MINNEAPOLIS (January 26, 2015) - Minnesota Opera Music Director Michael Christie leads the world premiere performances of The Manchurian Candidate, March 7-15, 2015in the Ordway Music Theater. Christie is recognized as " ... a top-notch conductor of new works ..." by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Based on the novel by Richard Condon and directed by Kevin Newbury, The Manchurian Candidate traces the mysterious story of an American soldier decorated during the Korean War who is brainwashed into becoming an unwitting assassin in a conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government. This taut and suspenseful thriller is the highly anticipated second opera by composer Kevin Puts and librettist Mark Campbell, creators of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Silent Night.
When approaching his second opera with librettist Mark Campbell, composer Kevin Puts said, "the libretto (text of the opera) has to come first. The best thing I can do is react to the libretto and let Mark determine the architecture and the structure and then figure out how musically I can bring that to life. To work on a political thriller, something that's fast paced and has this American edge to the story - I could hear the music. The audience doesn't get to take a breath. It has this constant drive to it with these moments of heart and tenderness in the midst of that - I jumped at the idea."Librettist Mark Campbell shares that, "our collaboration has grown. Kevin Puts has an incredible innate sense of theater and drama. He's telling a story and I completely trust him. Being able to workshop the opera in Minneapolis is a big credit to Artistic Director Dale Johnson and Music Director Michael Christie. We all know how to work together now after Silent Night. We have this history together based on our first opera. What really excites me about The Manchurian Candidate is its political message and how paranoia is used to attain power in politics. We see it every day in this country."Videos