Mannes and Parsons to Present Jonathan Dove's FLIGHT

The New School's Mannes School of Music and Parsons School of Design co-present the New York City premiere of Flight, by composer Jonathan Dove. Music students from Mannes Opera and Mannes Orchestra will perform the three-act opera, in a fully-staged production featuring costume and set design by students from Parsons, The New School's world-renowned art and design school.

Performances will take place Saturday, May 9, at 7:30 pm and Sunday, May 10, at 1:30 pm at John Jay College's Gerald W. Lynch Theater (524 West 59th Street, New York, NY 10019). Tickets, $25 general/$10 students & seniors, are available at www.ticketcentral.com or by calling 212.279.4200.

The New York City premiere of Flight showcases Mannes' new approach to educating and training young artists through collaboration across disciplines. Mannes Opera Artistic Director Joseph Colaneri is conducting, Mannes faculty member Laura Alley is directing, and Parsons faculty members Alla Eizenberg and John Jerard are leading their students incollaborating with Mannes Opera design team Roger Hanna (sets), Helen E. Rodgers (costumes), Jeff Davis (lighting), and Amanda Miller (wigs and makeup).

"Twenty-six years ago, Mannes became part of The New School," said Executive Dean for the Performing Arts Richard Kessler. "Today, we view our operatic co-productions with Parsons School of Design as the vanguard of what is possible when you combine the Mannes music education with other vital disciplines, in this instance the field of design. We were thrilled by the results of last year's first effort, Il Postino, and have no doubt that the energy and collaborative spirit of work across these two great schools are going to make Flight a very special event."

"This marks the second year Parsons has collaborated with the Mannes Opera, giving further proof to the unique opportunities afforded to students who study at this truly multidisciplinary and cutting edge university," said Executive Dean of Parsons Joel Towers. "Nowhere else in the world can such high caliber of art and design students work so closely with premiere music students to produce a highly regarded production."

Based on the true story of an Iranian refugee trapped and living within Charles de Gaulle Airport, Jonathan Dove's Flight is a warm and funny opera that is lauded for its inventive music and accessibility to diverse audiences. The opera was first performed by the Glyndebourne Touring Opera in 1998, and has since been performed across Europe, the United States, and Australia.

"Opera is the universal art form that brings together music, drama and design into a unified, organic whole," said Mannes Opera Artistic Director Joseph Colaneri. "It is a metaphor for the essential interdisciplinary enterprises of a university, especially one as proactively collaborative as The New School. I look forward to watching the artistic sparks fly as the highly talented students of Parsons and Mannes bring their efforts to bear on Jonathan Dove's brilliant Flight."

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