News Item

LA Opera Releases Live Performances of Rare Operas Featured in Acclaimed Recovered Voices Series

11 01, 2010

(Los Angeles, CA) November 1, 2010 - In recognition of National Opera Week (Oct. 29 - Nov. 7), Plácido Domingo, LA Opera's Eli and Edythe Broad General Director, announced today that LA Opera productions of rarely performed works-a 2008 double bill of Viktor Ullmann's The Broken Jug (Der zerbrochene Krug) and Alexander Zemlinsky's The Dwarf (Der Zwerg) as well as a 2009 presentation of Walter Braunfels' The Birds (Die Vögel)-are set for release this autumn on DVD and Blu-ray by Naxos. “These important video releases, recorded live in performance at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and conducted by James Conlon, feature productions from LA Opera's celebrated Recovered Voices series, which is devoted to presenting the works of composers who were affected by the rise of the Third Reich,” said Mr. Domingo. “The striking beauty and incredible diversity of these works has made their neglect during the last eight decades one of the great injustices in music history. LA Opera is the only major American opera company to regularly program the works of these nearly forgotten composers, so I am proud that audiences around the world will now be able to enjoy these wonderful productions.” The videos, released on the Arthaus Musik label, will be distributed by Naxos Music. The double bill of The Broken Jug and The Dwarf is available for purchase now, and The Birds will be released for sale on November 16, 2010.

James Conlon conducts all of LA Opera's Recovered Voices presentations, an initiative that began when he became Music Director of the Company in 2006. “The creativity of the first half of the 20th century is far richer than generally known,” said Mr. Conlon. “We have taken an important step toward reviving the music of those composers whose lives were impacted and whose music was banned by the Third Reich between 1933 and 1945. For complex reasons, much of it remained unplayed after the war and we are committed to bringing this music back into the repertory where it belongs.”

To read the full press release, please navigate to:  http://www.laopera.com/press/releases/102810/index.html