Long Beach Opera Presents THE GOOD SOLDIER SCHWEIK, 1/30

Long Beach Opera's first performance of the 2010 season, The Good Soldier Schweik, will make it's final appearance in Santa Monica on January 30th. The production is direced and choreographed by Ken Roht and conducted by Austrian native, Andreas Mitisek. 

The Good Soldier Schweik is a military satire, based on Jaroslav Hasek's 1923 novel, which follows the misadventures of the solider Schweik as he stumbles through World War I. Schweik always tries to do the "right" thing, even if his good intentions destroy his superiors. Robert Kurka was one of the most promising voices of American music before his tragic death at age 35, shortly before the premiere of his opera. With its mix of jazz, brassy music and contemporary opera idioms, Kurka's witty score is in the heritage of Kurt Weill. The opera premiered at New York City Opera in 1958 shortly after the composer's death.

 Founded in 1979, the Long Beach Opera is the oldest operatic producing company in the metropolitan Los Angeles/Orange County region.  Long Beach Opera's success helped provide the stimulus for the subsequent founding of opera companies in Los Angeles and Orange Counties. The Long Beach Opera and San Diego Opera, along with these companies, have made Southern California one of the major operatic centers in the United States.With a repertory of over seventy operas, including early and late Baroque works, twentieth century works, and operas of special interest from the standard repertory, Long Beach Opera is well known for its world, American and west coast premieres of new and rare operas.

Significant LBO productions have included Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen (abridged version by Jonathan Dove), Powder Her Face by Thomas Adès, Richard Strauss' Elektra (which was televised in Germany) and The Beaumarchais Trilogy. In addition, several American premieres have been presented on the LBO stage, including: King Roger by Karol Szymanowski, Mozart's Lucio Silla, Schoenberg's Die Jakobsleiter, Bernd Alois Zimmermann's Turning, I Saw Great Injustice and John Cage's Europeras 3&4 (issued in a commercial recording).  Celebrated singers who have sung with LBO include Jerome Hines, Ruth Ann Swenson, James Morris and Jerry Hadley, but the company has a longstanding tradition of tapping talented singers on their way up (including some of the above named).

Tickets can be purchased by visiting https://www.longbeachopera.org/tickets or by calling 562-435-2994.