Composer

Kate Soper’s seminal “philosophy-opera” (New Yorker) with original choreography by the Martha Graham Dance Company

EPSG:4326

Ipsa Dixit New Production

Art Theatre of Long Beach

The singular compositional voice of Kate Soper returns to LBO after Voices from the Killing Jar (2021) in a thrilling new world premiere production that blends an oft-neglected sense of comedy in opera with a genre-smashing adventure story of fantastical proportions. Soper herself sets the piece’s namesake 13th-century poem as a boundary-breaking, evening-length work that defies all categorization. In a thrilling opus that examines one Dreamer’s quest for a literal rose, The God of Love, Shame, Lady Reason and their cadre of followers lull the audience into a dreamlike world that deftly highlights the profound juxtaposition of beauty and absurdity in our own human folly.
Pulitzer Prize finalist Soper fills her newest opera with music that defies tradition and will envelop the theater in new ways with a blend of modernistic shrieks and wails, madrigalistic finery, auto-tuned didacticism, and lush Romanticism. The world premiere production, directed by James Darrah, will inhabit multiple spaces within the historic art deco Warner Grand Theater. Darrah, who is known for creating successful world premiere productions for composers including Ellen Reid, Missy Mazzoli, and John Corigliano, will be joined by conductor and LBO Music Director Christopher Rountree in guiding the orchestra outside of the normal pit and onstage into the show itself. THE ROMANCE OF THE ROSE freely beguiles, charms, and terrifies with no moral allegiances or moral compass and promises to lead audiences thrillingly astray.

The Romance of the Rose

Warner Grand Theatre

Gustavo Dudamel — the NY Phil’s future Music and Artistic Director — leads the Orchestra in this concert bookended by two powerful symphonies: Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements (originally commissioned by the NY Phil) and Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 11, originally premiered on his 80th birthday. Composer and soprano Kate Soper sings in the World Premiere of a work she is writing for the NY Phil.

Kate Soper

Composer

Events

Upcoming events

22 - 27 May, 2025

Dudamel Conducts Stravinsky, Glass & Soper · New York Philharmonic

Past events

1 - 9 Jun, 2024

Ipsa Dixit New Production · Long Beach Opera

18 - 25 Feb, 2023

The Romance of the Rose · Long Beach Opera

About

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