Indiana University Opera productions all new in 2017-18 IU Opera and Ballet Theater season

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Indiana University Opera productions all new in 2017-18 IU Opera and Ballet Theater seasonFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEApril 10, 2017Mozart's "Don Giovanni" will open Indiana University Opera and Ballet Theater's 2017-18 season in September.Print-Quality Photo
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana University Opera Theater, at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, will present an unprecedented six new productions—including five operas and one musical—during its 2017-18 season, in tandem with three productions by IU Ballet Theater.
“Our new opera and ballet season will feature many firsts in a season filled with a variety of traditional and new productions,” said Timothy Stebbins, Ted Jones Executive Director of Production. “For the first time in the 69-year history of IU Opera Theater, each production will be newly built. We will present ‘L’Étoile’ for the first time. And for the first time, IU Opera will present ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ our first co-commission and co-production with Houston Grand Opera and San Francisco Opera.”
The company’s new season will begin in September with Mozart’s masterpiece “Don Giovanni,” featuring Jacobs faculty conductor Arthur Fagen, director David Lefkowich and Jacobs set designer Mark Smith, who designed last fall’s “Florencia en el Amazonas.”
Alexis Emmanuel Chabrier’s French farce “L’Étoile,” will make its IU Opera Theater debut in October with director Alain Gauthier and set designer Tim McMath.
Composer Jake Heggie—of “Dead Man Walking” fame—returns to the Musical Arts Center stage with his latest creation, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” based on the iconic film of the same name, in November. Audiences will be treated to the direction of Leonard Foglia and the set design of Robert Brill, both of whom filled these roles in the work’s recent Houston Grand Opera premiere.
Spring semester will commence with Richard Strauss’ comedic “Ariadne auf Naxos,” with Fagen again at the podium and ...

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