LA Opera Opens 2016/17 Season with Verdi's MACBETH

LA Opera's 2016/17 season will open with Giuseppe Verdi's Macbeth, opening on September 17, 2016. General Director Plácido Domingo will perform the title role for the first time in the United States. The new production will be conducted by Music Director James Conlon and staged by Tony Award-winning director Darko Tresnjak.

"When I was a young tenor, I loved playing romantic or heroic leading roles," said Mr. Domingo. "When I began to add baritone parts to my repertoire six years ago, I was particularly interested in playing fathers, as I could draw from my own experience as a family man. Macbeth is a completely different kind of role for me. He is a murderer, but I think that he is also something of a victim, drawn into his crimes by the witches and by Lady Macbeth."

Macbeth was last presented by LA Opera in 1987 during the company's second season, when it was the occasion of Mr. Domingo's conducting debut in Los Angeles.

Macbeth will have seven performances at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (135 N. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, 90012) from September 17 through October 16, 2016.

LA Opera's new production of Macbeth is made possible by generous gifts from Barbara Augusta Teichert and The Blue Ribbon, with additional generous support from Joyce and Aubrey Chernick.

About the Opera
Macbeth, which premiered in 1857 in Florence, was the first of Giuseppe Verdi's three "Shakespearean" operas (followed, much later, by the masterpieces Otello in 1887 and Falstaff in 1893). Verdi venerated the English playwright (whom he had read in French translation). Macbeth demonstrates the composer's commitment to opera as drama in music, as he skillfully depicts Macbeth's development into a hardened killer and Lady Macbeth's descent into madness over their bloody deeds.

The Cast
Plácido Domingo performs the title role in Macbeth, his 28th role with LA Opera and his sixth baritone role with the company. Russian mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Semenchuk, who previously appeared in Los Angeles as Fricka in Die Walküre (2010) and as Olga in Eugene Onegin (2011), returns as Lady Macbeth. Mr. Domingo and Ms. Semenchuk recently appeared together in 2015 performances of Macbeth in Valencia, Spain.

Italian bass Roberto Tagliavini, who made his LAO debut in 2015 as Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro, sings the role of Banquo in the first five performances (Sep 17-Oct 8). On October 13 and 16, the role of Banquo will be performed by Italian bass-baritone Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, whose LAO performances include Guglielmo in Così fan tutte (2011), the title role in Don Giovanni (2012) and Escamillo in Carmen (2013). The role of Macduff is shared by Mexican tenor Arturo Chacón-Cruz (Sep 17-25) and by tenor Joshua Guerrero (Oct 5-16), who is an alumnus of LA Opera's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program.

For complete casting, click here.

The Creative Team
Macbeth is directed by Darko Tresnjak, who won a Tony Award in 2014 for his Broadway staging of A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder. For LA Opera, he has directed the U.S. premiere of Krenek's The Broken Jug (2008), Zemlinsky's The Dwarf (2008), Braunfels' The Birds (2009) and Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles (2015). Mr. Tresnjak and Colin McGurk are the co-designers of the Macbeth scenery. The costumes are designed by Suttirat Anne Larlarb, who won an Emmy Award for her work on the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics and a Costume Designers Guild Award for the 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire.

Matthew Richards is the lighting designer, and the production will feature projections designed by Sean Nieuwenhuis. The fight director is Steve Rankin and Daniel Lyons is the climbing consultant. The LA Opera Chorus is directed by Grant Gershon.

Performance Dates and Times
There will be seven performances of Macbeth at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion:

• Saturday, September 17, 2016, at 6pm
• Thursday, September 22, 2016, at 7:30pm
• Sunday, September 25, 2016, at 2pm
• Wednesday, October 5, 2016, at 7:30pm
• Saturday, October 8, 2016, at 2pm
• Thursday, October 13, 2016, at 7:30pm
• Saturday, October 16, 2016, at 2pm

Tickets are on sale now. Tickets begin at $27 and can be purchased in person at the LA Opera Box Office at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, by phone at 213.972.8001 or online at LAOpera.org. For disability access, call 213.972.0777 or email LAOpera@LAOpera.org.

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