Photo Flash: First Look at AINADAMAR at Long Beach Opera

The Terrace Theater at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center is set to present AINADAMAR, the operatic biography of Federico Garcia Lorca, late this month for a limited engagement. The show is scheduled to perform for two nights only on May 20 and May 26. See photos of Suzan Hanson, Peabody Southwell and Ani Maldjian on stage below!

Composed by Osvaldo Golijov and written by David Henry Hwang, this double Grammy Award-winning show is an immersion into Spanish history. This passionate opera recreates the life of Federico Garcia Lorca, Spain's most celebrated modern poet, and the shocking 1936 execution of the internationally famous Lorca at Ainadamar, Arabic for “fountain of tears.” The genre-defying work also tells the emotional story of the poet's relationship with his close friend and muse, the actress Margarita Xirgu. She is a central figure in this uplifting celebration of Lorca as a symbol of artistic and political freedom.

A fusion of flamenco, Arabic and Western music with electronic sound design, Alex Ross in the New Yorker called Ainadamar “sensationally beautiful throughout.” International flamenco singer Jesus Montoya, featured performer on the Grammy Award-winning CD recording of the opera, reprises his role as Ruiz Alonso, the Falangist guard who arrests Lorca.

Joining Montoya in the cast, Suzan Hanson sings the role of Lorca’s companion Margarita Xirgu, Peabody Southwell is the poet Lorca and Ani Maldjian takes on the part of Nuria, Xirgu's pupil. The LBO chorus and orchestra will be led by Metropolitan Opera Assistant Conductor Steven R Osgood with movement and aerial feats by the Nannette Brodie Dance Theatre and interactive projections by German video designer Frieder Weiss in a production directed and designed by Andreas Mitisek.

To watch a video interview by conductor Steven Osgood with Jesus Montoya, a Flamenco singer appearing in the production and CD recording, click here.

Tickets for AINADAMAR range from $29-$150, and are available at www.longbeachopera.org/tickets or the LBO Box Office at 562-432-5934. Group discounts available by calling the Box Office.