Later this month, the Black-E will play host to a rare and important new opera by the Liverpool based company Opera Europe, Dardanus controlled is a new version of the Jean-Philippe Rameau opera from 18th century France. This will be the first collaboration between the European Opera Centre who produce Opera Europe tours and the Black-E contemporary arts centre.
This new production of a work by a major eighteenth century composer is specially commissioned by the Centre, it will receive its world premiere in Limerick in Ireland on 20th July before coming to Liverpool. Jean‑Philippe Rameau’s Dardanus is performed occasionally but almost invariably in its first version given in Paris in 1739 at the Académie Royale de Musique. Five years after this first version, Rameau created in effect an entirely new opera in which the plot was simplified and the action purged of its supernatural excesses. This gives rise to a drama with greater human interest focusing on the conflicting feelings and emotions of the principal characters. It points the way to the opera of the classical period.
Although dramatically superior, this second version of Dardanus has never been revived in modern times, largely because there has been no adequate modern edition of the work. This new edition – commissioned by the European Opera Centre from the French musicologist, Dr Gilles Rico - is based on the 1744 version of the opera. It incorporates the numerous emendations made by Rameau during the 1744 and 1760 runs of the opera to tighten the dramatic grip and enlarge the emotional range of musical expression. Using autograph and non-autograph eighteenth-century manuscript and printed sources, it makes available for the first time to modern audiences some of the most beautiful and inspired musical passages of an opera which epitomizes the evolution of French opera in the eighteenth century from a court entertainment - constrained by the grand display of technical prowess and a pronounced taste for extraordinary stories - to a more intimate and more humanistic drama.
Rameau based his work on Greek mythology - Dardanus becomes the play-thing of the gods. The Liverpool dates will be the first time this new version has been heard in the UK. The production is by the acclaimed French theatre director, Bernard Rozet.
A talented cast of young European singers from Belgium, France, Greece, Lithuania and Poland join young period instrument players.
The Opera Europe cast and period instrument ensemble are conducted by Laurent Pillot whose previous posts have included Associate Music Director of the Los Angeles Opera Company working with Placido Domingo. He conducted several productions alongside Domingo and Kent Nagano including Madama Butterfly, Tosca, La Bohème and Ariadne auf Naxos. He also founded and Directed the Bavarian State Opera in Munich from 2006-2009.
Kenneth Baird, European Opera Centre’s Managing Director said "I am very pleased we are able to bring this great 18th century French opera to our home city of Liverpool - the only place in the UK it can be seen. I am also delighted that we have persuaded the eminent French theatre director, Bernard Rozet to return to Liverpool after his successful production with the European Opera Centre and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008. He updates Rameau's masterpiece to highlight the dramatic strength of what was in effect one of the first great operas of modern times."
The European Opera Centre’s previous productions have included Donizetti's Emilia di Liverpool - which opened Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture, and joint presentations with Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. The Centre is based at Liverpool Hope University.
4 PERFORMANCES ONLY!
This project is supported by the European Commission. The European Opera Centre is supported by The Royal Bank of Scotland. Additional support for this production has kindly been provided by the Granada Foundation and Shirley Thurman.
The European Opera Company is a registered charity - Registered number: 1058929
LISTING INFORMATION
OPERA EUROPE present
DARDANUS controlled
Conducted by Laurent Pillot
Mon 25, Wed 27, Fri 29 and Sat 30 July 2011 @ 8pm
The Black-E - 1 Great George Street, Liverpool L1 5EW
Mon 25 July (PREVIEW) – All Seats £10
Wed 27, Fri 29 & Sat 30 – All seats £15
HOW TO BOOK
Telephone: 0151 709 3789.
Post/Person: Box Office, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Hope Street, Liverpool, L1 9BP
(Monday to Saturday 10am - 5.30pm)
For further information visit www.theblack-e.co.uk
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