Opera Atelier’s co-artistic directors Marshall Pynkoski and Jeannette Zingg announced that acclaimed Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman will sing the role of Elettra in the company’s spring production of Mozart’s Idomeneo. This marks Ms. Brueggergosman’s first performance in a Mozart opera and her debut with Canada’s premier baroque theatre company.
Idomeneo runs for six performances April 26, 27, 29, May 1, 2 and 3, 2008 at Toronto’s historic Elgin Theatre (189 Yonge Street). Tickets are $30 to $165.
Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman has received critical acclaim as much for her innate musicianship and voluptuous voice as for her dynamic and vibrant stage presence. She has performed with many of today’s finest international orchestras and most esteemed conductors. Her operatic credits include Madame Lidoine in Poulenc’s The Dialogues of the Carmelites (Vancouver Opera), Juno in Aeneas in Karthago (Staatsoper Stuttgart) by Joseph Martin Kraus, Liù in Puccini’s Turandot and Sister Rose in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking (Cincinnati Opera). An exclusive artist with Deutsche Grammophon, Ms. Brueggergosman’s first recording with the label, Surprise, was released throughout North America in autumn 2007.
First performed in 1781, Idomeneo is an opera seria characterized by the heroic emotion and drama ever present in the music and text. The opera tells the story of Idomeneo, the king of Crete, who returns victorious from war with Troy and encounters a storm that threatens his fleet. In return for safe passage, he vows to Neptune, the god of the sea, to sacrifice the first person he sees upon reaching safety ashore. This turns out to be his son, Idamante. As the King tries to escape from his debt, conflicts arise among the other characters. Feelings of love have developed between Princess Ilia, one of the Trojan captives, and Idamante. The Greek Princess Elettra, exiled daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, also loves Idamante and suffers the anguish of unrequited love. In the end, Idomeneo can no longer evade his promise to Neptune. When he finally prepares to sacrifice his son, Neptune offers him an alternative to satisfy the gods: step aside and yield the throne to Idamante and Ilia. The people of Crete rejoice; only Elettra is horrified at the prospect of her beloved in the arms of her rival.
This glittering new production of Idomeneo will be directed by Marshall Pynkoski and choreographed by Jeannette Zingg, with set designs by Gerard Gauci, costumes by Margaret Lamb, lighting by Bonnie Beecher, and Andrew Parrott conducting the Tafelmusik Orchestra. Idomeneo also features the extraordinary American male soprano Michael Maniaci in the role of Idamante, Peggy Kriha Dye as Ilia, Olivier Laquerre as Arbace, Chad Shelton as Idomeneo, Curtis Sullivan as Neptune, with Artists of Atelier Ballet. The production will be sung in Italian with English and French SURTITLESTM.
Opera Atelier is Canada’s premier baroque theatre company, producing opera, ballet and drama from the 17th and 18th centuries. While drawing upon the aesthetics and ideals of the period, Opera Atelier goes beyond “reconstruction” and infuses each production with an inventive theatricality that resonates with modern audiences. Over the past two decades, under the direction of founders Marshall Pynkoski and Jeannette Zingg, Opera Atelier has garnered acclaim for its performances at home as well as in the United States, Europe and Asia. -- www.operaatelier.com
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