Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel And Deaf West Theatre Present Beethoven's Only Opera FIDELIO

April 14 to 16, 2022, Los Angeles Philharmonic Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel will conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic and a star-studded cast in a groundbreaking event directed by Alberto Arvelo, co-directed by Joaquín Solano and produced in collaboration with Los Angeles's acclaimed, Tony Award®-winning Deaf West Theatre (Artistic Director DJ Kurs) and Deaf performers of El Sistema's Coro de Manos Blancas (White Hands Choir) in a new production of Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera Fidelio at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Created for both Deaf and hearing audiences, the semi-staged production draws on both American Sign Language's expressive, gestural poetry and Beethoven's music to tell the powerful tale of redemption and liberation. The idea for the production was originally developed by Gustavo Dudamel through his Foundation, which he co-chairs with his wife, actress María Valverde, as a means of elevating Deaf artistry to illuminate the opera's central theme: the fight to overcome obstacles in order to discover one's own personal freedom. Fidelio premiered in 1805 as Beethoven was losing his hearing.

Gustavo Dudamel said, "All art is rooted in the deeply human need to communicate something, and to have that communication be received and felt. Fidelio is perhaps Beethoven's purest expression of our ability to overcome adversity, and to reach one another across a seemingly insurmountable divide. That belief in the transformative, transcendent power of music is at the heart of this production, where we have partnered with the extraordinary artists of Deaf West Theatre and the Coro de Manos Blancas, in order to offer a performance with equal resonance to both Deaf and hearing audiences, and remind us that there is always light through the darkness."

DJ Kurs, Artistic Director of Deaf West Theatre, said, "Rarely do the opera houses and concert halls throughout the world open their doors to the Deaf community. Together with the LA Phil we have been able to create an experience that brings new facets of music to Deaf and hearing audiences. Fidelio is Deaf West Theatre's first opera and in thinking about the production we kept returning to the fact that for the Deaf community, music transcends sound. This is something Beethoven knew well and is why he cut the legs off his piano so that he could feel the vibrations of the music on the floor as he lost his own hearing. Movement and language are additional portals to music and with the combination of Beethoven's powerful score and American Sign Language (ASL) we are able to offer Deaf audiences an entry into the world of opera. ASL, the central medium of our staging, is an expressive visual language filled with nuance, movement, and poetry that can bring music to life in new ways, creating a synthesis that brings all audiences together."

The acclaimed cast features Amelia Hensley (actor) and Christiane Libor (soprano) as Leonore, Josh Castille (actor) and Ian Koziara (tenor) as Florestan, Russell Harvard (actor) and Ryan Speedo Green (bass-baritone) as Rocco, Indi Robinson (actor) and Gabriella Reyes (soprano) as Marzelline, Gregor Lopes (actor) and José Simerilla-Romero (tenor) as Jaquino, Gabriel Silva (actor) and Shenyang (bass-baritone) as Don Pizarro, and Michael Anthony Spady (actor) and Ethan Vincent (baritone) as Don Fernando. The Los Angeles Master Chorale is led by Artistic Director Grant Gershon, and Associate Artistic Director Jenny Wong, and Artistic Director María Inmaculada Velásquez is directing the Coro de Manos Blancas. The entire performance will be signed and sung, with supertitles also provided.

Thursday's performance (April 14) is generously supported by the Frank Gehry Fund for Creativity and is part of the Otis Booth Foundation Thursday 2 Series. The Friday and Saturday (April 15 and 16) performances are generously supported by an Edgerton Foundation grant.

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