WEST SIDE STORY & More Set For IU Opera & Ballet Theater's 2009-10 Season

Comedy, tragedy, magic, madness, jealousy, deceit and fantasy all will take center stage at IU Bloomington's Musical Arts Center during Indiana University Opera and Ballet Theater's 2009-2010 season.

"We are very excited to announce the new season for IU Opera and Ballet Theater," said Jacobs School of Music Dean Gwyn Richards. "It offers a wealth of varied opportunities for both our students and our audience members. In addition to two brand new opera productions, we are particularly pleased to present West Side Story, in celebration of the recent unprecedented gift from the family of Leonard Bernstein that contains the contents of his Fairfield, Conn., composing studio, and the history of Bernstein's long association with the Jacobs School."

West Side Story, Bernstein's dynamic season closer in April 2010, is a modern version of Shakespeare's timeless Romeo and Juliet. It will be guest conducted by Rob Fisher and guest directed and choreographed by Joshua Bergasse, with set and costume designs by Jacobs Professor C. David Higgins.

In intriguing contrast to West Side Story, Charles Gounod's operatic version of the Shakespeare classic, Roméo et Juliette, will be presented in the fall. Designs again come from Higgins, with guest conductor Ronald Zollman and guest director Michael Ehrman.

Inspiring new productions of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) and Puccini's La Rondine (The Swallow) will be offered in the fall and spring, respectively.

"Die Zauberflöte" (Mozart's "The Magic Flute")
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A co-production with The Atlanta Opera, Die Zauberflöte will boast 13 different scenes, said Higgins, who is designer for the production. "Guest director Tomer Zvulun and I have developed the concept of a symbolic magical box transformed with pop-up and 18th-century theater elements -- such as sliding platforms and props moving on and off the stage -- to reveal an array of unusual environments," he said. Mark Gibson will return to guest conduct.

Jacobs faculty members David Effron and Vincent Liotta will team up as conductor and director, respectively, with new set designs from guest Bill Forrester and new costume designs from Linda Pisano, head of IU's Costume Design Program, for La Rondine.

"L'Italiana in Algeri" by Gioachino Rossini
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Opening the season in September will be the lighthearted comedy L'Italiana in Algeri by Gioachino Rossini, which will be directed by Jacobs Professor Vincent Liotta and feature new faculty member Arthur Fagen on the podium, making his IU Opera Theater debut. Sets will come from the Opera Company of Philadelphia.

Madness will reign as Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor kicks off the spring semester with conductor Fagen, returning guest director Tito Capobianco and set and costume designer Higgins.

IU Ballet Theater, directed by Ballet Department Chair Michael Vernon, continues its increasingly compelling programming next season.

"Diaghilev Tribute," celebrating the 100th anniversary of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballet Russes, will be presented in the fall and feature George Balanchine's two different versions of Valse Fantasie back to back, with music by Mikhail Glinka; Jeux, with music by Claude Debussy and new choreography by Vernon; and Les Noces, with music by Igor Stravinsky and choreography by Bronislava Nijinska, in collaboration with a Jacobs choral ensemble directed by Assistant Professor William Jon Gray.

Fall Ballet
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IU's beloved production of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker returns in December, with choreography by Vernon, set and costume designs by Higgins and guest Jeff Cook in the pit.

Maestro Cook will return in the spring for "An American Evening," presenting creations by two icons of American choreography -- Balanchine and Agnes de Mille.

Balanchine's work will be featured in Serenade, with score by Tchaikovsky, and Rubies, with music by Stravinsky. Aaron Copland's Rodeo, choreographed by Agnes de Mille, will conclude the evening and the 2009-2010 IU Ballet Theater season.

For more information and subscription opportunities, visit http://music.indiana.edu/operaballet.

INDIANA UNIVERSITY OPERA AND BALLET THEATER 2009-2010 SEASON

OPERA

L'Italiana in Algeri by Gioachino Rossini
September 25, 26; October 2, 3, 2009

Sung in Italian with English supertitles
Conductor: Arthur Fagen
Stage Director: Vincent Liotta
Set Designer: Paul Shortt for Opera Company of Philadelphia
Roméo et Juliette by Charles Gounod
October 23, 24, 30, 31, 2009

Sung in French with English supertitles
Conductor: Ronald Zollman
Stage Director: Michael Ehrman
Set and Costume Designer: C. David Higgins
Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
November 13, 14, 20, 21, 2009

Sung in German with English dialogue and supertitles
Conductor: Mark Gibson
Stage Director: Tomer Zvulun
Set and Costume Designer: C. David Higgins
Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti
February 5, 6, 12, 13, 2010

Sung in Italian with English supertitles
Conductor: Arthur Fagen
Stage Director: Tito Capobianco
Set and Costume Designer: C. David Higgins
La Rondine (The Swallow) by Giacomo Puccini
February 26, 27; March 5, 6, 2010

Sung in Italian with English supertitles
Conductor: David Effron
Stage Director: Vincent Liotta
Set and Costume Designers: Bill Forrester and Linda Pisano
West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein
April 9, 10, 16, 17, 2010

Sung in English with English supertitles
Conductor: Rob Fisher
Stage Director/Choreographer: Joshua Bergasse
Set and Costume Designer: C. David Higgins
BALLET

Fall Ballet: Diaghilev Tribute. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballet Russes
October 9, 10, 2009

Valse Fantasie

Composer: Mikhail Glinka
Choreographer: George Balanchine
Balanchine's two versions will be performed back to back.
Jeux

Composer: Claude Debussy
Choreograper: Michael Vernon
Les Noces

Composer: Igor Stravinsky
Choreograper: Bronislava Nijinska
The Nutcracker by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
December 4 and 5 at 8 p.m.; December 5 and 6 at 2 p.m., 2009

Conductor: Jeff Cook
Choreographer: Michael Vernon
Set and Costume Designer: C. David Higgins
Spring Ballet: An American Evening
March 26 and 27 at 8 p.m.; March 27 at 2 p.m., 2010
Conductor: Jeff Cook

Serenade

Composer: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Choreograper: George Balanchine
Rubies

Composer: Igor Stravinsky
Choreograper: George Balanchine
Rodeo

Composer: Aaron Copeland
Choreographer: Agnes de Mille

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