James Levine to Conduct Series of Opera Scenes at Juilliard, 2/11-2/16

The Metropolitan Opera and The Juilliard School present an evening of opera featuring Act I of Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail; Stravinsky's rarely-performed one-act comedy Mavra; Act I, scene 1 of Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini; and Act I, part 2 of Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore in the fourth collaboration between the two institutions on Tuesday, February 11 and Friday, February 14, 2014 at 8 PM and Sunday, February 16, 2014 at 2 PM in Juilliard's Peter Jay Sharp Theater. Met Music Director James Levine conducts the Juilliard Orchestra and singers from the Met's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, as well as singers from the Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts at Juilliard. Director Edward Berkeley will stage the program in a semi-staged concert version.

"This eclectic program features four diverse works that will suit the abilities of these very talented young singers," Levine said. "It's also a wonderful chance for the musicians in the Juilliard Orchestra to experience working with singers in repertory from different periods and in different styles."

Tickets at $30 will be available beginning January 16 through the Janet and Leonard Kramer Box Office at Juilliard, through CenterCharge at (212) 721-6500, or online at www.juilliard.edu/MetJuilliard. Box Office hours are Monday through Friday from 11 AM to 6 PM. For further information, call (212) 769-7406 or go to events.juilliard.edu.

The Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and The Juilliard School Partnership was announced in February 2008. The Lindemann Young Artist Development Program is under the leadership of James Levine, artistic director, and Brian Zeger, executive director. Mr. Zeger also is artistic director of the Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts at Juilliard. This collaboration aims to use the resources of both institutions to identify and educate the finest young opera singers and collaborative pianists for careers in the world's great opera houses.

Last season's critically-acclaimed co-production featured Mozart's Così fan tutte, directed by
Stephen Wadsworth and conducted by Alan Gilbert. Previous co-productions have included a concert staging of Gluck's Armide in 2012, directed by Fabrizio Melano and conducted by Jane Glover, and Stephen Wadsworth's 2011 production of Smetana's The Bartered Bride, conducted by James Levine.

Metropolitan Opera Music Director James Levine returns this season to conduct the Met's new production of Falstaff and the revivals of Così fan tutte (both of which will be transmitted live in HD), and Wozzeck, as well as all three concerts of the MET Orchestra's annual subscription series at Carnegie Hall. Maestro Levine has developed a relationship with the Met that is unparalleled in its history and unique in the musical world today. He conducted the first-ever Met performances of Mozart's Idomeneo and La Clemenza di Tito, Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, Verdi's I Vespri Siciliani, I Lombardi, and Stiffelio, Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Schoenberg's Erwartung and Moses und Aron, Berg's Lulu, Rossini's La Cenerentola, and Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini, as well as the world premieres of John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles and John Harbison's The Great Gatsby; all told, he has led nearly 2500 performances of 85 different operas at the Met since his company debut in 1971 leading Tosca. A book and documentary film celebrating Mr. Levine's 40th anniversary with the company were released in the summer of 2011. Maestro Levine inaugurated the "Metropolitan Opera Presents" television series for PBS in 1977, founded the Met's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program (LYADP) in 1980, returned Wagner's complete Ring to the repertoire in 1989 (in the company's first integral cycles in 50 years), and reinstated recitals and concerts with Met artists at the opera house-a former Met tradition. Expanding on that tradition, he and the MET Orchestra began touring in concert in 1991, and since then have performed around the world including at Expo '92 in Seville, in Japan, on tours across the United States and Europe, and regularly during and after the opera season at Carnegie Hall. In addition to his responsibilities at the Met, Mr. Levine has had a distinguished career as a pianist and an active and avid recital collaborator, especially in Lieder and song repertoire.

Edward Berkeley is Director of the Aspen Opera Theater Center where he has directed classics as well as new operas by Bright Sheng, Augusta Read Thomas, Michael Torke, Mark-Anthony Turnage, and Bernard Rands. This past season he directed the much-acclaimed production of Peter Grimes conducted by Robert Spano, starring Anthony Dean Griffey. He is a long-time faculty member of The Juilliard School and teaches Shakespeare at Circle in the Square Theater School. He was Artistic Director of New York's Willow Cabin Theater Company where he directed the Tony Award- and Drama Desk-nominated Wilder, Wilder, Wilder and productions for which he received numerous awards. Mr. Berkeley's New York Shakespeare Festival productions include Pericles and best revival winner The Tempest. He directed Beatrice and Benedict and l'Histoire du Soldat at the New York Philharmonic and John Adams's El Niño with the Atlanta Symphony and at Ravinia. Mr. Berkeley has also directed at the Library of Congress, Williamstown Theater Festival, and Old Globe Theater. In New York Mr. Berkeley directed the premiere of Ned Rorem's Our Town, Thomas Adès' Powder Her Face, and The Kaiser from Atlantis (which he also directed in L.A., Miami, Houston, Spoleto, and at Ravinia). Mr. Berkeley was an acting consultant for the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, on guest faculty at Princeton University and Williams College, and a Dayton-Hudson and Benedict Distinguished Professor at Carleton College. He directed his own adaptation of Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the New York Philharmonic, The Tender Land, Two Faces of Romeo and Juliet, a combining of Bernstein and Gounod, and Madama Butterfly for Houston Grand Opera, and John Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer and L'incoronazione di Poppea at Juilliard.

Juilliard's Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts annually enrolls approximately 70 singers in a variety of undergraduate (bachelor of music, diploma) and graduate degree programs (master of music, graduate diploma, artist diploma). Juilliard Opera presents fully-staged productions each season, casting Juilliard students from all of the department's degree and diploma programs in all roles, working with prominent international guest conductors and directors. The Juilliard School has presented staged operas since 1929, with a full department created the following year. Master classes at Juilliard have featured Sir Thomas Allen, Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming, and Renata Scotto. Among the world-renowned singers who have studied at Juilliard are Simon Estes, Renée Fleming, Audra McDonald, Leontyne Price, Risë Stevens, Tatiana Troyanos, and

Shirley Verrett. Recent alumni include Paul Appleby, Julie Boulianne, Sasha Cooke, Haeran Hong, Erin Morley, Emalie Savoy, Shenyang, and Jennifer Zetlan.

Juilliard Opera is supported by the vision and generous lead funding of the International Foundation for Arts and Culture and its Chairman, Dr. Haruhisa Handa.

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