LACHSA AND FULL CIRCLE OPERA TO PERFORM THE SECRET GARDEN

IN HOMAGE TO THE CLASSIC'S 100^TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY

November 19 and 20, 2010 at the Luckman Theatre

LOS ANGELES, CA, November 8, 2010-An homage to the 100^th anniversary of Frances Hodgson Burnett's timeless classic The Secret Garden, the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA) and the Full Circle Opera Project will bring to the stage the Tony-award winning score and adaptation of this heartwarming story. 

Transforming the stage into an oversized book from which the "pages" are torn one by one by its characters, the story unfolds.  Artistic director Stephanie Vlahos, who founded the award-winning Full Circle Opera Project, explains, "The musical is fraught with 'ghosts' who move the set pieces and manipulate the environment in a lyrical embrace of the magic of theatre and the story itself."  In so doing, the setting slowly transforms from a cold and seemingly unfriendly British manor whose residents are sickly and heartbroken into a joy-filled environment whose characters are made whole again through the healing embrace of familial love.

The production features an all LACHSA-student cast of award-winning musicians, actors, and vocalists, many of whom have already launched professional careers:  Alex Fragoso as Lily, Ali Lee as Mary Lennox, Iris Sharp as Mrs. Medlock, Wesley Moran as Dr. Neville Craven, Justine Rappaport as Martha, John Medina as Archibald Craven, Matt Savan as Ben Weatherstaff, Josh Jacobson as Dickon, Aoife Calderon as Colin Craven, Lucy Provan as Mrs. Winthrop, Jennie Olivia as Rose Lennox, Chris Hunter as Albert Lenox, Daniel O'Brian as Lieutenant Shaw, Garrison Holder as Major Shelly, Sophie Kaminski as Mrs. Shelly, Micha Howlet as Fakir, and Abrielle Andrews as Ayah.

Acclaimed mezzo soprano Stephanie Vlahos is artistic director of the production.  Best known to Los Angeles audiences for her many years performing with the L.A. Opera, Vlahos is a graduate of Yale University and the Julliard School, and has worked in solo performances in diverse musical arenas with Pierre Boulez, Andre Previn, and Van Dyke Parks, as well as with the LA Philharmonic, Seattle Chamber Players, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, among many others.

The performances will be accompanied by the LACHSA Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Alan Mautner.A cellist for more than 20 years, Mr. Mautner has been the principal cellist of the Mozart Classical Orchestra, the Valley Cultural Chamber Orchestra and the Indian Wells Desert Symphony. Currently, he is the cellist of the Del Gesu Quartet,  and Vio-fonik (a string trio dedicated to performing contemporary and jazz compositions), and is a professor of cello at Concordia University.

The Secret Garden performances take place at the Luckman Theatre (on the CSULA campus) on Friday, November 19 at 8 p.m., and Saturday, November 20 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.  Tickets are $20 and $15 for evening performances; matinee is $15 and $10.  Tickets can be purchased online at www.luckmanarts.org/order/ or by calling the Luckman Box Office at (323) 343-6000.

This production is made possible through the generous support of the Leonetti/O'Connell Family Foundation in memory of LACHSA Founder Caroline Leonetti Ahmanson, and the Flora Thornton Foundation.

The award-winning Full Circle Opera Project is a collaboration with the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA) to outreach opera to young adults, and is the nation's only high school student full-scale opera project of its kind.  Today it boasts 55 members, all of whom are students enrolled in LACHSA's Music Department.

The Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA), based on the campus of Cal State LA, has been recognized as one of the five most outstanding arts high schools in the nation.  A tuition free public high school that has won numerous prestigious honors, LACHSA's students have earned scholarships and awards from the country's leading colleges, universities and arts conservatories.  It has an integrated curriculum for grades 9 through 12 with comprehensive instruction in the arts, including dance, music, theater, film and visual arts.  Applications for admission to the 2011 school year are now available. For more information about LACHSA, visit www.lachsa.net.