Curtis Opera Theatre Launches 2024–25 Centennial Series with East Coast Premiere of The Comet / Poppea

Press Contacts:
Patricia K. Johnson | patricia.johnson@curtis.edu | (215) 717-3190
Ryan Scott Lathan | ryan.lathan@curtis.edu | (215) 717-3145

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PHILADELPHIA, PA—October 17, 2024—Curtis Opera Theatre launches its 2024–25 centennial series with the highly anticipated East Coast premiere of The Comet / Poppea at Philadelphia’s historic 23rd Street Armory on Friday, November 1, and Saturday, November 2, at 7:00 p.m., and Sunday, November 3, at 2:00 p.m. Praised as “exceptional in every way” by the LA Times and “excellent” by the Wall Street Journal at the opera’s world premiere in June at the Geffen Contemporary at Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, this groundbreaking new work features MacArthur Award-winning composer George Lewis’ and librettist Douglas Kearney’s wildly inventive operatic setting of Pan-Africanist civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois’s 1920 science fiction short story, The Comet, juxtaposed with Claudio Monteverdi’s hot-blooded political thriller, L’incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea), from 1643.

Led by visionary director and fellow MacArthur winner Yuval Sharon, The Comet / Poppea features a stellar cast of rising young stars of the Curtis Opera Theatre, alongside original cast members bass-baritone Cedric Berry, soprano Joelle Lamarre, and mezzo-soprano Amanda Lynn Bottoms (Opera ’19), offering each of the Curtis students an invaluable opportunity to hone their craft in collaboration with these internationally acclaimed artists. The remarkable cast will be joined by members of the renowned Curtis Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia musicians theorbist Theodore Creek and gambist Gretchen Gettes, and Reese Revak at the harpsichord, under the baton of conductor Marc Lowenstein, founding music director of Los Angeles experimental opera company, The Industry. This innovative, technologically ambitious production plays out on a rotating turntable divided into two halves, alternating between operas and scenes. As these worlds unfold simultaneously, one half of the stage transports the audience to the steamy baths and social divisions of Ancient Rome and the other to an abandoned restaurant in post-apocalyptic New York City of the 1920s, creating a visual and sonic spiral for audiences—inviting associations, dissociations, collisions, and confluences.

George Lewis and librettist Douglas Kearney’s adaptation of The Comet explores the politics of class, race, and religion in the 1920s—itself a thought-provoking commentary on a still painfully divisive 21st-century American society—with a dystopian tale that follows Jim Davis, a young Black bank messenger; and Julia, a wealthy white heiress; the only survivors after a comet hits Manhattan unleashing toxic fumes that have collapsed civilization around them. In Poppea—Monteverdi and librettist Giovanni Francesco Busenello’s riveting tale of obsession, jealousy, adultery, and murder—the ruthless mistress of the Roman emperor Nero rises from the ranks to be crowned empress. Based upon actual historical events, this 17th-century Baroque masterpiece follows two lovers who will stop at nothing to be together, even as they leave a trail of chaos and destruction in their wake. The Comet will be performed in English and Poppea will be performed in Italian, both with English supertitles.

“As the piece goes on, those two works start to leak into each other,” notes composer George Lewis. “Drawing on Du Bois’ own concept of ‘double consciousness,’ the opera is structured around a number of these doublings: Points of repetition or intersection that underscore the dialogue between the two works and the relevance of that dialogue today.”

“The Comet / Poppea explores exclusion in classical music by creating an uneasy tessellation between the Baroque and the contemporary, and by enacting the experience of double consciousness,” explains director Yuval Sharon. The opera “…begins as a critique of the institution of opera, but hopefully, by the end, it affirms everything unique to opera—the creation of an ambiguous space that enchants through juxtaposition, where the classic and the contemporary collide.”

This innovative co-production, conceived and directed by Mr. Sharon alongside multidisciplinary artist and assistant director Luther H. Lewis III, is brought to life through the technical team of MacArthur and Tony Award-winning theater, dance, and opera set designer Mimi Lien, highly sought-after lighting designer John Torres, Princess Grace Award-winning costume designer Oana Botez, and Mark Grey, a Pulitzer Prize, Grammy, and Emmy Award-winning composer as well as an acclaimed sound designer.

The production explores the duality and dissonance of these stylistically contrasting works connected by stories of cultural transformation and creating an exhilarating tension for the audience as they experience the drama unfolding on two diametrically opposed sides of the stage.

Developed over the past six years, The Comet / Poppea is co-produced by Anthony Roth Constanzo and Cath Brittan, Curtis Institute of Music, The Industry, AMOC (American Modern Opera Company), and the Yale Schwarzman Center.

The Curtis Opera Theatre returns to the stage on February 27 and 28 at 7:00 p.m., and March 1 and 2 at 2:00 p.m. at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte’s comic masterpiece, Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro). The 2024–25 opera series concludes with Leonard Bernstein’s outrageous, philosophical operetta, Candide, on April 11 at 7:00 p.m. and April 13 at 2:00 p.m. To learn more about these performances, as well as the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, Curtis New Music Ensemble concerts, Curtis Recital Series, and more, visit curtis.edu/calendar.

TICKETS
Single tickets for The Comet / Poppea start at $26 and can be purchased at curtis.edu. The flexible Choose Your Own subscription option offers 25% off ticket prices when purchasing tickets to two or more performances. To order a subscription, visit curtis.edu/subscribe, call (215) 893-7902, or email tickets@curtis.edu.

The Comet / Poppea                       Curtis Opera Theatre

Friday, November 1, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 2, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 3, 2024 at 2:00 p.m.
23rd Street Armory, 22 South 23rd Street, Philadelphia

George Lewis, music                                    The Comet
Douglas Kearney, libretto
Adapted from the W.E.B. Du Bois short story The Comet

Claudio Monteverdi, music              L’incoronazione di Poppea
Giovanni Francesco Busenello, libretto

CAST

*Guest-artist original cast | **Alumni guest artist original cast

Marc Lowenstein, conductor
Yuval Sharon, stage director
Luther H. Lewis III, assistant director
Curtis Symphony Orchestra

The Comet will be performed in English with English supertitles.

L’incoronazione di Poppea will be performed in Italian with English supertitles.

Philanthropic Support for Curtis’ 2024–25 Season
Curtis’ Centennial Season is made possible through the support of Derek and Sissela Bok, the Mary Louise Curtis Bok Foundation, Deborah M. Fretz, Charles C. Freyer and Judith Durkin Freyer, Mignon and Jim Groch, Rita E. Hauser, Lisa and Gie Liem, Bob and Caro Rock, and Mark and Robin Rubenstein.

Mainstage productions were financed in part by a grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development.

Curtis Institute of Music receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Curtis Opera Theatre is generously supported by the Ernestine Bacon Cairns Trust, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, and the Wyncote Foundation.

Anthony Roth Costanzo’s residency is generously underwritten by Charles C. Freyer and Judith Durkin Freyer.

Curtis Opera Theatre
Through innovative productions and extraordinary musicianship, the promising young artists of Curtis Opera Theatre work alongside renowned conductors, directors, and designers to present audiences with fresh and compelling performances from across the operatic repertoire. Under the visionary leadership of Eric Owens and Miloš Repický, Curtis’s voice and opera students are cast regularly throughout the season, providing a unique level of performance experience to draw upon throughout their careers with top opera companies across the United States and Europe, including La Scala, Covent Garden, the Vienna Staatsoper, Houston Grand Opera, the San Francisco Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera.

About Curtis Institute of Music
At Curtis, the world’s great young musicians develop into exceptional artists, creators, and innovators. With a tuition-free foundation, Curtis is a unique environment for teaching and learning. A small school by design, students realize their artistic potential through intensive, individualized study with the most renowned, sought-after faculty. Animated by a learn-by-doing philosophy, Curtis students share their music with audiences through more than 100 performances each year, including solo and chamber recitals, orchestral concerts, and opera—all free or at an affordable cost—offering audiences unique opportunities to participate in pivotal moments in these young musicians’ careers. Curtis students experience a close connection to the most renowned artists and organizations in classical music, as well as innovative initiatives that integrate new technologies and encourage entrepreneurship—all within a historic campus in the heart of culturally rich Philadelphia. In this diverse, collaborative community, Curtis’s extraordinary artists challenge, support, and inspire one another—continuing an unparalleled 100-year legacy of musicians who have led, and will lead, classical music into a thriving, equitable, and multidimensional future. Learn more at curtis.edu.

Photo Credits: 1.) Nardus Williams and Anthony Roth Costanzo (L to R) in The Comet / Poppea (2024), performance documentation from the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. Image by Austin Richey, courtesy MOCA and The Industry. 2.) Cedric Berry (Courtesy of Artist). 3.) Kylie Kreucher (Nichole MCH Photography). 4.) Jeysla Rosario-Santos (Nichole MCH Photography. 5.) Samuel Higgins (Nichole MCH Photography). 6.) Amanda Lynn Bottoms (Courtesy of L2 Artists). 7.) Nikan Ingabire Kanate (Nichole MCH Photography). 8.) Joelle Lamarre (Eddie Lamarre). 9.) Evan Gray (Nichole MCH Photography). 10.) Davóne Tines in The Comet / Poppea (2024), performance documentation from the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. Image by Elon Schoenholz, courtesy MOCA and The Industry.