Brooklyn Peter Jay Sharp Building Communications Department Academy 30 Lafayette Avenue Sandy Sawotka of Brooklyn NY 11217 - 1486 Fatima Kafele Music Telephone: 7 18.636.4129 Eva Chien Fax: 718.857 .202 1 Tamara McCaw Jennifer Lam [email protected] News Release

BAM presents 's acclaimed staging of Bach's St. Matthew Passion, conducted by Paul Goodwin

Renowned production returns for its final run following sold-out engagements in 1997 and 2001

BAM 2006 Spring Season is sponsored by Bloomberg

St. Matthew Passion Music by Conducted by Paul Goodwin Dir ected by Sir Jonathan Miller

Light ing design by R. Michael Blanco English singing tran slation based on the version by Robert Shaw Originally produced by Ron Gonsalves

With tenor Rufus MUiier (Evange list), bass Curtis Streetman (Jesus) , mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabo , soprano Suzie LeBlanc , countertenor Daniel Taylor, tenor Nils Brown , and bariton e Stephen Varcoe

BAM Harve y Theater (651 Fulton St) Apr 8, 11, 12, 14 & 15 at 7:30pm Apr 9 at 3pm Tickets: $30 , 55, 80, 90

BAMdialogue with Sir Jonathan Miller Apr 11 at 6pm BAM Rose Cinemas Tickets: $8 ($4 for Friends of BAM)

Brookl yn, March 15, 2006-F ollowing highly acclaimed and sold-out BAM engagements in 1997 and 2001, Sir Jonathan Miller 's staging of Bach 's glorious St. Matthew Passion returns as part of the BAM 2006 Spring Season. This casual-dress , English language production of St. Matthew Passion was described by The New York Observer as "t he most exhilarating [and] SPRING ... more St. Matthew Passion, 2

most important musical and dramatic event to be seen hereabouts in some time . .. the greatest piece of sacred music ever composed has been made new again." Paul Goodwin returns to conduct a renowned group of soloists including tenor Rufus Muller (Evangelist), bass Curtis Streetman (Jesus), mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabo , soprano Suzie LeBlanc, countertenor Daniel Taylor, tenor Nils Brown, and baritone Stephen Varcoe.

One of the most frequently performed and recorded works of J.S. Bach, the St. Matthew Passion has been a highlight of concert seasons and festivals around the world for more than 150 years. Featuring original baroque instrumentation, Miller's stripped down production-without sets or costumes, and with minimal props- peels away traditional performance trappings and allows the work's core words , passion , and humanity to emerge.

Six performances of St. Matthew Passion will take place in the BAM Harvey Theater on Apr 8, 11, 12, 14, and 15 at 7:30pm and on Apr 9 at 3pm. Tickets , priced at $30, 55, 80, and 90, may be purchased by calling BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100 or by visiting www .bam.org.

First performed in the late l 720s and conceived as a devotional work commemorating Good Friday, the St. Matthew Passi on is a drama of epic grandeur and is considered one of the most inspired musical treatments of the crucifixion of Christ. The text, written by Bach , is based on two chapters from the Gospel According to St. Matthew . Following the dramatic form of Baroque , the story unfolds in expository recitatives, meditative arias, and powerful choral movements.

Jonathan Miller said of St. Matthew Passion , "The work is not scenic in any conventional sense and the alternation of brief dramatic episodes, narration, chorales , and extended meditations rules out anything like costumed staging. In the end, an informal workshop provided the answer." The musicians and singers perform in a circular format, with a small space left in the middle to permit dramatic movement. Miller says of this production that it is "as if the performers were celebrating a musical sacrament in a small domestic church somewhere in Ephesus at the end of the second century AD."

About the artists

Director Jonathan Miller 's career spans many different fields: author , lecturer , television producer , and presenter , and director of theater , opera , and film. His involvement in opera began when he was invited to direct the British premiere of Arden Must Die by Alexander Goehr in 1974 and subsequently spent several seasons working closely with Kent Opera. At the English National Opera , Miller directed some of his most enduring successes - The Mikado , Rigol etto, , The Turn of the Screw , Rosenkavalier , and . He has also directed for La Scala , the Metropolitan Opera, the State Opera, the at Covent Garden , and Glimmerglass Opera. In addition to 1997 and 2001 performances of St. Matthew Passion , Miller directed a production of Monteverdi's L 'incoronazione di Poppea at BAM in 1996 and Mozart 's Cosif an tutte in 2003 . Miller's theatrical career has included many memorable productions - The Merchant of Venice with Sir Laurence Olivier and Joan Plowright, The Taming of the Shrew (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Seagull (Chichester Festival Theatre) , A Long Day' s Journey Into Night (Haymarket Theatre) , and The Emperor (Royal Court) . Between January 1988 and October 1990, as artistic director of the Old Vic , Miller directed a number of highly-acclaimed productions including Andromache with Janet Suzman , The Tempest with Max von Sydow , King Lear , and Corneille's comedy, The Liar. Most recently , Miller directed La Clemenza di Tito in Zurich , Don Pasquale at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden , and Cosifan tutte at Seattle Opera .

Paul Goodwin , who for many years was widely considered the foremost baroque oboist of his generation , has made more than 20 solo and concerto records and was soloist with many of Europe ' s finest early music groups. Goodwin serves as associate conductor of the (AAM) and as principal guest conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra . Goodwin has a long-standing relationship with Harmonia Mundi USA, on which he and AAM have recorded several CDs, including Christmas music by Schlitz and his contemporaries and Mozart's . Goodwin 's partnership with Jonathan Miller in St. Matthew Passion­ which he conducted at BAM in 1997 and 200 ]-was followed by regular opera collaborations , such as the acclaimed Marriage of Figaro and fl Re Pastore for , Handel's in Karlsruhe, Handel 's Amadigi with AAM at the Paris Opera Comique, and Haydn's L 'isola disabitata in Lisbon. Other opera projects include Handel's Poro at the Halle Handel Festival and Gluck ' s Orfeo at the Opernhaus Halle. In 1999, Goodwin directed a production of Monteverdi ' s L 'incoronazione di Poppea from a new edition of the score that he prepared for the Megaron Concert Hall in Athens. Recently , he conducted two Mostly Mozart concerts at the Barbican Centre London with the Academy of St. Martin -in-the -Fields , and a highly acclaimed BBC Prom with the Academy of Ancient Music. In addition to St. Matthew Passion at BAM, Goodwin ' s 2005-06 season includes a Tavener dance project with the South bank and Northern Sinfonias, the SWR Kaiserslautern Orchester , the City of London Sinfonia, Baselkammerorchester , and Minnesota Orchestra.

For press information contact Sandy Sawotka at 718.636.4129 xi or ssawotka @ bam.org

Credits BAM 2006 Spring Season is sponsored by Bloomberg.

Support for BAM Opera is provided by the Isak and Rose Weinman Foundation, Inc. Opera endowment funding has been provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fund for Opera & Music Theater and The Peter Jay Sharp Fund for Opera and Theater. Programming in the BAM Harvey Theater is endowed by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

BAM thanks its many donors and sponsors , including: New York City Department of Cultural Affairs , The New York City Council , Brooklyn Delegation of the New York City Council , Brooklyn Delegation of the U.S . House of Representatives , Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz , New York State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, The Estate of Richard B. Fisher, The Howard Gilman Foundation , The Florence Gould Foundation , The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation , The Starr Foundation , The Ford Foundation , Time Warner Inc., The Shubert Foundation , Carnegie Corporation of New York , Skirball Foundation , The Kovner Foundation , and Robe1t W. Wilson Foundation. JPMorgan Chase is BAM 's Lead Corporate Partner. New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge is the official hotel for the Spring Season . Yamaha is the official piano of BAM. RIGA is the sponsor of BAM.org.

General information BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, BAMcafe, and Shakespeare & Co. BAMshop are located in the Peter Jay Sharp building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell Places). BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn 's only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafe, operated by Great Perfonnances , also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music on Friday and Saturday nights . A $21 three-course dinner at BAMcafe is available Fri-Sat for BAM Rose Cinemas ticket holders (day of screening only) . BAMcafe is open Friday-Saturda y from 5pm-closing . Additionall y, BAMcafe is open two hours prior to all Howard Gilman Opera House and Harvey Theater performances.

Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic A venue ; D, M, N, R to Pacific Street ; G to Fulton Street ; C to Lafayette Avenue Train: Long Island Railroad to Flatbush Avenue Bus: 825 , B26, B41 , B45, 852 , 863 , 867 all stop within three blocks of BAM Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM

For ticket and BAM bus infonnation , call BAM Ticket Services at 718 .636.4100 , or visit www.bam .org .

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