Odyssey Opera Announces 2018-19 Season: Tribute To Charles Gounod And Operas Inspired By The Helen Of Troy Legend
By: Stephi Wild Jun. 19, 2018
Following Odyssey Opera's 2017-18 season dedicated to works inspired by Joan of Arc, Artistic and General Director Gil Rose today announced the company's 2018-19 season: a two-part journey with the first memorializing the 200th anniversary of French composer Charles Gounod's birth (as well as the 125th death anniversary), and the second inspired by one of the most enigmatic figures in ancient history, Helen of Troy. Celebrating its sixth season as one of the nation's most innovative opera companies, Odyssey Opera will present one U.S. premiere, four Boston premieres, three fully-staged productions, and two concert operas. (Please scroll down for complete details.)
"Considered by many to be the Father of French grand opera, Gounod is most famous for his beloved operas, Faust and Romeo et Juliette," explains Rose. "His melodic gift is unmistakably original and is at his best in his operas. We look forward to sharing two of his lesser known works with audiences." In what has become an Odyssey tradition, the season will begin with a concert performance of a Grand Opera. This year the tradition continues with Gounod's La reine de Saba (The Queen of Sheba) to a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, followed by a fully staged production of the comic opera Le médecin malgré lui (The Doctor in Spite of Himself) based on Molière's comedy.
The second half of Odyssey Opera's season will bring stories of love and war, presenting three works inspired by the iconic figure, Helen of Troy. "Helen of Troy has fascinated writers and composers for centuries," says Rose. "Her elusiveness and mystery project fears, fantasies, and imaginings." According to The Guardian, "the myth of Helen, a woman so beautiful that she impelled nations into a war at once tragic and futile, brings extreme images of sexual desire, military aggression and social collapse into uncomfortable proximity. The origins of her legend remain obscure. Classical iconography makes her at once divine and bestial."
Odyssey will usher in 2019 with a fully staged production of Paride ed Elena (Paris and Helen) by Christoph Willibald Gluck, followed by a concert performance of Die ägyptische Helena (The Egyptian Helen) by Richard Strauss, and a season-ending, fully staged production of the hilarious La belle Hélène (The Beautiful Helen) by Jacques Offenbach.
All performances will be conducted by Gil Rose. Tickets for Odyssey Opera's entire 2018-19 season go on sale June 19th at odysseyopera.org.
Founded in 2013 by artistic director/conductor Gil Rose, Odyssey Opera presents adventurous and eclectic works that affirm opera as a powerful expression of the human experience. Its world-class artists perform the operatic repertoire from its historic beginnings through lesser-known masterpieces to contemporary new works and commissions in varied formats and venues. Odyssey Opera sets standards of high musical and theatrical excellence and innovative programming to advance the operatic genre beyond the familiar and into undiscovered territory. Odyssey Opera takes its audience on a journey to places they've never been before. odysseyopera.org
La reine de Saba* (The Queen of Sheba)
When: September 22, 2018, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough Street, Boston
Inspired by Gérard de Nerval's book Le voyage en Orient, La reine de Saba is a grand opera composed by Charles Gounod in 1862. Balkis, the queen of Saba, arrives in Jerusalem to meet her betrothed, King Solomon, but the beautiful and powerful Queen instead finds herself drawn to Solomon's master architect Adoniram. What follows is a dramatic struggle between love and obligation, filled with intrigue, jealousy, and betrayal. This powerful love story of the famed Queen of Sheba, presented as a concert performance in French with English subtitles, will kick-start Odyssey's season.
Le médecin malgré lui** (The Doctor in Spite of Himself)
When: November 9, 2018, 7:30 p.m. + November 11, 2018, 2:00 p.m.
Where: Huntington Avenue Theater, 264 Huntington Avenue, Boston
Sganarelle, a boozy lumberjack, impersonates a doctor in this brilliant opéra comique based on the play by Molière. Confusion abounds! Will Sganarelle be discovered a fraud? Will his patient, the beautiful Lucinde, overcome her illness and be united with her lover Leandre? Will her father, Geronte, be outwitted by the 'mock doctor'? Will anyone be left standing in the end? This is a work greatly admired by Stravinsky and Strauss, who considered it a masterpiece, and Berlioz who proclaimed it "Gounod is at his best!". In this fully staged production audiences will enjoy the work that established Gounod's compositional comic voice and his position as an operatic composer. Sung in French with English subtitles.
Paride ed Elena** (Paris and Helen)
When: February 15, 2019, 7:30 p.m. + February 17, 2019, 2:00 p.m.
Where: Huntington Avenue Theater, 264 Huntington Avenue, Boston
Written by Christoph Willibald Gluck with a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi, Paride ed Elena (1770) is the composer's third "reform" opera. In ancient Greece, Paris sought the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen. Their elopement to Troy resulted in The Trojan War, a tale that has inspired countless artists. Paride ed Elena tells the story of their first meeting to their flight from Sparta and centers on three characters: Paris, Helen and Cupid who is instrumental in persuading Helen to choose love over duty. But when the Gods intervene in the lives of mortals, can there be a happy ending? Sung in Italian with English subtitles.
Die ägyptische Helena** (The Egyptian Helen)
When: April 19, 2019, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough Street, Boston
Inspired by stories from Euripides and Stesichorus, with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Richard Strauss's two-act opera Die ägyptische Helena (1927) is a rarely seen side to the story of Helen of Troy. It is both an intimate and emotional story about Helen and her husband Menelas. 10 years after Helen left her husband to be with Paris, this opera imagines life after her return home. With goddesses, sorceresses, and elves to help spin the tale, will Menelas find forgiveness in his heart for his wife? Sung in German with English subtitles.
La belle Hélène** (The Beautiful Helen)
When: June 14, 2019, 7:30 p.m. + June 16, 2019, 2:00 p.m.
Where: Huntington Avenue Theater, 264 Huntington Avenue, Boston
An opéra bouffe in three acts by Jacques Offenbach with an original French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, La belle Hélène parodies the well-known legend of Helen's elopement with Paris, which set off the Trojan War. When this masterpiece premiered in 1864, it was an outstanding success, receiving 700 performances! Venus has decreed that Paris, in the guise of a shepherd, shall win the most beautiful woman in the world in a competition: undoubtedly, Menelas's wife Helen. She tries to resist Paris's love but their fate is, well, fate-we all know how this story will end. Filled with madcap comedy, some of Offenbach's best loved melodies, and an epidemic of marital infidelity, this tour de force helps Odyssey end its season with a satirical bang.
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