Emmanuel Villaume Conducts the Juilliard Orchestra in Works by Ravel and Debussy on Monday, December 4, 2017, at 7:30pm in Alice Tully Hall

Program Features Ravel’s One-Act Opera L’enfant et les sortilèges, Ravel’s Menuet antique, and Debussy’s La mer

NEW YORK –– Emmanuel Villaume returns to conduct the Juilliard Orchestra and Juilliard singers in Ravel’s one-act opera L’enfant et les sortilèges: Fantaisie lyrique en deux parties, set to a libretto by Colette and directed by Edward Berkeley, on Monday, December 4, 2017, at 7:30pm in Alice Tully Hall. The program also features Ravel’s Menuet antique and Debussy’s La mer, trois esquisses symphoniques.

The cast for Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges features Kelsey Lauritano, Onadek Winan, Myka Murphy, Kady Evanyshyn, Anneliese Klenetsky, Nicole Thomas, Vivian Yau, Kresley Figueroa, Marie Engle, Xiaomeng Zhang, Gregory Feldmann, Matthew Pearce, and James Ley. (See the end of the release for their roles.)

On putting together the program, Maestro Villaume writes: “We wanted to do a program with the Vocal Arts students, and I also wanted to work in detail with the orchestra, but we didn’t have time for both a full orchestra and an opera production. So, the Ravel L’enfant et les sortilèges was an obvious choice because it has a huge cast of singers, and it works well in concert – it doesn’t necessarily need staging. It’s also a piece that’s very dear to me; it’s sometimes totally silly and nonsensical, but it speaks about the reality of our fears of the immense tenderness and cruelty within us. La mer is a great contrast; there are no words, but there are so many images that are very strong, and it’s a marvel of orchestration.”

Tickets are $30 ($15 for full-time non-Juilliard students) and available for purchase at juilliard.edu/calendar. Tickets are free for Juilliard students.

About Emmanuel Villaume

French-born conductor Emmanuel Villaume is music director of the Dallas Opera and music director and chief conductor of the Prague Philharmonia. Season’s highlights include Samson et Dalila, Korngold’s Der Ring des Polykrates, and Don Giovanni at the Dallas Opera, Thaïs at the Metropolitan Opera, Faust at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Manon Lescaut at Barcelona’s Liceu. In previous seasons he has led Roméo et Juliette, Madama Butterfly, Samson et Dalila, and Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera; Roméo et Juliette, La Bohème, Manon, The Merry Widow, and Samson et Dalila at the Lyric Opera of Chicago; and La Rondine, Norma, Le Cid, and Les contes d’Hoffmann at the Washington National Opera. He has also conducted Madama Butterfly and Werther with the San Francisco Opera; Les contes d’Hoffmann, La Rondine, and La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein with the Los Angeles Opera; La Rondine and Faust with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; and La fanciulla del West, Les Pêcheurs de Perles, and The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein with the Santa Fe Opera. At the Dallas Opera Mr. Villaume has conducted Eugene Onegin, Jake Heggie’s Moby Dick, Faust, Le nozze di Figaro, Carmen, and Iolanta.

On the international stage he has appeared at Covent Garden, Montreal Opera, Tokyo’s Bunka Kaikan, Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colón; Paris’ Bastille Opera, and is a frequent guest artist with Opéra Marseilles, Bayerische Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Hamburg Staatsoper, and Venice’s Teatro La Fenice, among many others. In North America, he has conducted the Quebec Symphony, Montreal Symphony in both Montreal and at Carnegie Hall, the Chicago Symphony, and Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has also led the San Francisco Symphony, Houston Symphony, and the Boston Symphony at both Symphony Hall and the Tanglewood Festival.

Born in Strasbourg, Emmanuel Villaume studied music at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg. He continued his education at Khâgne and the Sorbonne in Paris, where he received degrees in literature, philosophy, and musicology.

About the Juilliard Orchestra

Juilliard’s largest and most visible student performing ensemble, the Juilliard Orchestra, is known for delivering polished and passionate performances of works spanning the repertoire. Comprising more than 350 students in the bachelor’s and master’s degree programs, the orchestra appears throughout the season in concerts on the stages of Alice Tully Hall, David Geffen Hall, Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater, and Carnegie Hall. The orchestra is a strong partner to Juilliard’s other divisions, appearing in opera and dance productions as well as presenting an annual concert of world premieres by Juilliard student composers. Under the musical leadership of Alan Gilbert, the director of conducting and orchestral studies, the Juilliard Orchestra welcomes an impressive roster of world renowned conductors this season, including Mr. Gilbert, Joseph Colaneri, Lin Chen, Jeffrey Milarsky, David Robertson, and Speranza Scappucci. The Juilliard Orchestra has toured throughout the U.S. and Europe, South America, and Asia, where it was the first Western conservatory ensemble allowed to visit and perform following the opening of the People’s Republic of China in 1987, returning two decades later, in 2008. Other ensembles under the Juilliard Orchestra umbrella include the conductorless Juilliard Chamber Orchestra, the Juilliard Wind Orchestra, and the new-music groups AXIOM and New Juilliard Ensemble.

# # #

 

Program Listing:

Monday, December 4, 2017, at 7:30pm, Alice Tully Hall

Juilliard Orchestra

Emmanuel Villaume, conductor

 

Maurice RAVEL Menuet antique

Claude DEBUSSY La mer, trois esquisses symphoniques

 

RAVEL L’enfant et les sortilèges: Fantaisie lyrique en deux parties (text by Colette)

Directed by Edward Berkeley

 

The cast:

 

L’Enfant (The Child): Kelsey Lauritano

Le Feu/La Princesse/Le Rossignol (The Fire/The Princess/The Nightingale): Onadek Winan

Maman (Mama)/La Libellul (The Dragonfly): Myka Murphy

La Tasse Chinoise (The Chinese Cup): Kady Evanyshyn

La Bergère/La Chouette (The Chair/The Screech-Owl): Anneliese Klenetsky

La Chatte/L’Ecureuil (The White Cat/The Squirrel): Nicole Thomas

La Chauve-Souris (The Bat): Vivian Yau

Une Pastourelle (A Country Lass): Kresley Figueroa

Un Pâtre (A Herdsman): Marie Engle

La Fauteuil/Un Arbre (The Armchair/A Tree): Xiaomeng Zhang

L’Horloge Comtoise/Le Chat (The Comtoise Clock/The Black Cat): Gregory Feldmann

La Théière (The Teapot): Matthew Pearce

La Petit Vieillard/La Rainette (The Little Old Man/The Tree Frog): James Ley

 

Tickets are $30 ($15 for full-time non-Juilliard students) and available for purchase at juilliard.edu/calendar. Tickets are free for Juilliard students.