On this week’s Saturday at the Opera, Los Angeles Opera presents the US premiere of Austrian composer Franz Schreker's rarely staged early 20th-century masterpiece, The Stigmatized (Die Gezeichneten). This production is part of LA Opera's Recovered Voices project, which highlights works by the lost generation of composers affected by the Holocaust. In Schreker's case, the rise of the Nazi Party brought an end to performances of his works and led, though indirectly, to his death in 1934 in Berlin.

The Stigmatized is the first opera by Franz Schreker (1878-1934) ever to be staged in America. Set in three acts, on the composer’s own libretto, it is built on the timeless problem of people who fall victim to their obsessions. In this production, tenor Robert Brubaker stars as Alviano, a deformed nobleman who has created an idyllic island as an escape from his tortured existence. A beautiful painter, Carlotta (soprano Anja Kampe), mistakes her pity for Alviano for love. She then turns to a handsome rival, Tamare (baritone Martin Gantner), with disastrous results.

James Conlon, who has been at the forefront of reviving music suppressed by the Nazis, conducts this production.

The Cast:

Alviano Salvago: Robert Brubaker

Carlotta Nardi: Anja Kampe          

Count Andrea Vitelozzo Tamare: Martin Gantner

Lodovico Nardi: Wolfgang Schöne

Duke Antoniotto Adorno: James Johnson

Guidobald Usodimare: Joel Sorensen

Menaldo Negroni: Beau Gibson

Micheletto Cibo: Hung Yun

Julian Pinelli: Ben Wager

Gonsalvo: Eugene Brancoveanu

Pietro: Keith Jameson

Conductor: James Conlon

Director: Ian Judge