Brooklyn 30 Lafayette Avenue Communications Department Academy Brooklyn NY 11217-1486 Elena Park of Telephone, 718.636 .4111 Melissa Cusick Music Fax:718.857 .2021 FateemaJones Tamara Mccaw Kila Packett 718 .636.4129 [email protected] NewsRelease BAM Presents the U.S. Production Premiere of Opera Theatre Company (OTC) of Ireland's Acclaimed Staging of Handel's Rodelinda OTC returns to the BAM Harvey Theater following a highly praised engagement during BAM's 1997 Spring Season Music by George Frideric Handel Libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym Conductor and harpsichordist Laurence Cummings Directed by James Conway Set and costume design by Neil Irish Lighting design by Simon Corder With Yvonne Howard , Charles Johnston, Jonathan Peter Kenny, Iain Paton, Helen Williams The New York Collegium BAM Harvey Theater May 16, 17, 19 at 7:30; May 20 at 3pm Tickets: $25, 50, 75 (limited availability remains) Sung in English with surtitles Brooklyn, April 27, 2001-Four years after making its U.S. debut at BAM with a well-received version ofHandel'sAmadigi, the Opera Theatre Company (OTC) oflreland returns to the BAM Harvey Theater with four perfonnances of the rarely presented Handel opera Rodelinda . The New York Collegium, led by conductor and harpsichordist Laurence Cummings, is joined by a roster of acclaimed soloists : soprano Helen Williams in the title role, mezzo-soprano Yvonne Howard (Edwige), baritone Charles Johnston (Garibaldo), countertenor Jonathan Peter Kenny (Bertarido), and tenor Iain Paton (Grimoaldo). The Sunday Times (U.K.) said of the production, "This is a truly unmissable staging of one of Handel's greatest operas." Four performances will take place at the BAM Harvey Theater (651 Fulton Street), May 16, 17, and 19 at 7:30pm and I May 20 at 3pm. ' Rodelinda is part of BAM's 2001 Spring Season, sponsored by Philip Morris Companies Inc . 0 Tickets, priced at $25, $50, and $75 (limited availability remains) , are available by calling BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100 or Ticketmaster at 212.307.4100 and through BAM's web site 0 at www .bam.org . N SpringSeason more ... Rodelinda, 2 Handel 's Rodelinda, which was first performed in 1725, is based on Paul the Deacon 's Gesta Langobardorum and also draws upon Pierre Corneille's I 652 tragedy , Perthariet , roi des Lombards. The opera , long a favorite of great Handel singers like Dame Joan Sutherland, tells the story of intrigue and power struggles in late seventh­ centur y Lombardy (now northern Italy). Through a complicated sequence of events, Rodelinda-who believes her husband Bertarido, the king of Milan , to be dead- is blackmailed into an engagement with his usurper. Although feigning complicity, Rodelinda never actually betrays Bertarido , and in the end husband and wife are happily reunited and the throne is restored. Handel often centered his operas on one strong, central theme; for Rodelinda , he chose the strength and commitment of married love. Although he never married , Handel clearly was moved by the love and loyalty of Rodelinda and Bertarido, as the beauty of their romantic duet attests. Opera Theatre Company (OTC) , the national touring company oflreland, is based in Dublin; the company has performed in more than 100 cities , towns , and villages in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland since its first tour of Turn of the Screw in 1986. This distinctive and adventurous company was founded to create high­ quality opera productions on modest budgets that can be presented anywhere , filling in a void in the company's native country. Artistic Director James Conway says, "OTC makes shows on tiny budgets that can tour to remote islands and even village halls. Our conviction is that standards should be high for these performances as anywhere else. For instance, our production of Kat 'a Kabanova with piano that traveled to the Aran Islands as part of a national tour in Ireland went on to be presented at Belem in Lisbon as part of Expo '98 . Our production budgets are modest, but somehow the work we do is important here, in a country that has little or no operatic tradition. Because we make no excuses for the genre and bow to nobody in choice of repertoire, I think we have really changed the way people think about opera as an art form ." OTC has had national and international success with a number of baroque and early classical operas-including Monteverdi ' s O,feo ; Handel's Flavia , Amadigi , Tamerlano , and Rodelinda, Haydn's L 'Jnfedelta Delusa, II Mondo de/la Luna, and La Vera Constan z- and operas from the 20th century , including The Rake 's Progress, The Rape of Lucretia , The Lighthous e, Kat 'a Kabanova , and Jem'ifa. The inventive company's repertoire also includes works by Weill, Poulenc , Argento, and Johnson . In addition, the company has commissioned and performed nine new operas by Irish composers as well as new chamber arrangements of classics such as Carm en. Cosifan tulle, The Marria ge of Figaro, The Magic Flut e, Hansel and Gretel , I Pagliacci , L 'elisir d 'amore, Wiener Blut, as well as a number of operas for (and one performed by) children . In addition to producing and touring four new opera s each year, the company has a lively education program in schools around the country , as well as the Opera Theatre Studio, a training facility for young singers . The performing artists of The New York Collegium are some of America 's best-known Baroque instrumental and vocal specialists , many of whom have performed together for more than 20 years . Through their collaborat ions, a uniquely American style of Baroque performance has evolved . Performing on period instruments , the Collegium seeks to combine fidelity to original sources with expression, wit, grace, rhythmic vitality, and a rich palette of tonal colors. Now in its third season , the Collegium continues to collaborate with a distinguished roster of international guest directors and soloists. The New York Collegium takes its name from the I 8th-century Leipzig Collegium Musicum that was founded by Telemann and later directed by J. S. Bach. Under the tutela ge of founding Music Director Gustav Leonhardt, the New York Collegium was established to provide American audiences with world-class performances of rarely heard Baroque masterpieces, led by the most esteemed guest directors. The Collegium was last heard at BAM in April 2001 during the sold-out, critically lauded Spring Season performances of the Jonathan Miller-directed St. Matth ew Passion, conducted by Paul Goodwin. About the artists James Conway (director) , director of Opera Theatre Company , has directed OTC productions of Flavia (1994) , Tamerlano ( 1995, 1997), and Amadigi ( 1996), Orfeo ( 1996), Cosi fan tutte ( 1998), Cinderella ( 1998), The Rake ·s Progress ( I 999), and L 'elisir d 'amor e (2000). He also has direct ed operas for the Canadian Opera more ... J Rode/inda, 3 Company, Muzietheater Transparant and De Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp, the Teatro Nacional Sao Joao in Oporto, and Cultergest in Lisbon. He has written libretti for three operas as well as fiction that has been published in Canada. His productions have toured to London's Covent Garden Festival, the Buxton Festival , the Opera Comique in Paris, the Melbourne Festival, Expo '98 in Lisbon , and BAM . Upcomin g productions include Cavalli ' s L 'Erismena, a revival of Tamerlano, a new CunningLittle Vixen. Laurence Cummings ( conductor/harpsichordist) was born in Birmingham, studied music as organ scholar at Christ Church, and studied the harpsichord at the Royal College of Music. He enjoys a career both as harpsichordist and conductor, broadcasting regularly on television and radio. Cummings first performed with OTC in 1992 in Tamberlane , the company 's first production of a Handel opera, and has since returned for High Fidelity (1993), Flavia (1994), and Amadigi (1996). He plays with many leading period instrument groups including The Gabrieli Consort, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment , The Sixteen, and Les Arts Florissants. As a soloist, Cummings has recorded the harpsichord music of Louis Couperin for the Naxos label ; his recent volume of works by Franyois Couperin (also for Naxos) was nominated as Gramophone magazine ' s Editor's Choice . Alongside an active concert schedule, Cummings was appointed head of historical performance at the Royal Academy of Music, London in 1996. Last season, he conducted Handel ' s Alceste at the Linbury Theatre, Covent Garden for the English Bach Festival. Cummings became joint musical director of the London Handel Festival in 1998 and for the 2001 festival conducted Handel's Athalia with the London Handel Orchestra and Choir and Muzio Scevola, reliving the historic performance of 1721 where Adadei , Bononcini , and Handel each wrote an act. Future conducting plans include Bach 's Mass in B minor at the London Bach Festival and the first British performance of Handel's newly discovered Gloria in Excels is. Yvonne Howard (Edwige) graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music. Early operatic roles include the title role in La Cenerentola with English Touring Opera, Marcellina in Le no==edi Figa ro with both Glyndebourne Festival and Touring Opera, and Fricka and Waltraute in the highly acclaimed City of Birmingham Touring Opera's Ring cycle. For the Royal Opera Covent Garden , Howard has performed the roles of Karolka in Jenzifa, Second Lady in Die Zauberfldte, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly and, most recently, Cornelia in Guilio Cesare, Berta in II barbiere di Siviglia, Marcellina in Le no==edi Figaro, and a Flower Maiden and the Heavenly Voice in Parsifal . She has performed as Meg Page in Falstaff for English National Opera, New Israeli Opera , Tel Aviv, and Opera North, where her other roles have included Maddalena in Rigol etto, Eboli in Don Carlos, and Evadne in Troilus and Cressida.