MY FAIR LADY and MADAMA BUTTERFLY Set for Ash Lawn Opera's 2015 Season

Ash Lawn Opera presents a summer of perennial favorites with Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady and, in December, Gian Carlo Menotti's family holiday favorite, Amahl and the Night Visitors. All performances will be at the historic Paramount Theater on Charlottesville's Downtown Mall.

Madama Butterfly, with performances on July 10, 12 (matinee), 16, and 18, tells an epic story of all-consuming love and ultimate betrayal, set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing Japan at the turn of the twentieth century. Puccini's soaring, heartbreaking score has made Butterfly one of the most beloved works in the operatic canon since its debut in 1904.

The nationally recognized cast features soprano Eleni Calenos as Cio-Cio San (Palm Beach Opera, Shreveport Opera); Eve Gigliotti (Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera) as her loyal servant Suzuki; Jason Slayden (Gotham Chamber Opera, Arizona Opera) as the dashing but insincere Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton; Hyung Yun (Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera) as Sharpless, a kind American diplomat who befriends Cio-Cio San; and Joe Shadday (Glimmerglass Festival, Chicago Opera Theatre) as the scheming Goro. Steven Jarvi (Resident Conductor of St. Louis Symphony) returns for his fifth consecutive season at Ash Lawn Opera to conduct, while Dan Rigazzi (Metropolitan Opera, Wolf Trap Opera) returns for a third season with Ash Lawn Opera to direct this beautiful production with scenic design by Charles Murdock Lucas (Eastman Opera Theatre, Ohio Light Opera) and costume design by Lauren Gaston (Metropolitan Opera, Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts).

In addition to its fully-staged performances at The Paramount Theater, Ash Lawn Opera will present two semi-staged performances of Madama Butterfly, starring its talented roster of Young Artists and Apprentice Singers: the first on June 20 for the Orange Music Society and the second on June 27 at the beautiful new Anne and Ellen Fife Theatre at the Moss Arts Center at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. The Apprentice Singers will also present a recital of their favorite art songs and arias at The Haven at First and Market on August 4 at noon; this recital is free and open to the public.

The season continues with My Fair Lady, with performances on August 1, 2 (matinee), 5, 7, and 8 (matinee). My Fair Lady is the charming tale of a spirited but impoverished woman in Edwardian London who enlists the help of an eccentric professor to improve her station in life. This Lerner and Loewe musical has been a mainstay of American theater since its hit debut on Broadway in 1956 and the classic 1964 film adaptation starring Audrey Hepburn. The New York Times has called My Fair Lady "one of the best musicals of the [twentieth] century."

Sharin Apostolou (Glimmerglass Festival, Portland Opera), who was praised by the New York Times for her "bright [and] confident" performance in Glimmerglass Festival's Carousel (2014), makes her Ash Lawn Opera debut as the exuberant Eliza; she will match wits with Curt Olds (Arizona Opera, Central City Opera), as Professor Henry Higgins. The cast is rounded out by Dominic Armstrong (Dayton Opera, New York Philharmonic) as the love-struck Freddy Eynsford-Hill, Stephanos Tsirakoglou (Südthüringisches Staatstheater, Theater Chemnitz) as Eliza's incorrigible father, Alfred Doolittle, and Charlottesville-based performers Dan Stern (Heritage Theatre Festival, Four County Players) and Joe Duquette (St. Louis MUNY, Goodspeed Opera House) as Colonel Pickering and Zoltan Karpathy respectively. Andy Anderson (Artistic Director of Mobile Opera) conducts this beguiling musical and Daniel Witzke (Wiener Staatsoper, Gotham Chamber Opera) directs. Shon LeBlanc (The Fountain Theatre, The Colony Theatre) returns for his fifth Ash Lawn Opera production as Costume Designer and Adam Liston returns for his third season as Scenic Designer.

The 2015 Season will conclude with two performances of Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors on December 12 at The Paramount Theater, marking the fourth year Ash Lawn Opera has presented this beloved holiday opera. Menotti's retelling of the story of the Three Kings has been a holiday tradition for American families since its televised debut in 1951. Presented in English and only an hour in length, Amahl is the perfect way to introduce children of all ages to opera.

Ash Lawn Opera continues its longtime commitment to introducing children to opera through its year-round Education Programs, including its Artist-in-Residence, KidsFest, Student Dress Rehearsal, Opera Connects for Teachers, and Library Programs. Since 1994, Ash Lawn Opera's Education Programs have reached more than 12,000 children. This April, Teaching Artist Mary Gresock returns to Charlottesville for this year's Artist-in-Residence program, "Exploring Opera through the Eyes of Madama Butterfly," which will be presented to schools in Charlottesville and Albemarle County. Participating students will learn to sing the hauntingly beautiful "Humming Chorus," learn a Japanese dance, and reenact the story of Madama Butterfly.

Tickets for Madama Butterfly and My Fair Lady range between $12 and $75 (with a mid-week discount for the July 16 and August 5 performances). A special, new $90 patron ticket is available for all summer performances and includes intermission reception. $12 tickets for Youth (12 and under) and $16.50 for Students (with I.
D.) are available for all performances.

Purchase tickets online at www.theparamount.net or call The Paramount Theater Box Office at (434) 979-1333. The Paramount Theater Box Office is open weekdays from 10 am - 2 pm. To obtain a discount for groups of 10 or more for performances of Madama Butterfly or My Fair Lady, contact info@ashlawnopera.org.

Moss Arts Center at Virginia Tech: Tickets are $20 for the general public and $10 for students and youth 18 years old and under. Tickets can be purchased online at www.artscenter.vt.edu/Online/allperformancesonsale; at the Moss Arts Center's box office, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday; or by calling 540-231-5300.

The Haven: no tickets or reservation necessary.

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