Long Beach Opera to Present HYDROGEN JUKEBOX, Begin. 5/30

Long Beach Opera (LBO) puts its own spin on America's counter-cultural revolution with a multifaceted staging of the prophetic Philip Glass / Allen Ginsberg opera, HYDROGEN JUKEBOX. LBO's site-specific interpretation will take place on May 30, June 6 and June 7, 2015, at the CRAFTED Warehouse in San Pedro, CA.

The production will be led by previous LBO collaborators, Conductor Kristof van Grysperre and Stage Director David Schweizer. Schweizer says, "LBO has always, uniquely, stood for bold, contemporary, provocative approaches to opera theater. I will always drop everything to direct a new production there." About his vision for Hydrogen Jukebox, Schweizer comments, "The audience will feel as though they have entered a poet's dream with the songs of Ginsberg and Glass like fragments of memory. Singers will move around the space evoking a sense of traveling through America, a journey reminiscent of Kerouac's On the Road and other legendary road narratives that expanded our thresholds of discovery."

Philip Glass comments, "With Jukebox I was working with a vernacular language that we all know. For this purpose nothing could be better than Allen's poetry, because he is inventing a poetic language from the sounds and rhythms all around us - and American language that is logical, sensual, at times abstract and always expressive. Bringing music and language together can have a most powerful effect, literally joining the sense in a way that only opera can do."

Hydrogen Jukebox will be staged in the immersive environment of an historic canning warehouse at the Port of Los Angeles. As the archetypal characters from Ginsberg's poetic vision flow through a kaleidoscope of flower power, rough and tumble politics, drugs, rock & roll, and spirituality, the audience will be taken on a wild ride into a past that remains startlingly relevant to our lives today.

LBO has produced a number of Philip Glass operas over the years, most recently THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER in 2013 and AKHNATEN in 2011.

Pre-Opera Talks with Artistic and General Director Mitisek and/or Director David Schweizer one hour before all performances.

TICKETS: Prices range from $29 to $160. Student tickets can be ordered for $15 at any time. Valid student ID required on receipt. Tickets can be purchased by calling LBO Ticket Services at 562-432-5934 or online at www.longbeachopera.org/tickets.

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