USC Thornton Opera Presents Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring

USC THORNTON OPERA PROGRAM PRESENTS FOUR PERFORMANCES OF BENJAMIN BRITTEN'S COMEDIC OPERA ALBERT HERRING CONDUCTED BY BRENT MCMUNN AND DIRECTED BY KEN CAZAN.

Thursday, November 19 - Sunday, November 22, 2009, at USC's Bing Theatre

The acclaimed USC Opera Program presents four performances of Benjamin Britten's comedic gem Albert Herring, conducted by Brent McMunn and directed by Ken Cazan, Thursday, November 19 through Sunday, November 22, 2009, at USC's Bing Theatre. The production features members of USC Thornton Opera Program and the USC Thornton Chamber Orchestra.

Britten's comedic opera, set in the 1919 post-World War I British countryside, is an affectionate study of what happens when social mores meet post war deprivation. Unable to find a virgin to be the town's May Queen, Albert Herring, a shy greengrocer, is chosen as King of the May. When he is slipped a mickey, Albert goes on a tear and discovers what life is all about. The libretto, by Eric Crozier, is based on the story Le Rosier de Madame Husson by Guy de Maupassant. Premiered in 1947, the opera is a companion piece for Britten's opera The Rape of Lucretia.

Cast members include Caitlin Beam and Allison Foster (Lady Billows); Katie Martin and Sarah Parnicky (Miss Wordsworth); Hayden Eberhart (Emmy); Clarissa Shan (Cissy); Elaina Robbins (Harry); Shoushik Barsoumian and Sara Staples (Nancy); Kelly Price and Laurel Semerdjian (Mrs. Herring); Marina Harris and Callista Hoffman (Florence); Timothy Gonzales and Eric Hanson (Albert Herring); Brandon Hynum and Ben Cortez (Mayor); Tim Campbell and Travis Sherwood (Sid); Amit Chakrabarti and Adrian Rosales (Vicar); and Petru-Gabriel Vamvulescu (Superintendent Budd). The production is made possible in part by a generous grant from the Leo Buscaglia Foundation.

General admission is $18; $12 for seniors, USC alumni and non-USC students. (USC students, staff and faculty with valid ID are free.) USC's Bing Theatre is located at 3500 Watt Way, Los Angeles, CA 90089 (on the USC campus in downtown LA). Ample parking is available. For tickets and information, call 213-740-4672 or visit uscticketoffice.com.

BRENT MCMUNN (conductor) is Conductor/Music Director of USC Thornton Opera and Assistant Professor, Vocal Arts. His professional operatic conducting debut was with the New York City Opera National Touring Company in La fille du regiment. Shortly after, he made his Lincoln Center debut with the New York City Opera in Les contes d'Hoffmann, and subsequently conducted in four separate seasons for that company. McMunn came to opera after an established career as a pianist, known especially for his collaborations with a number of eminent string players, including Lynn Harrell, Cynthia Phelps, and Ronald Copes, now of the Juilliard Quartet, with appearances in the major Southern California venues as well as the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and Carnegie Hall. His work in and love for opera began when he joined Grant Gershon as one of two pianists at the Los Angeles Opera in its early days. Concurrently, he was made Director of Opera at California State University, Long Beach, where he began conducting and produced a wide repertory of operas. After his New York conducting success, he went on to guest conduct at a number of North American companies, such as Arizona Opera, Calgary Opera, Lake George Opera, Kentucky Opera, Opera New Jersey and Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, and spent several years as Co-Artistic Director of the Ridgefield Opera Company in Connecticut. In addition to his conducting, his work as assistant and cover conductor on the music staffs at LA Opera, New York City Opera, and six seasons at the Santa Fe Opera, has given him a repertoire of over 70 operas, including Handel, Mozart, Puccini, the major Strauss operas, and a number of new works and premieres, with a special emphasis on the Bel Canto repertoire. He has continuously enjoyed working with young singers, in the young artist programs of the major companies, as a coach at the Juilliard School, and as a faculty member of the Aspen Music Festival.

KEN CAZAN (resident stage director) is one of America's most popular, controversial, and sought after opera-theatre stage directors and acting teachers. Since winning the Outstanding Director Award from the prestigious San Francisco Opera Merola Opera Program in 1982, he has directed more than 140 productions of operas, musical theatre, and legitimate theatre in the United States, Canada, Italy, and Mexico. Career highlights include directing the world premiere of Lowell Liebermann's and J.D. McClatchy's Miss Lonelyhearts in New York City, and the American opera house premieres of Britten's Gloriana, Mozart's Midridate, Re Di Ponto, and Handel's Agrippina. In Venice, Italy, he directed the Gershwins' Lady Be Good! for Teatro la Fenice, which marked the first time an Italian opera house had staged an original production of an American musical. The production was broadcast internationally by RAI television. In Rome, he collaborated on La Boheme with Leonard Bernstein, which was recorded and released on Deutsche Grammaphon and also broadcast across Europe. His work has been featured on national television in the U.S. and Canada, as well. Most recently, Mr. Cazan directed the Long Beach Opera's production of Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen, the Chicago area premier of Britten's rarely seen Owen Wingrave, and Sondheim's A Little Night Music for the Central City Opera. He also wrote the book and lyrics for a new musical with composer Billy Pace titled Prodigy, which received readings in 2009 for the Los Angeles Festival of New American Musicals. Upcoming projects include Jake Heggie's Three Decembers in Central City, a revival of his production of West Side Story for the Vancouver Opera, Albert Herring for Chicago Opera Theatre, and a new play by Paul Sand titled Possible Dangerous Side Effects.

The UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA FLORA L. THORNTON SCHOOL OF MUSIC, currently celebrating its 125th Anniversary and regarded as one of the premier music schools in the world, offers a unique combination of innovative programs such as popular music performance, recording science, and scoring for motion pictures and television, which stand alongside more traditional programs in classical music, opera, jazz studies, composition and research. Blending the rigors of a traditional conservatory-style education with the benefits of studying at a leading research university, USC Thornton offers students an unparalleled music education in a real-world context. Its illustrious alumni and faculty have been awarded countless Grammy and Academy Awards and serve as leaders in all facets of the music industry. The school's venerated faculty has, over the years included violinist Jascha Heifetz, cellist Gregor Piatigorsky and violist William Primrose, among many others. Celebrated alumni include pop great Herb Albert; film score composers James Horner, Jerry Goldsmith and James Newton Howard; TV/film score composer Bear McCreary; composer and Presidential Medal of the Arts recipient Morten Lauridsen; acclaimed conductors Michael Tilson Thomas and Grant Gershon; opera stars Marilyn Horne, Rod Gilfry, Jessica Rivera and Erica Miller; and esteemed classical guitarist Christopher Parkening. In 1999, philanthropist Flora L. Thornton became the school's benefactor with a naming gift of $25 million, at the time the largest such contribution to an American school of music. USC Thornton is the oldest continuously operating cultural institution in Los Angeles. USC Thornton currently enrolls 1,072 students from 40 countries and has a student-faculty ratio of six to one.