Staging the Orient: Visions of the East at La Scala and The Metropolitan Opera, an unprecedented project of international significance, will make its only North American appearance from March 2 to May 30, 2004 at the Dahesh Museum of Art  in New York City.

Since La Scala's opening in 1788, this world-renowned opera house in Milan has set the standard for extraordinary theatrical productions, playing a crucial role in the history of costume and set design, and this exhibition is drawn primarily from La Scala's own collection.  Demonstrating opera's fondness for the exotic in the late 18th through the early 20th centuries, the exhibition will concentrate on operas set in Western Europe's conception of the Orient, broadly defined on La Scala's stage to include Egypt, the Middle East, India, and the Far East.

Staging the Orient will focus on how Italy's most famous set designers created an imaginary East onstage.  Drawing upon La Scala's incomparable archival collection, the exhibition presents approximately 185 watercolor sketches, lithographs, and photographs of costume and set designs, costumes from the original 1926 production of Turandot, as well as other memorabilia illustrating the legendary history of La Scala, including two contemporary architectural models.

The exhibition will trace the history of the relationship between opera and the Orient, from the neoclassicism of Mozart's The Magic Flute (1791) to the romanticism of Verdi's Aïda (1874), exploring how the notion of the Orient and its depiction changed over time. The transition to modernism that ended this tradition is highlighted by the exhibition's focus on Puccini's Turandot (1926), the last Italian opera to enter the international repertory.

The Metropolitan Opera is lending seven Turandot costumes from past productions (including every 20th-century Met production of Turandot) with accompanying sketches by the Viennese designer and architect Joseph Urban (1872-1933). Columbia University's Rare Book and Manuscript Library is lending two Urban stage models and additional drawings. By including these seldom seen loans, the exhibition and accompanying publication will connect the La Scala exhibition to the remarkable history of opera in New York from the late 19th century to the present day.

Since the history of opera is also the history of theater, this exhibition reveals the extraordinary range of architectural conventions fabricated on stage to suggest the Orient. For the first time, the golden age of the great set designers - from Alessandro Sanquirico at La Scala to Joseph Urban at the Met - will be illuminated in a museum setting.

The core exhibition is organized by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, in cooperation with the Museo del Teatro alla Scala in Milan. It opened at the Van Gogh Museum on November 7, 2003 and will close February 8, 2004. The Dahesh Museum of Art is the only other venue to mount this exhibition; most loans of art will be returned immediately to Milan, where a larger, but similar, exhibition will celebrate the grand reopening of La Scala in late 2004. Alongside the main exhibition, the Dahesh plans an innovative re-hanging of Orientalist works in its permanent collection.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue that will contain: 1) a preface by Peter Trippi, Director of the Dahesh Museum of Art; 2) an introduction by Stephen Edidin, Chief Curator; 3) an essay on the history of set and costume design at La Scala from its founding to the premiere of Turandot in 1926 by Vittoria Crespi Morbio, curator of the Museo del Teatro alla Scala; and 4) an essay on the history of Turandot at the Met from its New York premiere, also in 1926, through the Cecil Beaton production of 1961, and the current Zefferelli production of 1987, by the noted opera historian and commentator, Paul Thomason.

A series of exciting public programs, including lectures, screenings, conversations, and workshops for children and adults, is planned to enhance enjoyment of the exhibition.

Promotional sponsorship for Staging the Orient has been provided by Opera News, a publication of The Metropolitan Opera Guild, Le Parker Meridien New York, and The Art Newspaper.

The Dahesh Museum of Art is located at 580 Madison Avenue, between 56th and 57th Streets, in the heart of midtown Manhattan. Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 11 am - 6 pm, closed Monday and all legal holidays. Admission: $9 adults, $4 students and seniors (62+), free to Museum Members and children under 12. 

Tel - 1.212.759.0606

Web - www.daheshmuseum.org

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