Today : world première of Louis Andriessen's 'Theatre of the World' in Los Angeles

Today, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra presents the world première performance of Louis Andriessen's new opera, Theatre of the World (A Grotesque in 9 scenes) at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA.

Louis Andriessen has already composed several operas, including ROSA The Death of a Composer (Amsterdam, 1994), Writing to Vermeer (Amsterdam, 1999) and La Commedia (Amsterdam, 2008).

A boy – Kircher himself, wannabe student, the devil? – takes Kircher and Pope Innocent XI (a patron) on a life-to-death journey across some of Kircher’s wide interests, and the dialogue is polyglot, sometimes within a single passage. The great Mexican mystic/scholar/poet/nun Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695) was highly influenced by Kircher, and she appears as a sort of platonic intercontinental lover, singing passages from her long poem Primer sueño (First Dream). (reproduced from the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra website)

The cast includes baritone Leigh Melrose (Athanasius Kircher a.k.a Padre Atanasio, 76 years old), soprano Lindsay Kesselman (A boy about twelve years), tenor Marcel Beekman (Papa Innocenzo XI), soprano Cristina Zavalloni (Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz) and actor Steven van Watermeulen (Janssonius, Kircher's publisher in Amsterdam). Reinbert de Leeuw conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Pierre Audi directs, with the Quay Brothers designing sets and videos.

The performance should last about 2 hours. The required orchestra is the following :

- 2 flutes (both = piccolo, 2nd = alto flute), 2 oboes (2nd = English horn), 2 clarinets (1st = alto saxophone, 2nd = tenor saxophone), 2 bass clarinets (1st = clarinet, 2nd = contrabass clarinet), 2 bassoons (2nd = contrabassoon) ;
- 2 horns, 2 trumpets (both = flugelhorn), 2 trombones
- timpani, percussion (African marimba, bass drum, bells, bongos, castanets, chains, cowbells, 5 cymbals, drum kit, glockenspiel, gongs, guiro, iron, lion’s roar, log drum, maracas, 2 metals, 2 snare drums, tambourine, tom-toms, triangle, tubular bells, unpitched bell or rattle or rasp, vibraphone, whip, woodblocks, xylophone)
- piano (= celesta), harp, synthesizer, electric guitar, bass guitar
- strings (reproduced from the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra website)

After 2 performances in Los Angeles, the work will subsequently be performed by the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam in June 2016.

New Season 2014-2015 in San Francisco

During the 2014-2015 season, ten operas will be performed at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, including one world première and one 20th century work. 8 operas will be performed in Italien, 1 in French and 1 in English.

The world première is :

Marco Tutino : Two Women (La Ciociara), with a libretto by Marco Tutino and Fabio Ceresa after Alberto's Moravia's novel. Anna Caterina Antonacci will perform the leading part, with Nicola Luisotti conducting and Francesca Zambello directing.

The season also includes :

- Vincenzo Bellini : Norma, conducted by Nicola Luisotti, directed by Kevin Newbury (new production, to be later performed in Barcelona) ;
- Carlisle Floyd : Susannah, conducted by Karen Kamensek, directed by Michael Cavanagh (new production) ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : Un ballo in maschera, conducted by Nicola Luisotti, directed by Jose Maria Condemi (new production) ;
- Georg Friedrich Haendel : Partenope, conducted by Christian Curnyn, directed by Christopher Alden (first performed at English National Opera in London in October 2008) ;
- Giacomo Puccini : Tosca, conducted by Riccardo Frizza, directed by Jose Maria Condemi (revival, first performed in November 2012) ;
- Gioachino Rossini : La Cenerentola, conducted by Jesus Lopez-Cobos, directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle (this production is at least 20 years old) ;
- Giacomo Puccini : La Bohème, conducted by Giuseppe Finzi, directed by John Caird (first performed in Houston in October 2012) ;
- Hector Berlioz : Les Troyens, conducted by Donald Runnicles, directed by David McVicar (first performed at Covent Garden in London in June 2012) ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Le Nozze di Figaro, conducted by Patrick Summers, directed by Robin Guarino (new production).

The San Francisco regularly performs contemporary operas. During the last years, they have produced :

- André Previn : A Streetcar Named Desire, in Octobre 1998 ;
- Douglas Moore : The Ballad of Baby Doe, in September 2000 ;
- Jake Heggie : Dead Man Walking, in October 2000 ;
- Olivier Messiaen : Saint François d'Assise, in October 2002 ;
- György Ligeti : Le Grand Macabre, in October 2004 ;
- John Adams : Doctor Atomic, in October 2005 ;
- Philip Glass : Appomattox, in October 2007 ;
- Stewart Wallace : The Bonesetter's Daughter, in September 2008 ;
- Christopher Theofanidis : Heart of a Soldier, in September 2011 ;
- John Adams : Nixon in China, in June 2012 ;
- Jake Heggie : Moby-Dick, in October 2012 ;
- Mark Adamo : The Gospel of Mary Magdalene in June 2013 ;
- Tobias Picker : Dolores Claiborne, in September 2013.