Long Beach Opera's THE RECITAL Runs At The Art Theatre 4th Steet Long Beach, June 24-25

For its second annual LB Opera & Film Festival, Long Beach Opera presents THE RECITAL; a day's worth of expansive programming that explores the intersection of film and opera with new live stagings and a robust and unexpected slate of filmic content that breaks through the boundaries between these two mediums of art.
 
Anchoring the expanded festival is a new production that stages Franz Schubert's 1823 song cycle Die Schöne Müllerin and pairs it with a film directly inspired by the songs: the 2022 animated short Christopher at Sea. Premiering at the prestigious Venice International Film Festival and winning awards at SXSW and Sundance Film Festival, this film, combined with a live staging of the Schubert cycle, uniquely links these two works of art from two different mediums crafted 200 years apart. THE RECITAL is co-curated by Tom C. J. Brown and Raviv Ullman who also co-direct the staging of the Schubert song cycle. In order to make Christopher at Sea, Brown lived in his film's setting on a large cargo vessel at sea and used historic recordings of Schubert's song cycle as constant inspiration for the queer-focused intimate story, the score, and the mood of his animated work.
 
A complete festival schedule will be released the week of the event, including a detailed listing of the order of events and their time of showing/performance.
 
Live performances will include a lineup of debuts with Long Beach Opera as well as familiar faces from LBO's past performances. Headlining Die Schöne Mullerin is mezzo-soprano and award-winning vocalist, Hope Nelson, with celebrated collaborative pianist, Sky Haneul Lee. Guided by the musical direction of Rakefet Hak, an opera veteran having worked with the Metropolitan Opera and coached opera's biggest stars, this favorite work of Schubert's will be brought to life in a completely reinvented way. Also joining the LB Opera & Film Festival lineup will be an additional live-scoring performance by Sharon Chohi Kim (Giustino, 2022) whose work explores immersive experimental opera, performance art, improvisation, and space activation through movement and voice. This live-scoring performance will take place on Sunday, June 25th.
 
In addition to the featured programming of Die Schöne Müllerin / Christopher at Sea, (Tom C. J. Brown, 2022, England), the festival lineup will showcase a curated array of critically acclaimed animated films, live-action shorts, feature-length works, and more. The vast lineup of material is from a staggering cohort of award-winning directors and filmmakers and includes:

• Interesting Ball (DANIELS), 2014, United States
• Cousin John (Tom C. J. Brown), 2019, England
• Last Snow (Celia Rowlson-Hall), 2022, United States
• Warsha (Dania Bdeir), 2022, Lebanon
• La Pequeña Muerte (Pedro Lavin), 2023, Mexico
• Snowy Bing Bongs (Alex H. Fischer & Rachel Wolther), 2017, United States
• Rigoletto (Barry Purves), 1995, England
• Squid (Raman Djafari), 2021, Germany
• Marilyn Myller (Mikey Please), 2013, England
• Hi Stranger (Kirsten Lepore), 2016, United States
• The Event (Julia Pott), 2012, England
• Mound (Allison Schulnik), 2011, United States
• Hotel Kalura (Sophie Koko Gate), 2021, England
• Fall of the Ibis King (Mikai Geronimo & Josh O'Caoimh), 2021, Ireland
• Middle Dog Gets Angry (George Gendi), 2011, England
• Mahler (Ken Russell), 1974, England

 
The June 25th date will also present a live Q+A session with performers and filmmakers, moderated by LBO's Artistic Director, James Darrah, focusing on exploring the connections between operatic themes and cinematic language. The LB Opera & Film Festival presents an opportunity to ask questions about how opera and film inform each other and what it means to touch on work hundreds of years old and make it anew with modern performance and technology.
 
Taking place on “Retro Row” (4th Street) in Long Beach at the historic Art Theatre, THE RECITAL is a chance to explore the lineup of local businesses and make a day of adventurous art and a variety of great cuisines from which to choose. Patrons are encouraged to come and go from the venue as they like and find themselves at the center of one of Long Beach's most vibrant neighborhoods. Ticket holders will have an all-day pass that will let them in and out of the venue to make the most of their experience. This immersive and expansive event marks LBOs commitment to exploring the intersection of cinema and opera. Patrons, creators, artists, and lovers of live performance and film will be surrounded by imaginative artmaking at its finest.

The Art Theatre of Long Beach
2025 E 4th St, Long Beach, CA 90814
Tickets and information can be found at longbeachopera.org.
 
DIE SCHÖNE MULLERIN / FESTIVAL CREATIVE TEAM
Co-curator & Co-director: Tom C. J. Brown
Co-curator & Co-director: Raviv Ullman
Music Director: Rakefet Hak
Mezzo-Soprano: Hope Nelson
Pianist: Sky Haneul Lee
Costume Designer: Molly Irelan
Lighting Designer: Pablo Santiago
Production/Properties Designer: Jen Dunlap
Video/Projection Designer: Jack Wedge
Video/Projection Designer: Will Freudenheim
 
ADDITIONAL LIVE PERFORMANCE TEAM
Live scorer & Performer: Sharon Chohi Kim
 
FILM DIRECTORS
DANIELS
Tom Brown
Celia Rowlson-Hall
Dania Bdeir
Pedro Lavin
Alex H. Fischer
Rachel Wolther
Barry Purves
Raman Djafari
Mikey Please
Kirsten Lepore
Julia Pott
Allison Schulnik
Sophie Koko Gate
Mikai Geronimo
Josh O'Caoimh
George Gendi
Ken Russell