LA Opera Presents New Production Of ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE Featuring The Joffrey Ballet

Plácido Domingo, LA Opera's Eli and Edythe Broad General Director, has announced final details about the company's spring presentation of Christoph Willibald Gluck's landmark masterpiece, Orpheus and Eurydice, which will be conducted by James Conlon, the company's Richard Seaver Music Director. The new production, created by LA Opera in collaboration with Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Hamburg Staatsoper, is directed, choreographed and designed by John Neumeier and will feature the entire company of the Joffrey Ballet, one of the world's great dance companies.

"Orpheus and Eurydice is one of the most important, foundational works in the entire operatic canon," said Mr. Domingo. "LA Opera has presented Gluck's masterpiece twice before in its original Italian version as Orfeo ed Euridice, but this season, we are presenting the greatly expanded version in French that the composer later created for Paris, Orphée et Eurydice. To do full justice to the extensive dance requirements of the piece, we have partnered with one of the world's premiere ballet companies, the Joffrey Ballet, for a new production created by John Neumeier, a living legend in the dance world."

Orpheus and Eurydice will be presented from March 10 through 25 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (135 North Grand Avenue, Los Angeles CA 90012).

About Orpheus and Eurydice
The Italian-language Orfeo ed Euridice was the first of Gluck's great "reform" operas, in which he sought to move away from the complicated plots and ornate music of opera seria in favor of a "noble simplicity," where music always drives the drama. The opera's 1762 premiere in Vienna was a triumph. Twelve years later, for the opera's French premiere as Orphée et Eurydice, Gluck made his opera even grander to suit the forces of the Paris Opéra, by extending movements, adding new music, revising the orchestration and recasting the role of Orpheus from alto castrato to high tenor. The opera remains Gluck's most popular work and is regarded as a landmark in operatic history.

The Performers
Tenor Maxim Mironov, who made his LA Opera debut in 2011 as Don Narciso in The Turk in Italy, returns as Orpheus. Soprano Lisette Oropesa, a 2007 Operalia winner who performs the role of Eurydice, made her company debut in 2014 as Rosalba in Florencia en el Amazonas. She will return later in the season as Gilda in Rigoletto.

The role of Amour will be performed by soprano Liv Redpath, a member of LA Opera's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program.

The Joffrey Ballet
Orpheus and Eurydice will feature 43 dancers, the entire company of the prestigious Joffrey Ballet. Classically trained to the highest standards, the Joffrey Ballet expresses a unique, inclusive perspective on dance, proudly reflecting the diversity of America with its company, audiences and repertoire, which includes major story ballets, reconstructions of masterpieces and contemporary works. Founded by visionary teacher Robert Joffrey in 1956 and guided by celebrated choreographer Gerald Arpino from 1988 until 2007, the Chicago-based company continues to thrive under Artistic Director Ashley Wheater and Executive Director Greg Cameron.

The Creative Team
James Conlon, LA Opera's Richard Seaver Music Director, is the conductor of Orpheus and Eurydice. John Neumeier, the internationally acclaimed choreographer who is director of the Hamburg Ballet, makes his LA Opera debut in multiple capacities with Orpheus and Eurydice. In addition to directing and choreographing the production, he is also the designer of the scenery, costumes and lighting.

Grant Gershon, LA Opera's Resident Conductor, is the director of the LA Opera Chorus. The associate scenery designer is Heinrich Tröger and the associate lighting designer is Chris Maravich.

Performance Dates and Times
There will be six performances of Orpheus and Eurydice presented by LA Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (135 North Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012):

• Saturday, March 10, 2018, at 7:30pm
• Thursday, March 15, 2018, at 7:30pm
• Sunday, March 18, 2018, at 2pm
• Wednesday, March 21, 2018, at 7:30pm
• Saturday, March 24, 2018, at 7:30pm
• Sunday, March 25, 2018, at 2pm

Tickets
Tickets are on sale now. Tickets begin at $16 and can be purchased online at LAOpera.org, by phone at 213.972.8001, or in person at the LA Opera box office at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (135 N. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles CA 90012). For disability access, call 213.972.0777 or email LAOpera@LAOpera.org.

For additional information about this presentation, visit LAOpera.org/Orpheus.

Co-production by Lyric Opera of Chicago, LA Opera and Staatsoper Hamburg.

Production made possible by generous support from GRoW @ Annenberg, an initiative of Gregory Annenberg Weingarten and Family, Annenberg Foundation, and Ceil and Michael Pulitzer.

Additional generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Lisette Oropesa's appearance generously underwritten by a gift from the Piera Barbaglia Shaheen Emerging Artist Fund.

LA Opera is a non-profit organization dedicated
to serving the greater Los Angeles community.

Yamaha is the Official Piano of LA Opera.

LAOpera.org

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