Washington, D.C.: The Dictator’s Wife, an insider’s tattletale

[caption id="attachment_77" align="aligncenter" width="810"] Photo by Alastair Muir[/caption] The ultimate femme fatale returns in a staging by the provocative director Calixto Bieito in his U.S. opera debut, which opens San Francisco Opera's summer season. SAN FRANCISCO--Hailed as "gritty and fierce", Bieito’s vision of the classic opera sets it in 1970s Spain, post-Franco's rule has been hailed as "tough, dark....and intelligent".  The production includes SF Opera favorites Irene Roberts and Ginger Costa-Jackson double cast as the gypsy heroine and Brian Jagde as Don Jose. It also marks the debut of many of its cast and its two conductors Carlo Montanaro and Jordi Benacer. All performances will be held at the War Memorial Opera House on Van Ness Avenue.  May 27 - July 2, 2016    

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May 26-June 29: Festival de Saint-Denis – Full details

For Gothic splendor, skip the routine performances of Baroque warhorses at Sainte-Chapelle and ride the No. 13 Métro line north to Saint-Denis, a working-class suburb just over the city line. Looming above the town is the 12th-century Saint-Denis Cathedral Basilica, housing the remains of every French king since Clovis; it’s well worth a visit even without music. In its 30th year, the Saint-Denis Festival fills the huge space with major orchestras, with an emphasis on French artists; smaller-scale programs take place in the adjacent Légion d’honneur, a former cloister. The Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, under Mikko Franck, opens the festival with Mahler’s Third Symphony (May 26-27). The gifted young conductor Raphaël Pichon will lead his Ensemble Pygmalion in Bach’s Magnificat and Mendelssohn’s42nd Psalm (May 31). Donizetti’sRequiem (June 8) and the final act of Stockhausen’s Samstag aus licht (June 17) venture into more unusual repertoire. A recital by the Basilica’s organist, Pierre Pincemalle, offers a chance to hear the first instrumentcreated by France’s most revered organ maker, Aristide Cavaillé-Coll(June 12). The festival concludes with the traditional Beethoven Ninth Symphony, with Michele Mariotti leading the Orchestre National de France (June 23-24).

CHARLESTON--The Spoleto Festival kicks off its 40th Anniversary season performing the Gershwin classic in the city which inspired librettist DuBose Heyward. David Herskovits, whose Mamba's Daughters sold out during 1999's Spoleto Festival, returns at the helm of this production. Scenic designer Johnathan Lee's sets promise to evoke the feel of early Charleston that Heyward drew from. Portraying the titular, troubled pair is “ravishing, rolling baritone" (Opera News) Lester Lynch and “radiant and compelling" (The Washington Post) Alyson Cambridge. This Porgy is a fitting celebration of Charleston and its rich history on the occasion of the Festival's 40th birthday.

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Spoleto USA and US Opera Premiere: Beloved Fairy Tale Comes to Charleston
Hans Christian Andersen’s sobering tale depicts a poor girl on a snowy street, lighting matches for a few seconds of fleeting warmth in her final hour. In his opera, avantgarde composer Helmut Lachenmann explores the girl’s last moments as she gazes into the dreams and memories conjured by the flames. Co-Directors Phelim McDermott of award-winning improvised theater makers Improbable, and Mark Down of master-puppeteers Blind Summit Theatre cast extraordinary shadows to make a show that almost isn’t there, lit by the light of a match and performed at the speed of scissors. Elevated on a platform and encircling the audience, 106 members of the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra perform this astonishingly evocative score, full of clicks, crackles, knocks, and hisses, under the baton of Resident Conductor and Director of Orchestral Activities John Kennedy. Lachenmann departs from traditional performance techniques in order to create a frigid atmosphere—a nearly meteorological effect—both animating the match girl’s world and contemplating the coldness of a society that would let a child freeze.

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Rheingold Opens Chicago Lyric's Ring Cycle CHICAGO-- The Lyric kicks off its ambitious Ring cycle, Wagner's four-part masterpiece filled with mermaids, dragons, a golden ring, and, of course, love. To this day, it is considered one of the greatest achievments of Western culture and continues to influence writers, composers, and fantasy-lovers alike. Das Rheingold, the first of the cycle, will be conducted by Lyric favorite Sir Andrew David and directed (along with the remaining operas in the cycle) by director David Pountney. In Rheingold, a magic ring that promises its owner unlimited power is stolen by Alberich. When the king of the gods, Wotan, tries to usurp the ring from Alberich a thrilling drama ensues that can only be seen to be believed.

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