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OBERLIN CONSERVATORY PRESENTS MODERN PREMIERE OF ROYER'S FRENCH BAROQUE OPERA-BALLET LE POUVOIR DE L'AMOUR FEBRUARY 8 AND 9
JANUARY 14, 2001-- The Oberlin Conservatory of Music Historical Performance Department, in conjunction with the Conservatory Opera Theatre Department and the Oberlin College Department of Theatre and Dance, will present the modern premiere of Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer's opera-ballet Le Pouvoir de l'Amour on Friday, February 8 and Saturday, February 9 at 8:00 P.M. in Finney Chapel, located at the corner of Lorain and Professor streets in Oberlin. Both performances are free and open to the public.
Made possible by a generous grant from the Florence Gould foundation, the Oberlin production of Le Pouvoir de l'Amour is in collaboration with the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles.
The cast of the production includes Conservatory students, as well as professional singers, instrumentalists, and dancers, many of whom are Oberlin alumni. The production staff includes musical director Lisa Goode Crawford, Professor of Harpsichord; stage director Victoria Vaughan, Assistant Director of Oberlin Opera Theatre; and associate music director harpsichordist Michael Sponseller. The production also features several significant guest artists and specialists:
- Olivier Schneebeli, Director of the choir of the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, will serve as chorus director and instruct the opera chorus in French baroque styles of declamation. Schneebeli has extensive experience training young singers in French baroque style and has played a central role in the "rediscovery" of French works from the 17th and 18th centuries. Prior to joining the Centre in 1991, he and William Christie founded the choir of Les Arts Florissants for the modern debut of Lully's opera Atys.
- Catherine Turocy, Artistic Director of the New York Baroque Dance Company, will create the choreography, and members of the New York Baroque Dance Company will take part in the production. Turocy is known internationally for her contribution to the revival of 18th-century ballet. She has been commissioned to choreograph over twenty opera productions in France, Portugal and the United States. In January 1995, Ms. Turocy was named by the French Ministry of Culture to the rank of Chevalier in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for her outstanding contribution to the field of dance. In 2001, Turocy was awarded the New York Dance and Performance (BESSIE) Award in recognition of outstanding creative achievement during the 2000-01 season.
- Rhetorician Patricia Ranum will also instruct the cast in declamation of the text. Ranum is known for her editions of historical sources and her translations of several leading French historians, including Fernand Braudel and Philippe Ariès. She currently is rhetorician for French performances by Opera Lafayette of Washington, D.C.
The Oberlin production of Le Pouvoir de L'Amour was an outgrowth of research on Royer undertaken by Crawford. While recently enjoying more performances in Europe, staged performances of French baroque opera in the United States are rare, and Royer's operatic works are virtually unknown today.
Gérard Geay, chercheur at the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, reconstructed missing instrumental parts and assisted Crawford in preparing a performing edition of the opera, based on examination of the original scores. Geay studied at the Paris Conservatory, in the classes of Jean-Pierre Guézac, Olivier Messiaen, André Jolivet, and Henri Dutilleux. He teaches at the Conservatoire national Supérieur de Musique in Lyon, where he founded the Early Music Department, and joined the CMBV in 2000. Geay will also attend the Oberlin rehearsals of the opera to evaluate the reconstructed parts and make any needed adjustments.
For more information on the production, visit their website.
Media Contact: David Daniels
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