Opera UCLA’s Iphigénie en Tauride will be staged on Thursday, May 14 and Saturday, May 16 at 8:00 p.m. at Schoenberg Hall.
Fresh off the world premiere of Matthias Pintscher’s new opera in Berlin and the French premiere in Paris, James Darrah Black —professor and director of Opera UCLA—is bringing a fully staged production back to The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.
“I’m interested in generating meaning through visual logic, mood and atmosphere, rather than relying on historical narrative traditions,” said Darrah Black. “Iphigénie en Tauride offers us a powerful framework for that.”
Iphigénie en Tauride follows the cursed House of Atreus in ancient Greece. Spared from sacrifice by the goddess Artemis, Iphigénie is carried to Tauris, where she serves as a priestess among a people who sacrifice to Artemis any Greek who lands on their shores. When Iphigénie’s brother Orestes arrives, the tragedy deepens: she does not recognize him—believing him to be long dead—and prepares to sacrifice him.
Scenes from a rehearsal
Gluck’s score for Iphigénie en Tauride has been called his most sensual and moving—his greatest realization of operatic drama. It was beloved by Berlioz and Richard Strauss and it maintains an important place in the repertoire.
“In this return of a fully staged opera to Schoenberg Hall, we want to assert a hybrid language indicative of the Opera program’s future,” said Darrah Black. “We will be acoustically rigorous, performing without amplification and with English supertitles. But the staging will be a visually constructed world that is cinematically aware.”
James Darrah Black directing reherasal
Darrah Black will extend that cinematic approach by filming the production live onstage. While not livestreamed, the performance will later be released as a standalone film.
The opera continues in the tradition of artistic collaborations with UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television. TFT alumna (and former Darrah Black student) Prairie T. Trivuth serves as the principal designer, and TFT alumna Elena Gim heads up costume design under the guidance of Chrisi Karvonides, professor of theater and head of costume design at TFT.
“The students will have a hand in producing their own costumes,” said Katya Lynch, assistant director on the production.“Every detail matters in a staged production, and helping to create costumes helps singers understand their characters from the inside out.”
One recent Saturday, opera students braided tunics and painted shoes with mud and dye—a deliberate blending of rehearsal and ritual for an opera that is deeply concerned with rituals. The opera’s themes of violence and fate aren’t just portrayed; they’re quite literally worked into the fabric of the costumes.
Rising star Stefano Flavoni will make his Opera UCLA debut as music director and conductor. Currently on leave from the Hamburg State Opera, where he serves as assistant conductor, Flavoni has also worked with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the Baltimore Symphony.
“Opera has always been a living form,” Darrah Black said. “It has to be reimagined in the present tense.”
ADVISORY: The production contains mature themes (violence, murder, assault) and strobe-like lighting effects that may be intense for photo-sensitive audience members.