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

Renowned production returns following highly acclaimed and sold-out engagements in 1997, 2001, and 2006

BAM 2009 Spring Season is sponsored by Bloomberg

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

Lighting design by R. Michael Blanco English singing translation by Robert Shaw Originally produced by Ron Gonsalves

With tenor Rufus Müller (Evangelist), bass Curtis Streetman (Jesus), mezzo-soprano Phyllis Pancella, soprano Suzie LeBlanc, countertenor Daniel Taylor, tenor Nils Brown, and baritone Stephen Varcoe

BAM Harvey Theater (651 Fulton St.) April 17, 18, 21, 22, 24 & 25 at 7:30pm Tickets $30, 55, 80, 90

Artist Talk with Jonathan Miller April 18 at 5pm Hillman Attic Studio (30 Lafayette Ave.) Tickets: $8 ($4 for Friends of BAM)

Brooklyn, March xx, 2009— Following highly acclaimed and sold-out BAM engagements in 1997, 2001, and 2006, Sir Jonathan Miller’s staging of Bach’s glorious St. Matthew Passion returns as part of the BAM 2009 Spring Season. This casual-dress, English language production of St. Matthew Passion was described by The New York Observer as “the most exhilarating [and] 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 Müller (Evangelist), bass Curtis Streetman (Jesus), mezzo-soprano Phyllis Pancella, 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.

About the St. Matthew Passion

First performed in the late 1720s and conceived as a devotional work commemorating Good Friday, the St. Matthew Passion 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 opera, 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. He has also directed operas for the English National Opera, La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, the State Opera, the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, and Glimmerglass Opera. In addition to 1997, 2001, and 2006 performances at BAM of St. Matthew Passion, Miller directed a production of Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea in 1996, Mozart’s Così fan tutte in 2003, and Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto in 2008. 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). Most recently, Miller directed La Clemenza di Tito in Zurich, Don Pasquale at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and Così fan tutte at Seattle Opera. Miller is also a medical doctor, a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Science.

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 Schütz and his contemporaries and Mozart’s Zaïde. Goodwin’s partnership with Jonathan Miller in St. Matthew Passion— which he conducted at BAM in 1997 and 2001—was followed by regular opera collaborations, such as the acclaimed Marriage of Figaro and Il Re Pastore for , Handel’s Agrippina in Karlsruhe, Handel’s Amadigi with AAM at the Paris Opéra 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.

Credits

General information BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, BAMcafé, and Brownstone Books at BAM 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. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, is open for dining prior to Howard Gilman Opera House performances. BAMcafé also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music for BAMcafé Live on Friday and Saturday nights with a special BAMcafé Live menu available starting at 8pm.

Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue; D, M, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue Train: Long Island Railroad to Flatbush Avenue Bus: B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM

For ticket and BAMbus information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit BAM.org.

For ticket and BAMbus information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit www.bam.org.

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