Patrice Chereau was known to the french at a young age as a theater prodigy who began his professional carreer at 19. He went on to become a critically acclaimed opera director who has also worked in theater and films. Paula Zahn interviews the prolific director making his U.S. directorial debut with From the House of the Dead by Leo Janacek.
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Michael Scarola Says:
Good afternoon. I just had the opportunity to watch Paula Zahn’s excellent interview with director Patrice Chéreau, from this past Sunday’s edition of SundayArts Profile (November 8, 2009). Mr. Chéreau makes his Metropolitan Opera debut with the New Production of Leos Janácek’s From the House of the Dead this evening, Thursday, November 11, 2009.
At the beginning of the interview Ms. Zahn states that “So, From the House of the Dead is not performed very often; it’s an unconventional opera. What are the kinds of risks involved in bringing an opera here to the United States, this of course is its debut in this country.”
Actually, this is incorrect. From the House of the Dead was given its American stage premiere on Tuesday Evening, August 28, 1990 by the New York City Opera in a production that featured Harlan Foss, John Absalom, Jon Garrison, John Lankston, Eugene Perry and Kevin Short in the lead roles. The production was directed by Rhoda Levine and was conducted by Christopher Keene. I was actually at the opening night of this production back in 1990.
All of the above information was from John Rockwell’s New York Times review of the opera which was published on Thursday, August 30, 1990 and can be found online at: http://www.nytimes.com/1990/08/30/arts/review-opera-american-premiere-of-janacek-s-house-of-the-dead.html.
I hope this information is helpful. Thank you for SundayArts. It is a wonderful program I look forward to each weekend.
Best regards,
Michael Scarola
Stage Director
NYC