DEAC instructor, Renee Smith, has received the opportunity to perform with the prestigious Pittsburgh Opera yet again this year. She has been given the opportunity to work with San Diego choreographer, John Malashock, in The Pearl Fishers. Due to this exciting opportunity, she will be out of the studio October 24th, 26th, 31st and November 9th. This allows DEAC to bring in several guest artists to ensure that our students are receiving training from a variety of the city’s top notch dance educators. Our guest teaching artist’s bios will be displayed on the DEAC news board upon each artists arrival.
Details about The Pearl Fishers:
Premiering 12 years before Carmen, Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers is a spellbinding, lyrical gem in its own right. Its very famous duet “La fond au temple saint” underscores the bond at the heart of the conflict between pearl fishers Zurga and Nadir: both are in love with the priestess Leïla. Grand choral passages and exotic dance sequences make it an intoxicating spectacle, in a production designed by Zandra Rhodes, internationally-renowned fashion designer.
Former Resident Artists Sean Panikkar and Craig Verm (both in The Grapes of Wrath, 2008), return as Nadir and Zurga, alongside soprano Leah Partridge as Leila and Andrew Gangestad as Nourabad, both in their Pittsburgh Opera debuts. Andrew Sinclair, from Royal Opera House Covent Garden, directs; Music Director Antony Walker conducts