Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Presents LOST IN THE STARS, Today

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, in partnership with CAP UCLA, presents the first Los Angeles performance since the 1950s of LOST IN THE STARS Kurt Weill's powerful, uncompromising social indictment of apartheid-era South Africa, on Saturday, January 28, 8 pm, and Sunday, January 29, 2017, 7 pm, at UCLA's Royce Hall. The all-new staged production of the gripping musical is directed by Anne Bogart, co-artistic director of New York City's famed theatre ensemble Siti Company, and conducted by LACO Music Director Jeffrey Kahane. The cast features soprano Lauren Michelle, tenor Issachah Savage and bass-baritone Justin Hopkins as well as the Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers and members of Siti Company. Jonathon Heyward, assistant conductor of the Hallé Orchestra and a Julius Rudel/Kurt Weill Conducting Fellow, serves as the production's assistant conductor. With musical influences ranging from Broadway and gospel to African American spirituals and blues, Lost in the Stars follows the troubled son of a black minister in apartheid-era South Africa, who accidentally kills the son of a white neighbor, and the reverend who fights to keep his family together, lead his alarmed congregation and reconcile his own shaken notions of mercy and hope.

"It has been a dream of mine for years to bring Lost in the Stars, Kurt Weill's final work for the stage, to Los Angeles, where this searing and deeply moving piece of musical theater has not been performed professionally since the 1950s," says Kahane. "It is an immense privilege for all of us at LACO to collaborate with renowned director Anne Bogart, members of Siti Company and CAP-UCLA, and a superb cast of singers and actors in this endeavor, which may well be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for lovers of musical theater in Los Angeles. I know that we are all keenly aware that the courageous message that Weill and his collaborator Maxwell Anderson wanted to communicate to American audiences in 1949 speaks just as directly and powerfully to the audiences of our time."

Weill's final stage work is based on the 1949 adaptation by the composer and librettist Maxwell Anderson of Alan Paton's great novel Cry, the Beloved Country. Widely acknowledged as one of the most important works of that Broadway season and a landmark in the history of American musical theater, the production ran for more than 300 performances. Few places in America have ever had the opportunity to see and hear a live performance of the work because the first national tour was cancelled in protest when the producers learned that black cast members would be denied the right to stay in the same hotels as white cast members.

Lost in the Stars is a cornerstone of LACO's LIFT EVERY VOICE, a three-week, city-wide series of free and ticketed concerts, conversations and community engagement celebrating the unique ability of music and the arts to address challenging social and moral issues, from January 14 to 29, 2017, at venues across the Southland. LIFT EVERY VOICE, conceived and curated by Kahane to explore themes of tolerance, compassion, cooperation and creativity along with the power of music to encourage understanding and promote peace, was inspired by the lives of human and civil rights champions Rabbi Joachim Prinz, composer Kurt Weill and Martin Luther King, Jr. The series is a signature part of Kahane's 20th and final LACO season, which features programming that reflects his far-reaching impact, broad musical sensibilities, distinctive philosophical interests and tremendous artistic passion. In addition to Lost in the Stars, LIFT EVERY VOICE's highlights include Weill/Brecht's satirical The Seven Deadly Sins with chanteuse Storm Large, a provocative work addressing weighty moral issues; violinist Daniel Hope featured on the U.S. premiere of Weill's Song-Suite For Violin and Orchestra arranged by Paul Bateman; the West Coast premiere of Bruce Adolphe's Violin Concerto "I Will Not Remain Silent"; a joint performance with the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (ICYOLA); and symposiums, a chamber music program and film screenings. People can follow the series on social media at #LACOLEV.

Tickets for Lost in the Stars, starting at $25, are on sale through CAP UCLA at cap.ucla.edu or through the box office at 310 825 2101, Monday through Friday 10 am to 4 pm. On the day of the show, the box office at Royce Hall opens one hour prior to the event start time. Discounted tickets available by phone for groups of 10 or more. High school and college students may purchase student rush tickets ($18), based on availability, at the box office the day of the concert.

Equally at home at the keyboard or on the podium, JEFFREY KAHANE (conductor) has established an international reputation as a truly versatile artist, recognized around the world for his mastery of diverse repertoire ranging from Bach and Mozart to Gershwin and John Adams. Now in his 20th season as music director of LACO, he previously served as music director of the Colorado and Santa Rosa symphonies. He has garnered tremendous critical acclaim for his innovative programming and commitment to education and community involvement and received multiple ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming for his work in both Los Angeles and Denver. He is a Professor of Keyboard Studies at USC Thornton School of Music, artistic director of the Green Music Center Chamber Fest in Sonoma, CA, and music director of the Sarasota Music Festival, FL.

Anne Bogart (director) is co-artistic director of the NY-based ensemble Siti Company, head of the MFA Directing program at Columbia University and author of five books: A Director Prepares, The Viewpoints Book, And Then You Act, Conversations with Anne and What's the Story. Bogart has directed more than 30 works with Siti Company in venues around the world, including Steel Hammer, the theater is a blank page, Persians, A Rite, Café Variations, Radio Macbeth, American Document, bobrauschenbergamerica and Hotel Cassiopeia. Recent opera works she has directed include Verdi's Macbeth, Bellini's Norma and Bizet's Carmen.

JONATHON HEYWARD (assistant conductor) serves as assistant conductor of the Hallé Orchestra. His two-year appointment, which began in 2016-17, involves assisting music director Sir Mark Elder and other visiting artists, acting as music director of the Hallé Youth Orchestra and conducting concerts with the Hallé. In 2013, he became the youngest ever semi-finalist at the Blue Danube International Opera Conducting Competition and, two years later, won the 54th International Competition for Young Conductors in Besançon. In upcoming seasons, he conducts the Orchestre National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine; the St. Petersburg, Basel and Prague symphony orchestras; the Orchestre de l'Opéra de Rouen and the Philharmonie Zuidnederland.

Justin Hopkins (bass-baritone) is a young performer increasing in demand both nationally and internationally. He has been featured in such venues as Carnegie and Queen Elizabeth halls and Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie. A versatile artist, Hopkins has performed operatic roles ranging from Mozart to Philip Glass, as well as concert repertoire including Britten's War Requiem and Mendelssohn's Elijah. He has performed under the batons of such distinguished conductors as Keith Lockhart, Charles Dutoit and Valery Gergiev with the Philadelphia, BBC Concert and Verbier Festival orchestras, as well as the Boston Pops. He took 2nd place in the 2012 Lotte Lenya Competition.

LAUREN MICHELLE (soprano) is a prize winner of The 2015 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. Originally from Los Angeles, she has appeared internationally as Musetta in La Bohème in Tel Aviv, Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream at The Banff Center and Papagena in The Magic Flute at Teatro Malibran in Italy. She made her US debut to critical acclaim in the role of Irina with Washington National Opera's Lost in the Stars and recently performed with The Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the Baton of Bobby McFerrin at The Ravinia Festival. This season, she returns to Carnegie Hall as a soloist, and will make her debut with Opera Theater of Saint Louis, Welsh National Opera and Royal Opera House.

ISSACHAH SAVAGE (tenor) is garnering acclaim as a "heldentenor par excellence" with "trumpet-like, clear, open-throated, powerful" singing (San Francisco Examiner). He is the winner of the 2014 Seattle International Wagner Competition, earning the main prize, audience favorite prize, orchestra favorite prize among other accolades. Savage made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Don Riccardo in Verdi's Ernani under James Levine and sang the title role of Rienzi with The National Philharmonic at Strathmore Hall. He has performed at Austin Lyric Opera and with the San Antonio Symphony, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Boston Philharmonic and Orchestre National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine and at the Aspen Music Festival.

The ALBERT MCNEIL Jubilee Singers have garnered international acclaim and focused worldwide attention on the vast body of folk music termed "African-American." Since it was founded in 1968, they have performed in more than 70 countries, participating in 18 sold-out European tours, 12 tours of the United States and Canada, tours of the Middle and Far East, Africa and South America. They are among the most honored singing ensembles in the world. The chorus, led by Founder-Director Albert McNeil, was selected three times to serve the U.S. State Department and USIS Cultural Exchange Program; has sung for Pope John Paul II; headlined the First Choral Festival in Jaffe, Israel; performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in a national broadcast on CBS Radio and Television; appeared with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Dale Warland Singers, Chanticleer, the Vancouver Chamber Choir; and featured on the NPR series "Beverly Sills Presents," and The Smithsonian's series "Wade in the Water," among its extensive credits.

LOS ANGELES CHAMBER ORCHESTRA (LACO), proclaimed "America's finest chamber orchestra" by Public Radio International, has established itself among the world's top musical ensembles. Since 1997, LACO has performed under the baton of acclaimed conductor and pianist Jeffrey Kahane, hailed by critics as "visionary" and a conductor with "effortless musicality and extraordinary communicative gifts." Under Kahane's leadership, the Orchestra maintains its status as a preeminent interpreter of historical masterworks and a champion of contemporary composers.

Siti Company was founded in 1992 by Anne Bogart, Tadashi Suzuki and a group of likeminded artists. SITI began as an agreement to redefine and revitalize contemporary theater in the United States through an emphasis on international cultural exchange, training and collaboration. Originally envisioned as a summer institute in Saratoga Springs, New York, SITI expanded to encompass a year-round season inclusive of touring, the creation of new work and running a Conservatory program for nine months of the year to cultivate the next generation of independent theater artists. Based in New York City, SITI continues to operate its international training program during its summer season in Saratoga. The Company is known nationally and internationally as a top-level artistic ensemble that generates groundbreaking theater and is dedicated to establishing long lasting relationships with theater presenters and their communities around the world.

CENTER FOR THE ART OF PERFORMANCE AT UCLA (CAP UCLA) is dedicated to the advancement of the contemporary performing arts in all disciplines - dance, music, spoken word and theater, as well as emerging digital, collaborative and cross-platforms created by today's leading artists. More at cap.ucla.edu/ab.

(Photo Credit: Lauren Michelle)

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