Musica Angelica Brings Rarely Performed Mozart Opera To Southern California

Santa Monica, CA (Top40 Charts/ Musica Angelica) Mozart never completed the lively opera. Now, 230 years later, fellow Austrian Martin Haselbock "evens" the score, ingeniously interweaving the singspiel with other complimentary works by Mozart.

A tale of love, passion, and jealousy is coming to Pasadena and Santa Monica with three exclusive performances of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera Zaide. The production is being given authentic treatment with performances played on period instruments by the internationally acclaimed Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra under the baton of its distinguished music director Martin Haselbock.

Background

When commissioned in 1778 by Emperor Joseph II to write a comic opera, 22-year-old Mozart began work on Zaide, the story of a young woman's attempt to rescue her beloved from pirates. "Mozart shelved Zaide when the emperor's mother, Archduchess Maria Theresa, died and all theatres and opera houses were closed in mourning for one year," explains Maestro Haselbock. "By the time they reopened, Mozart had moved on to other work." He continues, "While unfinished, Zaide is most certainly a masterwork. Beautiful arias alternate with spoken dialogue, and elements of buffa and seria light up the stage."

"Zaide offered us the rare opportunity of actually improving an extant Mozart opera," says director Brian Michaels. "The libretto and story are incomplete, allowing us the opportunity to give it a new, playful coherence. The piece no longer takes place in some fictional desert in Asia Minor, but in the minds of four contemporary persons, including 'Zaide', a bored teenage girl, and 'Gomatz', a law student who feels enslaved by his studies."

Collaboration With La Opera

Zaide will feature soprano Janai Brugger-Orman (Zaide) and tenor Jesus Leon (The Sultan), participants in Los AngelesOpera's Domingo-Thornton Young Artists Program. Also appearing are tenor Andrew Bidlack (Gomatz), a recent graduate ofSan Francisco Opera's prestigious Adler Fellowship program and baritone Christian Hilz (Osmin).

Performances:
	8:00 p.m., First United Methodist Church, 500 East Colorado Blvd., Pasadena;
	3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., The Broad Stage, 1310 11th Street, Santa Monica.
Tickets:
	Available from $15 (student price, with valid ID) to $55/person.
	For more information or to order tickets, call 310.458.4504, or visit www.MusicaAngelica.org.