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  • YUVAL SHARON’S PRODUCTION OF MEREDITH MONK’S ATLAS CAPS HIS THREE-YEAR RESIDENCY WITH THE LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC
  • Jun. 5, 2019
  • Tuesday, June 11, 2019, at 8PM

    Wednesday, June 12, 2019, at 8PM

    Friday, June 14, 2018, at 8PM 

    Sponsored by Meyer Sound

     

    Los Angeles – June 6, 2019 – In his final project as the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Artist-Collaborator, MacArthur Grant-winning opera director Yuval Sharon reimagines fellow MacArthur winner Meredith Monk’s landmark work ATLAS: an opera in three parts at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Tuesday, June 11, with additional performances June 12 and 14. Conducted by Paolo Bortolameolli and performed by the LA Phil New Music Group, the landmark three-act opera from one of modern music’s most influential composers uses as inspiration the life of explorer Alexandra David-Néel to explore the loss and rediscovery of our inherent wonder. Monk herself serves as artistic advisor for the work in its first major production since the 1991 premiere at Houston Grand Opera. Joining from the original production, as well as the 1993 recording, are music coach Katie Geissinger and music advisor Wayne Hankin. Additional production team members are designer Es Devlin, costume designer Emma Kingsbury, lighting designer John Torres, projection designer Luke Halls, sound designer Mark Grey, and choreographer Danielle Agami. The ensemble cast of 19 was selected by Sharon and Monk.

    In Sharon’s re-telling of ATLAS, the character of Alexandra takes a metaphorical journey through her imagination and is drawn into a quest through inner space, uncovering truths about herself and the world. The centerpiece of the production is a large sphere designed by Devlin that functions as a projection screen as well as a vessel for the performers to interact within.

    During his residency with the LA Phil, Sharon has curated multiple projects using his experience in developing new works and reinterpreting established works. His productions have included a fully staged multimedia presentation of Mahler’s Song of the Earth and the world premiere of Annie Gosfield’s War of the Worlds, which incorporated the use of refurbished World War II-era sirens in downtown Los Angeles to tell the story out on the streets as it unfolded inside on the Walt Disney Concert Hall stage. In the installation Thought Experiments in F# Minor, a Janet Cardiff and George Miller “video walk” that takes viewers on a journey throughout Walt Disney Concert Hall as they follow a film recorded in the past along the same route they are traversing in the present, Sharon rethinks the space of the Concert Hall itself.

    ATLAS is Sharon’s final project as the LA Phil’s Artist-Collaborator.

     

    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

    Tuesday, June 11, 2019, at 8PM
    Wednesday, June 12, 2019, at 8PM
    Friday, June 14, 2019, at 8PM
    Walt Disney Concert Hall
    111 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles

     

    Meredith MONK  ATLAS: an opera in three parts (West Coast premiere)

    LA Phil New Music Group
    Paolo Bortolameolli, conductor
    Yuval Sharon, director
    Es Devlin, designer
    Luke Halls, projection designer
    Danielle Agami, choreographer
    Emma Kingsbury, costume designer
    John Torres, lighting designer

    Meredith Monk, composer/artistic advisor
    Katie Geissinger, music coach
    Wayne Hankin, music advisor
    Diana Wyenn, associate director
    Jeannette LoVetri, vocal consultant
    Mark Grey, sound designer
    Amalie White, associate designer
    Allison Sniffin, score preparation
    Stefanie Cytron, costume supervisor
    Dan Gower, audio engineer
    Julie Chin, assistant stage manager
    Lindsay Lowy, assistant stage manager

    Milena Manocchia, Young Alexandra
    Joanna Lynn-Jacobs, Alexandra from 25-45
    Ann Carlson, Older Alexandra
    Kathryn Shuman, Mother/Master Ice Demon/Ensemble
    Jimmy Traum, Father/Ensemble
    Yi Li, Cheng Quing
    Miguel Zazueta, Guide (Male)
    Kelci Hahn, Guide (Female)
    Dylan Gentile, Franco Hartmann
    John Brancy, Erik Magnussen
    Kamala Sankaram, Gwen St. Clair
    Juecheng Chen, Lonely Spirit/Ensemble
    Sharon Kim, Hungry Ghost/Out of Body Soprano Solo/Ensemble
    Tariq Al-Sabir, Agricultural Community Male Leader/Ensemble
    Paul An, Out of Body Bass Solo/Airport Attendant/Ancient Man/Ensemble
    Eliza Bagg, Traveler/Ensemble
    Sarah Beaty, Out of Body Soprano Solo/Ice Demon/Ensemble
    Jessica Beebe, Traveler/Ice Demon/Ensemble
    Catherine Brookman, Agricultural Community Female Leader/Ensemble

     

    Described by The New York Times as “opera’s disrupter in residence,” director Yuval Sharon has been creating an unconventional body of work that seeks to expand the operatic form. He founded and serves as Artistic Director of The Industry in Los Angeles, an acclaimed company devoted to new and experimental opera that has brought opera into moving vehicles, operating train stations, and various “non-spaces,” such as warehouses, parking lots, and escalator corridors. Sharon conceived, directed, and produced the company’s acclaimed world premieres of Hopscotch, Invisible Cities, and Crescent City. Sharon was honored with a 2017 MacArthur Fellowship and a Foundation for Contemporary Art grant for theater.

     

    Meredith Monk is a composer, singer, director, choreographer, filmmaker, and creator of new opera, music-theater works, films, and installations. Considered one of the most influential and unique artists of our time, she is a pioneer of what is now called “extended vocal technique” and “interdisciplinary performance.” Over the last six decades, Monk has received numerous awards and honors, including the MacArthur “genius” award and being named an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Republic of France. Recently, Monk received three of the highest honors bestowed on a living artist in the United States – induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2019), the 2017 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, and a National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2015. In conjunction with her 50th season of performing and creating work, she was named Carnegie Hall’s 2014/15 Debs Composer’s Chair. Celebrated internationally, Monk’s work has been presented at major venues throughout the world.

    The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, under the vibrant leadership of Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel, presents an inspiring array of music from all genres – orchestral, chamber, and Baroque music, organ and celebrity recitals, new music, jazz, world music, and pop – at two of L.A.’s iconic venues, Walt Disney Concert Hall (laphil.com) and the Hollywood Bowl (hollywoodbowl.com). The LA Phil’s season at Walt Disney Concert Hall extends from September through June, and throughout the summer at the Hollywood Bowl. With the preeminent Los Angeles Philharmonic at the foundation of its offerings, the LA Phil aims to enrich and transform lives through music, with a robust mix of artistic, education, and community programs.

     

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  • Contact:

    Sophie Jefferies, sjefferies@laphil.org, 213 972 3422
    Lisa White, lwhite@laphil.org, 213 972 3408
    Photos: 213 972 3034