DiCapo's production — which will present Picker's chamber version of the score — features mezzo Audrey Babcock and soprano Beverly Thiele alternating as Th_rse; baritones David Adam Moore and Zeffin Quinn Hollis as her lover Laurent; and tenors Brian Stucki and Peter Furlong as her cuckolded husband Camille. The company's general director, Michael Capasso, directs the staging; sets are by John Farrell, costumes by Angela Huff and lighting by Susan Roth. Steven Osgood, artistic director of American Opera Projects, conducts.
Th_rse Raquin was premiered by Dallas Opera in 2001; the chamber version of the work debuted in London in 2006.
Tobias Picker began composing at age eight and went on to study at the Manhattan School of Music, the Juilliard School and Princeton University. In 1996, Santa Fe Opera premiered his first stage work, Emmeline, which has been produced several times since by other American companies. His most recent major score, An American Tragedy, was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, where it received its premiere in 2005.
Besides four operas, Picker's catalogue also includes three symphonies, three piano concertos, concertos for violin, viola, cello and oboe, songs and chamber music.
There will be six performances of Th_rse Raquin through February 25.
