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Boston Midsummer Opera Presents Peter Brook's The Tragedy of Carmen

BOSTON, MA: Audiences will experience a Carmen like they have never seen before- intense, intimate and bitingly tragic- when Boston Midsummer Opera (BMO) presents their summer 2008 production, Peter Brook’s The Tragedy of Carmen. Playing at the Tsai Performance Center at Boston University for three performances only, July 30, August 1 and 3, this gripping adaptation of Bizet’s celebrated opera features today’s rising stars. Performed with a full orchestra, the fully staged and costumed production is conducted by the nationally acclaimed Susan Davenny-Wyner.

All of Bizet’s most famous music is retained in this exciting new version of the famous late-19th century opera, performed with four singers, three actors, and an orchestra of fifteen players. With a superb English translation by Sheldon Harnick (Fiddler on the Roof, She Loves Me), The Tragedy of Carmen is BMO’s first full opera. Under the direction of BMO Artistic Director Drew Minter, the production is a shorter, highly dramatic interpretation developed by internationally acclaimed Opera Director Sir Peter Brook. The show maintains the music of the original but replaces the chorus with a number of plot elements that infuse the show with greater passion, emotion, and drama. Instead of the grand entertainment of the original, Brook’s Carmen is an intimate form of sung theater that brings the core elements of the characters to life for opera newcomers, while offering a bold new interpretation to listeners familiar with the work. This version of Carmen is condensed to 80 minutes, sung in English without intermission.

The cast of The Tragedy of Carmen includes a foursome of young, vital opera singers: soprano Leslie Ann Bradley, mezzo-soprano Stephanie Chigas, tenor Darren Anderson, and baritone Lee Gregory.

Having debuted in the summer of 2006, Boston Midsummer Opera has set its sights on presenting entertaining, accessible visions of opera performed at a high level and at a reasonable price. BMO's talented young singers act their parts in savvy English translations, presenting selections from operas both well known and unfamiliar to the delight of audience members young and old.

Soprano Leslie Anne Bradley (Micaela) holds a Diploma from the University of Toronto’s Opera Division and is an alumna of the Orford Festival. Now resident in Montreal, she attended the Académie International de musique Maurice Ravel in France, studying with the renowned Françoise Pollet and was winner of the Academy’s voice competition. She has recently performed with Victoria Symphony in British Columbia and was a winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, New England Region. Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Chigas (Carmen) has sung with the Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Boston Lyric Opera and the Olney Theatre Center. She was a 2003 Grand National Semi-Finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the Second Place Winner in the New England Region Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2005. In the summer of 2007, she sang with the BMO in their second season production, The Tales of Offenbach. Darren T. Anderson (Don José) sings lead tenor roles throughout the United States and Canada. He has made debuts with Syracuse Opera, Connecticut Concert Opera, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Glimmerglass Opera, and Boston Lyric Opera. He has also performed with Granite State Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, the Opera Institute at BU, and the Olney Theater in Maryland. In addition, he joined the roster of New York City Opera to cover roles in Il viaggio a Reims and The Little Prince. The 2006 Joy in Singing competition winner, baritone Lee Gregory (Escamillo) made his New York City Opera debut in Carmen and counts Trinity Repertory’s The Pirates of Penzance among his credits. With BMO, he sang multiple roles in The Marriages of Mozart in 2006 and The Tales of Offenbach in 2007. Recent highlights include his New York City Opera debut and appearances with Toledo Opera, Nashville Opera, Bard's SummerScape Festival, Dayton Opera, and the Opera Company of Brooklyn.

Artistic director Drew Minter has been an internationally known countertenor for over two decades, during which he has sung leading roles in opera houses worldwide. In 1995 he was asked to direct opera for the first time, Handel’s Radamisto at the Goettingen Festival, and since then he has directed productions for the Boston Early Music Festival, Opera Aperta, the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston University’s Opera Institute, Amherst Early Music Institute, among others. Conductor Susan Davenny-Wyner has been Music Director and Conductor of The Warren Philharmonic Orchestra near Cleveland, Ohio since 1999 and from 1999-2005 she was Music Director and Conductor of The New England String Ensemble in Boston, a professional string orchestra that she brought to national prominence.

Founded in 2006, Boston Midsummer Opera was conceived after founders Ernie Klein and Pauline Ho Bynum were present at the Met Opera House in spring of 1999 when all three New England Winners of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions were chosen as National Grand Winners. Ernie, whose grandfather was the Director and Finance Chairman for Prague Opera, and Pauline, the New England Regional Chairman for the Metropolitan National Council Auditions since 1984, who is always seeking opportunities for New England winners to sing in the Boston area, joined with Drew Minter the following summer. A life-long opera devotee, BMO Executive Director and Chairman Ernie Klein was the co-founder of the Opera Galas in conjunction with Pauline Ho Bynum and Monadnock Music. He serves on the New England Regional committee of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and was a partner of Wilmer Hale. An avid opera fan since her years in New York, BMO Founding Director Pauline Ho Bynum has served as an Overseer for Boston Lyric Opera and New England Conservatory of Music.

Performances of The Tragedy of Carmen are Wednesday, July 30 and Friday, August 1 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, August 3 at 3 p.m. at the Tsai Performance Center at Boston University, 685 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. Tickets, priced at $50.00 to $20.00 (plus a $5.00 handling fee per ticket order) for all performances, are available by calling 617-227-0442, online at www.bostonmidsummeropera.org, or by mailing a request to Boston Midsummer Opera, Box 513, 66 Charles Street, Boston, MA 02114.

For more information, visit www.bostonmidsummeropera.org.