Peabody to Present “Love and Let Love” at Theatre Project, Feb. 14-17
Valentine’s Weekend Double-Bill Pairs Cabaret With Opera
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Margaret Bell
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Richard Selden
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I can’t believe
That love has lost its glamor
That passion is really passé
If gender is just a term in grammar
How can I ever find my way?
Since I’m a stranger here myself
—“I’m a Stranger Here Myself,” from One Touch of Venus, music by Kurt Weill and lyrics by Ogden Nash
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 6, 2013, Baltimore, MD: Starting, appropriately enough, on Valentine’s Day, the Peabody Chamber Opera will return to Baltimore’s Theatre Project to present four performances—Thursday to Sunday, Feb. 14-17—of “Love and Let Love,” a double-bill that pairs Conversations of the Heart, a cabaret of classic and popular songs, with Svadba, Ana Sokolovic’s one-act opera about the traditional weeklong preparations for a Serbian wedding.
The show as a whole is about “the experiences of love, which include the good, the bad, and the ugly,” says Jennifer Blades, a Peabody Conservatory faculty member who is the stage director for “Love and Let Love.” The musical director is JoAnn Kulesza, interim chair of the Conservatory’s Opera Department. The six singers, all female voice majors, magically change from cabaret-style solo performers—with a microphone and piano accompaniment—into an a capella ensemble (singing in Serbian, no less) after intermission.
Pianist John Wilson, a Graduate Performance Diploma candidate, is at the keyboard for Conversations of the Heart, which features showtunes by Cole Porter and Kurt Weill as well as pop songs by Lennon and McCartney, Aerosmith, and others.
Svadba — Wedding by Ana Sokolovic was commissioned by Queen of Puddings Music Theatre and premiered in Toronto in June 2011. The performances at Theatre Project are the opera’s first in the U.S. In this unique work, Sokolovic sets texts connected with the extended bridal shower that precedes a Serbian wedding to rhythmic contemporary music with the flavor of Slavic folk songs.
The six singers, playing the bride and her bridesmaids, collectively express the emotions associated with the dramatic change that the wedding represents:
Milica – Friend –
You’re leaving home forever!
Milica – Darling sister –
You’re leaving us forever!
Tomorrow you will wed,
Leaving your home behind
Your mother will weep,
We will console her
Singing in spite of our tears,
Your friends, forever!
At 6:45 pm on opening night, Thursday, Feb. 14, Sokolovic will give a pre-performance talk, discussing how Svadba came to be, the music, her use of language, and the texts themselves. There will also be a Q&A session after the Thursday performance with the composer, stage and music directors, and performers: Rebecca Evans, Kristina Gaschel, Elizabeth Kerstein, Joann Moorer, Julia Park, and Brieann Pasko.
“Love and Let Love” will be presented at Theatre Project, 45 West Preston Street, Baltimore, Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 14-16, at 7:30 pm, and Sunday, Feb. 18, at 3:00 pm. Tickets are $25 for adults, $15 for seniors, and $10 for students with I.D. For tickets, call the Theatre Project Box Office at 410-752-8558 or visit www.theatreproject.org.
Download a high res photo at PR Images on left.
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About Peabody Chamber Opera and Theatre Project
The Peabody Conservatory, the highly regarded music school of The Johns Hopkins University, has presented chamber opera annually at Theatre Project, a 150-seat venue for original and experimental theater, dance, and music, since 1998. Founded in 1971, Theatre Project connects the artists and audiences of Baltimore with a global community of performers. It seeks to nurture artists who are actively experimenting with new forms of expression and support both performers of international reputation and emerging local companies creating new work. For a full listing of upcoming Theatre Project performances, visit www.theatreproject.org.
About the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University
Located in the heart of Baltimore’s Mount Vernon Cultural District, the Peabody Institute was founded in 1857 as America’s first academy of music by philanthropist George Peabody. Today, Peabody boasts a preeminent faculty, a nurturing, collaborative learning environment, and the academic resources of one of the nation’s leading universities, Johns Hopkins. Through its degree-granting Conservatory and its community-based Preparatory music and dance school, Peabody trains musicians and dancers of every age and at every level, from small children to seasoned professionals, from dedicated amateurs to winners of international competitions. Each year, Peabody stages nearly 100 major concerts and performances, ranging from classical to contemporary to jazz, many of them free — a testament to the vision of George Peabody.
