A ‘FREE FOR ALL’ STARTS THIS SUMMER
AT THE ORANGE COUNTY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

NEW SERIES BRINGS FREE MUSIC, DANCE,

The Orange County Performing Arts Center is launching a new series - FREE FOR ALL. Now audiences will have opportunities to experience The Center and exciting entertainment in new and intriguing ways – and all totally FREE.

Free for All shows and events have been designed to appeal to audiences of all ages as they enliven The Center’s venues and public spaces, including the beautiful 46,000-square-foot Community Plaza.

Center President Terrence W. Dwyer said, “Everyone was so thrilled with the enthusiastic response to our Merce Cunningham Dance Company engagement in May, which engaged the audience in a truly unique and interactive way and really signaled the type of events we want as a regular part of The Center’s programming. Free for All is another step in that direction. This is only a beginning, and we look forward to expanding these offering over the coming months. One of The Center’s key goals has always been to offer the work of the most exciting artists in our performance venues. Now, we want to throw our doors open and bring that same creative energy outside onto our community plaza and other performance sites. We want to become, in effect, a performing arts center without walls, truly accessible and welcoming to everyone in our community.”

National Choreographers Initiative

National Choreographers Initiative Discovery

July 9-28, 2007

The fourth annual National Choreographers Initiative will take place this summer from July 9-28. During the three weeks of intense creative effort at the dance studios of University of California, Irvine, teams of choreographers and professional dancers will produce new dance works culminating in a public performance of NCI Discovery at Irvine Barclay Theatre on Sat, July 28 at 8pm.

The choreographers invited by Director, Molly Lynch, come from a variety of backgrounds and are leaders in the dance community. The choreographers invited to participate this summer are: Melissa Barak, Edwaard Liang, Jerry Opdenaker, and Frank Chaves. [bios follow]

Molly Lynch commented, "As NCI enters into its fourth year, it’s very exciting to me to see how far this project has reached into the dance community and the effect of these choreographers’ works across the country. NCI has brought 12 choreographers to California to develop new works. Ten of the pieces begun here have gone on to be premiered or developed further and performed elsewhere in the United States and abroad. The project has also been blessed with 35 talented dancers representing 14 professional dance companies from across the country."

The process for the National Choreographers Initiative begins with a three-week rehearsal period that takes place in the dance studios at the University of California, Irvine, culminating in a public performance, NCI Discovery, on July 28, 2007 at 8pm at Irvine Barclay Theatre. During the three weeks of intense creative effort, choreographers and dancers will produce 4 new dance works. Each choreographer is given complete freedom to choose the style and theme of the work. Artistic Directors from dance companies around the country have been contacted for their input and involvement and will be invited to preview the new works for possible inclusion in their company's repertoire. [The choreographers retain the right to promote and license the works they have created to other companies.]

Melissa Barak was raised in Los Angeles, CA; trained at the Westside School of Ballet in Santa Monica; and was a scholarship student at the School of American Ballet. She joined New York City Ballet in 1998 and performed many leading roles with the company, including a principal in Christopher Wheeldon’s Klavier, Helena in George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and leads in The Four Temperaments, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Sleeping Beauty. She recently became a member of the new Los Angeles Ballet. She began choreographing in 1997 and created a piece for the School of American Ballet Student Choreographic Workshop. She has participated in the New York Choreographic Institute in 2000, 2003, and 2006. She has choreographed works for New York City Ballet and Choreographers on Pointe. In 2001 she received the Mae L. Wien Award for choreography and the Choo San Goh Choreographic Award.

Frank Chaves was born in Cuba. He joined River North Chicago Dance Company in 1992 as a choreographer and, in 1994, became co-artistic director. In May 2001, Mr. Chaves assumed sole artistic directorship of River North Chicago. An international choreographer and teacher, Mr. Chaves has created numerous works for River North Chicago and other companies including Spectrum Dance Theatre, Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, Point Park College for the Performing Arts, Barat Repertory Dance Company, Kaleidoscope Dancers, Pori Dance Company (Finland), and Ballet Pacifica’s Choreographer’s Workshop. Mr. Chaves’s theatrical commissions include work for Steppenwolf Theatre and the Cleveland Playhouse. As a performer, Mr. Chaves has danced with Ballet Concerto of Miami, New York’s Ballet Hispanico, Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, and six years with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. In 2000, Mr. Chaves received a Ruth Page Dance Achievement Award for Mission, co-created with Sherry Zunker, Co-Artistic Director Emeritus of River North Chicago, in honor of the Company’s 10th anniversary. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Dance for Western Michigan University.

Edwaard Liang was born in Taipei, Taiwan. He was raised in Marin County, CA, and began his ballet training at the age of five at Marin Ballet. In 1989, Mr. Liang entered the School of American Ballet. He joined New York City Ballet in the spring of 1993, and the same year he was a medal winner at the Prix de Lausanne International Ballet Competition and the Mae L. Wien Award. He was promoted to soloist in 1998. He danced with NYCB until 2001, when he joined the Broadway cast of Fosse, performing a leading role. In 2002 Mr. Liang became a member of the Nederlands Dans Theater 1, where he danced, choreographed and staged ballets. After returning from Holland, he returned to NYCB. He has also performed as a Guest Artist with various companies like the Norwegian National Ballet and Complexions. He has choreographed a number of works including a piece for Nederlands Dans Theater, which has been restaged for Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and Configurations. He participated in the 2004 New York Choreographic Institute. He has created pieces for Cedar Lake Dance Company, New York City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Sadler Wells Theatre in London. He was named one of the “Top 25 to Watch” for 2006 by Dance Magazine.

Jerry Opdenaker was raised in Philadelphia, PA. Mr. Opdenaker graduated from the University of the Arts with a degree in dance. He has danced in many jazz and modern companies as well as Pennsylvania Ballet. After dancing with Kansas City Ballet, he joined Ballet Florida in 1992. He has performed in works by Peter Martins, Val Caniparoli, Daniel Ezralow, and Lynne Taylor-Corbett. For ten years, he was instrumental in the development, creatively and educationally, of STEP Ahead, Ballet Florida’s choreographic workshop. This project received an NEA - Access to Artistic Excellence grant twice. He has been choreographing since 1996 and his choreography has been performed by Ballet Florida and Ballet Gamonet. In 2005 he participated in the New York Choreographic Institute.

The first NCI took place July 22, 2004 with the idea of promoting the creation and production of professional dance. Under the direction of Molly Lynch, NCI provides an opportunity to engage outstanding choreographers from around the U.S. in the creative process. There is a need nationwide to have a workshop setting where choreographers can create works of their choosing and have time to experiment and develop their craft. Through this project, NCI provides this opportunity and therefore supports these national choreographers, dancers, and the greater dance community.

www.nchoreographers.org.

OPERA UNDER THE STARS

SEPTEMBER 15, 2007 at Irvine Bowl

to celebrate the 75^th Anniversary of Festival of the Arts

Pageant of the Masters

Opera Pacific, led by Artistic Director John DeMain and President and Executive Director Robert C. announce Opera Under the Stars, a summer performance to celebrate the 75^th Anniversary of the Festival the Arts Pageant of the Masters, Saturday, September 15 at 7:30 pm at Irvine Bowl. The concert is presented in partnership with the Festival of the Arts Pageant of the Masters.

The performance will use the operatic and American Songbook repertoire to resonate the 75^th Anniversary Pageant theme of “Young at Heart,” highlighting love and lovers in operatic arias and scenes.

“Opera Under the Stars: Young at Heart” will feature performances by baritone Troy Cook, soprano Luz del Alba (who will be the Queen of the Night in Opera Pacific’s upcoming The Magic Flute), tenor James Valenti, bass, Christian Van Horn, mezzo-soprano Zheng Cao, soprano Robin Follman, the Opera Pacific Ensemble of Repertory Artists^TM (O.P.E.R.A. ^TM), and the Opera Pacific Orchestra and Chorus conducted by John DeMain, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor.

In commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Festival of Arts, the theme of the 2007 Pageant of the Masters is “Young at Heart.” The “Opera Under the Stars” program will explore the myriad permutations of love. Audiences will be spellbound by unforgettable moments from the world's greatest composers. Bizet, Gounod, Leoncavello, Massanet, Mozart, Offenbach, Puccini, Rossini, Strauss, and Verdi will be represented with selections from The Barber of Seville, Carmen, Rigoletto, Romeo et Juliet, Madame Butterfly, and Die Fledermaus, to name a few. Even Stephen Sondheim will be featured, with the Opera Pacific Ensemble of Repertory Artists^TM performing the Prologue from A Little Night Music.

Opera Pacific’s 2007-2008 season, performed at the Orange County Performing Arts Center’s opera house Segerstrom Hall, opens with Puccini’s La Bohème in the New York City Opera production designed by Allan Moyer (sets) and James Schuette (costumes). The opera will be performed October 24-November 3rd, 2007. Mozart’s The Magic Flute with stunning Zandra Rhodes costumes and sets by Michael Hampe and Alberto Andreis from San Diego Opera runs from January 23-February 2, 2008. Floyd’s Susannah, in the Chicago Lyric Opera production directed by Harry Silerstein designed
by Michael Yeargan, features a heartland-vibrant design recalling the muscular America of Thomas Hart Benton paintings, performs May 14-24, 2008.

Artistic Director John DeMain said, “Our production of Puccini’s La Bohème promises to be unforgettable with American soprano Kelly Kaduce as Mimi and Mexican tenor Arturo Chacon-Cruz, who we announcing now, replacing Yu Qiang Dai. I am thrilled to be conducting Mozart’s beloved The Magic Flute, and the Zandra Rhodes costumes highlight this colorful production, which will be a fantastical eye-popping delight. Audiences will be taken in quite a different, but equally powerful direction with Floyd’s American folk opera Susannah, which will end our season on a note of raw, emotional power.”

For tickets and information, please call 1-800-34-OPERA (1-800-346-7372) or visit www.operapacific.org. For groups please call 714-830-6361.

About Opera Pacific

Opera Pacific has established itself as one of the finest professional opera companies in the nation. Opera Pacific's mainstage productions, extensive community outreach programs, and energetic Guild Alliance combine to create a cultural resource for all of Southern California. More than 670,000 people have enjoyed Opera Pacific's productions at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, while over 575,000 young people have discovered the world of opera through the company's in-school presentations, Student Previews, and nationally recognized Opera Camps.

OPERA PACIFIC FAMILY OPERA

The Star Child

American and English premiere

Performed by Opera Camp students ages 8-18

By Hans-André Stamm

Based on the story by Oscar Wilde

NOW OFFERING FOUR PERFORMANCES

AUGUST 10 at 7pm, 11 at 2pm and 7pm, and 12 at 2pm

at the Claire Trevor Theatre, University of California, Irvine

Opera Pacific’s 2007 Family Opera performances of The Star Child take place August 10, 11, and 12 at the Claire Trevor Theatre on the campus of the University of California, Irvine. These performances will mark the American and English premiere of the opera. The Star Child is performed by Opera Camp students ages 8-18.

Local designers professionally create Opera Pacific’s Family Opera productions. The Star Child has costumes by Kevin Bennett, sets by Keith Bangs, and lighting by Burt Carlson. Master Classes will be taught by Nicola Bowie, who will also be Director of Opera Pacific’s “Opera Under the Stars” performance in September, and award-winning Bolivian-American soprano Lynette Tapia. Director of the camp and production in Andrew Nienaber, Opera Pacific’s main stage production Assistant Director.

This summer’s Family Opera production is The Star Child, based on one of the most popular fairy tales by Oscar Wilde. This adapted opera tells the story of the Star Child who appears to have fallen from the heavens as a shooting star and goes on a fantastic journey to overcome personal pride and learn generosity and self-sacrifice. The Star Child faces the consequences of selfishness in a world torn between beauty and ugliness, and grows to learn the value of life and love. Acceptable for all ages.

Opera Pacific’s Opera Camp is a three-and-a-half-week opera-training program for young singers seeking additional training and experience in a fun and energetic summer camp. The program includes daily course work in all facets of opera performance and production, as well as rehearsals for a fully staged opera production presented at the end of camp.

“My daughter was privileged to be in your opera camp in 2005 and this year [2006]. I was personally quite involved as well. It was absolutely a wonderful experience for her (and me!). The quality of the performance was extraordinary. Every kid seemed to be having a wonderful time while producing excellent work”, said Jeff Masonek, Opera Camp parent.

Opera Camp is one of seven education programs produced by Opera Pacific, and the first program of its kind in Southern California. Every year it has provided 40-45 children aged 8-18 years with hands-on training from professionals in the many aspects of opera performance. Children are selected by audition, and talented children whose parents are unable to pay the tuition are eligible for full or partial scholarship. The children receive three weeks of intensive training, and on the final weekend they present their opera for children from local schools, families and friends, and the public.

The curriculum is comprehensive. In addition to training in singing, acting and dance, the children also learn about choreography, set building, lighting, and costume design. Equally important, children from financially, culturally, and ethnically diverse backgrounds work together and learn the value of teamwork. As part of a creative team, they cooperate at all stages of making their opera a reality.

Opera Pacific works closely with regional school districts, and since the program’s inception in 1999, two hundred children have participated in Opera Camp. The camp experience dramatically influences the lives of these youths. Many have come back every year since the program’s inception. Several have later performed in the Children’s Chorus with Opera Pacific in mainstage productions, and several have pursued music as a career, studying at such notable music schools as Julliard, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Eastman School of Music.

The camp participants will begin their instruction and rehearsal process on July 18, working weekdays in preparation for their performances of The Star Child on August 10, 11 and 12, 2007, at the Claire Trevor Theatre on the campus of the University of California, Irvine.

For tickets call 1 800 34 OPERA or visit www.operapacific.org.

About Opera Pacific

Opera Pacific has established itself as one of the finest professional opera companies in the nation. Opera Pacific's mainstage productions, extensive community outreach programs, and energetic Guild Alliance combine to create a cultural resource for all of Southern California. An audience of more than 670,000 have enjoyed Opera Pacific's productions at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, while over 575,000 young people have discovered the world of opera through the company's in-school presentations, Student Previews, and nationally recognized Opera Camps.

OPERA PACIFIC’S 22nd Season (2007-2008) begins with Puccini’s La Bohème, October 24, 28, November 1, 3, 2007, followed by Mozart’s The Magic Flute, January 23, 27, 31, February 2, 2008, and Floyd’s Susannah, May 14, 18, 22, 24, 2008. All performances are in Segerstrom Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Stone Soup Storytellers Retreat

You are invited to the 5th Annual Stone Soup Storytellers Retreat at Camp Ocean Pines, in Cambria, CA on September 28-October 1, 2007! Set in the pines overlooking the ocean, this is a beautiful setting for professionals to relax and learn from each other. What better incentive to develop new tales and expand your repertoire than to share with other tellers. Of course we’ll have good food, good drink, and good company to enjoy.

· Very informal and unstructured

· Relaxing -- no pressure

· Telling among ourselves

· Learning from other tellers

· "Stories 'Round The Fire" at Cayucos Beach with Kirk Henning

· Beautiful location and very good food

· Nice cabins with bathrooms!

Kirk Henning (www.kirkhenning.com), storyteller from Cayucos, will help us design the agenda. We will discuss topics of our choosing, sharing ideas and experiences with all the storytellers! As a bonus treat, we’ll reserve some time to swap stories around a MICROPHONE – going home with the “live CD” collection of a pleasant evening of shared stories. Upon request of last year’s group, our next bonus treat is a public storytelling event at the beach led by Kirk Henning.

Camp Ocean Pines loves to support storytellers in honing their time-honored craft. Three nights lodging, 8 meals, and lots of storytelling for $235/person. For those who are not able to stay over for Monday, the cost is $195 for two nights lodging, 5 meals. Call 805-927-0254 to register or sign up online at www.campoceanpines.org. We hope you can come and bring a friend!

Sincerely,

Chris Cameron, Executive Director

Camp Ocean Pines, Cambria, CA www.campoceanpines.org