Theater News

Barbara Cook, Renée Fleming, Julia Migenes, Peter Sellars Set for Los Angeles Philharmonic 2012/2013 Season

Barbara Cook
(© Tristan Fuge)
Barbara Cook
(© Tristan Fuge)

The Los Angeles Philharmonic has announced details for its 2012/2013 season.

Among the highlights is a fully staged world premiere production of John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, an oratorio for orchestra, chorus and soloists. Based on the New Testament stories of Lazarus and Jesus’ Passion, plus contemporary Latin American poetry, the work features a libretto created by Peter Sellars, who also directs.

Kelley O’Connor will star as Mary Magdalene, with the cast also including Tamara Mumford as Martha, Russell Thomas as Lazarus, and three countertenors as narrators: Dan Bubeck, Brian Cummings, and Nathan Medley. Gustavo Dudamel will conduct, with music direction by Grant Gershon. The work will be world premiered May 31, June 1-3, 2012 and the staged version will be presented in March 2013. The project will be taken on an international tour immediately following the L.A. performances.

Oliver Knussen’s one-act opera, Where the Wild Things Are (October 11-14), inspired by Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book, will receive a new production by director Netia Jones, using technologies that combine live images of performers with Sendak’s artwork. Dudamel will conduct, and the cast will include Claire Booth (Max, soprano), Susan Bickley (Mama, Tzippy/Female Wild Thing, mezzo-soprano), Christopher Gillett (Moise/Wild Thing with Beard, tenor), Jonathan Gunthorpe (Bruno/Wild Thing with Horns, baritone), Graeme Broadbent (Emile/Rooster Wild Thing, bass-baritone), and Graeme Danby (Bernard/Bull Wild Thing, bass).

Hungarian composer Peter Eötvös will be in residence at the LA Phil. Among the works to be presented will be the world premiere of his Concerto for Violin and Chamber Orchestra co-commissioned by the LA Phil, the Leipzig Gewandhaus and the BBC, performed by Midori, and the West Coast premiere of his opera Angels in America (January 15-20). The latter work will be directed by David Gately, conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado, and feature David Adam Moore (Prior Walter), Omar Ebrahim (Joseph Pitt), Brian Asawa (Mr. Lies), Janice Hall (Hannah), Kelly Anderson (Roy Cohn), Julia Migenes (Harper Pitt), and Measha Brueggergosman (Angel), with additional casting to be announced.


The Green Umbrella new music series, overseen by LA Phil Creative Chair John Adams,
will continue, kicking off on October 16 with Adams conducting the West Coast premiere of Nico Muhly’s Seeing Is Believing and the U.S. premiere of Icelandic Daníel Bjarnason’s Bow to String, as well as the world premiere of a new LA Phil commissioned work. The two contemporaries’ work will be complemented by Muhly’s arrangements of William Byrd.

The Songbook series will continue with three events focusing on the art of the American song, featuring Barbara Cook (November 14), Ann Hampton Callaway (February 10), and Max Raabe & Palast Orchester (April 10).

The 2012/13 Jazz series at Walt Disney Concert Hall will include a cocommissioned
piece written by Wayne Shorter for Esperanza Spalding along with the Los Angeles
Philharmonic (February 9); The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis (March 12); Bobby McFerrin (April 3); and Herbie Hancock (April 23).

The Colburn Celebrity Series recitals will feature eight concerts showcasing the talents of violinists Itzhak Perlman and Hilary Hahn; pianists Hélène Grimaud, Yefim Bronfman, and Yuja Wang; and acclaimed vocalists Renée Fleming and Susan Graham. The series also marks the beginning of András Schiff’s two-year examination of Bach’s keyboard music.

Other highlights will include the Mozart/Da Ponte Trilogy, an innovative project with The Marriage of Figaro, using a Paris-based design team of architect Jean Nouvel (installation) and costumes by couturier Azzedine Alaïa; Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes embarking upon a three-year exploration of Beethoven’s music for piano and orchestra; a concert performance of Alban Berg’s opera Wozzeck; Zubin Mehta celebrating the 50th anniversary of his becoming the orchestra’s Music Director; Brooklyn Festival, a celebration of the contributions of Brooklyn artists to American music, from Aaron Copland to Samuel Adams, with newly commissioned scores from Ted Hearne and Matt Marks, as well as a major work by Tyondai Braxton; and the world premiere of a co-commissioned piece by jazz legend Wayne Shorter composed for Grammy-winning bassist Esperanza Spalding with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

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