Bluebeard's Castle | presented by The Atlanta Opera and KSU

Welcome to the very beginning of The Atlanta Opera’s 2022-23 season!

We are grateful to Kennesaw State University for their partnership, and this is a happy return to Kennesaw for more of our Discoveries Series—our last time here was in 2015 for Winter Journey . Today, you will see a piece that I have wanted to bring to Atlanta for years.

Since its premiere in 1918 Budapest, Bluebeard’s Castle has captured the imagination of the public with its mysterious dark themes and haunting music. When my frequent collaborator Mike Mayes told me about the world premiere production of the new version of Bluebeard’s Castle he had just done in London, I knew that it would strike a major chord in Atlanta.

Transporting this familiar, archetypical story to that of a modern family living with dementia is a stroke of brilliance on its creators’ part. This is a modern incarnation of true operatic form: capturing the human condition in all its tragic beauty, joy and heartbreak. As I write this, I am witnessing the decline of my own father far away from Atlanta. All of us are subject to this most human of all conditions, if not in ourselves, then in the lives of our dear ones.

I am truly happy to share this United States premiere production with you. I hope that it will connect you to the timeless story of Judith and Bluebeard and also stir up personal memories from the past.

I know it will for me.

Tomer Zvulun

Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. General & Artistic Director

SPONSORS

The 2022-2023 Season is sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company

The 2022-2023 Discoveries series is sponsored by The Molly Blank Fund of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation with additional support from The Livingston Foundation

The Veterans Tickets Program is sponsored by The Home Depot Foundation

The purchase of equipment for The Atlanta Opera is supported by a gift from Eva & Robert Ratonyi.

This production of Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle is sponsored by Katherine Scott

Performances are sponsored by gifts from Cathy & Mark Adams Mary Ruth McDonald

The appearance of Michael Mayes is sponsored by Slumgullion Charitable Fund

The Atlanta Opera is grateful for the institutions that support our work:

SPONSORS (continued)

DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE

*indicates deceased

Cathy & Mark Adams

Mr. & Mrs. Ronald R. Antinori

Mr. & Mrs. Bryan Barnes

Mr. & Mrs. Paul Blackney Laura & Cosmo Boyd

Harold Brody & Donald Smith John & Rosemary Brown Connolly Family Foundation

Dr. Frank A. Critz & Dr. Ann Critz

Mr. Robert P. Dean & Mr. Robert Epstein Triska Drake & G. Kimbrough Taylor Carl & Sally Gable Beth & Gary Glynn

Dr. & Mrs. Alexander Gross John L. Hammaker

Howard Hunter, Gramma Fisher Foundation Donald & Marilyn Keough Foundation

Mr. & Mrs. Michael L. Keough

*Mr. & Mrs. Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. Alfredo Martin & Beau Aero Mary Ruth McDonald James B. Miller, Jr. Talia & John Murphy Victoria & Howard Palefsky

Mr. William E. Pennington Jerry & Dulcy Rosenberg Katherine Scott

Mr. William F. Snyder John & Yee-Wan Stevens Judith & Mark Taylor Carol B. & Ramon Tomé

Rhys T. & Carolyn Wilson Ms. Bunny Winter & Mr. Michael Doyle

SPONSORS (continued)

For many families, there is no conversation more relevant than the impact of memory loss, caregiving, and the emotional weight of navigating the effects dementia. Thanks to the Atlanta Opera, we get an authentic look through Bluebeard’s Castle, focusing on the character Judith’s struggle with dementia as well as her caregiver’s challenges. Wellstar College of Health and Human Services at Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA embraces creative expressions of innovative and integrated education, research, and service for preparing students as leaders equipped to improve the quality of people’s lives, wherever they find themselves in the world.

Our students have the opportunity not only to interact with highly qualified, well-respected faculty, but also to involve themselves with a wide variety of community activities from student teaching to clinical projects, to internships, to community service projects, to interaction with community experts. Our graduate and undergraduate programs in Exercise Science, Human Services, Integrated Health Science Health and Physical Education, Leadership in Nursing, Nursing, Primary Care Nurse Practitioner, Prosthetics and Orthotics, Public Health, Sport Management, and Social Work prepare students for life transforming work.

Learn more about our undergraduate and graduate degrees at wellstarcollege.kennesaw.edu

CREDITS

MUSIC — Béla Bartók – Musical Arrangement: Stephen Higgins

LIBRETTO — English Translator: Daisy Evans

FIRST PERFORMANCE — May 24, 1918 Hungarian State Opera, Budapest, Hungary

CONDUCTOR — Stephen Higgins

PRODUCTION DIRECTOR — Daisy Evans

SCENIC DESIGNER — Adrian Linford

COSTUME DESIGNER — Adrian Linford

LIGHTING DESIGNER — Jake Wiltshire

WIG & MAKEUP DESIGNER — Melanie Steele

CAST

Judith — Susan Bullock

Duke Bluebeard — Michael Mayes

1960’s Judith — Eva Lukkonen

1980’s Judith — Marissa Romanoff

1990’s Judith — Mary Beth Morrison

Son — Coleman Hand

Daughter — Thainara Carvalho

MUSICAL PREPARATION — Elena Kholodova

ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR — Rolando Salazar

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR — Bruno Baker

PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER — Megan Bennett

ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER — Kristin Kelley

Performed in English

Approximate running time is 65 minutes

A co-production by Theatre of Sound and Opera Ventures.

NOTES ON THE PRODUCTION

by Mark Thomas Ketterson

A locked door. Primal fear. The dread of what may lie within a forbidden space is one of the most pervasive motifs in our collective consciousness. A perusal of the suspense film genre on just about any television streaming platform is instructive. The Shuttered Room, Mysteries Behind Closed Doors, Don’t Open the Door, Don’t Look in the Basement — title after title that play upon fear of an unknown behind a secured barrier. The idea lurks throughout our mythology like an insidious shadow.

It is precisely this archetype that underlies Hungarian composer Béla Bartók’s seminal masterwork, Bluebeard’s Castle. The opera’s libretto was crafted by Bartók’s friend, poet Béla Balázs, and loosely based on Charles Perrault’s La Barbe bleu, a retelling of the traditional folk tale of Bluebeard and his wives. The tale exists in many cultures (the brothers Grimm initially published their own take on the story but eliminated it from their second folio in deference to Perrault) but its basic elements remain consistent across versions. Bluebeard gives his new wife the keys to his castle with the admonition that one specific room is absolutely off limits. When curiosity bests her, she opens the prohibited door and discovers the murdered corpses of his former wives. That gory detail only appears symbolically in Balázs’ libretto. Atlanta, however, will hear the piece in a fresh English translation, which conceives the denouement quite differently.

The opera was written in 1911, though lay unperformed for seven years; one suspects the more conventional musical establishment of Bartok’s era initially found his sensibilities in theatrical music a bit confusing. Today, Bluebeard’s Castle is considered one of the most influential of 20th century works and an emblematic example of the expressionist movement that flourished in the early 1900’s. The tenants of expressionism evidenced themselves in many artistic genres, specifically through the evocation of powerful emotion with imagery that may bear little relation to strict reality. For visual reference, think of everyone’s favorite disturbing painting, The Scream, by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch. The background of the artwork does not resemble any landscape encountered in real life, and the screaming figure barely seems human — but the disquieting emotion engendered by the work is palpable.

NOTES ON THE PRODUCTION (continued)

It was within this creative milieu that Bartók created Bluebeard, bringing with him the influences of the earlier symbolist school and elements of impressionism, particularly the work of Claude Debussy. There is more than a subtle nod towards that great French composer in Bluebeard; but Bartok’s opera is unmistakably expressionist, as the meaning of elements presented is permeable, depending on the emotional experience of individual listeners.

As such, Bluebeard is open to a myriad of interpretations beyond the straightforward gothic horror of the original story. The great Hungarian conductor, István Kertész, maintained that the piece was a psychological study of the composer himself. Bartók was an obsessively private man who struggled with interpersonal connection throughout his life. His wife recalled a contented family existence but noted that she never heard her husband laugh, though his rare smiles were extraordinary. Most have taken a more general view and have understood the piece as a cautionary tale about trust in relationships. According to this paradigm, everyone has private emotional spaces that must be respected, and we risk destroying ourselves and our partners by violating personal boundaries in a misguided attempt to be one with those we love. Others have suggested that the work presents a portrait of insanity, the various locked rooms representing the reaches of Bluebeard’s diseased mind. If so, where does that leave Judith, his wife? Is she as crazy as he is? Or does she even exist?

A marvelous thing about Bluebeard’s Castle, however, is that if anyone does not care for a particular staging they can simply sit back, close their eyes, and drink in the sound. Very few works in the operatic canon provide such a complete experience on aural evidence alone than Bluebeard. Bartók’s score is tonal, exquisitely evocative, and far more accessible than a nervous newcomer might imagine. The lake of tears, the kingdom’s formidable vistas, the frightening discovery of blood – everything is affectively delineated to perfection through musical means. It is the ideal piece for the “theatre of the mind”.

Judith is a prototypical example of what the Germans call a “Zwischenfach” role, one that lies somewhere between soprano and mezzo-soprano, though defies classification as either. The singer must maintain unusual body in the middle register; but then listen to the glorious moment when the fifth door is opened, where she is required to field a sustained, soaring, high soprano C, seemingly snatched from the air.

NOTES ON THE PRODUCTION

(continued)

Bluebeard himself is similarly rangy and taken by basses and baritones alike, each who must cope with the extremes of the writing for their particular voice type.

The Atlanta Opera presents Bluebeard’s Castle in a critically acclaimed production from Britain’s Theatre of Sound that completely re-imagines the opera as an immersive experience for contemporary audiences. In the vision of director Daisy Evans, the work emerges as a presentday love story between a man and his wife, whose mind is slowly succumbing to the ravages of dementia. There are no foreboding palace walls here, no rooms filled with blood-stained armor and medieval jewelry, but a modern home. Rather than a series of locked doors, we have a simple trunk filled with memorabilia. Complicated memories of a long existence together threaten to engulf the poor woman as her husband helplessly watches her slip irretrievably into her illness and away from him. This is a scenario most of us can relate to. Anyone who has ever cared for a suffering loved one should recognize themselves here. Heard in a newly created chamber arrangement, with Evans’ own English libretto, this might be the most universally affecting approach to Bluebeard’s Castle to date.

The interpretive possibilities may be mind boggling, but the opera is virtually incapable of being boring. It really is that good. So, enter – if you dare – into the unsettling, uniquely evocative creation that is Bluebeard’s Castle.

SYNOPSIS

Bluebeard brings his wife, Judith, home. “Is this really Bluebeard’s Castle?” she asks, looking around the suburban hallway.

Instead of ominous doors, a locked trunk sits in the living room. Judith begs for it to be opened, over and over again, and as it is, memories spill out. A wedding, a child, a family.

This castle is not a dank, airless dungeon, rather a happy home where Judith and Bluebeard have shared their most precious memories. But now Judith is living with dementia, and slips away from Bluebeard, leaving him alone with the shreds of their life.

This Bluebeard is a love story.

CAST & CREATIVE

STEPHEN HIGGINS

Stephen Higgins studied at Oxford University, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the National Opera Studio in London and is a conductor who has worked extensively in major opera houses and festivals both in the United Kingdom and abroad. He spent his early professional career on the music staff of Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Glyndebourne and English National Opera, and has worked on a wide variety of repertoire, ranging from Monteverdi, Mozart and Puccini to John Adams and Stephen Sondheim. He has conducted many world premieres: The Way Back Home, a children’s opera at the Young Vic directed by Katie Mitchell, which he revived at the Opera de Paris at the Bastille; Dr. Dee by Damon Albarn, directed by Rufus Norris, which he conducted both for the Manchester Festival and at ENO, and recorded for EMI; and The Duchess of Malfi by German composer Torsten Rasch, which was a collaboration with ENO and the theatre company, punchdrunk. Equally at home in standard operatic repertoire, Stephen has conducted Owen Wingrave for the Opera de Paris; The Magic Flute for ENO; L’Elisir d’amore for Opera Holland Park; Don Giovanni for the Porto festival; La bohème, Hansel and Gretel, and The Magic Flute for young singers’ company, Co-opera-co. He also has an interest in music theatre, working with Sondheim on revivals of A Little Night Music and Sunday in the Park with George at the Châtelet theatre in Paris, and conducting The Phantom of the Opera in London’s West End. Stephen is also considerably in demand as a vocal coach and as guest chorus master for opera companies up and down the country and he appeared on the recent Maestro at the Opera on BBC2 as mentor to Josie Lawrence. Other notable performances include another world premiere, Tansy Davies’ Between Worlds at the Barbican; conducting Crazy For You by Gershwin for Gothenburg opera; musical supervision for theatre pieces at the National Theatre in London and at Theatre La Criée in Marseille. Since January 2016 Stephen has been head of music at Bergen Nasjonale opera in Norway. He has conducted Hansel and Gretel and Carmen for the company and has assisted visiting conductors on productions of Madama Butterfly, Il Turco in Italia, Otello, Peter Grimes, and Messiah. Stephen regularly works with young artist programs and opera students at the main conservatories both in the UK and abroad.

CAST & CREATIVE (continued) DAISY EVANS

Daisy Evans works in opera, film and theatre as a director and writer. She is the recipient of the Sky Arts Futures Fund for her work as an opera director, specifically for founding and creating the innovative Silent Opera. She has been nominated for Young Director at the International Opera Awards and won Best Opera Production for her production of Così fan tutte at the OffWestEnd Awards 2012. Her notable productions include Bluebeard’s Castle with Theatre of Sound; a film of The Telephone for the Edinburgh International Festival and Scottish Opera; Strozzi a scratch performance of a play at Shakespeare’s Globe; Don Pasquale for Welsh National Opera; Opera Highlights for Scottish Opera; Disney Fantasia for The Vaults and Disney; La Traviata for Longborough Festival Opera; King Arthur and the Fairy Queen for the Barbican and Academy of Ancient Music Carmen Remastered for the Barbican and Royal Opera House; Così fan tutte for Bury Court Opera; Falstaff for Wilton’s Music Hall and Fulham Opera; Wakening Shadow for Glyndebourne Festival Opera; and Der Fliegende Hollander for Fulham Opera.

As founder-director of Silent Opera, Daisy has directed a new version of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, Puccini’s La bohème and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. Silent Opera has toured internationally, and co-produced with British Youth Opera, English National Opera, Fondazione Haydn and Beijing Music Festival. As Librettist, she has written English versions of Bluebeard’s Castle, Hansel and Gretel, Don Pasquale, The Cunning Little Vixen, Don Giovanni, L’Orfeo, and La bohème.

ADRIAN LINFORD

Adrian was born in Cambridgeshire, England, and graduated in theatre design from Wimbledon School of Art. He lives in London. His work is based primarily in theatre and opera and this is his debut with The Atlanta Opera. Previous work in the United States includes Rigoletto and La Grande Duchesse du Gerolstein—both Santa Fe Opera— Falstaff (LA Opera & Dallas Opera), Orfeo ed Eurydice (Minnesota Opera), The Bald Soprano and The Maids (New York), and was the associate on Francesca Zambello’s Les Troyens at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, in 2003. His British production of The Habit of Art is due to be seen in New York as part of the Brits-off-Broadway season next year.

CAST & CREATIVE

Other work includes the UK Tour of The Habit of Art, The Croft, the film The Haunting of Alice Bowles showing on Marquee TV and a live streaming of A Cold Supper Behind Harrods, which starred Stephanie Cole, Anton Lesser and David Jason. Other opera designs include Manon Lescaut (The Grange Festival), Hansel and Gretel, the UK premiere production of Jake Heggie’s opera Dead Man Walking, Street Scene, Agrippina, and Judith Weir’s The Vanishing Bridgegroom, for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He designed the costumes for Eugene Onegin at West Green Opera—where he returned this year to design L’elisir d’amore I Capuleti e i Montecchi for the Canadian Opera Company (due to be seen last season is now being rescheduled) and, prior to theatres closing due to the coronavirus, The Croft and a revival of The Habit of Art were both touring the UK, The Tempest & Henry V (Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre, York), King Lear (UK Tour), The Winter’s Tale, and the world premiere of Dear Lupin, starring James Fox, which toured the UK prior to moving to The Apollo Theatre in London’s West End. Il turco in Italia (Nantes Opera and Luxembourg), Sunday in the Park with George (Theatre du Chatelet, Paris), A Twist of Fate, Blithe Spirit, and the Asian premiere of ART, (all in Singapore), The Turn of the Screw (Macedonian Opera), and he co-designed Il trovatore, at Bastille Opera, directed by Francesca Zambello. Adrian is also designing a new production of Le nozze di Figaro opening in Lübeck, Germany, in January 2023.

JAKE WILTSHIRE

Jake designs extensively both in the UK and worldwide. His work has been seen with major UK opera companies and festivals including WNO and ENO, Garsington Opera, the Barbicancentre, as well as nearly all of the UK’s senior music conservatoires. Internationally, he’s worked in New York, Beijing and across Europe in a variety of spaces from traditional proscenium arch venues to unique site-specific spaces, including disused tram depots and an alpine mountain road tunnel. In 2009 he was made an Honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (HonARAM). Recent credits include: Amadigi and Le Comte Ory for Garsington Opera; Don Giovanni for Kilden Opera, Norway; Don Pasquale for Welsh National Opera; La donna del lago, Viva La Diva and Gypsy for Buxton International Opera Festival; The Cunning Little Vixen and La traviata, for Longborough Festival Opera; Margot LaRouge, Le Villi and Pirates of Penzance for Opera Holland Park; Bluebeard’s Castle for Theatre of Sound (nominated for the SkyArts operaAward); Vixen for Silent Opera in association with ENO, (London, Helsinki, Trento and Beijing); The Magic Flute and The Marriage of Figaro for Abo Svenska Teater, Finland. As an associate lighting designer Jake lit the US premiere of Peter Maxwell Davis and David Pountney’s Kommilitonen! at the Lincoln Center New York.

CAST & CREATIVE (continued)

MELANIE STEELE

Melanie Steele lives in Atlanta where she works with The Atlanta Opera, Fox Theatre, The Alliance Theatre, Atlanta Ballet, as well as working in film and television. Steele recently toured with the national Broadway tour of The Lion King. She has designed wigs and makeup for The Santa Fe Opera, Austin Opera, Central City Opera, Spoleto Festival USA, Baltimore Opera, Kentucky Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Bard SummerScape, Opera Festival of New Jersey, Opera Pacific, Opera North Carolina, and Saratoga Springs Opera.

Some of Steele’s work can be seen in Opera News, Makeup Artist Magazine, Seventeen, Time, Newsweek, Glamour, Voyage Atlanta, IMDB and Texas Monthly Magazine.

SUSAN BULLOCK

Susan Bullock’s unique position as one of the world’s most soughtafter dramatic sopranos was recognised by the award of a CBE in June 2014. Of her most distinctive roles, Wagner’s Brünnhilde has garnered outstanding praise leading Susan Bullock to become the first ever soprano to sing four consecutive cycles of Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Royal Opera House under Sir Antonio Pappano. Appearances as Richard Strauss’ Elektra have brought her equal international acclaim and collaborations with some of the world’s leading conductors including Fabio Luisi, Semyon Bychkov, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Mark Elder and Edo de Waart.

In recent seasons, Susan has begun to explore new repertoire making debuts as Klytaemnestra (Elektra) for the Canadian Opera Company under Johannes Debus, the role of Liz Stride in the world premiere of Iain Bell’s Jack the Ripper for ENO; and her acclaimed portrayal of Mother for Scottish Opera in Mark Anthony-Turnage’s Greek at BAM, which she debuted at the Edinburgh International Festival. Further debuts include in the role of Kostelnička (Jenůfa) for Grange Park Opera, both Gertrude and The Witch (Hänsel und Gretel) for Opera North and Grange Park Opera, Mrs. Lovett (Sweeney Todd) for Houston Grand Opera, her debut as Mother in the European premier of Missy Mazzoli’s award winning Breaking the Waves for Scottish Opera, also at the Edinburgh International Festival, and a welcome return to the role of Mrs. Lovett with Bergen National Opera.

(continued on next page)

CAST & CREATIVE (continued)

The 19/20 season brought further new roles including in special virtual projects Feast in the Time of Plague and her debut as an actor in Keith Warner’s unique staging of King Lear in which she plays Goneril at The Grange Festival. In the current season, Susan returns to Opera Frankfurt as Magdelone in Carl Nielsen’s Maskarade—a new production by Tobias Kratzer conducted by Titus Engel—and she returns to the role of Kostelnička for Den Norske Opera. Susan’s vast and diverse concert work has included the “Liebestod” from Tristan und Isolde with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra and with Zubin Mehta and the orchestra of the Bayerische Staatsoper. Popular appearances have included the Last Night of the Proms in 2011 and a special appearance at the London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony. Last season Susan returned to Wigmore Hall in their Late Night series with pianist Richard Sisson in an eclectic program ”Songs my father taught me” which ranged from Sondheim to Noel Coward and Burt Bacharach, which they also performed at Petworth Festival. This season she joins the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall for a gala concert in celebration of Raymond Gubbay. Susan Bullock’s substantial discography includes Der Ring des Nibelungen with Oper Frankfurt under Sebastian Weigle on OehmsClassics (also available on DVD), and the title role in Salome with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Sir Charles Mackerras for Chandos. Susan was the artist-inresidence at the 20/21 Copenhagen Opera Festival and this season begins a new role as chair of vocal studies at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía Madrid.

MICHAEL MAYES

Baritone Michael Mayes enjoys a busy operatic career in both traditional and contemporary operatic roles with theaters throughout the United States and Europe. He is well known for his critically acclaimed portrayal of Joseph De Rocher in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking with multiple US theaters—including Washington National Opera—and made his debut in that same role in 2018 with Teatro Real and the Barbican. Mayes’s triumphant debut as de Rocher in Spain and the United Kingdom quickly launched him into leading roles in several additional international opera companies, including the title role in Nixon in China, Thoas in Iphigénie en Tauride with Staatsoper Stuttgart, Sweeney Todd with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, an acclaimed debut as Bluebeard in an innovative production by Theater of Sound (UK).

CAST & CREATIVE (continued)

As a company player at The Atlanta Opera during the 2020-2022 seasons, Mayes performed The Emperor Overall in Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Escamillo in The Threepenny Carmen, and Older Thompson in the digital production of Glory Denied. Mayes recently moved into more dramatic repertoire, adding Il Conte di Luna in Il trovatore with Seattle Opera, Central City Opera, and The Glimmerglass Festival, the title role in Wozzeck with Des Moines Metro Opera, and Rigoletto with Houston Grand Opera and Boston Lyric Opera. The dual leading roles of Alfio and Tonio in Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci have become a hallmark in Michael’s repertoire, with performances including Madison Opera and Seattle Opera in the double bill, and Boston Lyric Opera for Pagliacci. A remarkably versatile artist, Mayes continues to build an impressive resume featuring performances in twenty-first century operas as well as standard classics. Recent high points include Doug in Everest with Lyric Opera of Kansas City and The Dallas Opera, Starbuck in Moby Dick and Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with Pittsburgh Opera, Sweeney Todd with The Atlanta Opera, Older Thompson with Des Moines Metro Opera, and a reprise of his Dead Man Walking with The Atlanta Opera.

EVA LUKKONEN

Eva Lukkonen Sullivan (Kate) was most recently engaged as the Prince Charmant cover in Cendrillon with Opera Birmingham’s 2020 production (canceled due to COVID). She was seen as Cherubino in Atlanta Concert Opera’s 2019 production of Le nozze di Figaro, a role she had previously performed under Maestro Harry Bicket with the Aspen Opera Theatre. Eva had covered Béatrice in Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict for the Aspen Opera Theatre that following summer, and she was set to return to ACO as Béatrice in Fall 2021 (postponed due to COVID). With Capitol City Opera, she was seen in the 2018-2019 season as Zita in Gianni Schicchi/Buoso’s Ghost, and she covered Stephano in Roméo et Juliette in early 2020. In California, she has performed with regional companies such as Townsend Opera Players (Sally in Die Flerdermaus) and West End Theatre (Edith in Pirates of Penzance), and has sung with the Bakersfield Symphony in excerpts from Le nozze di Figaro (Cherubino) and Der Rosenkavalier (Octavian). Previous roles include Angelina in La Cenerentola, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Paquette in Candide, and Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible. Eva received her undergraduate degree in voice from the University of Southern California, Masters Degrees in voice and speech-language pathology from California State University, Long Beach, and she has been singing with The Atlanta Opera chorus since 2017.

CAST & CREATIVE (continued)

MARISSA ROMANOFF

Marissa Romanoff is honored to make her Atlanta Opera debut in Bluebeard’s Castle.  She has performed in various theatres throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. This year, Marissa has officially claimed Atlanta as her home. Her credits include Laurey in Oklahoma, dance captain for The Music Man, and Nellie from Jekyll and Hyde.

MARY BETH MORRISON

Mary Beth Morrison is an Atlanta-based actor, vocalist, and voiceover artist. Recent performances include: Strand Ole Opry: Red White and Dolly at the Earl Strand Theatre, Spad’s Hollow (webseries), The Comedy of Errors (Adriana) and Hamlet (Gertrude) with The Rome Shakespeare Festival.  She is the voice of Dil’s Mom in the animated webseries Lil Wild (season two), and the voice of Venatoria in the USC animated video game, Social Moth. Mary Beth also recently made her on-screen directorial debut with the first episode of a new mockumentary sitcom webseries, Pharmacy Techs. When she isn’t performing onstage or on-camera, Mary Beth performs as a jazz vocalist here in Atlanta.

ORCHESTRA

VIOLIN

Peter Ciaschini

VIOLA

William Johnston

CELLO

Charae Kruegar

CLARINET

David Odom

BASS CLARINET

John Warren

HORN

Kholodova

ORCHESTRA LIBRARIAN

Phil

MANAGER

James

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

OFFICERS

Chair - Mr. Rhys T. Wilson

Vice Chair - Mr. John L. Hammaker

Treasurer - Ms. Bunny Winter

Secretary - Mr. John Haupert

HONORARY MEMBERS

Mr. Ronald Antinori

The Very Reverend Samuel G. Candler

Mr. Robert G. Edge Mr. Carl I. Gable, Jr. Mrs. Nancy Hall Green Mr. Gregory F. Johnson Mr. Carter Joseph Mr. Alfred Kennedy, Jr. Mr. Michael Keough Mrs. Emily C. Knobloch Mr. George Levert Mrs. Peggy Weber McDowell Mr. J. Barry Schrenk Mr. Timothy E. Sheehan Mr. G. Kimbrough Taylor, Jr. Mr. Mark K. Taylor Mr. Thomas R. Williams Mr. Robert G. Woodward Mr. Charles “Charlie” R. Yates

MEMBERS

Ms. Cathy Callaway Adams Mrs. Elizabeth Adler Mrs. Wendy Anzalone Mr. Bryan H. Barnes Mr. Dante Bellizzi Mr. Montague L. Boyd, IV Dr. Harold J. Brody Mrs. Rosemary Kopel Brown Mr. Frank H. Butterfield Mr. Mario Concha Dr. Frank A. Critz Mr. Robert Dean Dr. Carlos del Rio Dr. Todd Ellis Mr. Dieter Elsner Dr. Donald J. Filip Mr. Kevin Greiner Mrs. Joanne Chesler Gross Mr. Jamael Hester Mr. Howard W. Hunter Mr. Andrew R. Long Mr. Alfredo Martin Mr. James B. Miller, Jr. Mrs. Stephanie Morela Mrs. Sandra S. Morelli Mrs. Talia Murphy Mr. Howard Palefsky Mr. Michael E. Paulhus Mr. William E. Pennington Mr. Herbert J. Rosenberg Mr. Thomas Saylor Mr. Charles Sharbaugh Mr. Alex Simmons, Jr. Mrs. Christine St. Clare Mr. William E. Tucker Mr. Tomer Zvulun, ex officio

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Cathy Adams - At-Large Member

Bryan Barnes - Audit Committee Chair

Frank Butterfield - Investment Committee Co-Chair

John Hammaker - Vice-Chair

John Haupert - Secretary

Howard Hunter - At-Large Member

Stephanie Morela - Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Committee Chair

Sandra Morelli - Investment Committee Co-Chair

Talia Murphy - Nominating & Board Engagement Chair

Howard Palefsky - Development Committee Chair

Charlie Sharbaugh - At-Large Member

Alex Simmons - Community Engagement Committee Chair

Christine St. Clare - Strategic Planning Committee Chair

Rhys Wilson - Board Chair

Bunny Winter - Treasurer | Finance Committee Chair

Tomer Zvulun - Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. General & Artistic Director, ex-officio member

ADVISORY COUNCIL

Mr. Andrew J.M. Binns Ms. Sally Bland Fielding Mr. Kenny L. Blank Mrs. Inge Bledel Ms. Mary Calhoun Mrs. Beth W. Glynn Dr. Thomas N. Guffin, Jr. Mrs. Erin Quinn Martin Mr. Paul Snyder

EXECUTIVE

Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. General & Artistic Director

Tomer Zvulun

Managing Director

Micah Fortson

Executive Assistant & Board Liaison

Misty Reid

ARTISTIC/MUSIC

Carl & Sally Gable Music Director

Arthur Fagen

Director, Artistic Administration Meredith Wallace

Artistic Associate Annie Penner Gilstrap

Chorus & Orchestra Manager

Chris Bragg Orchestra Librarian

Phil Parsons

PRODUCTION

Director of Production

Robert Reynolds

Associate Director of Production Meggie Roseborough

STAFF

Production Coordinator

Jocelyn Gresham

Technical Director

Joshua Jansen

Assistant Technical Director

Ben Cole

Production Stage Manager

Megan Bennett Assistant Stage Managers

Kristin Kelley

Caitlin Denney-Turner

Lighting Supervisor & Assistant Lighting Designer Marissa Michaels

Props Manager & Artisan Wanda Amanda Creech

Costume Director

Sarah Burch Gordon

Costume Shop Manager

Cristine Reynolds

Cutter/Draper Fiona Leonard

First Hand

Paula Peasley-Ninestein

Stitcher

Allison Hines

Wig & Makeup Assistant

Coiffure Etc., LLC

Wardrobe Supervisor

Kelly Chipman

Dresser

Jenn Rogers

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & EDUCATION

Director of Community Engagement & Education

Jessica Kiger Education Manager

Kendall Roney

Jonesia Williams Community Outreach & Education Coordinator

DEVELOPMENT

Chief Advancement Officer

Paul Harkins

Associate Director of Development Leadership Giving Jessica Langlois

STAFF (continued)

Associate Director of Development

Major & Planned Gifts

Jonathan Blalock

Associate Director of Development Operations

Sandy Feliciano

Senior Institutional Giving Officer

Elana Grossman

Annual Giving & Events Coordinator

Gloria Lin Development Operations Coordinator

Diana Burns

FINANCE

Director of Finance

Kathy J. White Controller

Inga V. Murro Bookkeeper

Ruth Strickland

Staff Accountant

Camelia Johnson

ADMINISTRATION

Human Resources & IT Manager

Kenneth R. Timmons Administrative Manager

Michael Tarleton

MARKETING & AUDIENCE

DEVELOPMENT

Chief of Marketing & Audience Development

Ashley Mirakian

Director of Sales & Marketing

Rebecca Brown

Senior Manager, Ticketing Services

Renee Smiley

Guest Services Concierge

Emily Crisp

Creative Services Manager

Matt Burkhalter

Digital Content Manager

Matt Dykeman

TAO FILM STUDIO

Director of TAO Film Studio

Felipe Barral

Film Associate

Amanda Sachtleben

SCHOOL of MUSIC

NAME-A-SEAT in Morgan Concert Hall

The Bailey School of Music is offering friends and patrons the opportunity to dedicate a seat in Morgan Concert Hall. Each dedicated seat will be permanently affixed with a plaque bearing your name, business name, or the name of someone you wish to honor.

contribution of $1,000 per seat will immediately impact the programs of the Bailey School of Music and help to sustain the exceptional quality of music and live performances at KSU for years to come.

the

Prof.

Peter

Leslie J.

Geo Sipp,

Marsha

Julia Bullard,

Meacham,