By arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.,
Sole Agent for Leonard Bernstein Music Publishing Company LLC,
publisher and copyright owner.

Stephen Lord, conductor
James Robinson, director
National Symphony Orchestra


Voltaire’s Candide (or Optimism) is a sprawling and bewildering satire that we mere mortals are hard pressed to comprehend. But it is a measure of Leonard Bernstein’s genius that when we take Candide’s musical journey, we feel simultaneously the naïveté of the optimistic young man and the jaded cynical world around him. Truly touching moments (Candide’s “It Must Be So”) mix with broad comedy (the Old Lady’s “I Am Easily Assimilated”) and unflinching parody (“What a Day for an Auto-da-fè!”), until it all washes away in the glorious “Make Our Garden Grow” finale.

Conductor Stephen Lord and the National Symphony Orchestra again work their magic in this concert staging format. Come to the Filene Center in July, where it truly will be all for the best in the best of all possible worlds!

CAST (in order of vocal appearance)

Voltaire/Pangloss...................................................... Jason Alexander
Maximilian......................................................................... James J. Kee
Cunegonde.............................................................. Anne-Carolyn Bird
Candide.................................................................. Dominic Armstrong
Paquette.......................................................................... Leena Chopra
The Old Lady................................................................ Jamie Van Eyck
Captain .................................................................................Diego Torre
Governor............................................................................ Rodell Rosel
Vanverdendur................................................................... Beau Gibson
Ragotski............................................................................ Liam Bonner
Crook ............................................................................... Ryan McKinny
Ensemble Wolf Trap Opera Studio, The City Choir of Washington