Jacaranda brings opera star, Julia Migenes to sing "Pierrot Lunaire" Feb.23

Jacaranda’s next concert in Santa Monica, CA “Thresholds: The Scandals of 1912-13,” brings audiences great music from the most concentrated period of innovation in music history.

On Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013 at 8 pm, at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica, Jacaranda features internationally recognzied guest stars and a vibrant program, including Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, along with radical chamber music by Anton Webern and Alban Berg.

This exciting concert features Julia Migenes, star of opera and concert stage, performing a rarely heard English translation of “Pierrot.” Also of note, are pianists Danny Holt and Steven Vanhauwaert - 4handsLA - performing the first published piano version of “The Rite.”

“Programming these works together in one concert allows for an unprecedented exploration of the new ideas that shocked audiences one hundred years ago,” says Patrick Scott, Jacaranda’s Artistic Director.

Celebrated opera and concert star, Julia Migenes, performs Schoenberg's music in English, the language of the audience, as the composer had wished. Migenes performing this version of Pierre Lunaire, with her signature intensity and charisma, should not be missed. Migenes has previously performed the work in German on the East Coast and in Switzerland.

“The impact of the poems in English…allows…the original shock, as well as their very weird beauty,” says Jacaranda Music Director and conductor of “Pierrot,” Mark Alan Hilt.

MORE ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Julia Mignes is one of the most celebrated and multi-talented singing actresses of our age. A opera star, with over 20 Grammy award winning recordings, and an accomplished dancer, and recitalist, this dynamic artist has also produced and created cutting-edge original musical shows.

Julia Migenes found her calling as a child performer in “Madame Butterfly.” Leonard Bernstein soon tapped her to be a soloist in his “Young People’s Concerts” and she went on to create the juvenile role of Hodel in the original Broadway production of “Fiddler of the Roof.” At the Metropolitan Opera she caused a sensation in the staggeringly difficult title role in Berg’s “Lulu,” as a last minute substitute for a live PBS television broadcast.

Her command of “Salome” in a production directed and choreographed by Maurice Bèjart, led to co-staring as Carmen in the acclaimed film of Bizet’s opera with Placido Domingo. The soundtrack won her a Grammy and has been followed by more than 20 CDs.

Holt and Vanhauwaert the two pianists of of 4handsLA, made their debut playing “The Rite of Spring” for Jacaranda in April 2009. The performance “blazed like a comet through the hall,” reported the Huffington Post. The pair’s forthcoming debut CD features the Stravinsky, as well as other music from Paris by Ravel, Satie, Casella and Poulenc.

Also performing on the program are some of the most accomplished artists in Los Angeles: Guillaume Sutre and Moves Pogossian, violins; Andrew McIntosh, viola; Timothy Loo, cello; Mark Robson, piano; Donald Foster, clarinet; Pamela Vliek-Martchev, flute; and Risa Larson, soprano.

Jacaranda’s Feb. 23 concert, "Thresholds: The Scandals of 1912-13,” will be held at 8 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica, 1220 Second St., Santa Monica, CA 90401. Concert tickets, $40 general; $20 students: www. jacarandamusic.org. Information: (213) 483-0216.

Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013 at 8 pm – “Thresholds: The Scandals of 1912-13”

Anton Webern

Six Bagatelles Op. 9 (1911-13) 

Three Pieces for String Quartet and Soprano (1913) 


Alban Berg
Four Pieces Op.5 (1913) 


Igor Stravinsky
The Rite of Spring for piano 4-hands (1913)

Arnold Schoenberg 

Pierrot Lunaire (1912)