Operas EMILIE, FENG YI TING and More Set for 2012 Lincoln Center Festival, 7/5-8/5

By: Jun. 18, 2012
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Opera, orchestral and pop music are on the menu at Lincoln Center Festival (July 5-August 5). Highlights include the New York premieres of two operas: Kaija Saariaho and Amin Maalouf's monodrama Émilie on July 19, 21 and 22 performed by soprano Elizabeth Futral and directed by Marianne Weems and inspired by the life of French mathematician Émilie du Châtelet; and Guo Wenjing's chamber opera, Feng Yi Ting on July 26, 27 and 28, based on an ancient story of a legendary beauty who was the central figure in a dangerous rivalry, directed by Atom Egoyan. July 20, 21 and 22 the Paris Opera Ballet will perform the U.S. premiere of Pina Bausch's dance/opera Orpheus and Eurydice to music by C.W. Gluck. On July 20, the Festival features a 70th birthday tribute to the late soul music icon Curtis Mayfield with a star line-up including Sinéad O'Connor, Aloe Blacc and The Impressions. On July 11, John Adams leads the Juilliard Orchestra and London's Royal Academy of Music in concertin Avery Fisher Hall. Imogen Cooper is the piano soloist.

Complete details follow. Programs, artists and prices subject to change.

ÉMILIE

Soprano Elizabeth Futral sings the tour de force title role in Émilie, the first opera by the team of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho and Lebanese librettist Amin Maalouf to be staged at Lincoln Center. Émilie is a 75-minute work of almost continuous vocalization based on an episode in the life of Émilie du Châtelet (1706 – 1749). Born Gabrielle Émilie de Breuteuil, she was a prominent figure in the French Enlightenment, a respected French mathematician, the translator of Newton's great work, Principia Mathematica, and a lover and collaborator of Voltaire's. The director is Marianne Weems, artistic director of the experimental theater company The Builders Association. The production uses video projections that convey a prismatic portrait of du Châtelet's state of mind.

Three performances at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 524 W. 59th Street, between 10th and 11th Ave., July 19, 21 and 22 at 7:30 PM; 75 minutes, no intermission. Sung in English and French with English supertitles.

FENG YI TING

Chinese composer Guo Wenjing returns to the Festival with the New York premiere of a new production of his 2004 chamber opera, Feng Yi Ting, based on the historic account of Diao Chan, a legendarily beautiful woman who was the central figure in a dangerous rivalry. Wenjing, chair and professor of the Composition Department at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, has created an orchestral score using four traditional Chinese instruments – pipa, dizi, erhu/gazou and sheng – and a western orchestra around the distinctive vocal tones of Chinese opera. Ken Lam, winner of the 2011 Memphis International Conducting Competition and Orchestra Director at Montclair State University, will lead Ensemble ACJW-a collective of outstanding young professional musicians from Carnegie Hall and Juilliard's The Academy.

The singers are Sichuan opera soprano Shen Tiemei and Beijing opera countertenor Jiang Qihu.

Award-winning film and opera director Atom Egoyan directed this multimedia production. The creative team also includes costumes by Chinese fashion designer Han Feng, also known as a costume designer for her spectacular designs for Anthony Minghella's production of Madama Butterfly at the Metropolitan Opera in 2006 and the opera version of Amy Tan's The Bonesetter's Daughter seen at the San Francisco Opera in 2008. Video in this production is by Hong Kong-based visual artist Tsang Kin-wah, with sets by Tony Award-winner Derek McLane.

Sung in Chinese with English supertitles.

Three performances at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, 524 W. 59th Street, between 10th and 11th Ave.: July 26, 27, and 28 at 7:30 pm. 45 minutes, no intermission

Sponsored by Bank of China.

Feng Yi Ting is coproduced by Lincoln Center Festival, Spoleto Festival USA and Currents. Made possible in part by generous support from China International Culture Association.

ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE

The Paris Opera Ballet will perform the U.S. premiere of Pina Bausch's dance/opera Orpheus and Eurydice to music by C.W. Gluck. Bausch, who died in 2009, was the choreographer and exponent of the Neo-Expressionist form of German dance known as Tanztheater. She originally made Orpheus and Eurydice for her own company, Tanztheater Wuppertal, in 1975, and revived it in 1991. Paris Opera Ballet premiered it in 2005 to great acclaim. Bausch's Orpheus and Eurydice has dual roles-for dancers and singers-to unfold the tragic tale. The vocal soloists are mezzo-soprano Maria Riccarda Wesseling (Orpheus), soprano Yun Jung Choi (Eurydice), and soprano Zoe Nicolaidou (Amore). It will be sung in German with English supertitles. The orchestra will be the Balthasar-Neumann Ensemble und Chor from Freiburg, Germany. http://www.operadeparis.fr/en/L_Opera/le_Ballet

Three performances at the David H. Koch Theater, Columbus Avenue at 63rd St.: July 20 and 21 at 8 PM and July 22 at 3 PM This presentation of Paris Opera Ballet is made possible in part by generous support from The Grand Marnier Foundation and the Joelson Foundation

HERE BUT I'M GONE: A 70TH BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE TO CURTIS MAYFIELD

This year the Festival pays tribute to Curtis Mayfield, the late soul music icon, who would have been 70 years old in 2012. Mayfield was highly regarded as a pioneer of funk and of politically conscious African-American music in a career that spanned the early 1970s through the 1990s. A collaboration between Lincoln Center Festival and the Mayfield estate, this one-night-only event pays tribute to an artist whose music served as a soundtrack to the civil rights movement, introducing poetry and moral affirmation into pop, soul, funk and R&B. The lineup for the Lincoln Center Festival tribute includes artists Sinéad O'Connor, The Roots, Bilal, Meshell Ndegeocello, William Bell, Ryan Montbleau, Inyang Bassey, The Impressions, Mavis Staples, Aloe Blacc, Kyp Malone and Tunde Adebimpe, Dr. Lonnie Smith and a 20-piece house band led by music director Binky Griptite of the Dap-Kings.

One performance at Avery Fisher Hall: July 20 at 8 PM

Composer John Adams will return to Lincoln Center Festival to lead members of the Juilliard Orchestra and London's Royal Academy of Music in a July 11 concert in Avery Fisher Hall. The program includes Feste Romane, Respighi's symphonic survey of Roman festivals from Caesar's time to the present day; Ravel's jazz-inspired Piano Concerto in G major with soloist Imogen Cooper; and Adams's City Noir, a symphony inspired by the peculiar ambience and mood of Los Angeles's 'noir' films, especially those produced in the late forties and early fifties. Mr. Adams has conducted the Juilliard Orchestra several times, including a well-regarded 2009 concert performance of his opera, The Death of Klinghoffer, and his works were performed at the Festival in 2011 with the Cleveland Orchestra.

One performance at Avery Fisher Hall: July 11 at 8:00 PM

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Since its inaugural season in 1996, Lincoln Center Festival has received worldwide attention for presenting some of the broadest and most original performing arts programs in Lincoln Center's history. In 17 seasons, the Festival will have presented nearly 1,260 performances of opera, music, dance, theater, and interdisciplinary forms by internationally acclaimed artists from more than 50 countries. To date, the Festival has commissioned more than 40 new works and offered some 130 world, U.S., and New York premieres. It places particular emphasis on showcasing contemporary artistic viewpoints and multidisciplinary works that push the boundaries of traditional performance.

Lincoln Center Festival is a presentation of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA), which serves three primary roles: presenter of superb artistic programming, national leader in arts and education and community relations, and manager of the Lincoln Center campus. As a presenter of some 5,000 programs annually, LCPA complements the extraordinary offerings of the 10 other Lincoln Center resident organizations, bringing internationally acclaimed artists to hundreds of thousands of people each year through a variety of popular series. These programs include American Songbook, Great Performers, Lincoln Center Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Midsummer Night Swing, the Mostly Mozart Festival, White Light Festival, and Live From Lincoln Center. In addition, LCPA is leading a series of major capital projects, now nearly complete, on behalf of the resident organizations across the campus. Lincoln Center is committed to providing and improving accessibility for people with disabilities. For information, call the Department of Programs and Services for People with Disabilities at (212) 875-5375.

Tickets are available online at LincolnCenterFestival.org, by calling CenterCharge, 212-721-6500 or at the Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall box offices, Broadway and 65th Street.

For more information about all of Lincoln Center's programs visit the website above. To request brochures, call Lincoln Center Customer Service at, 212-875-5456. For schedule changes and updates, call the Information Line, 212-875-5766.



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