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SPOTLIGHT: James Conlon

Feb. 01, 2006

James ConlonThe critically acclaimed world premiere of Tobias Picker's An American Tragedy took place at the Metopolitan Opera in December under the direction of James Conlon. One of classical music's pre-eminent conductors, James Conlon has been associated with the Metropolitan Opera for almost thirty years. He made his debut at the Met in 1976 and since then has conducted more than 250 performances with that company, leading a wide range of works from the Italian, German, French, Russian and Czech repertoire. Having held the longest tenure of any conductor since 1939 at the Paris Opera, Mr. Conlon concluded his nine year directorship there in July 2004. He was named Music Director at the Ravinia Festival in 2005 and becomes Music Director of the Los Angeles Opera in the 2006-07 season while continuing to serve as Music Director of the Cincinnati May Festival, the oldest choral festival in the U.S., since 1979. This season he collaborates with Kenneth Branagh on a film adaptation of Mozart's The Magic Flute with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, leads performances of Aida at the Met and guest conducts many of the most prominent orchestras both here and abroad. 

In February 2007, James Conlon leads Kurt Weill's The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at Los Angeles Opera in a production likely to be the event of the musical season at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Featuring Patti LuPone (who created a sensation on Broadway this season with Sweeney Todd), Audra McDonald, and Anthony Dean Griffey, Weill’s sardonic tale of determination, desperation and debauchery will be directed by John Doyle.

In an effort to raise public consciousness to the significance of works of composers whose lives were affected by the Holocaust, James Conlon continues to program their music with leading American and European orchestras and opera companies. This includes works by many Schott and Universal Edition composers including Alexander von Zemlinsky, Viktor Ullmann, Franz Schreker, Pavel Haas, Bohuslav Martinu, Erich Korngold, Karl-Amadeus Hartmann and Erwin Schulhoff. Please visit our websites, www.schott-music.com and www.universaledition.com for more information on the works and lives of these important composers.

Praised in the press as a new opera that "hits the mark," Tobias Picker's' An American Tragedy, with a libretto by Gene Scheer, featured Patricia Racette, Nathan Gunn, Susan Graham and Dolora Zajick. The production was directed by Francesca Zambello with set design by Adrianne Lobel, costumes by Dunya Ramicova and lighting design by James Ingalls. For further details and information about An American Tragedy please visit: www.schott-music.com. And just posted on the American Music Center's web magazine NewMusicBox is a current interview with Tobias Picker. Read it at www.newmusicbox.org.

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