Chicago Opera Theater's THE LOVE POTION To Debut At Music Box Sept. 30

For the first time ever, Chicago's iconic Music Box Theatre will host a classical live performance when Chicago Opera Theater (COT) debuts the Chicago premiere of Frank Martin's 1942"The Love Potion" ("Le Vin Herbe") on September 30. Martin's adaptation of the medieval legend of Tristan and Isolde chronicles the relationship of the two lovers who meet by deception, fall in love by magic and pursue their love in defiance of heavenly and earthly powers.

"The Love Potion" will be performed at the Music Box Theatre (3733 N Southport) on September 30 and October 7 and 9, 2016. The press performance will be September 30 at 7:30 p.m.

The oratorio begins with Tristan retrieving the reluctant Isolde so that she can be married to his uncle, King Mark. Isolde's mother has brewed a love potion meant to enchant King Mark into falling in love with her daughter. Tristan and Isolde mistakenly drink the potion when their maid confuses it for wine and they fall irrevocably in love. King Mark discovers Tristan and Isolde's love and declares vengeance. The lovers are able to escape the King and flee to the forest where they are quickly discovered propelling the story towards its climatic tragic end.

The libretto, originally by medievalist Joseph Bédier, was translated into English for this production byHugh MacDonald. "The Love Potion" will be conducted by Emanuele Andrizzi and directed and production designed by Chicago Opera Theater's Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson General DirectorAndreas Mitisek.

"Opera audiences are familiar with the story of Tristan and Isolde, thanks to Richard Wagner's often-produced classic, but Martin's take on this timeless tale is equally moving and musically hypnotic," said Mitisek. "One of our goals at Chicago Opera Theater is to bring our work to new audiences, and producing this work at the Music Box Theatre is in keeping with our mission. It is an exceptional acoustic space and we are proud to bring this rarely seen work to Chicago audiences in a venue that serves it so well musically and aesthetically."

Reviewing a 2013 production at the Berlin Staatsoper, A. J. Goldman of Opera News callEd Martin "distinctive and unjustly neglected" and called the piece "a work of startling economy and emotion" and that the composer had "succeeded in concocting a harmonically dense potion that, for all its dissonances, also goes down easy." Bernard Holland, reviewing an earlier staging for the New York Times, called it "absolutely gripping... filled with dignity, mystery and a simplicity born of true sophistication... It ought to return so that more people can see and hear it." Jeremy Eichler, reviewing a 2014 Boston Lyric Opera production, called the piece "Mesmerizing... The score's dissonant but ravishing musical language is a heady and highly personalized cocktail, indebted to Debussy yet at once updated and archaicized, its lulling waves giving voice to the characters' strong emotions while at the same time keeping them at a precisely measured distance."

Portraying the star-crossed lovers will be Lani Stait (Isolde) and Bernard Holcomb (Tristan). Other principals include Brittany Loewen (Branghien), Kira Dills-Desurra (Isolde with White Hands), Cassidy Smith (Isolde's Mother), Jonathan Weyant (Kaherdin), Nicholas Davis (King Mark) and Zacharias Niedzwiecki (Duke Hoël). The ensemble includes AlexandrA Martinez, Quinn Middleman, PatRick Dean Shelton and Samuel Weiser. The performers are members of COT's Young Artists program, which is composed of students in the Professional Diploma in Opera Program at Roosevelt University's Chicago College of Performing Arts in conjunction with Chicago Opera Theater, headed by Scott Gilmore, The Director of Musical Studies at CCPA.

Performance Schedule
Friday, September 30, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, October 7, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 9, 3 p.m.

Subscriptions for the 2016/17 season are now on sale. Single tickets will go on sale on August 10, 2016. Tickets will range in price from $50 - $75 and can be purchased by calling 312.704.8414 or viachicagooperatheater.org.

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