Acis and Galatea
George Frideric Handel, arr. by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Staged and choreographed by Mark Morris
Creative Team
Adrianne Lobel, Scenic Designer
Adrianne Lobel began working with Mark Morris in 1986 on Nixon in China. Since then she has designed his L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, The Hard Nut, The Marriage of Figaro, Orfeo ed Euridice, Platée, and King Arthur. As a stage designer she has worked in opera, dance, Broadway, Off Broadway, and regional theater in America and in Europe for over 30 years. Some highlights (other than working with Morris) include An American Tragedy at The Met, The Magic Flute at Glyndebourne, Passion and A Year with Frog and Toad on Broadway, and Così fan tutte and The Marriage of Figaro, directed by Peter Sellars, at Pepsico Summerfare. She has been nominated for many awards and has won the Obie, the Lucille Lortel, The Jefferson, and Long Wharf's prestigious Murphy Award. For the last ten years she has been segueing into life as a painter. Both her theater and her painting work can be viewed at adriannelobel.com. She would like to dedicate her work on this production to the late great Martin Pakledinaz.
Isaac Mizrahi, Costume Designer
Isaac Mizrahi has been a leader in the fashion industry for almost 30 years. He is the recipient of many accolades including four Council of Fashion Designers of America awards. He was the subject and co-creator of Unzipped, a documentary following the making of his fall 1994 ready-to-wear collection. Mr. Mizrahi is currently the head judge on the television series Project Runway: All Stars. In September 2012, Mizrahi launched the Isaac Mizrahi New York collection, available at better department stores nationwide. Previously, in December 2009, he launched his lifestyle collection, Isaac Mizrahi Live!, on QVC. In addition to designing for the luxury and mass markets, Mizrahi has designed costumes for the Mark Morris Dance Group, the Metropolitan Opera, American Ballet Theater, San Francisco Ballet, and the Opera Theater of St. Louis.
Mr. Mizrahi has collaborated with Mark Morris in 15 productions since 1992, including Platée, Falling Down Stairs, Orfeo ed Euridice, Beaux for San Francisco Ballet, Gong for American Ballet Theatre, and A Choral Fantasy.
Michael Chybowski, Lighting Designer
Michael Chybowski has designed the lighting for a wide range of projects and venues. His work has ranged from commercial theater, for the Pulitzer Prize winning production of Wit, to opera productions such as Seattle Opera’s Parsifal, to a 10-year collaboration with performance artist Laurie Anderson. His designs include The Lieutenant of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh, Moby Dick and Other Stories with Laurie Anderson, Andre Belgrader's production of Endgame (BAM Harvey), Cymbeline, Hair, Hamlet (New York Shakespeare Festival), The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, and Isaac Mizrahi's directorial debut of A Little Night Music at Opera Theatre of St. Louis. He received an American Theatre Wing design award for his lighting of Cymbeline and Wit, a Lucille Lortel award for The Grey Zone by Tim Blake Nelson, and a 1999 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence.
Mr. Chybowski has designed over 40 pieces for the Mark Morris Dance Group, including Four Saints in Three Acts for English National Opera and the films Dido and Aeneas and Falling Down Stairs. Recent works for MMDG include A Wooden Tree, Crosswalk, and Jenn and Spencer, all of which premiered in the 2012-2013 season. He has also designed for several of Morris’ works set on other companies, most recently Beaux for San Francisco Ballet and Kammermusik No. 3 for Pacific Northwest Ballet.
Mark Morris, Director and Choreographer
Mark Morris was born on August 29, 1956 in Seattle, Washington, where he studied with Verla Flowers and Perry Brunson. In the early years of his career, he performed with the companies of Lar Lubovitch, Hannah Kahn, Laura Dean, Eliot Feld, and the Koleda Balkan Dance Ensemble. He formed the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG) in 1980 and has since created close to 150 works for the company. From 1988 to 1991 he was the Director of Dance at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, the national opera house of Belgium. In 1990 he founded the White Oak Dance Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov. Much in demand as a ballet choreographer, Mr. Morris has created eighteen ballets since 1986, including eight works for San Francisco Ballet, and his work is in the repertory of companies worldwide.
Mr. Morris has been described as "undeviating in his devotion to music" (The New Yorker). He has conducted performances for the Mark Morris Dance Group since 2006 and served as music director of the 2013 Ojai Music Festival. He has also worked extensively in opera, directing and choreographing at the Metropolitan Opera and The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, among others. Acis and Galatea marks his 20th opera to date.
Nicholas McGegan, Conductor - Berkeley, Boston, New York, Urbana-Champaign, New Haven
As he embarks on his fourth decade on the podium, Nicholas McGegan, hailed as “one of the finest baroque conductors of his generation” (London Independent), is increasingly recognized for his probing and revelatory explorations of music of all periods. He has been music director of Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra for 27 years, and was Artistic Director of the International Handel Festival Göttingen for 20 years (1991–2011). Beginning in the 2013-14 season he becomes Principal Guest Conductor of the Pasadena Symphony.
His approach to period style — intelligent, infused with joy and never dogmatic — has led to appearances with major orchestras, including: the New York, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong Philharmonics; the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Toronto and Sydney Symphonies; the Cleveland and the Philadelphia Orchestras; and the Northern Sinfonia and Scottish Chamber Orchestra, where his programs often mingle Baroque with later works. He is also at home in opera houses, having conducted companies including Covent Garden, San Francisco, Santa Fe and Washington.
English-born Mr. McGegan was educated at Cambridge and Oxford. He was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) “for services to music overseas.” Other awards include the Halle Handel Prize; the Order of Merit of the State of Lower Saxony (Germany); the Medal of Honour of the City of Göttingen, and a declaration of Nicholas McGegan Day by the Mayor of San Francisco in recognition of his work with Philharmonia Baroque.
His extensive discography includes five recent releases on Philharmonia Baroque’s label, Philharmonia Baroque Productions (PBP), including Brahms’ Serenades; Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été and Handel arias with Lorraine Hunt Lieberson; Haydn’s Symphonies nos. 88, 101 and 104 (nominated for a GRAMMY® Award); Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and other concerti with violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock, and Handel’s Atalanta featuring soprano Dominique Labelle.
Read more about Nicholas McGegan.
Colin Fowler, Conductor - Kansas City
Colin Fowler began his musical study at the age of 5 in Kansas City, Kansas, and went on to study at the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy. He continued his education at The Juilliard School, where he received his Bachelor of Music degree in 2003 and his Master of Music degree in 2005. While at Juilliard, he studied piano with Abbey Simon, organ with Gerre Hancock and Paul Jacobs, and harpsichord with Lionel Party.
A versatile musician, Fowler works in many arenas of the music scene in NYC. He is a veteran of three Broadway shows, most recently performing in the Tony Award winning musical Jersey Boys. A seasoned church musician, Fowler has led choirs and services at Calvary Baptist Church, Trinity Wall Street, and is currently the organist at Marble Collegiate Church on Fifth Avenue. He also leads services and concerts at Park Avenue Synagogue, where he has served as Music Director since 2012. As a classical soloist and collaborative artist, he has performed and recorded with world renowned musicians and ensembles, including Deborah Voigt, the American Brass Quintet, James Galway, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
His collaboration with MMDG began in 2005 during the creation of Mozart Dances. Since then, he has performed over 35 pieces with the company on most every keyboard instrument possible, including the harmonium and toy piano. Under the artistic direction of Mark Morris, Fowler was a featured musician at the 2013 Ojai Music Festival, performing in six different concerts. He was notably featured on the closing day of the festival performing Lou Harrison's Concerto for Organ and Percussion and Concerto for Piano and Javanese Gamelan, performances the Wall Street Journal praised as 'hypnotic' and 'heroic'. He made his MMDG conducting debut in 2013 leading Anton Nel and The Knights performing Mozart Dances. Hailed by the New York Times as 'invaluable' and 'central to Morris' music', he was appointed MMDG's music director in 2013.