May Festival News

MAY FESTIVAL MUSIC DIRECTOR JAMES CONLON WINS TWO GRAMMY AWARDS:
BEST CLASSICAL ALBUM AND BEST OPERA RECORDING FOR LA OPERA'S PRODUCTION OF KURT WEILL'S AND BERTOLT BRECHT'S RISE AND FALL OF THE CITY OF MAHAGONNY

February 9, 2009 – Conductor James Conlon, Music Director of the Cincinnati May Festival, Los Angeles Opera and Ravinia Festival, won two Grammy Awards on Sunday, February 8, 2009 for Best Classical Album and Best Opera Recording conducting LA Opera’s production of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s music-theater piece Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. The production is directed by John Doyle and features a cast that includes Tony Award winners Audra McDonald as Jenny Smith and Patti LuPone as Leocadia Begbick, and tenor Anthony Dean Griffey as Jimmy MacIntyre. Filmed in high-definition, the video recording of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny was produced by EuroArts home video. The sets are by Mark Bailey, with costumes by Ann Hould-Ward, stage lighting by Thomas C. Hase and sound design by Dan Moses Schreier.

One of the today’s preeminent conductors, James Conlon has cultivated a vast symphonic, operatic and choral repertoire, and has conducted virtually every prestigious symphony orchestra in the U.S. and Europe. In 2009, Maestro Conlon celebrates his 30th anniversary as Music Director of the Cincinnati May Festival, America’s oldest continuous choral festival. He is Music Director of LA Opera and Ravinia Festival (summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra). He has served as Principal Conductor of the Paris National Opera (1995-2004); General Music Director of the City of Cologne (1989-2002); and Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic (1983-1991). Mr. Conlon has conducted more than 250 performances at the Metropolitan Opera since his 1976 debut.

Mr. Conlon has recorded extensively for EMI, SONY Classical, ERATO, CAPRICCIO, and TELARC, for which he has received numerous citations. He has been featured on DVDs for DECCA, and has appeared in several television programs on PBS, including the documentary “Shadows in Paradise” (2008) which tells the stories of German and Austrian composers and writers who fled the Nazi regime to Hollywood; a series of six documentaries entitled “Encore” (2006) on his work with the finalists of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition; “Concerto,” six half-hour shows hosted by Mr. Conlon, and “Cincinnati May Festival 2000.”

Mr. Conlon is known for his work with young musicians, and for his efforts to increase awareness of a lost generation of early 20th-century composers whose works were suppressed for political reasons. His recent awards include the Medal of the American Liszt Society for his distinctive performances of the composer’s works; Italy’s Premio Galileo 2000 Award for his significant contribution to music, art and peace in Florence; and the Crystal Globe Award from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for his efforts in championing the works of composers silenced by the Third Reich. He is one of five first recipients of the Opera News Award given in recognition for distinguished achievement in opera, and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Music Degree by The Juilliard School. He received the Zemlinsky Prize for his efforts in bringing the composer’s music to international attention. He was named an Officier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government in 1996, and in 2004 was promoted to Commander. In 2002, James Conlon received France’s highest distinction from the President of the French Republic, Jacques Chirac—the Légion d’Honneur.

On May 22, 2009 Mr. Conlon will conduct Patti LuPone in Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins for the opening night concert of the Cincinnati May Festival (celebrating Mr. Conlon’s 30th year as Music Director), and later at the Ravinia Festival as part of their continuing series “Silenced Voices.”

Composer Kurt Weill and playwright Bertolt Brecht based their opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny on a shorter music-theater piece called the “Mahagonny Songspiel,” a song setting of loosely linked poems by Brecht. The full-length piece is a satire of Berlin in the 1920’s, set in a fictional American city, Mahagonny, Alabama, and based on American gangster movies and books. Told through a blend of opera and music hall songs, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny received its premiere in Leipzig, Germany, in 1930.