The Atlanta Opera Presents YARDBIRD

The Atlanta Opera opens its 2018-19 season with the Southeastern debut of Charlie Parker's YARDBIRD, a new opera about the legendary saxophonist and jazz pioneer.

Written by composer Daniel Schnyder with a libretto by Bridgette A. Wimberly, YARDBIRD tells a not-quite-true story of Parker composing his final masterpiece while in the thin veil between life and death, reflecting on the women who influenced him and made him the master musician he was.

Charlie Parker's YARDBIRD, a part of The Atlanta Opera's Discoveries series, will be presented on September 27, 28, 29, 30, and October 2, 3, 5, and 7 at Le Maison Rouge located inside Paris on Ponce. The four October performances were added after the original September performances sold out. Limited quantities of single tickets are on sale for $75 and can be purchased online at atlantaopera.org or by calling 404-881-8885. Seating is General Admission. The opera will be performed in English with English supertitles.

"Charlie Parker's YARDBIRD brings us into the famed musician's creative process and re-introduces us to the tragically short life of a brilliant man whose music and musical innovations changed the sound of jazz and influenced scores of musicians who followed him," said Tomer Zvulun, Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. General and Artistic Director at The Atlanta Opera. "Our production will take audiences into the Birdland jazz club, where they'll get an intimate look at an American legend."

Native Israeli stage director, Omer Ben Seadia, will direct this production. Ms. Ben Seadia has quickly established herself as one of the fresh new voices in opera to watch. With a varied repertoire spanning from theater to opera, both classic and modern, her work is continuously committed to telling human stories with a social and critical perspective.

Conductor Clinton Smith recently concluded a collective nine years as music and artistic director of Orchestra Seattle/Seattle Chamber Singers and the St. Cloud Symphony, conducting over 60 orchestral, oratorio, chamber, pops, educational and holiday concert performances. For Minnesota Opera's New Works Initiative, and as an avid fan of new music, Clinton prepared workshops of Douglas J. Cuomo's Doubt, Ricky Ian Gordon's The Garden of the Finzi-Continis and the North American premiere of Jonathan Dove's The Adventures of Pinocchio, as well as Dominick Argento's Casanova's Homecoming and Bernard Herrmann's Wuthering Heights.

Praised by Opera News as a "vocally charismatic" performer with a "golden tenor", Martin Bakari will sing the title role of Charlie Parker in his Atlanta Opera debut. A 2018 George London Competition award winner, Mr. Bakari's 2018-19 season includes his Arizona Opera debut as Charlie Parker in Daniel Schnyder's Charlie Parker's Yardbird, Seattle Opera and Fort Worth Opera as Peter the Honeyman in Porgy & Bess, and a return to Portland Opera as the Visitor in Philip Glass' In the Penal Colony. He will perform the role on Sept 27, 29, Oct 3, 5, and 7.

Also performing as Charlie Parker, Joshua Stewart has been praised for his "big, warm, confidant" voice. A native of New Orleans, Mr. Stewart is quickly making a name for himself in the world of opera without losing touch with his jazz roots. In the 2017-18 season, he made his Birmingham Opera Company debut as Lazarus in the world premiere of Giorgio Battistelli's Lazarus, traveled to Spain in Tippett's A Child of Our Time, and made his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He will perform the role on Sept 28, 30, and Oct 2.

Angela Brown, who has performed in multiple roles with the Metropolitan Opera, will sing Addie Parker, reprising a role that she created for the 2015 world premiere with Opera Philadelphia and has sung several times, including a historic performance at The Apollo in New York City. Ms. Brown has sung opera all over the world, was a featured artist on the two-time Grammy Award® winning recording "Ask Your Mama," and has become a noted interpreter of African American spirituals.

Madison, GA native Rachel Sterrenberg will reprise the role of Chan Parker, which she created for the 2015 world premiere of Charlie Parker's YARDBIRD with Opera Philadelphia and has sung several times since. In the 2017-18 season, Ms. Sterrenberg sang the role of Pamina in Opera Philadelphia's Barrie Kosky Die Zauberflöte, Annina in La traviata for The Dallas Opera, and Rosalba in Daniel Catan's Florencia en el Amazonas with the Madison Opera.

Former Atlanta Opera Studio Artist (2017-18), mezzo-soprano Gina Perregrino returns to The Atlanta Opera as Baroness Pannonica ("Nica") De Koenigswarter. Over the past year, Ms. Perregrino performed as Edka in Jake Heggie's Out of Darkness, as Anna I in The Seven Deadly Sins and Papagena in The Magic Flute in Atlanta Opera productions as well as the title role in Central City Opera's production of Carmen.