Long Beach Opera Announces its 2017-18 Season

Long Beach Opera's Artistic and General Director Andreas Mitisek today announced Long Beach Opera's 2017/18 season. Continuing its tradition of presenting innovative works for adventurous audiences, LBO will stage four new productions with music from the 18th century to the 21st: Gian Carlo Menotti's refugee thriller, The Consul, starring Patricia Racette in her role debut as Magda; the U.S. Premiere of Black Cat, a mash-up of J.S Bach cantatas and contemporary songs, dance and theater based on Edgar Allan Poe's classic horror tale; the Western U.S. premiere of Stewart Copeland's The Invention of Morel, a sci-fi time-bending love story; and Frank Martin's The Love Potion (Le Vin herbé), a haunting retelling of the epic romance between Tristan and Isolde.

Mitisek commented on the new season, "We'll bring together stories and music that can only be seen at LBO in one and the same season. We are proud to feature Patricia Racette, one of the greatest singers of our time, as well as another collaboration with Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra. As always, we live by our motto "expect the unexpected."

The Consul

A co-production with Chicago Opera Theater (COT)

Composer and Librettist: Gian Carlo Menotti World Premiere: Philadelphia 1950

Venue: Centinela Valley Center for the Arts Performance Dates: 10/15 at 2:30PM, 10/21 at 7PM, 10/22 at 2:30PM Conductor: TBA Stage Director: Andreas Mitisek

Sung in English

Riveting. Powerful. Relevant. Patricia Racette, one of the great singing actresses of our time, will star as Magda Sorel in this politically charged refugee thriller. When Magda pleads for a visa to save her persecuted family, she is confronted with a soul-destroying consular bureaucracy, where "your name is a number" and "your story is a case." This suspenseful drama holds the audience's attention from beginning to end and won both the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical and the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Music. The Consul is a chilling story about the world we live in.

Black Cat

Musical Concept: Martin Haselböck

Composers: David Sylvian and Johann Sebastian Bach with additional

soundtrack recording of music by Ernst Krenek, Martin Haselböck and Ülo Krigul.

World Premiere: Luxembourg, Belgium Nov.19, 2012

The Beverly O'Neill Theater, Long Beach, CA. Performance Dates: 1/13 at 7:30PM, 1/20 at 7:30PM, 1/21 at 2:30PM

Stage Director: Frank Hoffmann

Video Design: Virgil Widrich

Sung in English

Mysterious. Unsettling. Thrilling. A nameless person sits on death row, awaiting his execution. He wonders what possessed him to murder his wife and begins to tell his story, the story of the black cat. Edgar Allan Poe's nightmarish tale is accompanied by a musical mash-up of David Sylvian's songs and arias from J.S. Bach's cantatas, delivering a dark journey into the abyss of a desperate murderer's soul. Performed in collaboration with the Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra.

Luxemburg-based theater and film director Frank Hoffmann, Austrian conductor Martin Haselböck, and Academy Award-nominated Austrian film and multi-media artist Virgil Widrich have created a multi-disciplinary project for music, dance and film. Widrich's dramatic space combined with the unsettling music of contemporary English songwriter David Sylvian and arias from the cantatas of J.S. Bach, performed on stage by tenor and baroque ensemble, skillfully underpin Poe's story of one man's fall into perdition.

The Invention of Morel

A co-commission and co-production with Chicago Opera Theater (COT)

Composer: Stewart Copeland Co-Librettists: Stewart Copeland and Jonathan Moore Based on the novel La invención de Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares World Premiere: Chicago Opera Theater February 2017

The Beverly O'Neill Theatre, Long Beach, CA. Performance Dates: 3/17 at 7:30PM, 3/24 at 7:30PM, 3/25 at 2:30PM Conductor: Andreas Mitisek Stage Director: Jonathan Moore

Sung in English

Surreal. Futuristic. When a man has no hope, he has nothing left to lose. Time-bending love triumphs over convention in this futuristic story of passion and desire. Located on a lonely island, this sci-fi story redefines the limits of human connection and the power of love. Stewart Copeland, co-founder and drummer of The Police, sets this fantastical tale of the human heart to thrilling music. This LBO co-commission is an opera for the 21st-century.

The Love Potion (Le Vin herbé) - The story of Tristan and Isolde

Frank Martin Text Source: Roman de Tristan et Isolde, edited by Rudolf Georg Binding World Premiere: Zurich, Switzerland March 28, 1942 This production premiered on September 30, 2016 at Chicago Opera Theater.

Venue: The Warner Grand, San Pedro, CA.
Performance Dates: 5/13 at 2:30PM, 5/19 at 7:30PM Conductor: Kristof van Grysperre Stage Director/Production/Video Designer: Andreas Mitisek

Sung in English

Haunting. Deceiving. Eternal. The epic story of Tristan and Isolde is told through Martin's mystical and haunting score. The fateful lovers meet by deception; fall in love by magic; and pursue their love in defiance of heavenly and earthly power. They "loved each other, and at last, they died of that love together upon one day; she by him and he by her."

Subscriptions

Subscriptions to Long Beach Opera's 2017/18 season range from $49 to $150 and will be available starting on 5/15/17 by calling the LBO Box Office at 562.470.SING (7464) x101 or clicking on www.longbeachopera.org/tickets. Individual tickets will go on sale on 8/1/2017.

LONG BEACH OPERA: Long Beach Opera (LBO) is internationally known for its cutting-edge interpretations of unconventional repertoire. LBO creates immediate, inventive, and often boldly avant-garde productions for an adventurous audience and stands apart from most opera companies in the number of world, American, and West Coast premieres the company has staged.

Founded in 1979, LBO is the oldest professional opera company in the Los Angeles/Orange County region with a performance history of more than 110 operas, ranging from the earliest works of the 17th century to operas of the 21st. LBO's ever?growing repertoire has provided stimulus for the subsequent founding of other local opera companies, catapulting Southern California into the spotlight as a major opera epicenter. LBO is a recognized and respected member of the U. S. cultural community, receiving funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, the County of Los Angeles, and the City of Long Beach, along with generous support from individual donors, local businesses, public corporations and private foundations.

Photo credit: Devon Cass

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