Opera and Dance
HOSTED BY Seán Curran with
guests anuradha nehru & catherine turocy
Seán Curran, artistic director Seán Curran Company and Chairperson of NYU’s Tisch School of Dance | Anuradha Nehru, founder and artistic director of Kalanidhi Dance | Catherine Turocy, founder and artistic director of The New York Baroque Dance Company.
Dance was an intrinsic element of French baroque opera and has been an essential component to Opera Lafayette's performances. This series will engage with the artistic leadership of three frequent Opera Lafayette partners: Kalanidhi Dance, The New York Baroque Dance Company, and Seán Curran Company.
Each session will reveal the unique dance style of the company and share insights into the collaboration of projects such as Lully's Acis et Galatée, Handel’s Radamisto, and Geminiani's La forêt enchantée. The series will culminate with Ryan Brown hosting a discussion with all three artistic directors discussing the making of Rameau's Les Fêtes de l'Hymen et de l'Amour, ou Les Dieux d'Égypte, which featured all three dance companies.
Opera and Dance | Week 1
Thursday, March 4, 2021, 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Catherine Turocy, founder and artistic director of The New York Baroque Dance Company joins Seán for our first session to discuss the origins and intricacies of Baroque dance, and how it is featured in opera with a focus on Opera Lafayette productions of Lully’s Armide and Gluck’s Orphée et Euridice.
Opera and Dance | Week 2
Thursday, March 11, 2021 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Anuradha Nehru, founder and artistic director of Kalanidhi Dance, joins Seán for our second session to discuss the Kuchupudi art form, and how its story-based style of dance brings Opera Lafayette’s productions of David’s Lalla Roukh and Geminiani's La forêt enchantée to life.
Opera and Dance | Week 3
Thursday, March 18, 2021, 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Seán Curran, founder and artistic director of Seán Curran Company, takes the spotlight in this third session to discuss his work with his company and how he has incorporated modern dance into operas such as Handel’s Radamisto and Charpentier’s Actéon, as well as in his work with other opera companies such as New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis.
Opera and Dance | Week 4
Thursday, March 25, 2021, 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
For our final session Ryan Brown, founder and artistic director of Opera Lafayette, will interview all our guest artistic directors: Catherine Turocy, Anuradha Nehru, and Seán Curran as they recount their collaboration for Opera Lafayette’s production of Rameau’s Les Fêtes de l'Hymen et de l'Amour, ou Les Dieux d'Égypte.
Four Part Series: March 4, 11, 18, and 25, 2021
Time: 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. ET
Tickets: $10/discussion or $30/all discussions
Overtures:
hosted by principal players of opera lafayette’s
acclaimed orchestra
Before Opera Lafayette there was The Violins of Lafayette, a chamber ensemble of strings dedicated to exploring 17th and 18th century French musical culture. Over a quarter-century later, The Opera Lafayette Orchestra remains the musical foundation of the company. Opera Lafayette musicians play on period instruments - old instruments or modern replicas which would have been familiar to the composers whose music the company performs.
At each session you will meet principal players who will introduce you to his/her instrument and the role the section plays in the scores of early opera. In addition to hearing the individual instruments, the sessions will feature overtures recorded by the orchestra. Artists will include Andrew Appel, Charles Brink, John Feeney, June Huang, Anna Marsh, Loretta O'Sullivan, Margaret Owens, Christof Richter, Nina Stern, John Theissen, and Todd Williams.
From SCORE to Modern Premiere:
Hosted by Ryan Brown with guests Charles Brink,
Will Crutchfield, and Nizam Kettaneh
In its 25-year history, Opera Lafayette has built a reputation for returning to the stage operatic works lost to the passage of time. Each discussion introduces works that were popular in their day, influenced the composers of today’s musical canon, and maintain contemporary relevance. There are many steps Opera Lafayette must take when preparing a modern premiere beyond the planning required for the performance of a work in the current repertoire. This series looks at the process of recreating and preserving works not yet heard by contemporary ears, including several of Opera Lafayette's twelve modern premieres.
A Musical and HistoricaL JourneY THROUGH Opéra comique: HOSTED BY julia doe
In this series of three lecture-discussions, Julia Doe will draw on Opera Lafayette’s extensive discography to present a historical and musical tour through the lyric theater of Old-Regime France. At each stage, we will blend analysis of the musical features of these lyric works with a broader consideration of the ways that they resonated with the political and social changes of the turbulent pre-revolutionary years.