“One Hell of an Opera!” Jean-Paul Sartre’s groundbreaking play receives the operatic treatment!

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Chicago Opera Vanguard Presents the Chicago Premiere of No Exit by Boston Conservatory Composer Andy Vores

(September 20, 2009 --- Chicago , IL ) Chicago Opera Vanguard, in partnership with Center on Halsted and Praxis Productions, kicks off its 2009/2010 Season with the Chicago premiere of NO EXIT by Boston composer Andy Vores. Based on Jean-Paul Sartre’s groundbreaking play, NO EXIT’s limited 3 performance run begins Friday October 16 at Center on Halsted’s Hoover-Leppen Theatre, 3656 N Halsted St, in Chicago ’s Lakeview neighborhood.

“Hell is … other people!” Jean-Paul Sartre’s classic black comedy, premiered in German occupied Paris in 1944, receives the operatic treatment! There is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide as three self-absorbed people who neither know nor like each other, are trapped together in one room… forever! Full of intense drama and sly comedy, NO EXIT is a haunting and humorous vision of damnation that you will never forget.

For this modern morality play, director George Cederquist has gathered an impressive ensemble of singing actors, musicians and visual artists from across Chicago’s creative community.

NO EXIT is presented as a part of Center on Halsted’s month long celebration of Chicago Artists’ Month 2009, “Chicago Artists Month 2.0.” More information on Chicago Artists Month can be found at chicagoartistsmonth.org.

Composer Andy Vores was born in Wales in 1956 and raised in England. He studied composition at Lancaster University with Edward Cowie. In 1986 he was a Tanglewood Composition Fellow, studying with Oliver Knussen. In 1989 he moved to Boston and in 2001 was appointed Chair of Composition, Theory, and Music History at The Boston Conservatory.

Mr. Vores’ music has been performed by the London Sinfonietta, the Boston Modern Orchestral Project, the New England Philharmonic, The Cantata Singers, the Scottish National Orchestra, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Omaha Symphony, Boston Musica Viva, The Nash Ensemble, the BBC Singers, Irvine Arditti, Sarah Walker Lynn Torgove, Dominique Labelle, Dawn Upshaw, Gilbert Kalish, Sanford Sylvan, Kendra Colton, Kathleen Supové, David Kravitz, Karol Bennett, and many others.

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