Louis Andriessen: 
Theatre of the World

The live recording of the world premiere of Louis Andriessen's Theatre of the World, performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2016, with conductor Reinbert de Leeuw and staged by director Pierre Audi, is available now!

The LA Phil-commissioned multi-media work, made possible with generous support from the Lenore S. and Bernard A. Greenberg Fund, features a libretto by Helmut Krausser and takes the audience on a journey which depicts German Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher as he searches for a unified theory of natural and unnatural phenomena.

The acclaimed world premiere of Theatre of the World incorporated new video artwork from renowned stop-motion animators the Quay Brothers. The cast included Leigh Melrose as Kircher; Lindsey Kesselman as a boy who leads Kircher and his patron Pope Innocenzo XI, played by Marcel Beekman, on their journey; Steven van Watermeulen as Kircher's publisher Janssonius; Mattijs van de Woerd as the hangman Carnifex; and Cristina Zavalloni as Sor Juana.

Featured Artists:

Los Angeles Philharmonic
Reinbert de Leeuw, conductor

Music by Louis Andriessen
Libretto by Hemut Krausser

Leigh Melrose, baritone
Lindsay Kesseman, soprano
Marcel Beckman, tenor
Cristina Zavalloni, mezzo-soprano 

Released on September 29, 2017.
Read the LA Phil press release.

Theatre of the World, Andriessen's fifth opera and eighth Nonesuch recording, is available at these destinations: