Reich, Glass, a world premiere and a Bach adaptation combine to celebrate two anniversaries for Long Beach Opera. The release expresses the same vitality we’ve come to expect from this adventurous company, as well as a particular sense of artistic urgency: Stories that need to be told Music that needs to be heard Details below, … Read more
Long Beach Opera has announced that one production slated for this year will be put off until next season: The Black Cat, inspired by the novella by Edgar Allen Poe and a musical penned by David Sylvian, was slated for January and was to include the Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, but will be saved for a … Read more
by Eleen Hsu-Wentlandt, Lister reviewer Starting on April 8, Long Beach Opera (LBO) unabashedly took over the basement club of The Federal Bar in Long Beach for their production of Francis Poulenc’s 1958 opera, La voix humaine (The Human Voice). French parlour music by Poulenc and Satie was presented in the first act, followed by an uninterrupted hour-long performance of … Read more
Long Beach Opera has a world premiere coming up that touches a few nerves, and covers territory that is sorely unexamined. Fallujah is a new opera by Tobin Stokes and Heather Raffo that looks at not only the horrors of war, but the struggles of living beyond it. The first opera to address composed about the Iraq … Read more
Long Beach Opera strives to make their seasons accessible and engaging, and the recent production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide is a shining example of that commitment. Staged in the cozy Center Theater in Long Beach, the show brought out the best of Bernstein’s music and comedic farce. Updating productions can be a tricky proposal. Many shows … Read more
[Press release] “Glitter and Be Gay” CANDIDE A Journey through “The Best of All Possible Worlds” Long Beach, CA, December 18, 2015―On January 23 and 30, 2016, Long Beach Opera (LBO) presents composer Leonard Bernstein’s satiric romp Candide at the Center Theater in Long Beach, CA. The eclectic score mixes everything from Viennese waltzes to … Read more
by Coril Prochnow, Lister contributor Based on the book by Émile Zola, with a libretto by Gene Scheer, the opera Thérèse Raquin by Tobias Picker exposes the psychological downward spiral of a young woman and her lover after they conspire to murder her husband. Opening chords of the overture recall Gershwin’s An American in Paris and, … Read more
In perhaps their best yet, Long Beach Opera‘s reprise of David Lang‘s The Difficulty of Crossing a Field (debuted at LBO in 2011) is an astonishing triumph and an exemplary exercise in out-of-the-box thinking. The minimalist score and orchestration for string quartet (executed with energetic style by the first-class Lyris Quartet, right) make good use … Read more
John Adams‘ The Death of Klinghoffer is an opera designed to leave its audience with much to contemplate, and it succeeds mightily. The subject has sparked repeated controversy since the 1991 premiere, so much so that most of the headlines in the last year that refer to the external conflict. (Do a quick Google search and … Read more
Zombies are everywhere. Brad Pitt, Jane Austen novels, Homeland Security… and now Long Beach Opera. I’ve never quite connected with the zombie obsession, but LBO’s Macbeth is the Goldilocks of z-ification: their production of Ernest Bloch‘s 1909 opera is just right. The hallowed Shakespeare play is nothing if not bloody, so it took only a moment to take … Read more
