VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert enters the new year with Kurt Weill’s STREET SCENE, an unblinking look at tenement life in New York City circa 1946, based on Elmer Rice’s play of the same name, with lyrics by Langston Hughes.This production marks the Canadian Premiere of Weill’s landmark American Opera and continues the company’s exploration of operatic social comment in the 20th Century.

Weill’s output continues to defy categorization. He was a student of Busoni and Humperdinck in Berlin; one of his greatest songs (J’attends un navire) was used by the French resistance and he heartily embraced Broadway, leading his European fans to accuse him of selling out to the almighty dollar. Weill himself summed his philosophy up best in a New York Sun interview from 1940: “I have never acknowledged the difference between ‘serious’ music and ‘light’ music. There is only good music and bad music. Schönberg has said he is writing for a time 50 years after his death. But the great classical composers wrote for their contemporary audiences. They wanted those who heard their music to understand it, and they did. For myself, I write for today, I don’t give a damn about writing for posterity.”

STREET SCENE will be presented at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts on February 1, 2015 at 2:30 pm with Robert Cooper, C.M. conducting the orchestra, cast and chorus. STREET SCENE stars Monica Whicher as the adulterous Anna Maurrant, Jennifer Taverner as her idealistic daughter Rose and Colin Ainsworth as Sam, Rose’s suitor. Diego Catala will be heard as the murderous Frank Maurrant. Weill’s Manhattan street is home to the American melting pot of nationalities and attitudes and OIC’s denizens include: Leigh-Ann Allen, Michelle Garlough, Anna Belikova, Janaka Welihinda, Keenan Viau, Domenico Sanfilippo, Gregory Finney, Sean Catheroy, Austin Larusson, Edward Larocque, and Fabian Arciniegas.

Single tickets are available from the St. Lawrence Centre’s Box Office, 27 Front St. East, by phone – 416-366-7723 or 1-800-708-6754 – or online at www.stlc.com. We would like to offer you a 30% discount by using the code SCENE30. As well, we offer you as well a 30% discount for groups of 20 persons or over to any of our Mikado performances. For information, call the St. Lawrence Centre at 416-366-7723, 1–800-708-7654 or online at www.stlc.com. The theatre is wheelchair accessible and close to public transit and municipal parking. All performances are on Sunday afternoons at the St. Lawrence Centre at 2:30pm.