Alternate Title BAM Opera: Atys: Tragédie Lyrique in a Prologue and Five Acts
Premiere US Premiere
Production Language French
Country of Origin France
Description The 1989 production of Lully’s Atys—which was the first BAM appearance of William Christie and his ensemble, Les Arts Florissants—inaugurated a long and fruitful relationship between the conductor and BAM. In 2011, Christie recalled first working with BAM, and his initial meeting with Harvey Lichtenstein: “Working with Peter Brook, Pina Bausch, or Robert Wilson, and now taking on a 17th-century French Baroque opera, was risk-taking, but Harvey knew his public and he knew about creating an audience for what he liked. ‘Look,’ Harvey said, ‘we can’t provide an orchestra, and we don’t have a standing choir. What we can provide is intelligence, creative programming, we can provide an audience, and we can provide a venue.’ And that was the beginning of a BAM career for me and for my ensemble, Les Arts Florissants.”
Identifier 1989s.00455
