News

Castleton Festival 2010: Press Release

New Production of Puccini’s Il Trittico and Staged Performances of Stravinsky’s L’histoire du soldat and De Falla’s Master Pedro’s Puppet Show All Led by Lorin Maazel to be Featured in the Second Castleton Festival, July 2-25

Festival to include revivals of Britten chamber operas The Turn of the Screw and The Beggar’s Opera

Four symphonic concerts to be performed by the Castleton Festival Orchestra
 

February 16, 2010 -- Artistic Directors Lorin Maazel and Dietlinde Turban-Maazel today announced that the second Castleton Festival will include a new production of Puccini’s Il Trittico that Maestro Maazel will conduct, his first performances of staged Puccini in the U.S. The festival will take place over four weekends at the Maazels’ Castleton Farms property in Rappahannock County, Virginia from Friday July 2 through Sunday July 25.

The Castleton Festival grew out of the Castleton residency program for young artists run by The Châteauville Foundation, founded by Lorin Maazel and his wife Dietlinde Turban-Maazel in 1997.  The Castleton Festival brings around 200 young artists including singers, conductors, instrumentalists, directors, costume designers and lighting designers to live on the property for six weeks to work with professional mentors and prepare the performances of the operas and concerts. 

In addition to four performances of all three one-act operas in Il Trittico (Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi), Maestro Maazel will also conduct the operas separately or in pairs during the festival (full schedule here).  He will also lead staged performances of Stravinsky’s L’histoire du soldat and De Falla’s Master Pedro’s Puppet Show as well as a revival of the Britten/John Gay chamber opera The Beggar’s Opera.  Timothy Myers, who was a Castleton Conducting Fellow during the 2009 festival, will return to lead three performances of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw.

All three opera productions and the staged Stravinsky and De Falla performances have been created especially for the Castleton stages by Castleton’s resident director, William Kerley, with sets and costumes designed by Nicholas Vaughan and lighting by Rie Ono.  The Beggar’s Opera is a revival of the 2008 Castleton Residency production and The Turn of the Screw is a revival of last year’s festival production.  The De Falla work, which is rarely presented as a fully staged piece, will feature puppets created and operated by Emily DeCola and Eric Wright from the New York-based Puppet Kitchen.

Four concerts featuring the Castleton Festival Orchestra, comprised of young professional musicians and advanced music conservatory students, will be held during the Festival.  Three concerts will be conducted by Maestro Maazel: an all-Italian program on Saturday, July 3; an all-French program on Saturday, July 10; and an all-Beethoven Festival finale concert on Sunday, July 25.  An all-American program will be presented on Friday, July 16 led by the young conductors selected for the Maazel Master Classes that are supported by Rolex as founding partner.  Maestro Maazel will conduct Gershwin’s An American in Paris at this concert.

Performances are held in the intimate 140-seat custom-built Theatre House which has an orchestra pit that holds 20 musicians, and a 400-seat Festival Tent that will be specially erected on the property.  This year’s tent is almost double the capacity of last year’s. 

The 2010 Castleton Festival will open on Friday, July 2 with a Gala performance of Il Trittico.

“Last year’s inaugural Castleton Festival was the thrilling realization of a dream and far exceeded our expectations,” said Maestro Maazel.  “Dietlinde and I look forward to welcoming this year’s Castleton Fellows to Virginia and we are delighted that a larger Festival tent means we can share the talents of these enthusiastic and talented young artists with more music lovers this year.”

In addition to the music and opera performances, Ms. Turban-Maazel has incorporated a range of community oriented activities into the Castleton Festival, including an open house, film screenings, art exhibitions and opportunities to showcase local produce.

“Our inspiration comes not only from the wonderful work of our young artists, but the warm and enthusiastic engagement of the entire community, that so quickly adopted the Festival as its own. The response from volunteers and patrons last year only affirmed our desire to build upon the success of the first festival,” said Ms. Turban-Maazel.