Lou Harrison's 1954 opera, "Rapunzel," is scheduled for a fully-staged
(how high the tower?) performance at this summer's Cabrillo Music Festival,
in Santa Cruz, the dark state of California.  The six-act (yes) work will
return to the festival, always a bastion of "new music," which staged the
West Coast premiere in 1966.

Festival director Marin Alsop conducts; the cast features Jennifer Foster
in the title role, Wendy Hillhouse (where has she been? she used to be an
SF regular, but not for years) as the Witch, Sanford Sylvan as the Prince
(which, of course, he is).

One of his largest serial works, "Rapunzel" was part of Harrison's
self-therapy work (as he told his biographer) at Black Mountain College,
following his breakdown in the early 'Fifties.  He used William Morris'
libretto because of its poetry, psychological complexity, and the way in
which it mirrored some of the problems he was struggling with in that
period.

The Cabrillo Festival, July 30 - Aug.  12, will also present two
performances of Philip Glass' "The Photographer," with Alsop conducting
and playing the violin solos.  Maria Basile is choreographer.

For the festival's concerts, Alsop has scheduled performances of works
by Jennifer Higdon, John Adams, Chrisopher Rouse, James MacMillan, and
Einojuahani Rautavaara.  For information, see http://www.cabrillomusic.org.

Janos Gereben/SF, CA
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