Teatro Regio Torino to Launch First North American Tour at Harris Theater, 12/3

The Harris Theater for Music and Dance today confirmed that a major event of the 2014-2015 Harris Theater Presents season will be the North American debut performance of the Turin, Italy-based Teatro Regio Torino orchestra and chorus, under the leadership of Music Director and Conductor Gianandrea Noseda. Teatro Regio Torino will open its first-ever North American tour at the Harris Theater on Wednesday, December 3, 2014 at 7PM with a historic, one-night-only concert performance of Gioachino Rossini's opera William Tell. Teatro Regio Torino's four-stop tour-with performances in Chicago, Ann Arbor, Toronto, and New York's Carnegie Hall-also marks the first time an Italian opera house will tour an opera in concert form in North America. The December 3 production will feature soprano Angela Meade as Matilde, tenor John Osborn as Arnoldo, and baritone Fabio Capitanucci in the title role of Guglielmo Tell. Century old high jewelry house Buccellati, which recently opened a boutique on Oak Street, will be one of the sponsors for the debut performance at the Harris Theater. North American tour sponsors include Eataly, Lavazza and Del Cambio, a legendary Torino restaurant. Special events are being planned around this historic performance.

The most recent Chicago production of William Tell happened more than 25 years ago, performed by the Lithuanian Opera in 1986, according to local arts historian and administrator Richard Covello. Covello added, "Such a rare opera has been heard in Chicago in four different languages: French, Italian, German, and Lithuanian." Rossini's last and most famous work-familiar to many for its distinct overture-chronicles the story of a 15th century Swiss folk hero named William Tell, known for his legendary expertise with a cross bow. One day, while walking with his son in the village square, Tell publicly refuses to comply with a town decree, forcing passerby to bow their hats in reverence to the city magistrate. His refusal is a punishable offense. The magistrate, intrigued by Tell's fabled marksmanship, devises a cruel punishment: Tell and his son will be spared execution only on the condition that Tell successfully shoot an apple off his son's head. Tell subsequently finds himself on a journey of narrow escapes and epic adventures.

"It's remarkable that, with more than 250 years of history and a growing international reputation, the Teatro Regio Torino has yet to perform here in North America," said Michael Tiknis, the Harris Theater's President and Managing Director. "We are so proud to present this exceptional organization in its momentous North American debut performance. It will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Chicago audiences to witness history in the making."

Established in 1740 and newly inaugurated in 1973, Teatro Regio Torino has solidified its reputation as one of Italy's most prosperous and recognizable opera houses, along with the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and Teatro La Fenice in Venice. Noseda, Conductor Laureate at the BBC Philharmonic and Chief Guest Conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, was appointed Music Director of the Teatro Regio Torino in 2007 and continues to receive international praise for his artistic and administrative leadership. Under Noseda, Teatro Regio Torino makes annual visits to Paris and has recently traveled to Austria, China, Japan, Spain, and Germany.

Tickets for Teatro Regio Torino: William Tell are $55-$95, now available at HarrisTheaterChicago.org or by calling the Harris Theater Box Office at 312.334.7777.

About Teatro Regio Torino
The new Teatro Regio was inaugurated on April 10, 1973 with I Vespri Siciliani by Giuseppe Verdi, with the first and only stage direction of Maria Callas and Giuseppe Di Stefano.

I Vespri Siciliani was again chosen in 2011 to inaugurate the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy, in the presence of President Giorgio Napolitano. The new production, with the stage direction by Davide Livermore and Gianandrea Noseda conducting, was classified by Musical America as one of the
Top 10 Musical Events of 2011.

From an artistic point of view, the Teatro Regio today combines a traditional opera repertoire-like the production of La bohème with Luciano Pavarotti and Mirella Freni that commemorated the world premiere, a performance followed live on television by more than four million viewers-with innovative opera theater, making use of such prestigious names in direction as Robert Carsen, Hugo de Ana, Zhang Yimou, Damiano Michieletto, Jonathan Miller, Laurent Pelly, Stefano Poda, Luca Ronconi, and Graham Vick; and on occasion involving great names in cinema, like William Friedkin, Andrej Konchalowskij, Ermanno Olmi, Jean Reno, Ettore Scola, and Andrej Tarkowskij. It has also become a point of reference for world-famous conductors as well as raising stars of the podium such as Roberto Abbado, Semyon Bychkov, Bruno Campanella, Valery Gergiev, Nicola Luisotti, Evelino Pidò, Daniele Rustioni, Yutaka Sado, Pinchas Steinberg and Jeffrey Tate.

In 2007, Noseda was appointed Music Director of the Teatro Regio Torino. Along with his involvement on the podium as one of the most exciting conductors of his generation, Noseda is responsible for the guidelines of the artistic programming of the Teatro.

With a staff of 380 people and an annual budget of around 40 million euros, the Teatro constitutes one of the most important opera houses in Italy. This is demonstrated by the many co-productions with major European institutions and its record audiences of more than 14,000 subscribers each year and more than 250,000 tickets sold, among the largest figure of the Italian opera houses.

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