MESSAGE FROM RYAN BROWN, CONDUCTOR AND
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF OPERA LAFAYETTE

June 2008

We are thrilled to announce Opera Lafayette’s 2008-2009 season – our debut season at the Terrace Theater of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. We will present three programs, two of which we will perform at the Kennedy Center, including the modern American premiere of an influential 18th century French opéra-comique and a rarely heard Handel masterpiece.

We will open our season on November 2 at La Maison Française, the Embassy of France, with a program of operatic cantatas by Handel and Haydn sung by the extraordinary mezzo-soprano Stephanie Houtzeel. A nod to the 2009 Handel/Haydn anniversary year, it will also celebrate the Naxos release of our fourth recording, Lully’s Armide with Ms. Houtzeel in the title role.

On January 29, we will debut at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater with Le Déserteur, by the composer Monsigny and the librettist Sedaine, a brilliant 18^th century opéra-comique which helped set in motion the Romantic movement in Europe and America. We will also offer a family/community performance of Le Déserteur with our Young Artist Program members on January 31 at the new Atlas Performing Arts Center in Northeast Washington, DC. We will repeat the Kennedy Center program with the principal cast at Rose Theater, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City on February 4. This rediscovered treasure is part of our ongoing project to present and record modern American premieres of early French operas. The concert will feature baritone William Sharp and soprano Dominique Labelle, as well as choreography by Catherine Turocy of The New York Baroque Dance Company.

On April 3, also at the Kennedy Center, we will commemorate the 250th anniversary of Handel’s death with a rare performance of his exquisite L’Allegro ed Il Pensieroso, set to the beautiful English poetry of Milton. The performance will feature the sopranos Christine Brandes and Kirsten Blaise and the tenor Nicholas Phan.

Tickets will go on sale online and by mail in September. All performances will begin at 7:30 pm, except the family/community concert at Atlas which will begin at 2:00 pm. Please check our web site in August for additional details about our new season, including information regarding a seminar with music on Le Déserteur. Brochures will also be mailed in September, and if you would like to receive one please e-mail us the address to which you would like it sent.

We are pleased to note that the recent HBO television series on John Adams chose our recording of Orphée et Euridice to represent the scene in which Thomas Jefferson and John and Abigail Adams attend the opera in Paris. This is a fortuitous prelude to our coming season, as Le Déserteur had an important performance history both in Paris and in the U.S. in the 1790s!

We thank you for your ongoing enthusiasm and support for Opera Lafayette. We look forward to sharing these wonderful works and our historic explorations with you in the coming season!