Roberto Abbado and Paul Curran close the opera season at Les Arts with Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

Roberto Abbado, on the podium, and Paul Curran, as stage director, close the opera season at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía with Benjamin Britten's opera "A Midsummer Night's Dream", which premieres on Friday, June 10.

The Milanese maestro and the Scottish director appeared today at a press conference, together with the Intendant of Les Arts, Davide Livermore, to present the fourth new production of the arts center in the 2015-2016 Season.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, an opera in three acts with music by Benjamin Britten and a libretto by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, based on the play of the same name by William Shakespeare, inaugurates a month of June dedicated to the English playwright on the fourth centenary of his death, as explained by Davide Livermore.

This is also the first work by the English composer, "one of the geniuses of the 20th century," to be performed by the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana. "A score with a choral cast and great theatrical force, which requires a solid artistic foundation to be performed," the Intendant clarified.

In this regard, he explained that Les Arts brings together a cast of established figures from the English repertoire alongside emerging voices, the artists of the Centre Plácido Domingo and the children of the Escolania de la Mare de Déu dels Desemparats.

Soprano Nadine Sierra, whom the Valencian public will remember for Don Pasquale under the direction of Maestro Abbado himself in 2015, and countertenor Christopher Lowrey, one of the new talents in his range, lead the cast as Tytania and Oberon, the fairy kings.

Completing the cast are Brandon Cedel (Theseus), Iuliia Safonova (Hippolyta), Mark Milhofer (Lysander), Dan Kempson (Demetrius), Nozomi Kato (Hermia), Leah Partridge (Helena), Conal Coad (Bottom), Richard Burkhard (Quince), Keith Jameson (Flute), Tyler Simpson (Snug), William Ferguson (Snout), Michael Borth (Starveling) and Chris Agius Darmanin (Puck).

Roberto Abbado, principal conductor of the OCV, emphasized Britten's innovative approach to this work, which introduces new elements such as the prominence of the countertenor, the role of children's choirs in bringing out a "non-human" and "magical" quality, and a mysterious orchestral sound. "It's a score with a wealth of nuances and colors, which is a pleasure for a conductor to explore," he added.

Paul Curran, stage director, set designer and choreographer of “A Midsummer Night's Dream” makes his debut at Les Arts with this production, which features costumes by Gabriella Ingram and lighting by David Jacques.

As Livermore pointed out, the Scottish director, a multifaceted artist renowned in the world's leading theaters, was also a mentor to the artistic director of Les Arts. For Curran, the opera's main challenge as stage director lies in its cast of 19 solo roles, "where everyone is a star."

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream also offers us incredible richness to work with,” Curran analyzed, “since it is the only opera based on Shakespeare that uses the playwright’s actual text without changing much at all.”

Curran, as he has revealed, sets the action of “A Midsummer Night's Dream” in the ruins of an ancient temple where the three dimensions of Shakespeare's fantasy converge. The director also highlighted the three thematic pillars on which the play is based: politics, religion, and sex. “You'll love it,” the Scotsman declared.

In addition to the 10th, there will be further performances on June 12, 14, 16 and 18, with American soprano Jennifer O'Loughlin singing the role of the fairy queen on the 16th.

Activities related to William Shakespeare.

This very month of June, Davide Livermore reminded us, the Aula Magistral is hosting a dramatized reading of the Shakespearean classic, with performances for the educational program audience on the 8th and 9th, and a performance for the general public on Saturday, June 11th at 6:00 p.m. Les Arts presents a new in-house theatrical production, with a text adapted by Anselmo Alonso, and actors from La Farsería.

In parallel, students will be able to analyze in the literary workshop 'From book to libretto', the adaptation of the theatrical text, written by the English playwright at the end of the 16th century, to the operatic language of the 20th century in the work of Benjamin Britten.

New website

The Director of Les Arts has announced today the launch, this week, of a new design for the website www.lesarts.com , which has been carried out internally by the theater's systems department.