“Fidelio”, the inaugural opera of the Palau de les Arts, travels to Los Angeles Opera

12.01.2007

“Fidelio”, the inaugural opera of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, will open the next season, 2007-2008, of the prestigious Los Angeles Opera on September 8, which has acquired the rights to this new production.
The performance of “Fidelio” at the Los Angeles theater corroborates the excellent national and international reviews received by the inaugural production at the Palau de les Arts, whose set design is the work of Pierluigi Pier'Alli.

Los Angeles Opera is one of the most important opera companies in the US, with Plácido Domingo as its general director, who recently extended his contract until the 2010-2011 season. Its headquarters are located in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion auditorium, which is part of the Los Angeles Music Center complex, one of the three largest performing arts centers in the United States.

The current 2006-2007 season at Los Angeles Opera features top-tier productions with internationally renowned artists, including Manon, conducted by Plácido Domingo and featuring singers Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón; La Traviata, with René Fleming and Rolando Villazón; Don Carlo; Tannhäuser with Peter Seiffert; and even Luisa Fernanda, with Plácido Domingo, Emilio Sagi, and Elena de la Merced from Valencia.

The Los Angeles Opera's production of Fidelio will be conducted by James Conlon, the company's music director. Beethoven's Fidelio opened the first season at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía on October 25th. The musical direction was by Maestro Zubin Mehta, with a stellar cast led by Waltraud Meier, tenor Peter Seiffert, and bass Matti Salminen.

The stage direction was entrusted to a name of renowned international prestige in contemporary theater: the Italian Pierluigi Pier'Alli, director of such successful productions as the opera Mefistofele (at La Scala in Milan, with musical direction by Riccardo Muti) and Wagner's Ring Cycle at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna. Pier'Alli is currently preparing a new production of the Ring Cycle at the Rome Opera House, which will open its next season (2006-2007) with the premiere of a production of Tristan und Isolde also directed by Pier'Alli.

Fidelio on DVD

The Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía will market the inaugural opera Fidelio on High Definition (HD) DVD format starting next March.

This new operatic production from the Palau de les Arts will be presented and screened in HD format at the Midem Festival in Cannes, the world's largest trade fair for the audiovisual industry, on January 20th before industry opinion leaders.