Dear Friends:

Cal Performances and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra are delighted to be reunited with the Mark Morris Dance Group, and to co-present the American premiere of Mark Morris's King Arthur. This collaboration represents the continuation of a series of memorable productions of vital works by three major Baroque composers: George Frideric Handel, Jean-Philippe Rameau and Henry Purcell.

Cal Performances audiences have been particularly fortunate to enjoy the incomparable grace and poignancy of Mark Morris's staging of Handel's L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, the fantasy of Rameau's comic opera, Platée, and the tenderness of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. In each case, the performances here have benefited from the participation of America's finest period-instrument orchestra, making for unforgettable experiences for audience members and performers alike.

Cal Performances' longstanding relationship with the Mark Morris Dance Group has made it possible for our audiences to witness the first American stagings of some of Morris's major dances, including Platée and Getrude Stein and Virgil Thomson's Four Saints in Three Acts. Cal Performances is pleased to be co-commissioners of this outstanding new work with English National Opera and to present King Arthur's American premiere with the original ENO cast.

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra's members have long believed that historically informed performance means more than playing music in the style in which it was written. It also means performing music with a passion, joy and vitality that provides a meaningful contemporary artistic experience for today's audience. It is an immense honor for PBO to co-present King Arthur for the enjoyment of Bay Area music lovers, and it gives us great pleasure to work again with conductor Jane Glover for the third time in as many years, direct from King Arthur's critically acclaimed June 2006 world premiere in London.

One reason these organizations—PBO, the Mark Morris Dance Group and Cal Performances—work so well together is that we all agree on one important point: in a production like this, it's all about the music. In King Arthur, Mark Morris has brilliantly chosen to place the music itself firmly at the center of his production. Composed in 1691 as a semi-opera with a libretto by celebrated English poet John Dryden, King Arthur was, from the date of its premiere, a popular success, and it remained in the operatic repertory well into the 18th century. The key to its success was Purcell's masterfully evocative music. In adapting the work for a modern audience, Mark Morris has intuitively chosen to excise the spoken dialogue and to rely instead on Purcell's memorable score to tell the story. Dryden's poetry can then be experienced in its most lyrical form, through his texts to Purcell's songs.

Ticketholders are invited to learn more about the history and making of King Arthur by joining us for two Sightlines events prior to the Tuesday, October 3, and Friday, October 6, performances, featuring conversations with Jane Glover and musicologist John Prescott, respectively. You are also welcome to join us for a roundtable discussion of the work of Chaucer, Purcell, Dryden and Morris on Friday, October 6, from 2 to 4 pm in Hertz Hall.

On behalf of Cal Performances and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, we thank you for your continuing support and hope that you'll join us for the American premiere engagement of Mark Morris's King Arthur.

Sincerely,

Robert Cole
Director, Cal Performances

Robert A. Birman
Executive Director, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra