From the Met -
New York, NY (February 13, 2006) - In the first significant
creative collaboration of its kind between Lincoln Center sister
organizations, The Metropolitan Opera and Lincoln Center Theater
have joined forces on a groundbreaking opera commissioning program
to foster the creation of new works to be produced at their
respective theaters. The announcement of the Met/LCT Opera/Theater
Commissions was made today by Peter Gelb, The Met's General
Manager Elect, and Andre Bishop and Bernard Gersten, Artistic
Director and Executive Producer, respectively, of Lincoln Center
Theater (LCT). The program will provide renowned composers and
playwrights/librettists with the financial and creative resources
to create and develop new works for productions to be staged at
The Met or Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater.
The initial group of artists selected to take part in the Met/LCT
Opera/Theater Commissions initiative includes Adam Guettel, Jake
Heggie, Michael John LaChiusa, Wynton Marsalis, Rachel Portman
and Nicholas Wright, Jeanine Tesori and Tony Kushner, Michael
Torke and Craig Lucas, Rufus Wainwright, and Scott Wheeler.
"The Opera/Theater Commissions program will provide the flexibility
and support that contemporary opera urgently needs for the proper
dramatic development of new works, too often missing from the
standard commissioning process. It will widen the creative field
to include gifted artists currently composing for serious musical
theater and other musical forms," said Peter Gelb. "As Lincoln
Center Theater continues its support of serious musical theater
at a time when Broadway has turned increasingly to pop music,
it is logical that The Met and LCT should join forces, since we
believe that the thin border between opera and serious musical
theater can easily be crossed. Pooling our creative resources,
we will jointly foster new work as these artists create both
grand and smaller-scale operas for the respective sizes of our
theaters."
Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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