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Opera Theatre of the Rockies Announces Their 16th Season, A SEASON OF EXOTIC SPLENDOR
By: BWW News Desk Jan. 30, 2014
Opera Theatre of the Rockies is excited to announce their 16th Season - "A Season of Exotic Splendor" featuring two full-scale productions that will transport audiences to mystical lands of passion, romance and drama. The season will also include the expanded 2014 Vocal Arts Festival.
The season opens with performances of Léo Delibes' opera Lakmé (Lock-meh) on Thursday, February 27 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, March 2 at 3:00 p.m. at Armstrong Theater atColorado College. With the departure from the often repeated opera repertoire and a uniquely-gifted cast and artistic team, Opera Theatre is excited to break new ground in the Colorado opera community with this production of Lakmé.
Featuring the beautiful "Flower Duet" and the stirring "Bell Song" Lakmé is the story of a beautiful Hindu priestess who falls in love with a British soldier in 1880's India. Lakmé was last performed in Colorado almost 50 years ago in Central City. "It has always fascinated me as to why this beautiful opera is not produced more often" states Martile Rowland, Opera Theatre of the Rockies' Artistic Director. "I think it goes the way of a great many really impressive Italian bel canto scores: the casting is difficult, especially for the soprano and tenor - very difficult tessituri for both... It takes intense vocal and acting ability to fulfill the enormous requirements of these roles...THEN you have the story telling. A stage director must be able to look under, around, and through the music and create an exciting scenario in which to tell the story. Bel canto operas are filled with glorious music but they cannot be performed with a 'stand and sing' approach (often referred to humorously in the opera business as 'park and bark'. A creative and imaginative director will respect and admire the traditions of beautiful singing but is not afraid to add some real passion to the story-telling. We have such a director in Linda Ade Brand. Since the show is so rarely done, this will be the first time that we have done a show where no one involved has done it previously. So it will be so much fun to proceed without pre-conceived notions. It will be like opera Christmas as we all open this gift together with a first-time creation excitement!"
Main Performances:
§ Lakmé by Léo Delibes: February 27 and March 1, 7:30 p.m.; March 2, 3:00 p.m.
§ The King and I by Rodgers & Hammerstein: July 25 & 26, 7:30 p.m.; July 27, 3:00 p.m.
§ 2014 Vocal Arts Festival & Intensive Training Program: July 2014 (various events to be announced)
All performances run at the Armstrong Theater at Colorado College, and other smaller venues in Colorado Springs. Tickets: Tickets are $35, $30 and $25 and are available at the Worner Center desk at Colorado College, NW corner Cache La Poudre & Cascade Avenue, by calling the Opera Theatre ticket line, at 719-646-3127, or online at www.operatheatreoftherockies.org.
Opera Theatre of the Rockies is thrilled with the cast that will be a part of the unwrapping of this creation. Singing the soprano title role will be Opera Theatre alum and rising star Brittany Ann Reneé Robinson. For Opera Theatre of the Rockies Ms. Robinson has previously performed the roles of Queen of the Night (Magic Flute), Mrs. Nordstrom (A Little Night Music), and Adele (Die Fledermaus). She recently returned from performing with Wynton Marsalis' U.S. tour of the Abyssinian Mass with Chorale Le Chateau and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. She has been praised for her "lush voice and shimmering and brilliant coloratura." Tenor Drake Dantzler fills the role of Gérald, the British Army Officer whose ill-fated love for Lakmé crosses cultural boundaries. Dantzler returns to the Opera Theatre stage following his performance last season as Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus. Of Danzler Opera News says: "he has a voice of molten silver, immaculate musicianship, and an expressive stage persona". Baritone Nicholas Shelton(2013 Vocal Arts Festival Guest Artist) sings the role of Nilakantha, a Brahmin priest & Lakme's father. The Long Beach Gazette says of Mr. Shelton: "Here's a name to remember, Nicholas Shelton. Onstage, he managed to make a striking impression; that is some terrific voice." Mezzo Soprano Valerie Nicolosi returns in the role of Mallika, Lakme's servant (Mother Abbess, Sound of Music 2013, Pappagena, Magic Flute, 2010, and Flora, La Traviata, 2012.) A talented roster to include Brian Harris, Solveig Olsen, Sarah Stone, Karin Wilcox, Douglas Denning and the Opera Theatre chorus, impeccably prepared by Chorus Master Deborah Jenkins Teske and Music Director Daniel S. Brink, round out the cast of this musically and visually lavish opera - but this delightful experience doesn't end there.
Opera Theatre is very pleased to be able to include Bonmayuri Kalita and her students from theNatyasangam Dance Academy in this production. Ms. Kalita is the Founder and Director of The Natyasangam Dance Academy in Colorado Springs. She is one of the leading Bharatanatyam and Sattriya dance performers in Colorado. She has attained the stature of a brilliant exponent and teacher of Bharatanatyam and Sattriya dance technique.
Also exciting is the return of our highly praised conductor and director from 2012 & 2013, Christopher Zemliauskas and Linda Ade Brand, respectively. Under the direction of this team, 2012's La Traviata was hailed as "the finest operatic orchestral performance ever given in the Pikes Peak Region," and last season's Die Fledermaus was said to contain "all the elements that have made the company a surprise star on the art form's map in the Rocky Mountain region: excellent voices, fine acting, inventive stage direction and top notch production values."
Following the tremendously successful revival of Opera Theatre of the Rockies' Vocal Arts Festival last summer, plans are underway for the 2014 edition of this festival. Set for July 1-27, 2014, the Festival combines renowned opera, musical theater, and drama professionals with a Young Artist Intensive Training Program for aspiring singers in conjunction with Colorado College's Summer Arts Festival. The Vocal Arts Festival underlines Opera Theatre's mission to feature gifted Colorado performers in professional productions, in addition to providing opportunities for younger singers to train with some of the country's most highly-regarded teachers/performers and to gain actual stage experience. This exciting Festival opens with a Pikes Peak Opera League sponsored fun-filled gala event called "Opera Guffo" on July 8th, and followed by a Festival highlight Let's Make a Scene on July 13th.
The Festival culminates with Opera Theatre's second major production, Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I at Armstrong Theater, July 25-27. Following on the heels of last summer's sold-out performances of the Sound of Music, the artistic staff chose to stay with a musical theatre production for this summer festival centerpiece. "We were so excited and humbled to work with a fantastic group of young performers last summer, and want to continue that this year with our production of The King and I" said Rowland. "We want to keep the momentum of great vocal training and performance opportunities going for the young people of this community. The King and I was the perfect choice for our performers and our audience. We purposefully select classical musical theater which has become America's operetta and requires trained voices to do it justice. We are just as excited about this production as we are about Lakmé."
Also familiar to Colorado Springs' audiences, the wildly successful team of conductor, James Allbrittenand stage director, Steven LaCosse, both from Piedmont Opera, Opera Carolina, and North Carolina's famed School of the Arts will return for the Festival and The King and I production.
Tickets are $35 for reserved seating, and $30 and $25 for unreserved seating. Tickets are now available at the Worner Center desk at Colorado College, NW corner Cache La Poudre & Cascade Avenue, online at www.operatheatreoftherockies.org or by calling the Opera Theatre ticket line at 719-646-3127. For more information, call the Opera Theatre at 719-570-1950.
Leo Delibes 1836-1891: A French composer famous for his stage work, Delibes was the first composer to write symphonic music for the ballet. His compositions were elegant, graceful and at times, even exotic. He studied in Paris where he was exposed to opera. He became the Paris Opera's accompanist in the 1860s and was also a chorus master there. He gained renown for his theater music, and earned a professorship in composition at the Paris Institute and Conservatory. First Delibes wrote lighter works such as operettas and farces and was often associated with Offenbach. He composed a Cantata and a Mass and became known for his church music. Then, he went on to write for the theater. He wrote dances and airs for a play by Victor Hugo, Le roi s'amuse, which Verdi turned into the opera, Rigoletto. Delibes collaborated with a number of ballet composers and was commissioned to write his most famous ballet, Coppelia which opened to wide acclaim in 1870. Several years later he produced another notable ballet, Sylvia. Some experts believe that Delibes wrote the famous ballet in Gounod's Faust. He first developed his gifts for opera in the area of "opera comique" before he turned to more serious works. Lakme, written in 1883, is considered to be his greatest opera master piece. It is known for its beautifully melodic score, including the dazzling showpiece "Bell Song" and the familiar and hauntingly beautiful "Flower Duet." Delibes is known for his fiendishly difficult coloratura arias for soprano. The lushness of the setting is reflected in the richness of the music. Set in British Colonial India, the opera is the story of two cultures that clash when a young Hindu priestess falls in love with a British Officer. During his entire career, Delibes was involved in music - engaged as a composer, instructor, accompanist, chorus master, organist and singer. He was widely regarded throughout Europe for his stage music, and is said to have greatly influenced other composers such as Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saens and Debussy. Leo Delibes died of natural causes in Paris at the age of 54 and is buried in the Montmartre Cemetery.
Overview of Lakme, by Leo Delibes
Lakme is an opera written in three acts with a libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille. The subject originally comes from the novel by Pierre Loti that takes place in Tahiti and was written for a particular young soprano, Marie Van Zandt. Instead, to propel his story, Delibes moves his location to India, using the conflict among the Colonial settlers and the Brahmin Hindus. Composed in 1881-82, the opera premiered at Paris' Opera-Comique in 1883, to great audience approval. Lakme is a powerful love story that features a young Hindu priestess by that name. The work interweaves the societal discord that existed between the British and the people of India. Tensions heighten as we see the forbidden love grow between our star, Lakme and a British army officer, Gerald while they both are torn by their obligations and loyalties. The music is sensuous and the crowd scenes are rich with Hindu rituals and Indian themes. One hears exotic harmonies underlining the story line. Delibes handles the fall of our heroine much more poetically than in the original novel. The opera was a favorite in Paris during that period and was produced many times. What makes Lakme distinctive is how Delibes' music reflects the contrast between European and Eastern cultures. The opera's dances and ceremonial qualities also add to the work's color and inherent flavor of India. Because it is rarely performed (not having been staged in Colorado in almost 50 years), being able to attend a full production of Lakme for opera lovers is usually a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
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