‘Pagliacci’ to Open 1996-97 Season for Music Center Opera

The Los Angeles Music Center Opera’s 11th season, announced by company General Director Peter Hemmings on Tuesday, includes one world premiere, three productions new to Los Angeles and three revivals.

Among the highlights of the seven-opera, 47-performance season, from Sept. 4 through June 21, 1997, will be the opening production, a brand-new “Pagliacci” by Franco Zeffirelli in which company advisor Placido Domingo will sing the role of Canio. The appearance of “Pagliacci” alone--without its usual bill partner, Mascagni’s “Cavelleria Rusticana”--was Zeffirelli’s choice, Hemmings said.

Other highlights include “Norma,” a co-production of the Music Center Opera, the Houston Grand Opera and the Seattle Opera, to be conducted four out of six times by Domingo, with the title role sung by English soprano Jane Eaglen, making her Music Center Opera debut, and the Netherlands Opera production of a new edition of Monteverdi’s masterpiece of 1640, “Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria” (The Return of Ulysses to His Homeland), which will be conducted by Glen Wilson, the American musicologist who edited this version.

Announced information for the 1996-97 season (names separated by slashes indicate those artists singing the same roles at different performances):

* Sept. 4, 7 (mat.), 11, 14, 17, 20, 22 (mat.): “Pagliacci” by Ruggero Leoncavallo, conducted by Lawrence Foster, directed and designed (sets) by Franco Zeffirelli, costumes by Raimonda Gaetani, with Placido Domingo/Vladimir Bogachov, Veronica Villaroel, Juan Pons/Timothy Noble. New production.

* Sept. 5, 8, 12, 15, 18 and 21: “Norma,” by Vincenzo Bellini, conducted by Placido Domingo/William Vendice, staged by Nicholas Muni, designed by John Conklin, with Jane Eaglen/Sally Wolf, Susanne Mentzer, Jose Cura, Kenneth Cox. A co-production of Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera and LAMCO.

* Nov. 9 (mat.), 12, 15, 17, 20, 23, 26: “Tosca” by Giacomo Puccini, conducted by Andrew Litton, production by Ian Judge (stage director Christopher Harlan), designed by John Gunter (sets) and Liz da Costa (costumes), with Carol Vaness, Richard Leech, Justino Diaz. Revival.

* Jan. 29, Feb. 1, 4, 7, 12, 15, 18, 1997: “Tristan und Isolde,” by Richard Wagner, conducted by Richard Armstrong, directed and designed by David Hockney, with Siegfried Jerusalem, Renate Behle, Jorma Hynninen, Jane Henschel, Timothy Mussard. Revival.

* Feb. 21, 23, 26, March 1, 4, 8 and 11, 1997: “Il Barbiere di Siviglia,” by Gioacchino Rossini, conducted by Marco Giudarini (debut), directed by Michael Hampe, designed by Mauro Pagano, with Jennifer Larmore, Bruce Ford, Rodney Gilfry. Production from Cologne Opera.

* May 6, 8, 10, 13, 16 and 18, 1997: “Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria,” by Claudio Monteverdi, conducted by Glen Wilson, production by Pierre Audi, set designs by Michael Simon, costumes by Jorge Jara, and lighting by Jean Kalman, with Thomas Allen, Frederica von Stade, David Daniels, John Duykers, Paula Rasmussen. Production from Netherlands Opera.

* June 7, 10, 12, 15 (mat.), 17, 19, 21, 1997: “Il Nozze di Figaro,” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in Italian, conducted by Evelino Pido, production by Peter Hall (stage director Stephen Lawless), designed by John Bury, with Richard Bernstein, Inva Mula, Solveig Kringelborn, Gilfry, Rasmussen. Revival.