Peter Eötvös' "Angels in America" in New Production at Fort Worth Opera

Peter Eötvös' opera Angels in America, based on the Pulitzer-Prize winning play by Tony Kushner with a libretto by Mari Mezei, sees a run of performances this month at Fort Worth Opera conducted by Christopher Larkin and directed by David Gately. Originally a stage work of daunting proportions, the operatic manifestation of Angels in America has won its creators praise for the distillation and enhancement of the work's text and thematic material. Bernard Holland comments in the New York Times:

Mr. Eötvös' music augments traditional strings, winds and brass with saxophones, guitars, electronic keyboards, exotic percussion, ringing telephones and sirens. The vocal lines can ease into speech and usually operate against drifting clouds of sound. Mr. Eötvös' success with prosody outstrips that of most American opera composers in his ability to fit music to the flow of American English. He has written truly theatrical music that advances texts rather than calling attention to itself.

Angels in America was commissioned by Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and premiered there in November 2004. Performances at Fort Worth Opera take place on May 16, 18, 24, 28, 31 and June 4 and 7 at the Scott Theatre located in the Arts District of Fort Worth, Texas.

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For more information on the music and Peter Eötvös, visit www.schott-music.com

For precise ticketing information on the Fort Worth Opera production of Angels in America, go to www.fwopera.org.

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Peter Eötvös
Angels in America (2004)
opera in two acts
2S, Mz, Bar, LyrBar, CT, B-Bar; Three singers: S, A, B; Sound Engineer
1(pic, afl)01(bscl, cbcl)2sx(1. ssx, asx, bsx; 2. asx, tsx)0-0110-2perc-2 gtr(1. acc, bottle-neck, verstärkt; 2. egtr)-2kbd-str(6.0.4.3.2-all with chorus effect)

(05/01/2008)