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Before realizing a life long dream of staging operas, Laurence Dale, had
gained a considerable international reputation as a lyric tenor, which took
him to many of the world’s most important theatres, collaborating with many
of the most prestigious conductors and stage directors.
With the turn of the century, he decided to turn his attention to that
ambition of directing operas. Having created the rôle of Don José in Peter
Brook’s famous La Tragédie de Carmen in 1981 at the Bouffes du Nord, Paris,
it was to him that Peter Brook turned to re-direct the production for the
Opera de Bordeaux and further performances on tour.
Immediately afterwards he was invited to direct Lehar’s “Der Zarewitsch” for
the Operette Festival, Bad Ischl and Haydn’s “l’Incontro Improvviso” for the
Haydn Festival Eisenstadt and EXPO 2000,Hannover.
These productions received unanimous praise from the viennese press, which
led to Laurence Dale being re-invited at Bad Ischl, now with Salzburg to
mount Lehar’s “Land of Smiles”. In2001, he conceived prepared the Off
Broadway musical “MUSICA!”, which alas, following the disaster of September
the 11th was abandoned. However, his production of Thomas Adès’ “Powder Her
Face”, the french premiere at Nantes was as controversial as its subject
matter! In 2002, he mounted two operas in New York’s Henry Street Opera;
“Les Malheurs d’Orphée” by Milhaud and Purcell’s ”Dido and Aeneas“ which
played to sold out houses, as did “Land of Smiles” in Salzburg for 34
performances! In 2003 another Lehar operetta was presented in Bad Ischl,
“The Count of Luxemburg” also presented at Innsbruck. His work on “L’Opera
Seria” (Gassmann) with the Reisopera was a huge success, he has been
immediately re-invited to do La Belle Hélène.
During his season as the Artistic Director of l’Opéra Théâtre de Metz he
staged Britten’s “Turn of the Screw”, “Powder Her Face” and the “Land of
Smiles”, but when for the opening of the season “Les Jeux de Pouvoir”, he
mounted the twin productions of Auber’s “Gustave III” (the modern stage
premiere) and Verdi’s “Gustavo III” (the French premiere of the original
version of “Un Ballo in Maschera”, this thought-provoking project attracted
praise from national as well as international commentators. He completed
this unique season with Meyerbeer’s “Les Huguenots” for which the last
performance was accorded a standing ovation of at least 30 minutes!
About his recent production of Ariadne auf Naxos at the Opera de Monte-Carlo
Since 2001 when he was invited to take over from Rostropovich, Laurence Dale
has been responsible for the artistic direction of the the festival of
Evian: Les Escales Musicales.
Last update : 06/2005
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