The Aronoff Center Presents PORGY AND BESS

The Gershwins' beloved opera Porgy and Bess - recognized as an American masterpiece - plays the Aronoff Center's Procter & Gamble Hall on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 8:00 PM as part of the Cincinnati Arts Association's 2009-10 Season of Classic Nights Out. Originally billed as a "Folk Opera," Porgy and Bess introduced classic Gershwin songs including "Summertime," "I Got Plenty O' Nuttin'" and "It Ain't Necessarily So," as well as magnificent and enthralling choruses that stunned music and drama critics alike at its premiere in 1935.

Tickets are on sale now at www.CincinnatiArts.ORG, (513) 621-ARTS [2787], and the Aronoff Center Ticket Office.

To celebrate the 75th Anniversary of George Gershwin's enduring masterpiece, a new production of Porgy and Bess is being mounted-with the full approval of the Gershwin estate-by veteran opera producer Michael Capasso (General Director of New York's vibrant Dicapo Opera). Porgy and Bess, featuring a stellar cast and live orchestra, will be directed by renowned American Charles Randolph-Wright (writer and director of the film "Mama I Want to Sing," to be released February 2010), conducted by Music Director Pacien Mazzagatti, and produced in association with Willette Murphy Klausner. With a new orchestration by Mr. Mazzagatti, brand-new sets designed by John Farrell, costumes by Ildikó Márta Debreczeni, and lighting by Susan Roth, Porgy and Bess kicks off its tour of 26 U.S. cities on February 18, 2010.

Michael Capasso, who has been the driving force behind the many projects produced by Dicapo Opera Theatre, extols the virtues of Porgy and Bess: "Irresistible in its melodies, moving in its depiction of love's power in the face of all odds, Porgy and Bess stands before the world as the greatest opera ever written by a native-born American. It has long been a dream of mine to produce this quintessentially American operatic classic, and I hope and trust that audiences all across the country will share my enthusiasm for this new production of George Gershwin's true masterpiece."

Passion, jealousy, murder, and poverty are central to the opera's evocative story. Porgy, a downtrodden but generous beggar, haunts the streets known as "Catfish Row," a poor district of early 20th century segregated Charleston, South Carolina. Ardently in love with the prostitute Bess, Porgy has to share his affections with her violent former lover Crown and the roguish suitor Sportin' Life. Written by George Gershwin to a libretto by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin, Porgy and Bess has enjoyed spectacular fame all over the world since its first modest production in New York City in October 1935. This operatic masterpiece has spawned a string of hit songs that have become international icons of the American tradition.

Although Gershwin had hoped for Porgy and Bess to be premiered at the Metropolitan Opera, his plans were thwarted by the sudden death of Metropolitan Opera Board Chairman Otto Kahn. The opera toured Europe and North and South America throughout the 1950s, and it was the first work by an American to be produced at La Scala in Milan, Italy. It enjoyed tremendous success at the Vienna Volksoper, Leningrad's Palace of Culture, and London's Stoll Theatre, and it was this tour that launched the career of Leontyne Price. In its 75-year history, no other opera or musical has employed more African-Americans. The work was not widely accepted in the United States as "real" opera until 1976 when the Houston Grand Opera staged Porgy and Bess with the original score and orchestration. Nine years later, the Met gave its first performance of the work, including it in its Saturday afternoon live broadcast series.

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