Performances Magazine Eurydice Found Jan-March 2020

FESTIVAL DIRECTORY | JAN - MAR 2020

A COUNTY-WIDE FESTIVAL OF PERFORMANCES, CONVERSATIONS AND HAPPENINGS.

IN THE GREEK MYTH, SHE WAS A SHADOWY FIGURE WE BARELY KNEW. LET’S CHANGE THAT.

FEB 1–23, 2020

See the cornerstone of the festival — the WORLD PREMIERE from MATTHEW AUCOIN, SARAH RUHL and MARY ZIMMERMAN

Experience the Extraordinary L AOPERA.ORG • 213.972.8001

E UR Y D I CE FOU N D

lcome WeL

WHAT HAPPINESS IT WOULD BE TO CRY. I WAS NOT LONELY, ONLY ALONE WITH MYSELF, BEGGING MYSELF NOT TO LEAVE MY OWN BODY. BUT I WAS LEAVING. GOOD-BYE, HEAD—I SAID. HOW DO YOU SAY GOOD-BYE TO YOURSELF? —Excerpt from Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice Inspired by LA Opera’s WORLD PREMIERE OF EURYDICE, a

new opera created by composer Matthew Aucoin and librettist Sarah Ruhl, artists and scholars across the county will come together in 2020 to share their stories and their art. Through a festival of performances, conversations and happenings, they will investigate the ancient myths and upend them, leading us into daring new understandings of what it means to love, to lose, to forget and to remember. Much of the festival will focus on the female perspective and experience, the wife/daughter/

mother who has too frequently been left behind or ignored in our stories. This time, we let Eurydice speak for herself.

LA Opera is deeply grateful to the community of brilliant artists, scholars and community partners who have joined together for Eurydice Found. Through their talent and generosity, they connect us to our history, to the world around us, to each other, to our shared humanity. Thanks to them, we all can look back, forward, and at each other.

We invite you to join us on the journey.

Published courtesy of

Designer KIKO CHENG

EURYDICE FOUND | 1

s ’ e c i d y ur EL Voice

By Dr. Mary Louise Hart

LA OPERA’S WORLD PREMIERE PRODUCTION OF EURYDICE, A COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE PLAYWRIGHT SARAH RUHL AND COMPOSER MATTHEW AUCOIN, FORGES A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON THE ENDURING GREEK MYTH OF LOVERS CAUGHT BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH, RECLAIMING THE NARRATIVE FOR THE HERETOFORE NEGLECTED HALF OF THAT COUPLE. THE TALE OF ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE was a favorite of Greek and Roman poets, whose interpretations of Orpheus’ descent to the Underworld to rescue his bride have been inspiring operas since the Italian Renaissance.

In the Greek myth, the nymph Eurydice dies from a snake bite on her wedding day. Her grief-stricken husband Orpheus, the legendary poet, was able to descend to Hades to negotiate

2 | PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

her return to life because of his prodigious musical talent. Throughout the Greek literary tradition, Eurydice’s death contains the entirety of her story; in contrast, the descent to the Underworld to rescue her was the most important part of Orpheus’ larger popular legend, for he was the only mortal to return from Hades. He was a demigod, after all, possibly the offspring of Apollo and Calliope,

husband’s fate, beginning at the moment she the muse of epic poetry. A poet, singer and falls back to the dark realm, losing her second oracle, before his marriage Orpheus had joined chance for life: “What madness, Orpheus, what the Argonauts to sing the beat for the oarsmen dreadful madness has brought disaster alike of the Argo, saving them from Scylla’s grasp. upon you and me, poor soul?”* Virgil and Ovid Animals, trees, even rocks were charmed by his were favorites of Renaissance artists and the music—the Roman poet Ovid said he could story of Orpheus and Eurydice played an make the Furies weep. Enchanted by Orpheus’ important role in the classical repertoire of the singing, Persephone allowed him to lead visual arts as well as the Eurydice out of the formation of early operatic Underworld on condition that performance at the he not look back at her as she Florentine and French followed behind him. Despite THIS PLAY RECASTS THE courts. A 1600 work based this warning, Orpheus halted NAMELESS GREEK NYMPH on Ovid’s version by Jacopo and turned, catching sight of FROM HER ROLE AS A WIFE Peri with libretto by Ottavio Eurydice just as they WHOSE DEATH WAS PART Rinuccini titled Eurydice was approached the upper world.

OF HER HUSBAND’S FATE, In that moment his wife commissioned to celebrate TO A WOMAN SPINNING vanished before his eyes. the wedding of Marie de HER OWN FATE...

Medici to Henry IV, King of The earliest surviving France at the Pitti Palace in reference to this myth is in Florence. This libretto had a Euripides’ tragedy Alcestis happy ending (it was a (438 BC), where he refers to wedding, after all): Orpheus and Eurydice the power of Orpheus to rescue his wife from returned home without incident and to great the Underworld—without once mentioning rejoicing! In 1607, Claudio Monteverdi’s La Eurydice by name. And while Orpheus appears Favola d’Orfeo followed the traditional plot and frequently in ancient Greek art: in vaseis seen to be the earliest fully realized opera to paintings used in symposia, in sculptural works have survived. associated with Orpheus’ cult of the afterlife and in elaborate mosaic floors of villas across Our contemporary production of Eurydice the ancient Mediterranean, Eurydice is rarely delves into the interstices of the myth, using the depicted, perhaps because she had only one character of Eurydice to explore facets of place story to call her own, or perhaps because her and memory left open by the ancients: What death was merely the catalyst for Orpheus’ was the Underworld really like to live in? Can most significant achievement. The tale was well music lead us there? Or, as Eurydice ponders in known in first century BC Rome, where among Ruhl’s play, “How do you say good-bye to many poets Ovid, in his Metamorphoses (Book yourself?” This play recasts the nameless 10, 1-85 and Book 11, 1-66) and Virgil (Georgics Greek nymph from her role as a wife whose 4: 453-527) expanded the narrative. Ovid’s poem death was part of her husband’s fate, to a relates the death of Eurydice but keeps closer woman spinning her own fate, including not to the life of Orpheus. Virgil, however, only a husband, but a father, a family, and a life emphasizes the role Eurydice played in her after death.

“

Mary Louise Hart is Associate Curator of Antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Villa, and a frequent presenter for LA Opera. *Translation of Virgil by H.R. Fairclough (1999)

EURYDICE FOUND | 3

A MY T H UP EN DE D

of the

Story Opera L

the

EURYDICE AND ORPHEUS ARE YOUNG AND IN LOVE, and become engaged. Meanwhile, in the Underworld, Eurydice’s dead father writes her a letter for her wedding day. He is one of the very few dead who remember how to read or write. He keeps this secret, not wanting to be dipped in the river of forgetfulness again.

On her wedding day, Eurydice encounters a man who says he has a letter for her from her dead father. She grabs the letter but loses her balance and falls to her death. She arrives in the Underworld with virtually no memory of her husband or prior life. Her father approaches her, but she doesn’t recognize him either.

Up in the world of the living, a grieving Orpheus writes a letter to his dead wife and vows to find her.

Orpheus’ letter arrives in the Underworld and Eurydice’s father reads it for her. She begins to remember Orpheus and her father. Above, Orpheus drops a book of Shakespeare’s plays down to her.

Eurydice’s father picks up the book and reads verses of King Lear to her. With his help, Eurydice relearns her forgotten language.

4 | PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

Orpheus implements his plan to sing his way into the Underworld.

He arrives, but Hades (who also looks very much like the stranger Eurydice encountered on her wedding day) tells him that he can take Eurydice back to the world of the living, but he must not turn back to look at her as she follows him. If he does, he will lose her forever.

Eurydice hears Orpheus and tells her father that he has come to rescue her. This upsets him, but he urges her to go with her husband anyway. Eurydice walks toward Orpheus but in a moment of uncertainty, turns back to see her father has already gone. She catches up to Orpheus and calls his name.

ORPHEUS TURNS BACK TO LOOK AT HER AND THE WORLD FALLS AWAY. THEY ARE COMPELLED TO PART—ORPHEUS BACK TO THE WORLD OF THE LIVING, EURYDICE BACK TO THE UNDERWORLD. Her father, believing he has lost his daughter a second time, longs to forget everything and dips himself into the river of forgetfulness.

Eurydice returns and learns what her father has done. Anguished, she vows to teach him language and help him remember, but it is too late. Hades informs Eurydice that she will be his bride, and that she has no choice in the matter. She asks for a moment to prepare. She writes a letter to Orpheus and to his next wife, urging them to be happy. Then dips herself in the river and lies down next to her father. Orpheus, dead, arrives in the underworld, his memory washed away too. He sees Eurydice’s letter, but doesn’t recognize what it is.

Costume designs for Eurydice by Ana Kuzmanic.

EURYDICE FOUND | 5

r a d n e l a C L

FEST I VAL EVE N T S

Dates and times are subject to change. Go to LAOpera.org/Festival for additional events and up-to-date information

JANUARY 11

2 PM

RETURNING SOLDIERS SPEAK: VETERANS PERFORM THEIR POETIC MYTH

P 10

15

7:30 PM

BLACK ORPHEUS (FILM)

P 14

16

8 PM

THE BODY FEMALE COLLECTIVE

P 13

17

7:30 PM

LA OPERA’S DOMINGO-COLBURN-STEIN YOUNG ARTISTS: LA MORTE D’ORFEO

P8

17

8 PM

PASADENA OPERA: PROVING UP

P8

18

7:30 PM

LA OPERA’S DOMINGO-COLBURN-STEIN YOUNG ARTISTS: LA MORTE D’ORFEO

P8

18

8 PM

PASADENA OPERA: PROVING UP

P8

19

12 PM

OPERA LEAGUE OF LOS ANGELES: THE ENDURING POWER OF MYTH

P 10

19

7 PM

LA OPERA’S DOMINGO-COLBURN-STEIN YOUNG ARTISTS: LA MORTE D’ORFEO

P8

23

7:30 PM

UCLA DEPT OF THEATER: QUAD I AND II

P 13

24

8 PM

PASADENA OPERA: PROVING UP

P8

25

2 PM

UCLA DEPT OF THEATER: QUAD I AND II

P 13

25

4 PM

UCLA DEPT OF THEATER: QUAD I AND II

P 13

25

8 PM

PASADENA OPERA: PROVING UP

P8

25

7:30 PM

A NOISE WITHIN: ANOTHER PERFECT DAY

P8

27

11:30 AM

GODDESS FASHION LUNCHEON

P 10

28

7:30 PM

KANDIS WILLIAMS’ EURYDICE

P 15

30

7:30 PM

USC VISIONS AND VOICES: THE LIFE AND AFTERLIFE OF EURYDICE (AND ORPHEUS) IN OPERA

P 10

31

7:30 PM

ANTAEUS THEATRE COMPANY: A READING OF MARY ZIMMERMAN’S METAMORPHOSES

P 13

FEBRUARY 1

7:30 PM

LA OPERA: EURYDICE (WORLD PREMIERE)

P8

4

7:30 PM

UCLA: AN EVENING OF POETRY

P 11

6

7 PM

BRAIN AND CREATIVITY INSTITUTE: THE POWER OF STORIES ACROSS CULTURES— INSIGHTS FROM NEUROSCIENCE

P 11

8

7:30 PM

LA OPERA: EURYDICE PERFORMANCE AND POST-OPERA CONVERSATION WITH THE HILDEGARDS ON WOMEN IN CLASSICAL MUSIC

P 12

9

12 PM

THE COLBURN SCHOOL AND THE HILDEGARDS: WOMEN IN CLASSICAL MUSIC SYMPOSIUM

P 12

13

7:30 PM

PASADENA CITY COLLEGE AND THE HUNTINGTON LIBRARY AND BOTANICAL GARDENS: WE ALL LOOK TO THE STARS

P9

13

12 PM

NEW MEDIA AND OPERA CONFERENCE

P 12

14

10 AM

NEW MEDIA AND OPERA CONFERENCE

P 12

6 | PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

• • • • •

MU SI C SC H O L A RSH I P T H E AT E R V I SU A L A RT S DA N C E

FEBRUARY CONTINUED 14

6 PM

FILM SERIES THE ORPHIC TRILOGY: THE BLOOD OF A POET

P 15

14

7:30 PM

LA OPERA: EURYDICE PERFORMANCE AND POST-OPERA CONVERSATION WITH MARIKE SPLINT ON NEW MEDIA/NEW OPERA

P 12

16

2 PM

LA OPERA: EURYDICE PERFORMANCE AND POST-OPERA CONVERSATION WITH DR. ED KRUPP AND JUHL BANSAL WITH EXCERPT PERFORMANCE OF WE ALL LOOK TO THE STARS

P 12

18

7 PM

UNAM: EURYDICE SEMINARS IN SPANISH

P 12

19

7 PM

UNAM: EURYDICE SEMINARS IN SPANISH

P 12

20

7:30 PM

LA OPERA: EURYDICE PERFORMANCE AND POST-OPERA CONVERSATION WITH NEUROSCIENTISTS OF THE BRAIN AND CREATIVITY INSTITUTE

P 12

21

6 PM

FILM SERIES THE ORPHIC TRILOGY: ORPHEUS

P 15

22

1 PM

GETTY VILLA: A READING OF SARAH RUHL’S EURYDICE

P 13

23

12 PM

PAINT OUT WITH THE CALIFORNIA ART CLUB

P 15

23

2 PM

LA OPERA: EURYDICE PERFORMANCE AND POST-OPERA CONVERSATION WITH THE MINDFUL WARRIOR PROJECT FOLLOWED BY A PERFORMANCE OF SONGS OF ORPHEUS

P 12

28

6 PM

FILM SERIES THE ORPHIC TRILOGY: TESTAMENT OF ORPHEUS

P 15

29

3 PM

UCLA HERB ALPERT SCHOOL OF MUSIC: CHARPENTIER’S LA DESCENTE D’ORPHÉE AUX ENFERS AND EXHIBIT OF OVID

P9

MARCH 1

3 PM

UCLA HERB ALPERT SCHOOL OF MUSIC: CHARPENTIER’S LA DESCENTE D’ORPHÉE AUX ENFERS AND EXHIBIT OF OVID

P9

14

7 PM

HEIDI DUCKLER DANCE PRESENTS UNDERWAY

P 16

15

7 PM

HEIDI DUCKLER DANCE PRESENTS UNDERWAY

P 16

ONGOING EVENTS ONGOING

SHIRIN NESHAT: I WILL GREET THE SUN AGAIN

P 14

ONGOING

CELEBRATING THE FEMALE PERSPECTIVE IN ART

P 14

ONGOING

ART MUSE LOS ANGELES: THE GREATER MUSEUM OF L.A.

P 14

DEC 2019-MAR

EURYDICE FOUND IN THE STACKS AND BEYOND

P 10

JAN 15-MAR 31

MARIKE SPLINT: DON’T LOOK BACK, AN ORPHIC SOUNDWALK

P 16

FEB 1-FEB 23

FIDM: INSPIRED BY EURYDICE

P 11

FEB 4-MAR 21

28TH ANNUAL “ART OF MOTION PICTURE COSTUME DESIGN” EXHIBITION

P 11

FEB 1-FEB 23

LUMEE’S DREAM: A SOUND INSTALLATION

P9

EURYDICE FOUND | 7

FEST I VAL EVE N T S

Music L

JAN 17, 18, 19 DINNER 6:30 PM SHOW 7:30 PM

JAN 17, 18, 24, 25 // 8 PM

JAN 25 // 8 PM

FEB 1 – FEB 23

LA OPERA’S DOMINGOCOLBURN-STEIN YOUNG ARTISTS: LA MORTE D’ORFEO

PASADENA OPERA: PROVING UP

A NOISE WITHIN: ANOTHER PERFECT DAY

LA OPERA: EURYDICE

Proving Up is a one-act chamber opera by composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek, a team whose previous collaboration was hailed as one of the best in the 21st century by Opera News. The opera, based upon the short story by Karen Russell, follows the journey of Miles, the son of a family of Nebraska Homesteaders, who must “prove up” his family’s claim to their land by taking their glass window to be counted. As he travels further from home, Miles is taunted by his ghostly sisters and encounters an enigmatic man who will decide whether to grant him the deed or take his life.

There’s a traffic jam in L.A., and an opera breaks out. Infidelity, gentrification, a mother and child reunion, and an earthquake. L.A., baby…

Another Perfect Day is a love letter to Los Angeles.

And... it’s in English. This concert production, by Geoff “GG” Gallegos (composer) and Velina Hasu Houston and Shishir Kurup (librettists), will be performed for one night only as part of Noise Now, a community partnership program at A Noise Within. Choose your price for this special performance!

Matthew Aucoin partners with playwright Sarah Ruhl for a new opera that reimagines ancient mythology for a modern age. This time, the tale unfolds from the heroine’s point of view.

(Finally, right?) Tragically killed on her wedding day, a young bride descends into the underworld, where she reconnects with her adoring father.

Presented with the opportunity to return to her husband in the world of the living, she must choose between the two men she loves.

LOCATION A Noise Within Theater

TICKETS AND INFO laopera.org

Travel to the lair of Bacchus for drinks, feast and an immersive operatic experience.

Stephen Stubbs conducts this baroque rarity by the Italian composer Stefano Landi. After Orpheus has failed to save his wife Eurydice from the underworld, he renounces wine and the love of women. This offends the god Bacchus who urges his female followers, the Maenads, to wreak revenge.

LOCATION El Cid 4212 Sunset Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90029 TICKETS AND INFO elcidsunset.com/ upcoming-events

LOCATION The Boston Court Theatre TICKETS AND INFO bostoncourtpasadena.org

8 | PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

TICKETS AND INFO anoisewithin.org

LOCATION Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

FEB 1 – FEB 23

FEB 13 // 7:30 PM

LUMEE’S DREAM: A SOUND INSTALLATION

PASADENA CITY COLLEGE AND THE HUNTINGTON LIBRARY AND BOTANICAL GARDENS: WE ALL LOOK TO THE STARS

Lumee’s Dream is an immersive, audio-visual installation inspired

by Ellen Reid and Roxie Perkin’s opera p r i s m, winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Music. Created by acclaimed director James Darrah and cinematographer Adam Larsen, Lumee’s Dream plunges the observer into p r i s m’s unsettling universe. Reid and Perkins’ tragic character, Lumee, is summoned almost supernaturally through spatialized sound and evocative visuals. The site-specific soundscape will beckon the listener from all corners of Dorothy Chandler Pavilion with its eerie and alluring melodies.

Written by Ellen Reid (composer) and Roxie Perkins (librettist).

Video by James Darrah (director) and Adam Larsen (cinematographer). Audio mix and installation design by Ears Up. LOCATION Dorothy Chandler Pavilion TICKETS AND INFO Free Admission for all Eurydice ticket-holders on the day of the performance.

Drawing on myths and writing from different cultures, and inspired by the constellation Lyra, this event is a musical celebration of the wonders of the night sky.

Across history, culture, time and space—every division and divide among us—we all look at the same stars. Bringing together LA Opera artists with students and faculty from Pasadena City College and the local community at the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens, we embrace our universal, human connection with a journey through the night sky in song.

LOCATION Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens TICKETS AND INFO huntington.org

FEB 29 // 3 PM MARCH 1 // 3 PM UCLA HERB ALPERT SCHOOL OF MUSIC: CHARPENTIER’S LA DESCENTE D’ORPHÉE AUX ENFERS Join us for a performance of Charpentier’s La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers, hosted by the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library and Center for 17th- and 18th-Century Studies.

This rarely performed work will be conducted by Stephen Stubbs and directed by James Darrah. The performance will feature singers from the UCLA, Opera and Voice Program, under the direction of Peter Kazaras, Director of Opera UCLA and Rakefet Hak, Musical Director of the UCLA Opera Studio.

Walk through the beautiful galleries and enjoy an exhibit highlighting the early work of Ovid before and after the performance.

LOCATION William Andrews Clark Memorial Library TICKETS AND INFO 1718.ucla.edu/events

laopera.org/eurydice

EURYDICE FOUND | 9

p i h s r a ol Sch L

FEST I VAL EVE N T S

DEC 2019 - MARCH LA OPERA: EURYDICE FOUND IN THE STACKS AND BEYOND LA Opera’s Community Educators are ready to bring you into the historical and cultural worlds of opera for talks focused on Eurydice at your local library. We’ve partnered with local Los Angeles libraries to make sure everyone has access to explore the stories and history of famous doomed lovers, Orpheus and Eurydice.

Veterans will read their poetic myths with music accompaniment composed by Brooke De Rosa. Following the reading and performance, Leilani Squire will moderate a discussion with the veterans and audience, and handmade chapbooks, created and designed by the veterans, will be distributed to audience members. The community will be invited to write poems and impressions to the veteran performers. A typewriter and paper will be available to do so.

Presented by Returning Soldiers Speak, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit.

TICKETS AND INFO Free Admission

TICKETS AND INFO Free Admission laopera.org/festival

JAN 19 // 12-3 PM OPERA LEAGUE OF LOS ANGELES: THE ENDURING POWER OF MYTH

RETURNING SOLDIERS SPEAK: VETERANS PERFORM THEIR POETIC MYTH United States Military

LOCATION The Colburn School TICKETS AND INFO operaleague.org

LOCATION Amelia Earhart Library

LOCATION L.A. County Libraries

JAN 11 // 2 PM

School of Theater, Film and Television. Professor Hackett will discuss “The Enduring Power of Myth” as we explore the legend of Eurydice prior to the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin’s new opera Eurydice.

Romeo and Juliet. Buffy and Angel. Orpheus and Eurydice. Why do we love stories about doomed lovers? The Opera League of Los Angeles presents Michael Hackett, Professor of Directing and Theater History, UCLA

10 | PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

JAN 27 // 11:30 AM

GODDESS FASHION LUNCHEON Fashion historian Dr. Kimberly ChrismanCampbell helps us locate the real fashion goddesses! She discusses 18th century goddess imagery and the neoclassical influence on 18th century fashion, tracing the rise of neoclassicism in art and fashion from the excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum in the mid-1700s through the Grand Tour and the French Revolution. Enjoy The Ebell of Los Angeles’ art collection, highlighting women artists before and after the luncheon.

LOCATION The Ebell of Los Angeles TICKETS AND INFO ebellofla.com

JAN 30 // 7 PM USC VISIONS AND VOICES: THE LIFE AND AFTERLIFE OF EURYDICE (AND ORPHEUS) IN OPERA In anticipation of the world premiere of Eurydice at LA Opera, composer/conductor Matthew Aucoin and playwright Sarah Ruhl will be joined by UCLA professor Kenneth Reinhard and singers from LA Opera’s Young Artist Program for an evening of musical performance and conversation. The event will explore the original and ongoing role of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in the history of Western opera. Both the musical performances and the discussion will range from earlier Orphic music by Monteverdi and Gluck to recent pieces by Harrison Birtwistle and others, including excerpts from Aucoin’s new opera.

LOCATION Bovard Auditorium TICKETS AND INFO Free Admission Reservations required RSVP Beginning DEC 12 // 9 AM visionsandvoices.usc.edu

FEB 1 – FEB 23

FEB 4 // 7:30 PM

FEB 6 // 7 PM

FASHION INSTITUTE OF DESIGN AND MERCHANDISING (FIDM): INSPIRED BY EURYDICE

UCLA: AN EVENING OF POETRY

Historical fashions from the FIDM Museum collection on view at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

Matthew Aucoin, composer of Eurydice, co-curates an evening of readings and recitations of poetry and other literature inspired by the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. He will be joined by guest readers and poets who, like him, feel inspired by this everrelevant story. Seating is limited and early arrival is recommended.

BRAIN AND CREATIVITY INSTITUTE: THE POWER OF STORIES ACROSS CULTURES—INSIGHTS FROM NEUROSCIENCE Stories play an essential role in human culture and development. In this event, the neuroscientists of the Brain and Creativity Institute will discuss how a multitude of brain processes including memory, imagination, emotion, abstract inference, and social knowledge are involved when we hear or read stories. The evening will include a panel discussion among scientists, philosophers and storytellers.

Musicians from LA Opera will perform musical pieces from different cultural narratives throughout the evening to highlight how listening to stories allow us to travel across time and cultures.

In celebration of LA Opera’s presentation of Eurydice, a selection of historical garments from the FIDM Museum Collection will be on exhibition at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Mirroring the ancient Greek origins of Eurydice, these classically inspired fashions range from 1910-1960 and can be seen through the duration of the opera’s run.

LOCATION Dorothy Chandler Pavilion TICKETS AND INFO Exhibit open to all opera ticket-holders on the day of the performance.

FEB 4 – MARCH 21 // 10 AM - 5 PM 28TH ANNUAL “ART OF MOTION PICTURE COSTUME DESIGN” EXHIBITION AT THE FIDM MUSEUM

Featuring Academy Award® Nominees for Costume Design Inspired by the fashion you saw at the opera? Continue to explore the role costumes play in storytelling at the FIDM Museum’s 28th annual “Art of Motion Picture Costume Design” exhibition, celebrating the creativity of costume designers for film. Representing the past year in cinema, visitors will see over 100 outstanding costume designs from more than 25 films released in 2019, including Academy Award nominees for Costume Design. This major exhibition is the only one of its kind in the world that pays homage each year to the creativity of the costume designer for film with a museum show of outstanding costumes and Oscar® nominated designs.

LOCATION

LOCATION The Hammer Museum TICKETS AND INFO Free Admission Available 1 hour before program One ticket per person; first come, first serviced hammer.ucla.edu

LOCATION BCI, Dana & David Dornsife Cognitive Neuroscience Imaging Center (DNI)

TICKETS AND INFO

TICKETS AND INFO Free Admission Reservations encouraged

Free Admission fidmmuseum.org

RSVP Beginning DEC 1 dornsife.usc.edu/bci

FIDM Museum

EURYDICE FOUND | 11

p i h s r a ol Sch L

FEST I VAL EVE N T S

FEB 8 – FEB 23

FEB 9 // 12 PM

LA OPERA: EURYDICE POST-PERFORMANCE EVENTS

THE COLBURN SCHOOL AND THE HILDEGARDS: WOMEN IN CLASSICAL MUSIC SYMPOSIUM

The opera house becomes the festival hub with special events following performances of Eurydice. All events are located at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Stern Grand Hall immediately following the performance.

FEB 8 // 7:30 PM The Hildegards, a network of women working in classical music in L.A., host a post-performance conversation about women’s representation in classical music.

FEB 14 // 7:30 PM Marike Splint, Assistant Professor, Directing Department of Theater, School of Theater, Film and Television at UCLA, discusses Don’t Look Back, her innovative sonic walk and the role that new media will play in the future of opera.

FEB 16 // 2 PM Dr. Ed Krupp and Juhi Bansal will discuss Orpheus and the astrophysical importance of the stars. Following their conversation, Pasadena City College Opera will perform an excerpt of Bansal’s work We All Look to the Stars.

During and after the Eurydice performance, The California Art Club will host a “Paint Out” inside Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

FEB 20 // 7:30 PM Neuroscientists of the Brain and Creativity Institute will discuss how a multitude of brain processes including memory, imagination, emotion, abstract inference and social knowledge are involved when we hear or read stories.

FEB 23 // 2 PM The Mindful Warrior Project will convene a panel where veterans discuss Eurydice through the lens of their unique lived experiences. Following the conversation, Songs of Orpheus, an original text written in workshops hosted by Returning Soldiers Speak on the themes of Orpheus and Eurydice set to music by Brooke De Rosa, will be performed in Stern Grand Hall.

TICKETS AND INFO Open to all opera ticket-holders on the day of the performance.

12 | PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

Join us for a day dedicated to the hard-working women in the classical music community of Los Angeles.

Network and engage with your peers at a symposium presented by The Colburn School and The Hildegards: a group for women in classical music.

LOCATION The Colburn School TICKETS AND INFO colburnschool.edu

FEB 13 // 12 PM FEB 14 // 10 AM NEW MEDIA AND OPERA In a contemporary mediascape, where the older forms of print journalism and other commentary are increasingly displaced by “new media” such as Twitter, podcasts and other social networking,

how does opera survive and thrive? Is adaptation to these new media necessary? When an immersive sonic-walk, or a hologram of Maria Callas delivers a stellar performance, is it still opera? Join LA Opera for a two-day seminar to explore these and other questions about the future of opera.

LOCATION Dorothy Chandler Pavilion TICKETS AND INFO Free Admission Limited reservations laopera.org/festival

FEB 18, 19 // 7 PM

UNAM: EURYDICE SEMINARS IN SPANISH Explore Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice with renowned music critic Gerardo Kleinberg. Conducted entirely in Spanish, this two-day workshop will dive into the experience of creating a world premiere opera: how an opera is composed, commissioned and staged. Learn about the work of LA Opera Artist in Residence, Matthew Aucoin and how the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice inspired the creation of his latest opera. Join your classmates for a night at the opera on February 20 and see all that you’ve learned come to life onstage.

LOCATION Dorothy Chandler Pavilion TICKETS AND INFO unamla.org

FEST I VAL EVE N T S

Theater L

JAN 16 // 8 PM

THE BODY FEMALE COLLECTIVE The Body Female is an artistic exploration of the diverse dimensions of the female condition that unites seven women in a collaboration of dramatic arts, performance art, visual art, film, music, video art, gender studies, and social work towards inspiring greater social justice. Integrating diverse disciplines, The Body Female engages artistic media to confront how women navigate societal impediments from body image to domestic violence that challenge the female condition in its endeavor to create a viable space in which women can thrive. Conceived by Nadia Islam and Velina Hasu Houston, the collaboration includes Nao Bustamante, Paula Cizmar, Houston, Islam, Shelly Ren, Bita Shafipour, and Guang Yang. Interwoven with music by Yang performed

by Ren, The Body Female consists of four artistic expressions that speak to the female presence in humankind.

LOCATION The Ebell of Los Angeles TICKETS AND INFO ebellofla.com

JAN 23 // 7:30 PM JAN 25 // 2 AND 4 PM UCLA DEPT OF THEATER: QUAD I AND QUAD II The Hammer Museum will host performances of Samuel Beckett’s rarely performed Quad I and II, directed by Michael Hackett and presented in partnership with Department of Theater in the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Quad is Samuel Beckett’s distillation of the human journey in an interplay of sound, light and movement. One critic has described it as “four hooded wanderers engaged in a quest for an Other” and a second critic as “a progress towards the separation between the conscious and unconscious mind.”

Seating is limited and early arrival is recommended.

JAN 31 // 7:30 PM

FEB 22 // 1 PM

ANTAEUS THEATRE COMPANY: A READING OF MARY ZIMMERMAN’S METAMORPHOSES

A READING OF SARAH RUHL’S EURYDICE

Adapted from classic Ovid poem, Metamorphoses explores the classic myth.

Antaeus Theatre Company presents a reading followed by a conversation with playwright Mary Zimmerman.

LOCATION Stern Grand Hall in Dorothy Chandler Pavilion TICKETS AND INFO Free Admission laopera.org/festival

The Getty Villa will host a staged reading of Tonynominee Sarah Ruhl’s play, Eurydice. An interactive conversation will follow the reading with the acclaimed playwright and the score’s composer, Matthew Aucoin. Selections from the opera will be performed by artists from LA Opera’s Young Artists.

LOCATION The Getty Villa TICKETS AND INFO getty.edu/visit/villa/

LOCATION The Hammer Museum TICKETS AND INFO Free Admission Available 1 hour before program One per person; first come, first served hammer.ucla.edu

EURYDICE FOUND | 13

s t r A l a Visu L

FEST I VAL EVE N T S

ONGOING

OCT 2019-ONGOING

JAN - ONGOING

JAN 15 // 7:30 PM

ART MUSE LOS ANGELES: THE GREATER MUSEUM OF LA

SHIRIN NESHAT: I WILL GREET THE SUN AGAIN

CELEBRATING THE FEMALE PERSPECTIVE IN ART

BLACK ORPHEUS

Art Muse Los Angeles becomes our Orphic guide to “the Greater Museum of L.A.” This online map helps Angelenos discover the astonishingly rich and fascinating works of art found within our museums, galleries and public spaces that reveal facets of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. Paintings and sculptures are paired with poetry, facts and musical excerpts across the city’s landscape. You will want to look twice and thrice, if not backwards too, at the numerous works of art that illustrate the myth’s enduring power to enchant us.

LOCATION Museum of Los Angeles TICKETS AND INFO laopera.org/festival

The Broad will debut a new survey of internationally renowned artist Shirin Neshat’s approximately 30-year career. Shirin Neshat: I Will Greet the Sun Again presents 230 photographs and eight immersive video installations, offering a rare glimpse into the evolution of Neshat’s artistic journey as she explores topics of exile, displacement, and identity with beauty, dynamic formal invention, and poetic grace. The exhibition features the global debut of Land of Dreams, a new body of photographs and two videos, and includes her early photograph series, Women of Allah (199397), iconic video works such as Rapture (1999), Turbulent (1998), and Passage (2001), and monumental photography installations including The Book of Kings (2012) and The Home of My Eyes (2015).

LOCATION The Broad Museum TICKETS AND INFO thebroad.org

14 | PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

Join us at the historic Ebell of Los Angeles for an exhibit highlighting women’s art. Originally founded in 1894, the Ebell has been dedicated to its original mission “to interest women in the study of all branches of literature, art and science and the advancement of women in every branch of culture” for the last 125 years. Don’t miss this opportunity to explore the historic buildings and experience the history of women’s activism in Los Angeles.

LOCATION The Ebell of Los Angeles TICKETS AND INFO ebellofla.com

A screening of Black Orpheus, winner of the 1960 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. This ancient love story is based on the musical Orfeu da Conceição by Vinícius de Moraes. With a celebrated bossa nova soundtrack by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luis Bonfá, the film re-imagines the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in the slums of Rio de Janeiro during Carnivale.

LOCATION The Hammer Museum TICKETS AND INFO Free Admission Available 1 hour before program One per person; first come, first served hammer.ucla.edu

JAN 28 // 7:30 PM

FEB 14, 21, 28 // 6 PM

FEB 23 // 12 PM-4 PM

KANDIS WILLIAMS’ EURYDICE

FILM SERIES: THE ORPHIC TRILOGY

PAINT OUT WITH THE CALIFORNIA ART CLUB

The Norton Simon Museum screens the Orphic Trilogy, three masterpieces of French cinema by Jean Cocteau. Shot over three decades, the films use the classical Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice as a means to explore the complex relationships between reality and the imagination, creator and the creation.

The historic California Art Club, which has been documenting in artwork the history of the Golden State and its iconic landmarks and cultural institutions for more than a century, will celebrate LA Opera’s world premiere of Eurydice with a “paint-out”.

During this special event, which will take place on the closing day for Eurydice, artists will set-up the tools of their trade to create new artwork inspired by not only scenes from this opera, but also the beloved façade and interiors of the Pavilion itself. Patrons with tickets for the matinee performance are invited to watch the artists at work both before the opera begins and during intermission. The works of art created during this paint-out will be displayed at a later date in a special exhibition at the Music Center.

Artist Kandis Williams hosts a screening of Eurydice from several performative iterations. The screening will be followed by a conversation with Bracha L. Ettinger, Alex Zhang Hungtai, and herself, exploring aesthetic decisions around loss, trauma, the Artist’s role in transforming affect into form and their work together on several iterations of the Eurydice project.

LOCATION The Hammer Museum TICKETS AND INFO Free Admission

Film Series: The Orphic Trilogy FEB 14 // 6–6:50 PM The Blood of a Poet (1930)

Available 1 hour before program

FEB 21 // 6–7:35 PM Orpheus (1950)

One per person; first come, first served

FEB 28 // 6–7:20 PM Testament of Orpheus (1959)

hammer.ucla.edu

LOCATION Norton Simon Museum TICKETS AND INFO Screenings are included with museum admission nortonsimon.org

LOCATION Dorothy Chandler Pavilion TICKETS AND INFO laopera.org/eurydice californiaartclub.org

EURYDICE FOUND | 15

FEST I VAL EVE N T S

Dance L

MARCH 14 & 15 // 7 PM

JAN 15-MAR 30

HEIDI DUCKLER DANCE PRESENTS UNDERWAY

MARIKE SPLINT: DON’T LOOK BACK, AN ORPHIC SOUNDWALK

A dance opera directed and choreographed by Heidi Duckler with music composed by Leaha Maria Villarreal. Underway is inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes, which creates a space for Eurydice to be imagined as an independent being. Duckler’s unique choreographic style and Villarreal’s distinctive music will take the audience on a transformative journey to the underworld through Eurydice’s perspective. The performance takes place in the vacant underpass beneath L.A.’s historic 7th Street Bridge which Heidi Duckler Dance (HDD) is repurposing into a multidisciplinary public art space open to the public as part of her project, The Span @ 7th Street Bridge. Audiences will access the repurposed passageway via a temporary scaffolding and ramp designed by architect Alex Ward and will descend from the street into a “Low Line” in the underbelly of the bridge to engage in HDD’s new mystical dance opera.

LOCATION Vacant underpass beneath L.A.’s historic 7th Street Bridge TICKETS AND INFO hdd_underway.eventbrite.com 213.536.5820

16 | PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

Don’t Look Back is an Orpheus-inspired experiential soundwalk leading the listener through the streets of L.A. In this site-specific experience created by innovative director Marike Splint, the landscape of the city becomes the setting for your own journey between the underworld and the land of the living.

Download the soundwalk MP3 to begin the journey.

LOCATION This soundwalk will be available for download online, to be experienced while riding the purple Metro line between Union Station and Wilshire/Western.

MORE INFO AND DOWNLOAD marikesplint.com beginning January 15

PAM TANOWITZ/BRICE MARDEN/ KAIJA SAARIAHO

Four Quartets

Sat, Feb 15 & Sun, Feb 16 | Royce Hall

Four Quartets, T. S. Eliot’s masterpiece, has inspired three astonishing contemporary artists to join forces in a ravishing union of dance, music, painting and poetry. They will be joined by Tony Awardnominated actress Kathleen Chalfant (Angels in America, Wit) performing Eliot’s text live.

LEAP INTO YOUR SEAT cap.ucla.edu | 310-825-2101

@cap_ucla | #capucla

The Getty Villa Presents

FROM PLAY TO LIBRETTO: SARAH RUHL’S EURYDICE Saturday, February 22, 2020, 1:00 p.m. at the Getty Villa Join us for a staged reading of Eurydice (2003), a play by Tony-nominee and MacArthur Fellow Sarah Ruhl, followed by a conversation with the playwright and the score’s composer, Matthew Aucoin. The LA Opera performs selections from the opera’s libretto. All year long: head to the Getty Villa for world-class art, architecture, and antiquities.

Orpheus and Eurydice (detail), about 1709, Jean Raoux. Oil on canvas. Gift of William P. Garred. J Paul Getty Museum. Text and design © 2019 J. Paul Getty Trust

FREE ADMISSION | getty.edu