Long Beach Opera to Close 2016 Season with West Coast Premiere of THE NEWS

Long Beach Opera (LBO) closes its 2016 season with the provoking and stinging political parody, The News, by Dutch "avant-pop" composer Jacob ter Veldhuis (JacobTV). The opera will be directed by Tanya Kane-Parry and conducted by LBO's Artistic and General Director Andreas Mitisek. Performances begin on June 19 and run through June 26, 2016 at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica, CA.

Composed in 2011, The News is a reality opera constructed using broadcasts from newscasters, scientists, politicians, televangelists, athletes and celebrities to explore a wide range of cultural and social issues. Loire Cotler and Maeve Höglund perform as rhythm vocalists in their roles as Anchors. The Chicago Tribune hailed the piece as, "Stinging political parody, calculated to offend liberals and conservatives alike, set alongside deadly-serious news clips in a popsy score, laced with saxophone riffs, the mellow ooze of blues and the twang of bluegrass."

Stage director Tanya Kane-Parry states "Jacob TV's work, The News, is the Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" of opera... A timely and inescapable visceral commentary on our hypnotic, trivializing, infotainment obsession. The production challenges us to discern content from noise."

In a previous performance of The News, the Chicago Sun-Times said "Cotler often sang in the rapid-fire clicks and clacks of the South Indian konnakol style. Deploying her vocal cords like a set of castanets, she echoed the frantic speed and confusion of non-stop news."

For her performance in The Arianna Project, the New York Times said, "A consistently vivid actress, Ms. Höglund conveyed nearly as much with her flashing eyes as she did with her rich, penetrating voice."