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Kurt Weill's and Bertolt Brecht's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny in Tanglewood Production

Aug. 01, 2008

The Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra and Vocal Fellows - joined by the men of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus - present Kurt Weill's and Bertolt Brecht's satirical opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny in three performances on August 9, 10 and 11 in the Tanglewood Theatre. Returning to Tanglewood following his production of Elliott Carter's What Next? in 2006, Douglas Fitch serves as the production director and set designer. Erik Nielsen, a returning TMC Conducting Fellow, conducts the performances.

Returning TMC Vocal Fellows performing major roles in the opera include mezzo-sopranos Rebecca Jo Loeb and Christin-Marie Hill singing the roles of Jenny Hill and Leokadja Begbick, respectively, and tenor Steven Ebel as Jimmy Mahoney. Weill's three-act opera will be sung in English, using the English translation by David Drew and Michael Geliot.

This production follows acclaimed runs of Mahagonny this year by Los Angeles Opera, Opera Boston and Spoleto USA. LA Opera's December 2007 run of Mahagonny, conducted by James Conlon, is now available on DVD from Naxos of America. The production features four-time Tony-award winner Audra McDonald as well as Patti Lupone and Anthony Dean Griffey. John Doyle, winner of the 2006 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for Sweeney Todd, directs the production.

For more on the life and work of Kurt Weill, go to www.kwf.org, www.schott-music.com and www.universaledition.com.

For precise details on the Tanglewood run of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, please visit www.bso.org.

Kurt Weill
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (1927/29)
opera in three acts
text by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill
S, Mz, 3T, 2Bar, B, SATB chorus;
2(2pic)1.1.ssax.asax.tsax.2(cbn)-2321-perc.timp-pno.harm ad lib.banjo. bass gtr.bandoneon-str
Stage orchestra: 2(2pic)2.3sax(ssax, asax, tsax)2- 2221-perc-pno.zither or xyl.banjo.bandoneon-3 vn
full evening

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