Harry Bicket will conduct The English Concert and The Clarion Choir, along with distinguished vocal soloists
(Los Angeles) February 16, 2023 — LA Opera continues its 2023/24 season with a concert performance of George Frideric Handel's Solomon. After an astonishing appearance in Los Angeles with Alcina in 2021, conductor Harry Bicket and his sensational period-instruments orchestra, The English Concert, return with another dazzling baroque masterpiece.
A magnificent song of celebration, Solomon celebrates the famously wise biblical king in action: as a devoted husband to his beloved queen, as a sage dispenser of justice and as a lavishly welcoming host to the visiting Queen of Sheba.
The distinguished mezzo-soprano Ann Hallenberg will sing the title role, joined by soprano Miah Persson as Solomon's Queen and as the First Harlot, soprano Elena Villalón as the Queen of Sheba, mezzo-soprano Niamh O’Sullivan as the Second Harlot, tenor James Way as Zadok and bass-baritone Brandon Cedel as a Levite. The performance will also feature The Clarion Choir, led by its artistic director, Steven Fox.
Solomon will be sung in English, with projected supertitles.
The Artists
Internationally renowned as an opera and concert conductor of distinction, Harry Bicket is especially noted for his interpretation of Baroque and Classical repertory. In 2007, he became artistic director of The English Concert, one of the UK’s finest period orchestras. In 2018, he was named music director of the Santa Fe Opera. Highlights of his operatic career in North America include acclaimed productions for Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Atlanta Opera and the Metropolitan Opera. He conducted LA Opera productions of Giulio Cesare (2002) and The Coronation of Poppea (2006) as well as appearing with The English Concert in Alcina (2022). Born in Liverpool, he studied at the Royal College of Music and Oxford University and is an accomplished harpsichordist.
Under the artistic direction of Harry Bicket and principal guest director Kristian Bezuidenhout, The English Concert has earned a reputation for combining urgency, passion and fire with precision, delicacy and beauty. One cornerstone of the orchestra’s annual cycle is its international Handel opera tour. Blossoming from an ongoing relationship with Carnegie Hall, the itinerary now regularly takes in the Theater an der Wien, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Elbphilharmonie and Barbican Hall, and the roster of great halls continues to grow. Meanwhile, a regular London series allows the ensemble to explore a radically different path, presenting programs to a home audience that challenge and inspire them. The English Concert is also the associate orchestra at Garsington Opera.
A native of Sweden, Ann Hallenberg is one of the world's leading mezzo-sopranos, regularly appearing in the most prestigious opera houses, concert venues and festivals. Her recent engagements include the title role in Agrippina at the Drottningholm Festival, Juditha in Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans in Rome with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Handel’s Donna, che in ciel at the BBC Proms in London with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Dejanira in Handel’s Hercules at the Handel Festival in Karlsruhe, Haydn’s Arianna a Naxos and Scena di Berenice at London's Barbican with the Academy of Ancient Music and Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang with the Berlin Philharmonic.
Swedish soprano Miah Persson will appear as Solomon's Queen. Highlights of her 2022/23 season include the Governess in The Turn of the Screw with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, both in Budapest and in Vicenza; the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro with the Opéra National de Paris, and concert appearances with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal and Orchestre National de Lyon.
The role of the Queen of Sheba will be performed by Cuban-American soprano Elena Villalón. This season, she joined the ensemble of Oper Frankfurt, debuting as Iole in Hercules in a new production by Barrie Kosky and also appearing as Atalanta in Xerxes. Engagements for the season elsewhere include a return to Houston Grand Opera as Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro and to the Dallas Opera as Gretel in Hansel und Gretel.
Performance Date, Time and Address
The concert will take place at 7:30pm on Friday, March 10, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, located at 135 North Grand Avenue, Los Angeles CA 90012.
Tickets
Tickets for Solomon begin at $17 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/Solomon.
Click here to download photos of the artists.
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 2020. Learn more at LAOpera.org.
LA Opera Media Contact
Marlene Meraz
Director of Communications
mmeraz@laopera.org
213.972.7554
Special support from
Mr. Robert Finnerty and Mr. Richard Cullen
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.
