Based in Toronto, the Canadian Opera Company is the largest producer of opera in Canada and one of the largest in North America. The company enjoys an international reputation for artistic excellence and creative innovation. The COC thanks the following donors for their support of the COC's tour to BAM: Walter M. and Lisa Balfour Bowen, Philip Deck and Kimberley Bozak, David and Kristin Ferguson, Jerry and Geraldine Heffernan, Peter M. Partridge Colleen Sexsmith, Kristine Vikmanis and Denton Creighton, and Anonymous (1).

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, and BAMcafé are located in the Peter Jay Sharp building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell Places). Both locations house Greenlight Bookstore at BAM kiosks. BAM Fisher, located at 321 Ashland Place, is the newest addition to the BAM campus and houses the Judith and Alan Fishman Space and Rita K. Hillman Studio. BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn's only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, offers a dinner menu prior to BAM Howard Gilman Opera House evening performances. BAMcafe? also features an eclectic mix of live music for BAMcafé Live on Friday and Saturday nights with a bar menu available starting at 6pm.

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