Phoenix Symphony Performs Osvaldo Golijov's Award-Winning Opera: Ainadamar

Opera-in-Concert Features Original Cast Members Including World-Renowned Soprano Dawn Upshaw

(PHOENIX) - The Phoenix Symphony presents Spotlight Composer Osvaldo Golijov's spectacular one-act opera Ainadamar: Fountain of Tears in concert format May 23-24. The Arizona premiere of the Grammy Award-winning work features members of the original cast reprising their roles, including legendary soprano Dawn Upshaw as Margarita Xirgu and mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor as Federico García Lorca. The opera will be sung in Spanish with English surtitles projected above the stage during the performance. The two evening performances under the direction of Music Director Michael Christie begin at 8 p.m. at Symphony Hall in downtown Phoenix.

Ainadamar tells the compelling story of martyred Spanish playwright Federico García Lorca and his muse Margarita Xirgu. Lorca, the famous poet and dramatist, was murdered in 1936 during the first few months of the Spanish Civil War. His works and ideals lived on through individuals such as actress Margarita Xirgu, a close friend and confidante who frequently collaborated with Lorca on a number of works. The opera dramatically depicts Xirgu's memories of Lorca including a vision of his harrowing death at the hands of the Nationalist Militia.

Golijov, working in partnership with librettist David Henry Hwang, incorporated a variety of musical influences, including prerecorded sounds such as flowing water and flamenco rhythms, as well as Jewish and Arabic idioms that reflect the cultural diversity of Spain. The drama of the opera unfolds accompanied by an electric score featuring symphony orchestra, flamenco guitar and an outstanding cast of vocalists.

Ainadamar premiered at the Tanglewood Music Festival in 2003 and has received critical and public acclaim since its stunning debut. The Deutsche Grammophon recording of the work performed by the Atlanta Symphony won two Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Classical Composition and Best Opera Recording of 2006. The Phoenix Symphony performances will feature original cast members soprano Dawn Upshaw and mezzo soprano Kelley O'Connor from the Tanglewood premiere and the Grammy Award-winning recording--reprising their riveting roles in Ainadamar. The cast also includes soprano Emily Albrink as Nuria, Jesús Montoya as Ruiz Alonso as well as members of the Phoenix Symphony Chorus.

Tickets to hear The Phoenix Symphony perform Ainadamar with Dawn Upshaw range from $25-$74 and can be purchased by calling the Phoenix Symphony Box Office at 602.495.1999 or online at www.phoenixsymphony.org.

These concerts mark the conclusion of The Phoenix Symphony's 2007-08 Classics Season. Season tickets are now on sale for the 2008-09 Classics Season featuring Spotlight Composers Franz Joseph Haydn, Igor Stravinsky and Jennifer Higdon. Visit www.phoenixsymphony.org for more information.

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About composer Osvaldo Golijov: Osvaldo Golijov grew up in an Eastern European Jewish household in La Plata, Argentina. Born to a piano teacher mother and a physician father, Golijov was raised surrounded by chamber classical music, Jewish liturgical and klezmer music, and the new tango of Astor Piazzolla. After studying piano at the local conservatory and composition with Gerardo Gandini, he moved to Israel in 1983, where he studied with Mark Kopytman at the Jerusalem Rubin Academy and immersed himself in the colliding musical traditions of that city. Upon moving to the United States in 1986, Golijov earned his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied with George Crumb, and was a fellow at Tanglewood, studying with Oliver Knussen. Golijov has received numerous commissions from major ensembles and institutions in the U.S. and Europe. He is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, among many other awards. In addition, he collaborates closely with Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony, with whom he is currently recording several works for Deutsche Grammophon, as well as the Boston Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and eighth blackbird. Golijov is an Associate Professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, where he has taught since 1991, and is also on the faculty of the Boston Conservatory. For more information visit osvaldogolijov.com.

About soprano Dawn Upshaw: Acclaimed soprano Dawn Upshaw has achieved worldwide celebrity as a singer of opera and concert repertoire, ranging from the sacred works of Bach to the sounds of today. Her acclaimed performances on the opera stage comprise the great Mozart roles well as modern works by Stravinsky, Poulenc and Messiaen. Ms. Upshaw has also championed numerous new works created for her including Osvaldo Golijov's chamber opera Ainadamar and song cycle Ayre. A four-time Grammy Award winner, Dawn Upshaw is featured on more than 50 recordings, including the million-selling Symphony No. 3 by Henryk Gorecki. Her most recent release on Deutsche Grammophon is Three Songs for Soprano and Orchestra, the third in a series of acclaimed recordings of Osvaldo Golijov's music. Dawn Upshaw holds honorary doctorate degrees from Yale University, Manhattan School of Music, Allegheny College and Illinois Wesleyan University. She began her career as a 1984 winner of the Young Concert Artists auditions and the 1985 Walter W. Naumburg Competition, and was a member of the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artists Development Program. In fall 2007, Dawn Upshaw was named a Fellow of the MacArthur Foundation, popularly known as the "genius grant," acknowledging her as "a new model of a performer who is directly involved in the creation of contemporary music."

About mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor: Kelley O'Connor's "dark, low mezzo-soprano and expressive stage presence are those of a riveting singer emerged, not emerging..." is how the Los Angeles Times describes this young artist who is receiving international critical acclaim portraying Federico García Lorca in Osvaldo Golijov's Ainadamar. Ms. O'Connor created the role for the world premiere at Tanglewood under the baton of Robert Spano and reprised her portrayal of Lorca in the world premiere of the revised edition of Ainadamar at the Santa Fe Opera in 2005. Opera Now recognized Ms. O'Connor on its annual "Young Artists: Who's Hot?" list of 2006. She has appeared with the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Los Angeles and New York. She previously appeared with The Phoenix Symphony in 2006 for a concert performance of Humperdinck's opera Hansel and Gretel. Ms. O'Connor earned her bachelor's degree from USC and received her Masters degree from UCLA while studying with Nina Hinson.

About Music Director Michael Christie: Michael Christie continues in his third season as the Virginia G. Piper Music Director of The Phoenix Symphony with the 2007-08 season. He also serves as Music Director of the Colorado Music Festival and of the Brooklyn Philharmonic. He has appeared with orchestras across the United States, Europe and Canada, as well as with the Finnish National Opera, Queensland Opera, and Zürich Opera. In 1995, Mr. Christie was awarded a special prize at the First International Sibelius Conductor's Competition. Following the competition, he became an apprentice conductor with the Chicago Symphony. Michael Christie graduated from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music with a bachelor's degree in trumpet performance. His conducting teachers have included Daniel Barenboim, Robert Spano, Eiji Oue, and Peter Jaffe.

About The Phoenix Symphony: Celebrating its 60th Anniversary Season, The Phoenix Symphony has been proudly serving the citizens of the Phoenix metropolitan area and Arizona since 1947. What began as an occasional group of musicians performing a handful of concerts each year (in a city of fewer than 100,000 people) today serves more than 300,000 people annually, with 275 concerts and presentations throughout the greater Phoenix area and beyond.

Under the artistic leadership of Michael Christie as the Virginia G. Piper Music Director and administrative leadership of President Maryellen H. Gleason, the orchestra is overseen by the non-profit Phoenix Symphony Association under Board Chairman Ed Wolf.

The 76-member Phoenix Symphony presents an annual season from September through the beginning of June, featuring full-length Classical and Pops concerts at Sym­phony Hall in downtown Phoenix, along with a variety of symphonic and community performances in Mesa, Prescott, Scottsdale, and throughout central Arizona. The Symphony performs for more than 50,000 students and children, helping to introduce music to new generations through a variety of education and youth-engagement programs.

DAWN UPSHAW IN AINADAMAR
Symphony Classics Concert No. 16

May 23 - Friday evening at 8:00 p.m.
May 24 - Saturday evening at 8:00 p.m.
Symphony Hall

THE PHOENIX SYMPHONY
Michael Christie, conductor
Dawn Upshaw, soprano (as Margarita Xirgu)
Kelley O'Connor, mezzo-soprano (as Federico García Lorca)
Emily Albrink, soprano (as Nuria)
Members of the Phoenix Symphony Chorus

GOLIJOV Ainadamar: Fountain of Tears
(opera in concert performance)
Sung in Spanish with English subtitles

Ainadamar tells the story of martyred Spanish playwright Federico García Lorca and his actress muse Margarita Xirgu during the Fascist regime. With arias of languid beauty and melodies that shiver with sensual intervals, the sun-drenched nostalgia and soul of Spain come to life in exuberant outbursts of rhythm and orchestral color.

TICKETS: $25, $35, $45, $54, $64, $74