 |
 |
|
|
|
|
Ian Krouse's "Lorca, Child of the Moon" premieres at UCLA
|
|
UCLA’s Freud Playhouse March 17-20
The compelling story of the opera — a compilation of Federico García Lorca’s “The Shoemaker’s Wife,” “El Romancero Gitano,” “Yerma” and “Blood Wedding” — traces the passions and the work of the famed Spanish poet and playwright as he steps into and out of the action of his own hauntingly beautiful fictional works. With Death, Fate, and the Moon as his constant companions and accompanied by driving rhythms and haunting music inspired by gypsy flamenco as well as the musical styles of his contemporaries, Lorca experiences for himself the humor, tragedy and raw passion conjured up from his surreal inner world, where the Moon is both muse and redemption, while Death is a constant reminder of our ultimate fate. The opera focuses on the women in Lorca’s works, each of whom in her own way — despite or as a result of a strong personality and character — was a victim of the oppressive society and culture of her time.
Ian Krouse's music has been performed and recorded by orchestras throughout the world. He has been given numerous grants and awards — by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, among others. Dating back to his days as a doctoral student at the University of Southern California, Krouse began working on “Lorca, Child of the Moon” with the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts. The foundation was founded in 1973 and incorporated in 1975 by Margarita Galban, Cuban-born actress and director recognized throughout the Americas; Argentinean-born Estela Scarlata, playwright and award winning set designer; and Carmen Zapata, Mexican American film, television and stage actress. Galban, artistic director of the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts in Los Angeles, has staged more than 180 plays. King Juan Carlos of Spain bestowed upon her the Cross of Isabel La Católica for her work as promoter and developer of Hispanic art and literature in the United States.
Soprano Juliana Gondek, chair of the division of voice and opera studies in the music department, will be featured in the role of one of Lorca’s greatest creations — the mother from “Blood Wedding.” All but one of the other singers are vocal students in the department of music and are members of UCLA Opera Studio directed by Rakefet Hak. The cast includes Aren der Hacopian and Evan Hughes (Lorca), Rachel Evans (Fate), Kyung Chy (Yerma), Khori Dastoor (the Bride), Jesús León and Kalil Wilson (Leonardo and First Man), Karin Mushegain (Gypsy No. 1), Karen Vuong (Shoemaker’s Wife and Washerwoman No. 3), Ralph Cato and David Williams (Shoemaker, Second Man and Bridegroom), Clarissa Lecce (Leonardo’s Wife, Gypsy No. 2 and Washerwoman No. 1), Rose Beattie (Washerwoman No. 2), Lisa Hendrickson (Neighbor Woman) and Stephanie Reid (Washerwoman No. 5 and Bridesmaid).
Three of the cast members — Khori Dastoor, David Williams and Kalil Wilson — competed in the Western Regional Finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions last November, and Wilson was awarded second prize. Wilson, Williams, Karen Vuong and Evan Hughes won the top four prizes respectively at the Palm Springs Opera Guild of the Desert Competition last fall.
Flamenco dance will be performed by Mari Sandoval, the choreographer, and Blanca Aurora Montes, Oscar N. Reyna, Irit Specktor and Nicole Tafralian.
With extensive backgrounds in theater and television, these exceptional women formed the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts to promote and encourage Latino theater, producing all their own productions in Spanish and English. They began as an Equity-waiver theater in downtown Los Angeles, operating from various locations around Los Angeles until 1980, when the organization moved to its present home at the former Lincoln Heights jail, with a theater space that used to be the courtroom. Acknowledged as a major cultural institution in Southern California, the foundation has a total annual audience of 60,000. Artistically, it is recognized for its quality productions of classic Hispanic literature by such playwrights as Lorca, Lope de Vega, Fernando de Rojas and Pedro Calderón de la Barca.
Krouse and Zapata collaborated on Lorca’s play “Yerma” as well as “Blood Wedding,” both of which won numerous awards. On the basis of these promising early successes, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded three grants to the foundation, beginning in 1984, which provided funds for developing “Lorca, Child of the Moon” and for producing two workshops of the opera. From the outset, Los Angeles’ own Suzanna Guzman, for whose voice much of the most compelling music was fashioned, was a major force behind the evolution of the musical score. She attracted a lot of interesting “triple threat” talent that kept the project moving forward. Now in its most mature and beguiling evolution, Opera UCLA’s presentation is the first fully realized production of the work.
|
|
<< Back to News Archive
|
|
|
|
