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Opera Lafayette Hosts Concert of Chamber Music by Handel and Bach Tonight

By: Feb. 24, 2015
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Washington, D.C. and New York, NY: Opera Lafayette's 20th anniversary season, having launched with celebrated performances of Jean-Philippe Rameau's Les Fêtes de l'Hymen et de l'Amour, ou Les Dieux d'Égypte, continues with A Wink at the Past: Chamber Music of Handel and Bach, to be performed tonight, February 24, 2015 at the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater and Thursday, February 26, 2015 at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Opera Lafayette returns to its chamber-ensemble origins, highlighting the work of two of Baroque's most beloved composers, George Frideric Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach.

Dominique Labelle (Gluck's Armide and Jenny in Monsigny's Le Roi et le fermier) returns to the Opera Lafayette stage alongside principal orchestra players. Ms. Labelle, a Canadian soprano, is a National Winner of the Metropolitan Opera competition who first came to international prominence as Donna Anna in Peter Sellars' stunning PepsiCo Summerfare Festival production of Mozart's Don Giovanni. The Boston Globe has noted, "None can top her performing Bach." She is lauded as one of today's most capable interpreters of Handel and is often associated with his recently discovered Gloria. Her discography includes Monsigny's Le Déserteur and Le Roi et le fermier (Opera Lafayette and Ryan Brown, Naxos) and Handel's Arminio (Virgin Classics), winner of the Handel Prize.

Opera Lafayette's Artistic Director and Conductor Ryan Brown performs as violinist alongside his former colleagues of the Four Nations Ensemble - Andrew Appel, harpsichord, Loretta O'Sullivan, cello, and Claire Jolivet, violin. These musicians became the continuo section and concertmaster of the Opera Lafayette Orchestra in its formative years, and continue in these positions today. The performances of the Opera Lafayette Orchestra are often noted for their expressiveness and rhythmic flexibility, qualities which stem from the chamber music experience of these key players.

The program includes Handel's Trio Sonata in F Major and his cantata Lucretia, as well as Bach's Sonata in A major for Harpsichord and Violin, and arias from several cantatas, including Seele, deine Specereien, from BWV 249, Angenehmer Zephyrus, from BWV 205, and Mein Glaubiges Herze from BWV 68.

Opera Lafayette is an American period-instrument ensemble that specializes in French repertoire, rediscovers masterpieces, and creates a recorded legacy of its work. Founded in 1995 in Washington, DC, by Conductor and Artistic Director Ryan Brown, Opera Lafayette has earned critical acclaim and a loyal following for its performances and recordings with international singers renowned for their interpretations of baroque and classical operas. The New York Times has said, "Opera Lafayette ... has built a sterling reputation through specializing in rarities by Gluck, Grétry and the like." Opera Lafayette's season includes performances at major venues in Washington, DC and New York City. At the invitation of Château de Versailles Spectacles, Opera Lafayette made its international debut at the Opéra Royal in February 2012 with the modern world premiere of Monsigny's Le Roi et le fermier. France's Opéra Magazine said, "This production should be noted and remembered in the annals of Versailles, for the intelligence of its staging, the beauty of its sets, and its high musical quality." Opera Lafayette recently returned to Versailles for five sold-out performances of Mozart's Cosi fan tutteand Philidor'sLes Femmes Vengées in January and February of 2014.

Ryan Brown is the founder, conductor, and artistic director of Opera Lafayette. Through his work with Opera Lafayette, Mr. Brown has gained an international reputation for his interpretations of French opera and for his role in the revival of significant works from 18th and 19th centuries. In 2014 Mr. Brown returned to the Opéra Royal in Versailles, leading Opera Lafayette in Philidor'sLes Femmes Vengées and Mozart's Cosi fan tutte. In 2015 he will conduct Vivaldi's Catone in Utica at the Glimmerglass Festival. Mr. Brown is a recipient of La Médaille d'Or du Rayonnement Culturel from La Renaissance Française.

Dominique Labelle's voice and her charismatic stage presence are unmistakable. Recent engagements include Handel's Messiah with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal (Kent Nagano) and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra (Gerard Schwartz); Yehudi Wyner's Fragments from Antiquity (Lexington Symphony) and ten performances with Nicholas McGegan at the Göttingen Handel Festival, including a Gala tour celebrating his tenure as its artistic director. She and Mr. McGegan also performed Handel's Orlando and Alexander's Feast with San Francisco's Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. Recent appearances with another favorite collaborator, Hungarian conductor Iván Fischer, include Countess Almaviva in Mozart's Nozze di Figaro at Teatro Pérez Galdós in Las Palmas and in Budapest; Bach's B-minor Mass in Washington, DC; Bach's St. Matthew Passion(Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra) and Mozart's Requiem in New York with the Orchestra of St. Luke's. Ms. Labelle's forays into contemporary music include Shostakovich's Seven Romances on Poetry of Alexander Blok (Mt. Desert Festival of Chamber Music); Britten'sLes Illuminations (New England String Ensemble and Susan Daveny Wyner), and John Harbison's The Rewaking(Lydian String Quartet, Musica Omnia). Her recent discography includes Monsigny's Le Déserteur (Opera Lafayette and Ryan Brown, Naxos) and Handel's Arminio (Virgin Classics), winner of the Handel Prize.

Dominique Labelle first came to international prominence as Donna Anna in Peter Sellar's production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, set in Spanish Harlem, which she performed in New York, Paris, and Vienna.

Born in Montreal and trained at McGill and Boston Universities, Ms. Labelle enjoys sharing her technical and musical insights with young singers, and has taught master classes at Harvard University, McGill, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts with more being planned. She is now Professor of Voice at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, in Montreal.

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