Cleveland Orchestra to Perform Richard Strauss's 'Daphne' in May

Music Director Franz Welser-Möst continues his focus on and commitment to opera with a new production of Richard Strauss's Daphne performed by The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall May 27 and 30. For Daphne, a work the composer called a "bucolic tragedy," the Orchestra's production brings the majesty of the outdoors to the intimate setting of Severance Hall. Los Angeles-based stage director James Darrah transforms Severance Hall into a tableau of nature, within the concert hall's classically inspired architecture. The story unfolds around the Orchestra with dance, men's chorus, and a cast of singers costumed in a contemporary interpretation of traditional Greek attire.

"The delicacy of Strauss's music suits the Orchestra extremely well," says Franz Welser-Möst, "and they have the unique ability to paint all of the colors of this picturesque tale. The story of Daphne is beautifully captured by Strauss and says so much about the presence of human beings in the world. The audience can expect to experience a deeply romantic dream about love set to ravishing music."

Commenting on the creative team's leader, Welser-Möst explains, "When I first saw James Darrah's work, I knew he was the right artist for this project. Daphne is vibrant and yet fragile, qualities that I see in James's beautifully composed pictures onstage. His work is striking in its clarity, born of James's great discipline in creating emotional impact from deliberate gestures. His deep knowledge of theater and sensitive approach to music make him an ideal collaborator."

"We will fill Severance Hall with an art installation of light and potent, tangible physicality," says director James Darrah. "Nature will invade the concert hall's floor and the surrounding walls will seem to shimmer with life. The sun and moon alternate their glow around the musicians. The chorus appears as a vital force of consciences in myriad narrative roles that propel the opera toward its ecstatic end. A virtuosic single female dancer, eschewing any assigned 'role,' appears as an embodiment of the richness and breadth of Strauss's music. Moving throughout the cast, chorus, orchestra, and concert hall itself, the dancer is a living distillation of orchestral texture."

The opera's starring role will be portrayed by soprano Regine Hangler alongside tenor Andreas Schager as Daphne's pursuer, the god Apollo. Tenor Norbert Ernst is the shepherd Leukippos and bass Ain Anger the river god Peneios. Mezzo-soprano Nancy Maultsby makes her role debut as Daphne's mother, Gaea. Dancer Bryna Pascoe joins the cast.

Men of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus are also featured in the production. Scenic, lighting, and projection design is by Cameron Jaye Mock, Emily Anne MacDonald, and Christopher Shick. Costumes are designed by Emily Anne MacDonald and Peabody Southwell with technical direction by John Bukala.

Franz Welser-Möst has led annual opera performances at Severance Hall during his tenure in Cleveland, re-establishing the Orchestra as an important operatic ensemble. Following six seasons of opera-in-concert presentations, he brought fully-staged opera back to Severance Hall with a three-season cycle of the Mozart-Da Ponte operas in Zurich Opera productions. He led concert performances of Strauss's Salome at Severance Hall and at Carnegie Hall in May 2012. In May 2014, the Orchestra created an innovative, brand-new production of Leoš Janá?ek's opera The Cunning Little Vixen, which compellingly combined live action with projected video animation. In April 2016 the Orchestra presents Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle and The Miraculous Mandarin.

The Cleveland Orchestra's production of Daphne is supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which has awarded The Cleveland Orchestra a grant of $2.5 million in support of artistically ambitious programming with special emphasis on opera and ballet. This gift - the largest to the Orchestra in the Foundation's history - supports the type of programming and partnerships that challenge and expand the Orchestra and help distinguish the Orchestra from its peers. Of the Mellon Foundation's commitment, $1.25 million has been awarded in immediate support of the Orchestra. The remaining $1.25 million of the Foundation's grant will be awarded as part of a challenge lasting through June 2016 and matches, one-to-one, gifts from donors to The Cleveland Orchestra designated to support special artistic initiatives, especially opera and ballet.

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