“Focusing on the seldom-trod byways of 18th-century French opera, conductor Ryan Brown’s company Opera Lafayette has achieved a popularity uncommon for such a niche ensemble....And this year they’re receiving the rare honor of performing Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny’s forgotten 1762 work, ‘Le Roi et le Fermier’ (‘The King and the Farmer’), at the Opera Royal in Versailles on Feb. 5 and 6....Written in a style that straddles the waning late-Baroque and the then-nascent Classical period, the graceful and melodically generous score of “Le Roi” often resembles an improbable mix of Rameau and Mozart (with a wonderfully inventive storm scene to close Act One).

“In Versailles, Opera Lafayette will be using recently discovered, original backdrops from a 1780 production of ‘Le Roi’ at the Theatre de la Reine, in which Marie Antoinette played the shepherdess, Jenny. Brown drew crisp, spirited playing from his period-instrument orchestra, and...allowed Monsigny’s piquant orchestration to register splendidly.” --The Washington Post

“The early music scene in our region -- the early music scene, period -- is particularly fortunate to have Opera Lafayette as a major player. The D.C-based company has been reviving neglected repertoire since 1995, and doing so with remarkable style. The latest discovery is Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny's ‘Le Roi at le fermier.’

“‘Le Roi et le fermier’ abounds in felicitous melodies that settle easily into the ear, and they are enhanced by remarkably colorful orchestration....it is easy to imagine how charmed Marie-Antionette would be by Monsigny's music. The score includes, most notably, a storm scene that inspires vivid writing; on its own terms, it can hold its own against the stormy passages Rossini, Weber and Verdi would compose years later....Company founder/artistic director Ryan Brown conducted with obvious affection, keen interest in subtleties of the scoring, and an effective pulse that kept things flowing nicely.” --The Baltimore Sun

See Le Roi et le fermier:
January 26 - Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater, New York, NY
February 4 and 5 - Opéra Royal, Château de Versailles, France
https://www.boxofficetickets.com/go/event?id=143915&webWrapNC=1

Le Roi et le fermier (1762)
by Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny
& Michel-Jean Sedaine

Ryan Brown, conductor
Opera Lafayette

Modern Premiere of an 18th-century Operatic Gem

Le Roi et le fermier premiered at the Opera Comique in Paris in 1762 and was extensively performed in Paris and Vienna in the late 18th century, and even taken up and performed by Marie Antoinette and her troupe of seigneurs at Versailles. Now Le Roi et le fermier has been newly restored by Ryan Brown to be presented to modern audiences for the first time in Washington DC and New York City, before traveling to France, where the production will return to Versailles and be performed with the original stage sets used by Marie Antoinette.

As the popularity and taste for the musical aesthetics of the French court began to fade in the middle of the 18th century, a new, dynamic form of French musical theater was being born in the independent (not royally subsidized) theaters of Paris. In the 1750's, 60's, and 70's, the opéra-comiques of Philidor, Monsigny, and Gretry gave France its own form of popular opera, with characters taken from daily life and dramatic situations that touched the hearts of common people. The works required a modern orchestra, without continuo section, a smaller cast, no chorus and no ballet. However, the aspiration for dramatic verisimilitude and the heightened sentimentality of these works also filtered up to the larger serious works of Gluck which were translated or written for productions at the Académie Française. Conversely, the French theater performing opéra-comique in Vienna was a keen influence on the operas of Mozart.


See Le Roi et le fermier:

January 21 - Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, Washington, D.C.
January 26 - Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater, New York, NY
February 4 and 5 - Opéra Royal, Château de Versailles, France
https://www.boxofficetickets.com/go/event?id=143915&webWrapNC=1

Conductor Ryan Brown to be Honored for Promotion of French Artistic Heritage


photo credit: Stan Barouh

La Médaille d’Or du Rayonnement Culturel, awarded by La Renaissance Française, recognizes persons who have rendered distinguished service in the following fields: French language, literature, fine arts, science and technology, artisans, promotion and visibility of the French patrimony (including traditions and artistic heritage).

The medal will be presented by François Delattre, Ambassador of France to the United States, at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., Spring of 2012.

As Conductor and Artistic Director of Opera Lafayette, Ryan Brown has become a leading figure in the revival of 17th and 18th-century French opera in America.
Click here for more information about Ryan Brown.

COMING THIS MONTH!
“Le Roi et le fermier” by Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny (modern world premiere)
Opera Lafayette
Ryan Brown, conductor

January 21 - Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, Washington, D.C.
January 26 - Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater, New York, NY
February 4 and 5 - Opéra Royal, Château de Versailles, France
https://www.boxofficetickets.com/go/event?id=143915&webWrapNC=1

Darren Perry, baritone “Sancho Pança”
Elizabeth Calleo, soprano “Thérèse (his wife) / Une Gouvernante”
Karim Sulayman, tenor “Lope Tocho / Le Fermier / Un Barbier”
Meghan McCall, soprano “Juliette / La Bergère / Une Paysanne”
Tony Boutté, tenor “Le Docteur/Don Crispinos/Le Tailleur”
Eric Christopher Black, baritone “Torillos / Le Procureur”
Andrew Sauvageau, baritone “Un Paysan”

As the popularity and taste for the musical aesthetics of the French court began to fade in the middle of the 18th century, a new, dynamic form of French musical theater was being born in the independent (not royally subsidized) theaters of Paris. In the 1750's, 60's, and 70's, the opéra-comiques of Philidor, Monsigny, and Gretry gave France its own form of popular opera, with characters taken from daily life and dramatic situations that touched the hearts of common people. The works required a modern orchestra, without continuo section, a smaller cast, no chorus and no ballet. However, the aspiration for dramatic verisimilitude and the heightened sentimentality of these works also filtered up to the larger serious works of Gluck which were translated or written for productions at the Académie Française. Conversely, the French theater performing opéra-comique in Vienna was a keen influence on the operas of Mozart.

Sancho Pança, gouverneur dans l’isle de Barataria derives from Cervantes’s famous novel Don Quijote, covering Sancho Panza’s adventures as governor of a fictitious island on which a succession of characters plot to cure him of his delusions of grandeur.

Sample two tracks

Naxos 8.660274

“...a sparkle of shining surfaces.” --The Washington Post

Request a review copy: click here and include your shipping address

Vive la République!
The Great French Opera Tradition

Opera Lafayette
Ryan Brown, conductor

French opera includes some of the best operatic works ever written. To celebrate ‘La Fête Nationale,’ Naxos has compiled many of these important works for your convenience. Featuring outstanding artists such as Plácido Domingo, Valery Gergiev, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Jean-Paul Fouchécourt, Ryan Brown and Laurent Petitgirard; many of these recordings received prestigious accolades from Diapason, Le Monde de la Musique and MusicWeb International and the Penguin Guide.

GLUCK
Orphée et Euridice
“..textures sparklingly clear.” --Penguin Guide Key Recording

LULLY
The Tragedy of Armide
“...Ryan Brown excels at period style...” --Opera News

MONSIGNY
Le Déserteur
“...quite delightful.” --Opera News

RAMEAU
Operatic Arias
“A revealing disc...” --Gramophone

REBEL & FRANCŒUR
Zélindor, roi des Sylphes
“...graceful, stylistically, sure touch...” --Opera News

SACCHINI
Oedipe à Colone
“...one of the more thrilling ‘finds’...” --MusicWeb International

VISIT Naxos for the recordings

HEAR Ryan Brown and Opera Lafayette:

MONSIGNY Le Roi et le fermier (modern world premiere)
1/21/12 Terrace Theater, Washington D.C.
1/26/12 Rose Theater, New York
2/4 & 2/5/12 Opéra Royal, Château de Versailles, France
https://www.boxofficetickets.com/go/event?id=143915&webWrapNC=1

MUSIC REVIEW
Unearthing A Charmer Predating Bastille Day
By ANTHONY TOMMASINI
Published: February 11, 2011

Ryan Brown, conductor
Marguerite Krull, mezzo-soprano
Photo credit: Ari Mintz, The New York Times

Ryan Brown, conductor
Catherine Turocy, director
Douglas Williams, bass-baritone
Opera Lafayette Orchestra and Chorus

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Read more: Live preview: Le Magnifique at the Rose Theater - Classical & Opera - Time Out New York

Opera Lafayette plies its skills in Grétry’s nascent com-rom at Columbus Circle. David Shengold

Marguerite Krull
Photograph: Kingmond Young

Rose Theater (at Frederick P. Rose Hall); Wed 9

Washington, D.C.–based French Baroque troupe Opera Lafayette has racked up an impressive discography on Naxos—they’ve tackled Lully, Gluck, Monsigny, Philidor, Rameau and others—and an equally imposing list of concert and opera performances under Ryan Brown, its committed, accomplished founder and music director. The company’s performance of Gluck’s Armide at Lincoln Center’s relatively intimate Rose Theater proved one of last year’s freshest, most compelling events. Now, Opera Lafayette returns with a still greater rarity: the modern-world premiere of André Grétry’s 1773 com-rom (that’s comédie romantique), Le Magnifique.

Most people know this composer only through Tchaikovsky’s sampling of a nostalgic Grétry aria for texture in his own Queen of Spades. Tremendously popular in his day, Grétry helped to establish the genre of opéra comique, the great-granddaddy of the musical comedy. Le Magnifique derives from Boccaccio, its romantic intrigues taking place in a rather fantastical medieval Florence.

Opera Lafayette’s concert staging, sung in French with English narration by baritone Randall Scarlata, employs the choreographic talents of period-dance expert Catherine Turocy—a must, since Grétry’s score is uncommonly linked to aspects of stage movement. Leading the young, promising cast are the Swiss tenor Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, making his New York debut, and Marguerite Krull, a delightful, stylish vocalist familiar from Caramoor and Glimmerglass, but heard far too little hereabouts.

"Monsigny’s music is striking for its complete incorporation of musical styles that attained popularity outside of France while Parisians were debating the relative merits of Rameau and Lully. There is a substantial overture, which sounds like it might have been composed by the young Haydn.  The style of most of the arias is closer to Gluck."
--John Wall, NewOlde.com

May 3, 2010