New York City Opera to Offer a Presentation of Pedro Halffter's Opera KLARA This Month

New York City Opera will present a workshop of a brand-new production of Pedro Halffter's opera KLARA directed and choreographed by Richard Stafford which will take place on Monday, January 22, 2024 at Theatre of St. Jean, 150 E. 76th Street, NYC at 7:30 pm. This will be the first time this opera has been presented in New York.

KLARA, written by internationally renowned composer/conductor Pedro Halffter, features a titular character who is a form of artificial intelligence and explores philosophical and spiritual questions such as the meaning of consciousness/self-awareness in artificial life forms and what the reliance on this technology might imply for humanity in the future.  It had its world premiere in Villafranca del Bierzo, Spain, its US premiere at Harvard University and other performances at the Museum of Energy in Ponferrada, Spain, at Teatro De Escorial outside of Madrid, and most recently at the renowned Teatro Perez Galdos in the Canary Islands.

The opera has been hailed as "very moving" by Beckmesser and by La Provincia, Diario de las Palmas as "an impeccable reflection on how artificial intelligence can have the same desires and objectives as we do." 

The presentation will feature Ashley Galvani Bell as the protagonist Klara, dancers Maci Arms, Kristi Bement, Laura Henning and Miranda Jones, and Silvia Santinelli and Pedro Halffter himself at the pianos.

The presentation will be followed by a Q&A and discussion about artificial intelligence and its implications on humanity featuring Dr. Wendy Ju of Cornell Tech, SwamiSarvapriyananda of the Vedanta Institute of New York and moderated by journalist Andrew Bell.

This event has been facilitated by a grant from the Spanish government organization Acción Cultural Española, which made the participation of composer/conductor Pedro Halffter possible. 

If you're interested in attending and learning more about this production, please contact divariaproductions@gmail.com

 

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Born in Madrid, Pedro Halffter Caro(composer) is a conductor and composer. From 2001 to 2004 he was Principal Guest Conductor of the Nürnberger Symphoniker, and Principal Conductor of the Bayreuth Festival Youth Orchestra . Other distinguished positions have included Principal and Artistic Director of the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria from 2004-2015, Artistic Director of the Real Orquesta Sinfónica of Seville from 2004 to 2014, and Artistic Director of the Teatro de la Maestranza of Sevilla from 2004 to 2018. Maestro Halffter has worked in Vienna, Berlin, London, Paris, Madrid, Beijing, Moscow, Tokyo, Shanghai, Salzburg, Munich, Barcelona, Essen, Mannheim and Toulouse conducting orchestras such as London Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, New Japan Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin, Dresdner Philharmonie, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Orchestra Strasbourg Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Warsaw National Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, among others. Highlights of his successes as composer include the 2016 premiere at Teatro Real of his new orchestration of Viktor Ullmann's Der Kaiser von Atlantis and his symphonic versions of Wagner's Tannhäuser, Gotterdämmerung, Parsifal & Siegfried, which have been performed by top orchestras in Spain, Italy & France. He has made recordings with labels such as Deutsche Grammophon, Warner Music and Warner Classics. 2022-2023 highlights include Madame Butterfly with Opera de Montréal, Tosca at ABAO, Florencia in Tenerife &  La traviata at Teatro de la Maestranza. 2024 includes conducting La Bohème at ABAO and Dialogues at Teatro Cervantes Malaga. He is a member of Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Santa Isabel de Hungría of Seville.

 

Richard Stafford (director/choreographer) made his New York City Opera debut in 2017 as director and choreographer of the American premiere of Antonio Literes's Los Elementos. He was immediately re-engaged and directed and choreographed the company's critically acclaimed 2018 double bill of Rameau's Pigmalion and the American premiere of Donizetti's Pigmalione. Additional NYCO credits include direction for The Garden of the Finzi-Continis and All Is Calm, choreography for Turandot (2018 with Opera Hong Kong) and, in 2019, choreography for Dear Erich and Stonewall. His Broadway credits include choreographer for In My Life at the Music Box Theatre, associate choreographer for Aspects of Love at the Broadhurst Theatre, and dance supervisor for Cats at the Winter Garden Theatre. Off-Broadway, he was choreographer for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn at St. Clements and director/choreographer for Castle Walk for the New York Musical Festival. Internationally he was director/choreographer for The Full Monty and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in Mexico City; Cats in Copenhagen, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro; choreographer for Jesus Christ Superstar in Mexico City; Evita in Sydney; and Cats in Mexico City and Buenos Aires. He has been choreographer for national tours of Cats, My Fair Lady, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Mr. Stafford won the Barrymore Award for outstanding choreography for La Cage aux Folles at the Walnut Street Theatre and the NYMF “Outstanding Choreography” award for Castle Walk.
 

Hailed by Opera News as “delightful,” Ashley Galvani Bell  (Klara) most recently made her debut with ABAO Bilbao Opera singing Fiordiligi in Cosi Fan Tutte, sang Cio Cio San in Madama Butterfly with both Bohème Opera New Jersey & Daytona Beach Symphony Society, was soprano soloist with Milan's Orchestra UNIMI in Mozart's Exultate Jubilate and sang Violetta in La Traviata, the title role in world premiere of Penelope's Dream, & soprano soloist in Zemlinsky's Lyric Symphony all with the Festival of Villafranca del Bierzo, Spain.  Other recent highlights include her debut with Seville's Teatro Maestranza as Violetta in La Traviata, Soprano Soloist in Beethoven's 9th Symphony with Orquesta Sinfonica de Madrid, her Carnegie Hall debut as soprano soloist in Hadyn's “Nelson” Mass and Schubert's Mass in C, her New York City Opera debut in L'Amore dei Tre Re, and Mimi in La Bohème with California's Opera Modesto, Mississippi Opera & Natchez Festival.  Ms. Bell is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Yale University, is a recipient of Yale's Browne Irish Performing Arts Award and speaks 5 languages fluently. She originated the role of Klara and has performed it in multiple international venues, including Harvard and most recently at Teatro Perez Galdos in Gran Canaria. www.ashleygalvanibell.com

 

ABOUT THE PANEL

Dr. Wendy Ju (panel speaker) is Associate Professor at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech. Her work in the areas of human-robot interaction and automated vehicle interfaces highlights the ways that interactive devices can communicate and engage people without interrupting or intruding. 

Swami Sarvapriyananda (panel speaker) is the Minister and spiritual leader of the Vedanta Society of New York. He has spoken around the world including Harvard, Toronto's World Parliament of Religion and the United Nations.

 

ABOUT NEW YORK CITY OPERA

Founded as “The People's Opera” by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia in 1943, New York City Opera (NYCO) has remained a critical part of the city's cultural life. Launching the careers of dozens of major artists, presenting engaging productions of both mainstream and lesser-known operas alongside commissions and regional premieres, NYCO has continued to endure as a uniquely American Opera Company of international stature with a distinct identity and singular mission: affordable ticket prices, a devotion to American works, English-language performances, the promotion of up-and-coming American singers, and seasons of accessible, vibrant and compelling productions intended to introduce new audiences to the art form.

Stars who launched their careers at New York City Opera include Plácido Domingo, Catherine Malfitano, Sherrill Milnes, Samuel Ramey, Beverly Sills, Tatiana Troyanos, Carol Vaness, and Shirley Verrett, among dozens of other great artists. New York City Opera has also presented such talents as Anna Caterina Antonacci and Aprile Millo in concert, as well as its own 75th Anniversary Concert in Bryant Park.

New York City Opera forged a path of inclusion and diversity in the arts. It was the first major opera company to feature African American singers in leading roles (Todd Duncan as Tonio in Pagliacci, 1945 and Camilla Williams in the title role of Madama Butterfly, 1946); the first to produce a new work by an African American composer (William Grant Still, Troubled Island, 1949); and the first to have an African-American conductor lead its orchestra (Everett Lee, 1955).

A revitalized City Opera re-opened in January 2016 with Tosca, the opera that originally launched the company in 1944. Outstanding productions since then include: the world premieres of Iain Bell and Mark Campbell's Stonewall, commissioned and developed by NYCO), legendary director Harold Prince's new production of Bernstein's Candide; Puccini's beloved La Fanciulla del West; and the New York premiere of Daniel Catán's Florencia en el Amazonas — the first in NYCO's Ópera en Español series. Subsequent Ópera en Español productions include the New York premiere of the world's first mariachi opera, José “Pepe” Martinez's Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, Literes's Los Elementos, and Piazzolla's María de Buenos Aires. NYCO's Pride Initiative, which produces an LGBTQ-themed work each June during Pride Month, includes such productions as the New York premiere of Péter Eötvös's Angels in America and the American premiere of Charles Wuorinen's Brokeback Mountain.

New York City Opera continues its legacy with regular main stage performances at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater, an acclaimed summer series in Bryant Park that brings free performances to thousands of New Yorkers annually, and revitalized outreach and education programs at venues throughout the city that are designed to welcome and inspire a new generation of opera audiences.

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