'LA Phil Presents I LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC GIVES WORLD PREMIERE OF TRISTAN PROJECT 31/01/08 12:35 PM LA Phil Presents Friday, December 3, 2004 LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC GIVES WORLD PREMIERE OF TRISTAN PROJECT Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, Director Peter Sellars, And Video Artist Bill Viola Present Groundbreaking Interpretation of Wagner's Opera Tristan und Isolde December 3, 4, 5 and 10, 11, 12, 2004 at Walt Disney Concert Hall The Tristan Project is supported by a generous grant from the Florence Gould Foundation Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen teams with dynamic director Peter Sellars and celebrated video artist Bill Viola for the Tristan Project, a multi-discipline arts experience at Walt Disney Concert Hall, designed around Wagner's seminal opera, Tristan und Isolde. Presenting one semi-staged act per night along with works influenced by Tristan und Isolde, Salonen and the Philharmonic perform the complete opera twice: Act One is plemented by Berg's Lyric Suite (December 3 and 10); Act Two by Debussy's Suite from Pelleas and Melisande ecember 4 and 11); and Act Three by the West Coast premiere of Kaija Saariaho's Cinq reflets (December 5 and 12). Each act includes video art exploring the underlying themes of the opera: betrayal, transformation, rebirth, memory, and time. This co-production with the Paris Opera brings the fully staged version to the Paris Opera with Salonen conducting the Paris Opera orchestra in April 2005. The trio of Salonen, Sellars, and Viola plan to produce a Tristan stretching the boundaries of Wagnerian production in a setting (Walt Disney Concert Hall) that lends itself to exploration. "Tristan und Isolde is a tale of a love so overwhelming and intense it transcends mortal bounds. This project represents an exciting opportunity to collaborate with fellow artists Peter Sellars and Esa-Pekka Salonen, to explore and draw fresh inspiration from both the story and the great creative work of Richard Wagner, and to re-tell this medieval myth of timeless significance and universal relevance," Bill Viola says. Tristan und Isolde has long proven to be a test of a musician's mettle and a favorite of conductors. Salonen comments: "Since my early 20's, Tristan has been on the list of operas I wanted to conduct. When one decides to take on an iconic piece of the repertoire, it's more fascinating - in my opinion - to put it into a new context and to illuminate it from various angles. I'm looking forward to collaborating with Peter again, and am very eager to work with the rpretations Bill Viola brings to the project." Many composers have viewed Richard Wagner's oeuvre as highly influential to their artistic growth. Richard Strauss once wrote: "Tristan und Isolde marked the end of all romanticism. Here the yearning of the entire 19th century is gathered in one focal point." The works paired with each act - Berg's Lyric Suite, Debussy's Suite from Pelleas and Melisande and Kaija Saariaho's Cinq reflets - illustrate the great influence Wagner has had on other composers. In his Lyric Suite, Berg was highly influenced by the story line of the doomed lovers, a story line which played in his own life as well. Debussy and Saariaho also demonstrate touches of Tristan and the impressions it has made in the Suite from Pelleas and Melisande and Saariaho's new work. Vocal soloists for Tristan include soprano Christine Brewer as Isolde; tenor Clifton Forbis, in his Philharmonic debut, as Tristan; mezzo-soprano Jill Grove, as Brangane; bass Stephen Milling, in his debut, as King Mark; bass-baritone Alan Held as Kurwenal; tenor Michael Slattery as Sailor's Voice/A Shepherd; and tenor Thomas Studebaker, also making Philharmonic debut, as Melot. Soprano Heidi Grant Murphy and bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen perform in Saariaho's work. BACKGROUND ON TRISTAN UND ISOLDE Considered in its time one of the most complex operas ever written, Tristan und Isolde is an operatic masterpiece. http://www.laphil.com/press/press_release/index.cfm?id=1407 Page 1 of 5 LA Phil Presents I LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC GIVES WORLD PREMIERE OF TRISTAN PROJECT 31/01/08 12:35 PM Wagner's earliest sketches for the opera date from December of 1856. He completed the prose poem for the opera in 1857 and completed the composition of the music between 1857 and 1859. After moving to Paris in 1859, Wagner attempted to secure a theater for the opera's world premiere. No opera house in Paris wanted to take it on. Finally the Dresden Opera, impressed by the work's seemingly simple requirements (very little chorus, few principals, and three acts), decided to hold the premiere. After 77 rehearsals, the work was declared unperformable and was abandoned by the company. The opera finally had its premiere at the Munich Royal Court Theater in 1865 with an orchestra so large that seats in the front were removed to accommodate all of the of musicians required. While the first audience was scandalized by the opera's erotic nature, Tristan has become one of the most influential works in Western musical literature. ESA-PEKKA SALONEN, the tenth conductor to head the Los Angeles Philharmonic, began his tenure as Music Director in October 1992. Salonen made his American debut conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic in November 1984, and he has conducted the orchestra every season since. Among the many highlights of Salonen's activities with the Philharmonic have been world premieres of new works by composers John Adams, Bernard Rands, Rodion Shchedrin, Steven Stucky, and Salonen himself, well-received Ligeti and Stravinsky Festivals, appearances at the Ojai Festival, critically acclaimed international tours, and his extensive discography with the Philharmonic for Sony Classical. Salonen was born in Helsinki, Finland in 1958. He made his conducting debut with the Finnish Radio i phony Orchestra in 1979, and he has been one of the world's most sought-after conductors since his debut in Wondon with the Philharmonia Orchestra in September 1983. He served as principal guest conductor of the Philharmonia from 1985 to 1994 and as principal conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1985 to 1995. PETER SELLARS has directed more than 100 productions, large and small, across America and abroad. A graduate of Harvard University, he studied in Japan, China and India before becoming Artistic Director of the Boston Shakespeare Company. At 26 he was made Director of the American National Theater at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He is a recipient of the MacArthur Prize Fellowship and was awarded the Erasmus Prize at the Dutch Royal Palace for contributions to European culture. Sellars has collaborated with the Wooster Group, and was featured in Jean-Luc Godard's film of King Lear. He has also appeared on Bill Moyer's A World of Ideas Miami Vice, and The Equalizer, has directed a rock video for Herbie Hancock, and has produced a series of radio episodes for the Museum of Contemporary Art's The Territory of Art series. His first feature film, The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez, starred Joan Cusack, Peter Gallagher, Ron Vawter, and Mikhail Baryshnikov. BILL VIOLA is widely recognized as one of the leading video artists on the international scene. For more than 30 years he has created videotapes, architectural video installations, sound environments, electronic music performances, works for television broadcast. Viola's video installations are total environments that envelop the viewer in image aV sound, employ state-of-the-art technologies, and are distinguished by their precision and direct simplicity. His single channel videotapes have been broadcast and presented cinematically around the world, and his writings have been published and anthologized for international readers. A recipient of the John T. and Catherine D. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1989, and of the first Medienkunstpreis in 1993, Viola was invited to be a Scholar-in- Residence at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles in 1998; later that year, he created a suite of three new video pieces for the rock group Nine Inch Nails' world tour. In 2001, he completed his most ambitious project, Going Forth By Day, a five-part projected digital fresco cycle in high definition video, commissioned by the Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin. American soprano CHRISTINE BREWER'S appearances in opera, concert and recital are marked with her own unique timbre, at once warm and brilliant, combined with a vibrant personality and emotional honesty unique in her generation of vocalists. Concert highlights this season include Fidelio with the Orchestra of Saint Cecilia and Antonio Pappano, Mahier's Symphony No. 8 with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev, and Strauss' Drei Hymnen with the BBC Orchestra under the baton of Donald Runnicles. Also, Brewer will perform and record Mozart's Requiem with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Later in the season, Ms. Brewer looks forward to reviving Britten's Gloriana in her hometown of St. Louis, returning to the Santa Fe Opera as Elle Orford in a production of Peter Grimes, and to working with Seiji Ozawa at the Saito Kiren Festival where she sings Gurrelieder. http://www.laphil.com/press/press_release/index.cfm?id=1407 Page 2 of 5 LA Phil Presents I LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC GIVES WORLD PREMIERE OF TRISTAN PROJECT 31/01/08 12:35 PM Tenor CLIFTON FORBIS has been praised internationally for his beautiful voice and for his expressive and dramatic interpretations. He has excelled in challenging repertoire in six languages. In addition to celebrated performances at the Metropolitan Opera, Opera National de Paris, and Vienna State Opera, this award-winning singer has dazzled audiences in concert halls and on opera stages all over the world.