Resident Conductor Lina González-Granados conducts the January 20 concert performance, featuring singers from the company's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program
(Los Angeles) December 7, 2022 — LA Opera announces an addition to its 2022/23 season: the company premiere of Benjamin Britten's 1946 chamber opera The Rape of Lucretia on January 20, 2023.
In her first LA Opera appearance since her September company debut with Lucia di Lammermoor, Resident Conductor Lina González-Granados will conduct a concert performance featuring the LA Opera Orchestra and a cast of singers from the company's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program.
The performance will take place at 8pm on Friday, January 20, 2023, at the Colburn School's Zipper Concert Hall, located at 200 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012.
About the Opera
In ancient Rome, Lucretia’s husband is away, assigned to a military post outside the city. When the Prince of Rome knocks at her door, she is honor-bound to welcome him into her home, unaware that her unexpected guest is driven by a truly despicable impulse. The brutal assault will rattle the foundations of the kingdom and incite the overthrowal of a dynasty.
Despite the enormous success of Benjamin Britten's grandly scaled opera Peter Grimes in 1945, a combination of economic realities and aesthetic preferences prompted him to develop the concept of chamber opera, employing a small cast, no chorus and an orchestra of just 13 players. His first work in this new medium was The Rape of Lucretia, first performed in 1946. The pared-down textures produced an intensification of Britten’s operatic vision which was to serve him further in Albert Herring and The Turn of the Screw. Britten’s three chamber operas were premiered in small but "established" theaters: Glyndebourne for the first two, and Venice’s Teatro La Fenice for the third.
The Performers
The cast is led by mezzo-soprano Sarah Saturnino as Lucretia. Baritone Ryan Wolfe will sing the role of Tarquinius. Tenor Anthony León will perform the role of the Male Chorus with soprano Alaysha Fox as the Female Chorus. Mezzo-soprano Madeline Lyon and soprano Tiffany Townsend will appear as Bianca and Lucia, respectively and bass-baritone Alan Williams will sing the role of Collatinus, Lucretia's husband. All of those singers are members of LA Opera's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program. Additionally, the role of Junius will be performed by bass-baritone Cedric Berry.
The performance will be conducted by Resident Conductor Lina González-Granados. In 2020, after winning the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition, she was named Solti Conducting Apprentice under the guidance of Riccardo Muti, where she continues until 2023. Last season, the Colombian-born conductor debuted with the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (an acclaimed last-minute stand-in), New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony and Barcelona Symphony, among many others. She also conducted The Barber of Seville at the Dallas Opera. Her appearances this season include returns to the Seattle Symphony and debuts with Montreal's Orchestre Métropolitain, Indianapolis Symphony, Pasadena Symphony and Philadelphia Opera.
Click here to learn more.
Tickets
Tickets for The Rape of Lucretia begin at $36 and are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased online at LAOpera.org, by phone at 213.972.8001, or in person at the LA Opera box office at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (135 N. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles CA 90012). For disability access, call 213.972.0777 or email LAOpera@LAOpera.org.
More information is available at LAOpera.org/Lucretia.
About LA Opera
Los Angeles is a city of enormous diversity and creativity, and LA Opera is dedicated to reflecting that vibrancy by redefining what opera can be. Through imaginative new productions, world premiere commissions, and inventive performances that preserve foundational works while making them feel fresh and compelling, LA Opera has become one of America’s most exciting and ambitious opera companies.
In addition to its mainstage performances at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the company explores unusual repertoire each season through the LA Opera Off Grand initiative, featuring performances in a variety of venues throughout Los Angeles. The LA Opera Connects initiative offers a robust variety of educational programming and community engagement offerings that reaches people throughout every corner of Los Angeles County. The company also offers a multitude of online content via its LA Opera On Now digital offerings, which launched in March 2020. Learn more at LAOpera.org.
LA Opera Media Contact
Marlene Meraz
Director of Communications
mmeraz@laopera.org
213.972.7554
LA Opera's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program generously underwritten by
Colburn Foundation
Eugene and Marilyn Stein
Special support for young artist stipends graciously provided by
The Lenore and Richard Wayne Young Artist Fellowship
Additional support provided by
LA Opera's Young Artist Circle
Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program created with funding from the
Flora L. Thornton Foundation
LA Opera Orchestra generously underwritten by
Terri and Jerry Kohl
LA Opera’s 2022/23 season is generously underwritten by
GRoW @ Annenberg
LA Opera is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the greater Los Angeles community.
