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World Premiere of Kamran Ince’s Judgment of Midas in Concert Version

Mar. 29, 2013

World Premiere of Kamran Ince’s <em>Judgment of Midas</em> in Concert Version

Kamran Ince sees the highly anticipated world premiere of his first opera Judgment of Midas, produced by Milwaukee new music powerhouse Present Music in collaboration with Milwaukee Opera Theatre and University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin's Year of the Arts on April 12 and 13. Kamran Ince conducts and Jill Anna Ponasik directs this world premiere concert version of Ince’s vivid reimagining of the epic musical battle between the gods Pan and Apollo from Ovid’s musical drama Metamorphoses. With a libretto by Miriam Seidel, the opera's musical language marries popular, ethnic, and folk musical styles with music of grand proportions effecting a vivid blaze of musical contrast. Judgment of Midas was developed in American Opera Projects’ "First Chance" program with funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Ince's first opera was commissioned in part by the late Dr. Crawford H. Greenewalt, Jr. to mark the 50th anniversary of the Sardis excavations in Turkey which revealed for the first time a series of mosaics featuring the mythical contest depicted in the opera.

Present Music released the following statement:

In addition to being our first opera, Judgment of Midas is the biggest project in Present Music history. A fascinating story inspired by the Sardis excavations' discovery of ancient ruins gives this opera several dimensions: from a music contest between the gods to a love story between two people struggling to understand their differences. Ince's opera inspires us to hear and listen in new ways.

Present Music presents the world premiere of Judgment of Midas on April 12 and 13, 2013 at the Helene Zelazo Center for the Arts in Milwaukee. A pre-performance talk with the composer will take place each evening.

Visit www.operaprojects.org and www.presentmusic.org to learn more about the premiere of Judgment of Midas.

View Kamran Ince’s Naxos discography at www.naxos.com.

Details on Kamran Ince’s Music Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters can be found at www.artsandletters.org.

Kamran Ince
Judgment of Midas (2012)
opera in two acts
libretto (Eng.) by Miriam Seidel
for coloratura soprano, tenor, alto, two baritones, two basses and SSAATTBB chorus
pic.1.0.1.bcl.asax.tsax.1-0.2.2(2.btbn).0-2perc-hp.pno-str
120’

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