Detroit Opera To Present John Cage's EUROPERAS 3 & 4, March 8-10

Detroit Opera has announced casting for this season's site-specific operatic experience, John Cage's Europeras 3 & 4, which will take place at Detroit's historic, intimate Gem Theatre.

Yuval Sharon, Detroit Opera's Gary L. Wasserman Artistic Director, will direct three performances of Cage's pioneering work, which challenges European opera tradition by transforming it into a collage. Two of opera's most exciting stage performers, mezzo-soprano Susan Graham and bass-baritone Davóne Tines, will headline a cast featuring sopranos Jennifer Cresswell, Kisma Jordan, and Melanie Spector; tenor River Guard; baritones Rolfe Dauz and Robert Wesley Mason; pianists John Etsell and Marina Stojanovska; and actors Biba Bell, Celia Benvenutti, and Christopher Woolfolk. The creative team includes production designer Moníka Essen and lighting designer Yuki Nakase Link. 

The presentation will feature pre-recorded music, live singers, pianists and actors, stage actions determined through chance operations, and a digital Europeraclock taking the place of conductor. “Cage created Europeras 3 & 4 entirely of recycled materials—arias that everyone is familiar with, classics from European repertoire,” says Sharon. “The only catch is that they're all performed at the same time. Through chance operations, singers will perform arias that they select, while pianists play transcriptions of different operas, and phonographs are playing different recordings. The result is something new and original: an exhilarating, bewildering, wonderful work. There are many experiences happening simultaneously, more similar to an installation, or like our performances of Bliss at the Michigan Theater in 2021. Opera does not have to adhere to our standard ideas of narrative or experience. It can be so many different things: a true collage of things we know and love.” Europeras 3 & 4 will represent the first theatrical performances at the Gem Theatre in nearly twelve years. 

Visit the Detroit Opera website to learn more about Europeras 3 & 4 and about John Cage's personal and musical ties to the city of Detroit. 

Europeras 3 & 4

Music by John Cage: a 100-minute collage of opera arias 

Gem Theatre, Detroit 

Friday, March 8, 2024 at 7:30p

Saturday, March 9, 2024 at 7:30p

Sunday, March 10, 2024 at 2:30p

Yuval Sharon, director

Moníka Essen, production designer

Yuki Nakase Link, lighting designer

Jennifer Cresswell, soprano, Europera 3

Rolfe Dauz, baritone, Europera 3

River Guard, tenor, Europera 3

Kisma Jordan, soprano, Europera 3

Robert Wesley Mason, baritone, Europera 3  

Melanie Spector, soprano, Europera 3

John Etsell, pianist, Europera 3

Marina Stojanovska, pianist, Europeras 3 & 4 

Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano, Europera 4

Davóne Tines, bass-baritone, Europera 4

Biba Bell, actor/dancer (Europeras 3 & 4)

Celia Benvenutti, actor/dancer (Europeras 3 & 4)

Christopher Woolfolk, actor/dancer (Europeras 3 & 4)

About the performers 

Susan Graham 

Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham – hailed as “an artist to treasure” by the New York Times – rose to the highest echelon of international performers within just a few years of her professional debut, mastering an astonishing range of repertoire and genres along the way. Her operatic roles span four centuries, from Monteverdi's Poppea to Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, which was written especially for her. A familiar face at New York's Metropolitan Opera, she also maintains a strong international presence at such key venues as Paris's Théâtre du Châtelet, Santa Fe Opera and the Hollywood Bowl. She won a Grammy Award for her collection of Ives songs, and has also been recognized throughout her career as one of the foremost exponents of French vocal music. Although a native of Texas, she was awarded the French government's prestigious “Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur,” both for her popularity as a performer in France and in honor of her commitment to French music.

Davóne Tines 

Bass-baritone Davóne Tines is a pathbreaking artist whose work encompasses a diverse repertoire, ranging from early music to new commissions by leading composers, while exploring the social issues of today. His recent artist residency at Detroit Opera culminated in his performance in the title role of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X in 2022. This season, Tines sings in a staged version of John Adams's El Niño at the Metropolitan Opera, and a concert version of El Niño with the Houston Symphony and the Cincinnati Symphony. As a member of the American Modern Opera Company (AMOC), he tours El Niño: Nativity Reconsidered—an arrangement of the work—to Kansas City, Stanford, New Haven, and New York City. He performed in Tod Machover's VALIS at MIT in September, and this month will perform in Kaija Saariaho's True Fire with the Cincinnati Symphony. Tines is recipient of multiple awards, including Musical America's 2022 Vocalist of the Year, the 2020 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, and the 2018 Emerging Artists Award from Lincoln Center. He is a member of Lincoln Center's Collider, an innovation engine for new voices at the intersection of art, technology, and social justice. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School and Harvard University, where he also serves as guest lecturer. 

Tickets

More information about other Europeras 3 & 4 performers can be found at https://detroitopera.org/season-schedule/europeras-3-4/. 

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