Long Beach Opera Will Perform PIERROT LUNAIRE and VOICES FROM THE KILLING JAR Next Month

Long Beach Opera will finish its 2021 season with two monodrama masterpieces produced in partnership with the LA Phil, Pierrot Lunaire / Voices From the Killing Jar by Arnold Schoenberg and Kate Soper, presented on August 14 and 15 at 8:00 PM at The Ford, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd., East, Los Angeles CA 90068. Information and tickets are available at longbeachopera.org and theford.com

This double bill, conceived of by LBO's former Interim Artistic Advisor Yuval Sharon, features the work and perspective of women creatives and creative teams. The hundred-year-old masterwork Pierrot Lunaire is paired with the work of one of today's most exciting composers, Kate Soper, in her examination of famous women from history and literature. Choreographer Danielle Agami will direct and choreograph Pierrot Lunaire in conjunction with her dance company Ate9, and soprano Kiera Duffy, one of the foremost interpreters of the role, will star as Pierrot. Zoe Aja Moore will direct Voices from the Killing Jar, which will feature soprano Laurel Irene. Jenny Wong will conduct the Wild Up ensemble for the entire double bill.

Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire (1912) changed music forever when he created 21 surreal dreamscapes for a solitary, enigmatic female to traverse. Exploring a threshold space between singing and speaking, Schoenberg created a vocal character somewhere between cabaret and expressionism, demanding each performer to make the role uniquely her own. Exactly 100 years later, Kate Soper's Voices from the Killing Jar (2012) takes an intrepid soloist through a constantly shifting sonic environment and a kaleidoscopic vocal journey. Soper's protagonist brings to life 8 famous women in world literature -- from Don Giovanni to Great Gatsby, from Shakespeare to Haruki Murakami -- to unravel men's depictions of women through the centuries.

Each work is a tour de force for vocalists who think far outside operatic conventions. Voices from the Killing Jar will be performed by Laurel Irene, a performer Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times praised as "downright superhuman, giving one of the most astonishing performances, vocally and interpretively, I have ever encountered." Pierrot will be performed by Kiera Duffy, one of the foremost interpreters of this work, who has sung the cycle with both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Of Ms. Duffy's portrayal of Pierrot, the Chicago Tribune raved that it "had a purity, power and drama unmatched in this listener's experience."

The works are led by a trio of exceptional local artists that bring fresh perspectives to opera: Pierrot Lunaire is staged and choreographed by Danielle Agami, the founder of the acclaimed Ate9 Dance Company. Killing Jar is staged by Zoe Aja Moore, a theater director whose work has been seen at the Prototype Festival, the Williamstown Theater Festival, REDCAT, and National Sawdust. Jenny Wong, the Associate Artistic Director of Los Angeles Master Chorale and a co-conductor of The Industry's Sweet Land, conducts both pieces.

Information about Long Beach Opera's 22/23 season tickets can be found at longbeachopera.org