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Washington, DC and New York, NY- On January 16 and 17, 2014, Opera Lafayette presented the American premiere of Les Femmes Vengées at the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater. Additional performances took place on January 23, 2014 at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and on February 1 and 2, 2014 at the Royal Opera House in Versailles, France.
Among the precedents for Mozart and Da Ponte's final masterpiece, Così fan tutte, was Les Femmes Vengées (The Avenging Wives), an opéra-comique by Philidor and Sedaine. A mirror image of Così's plot, Les Femmes Vengées is the story of four fickle lovers, but this time it's the women who humorously uncover their husband's infidelities.
Ryan Brown, Conductor
The Opera Lafayette Orchestra
This recording includes the complete music of Les Femmes Vengées, with the complete text available on the Naxos website at www.naxos.com/libretti/660353.htm.
Ryan Brown is the founder, conductor, and artistic director of Opera Lafayette. Through his work with Opera Lafayette, he has gained an international reputation for his interpretations of French opera and for his rôle in the revival of significant works from the 18th and 19th centuries. He was most recently and widely lauded for the modern première and recording of Félicien David's 1862 Lalla Roukh, a seminal work of musical orientalism. His frequent performances of Italian works by Haydn, Mozart, Paisiello and Cimarosa have also met with great acclaim. Ryan Brown was raised in a musical family in California, and performed extensively as a violinist and chamber musician before turning his attentions to conducting. His teachers included Dorothy DeLay and Gustav Meier. In 2014 he returned to the Opéra Royal in Versailles, leading Opera Lafayette in Philidor's Les Femmes Vengées and Mozart's Così fan tutte. In 2015 he conducted Vivaldi's Catone in Utica at the Glimmerglass Festival. Ryan Brown is a recipient of La Médaille d'Or du Rayonnement Culturel from La Renaissance Française.
Opera Lafayette is an American period-instrument ensemble that specializes in French repertoire, rediscovers masterpieces, and creates a recorded legacy of its work. Founded in 1995 in Washington, DC, by Conductor and Artistic Director Ryan Brown, Opera Lafayette has earned critical acclaim and a loyal following for its performances and recordings with international singers renowned for their interpretations of baroque and classical operas. Opera Lafayette's season includes performances at major venues in Washington, DC and New York City. At the invitation of Château de Versailles Spectacles, Opera Lafayette made its international début at the Opéra Royal in February 2012 with the modern world première of Monsigny's Le Roi et le fermier. Opera Lafayette recently returned to Versailles for five sold-out performances of Mozart's Così fan tutte and Philidor's Les Femmes Vengées in January and February of 2014. Opera Lafayette's discography on the Naxos label has expanded to ten releases, including Gluck's Orphée et Euridice (2005), Sacchini's Œdipe à Colone (2006), Rameau Operatic Arias (2007), Lully's Armide (2008), Rebel and Francœur's Zélindor, roi des Sylphes(2009), Monsigny's Le Déserteur (2010), Philidor's Sancho Pança (2011) Grétry's Le Magnifique (2012), Monsigny's Le Roi et le fermier and Félicien David's Lalla Roukh(2014).
