Stubbs, Artistic Directors
Paul O’Dette & Stephen
Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Opera Series
PAUL O’DETTE & STEPHEN STUBBS, Musical Directors
GILBERT BLIN, Stage Director
ROBERT MEALY, Concertmaster
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2024
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2024
New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2024
Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy, NY
J O HANN CHRISTIAN B A CH
Operas and Dramatic orks
Carattaco
Edited by Jason B. Grant
ISBN 978-1-938325-60-1 (2024; xlviii, 312 pp.) $75
Published by The Packard Humanities Institute jcbach.org
CELEBRATING MUSIC & PLACE
Martin Randall Festivals bring together world-class musicians for a sequence of private concerts in Europe’s most glorious buildings, many of which are not normally accessible. We take care of all logistics, from flights and hotels to pre-concert talks.
MUSIC ALONG THE RHINE | 8–15 May 2025
COTSWOLDS CHORAL FESTIVAL | 16–20 June 2025
MUSIC ALONG THE SEINE | 16–23 July 2025
HANDEL IN VALLETTA | November 2025
The Morgan Library & Museum
Exhibitions
Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian’s Legacy
October 25, 2024 May 4, 2025
Franz Kafka
November 22, 2024 April 13, 2025
Music at the Morgan
Candice Hoyes: Belle Canto
Candice Hoyes, soprano Wednesday, January 22, 2025, 7-8:30 PM
Philip Glass’s “Metamorphosis”
Jenny Lin, piano
Saroi Tsukada, narrator
Lindsay Rosenberg, bassist Thursday, March 6, 2024, 7-8:30 PM
Film Screening and Concert: Fanny: The Other Mendelssohn
Lydia Artymiw, piano
Sheila Hayman, filmaker Thursday, May 23, 2024, 7:30-9:30 PM
For information visit themorgan.org/programs
The Morgan Library & Museum 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street
New York, NY 10016
The concert program is supported by the Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon B. Polsky Fund for Concerts and Lectures, the Celia Ascher Endowment Fund, the Esther Simon Charitable Trust, the Theodore H. Barth Foundation, and the Witherspoon Fund of the New York Community Trust.
St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble
Upper: Mr. Morgan’s Library; photography by Graham S. Haber. Lower: Philip Glass; photography by Danny Clinch.
Dear Friends,
We are delighted to welcome you to a long-standing, beloved Thanksgiving weekend tradition in Boston! Since 2008, BEMF’s annual late-November operatic productions, presented in the intimate setting of NEC’s Jordan Hall, have focused the acclaimed musical and artistic values of our fully staged Festival operas on smaller-scale, delightful staged works, from undeservedly neglected gems to beloved masterpieces.
Our all-new 2024 Chamber Opera Series presentation features Georg Philipp Telemann’s festive serenata, Don Quichotte auf der Hochzeit des Comacho, in a rare, staged presentation inspired by Cervantes’s timeless classic. The movements from Telemann’s delightful orchestral suite Burlesque de Don Quixotte, depicting various episodes from the novel, are interlaced throughout the entertainment, as are those from his Suite in D major.
Internationally acclaimed German bass-baritone Christian Immler—a fifteen-year veteran of BEMF’s fully staged opera productions and recordings—makes his BEMF Chamber Opera Series début in the title role. Musical Directors Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs join with Stage Director Gilbert Blin and Choreographer Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière to lead a sparkling roster of ten singers, four dancers, and over a dozen members of the all-star BEMF Chamber Ensemble with Concertmaster Robert Mealy. Following the two Boston performances, the production will tour to the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City, and then to the historic Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, New York.
We hope you enjoy these performances—in person or in a later virtual viewing—and we look forward to seeing you on Friday evening, December 6, at St. Paul Church in Cambridge, when we welcome Peter Phillips and the magnificent Tallis Scholars for their 36th consecutive annual appearance with BEMF. They return with In dulci jubilo, a glorious program in celebration of the season, featuring the soaring chants of Hildegard von Bingen, Renaissance chant-based polyphony by Praetorius, Palestrina, Obrecht, and Victoria, and Arvo Pärt’s re-envisioning of the chant tradition. Both this program and today’s Don Quichotte will separately be made available for two weeks of online viewing starting in mid-December.
Thank you for making BEMF opera a part of your holiday tradition, and our heartfelt thanks for your continued appreciation of the Boston Early Music Festival.
Kathleen Fay
Boston Early Music Festival
MANAGEMENT
Kathleen Fay, Executive Director
Carla Chrisfield, General Manager
Maria van Kalken, Assistant to the Executive Director
Brian Stuart, Director of Marketing and Publicity
Elizabeth Hardy, Marketing and Development Associate & Exhibition Manager
Perry Emerson, Operations Manager
Corey King, Box Office and Patron Services Director
Andrew Sigel, Publications Editor
Julia McKenzie, Director of the BEMF Youth Ensemble
Nina Stern, Community Engagement Advisor
ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP
Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, Artistic Directors
Gilbert Blin, Opera Director
Robert Mealy, Orchestra Director
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Bernice K. Chen, Chairman | David Halstead, President
Brit d’Arbeloff, Vice President | Susan L. Robinson, Vice President
Adrian C. Touw, Treasurer | Peter L. Faber, Clerk
Michael Ellmann | George L. Hardman | Ellen T. Harris | Glenn A. KnicKrehm
Robert E. Kulp, Jr. | Miles Morgan† | Bettina A. Norton
Lee S. Ridgway | Ganesh Sundaram | Christoph Wolff
BOARD OF OVERSEERS
Diane Britton | Gregory E. Bulger | Amanda Pond
Robert Strassler | Donald E. Vaughan
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Marty Gottron & John Felton, Co-Chairs
Deborah Ferro Burke | Mary Deissler | James A. Glazier
Douglas M. Robbe | Jacob Skowronek † deceased
BOSTON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL, INC.
43 Thorndike Street, Suite 302, Cambridge, MA 02141-1764
Telephone: 617-661-1812 | Email: bemf@bemf.org | BEMF.org
MEMBERS OF THE BEMF CORPORATION
Jon Aaron
Debra K.S. Anderson
Kathryn Bertelli
Mary Briggs
Diane Britton
Douglas M. Brooks
Gregory E. Bulger
Julian G. Bullitt
Deborah Ferro Burke
John A. Carey
Anne P. Chalmers
Bernice K. Chen
Joel I. Cohen
Brit d’Arbeloff
Vivian Day
Mary Deissler
Peter L. DeWolf
JoAnne W. Dickinson
Richard J. Dix
Alan Durfee†
Michael Ellmann
Peter L. Faber
Emily C. Farnsworth
Kathleen Fay
Lori Fay
John Felton
Frances C. Fitch
Claire Fontijn
James A. Glazier
Marty Gottron
Carol A. Haber
David Halstead
George L. Hardman
Ellen T. Harris
Rebecca Harris-Warrick
Richard Hester
Jessica Honigberg
Jennifer Ritvo Hughes
Edward B. Kellogg†
Thomas F. Kelly
Glenn A. KnicKrehm
Christine Kodis
John Krzywicki
Kathryn Kucharski
Robert E. Kulp, Jr.
Ellen Kushner
Christopher Laconi
Thomas G. MacCracken
William Magretta
Bill McJohn
Miles Morgan†
Nancy Netzer
Amy H. Nicholls
James S. Nicolson†
Bettina A. Norton
Scott Offen
Lorna E. Oleck
Henry P.M. Paap
James M. Perrin
Bici Pettit-Barron
Amanda Pond
Melvyn Pond
Paul Rabin
Christa Rakich
Lee S. Ridgway
Michael Rigsby
Douglas M. Robbe
Michael Robbins
Susan L. Robinson
Patsy Rogers
Wendy Rolfe-Dunham
Loretto Roney
Ellen Rosand
Valerie Sarles
David W. Scudder
Andrew Sigel
Jacob Skowronek
Arlene Snyder
Jon Solins
Robert Strassler
Ganesh Sundaram
Adrian C. Touw
Peggy Ueda
Donald E. Vaughan
Nikolaus von Huene
Howard J. Wagner
Benjamin D. Weiss
Ruth S. Westheimer
Allan Winkler
Hal Winslow
Christoph Wolff
Arnold B. Zetcher
Ellen Zetcher
† deceased
n FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6
8PM | St. Paul Church, Cambridge
VIRTUAL AVAILABILITY: DECEMBER 13 – 27
The Tallis Scholars
PETER PHILLIPS, Director
IN DULCI JUBILO: Music of Praetorius, von Bingen, Victoria, and others
The legendary voices of The Tallis Scholars revisit the tradition of plainchant with a transcendant celebration for the Christmas season. Director Peter Phillips leads his beloved ensemble on a journey through centuries of chant music and the polyphony constructed from it, from boundary-pushing chants composed by 12thcentury abbess Hildegard von Bingen, to Renaissance works including chant-based motets such as the Salve regina in settings by Obrecht, Palestrina, and Franco, to the medieval In dulci jubilo melody set by Praetorius and Pearsall, to a Magnificat by Victoria, and Arvo Pärt’s reconceptualizing of the chant tradition.
Paul O’Dette & Stephen Stubbs, Artistic Directors
Boston Early Music Festival
2024 CHAMBER OPERA SERIES
NAMED GIFT SPONSORSHIPS
Boston Early Music Festival extends sincere thanks to the following individuals and organizations for their leadership support of the 2024 performances of Don Quichotte:
Glenn A. KnicKrehm and Constellation Charitable Foundation Principal Production Sponsors
Andrew Sigel
Sponsor of Christian Immler, Don Quichotte, Emily Siar, Quiteria, Richard Pittsinger, Grisostomo, and Julian Donahue, dancer
David Halstead and Jay Santos
Sponsors of Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, Musical Directors
Lorna E. Oleck
Sponsor of the BEMF Dance Company
Diane and John Paul Britton Sponsors of Gwen van den Eijnde, Costume Designer
Bernice K. Chen Sponsor of Gilbert Blin, Stage Director
Harriet Lindblom Sponsor of Michael Sponseller, harpsichord in honor of Daniel Lindblom, harpsichordist and builder
Michael and Marie-Pierre Ellmann Sponsors of Jason McStoots, Sancho Pansa
Joanne Zervas Sattley Sponsor of Sarah Darling, viola
Boston Early Music Festival
CHAMBER OPERA SERIES PRESENTS
Don Quichotte auf der Hochzeit des Comacho, TWV 21:32
(Don Quixote at Comacho’s Wedding)
Serenata on a libretto by Daniel Schiebeler (1741–1771)
Suite in G major, Burlesque de Don Quixotte, TWV 55:G10
Suite in D major, TWV 55:D18
Music composed by Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767)
Paul O’Dette & Stephen Stubbs, Musical Directors
Gilbert Blin, Stage Director
Robert Mealy, Concertmaster
Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière, Choreographer
Gwen van den Eijnde, Costume Designer
Kelly Martin, Lighting Designer
Anna Mansbridge, Assistant Stage Director
Kathleen Fay, Executive Producer
Saturday, November 30, 2024 at 8pm
Sunday, December 1, 2024 at 3pm
New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall
30 Gainsborough Street, Boston, Massachusetts
Saturday, December 7, 2024 at 7:30pm
Troy Savings Bank Music Hall
30 Second Street, Troy, New York
Sunday, December 15 – Sunday, December 29, 2024
Virtual availability, BEMF.org
BOSTON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL VOCAL ENSEMBLE
Christian Immler, bass-baritone – Don Quichotte
Jason McStoots, tenor – Sancho Pansa
Emily Siar, soprano – Quiteria
Michael Galvin, bass – Comacho
Cody Bowers, countertenor – Basilio
Richard Pittsinger, tenor – Grisostomo
Jason Augustus Rober, baritone – Pedrillo
Mara Riley, soprano
Ashley Mulcahy, mezzo-soprano
Daniel Fridley, bass
BOSTON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL DANCE COMPANY
Julian Donahue
Junichi Fukuda
Caitlin Klinger
Tshedzom Tingkhye
BOSTON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL CHAMBER ENSEMBLE
Robert Mealy & Cynthia Roberts, violin
Sarah Darling, viola
Phoebe Carrai, violoncello
Doug Balliett, double bass
Emi Ferguson, Baroque flute & piccolo
Dominic Teresi, bassoon
John Thiessen & Brandon Bergeron, trumpet
Michelle Humphreys, percussion & timpani
Maxine Eilander, Baroque harp
Michael Sponseller, harpsichord
Paul O’Dette, theorbo*
Stephen Stubbs, theorbo & Baroque guitar**
* Boston & Troy performances only
** Boston & New York performances only
Double-manual German harpsichord by Allan Winkler, Medford, Massachusetts, 1989, after Fleischer, property of the Boston Early Music Festival.
This performance is based on the following edition: Georg Philipp Telemann: Don Quichotte auf der Hochzeit des Comacho, edited by Bernd Baselt and Peter Wollny. Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era, vol. 64–65. Madison, WI: A-R Editions, Inc., 1991. Used with permission. www.areditions.com
Don Quichotte
PART I
Ouverture from Suite in D major
Prologue
Le Reveil de Don Quixotte (The Awakening of Don Quixote), from Burlesque de Don Quixotte
Scene 1
Aria: “Ein wahrer Held eilt schon ins Feld” (Don Quichotte)
Recitative and Aria: “Mich deucht, ich sehe noch die fürchterliche Decke” (Sancho Pansa)
Sanche Panse berné (Sancho Pansa mocked), from Burlesque de Don Quixotte
Recitative (Don Quichotte, Sancho Pansa)
Aria: “Kleinmütiger, hör’ auf zu klagen!” (Don Quichotte)
Son Attaque des Moulins à Vent (His attack on the windmills), from Burlesque de Don Quixotte
Recitative (Don Quichotte, Sancho Pansa)
Aria: “Hat mich der große Menschenfresser” (Sancho Pansa)
Le Galop de Rosinante & Celui de l’âne de Sanche Panse, from Burlesque de Don Quixotte (The Gallop of Rosinante and that of Sancho Pansa’s donkey)
Recitative (Don Quichotte, Sancho Pansa)
Scene 2
March and Chorus: “Die schönste Schäferin beglückt den reichsten Hirten dieser Flur” (Chorus of Shepherds)
Recitative (Sancho Pansa, Don Quichotte, Pedrillo, Grisostomo)
Aria: “Beim Amadis, beim Ritter von der Sonne!” (Don Quichotte)
Ses Soupirs amoureux après la Princesse Dulcinée, from Burlesque de Don Quixotte (His amorous sighs for Princess Dulcinea)
Recitative (Pedrillo, Don Quichotte, Sancho Pansa)
Aria: “Mein Esel ist das beste Tier” (Sancho Pansa)
Recitative (Grisostomo, Don Quichotte, Sancho Pansa, Pedrillo)
Aria: “Kein Schlaf besucht den starren Augenlider” (Grisostomo)
Recitative (Don Quichotte, Sancho Pansa, Grisostomo)
March and Chorus: “Die schönste Schäferin” (Chorus of Shepherds)
Recitative (Sancho Pansa, Grisostomo, Pedrillo)
Duet: “Wenn ich die Trommel rühren höre” (Don Quichotte, Sancho Pansa)
Ouverture from Burlesque de Don Quixotte
PART II
Scene 3
Recitative (Grisostomo, Don Quichotte, Sancho Pansa)
Aria and Chorus: “Dich, Schäfer, dessen Glück die Wälder widerhallen”
(Grisostomo, Chorus of Shepherds, Pedrillo)
From Suite in D major
Menuet I & Menuet II
Gavotte en Rondeau
Air: Lentement
Les Postillons
Fanfare: Très vite
Recitative (Comacho, Chorus of Shepherds, Pedrillo)
Scene 4
Accompanied Recitative (Basilio)
Recitative (Sancho Pansa, Quiteria, Chorus of the Friends of Basilio, Comacho, Basilio)
Aria: “Nun bist du mein” (Basilio)
Recitative (Chorus of the Friends of Comacho, Comacho, Don Quichotte, Sancho Pansa)
Aria: “Behalte nur dein Gold” (Quiteria)
Scene 5
Recitative (Comacho, Basilio, Sancho Pansa)
Passacaille from Suite in D major
Aria and Chorus: “Die Klugheit ist vom günstigen Geschicke das kostbarste Geschenk” (Quiteria, Basilio, Don Quichotte, Sancho Pansa, Chorus of Shepherds)
Le Couché de Quixotte (The bedtime of Don Quixote), from Burlesque de Don Quixotte
TECHNICAL CREW AND SUPPORT STAFF
Mercedes Roman-Manson, Production Manager
Carmen Catherine Alfaro, Production Stage Manager
Elizabeth Hardy, Company Manager
Perry Emerson, Operations Manager
Maria van Kalken, Assistant to the Executive Producer
Elizabeth Ramirez, Assistant Stage Manager
June House, Assistant to the Costume Designer and Fabric painter
Jackie Olivia, Costume and Wardrobe Supervisor
Maha Barsom & Janna Pederson, Costume Construction
Melinda Abreu & Taylor Clemente, Hair and Makeup Artists
Chloe Moore, First Hand and Stitcher
Lindsay Hoisington, Stitcher
Ian Thorsell, Properties Supervisor
Dan McGaha, Supertitles Supervisor and Operator
Kathy Wittman, Videographer and Photographer
Antonio Oliart Ros, Recording Engineer
Kathleen Fay and the Boston Early Music Festival wish to thank the following organizations and individuals for their assistance with this production:
Kim Patrick Clow, editor, and Prima la Musica!, publisher, for their edition of Telemann’s Ouverture-Suite in D major, TWV 55:D18
Stephen Stubbs, BEMF Musical Co-Director, for his English translation of the Libretto
Steven D. Zohn, Laura H. Carnell Professor of Music History, Boyer College of Music and Dance, Temple University, for his Notes on the Music
Gwen van den Eijnde, Costume Designer for BEMF’s production of Don Quichotte, for his Notes on the Costumes and for his engaging pre-opera talk before the performance in Troy, New York
Robert Mealy, BEMF Orchestra Director, for his Program Notes
Gilbert Blin, BEMF Stage Director, and Anna Mansbridge, Assistant Stage Director for BEMF’s production of Don Quichotte, for their Synopsis
BEMF Directors Paul O’Dette, Stephen Stubbs, Gilbert Blin, and Robert Mealy, and Choreographer
Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière, for their engaging pre-opera talks before each Boston performance
Julie Barry, Senior Planner, Arts & Culture, City of Salem, and Aubrey Clark, Planning Assistant for Arts & Culture, City of Salem, for their assistance with our rehearsal venue
The Staff at New England Conservatory of Music, especially Carlos Dolan, Director of Production & Event Services, Bob Winters, Director of Performance Production Services, Heather Martell, Manager of Rentals & Partnership Programs, Grace Sexton, Box Office Manager, and Ben Maines, Assistant Box Office Manager for their support and technical assistance
Jon Elbaum, Stacey Bridge, Ryan Murray, and Mike Seddon, for their assistance with our performance at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy, New York
Beth Pasquarello, Corporate and Group Sales Manager, Hawthorne Hotel in Salem, and Kaitlyn Condon, Group Sales Manager, Hilton Boston Park Plaza in Boston, for their assistance with BEMF artist hospitality
Christine Thomson and Timothy Kendall, for their gracious hospitality
Old North Church, Marblehead, for the use of rehearsal space
Andrew Sigel, for his meticulous attention to detail as editor of our publications including the material contained in this program book
June House, for her service as Assistant to the Costume Designer
BEMF staff members Carla Chrisfield, Elizabeth Hardy, Perry Emerson, and Maria van Kalken, for their thoughtful caretaking of our Don Quichotte Company, and Brian Stuart and Corey King, for their fastidious work in connection with marketing and box office management for these productions
Boston Early Music Festival
24/25 NAMED GIFT SPONSORSHIPS
Boston Early Music Festival extends sincere thanks to the following individuals for their leadership support of our 2024/25 Season:
David Halstead and Jay Santos
Sponsors of the October 2024 performance by Vox Luminis
George L. Hardman
Sponsor of the virtual presentation of Agave with Reginald Mobley, countertenor
Sponsor of Jordi Savall, Director & viol, for his April 2025 appearance with Hespèrion XXI
Andrew Sigel
Sponsor of the virtual presentations of Vox Luminis and The Tallis Scholars
Harold I. Pratt
Sponsor of Sarah Darling, violin, for her February 2025 appearance with the BEMF Chamber Ensemble
Donald E. Vaughan and Lee S. Ridgway
Sponsors of Reginald Mobley, countertenor, for his February 2025 performance with Agave
Jean Fuller Farrington
Sponsor of the virtual presentation of Stile Antico
Lorna E. Oleck
Sponsor of the virtual presentation of Francesco Corti, keyboard, with the BEMF Chamber Ensemble
Not only do Named Gifts help provide the crucial financial support required to present a full season of extraordinary performances, but they are doubly meaningful in that they send a message of thanks to your most beloved artist, musicians, and directors—that their work means something to you.
You can help make this list grow. For more information about investing in BEMF performances with a Named Gift, please email Kathleen Fay at kathy@bemf.org, or call the BEMF office at 617-661-1812. Your support makes a difference. Thank you.
PROGRAM ESSAYS
NOTES ON THE MUSIC
As the fortunes of the Hamburg Opera declined during the 1730s, leading to its closure in 1738, Telemann found his opportunities to write dramatic vocal music sharply curtailed. Over a period of some thirty years, he had written several dozen full-length operas for theaters in Leipzig, Weißenfels, Bayreuth, and Hamburg in addition to a number of comic intermezzos, prologues, and substitution arias for operas by Handel and others. Now his dramatic options were limited mainly to annual liturgical passions, other passion oratorios, and secular serenatas commissioned for special occasions. The latter tended to be the most operatic in conception, and were often populated by allegorical characters (such as the serenatas for an annual banquet held by the captains of Hamburg’s militia). Yet the librettos for many of these works were more contemplative than dramatic, and they were in any case not conceived as theatrical entertainments.
The sole exception is an operatic work composed by Telemann when he was eighty years old: Don Quichotte auf der Hochzeit des Comacho,
TWV 21:32, a one-act, hour-long comedy based upon the episode of Comacho’s wedding from Miguel de Cervantes’s famous novel El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha). Don Quichotte was first heard at a public performance on November 5, 1761, in Hamburg’s new concert hall “in the field,” celebrated for its fine acoustics and newfangled heating system. The hall was located in a corner of the city’s Neustadt district that was then fairly suburban, on what is now Drehbahn Street (not far from the former opera house in Goosemarket square). Telemann’s librettist was one of his former students: the twentyyear-old Daniel Schiebeler (1741–1771), who was charmed by the elderly composer’s “lively wit and jovial spirit.” Further performances of Don Quichotte are not recorded. However, the libretto was reprinted in Hamburg in 1779, and one could purchase a manuscript orchestral or keyboard-vocal score of this “comic masterpiece” from a local music dealer as late as 1782. In 1766, Schiebeler published a related drama, Basilio und Quiteria, that became widely known through printings in Hamburg, Berlin, and Vienna.
Boston Early Music Festival
CHAMBER OPERA SERIES PRESENTS
FRANCESCO PROVENZALE’S La Stellidaura Vendicante
A courtly love triangle is torn apart by violent passions in this sultry romp straight from the Neapolitan Riviera, circa 1674!
November 29 & 30, 2025
BOSTON, MA
PAUL O’DETTE & STEPHEN STUBBS, Musical Directors
GILBERT BLIN, Stage Director | ROBERT MEALY, Concertmaster
AARON SHEEHAN Orismondo
HANNAH DE PRIEST Stellidaura
RICHARD PITTSINGER Armidoro GIUSEPPE NAVIGLIO Giampetro
What sort of work is Don Quichotte?
Schiebeler referred to it (and to Basilio und Quiteria) as a “Singegedicht” (sung poem), Telemann called his score a “Serenata,” and a Viennese reprint of Basilio und Quiteria labeled the work a “Singspiel” (a sung drama in German, often comedic and with spoken dialogue). These three dramatic types are not mutually exclusive, but the lack of consensus on what to call Don Quichotte reflects its resistance to easy categorization. Schiebeler’s inclusion of an allegorical ballet in Basilio und Quiteria—following the wedding episode in Cervantes’s Don Quijote—suggests that he may have been inspired by the French acte de ballet, a brief theatrical form related to the operatic divertissement (a diversion from the main action that emphasized dancing and choral singing). Yet because Don Quichotte lacks a ballet and is filled with da capo arias, it seems more closely related to the Italian intermezzo tradition.
In fact, intermezzos, ballets, and other light operatic fare in German and Italian were frequently performed in Hamburg around the time of Don Quichotte by the Saxon Royal and Electoral Court Comedians (in residence 1758–1763). Schiebeler had previously collaborated with this troupe, so it is possible that he conceived Basilio und Quiteria, at least, for a theatrical performance; tellingly, the libretto includes detailed staging directions that are almost completely absent from the concert-ready Don Quichotte. Either way, his and Telemann’s choice of subject matter is in keeping with a vogue for Cervantes’s novel, which spawned such imitations as Charlotte Lennox’s The Female Quixote (1752) and Wilhelm Ehrenfried Neugebauer’s Der teutsche Don Quichotte (1753).
Telemann’s score is more musically variegated than his earlier comic intermezzo Pimpinone (1725). Although Don Quichotte and Sancho Pansa are mostly bystanders in the story, they receive the lion’s share of the arias (three apiece, plus a duet). Appropriately, the style of Don Quichotte’s music toggles between serious and comic—sometimes in the same piece, as
with his opening aria—whereas Sancho sings more consistently in the comic mode. A third musical register is reserved for the shepherds, whose naïve and direct method of expression is reflected in song- or dance-like arias and choruses. Exceptional for its elevated style is the shepherd Grisostomo’s heart-rending lament, with drooping melodies and chromaticism that would be at home in a passion setting or funeral cantata. Also in a serious—or at least, mockserious—idiom is Basilio’s recitative in Scene 4. Sporting a fake bloody dagger in his chest as a ruse to sway Quiteria’s affections toward him, he sings an orchestrally accompanied recitative (the only one in Don Quichotte). Such music is usually reserved for the most dramatic soliloquys in a serious opera.
Interspersed throughout Don Quichotte in our performance are the movements from a programmatic overture-suite, Burlesque de Quixotte, TWV 55:G10, composed by Telemann several decades earlier. Its “burlesque” character portraits and vignettes has helped make it one of his most popular instrumental works, both during his time and ours. Although the overture lacks a descriptive title, it reflects the overall absurdity of Don Quixote’s world through comically overblown gestures. The first suite movement finds our knight-errant gently waking from his slumber to a melody that in one eighteenthcentury manuscript is entitled “Awakening of the Holstein Musketeers.” Was Telemann borrowing a well-known military tune for Don Quixote, or was the composer’s original music enlisted to rouse soldiers from their sleep? Next, in the novel’s most famous scene, our anti-hero attacks windmills that he mistakes for giants (an episode referenced in the first recitative of Don Quichotte). Following his ignominious defeat, he amorously sighs for his heart’s desire, an oblivious girl-next-door type whom he fancies to be Princess Dulcinea del Toboso. Onto the scene arrives Sancho, who is violently tossed into the air with a blanket when he refuses to pay the pair’s bill at an inn (the main subject of his first aria in Don Quichotte, which this movement follows).
And we meet the dynamic duo’s mounts in a pair of dances: Don Quixote’s horse Rocinante (who sounds as though he has a bad limp) and Sancho’s braying donkey (who seems to take two steps forward and one step back). Finally, at the end of an imaginary day of chivalrous deeds gone wrong, Don Quixote closes his eyes to dream of his next misadventure. n
—Steven Zohn
About 125 overture-suites have come down to us from Telemann, which is only a portion of what he must have produced. He himself claimed in 1718 that during the previous decade alone he had produced over 200 overtures!
NOTES ON THE COSTUMES
Gwen van den Eijnde is a French and Dutch artist and costume designer based in the United States. For the past decade, he has been teaching apparel design at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence, where he currently serves as the head of the program.
While pursuing personal artistic research at the École Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Strasbourg, he began to create costumes as sculptural pieces. His approach emphasizes how wearing costumes influences one’s presence in space. He has crafted visual worlds and atmospheres through performances, installations, and photographs, allowing the costumes to unfold a complete scenography. His performances have been conducted in international contexts—including artist residencies, museums, schools, festivals, theaters, and workshops—often in collaboration with artists from diverse disciplines.
In 2011, he led a workshop in the fashion department of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts, sharing his interest in Polish traditional dress with students. He later taught textile design at the Haute École des Arts du Rhin in Mulhouse, France, and has conducted creative research for fashion houses such as Hermès and Tiffany & Co.
Many of his surviving overture-suites are undated, and come from various sources. The Suite in D Major, TWV 55:D18, is colorfully scored for trumpets, timpani, and strings. Telemann’s dance mix includes classic dances like a pair of minuets, an elegant gavotte, and a splendid large passacaglia. But he also adds some vivid character movements: a beautiful slow air, a rousing portrait of mail delivery in Les Postillons, and a grand Finale to wrap things up (marked très vite!). We have taken the overture of this suite as the grand opening of our entertainment, and have incorporated its dances into the action of the serenata. n
Robert Mealy
BEMF Opera Director Gilbert Blin invited Gwen van den Eijnde to design costumes for two French chamber operas produced by the Boston Early Music Festival in 2022: Idylle sur la Paix by Jean-Baptiste Lully and La Fête de Rueil by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. In their latest collaboration on Telemann’s Don Quichotte, they deepen their partnership through ongoing dialogue and practical sessions. This interview outlines the costume design process for the Telemann’s Don Quichotte auf der Hochzeit des Comacho, emphasizing a sculptural and embodied approach.
Q: How do you conceive costumes for a production of an opera?
A: My creative process is quite personal and differs from traditional costume design. I work as a polychrome sculptor, focusing on the sculptural qualities of fabric and materials on the performers’ bodies through multiple fitting sessions, rather than relying on sketches. I bring this same embodied approach to my classroom at RISD.
Q: How does this process relate to the dramaturgy of the piece and the production style of the Boston Early Music Festival?
A: I’m excited to collaborate again with opera director Gilbert Blin on Telemann’s Don Quichotte auf der Hochzeit des Comacho.
Gilbert has a unique insight into how costumes can help define character identity. Since this chamber opera lacks a specific set design, the costumes must convey a distinct sense of time and place.
Q: Can you describe the concept of a researchbased fantasy that creates an imaginary reality yet remains a concrete and living image on the actors’ bodies?
A: Absolutely. Each costume is designed to enhance the identity of individual characters, while some costumes visually represent groups, aiding the audience’s understanding of the drama. The opera centers around the wedding scene of Comacho and Quiteria, viewed by Don Quichotte and Sancho Pansa as a “tableau vivant,” making the visual aspect particularly significant.
Q: How did you plan your work?
A: My costume conception is grounded in extensive research into eighteenth-century Spanish attire. While not a historical reconstruction, the designs reflect traditional Spanish styles and incorporate elements reminiscent of Provençal costumes. The costumes are informed by historical references yet remain inventive, incorporating various influences from art, fashion, and textiles for the viewer to engage with.
Q: How do you address sustainability in your work?
A: The costumes must be visually captivating and relevant to contemporary audiences. This project allowed me to create an original representation of eighteenth-century Spanish fashion using rich documentation. I combined existing pieces from the BEMF costume reserve with new garments, sometimes utilizing recycled materials.
Q: How is the Spanish setting reflected in the costumes?
A: The selection of fabrics and colors evokes a festive atmosphere reminiscent of the warm, sunlit Mediterranean. Female characters at the wedding wear vibrant skirts with printed borders and decorative aprons. Textile artist
June House crafted hand-painted motifs inspired by antique fabrics, including floral chintz and dominoté paper designs (an early modern form of decorative paper used mostly on book covers).
Q: How did you integrate these motifs into your costumes?
A: The bridal costumes feature visual correspondences: Comacho’s long waistcoat is painted with a tree of life motif similar to Palampore fabrics, while Quiteria’s casaquin jacket showcases pomegranate flowers arranged to complement the garment’s cut. Quiteria’s look is completed with an ivory Spanish comb supporting a mantilla, and her luxurious skirt was tailored from a thrift store curtain.
Q: What about the “papiers dominotés”?
A: The shepherds are dressed in vests with motifs inspired by dominotés papers, creating a unique visual identity. Since these bespoke fabrics are rare, the vest designs were handpainted by June House, mimicking the irregularity of block printing on paper.
Q: How did you handle the danced pantomime presented by Comacho to entertain his bride?
A: The shepherds transform into allegorical characters, their identities depicted on long parchment ribbons wrapped around their bodies, echoing Cervantes’s imagery. The masked and veiled silhouettes add an enigmatic quality to the scene, reminiscent of the works of Jacques Bellange, the costume designer contemporary of Cervantes.
Q: Costuming Don Quichotte may seem straightforward, but how did you avoid stereotypes?
A: The costumes for Don Quichotte and Sancho Pansa provide an opportunity to innovate beyond the stereotypes associated with these iconic characters, frequently represented in art from Coypel to Salvador Dalí. The Sancho costume incorporates an existing piece, while Don Quichotte’s silhouette is created using recognizable elements like armor, a barber’s plate hat, and a shield, all infused with original touches and surprising details. n
SYNOPSIS
PART I
PROLOGUE
Don Quichotte, inspired by old books on knight errantry, awakens with the ambition of achieving immortal fame. His loyal squire, Sancho Pansa, assists him in preparing for their quest to perform noble deeds, one they hope will ensure that their names are remembered forever.
SCENE 1
As they travel, Don Quichotte and Sancho Pansa reflect on their past exploits, including the disastrous attack on windmills, which Don Quichotte mistook for giants, and Sancho’s misadventure of having been tossed in a blanket by mischievous rogues. Despite their good intentions, their noble deeds often backfire. Don Quichotte encourages Sancho to remain steadfast, believing immortality by fame will be their ultimate reward. Sancho, however, argues that life’s rewards should be more immediate. Their debate is cut short when they encounter a group of countryfolk.
SCENE 2
The rustics are celebrating the marriage of Comacho, a wealthy shepherd, to Quiteria, the beautiful daughter of an ambitious farmer. They are astonished by Don Quichotte’s knightly attire. Offended that the people are extolling Quiteria’s beauty without also praising his imaginary love, the Lady Dulcinea, Don Quichotte introduces himself as the “Knight of the Lion.” Sancho completes the presentation by introducing his donkey, which he admits he prefers to his wife.
Two shepherds, Grisostomo and Pedrillo, share the sad tale of Basilio, a poor but agile and talented shepherd who has loved Quiteria since childhood. Quiteria’s father, however, insists that she marry the rich Comacho, leaving faithful Basilio heartbroken. He wanders night and day, crying the name of his beloved. As the wedding couple approaches, Don Quichotte and Sancho are invited to join the festivities.
INTERMISSION
PART II
SCENE 3
Don Quichotte notices that Quiteria seems unhappy on her wedding day. Comacho attempts to cheer her up with a ballet of his own devising. The shepherds perform a pantomime in which Cupid (the god of Love) and Wealth compete for the favor of a defenseless lady, the Princess Prudence. The playful revels are suddenly interrupted by the harrowing arrival of Basilio, covered in blood.
SCENE 4
Basilio, in despair over losing Quiteria, appears to have fatally stabbed himself. With his fading breath, he begs that Quiteria marry him, so that he may die happy. Comacho reluctantly agrees to the union, still intending to proceed with his own marriage after the imminent death of his rival. Quiteria and Basilio are officially wed.
(Spoiler alert: stop reading if you don’t want to know the happy ending!)
As soon as his union with Quiteria has been declared, Basilio pulls out the knife. He is unharmed, and reveals that his stabbing was a ruse—a love trick. Enraged, Comacho demands vengeance for the deception. Don Quichotte, moved by Basilio and Quiteria’s love, interposes himself to protect Basilio, announcing that the newlyweds are destined to be together: in the name of Dulcinea, Love should always win! Comacho pleads unsuccessfully with Quiteria— she passionately rejects him, confessing that she has always loved Basilio.
SCENE 5
Defeated, Comacho brags that he will easily find a wife who values wealth over love. He predicts that Quiteria—amidst all the tenderness—will ultimately live in hunger and misery. Basilio, unconcerned, invites everyone to celebrate his marriage to Quiteria with song and dance. They all toast to wisdom. Don Quichotte and Sancho Pansa resume their quest for immortality. n Gilbert Blin and Anna Mansbridge
ARTIST PROFILES
ABOUT THE DIRECTORS
Paul O’Dette has been described as “the clearest case of genius ever to touch his instrument” (Toronto Globe and Mail). He appears regularly at major festivals the world over performing lute recitals and in chamber music programs with leading early music colleagues. Mr. O’Dette has made more than 150 recordings, winning two Grammy Awards and receiving eight Grammy nominations and numerous international record awards. The Complete Lute Music of John Dowland (a 5-CD set for harmonia mundi usa) was awarded the prestigious Diapason d’Or de l’Année, and was named “Best Solo Lute Recording of Dowland” by BBC Radio 3. The Bachelar’s Delight: Lute Music of Daniel Bacheler was nominated for a Grammy as Best Solo Instrumental Recording in 2006. While best known for his recitals and recordings of virtuoso solo lute music, Paul O’Dette is also active as a conductor of Baroque opera. Together with Stephen Stubbs he won a Grammy as conductor in 2015 for Best Opera Recording, as well as an Echo Klassik Award, for their recording of Charpentier’s La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers with the Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble. Their CDs of Conradi’s Ariadne, Lully’s Thésée, and Lully’s Psyché, with the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra on the CPO label, were nominated for Grammys in 2005, 2007, and 2008; their 2015 BEMF CD of Steffani’s Niobe, Regina di Tebe on the Erato/Warner Classics label was also nominated for a Grammy, and received both an Echo Klassik and the coveted Jahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. Their recording of Charpentier’s Les Arts Florissants was nominated for a Grammy in 2019. In addition to his activities as a performer, Paul O’Dette is an avid researcher, having worked extensively on the performance of seventeenth-century Italian and English solo song, continuo practices, and lute repertoire. He has published numerous articles on issues of historical performance practice, and co-authored the John Dowland entry in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Paul O’Dette is Professor of Lute and Director of Early Music at the Eastman School of Music and Artistic Co-Director of the Boston Early Music Festival.
Stephen Stubbs, who won the Grammy Award as conductor for Best Opera Recording in 2015, spent a thirty-year career in Europe. He returned to his native Seattle in 2006 as one of the world’s most respected lutenists, conductors, and Baroque opera specialists. He now lives with his family in Agua Dulce, California. In 2007, Stephen established his new production company, Pacific MusicWorks (PMW), based in Seattle, reflecting his lifelong interest in both early music and contemporary performance. The company’s inaugural presentation was a production of South African artist William Kentridge’s acclaimed multimedia staging of Claudio Monteverdi’s opera The Return of Ulysses in a co-production with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. PMW’s performances of the Monteverdi Vespers were described in the press as “utterly thrilling” and “of a quality you are unlikely to encounter anywhere else in the world.” PMW is now a touring ensemble. Stephen Stubbs is also the Boston Early Music Festival’s Artistic Co-Director along with
his long-time colleague Paul O’Dette. Stephen and Paul are also the musical directors of all BEMF operas, recordings of which were nominated for six Grammy awards, including one Grammy win in 2015. Also in 2015, BEMF recordings won two Echo Klassik awards and the Diapason d’Or de l’Année. In 2017, they received the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. In addition to his ongoing commitments to PMW and BEMF, other recent appearances have included Handel’s Giulio Cesare and Gluck’s Orfeo in Bilbao, Mozart’s Magic Flute and Così fan tutte for the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Handel’s Agrippina and Semele for Opera Omaha, Cavalli’s Calisto and Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie for Juilliard, Mozart’s Il re pastore for the Merola program, and seven productions for Opera UCLA including Cavalli’s Giasone, Monteverdi’s Poppea, and Handel’s Amadigi. In recent years he has conducted Handel’s Messiah with the Seattle, Edmonton, Birmingham, Houston, and Nova Scotia Symphony orchestras. His extensive discography as conductor and solo lutenist includes well over 100 CDs, many of which have received international acclaim and awards.
Gilbert Blin graduated from the Paris Sorbonne with a Master’s degree focusing on Rameau’s operas, an interest that he has broadened to encompass French opera and its relation to Baroque theater, his fields of research as historian, stage director, and set and costume designer. He was awarded a Doctorate from Leiden University for a thesis dedicated to his approach to Historically Informed Staging. His début productions include Massenet’s Werther and Delibes’s Lakmé for Paris Opéra-Comique, and Meyerbeer’s Robert le Diable for Prague State Opera. Since his production of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice for the Drottningholm Theatre in Sweden in 1998, Dr. Blin has established himself as a sought-after opera director for the early repertoire: he directed Vivaldi’s Orlando furioso for the Prague State Opera, designed and staged Vivaldi’s Rosmira fedele, Handel’s Teseo and Alessandro Scarlatti’s Il Tigrane for Opéra de Nice, and directed Lully’s Thésée and Lully’s Psyché for the Boston Early Music Festival. As Stage Director in Residence at BEMF beginning in 2008, Gilbert Blin staged a trilogy of English operas: Blow’s Venus and Adonis, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and Handel’s Acis and Galatea. In 2011, after the staging of Steffani’s Niobe, Regina di Tebe, he presented Charpentier’s La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers and La Couronne de Fleurs. In 2013, with his production of Handel’s Almira, Gilbert Blin was appointed Opera Director of the Boston Early Music Festival. Following his acclaimed staging and set designs of Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea for the 2009 Boston Festival, Dr. Blin staged Monteverdi’s Orfeo for the BEMF Chamber Opera Series in 2012 and the composer’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria in 2015. Other productions for BEMF include Campra’s Le Carnaval de Venise, Steffani’s Orlando generoso, and Francesca Caccini’s Alcina. In 2016, Gilbert Blin created Versailles: Portrait of a Royal Domain, and in 2022, he staged Lully’s Idylle sur la Paix and Charpentier’s La Fête de Rueil. His recent productions include Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda for Bratislava, Desmarest’s Circé and Lampe’s The Dragon of Wantley for Boston, and Rameau’s Dardanus for Stockholm.
Robert Mealy is one of America’s most prominent Baroque violinists. The New York Times remarked that “Mr. Mealy seems to foster excellence wherever he goes, whether as director of the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, concertmaster of the Trinity Baroque Orchestra in New York, or at The Juilliard School, as director of the historical performance program.” While still an undergraduate, he was asked to join the Canadian Baroque orchestra Tafelmusik; after graduation he began performing with Les Arts Florissants. Since then, he has recorded and toured
with many ensembles both here and in Europe, and served as concertmaster for Masaaki Suzuki, Nicholas McGegan, Helmuth Rilling, Paul Agnew, and William Christie, among others. Since 2005 he has led the BEMF Orchestra in their festival performances, tours, and awardwinning recordings. In New York, he is principal concertmaster at Trinity Wall Street in their traversal of the complete cantatas of J. S. Bach. He is also co-director of the acclaimed seventeenthcentury ensemble Quicksilver. In summers he teaches at the American Baroque Soloists Academy in San Francisco and is often a featured artist at William Christie’s summer festival in Thiré. He made his recital début at Carnegie Hall in 2018. Recent chamber projects have ranged from directing a series of Ars Subtilior programs at The Cloisters in New York to performing the complete Bach violin and harpsichord sonatas at Washington’s Smithsonian Museum. Mr. Mealy has directed the Historical Performance Program at The Juilliard School since 2012, and has led his Juilliard students in acclaimed performances both in New York and abroad, including tours to Europe, India, New Zealand, Bolivia, and (most recently) China. Before coming to Juilliard, he taught for many years at Yale and Harvard. In 2004, he received EMA’s Binkley Award for outstanding teaching and scholarship. He still likes to practice.
Director, choreographer, and dancer MarieNathalie Lacoursière founded Les Jardins Chorégraphiques in Montreal in 2007. A multidisciplinary artist trained in dance, music, and commedia dell’arte, she is recognized for the originality of her work. She has directed and choreographed over forty operas, both in Canada and internationally. She regularly collaborates with the Festival Montréal Baroque and the Vancouver Early Music Festival, while also leading stage projects at the Festival Prangins Baroque in Switzerland. Since 2007, she has worked as a dancer, choreographer, and co-director alongside Gilbert Blin at the Boston Early Music Festival and at the Nice opera. In 2019, she won an Opus Award for her direction of Blow’s Venus and Adonis and was nominated in 2023 for her creation De la Pavane au Swing with Les Boréades de Montréal. A dynamic educator, she currently leads the opera workshops at Cégep de Saint-Laurent and the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal.
Gwen van den Eijnde is a Dutch-born, U.S.-based costume historian, designer, and professor with more than twenty years of experience in this field. He has researched, developed, and created a number of costume projects in a wide range of institutional contexts, and has long worked with artists from various disciplines (photographers, video artists, choreographers, and directors) in order to express visual narratives of the costume worn on the body. He has been commissioned to work for fashion houses including Hermès and Tiffany & Co. As Department Head of Apparel Design at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Gwen van den Eijnde encourages students to approach learning with an open mindset, fostering personalized research and expression. He also encourages students to learn from physical objects in order to draw connections between historic pieces and
contemporary fashion. His research in the RISD costume collection as an Andrew W. Mellon fellow in 2016–2018 later influenced his costume design for the Lully and Charpentier French operas produced by the Boston Early Music Festival in 2022. Gwen van den Eijnde has worked with artist Edith Dekyndt, costume designer Olivier Bériot, choreographer Robyn Orlin, and photographer Charles Fréger. He was a guest at Robert Wilson’s International Summer Program for Performance Art at the Watermill Center in New York, an Artist in Residence at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart and at the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw. He has received the 2016 Culture Prize awarded by the Alexander Clavel Foundation in Riehen/Basel and the 2010 Audience Award for Best Costume Design at the Lucerne Theatre. He has travelled widely to develop and expand his practice, studying traditional kimono design and embroidery in Kyoto and Fukuyama, Baroque dance in Cambridge, and stage wigs and make-up in Paris and Strasbourg.
Kelly Martin is a lighting designer and associate based in New York. Mr. Martin’s designs for the Boston Early Music Festival include Desmarest’s Circé, Steffani’s Orlando generoso, Lampe’s The Dragon of Wantley, Caccini’s Alcina, Pergolesi’s La serva padrona and Livietta e Tracollo, Lully’s Idylle sur la Paix and Charpentier’s La Fête de Reuil, and Versailles: Portrait of a Royal Domain. Further opera credits include Maria Stuarda (Slovak National Theatre), Il barbiere di Siviglia (Virginia Opera), and Scalia/Ginsburg and Extraordinary Women (Opera North). Mr. Martin has lit numerous productions in Boston with the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, MIT Theater Arts, Suffolk University Theatre Arts, and BU Opera Institute. Theatre and dance collaborations include Pick Up Performance Co., The Joyce Theater, New York Theatre Ballet, The Bang Group, Duncan Lyle Dance, and Co•Lab Dance. Mr. Martin is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829 and an alumnus of Boston University.
Originally from Australia and the UK, Anna Mansbridge has been reconstructing, performing, choreographing, and teaching European Renaissance and Baroque Dance for over thirty years. She has collaborated on many opera productions in Europe and the United States, including Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice and Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell with Pacific MusicWorks at Meany Theatre, University of Washington; Le Bourgeois gentilhomme by Lully and Molière at Cornish Playhouse; and Venus and Adonis by John Blow in Varazdin, Croatia. After emigrating to Seattle, Washington, in 1998, she founded Seattle Early Dance in 2000, and conducted numerous performances throughout the Pacific Northwest, collaborating with local music groups such as Pacific MusicWorks, Gallery Concerts, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Early Music Seattle, and the Whidbey Island Music Festival. Anna has also been a faculty member on many prestigious early music courses. She is the Assistant Stage Director for Don Quichotte, her first production with the Boston Early Music Festival.
For more than three decades, Kathleen Fay has served as Executive Director of the Boston Early Music Festival. She is responsible for all administrative, development, financial, and artistic departments of the organization, as well as the management of biennial Festivals, the annual concert seasons in Boston and in New York City at the Morgan Library & Museum, the annual Chamber Opera Series, and the Festival’s Baroque Opera Recording Project. The project features a total of seventeen CDs to date on the CPO and Erato labels, six of which have been nominated for Grammy Awards
for Best Opera Recording, and one awarded the Grammy. Ms. Fay is a founding Trustee of the Catalogue for Philanthropy and serves on the boards of the Cambridge Society for Early Music and Constellation Center. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of Harvard University’s Early Music Society. In November 2001, Ms. Fay was named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture as a result of her significant contribution to furthering the arts in France and throughout the world. In June 2003, she received the distinguished Arion Award from the Cambridge Society of Early Music for her “outstanding contributions to musical culture.” And, in June 2011, the Board of Directors of Early Music America named the Boston Early Music Festival, Kathleen Fay, Executive Director, as the 2011 recipient of the Howard Mayer Brown Award, for lifetime achievement in the field of early music. The BEMF Board of Directors established the permanent Kathleen Fay Leadership Fund in February 2017, in recognition of her thirty-year anniversary leading BEMF. Ms. Fay is a widely respected impresario and promoter of early music in North America and Europe. She holds graduate degrees in Piano Performance and Music Teaching from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music.
ABOUT THE BEMF VOCAL ENSEMBLE
With “a voice of rare beauty” (Seen and Heard International), American countertenor Cody Bowers has received national award recognition from the Sullivan Foundation, the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, and the George London Foundation for Singers. In the 2023–2024 season, he débuted with the New York Philharmonic in Israel in Egypt, the Atlanta Symphony in Jonathan Leshnoff’s The Sacrifice of Isaac, the Houston Symphony in Messiah, and The Metropolitan Opera in John Adams’s El Niño. He also recorded a Christmas album with Blue Heron, appeared with the Handel and Haydn Society and The Thirteen, and was alto soloist in Bach’s Mass in B Minor with Tenet Vocal Artists. His opera roles include Ruggiero in Handel’s Alcina, Tolomeo in Handel’s Giulio Cesare, the Refugee in Jonathan Dove’s Flight, Federico Garcia Lorca in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, Leonardo in Gabriela Lena Frank’s El último sueño de Frida y Diego, L’Enfant in Ravel’s L’Enfant et Les Sortilèges, and Orlando in Handel’s Orlando.
Bass Daniel Fridley lives in the Boston area, where he moved after completing his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Historical Performance Practice at Case Western Reserve University. While there, Cleveland Classical hailed his “spotless, resonant bass” as suited to a wide range of musical styles. He rejoins the Boston Early Music Festival for this chamber opera, having previously performed as Euménide in Desmarest’s Circé and Monstro/Ensemble in Francesca Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina in 2018 and 2023. Fridley has also sung with Teatro Nuovo for several seasons, including Basilio in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia (2021). Other operatic roles
have included Dottore Grenvil in Verdi’s La Traviata, Thésée in Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie, and Sarastro in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. He has joined the ensembles of Enigma Chamber Opera, Boston Baroque, Boston Lyric Opera, The Newberry Consort, Apollo’s Fire, and the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra. He also teaches voice at Middlesex Community College.
Bass-baritone Michael Galvin is a dynamic and versatile singer based in the Boston area. This season, he returns to the Boston Early Music Festival for Don Quichotte and to the Boston Lyric Opera for Aida and Die Tote Stadt. Last season, he made his début with Atlanta Baroque as the Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas and performed with The Thirteen in the Bach Mass in B Minor. He also premiered Iphigenia at The Kennedy Center and ArtsEmerson in 2022. Michael is also a drag artist who blends classical music with drag performance to make the genre more accessible. A 2024 Live Arts Boston Grant recipient, he is a champion of LGBTQ+ artists through his creative work as Donatella Fermata (@donatella_fermata).
Christian Immler studied with Rudolf Piernay and won the International Boulanger Competition in Paris. His operatic experience ranges from Monteverdi’s Seneca, Mozart’s Commendatore and Speaker, Beethoven’s Rocco, and Wagner’s Fasolt to Strauss’s Musiklehrer. In concert, he has performed Mahler’s Eighth Symphony with the Minnesota Philharmonic, Kindertotenlieder with the Hungarian National Philharmonic, Mendelsohn’s Elijah with the OAE, Zemlinsky’s Lyrische Symphonie with Orchestre National de France, and Glanert’s Prager Sinfonie with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. He has worked with such conductors as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Herbert Blomstedt, René Jacobs, Semyon Bychkov, Marc Minkowski, Masaaki Suzuki, Raphaël Pichon, Daniel Harding, Kent Nagano, Leonardo García Alarcón, Laurence Equilbey, James Conlon, Philippe Herreweghe, and William Christie. A keen recitalist, he has been invited by the Wigmore Hall, the Frick Collection, and the Paris Philharmonie with pianists such as Helmut Deutsch. His more than sixty recordings have been awarded prizes such as a Grammy nomination. Christian holds a doctorate in musicology, loves teaching, and is much in demand for worldwide masterclasses.
Reviewers describe Jason McStoots as having an “alluring tenor voice” (Arts Fuse) and as “the consummate artist, wielding not just a sweet tone but also incredible technique and impeccable pronunciation” (Cleveland Plain Dealer). A respected interpreter of early music, his appearances with BEMF include Le Jeu in Les plaisirs de Versailles by Charpentier, Damon in Acis and Galatea by Handel, and Phantase in Desmarest’s Circé. Other performances include evangelist and soloist for Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (Bach Collegium San Diego), and soloist for Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 (Green Mountain Project NYC). He has appeared with Pacific MusicWorks, Les Délices, Folger Consort, and The Newberry Consort. He is a core member of Blue Heron vocal ensemble. He has been Associate Director of the BEMF Young Artists Training Program since 2017, where
he provides stage direction and mentorship. He has stage-directed operas for Brandeis University, Connecticut Early Music Festival, Amherst Early Music Festival, and Les Délices.
Ashley Mulcahy is a Boston-based mezzosoprano active as a soloist and ensemble singer. In recent seasons, Ashley has performed with ensembles including the Boston Early Music Festival, Pegasus Early Music, The Newberry Consort, Parthenia Viol Consort, Blue Hill Bach Festival, Upper Valley Baroque, Ensemble Altera, and the Handel and Haydn Society.
Ashley also co-directs Lyracle, a voice and viol ensemble. Presenters include the Howard Brown International Early Music Series, Early Music America, and the Academy of Early Music. Ashley is a graduate of the Voxtet Program at the Yale School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music, where she had the opportunity to work with many internationally renowned conductors, including Nicholas McGegan, Masaaki Suzuki, David Hill, and Simon Carrington. Ashley particularly enjoys combining her interests in the arts and humanities, and she is a frequent contributor to Early Music America’s publications. Her website is at ashleymulcahy.com.
American tenor Richard Pittsinger has been credited with a winning versatility in his singing and stage presence. He has appeared on opera and concert stages as Ulisse in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria with ARTEK, Cephale in Jacquet de La Guerre’s Cephale et Procris with the Boston Early Music Festival, Tempo in Handel’s Il trionfo del Tempo with Juilliard415, and Orfeo in Rossi’s L’Orfeo with Juilliard Opera, among others. Last season, Pittsinger participated in the 2023 Concours Corneille in Rouen, and was awarded the Young Talent and Audience Prizes. This season will mark Pittsinger’s European opera début at the Opéra Comique in Rameau’s Samson, after which he’ll return to France to join the 12th edition of Le Jardin des Voix, performing the role of Orphée in Charpentier’s La descente d’Orphée aux enfers. Pittsinger received a Bachelor and Master of Music from The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Elizabeth Bishop.
Soprano Mara Riley has a particular affinity for early music, song, and ensemble singing. She sings regularly with Emmanuel Music and Nightingale Vocal Ensemble. This season, she will appear as a soloist with the Colorado Bach Ensemble, Boulder Bach Festival, Emmanuel Music, and Rhode Island Civic Chorale. She is a 2024/2025 VOCES8 US Scholar. In 2023, she won first place in the Colorado Bach Ensemble’s Young Artist Competition, and was the Emmanuel Music Bach Institute soprano fellow. She was a soloist in Handel’s Israel in Egypt and Samson with the Back Bay Chorale and Cambridge Chamber Ensemble, respectively. Recent opera roles have included Calisto in Cavalli’s La Calisto, Flora in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, and Mary Bailey in Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life. She holds a double MM (voice/flute performance) from New England Conservatory.
Baritone Jason Augustus Rober enjoys a great variety of musical opportunity across the United States. Having performed opera roles that span the history of the art form, from Giove in Cavalli’s La Calisto to Mortimer in Anthony Davis’s Lear on the 2nd Floor, Jason has also appeared in concert as a soloist with such ensembles as the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Western New York Chamber Orchestra. A lover of all things Baroque, he has had the pleasure of being a soloist in many cantatas of Bach, and was a young artist with the Boston Early Music Festival in 2023. Most recently, Jason was a Virginia Best Adams Fellow with the Carmel Bach Festival, and is now looking forward to this season’s appearances with Colorado Bach Ensemble and Viva Bach Peterborough. Beyond the realm of music, Jason takes delight in hiking New York State and exploring vegetarian cuisine.
Emily Siar is a soprano and voice teacher based in Boston, Massachusetts. An active performer of opera, early music, art song, chamber music, and cabaret, Emily has recently been featured as an artist with Boston Baroque, the Henry Purcell Society of Boston, Emmanuel Music, Boston Opera Collaborative, and Mass Opera. In 2024, Emily took first place in the prestigious NATS Artist Awards. A sought-after pedagogue, she serves as Assistant Professor of Voice and Vocal Pedagogy at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and Artist-Teacher of Voice at the Longy School of Music of Bard College. Emily holds degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music (DMA), the Eastman School of Music (MM), and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (BM, Kenan Music Scholar). Emily is a member of Beyond Artists, a coalition of artists that donate a percentage of their concert fee to organizations they care about. She is supporting Massachusetts Jobs with Justice with this performance. Her website is at emilysiar.com.
The Boston Early Music Festival Vocal Ensemble débuted in November of 2008 in Boston with John Blow’s Venus and Adonis and MarcAntoine Charpentier’s Actéon. The ensemble is a collection of fine young singers dedicated to presenting choice operatic and other treasures as both soloists and members of the chorus, under the leadership of BEMF Artistic Directors Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs. The BEMF Vocal and Chamber Ensemble’s début recording of Charpentier’s Actéon, on the CPO label, was released in November 2010. Subsequent CPO releases include Blow’s Venus and Adonis in June 2011, the Charpentier opera double bill of La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers and La Couronne de Fleurs in February 2014, which won the Grammy Award in 2015 for Best Opera Recording and the 2015 Echo Klassik Opera Recording of the Year (17th/18th Century Opera), Handel’s Acis and Galatea in November 2015, Charpentier’s Les Plaisirs de Versailles and Les Arts Florissants, which was nominated for a Grammy in 2019, and Lalande’s Les Fontaines de Versailles and Le Concert d’Esculape in September 2020. The BEMF Vocal Ensemble has mounted successful tours of its chamber opera productions, including a fourcity North American Tour of Acis and Galatea in early 2011 that included the American Handel Festival in Seattle, and a North American Tour of the Charpentier double bill in 2014.
ABOUT THE BEMF CHAMBER ENSEMBLE
Doug Balliett is a composer, instrumentalist, and poet based in New York City. The Los Angeles Times recently wrote “Bassist Doug Balliett, who teaches a course on the Beatles at the Juilliard School and writes cantatas for Sunday church services, as well as wacky pop operas, is in a class of his own.” Doug has been professor of Baroque bass and violone at The Juilliard School since 2017, and leads the Theotokos ensemble every Sunday at St. Mary’s church on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He plays regularly with AMOC*, Les Arts Florissants, Jupiter Ensemble, ACRONYM, Ruckus, BEMF, Alarm Will Sound, and other ensembles. In August 2021, five of his Ovid Cantatas were filmed for Qwest TV with Les Arts Florissants, who also premiered his St. Mark Passion in August 2024. Upcoming performances include his newest opera Rome is Falling! with AMOC* in Lincoln Center, his Ovid Cantatas in Zurich, and his St. Mark Passion in New York City.
Brandon Bergeron, a native of Austin, Texas, enjoys performing a wide range of historical music in the New York Metropolitan and New England areas. His repertoire spans from Baroque music on period instruments to early jazz and ragtime on early 20th-century brass. A specialist in period performance, Brandon has appeared with ensembles such as Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Boston Baroque, Tempesta di Mare, Boston Early Music Festival, and the American Classical Orchestra. He is a regular member of the Greenwich Symphony Orchestra in Connecticut and can also be heard on recent recordings with the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra.
Phoebe Carrai pursued post-graduate studies in early music with Nikolaus Harnoncourt in Salzburg, Austria, after finishing at New England Conservatory. She joined Musica Antiqua Köln in 1983, making forty discs for Deutsche Grammophon and teaching at the Hillversum Conservatory in Holland. Ms. Carrai taught at the Universität der Künste Berlin in Germany for sixteen years and is now on the faculties of The Juilliard School and the Longy School of Music of Bard College. She is director of the Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra and co-directed the International Baroque Institute at Longy for twenty-five years. In addition to chamber music and solo appearances, Ms. Carrai performs regularly with Juilliard Baroque, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra and Chamber Ensemble, Göttingen Händel Festival Orchestra and Ensemble, Arcadian Academy, Upper Valley Baroque, and Pro Musica Rara in Baltimore. Ms. Carrai has made three solo and duo recordings with Avie Records; the latest is Out of Italy.
Described as “a tireless force of musical curiosity, skill, and enthusiasm” and “the one to up the ante” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), Sarah Darling enjoys a varied musical career as a performer, educator, and musical co-conspirator. Performing with the BEMF Orchestra since 2013, Sarah is also a member of the self-conducted orchestra A Far Cry, as well as Boston Baroque, Musicians of
the Old Post Road, Emmanuel Music, the Boston Ballet Orchestra, Les Bostonades, Newton Baroque, The Boston Camerata, and the Carmel Bach Festival. Sarah studied at Harvard, Juilliard, Amsterdam, and Freiburg, and received her DMA from New England Conservatory, working with James Dunham, Karen Tuttle, Nobuko Imai, Wolfram Christ, and Kim Kashkashian. She has recorded for many labels, including three Grammy-nominated discs and a solo album on Naxos. Sarah is active as a teacher and coach, serving on the modern and historical performance faculty of the Longy School of Music, teaching Baroque viola at New England Conservatory, and codirecting the Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra.
Maxine Eilander has been performing on historical harps throughout Europe and the United States for over three decades. She is the harpist for Pacific MusicWorks and the Boston Early Music Festival. Recordings featuring Maxine as a soloist include Handel’s Harp, released on ATMA, with all of Handel’s obbligato music written for the harp, including his famous harp concerto, which she has also recorded with Tafelmusik (A Baroque Feast, Analekta). The release of William Lawes’s Harp Consorts on ATMA garnered much favorable press. Other recordings include Sonata al Pizzico, a recording of Italian music for harp and Baroque guitar with duo partner Stephen Stubbs (ATMA), and Teatro Lirico (ECM). In 2012, Maxine was invited to perform Handel’s Harp Concerto at the prestigious World Harp Congress in Vancouver. Maxine is adjunct professor of historical harps at the Thornton School of Music, USC, and is a regular guest teacher at the Historical Performance Department at The Juilliard School. Maxine also teaches students nationwide online.
A 2023 recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Emi Ferguson performs as a soloist and with groups including the Handel and Haydn Society, AMOC*, Ruckus, the New York New Music Ensemble, and the Manhattan Chamber Players, and is the music director of Camerata Pacifica Baroque. Her recordings Amour Cruel and Fly the Coop: Bach Sonatas and Preludes were called “blindingly impressive…a fizzing, daring display of personality and imagination” by the New York Times. Emi has spoken and performed at TEDx events and was featured on the Discovery Channel, Amazon Prime, and Vox talking about how music relates to our world today. With WQXR, she hosts the Young Artists Showcase and Once Upon A Composer, and created the series This Composer is SICK!, exploring the impact of syphilis on historical composers. Her book, Iconic Composers, co-written with Nicholas Csicsko with artwork by David Lee Csicsko, was released in 2023.
Singled out as “musically outstanding and visually delightful” (Cleveland Plain Dealer), and for her ability to make “the intent of the music come to life” (Broadway World), timpanist and percussionist Michelle Humphreys specializes in music of the Baroque and Classical eras on historical instruments. Recent seasons include performances and recordings with Boston Early
Music Festival, Opera Lafayette, Tempesta di Mare, Washington Bach Consort, Oregon Bach Festival, and National Cathedral Baroque Orchestra. A passionate educator, Michelle is Associate Professor of Percussion at Towson University and serves on the University Pedagogy Committee of Percussive Arts Society and the Vic Firth Education Team. Michelle holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Towson University, a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Maryland.
Cynthia Roberts is one of America’s leading Baroque violinists, appearing as soloist, concertmaster, and recitalist throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia. She is a faculty member of The Juilliard School and also teaches at the Curtis Institute, University of North Texas, and the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute. She has given master classes at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Indiana University, Eastman, the Cleveland Institute, Cornell, Rutgers, Minsk Conservatory, Leopold-Mozart-Zentrum Augsburg, Shanghai Conservatory, Vietnam National Academy of Music, and for the Jeune Orchestre Atlantique in France. She performs regularly with the Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Smithsonian Chamber Players, Tafelmusik, and the Boston Early Music Festival. She has performed as concertmaster of Les Arts Florissants and appeared with Bach Collegium Japan, Orchester Wiener Akademie, the London Classical Players, and the Taverner Players. She was featured as soloist and concertmaster on the soundtrack of the Touchtone Pictures film Casanova. Her recording credits include Sony, CPO, and Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
Michael Sponseller is recognized as one of the outstanding American harpsichordists of his generation. A highly diversified career brings him to festivals and concert venues all around the world in recital, as concerto soloist, partner to several of today’s finest musicians, and as a busy continuo performer on both harpsichord and organ. He studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music with Lisa Goode Crawford with additional studies at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague. He quickly garnered prizes at the International Harpsichord Competitions at Bruges and Montréal (1998, 2001) as well as 1st Prize at both the American Bach Soloists and Jurow International Harpsichord Competitions. Mr. Sponseller has appeared with several of America’s finest ensembles and orchestras, including the Boston Early Music Festival, Chamber Society of Lincoln Center, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Camerata Pacifica, and Pacific MusicWorks. Since 2016, he has been Associate Director of Bach Collegium San Diego. In 2023, he joined the Eastman School of Music as Guest Artist.
Dominic Teresi is principal bassoon of Tafelmusik, Boston Early Music Festival, and Carmel Bach Festival, and is a member of Quicksilver. He has enjoyed engagements with numerous other ensembles. Mr. Teresi has appeared as a concerto soloist throughout Europe, Australia, and North America, and is a featured soloist on Tafelmusik’s recordings Vivaldi con amore, House of Dreams, and Concerti Virtuosi. His playing has been praised as “stellar” (New York Times) and “dazzling”
(Toronto Star), “reminding us of the expressive powers of the bassoon” (The Globe and Mail). Mr. Teresi teaches historical bassoons and chamber music at The Juilliard School and also teaches at the Tafelmusik Institutes and American Bach Soloists Academy. He has presented research on the dulcian at the MusikinstrumentenbauSymposium in Saxony-Anhalt.
Described by the New York Times as “the gold standard of Baroque trumpet playing in this country,” John Thiessen has appeared with Trinity Baroque, Tafelmusik, Philharmonia, Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, American Bach Soloists, Boston Early Music Festival, and Opera Lafayette. He has also performed with the Academy of Ancient Music, Taverner Players, the English Baroque Soloists, and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. Mr. Thiessen serves on the faculty of The Juilliard School’s Historical Performance Department, gives masterclasses throughout the U.S. and Canada, and is the Executive Director of Gotham Early Music Scene, New York’s foremost advocate for early music. He has recorded extensively for Sony Classical Vivarte, Telarc, EMI, BMG, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, London Decca, Analekta, CBC, Tafelmusik Media, and Denon, including major works of J. S. Bach, Handel, Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. Music from Grace, a forthcoming CD, features 17th-century German repertoire by Schütz and Pezel.
The Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble was established in October of 2008, and delighted the public a month later at the inauguration of the Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Opera Series, which débuted in Boston with a production of John Blow’s Venus and Adonis and Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Actéon. The BEMF Chamber Ensemble is an intimate subset of the BEMF Orchestra. Depending upon the size and scale of a project, the BEMF Chamber Ensemble is led by one or both of BEMF’s Artistic Directors, Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, or by BEMF’s Orchestra Director Robert Mealy, and features the best Baroque instrumentalists from around the world. The BEMF Chamber Ensemble’s third CD on the CPO label, the Charpentier opera double bill of La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers and La Couronne de Fleurs, won the Grammy Award in 2015 for Best Opera Recording. Their fifth CD, Steffani’s Duets of Love and Passion, featuring sopranos Amanda Forsythe and Emőke Baráth, tenor Colin Balzer, and bassbaritone Christian Immler, was released in September 2017 in conjunction with a six-city tour of North America, and received a Diapason d’Or. Their sixth CD—of Johann Sebastiani’s 1663 Matthäus Passion—was recorded immediately prior to their presenting a concert of the work at the prestigious Musikfest Bremen, and was released in February 2018. The seventh CD, a return to Charpentier featuring Les Plaisirs de Versailles and Les Arts Florissants, was nominated for a Grammy in 2019, and the eighth, Lalande’s Les Fontaines de Versailles and Le Concert d’Esculape, was released in September 2020. Their ninth CD, featuring Pergolesi’s La serva padrona and Livietta e Tracollo, was released in December 2023, and the tenth, a combination of Lully’s Idylle sur la Paix and Charpentier’s La Fête de Reuil, is scheduled to be released in Spring 2025.
ABOUT THE BEMF DANCE COMPANY
Julian Donahue is a choreographer and dancer based in Brooklyn. Julian has danced with New York Theatre Ballet since 2018, performing masterworks by Antony Tudor, Merce Cunningham, Jerome Robbins, José Limón, and many others. Julian started dancing with Ellen Cornfield in October 2024. Julian also specializes in Baroque, Renaissance, and folk-dance forms, performing with New York Baroque Dance Company and Boston Early Music Festival. He has performed Baroque dance at Lincoln Center (May 2023) and at the Kennedy Center (May 2024). In 2021, Julian founded Julian Donahue Dance to create and showcase dances that express transformational political ideas, tell stories, and expand the public imagination. His choreography has been shown at the Kennedy Center, Tanglewood, Battery Dance Festival, and other venues.
Japanese native Junichi Fukuda has danced with renowned companies, including Ballet Tech/ NY, Smuin Contemporary Ballet, Oakland Ballet, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Buglisi Dance Theatre, and Peridance Contemporary Dance Company. Fukuda has received awards and fellowships from institutions such as the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, the Mass Cultural Council, the Boston Foundation, the S&R Foundation, and the New England Foundation for the Arts. In 2014, he founded FUKUDANCE, which has performed globally at festivals like MASDANZA in Spain, Mexico City’s Festival Internacional de Danza Contemporánea de la Ciudad, and Dance St. Louis. His work has been praised as “a work of easeful harmony” by the Washington Post. Fukuda holds an MFA in choreography from Jacksonville University and teaches at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. He continues to collaborate with Japanese artists. His website is at fukudance.com.
Caitlin Klinger is a Boston-area dancer, teacher, and choreographer whose movement repertoire ranges from Baroque to contemporary. After significant early ballet training under Edra Toth, she attended Mount Holyoke College where she received her B.A. in Dance and Geography. In addition to BEMF, Caitlin has collaborated with many independent choreographers and companies across multiple genres including Dance Prism, PDM/Public Displays of Motion, Weber Dance, the Carabetta Crabtree Collective, Deadfall Dance, BALAM Dance Theater, American Virtuosi, Cambridge Concentus, Clarion Music Society, the Vermont Opera Project, and Early Music Princeton. With BEMF, she has performed in productions from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (2010) to Desmarest’s Circé (2023), and was an assistant to the choreographers for Steffani’s Niobe, Regina di Tebe. An experienced teacher of many movement styles, Caitlin is the director of New England Ballet in Wayland. She is also the Programming and Artist Services Manager at The Dance Complex in Cambridge. Her website is at caitlinklinger.com.
Tshedzom Tingkhye is a Tibetan-American artist working in dance performance, choreography, film, and installation. Originally from Seattle, she received her BFA in Contemporary Dance Performance from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and since has been working between the two coasts. She recently premiered her solo installation, Per(sever)e, a performance art exhibit where she performed for 48 hours over the course of eight days. The piece was co-curated by Marina Abramović, with whom she trained in preparation for this production. Tshedzom has also worked with Alice Gosti, Skye Hughes, The Merce Cunningham Trust, Pacific MusicWorks, and Boston Early Music Festival. Her creations have been presented with the Rubin Museum of Art, Velocity Dance Center, Brooklyn Museum, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Dance on Camera, Kaleidoscope Dance Company, Northwest Film Forum, and Tibet Film Festival. A member of artist collective Motlee Party, Tshedzom is in production for their next work.
The Boston Early Music Festival Dance Company (previously known as the BEMF Dance Ensemble) was originally founded in 2010 as an integral part of BEMF’s Chamber Opera Series production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. The troupe is made up of American dancers and invited international guests, and was under the artistic supervision of Melinda Sullivan, Lucy Graham Dance Director, from 2017 to 2023. As director of the company, she recruited and trained dancers, organized the practice of technique and style, and supported the work of guest choreographers. The members of the Company perform both noble and character dances in Festival centerpiece operas, annual chamber opera performances and tours, and orchestra concerts. A unique component of the BEMF Dance Company is that it extends invitations to Baroque dance specialists from around the world. This enriches the experience of all the performers by offering opportunities for dance specialists to share their research with the audience while rehearsing and performing at the Festival, and contributes significantly to a deeper knowledge and appreciation of Baroque dance.
Don Quichotte auf der Hochzeit des Comacho
Music by Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767)
Text by Daniel Schiebeler (1741–1771)
English Translation by Stephen Stubbs
Erste Szene
Arie
Don Quichotte
Ein wahrer Held
Eilt schon ins Feld, Wenn sich der Weichling noch auf Schwanenfedern wiegt.
Er streift durch Wälder und durch Wiesen, Er kämpft mit Drachen und mit Riesen
Und bleibt stets unbesiegt.
Ein wahrer Held…
Recitativo
Sancho
Vortrefflich, Herr! ihr denkt nicht mehr daran, Was eure Tapferkeit für einen Lohn gewann, Als ihr so herzhaft wart mit jenen Mühlen,
Nein! Riesen, wollt’ ich sagen,
Euch frisch herumzuschlagen.
O glaubt, mit Löwen läßt es sich nicht spielen.
Kehrt um nach eurer Burg!
Don Sancho bittet euch.
Es bringen unsre Abenteuer
Uns doch nur schlechtes Glück.
Was mich betrifft, so ging’ich gleich
Nach meinem Stall zurück.
(Gebrannte Katzen scheun das Feuer.)
Wenn wir einmal auf unsern Reisen
Ein gutes Bett und einen Tisch voll Speisen,
Wie beim Diego, finden, So finden wir zu öfternmalen
Verdammte Räuber,
Die, wenn wir sie befrein, Mit einem Wolkenbruch von Steinen uns bezahlen,
Auch Kesselflicker, Eseltreiber,
Und, wenn wir ihnen Schutz verleihn, Selbsteigne Wunden zu verbinden.
Scene 1
Aria
Don Quichotte
A true hero
Runs into the field of battle
While the weakling is still in his featherbed. He roams the forests and meadows, Challenges Dragons, fights with Giants, And remains undefeated!
A true hero…
Recitative
Sancho
Splendid, sir! Don’t you recall The reward for your bravery
When you so courageously charged the windmills? Nay, “Giants,” I meant to say; O believe me, Lions are not to be toyed with. Please return to your castle, Sancho begs you! Our adventures Bring us only bad luck, If it were up to me, I would go straight back To my stables!
(Even cats shun the fire if once they are burned.)
If we sometimes on our travels, Find a good bed and a full meal, As we did at Diego’s, We just as often find Those damned thieves as well! And, if we ever set them free… They reward us with a hailstorm of stones.
It’s the same thing with tinkers and donkey drivers. And, if we defend them, We end up dressing our own wounds!
Arie
Sancho
Mich deucht, ich sehe noch die fürchterliche Decke, In welcher ich bald niedrig, bald hoch, Und ohne Flügel flog. Mich deucht, ich schmecke
Den Balsam noch,
Den Ihr mir gabt, als ich auf allen Vieren kroch, Und mich ein Schwarm bezauberter Mohren, Von unten an bis zu den Ohren, Mit Beulen überzog.
Mich deucht…
Recitativo
Don Quichotte
So kannst du denn die Prellung nicht verschmerzen?
So liegt dir denn, was du erlitten hast, Noch immer auf dem Herzen?
O schäme dich! Auf, Mut gefaßt!
Bedenke,
Wenn ich dir eine Insel schenke, Alsdann…
Sancho
Ja, ja! Das ist die alte Leier.
Schon länger, als zweihundert Wochen,
Da Ihr zuerst die Insel mir versprochen, Hab’ ich darauf gehofft, Und unterdessen hat man schon so oft Mir, bis aufs Blut, Die Rippen abgerieben, Daß mir fast keine nachgeblieben.
Wird mir’s so gut,
Die Insel einst davon zu tragen, Und wird man: Gnädiger Herr! einst zu mir sagen, So kommt mir doch der Titel trefflich teuer.
Arie
Don Quichotte
Kleinmütiger, hör’ auf zu klagen!
Muß ich nicht so, wie du, des Schicksals Haß ertragen?
Verfolgt mich nicht der Zaubrer Neid? Nichts dämpfet meinen Mut, Kein Schweiß, kein strömend Blut. Ich trotze dem Geschick, ich lache seiner Schläge. Mich führen diese rauhen Wege
Zum Tempel der Unsterblichkeit.
Kleinmütiger…
Aria
Sancho
I think I still see the terrifying flying carpet
On which I flew, now high, now low, And all without wings!
I think I can still
Taste the balsam
That you gave me as I crawled on all fours, And a swarm of enchanted Moors
Bruised me
From head to foot.
I think I still see…
Recitative
Don Quichotte
Can’t you get over your bruises?
Are you still complaining
About the beating you got?
Shame on you! Go on, be brave! When you think about The Island that I am giving you, Then…
Sancho
Oh yes, that is the same old story! For more than two hundred weeks, Since you first promised me the Island, I have hoped for it… Meanwhile, My ribs are worn
Down to the bone
And I have almost none left!
If I am lucky enough
To one day gain that Island, And then to be called “Your Lordship,”
It will have cost me a lot!
Aria
Don Quichotte
Coward, stop complaining!
Don’t I have to bear the same burdens of fate?
Does the wizard’s jealousy not hound me?
But nothing dampens my courage: Not sweat, nor streaming blood.
I defy Fate, and laugh at its blows. These rough roads lead me
To the temple of immortality!
Coward…
Recitativo
Don Quichotte
Bestrebst du dich also, dem Beispiel nachzuahmen, Das ich dir täglich gebe?
Wann siehst du, daß ich bebe?
Wer mich nur nennen hört, erstaunt vor meinem Namen.
Was kann dich denn erschrecken?
Ist nicht mein tapf’rer Arm
Vermögend g’nug, dich gegen einen Schwarm
Von tausend Feinden zu bedecken?
Du bist mein Glied, dein Haupt bin ich. Was dich betrifft, betrifft auch mich.
Sancho
So sollt’ es billig sein.
Allein,
Als sich die Preller
Mit Eurem Gliede lustig machten:
Was fühlte da das Haupt?
Es war in guter Ruh’,
Und sah von ferne zu.
Was Ihr mir hier vom Lohn für eure Schlachten,
Vom Stempel der Unsterblichkeit erzählt, Dafür geb’ ich nicht einen Heller.
Arie
Sancho
Hat mich der große Menschenfresser
Einmal in seinem Bauch begraben, So frag’ ich viel darnach, ob ich unsterblich bin.
Bei der Nachwelt noch zu leben, Mag sich, wer da will, bestreben: Ich, ich halt’s mit diesem Leben.
Ein »Nimmhin«
Ist, meiner Meinung nach, weit besser, Als zwei »Du sollst haben«.
Ja, ja! dies bleibt mein fester Sinn: Hat mich der große…
Recitativo
Don Quichotte
Sieh, Sancho, sieh! hier gibts ein neues Abenteuer. Siehst du die Menge wohl, die sich uns naht?
O, Dulcinea, steh’ mir bei!
Sancho
Herr! in der Tat, Ich müßte mich gar sehr betrügen,
Recitative
Don Quichotte
Is this the way you seek to emulate The example I set for you daily?
When do you see me tremble?
Whoever merely hears my name is astonished!
So what can scare you?
Is my prodigious arm not enough To protect you from a swarm Of a thousand enemies?
You are my body, I am your head: Whatever happens to you, happens to me too!
Sancho
That’s all very fine, But…
While that bucking blanket
Was making merry with your “body”…
What did the “head” feel then? It was in serene peace, And looked on from afar.
What you tell me now of “reward for your battles”
And the stamp of “immortality”: I wouldn’t give a penny for it!
Aria
Sancho
Once the great man-eating monster
Has buried me in his belly, Then I will think urgently about whether I am immortal!
Anyone who wants to live For posterity may do so: I, myself, will stick with this life!
One “here you go” is (According to me) much better Than two of “you may get something”; Yes, yes, this is my firm belief!
Once the great…
Recitative
Don Quichotte
Look Sancho! Here comes a new adventure. Do you see the crowd coming toward us?
(O Dulcinea, stand by me!)
Sancho
Sir, in truth, I must indeed be deceived,
Wenn Ihrs nicht seid, der sich für dieses Mal betrügt.
Bei meiner Treu,
Ich sehe nicht, daß dies ein Abenteuer sei. Die Leute scheinen mir ja alle so vergnügt
Wie das lebendige Vergnügen.
Ich wette, sie begehn heut’ eine große Feier.
Zweite Szene
Arie [Coro]
Chor der Schäfer
Die schönste Schäferin beglückt
Den reichsten Hirten dieser Flur.
Wie hast du, gütige Natur, Sie mit so vielem Reiz geschmückt!
Heute verläßt der frohe Schäfer die Herde, Singet und drükket mit mutigen Sprüngen die Erde, Und Freude lacht, wohin man blickt.
Die schönste Schäferin…
Recitativo
Sancho
Herr! hab’ ich’s nicht gesagt, daß dies für Euren Degen
Kein Wildpret wäre?
Bei meiner Ehre, Gleich hab’ ich’s wahrgenommen.
Die Abenteuer pflegen
So lustig nicht zu kommen.
Don Quichotte
Ihr guten Leute,
Erzählt mir doch, was für ein Paar es ist, Das heute
So ein beglücktes Bündnis schließt?
Pedrillo & Grisostomo
Comacho nennt er sich; sie heißt Quiteria.
Pedrillo
Vor allen Hirten dieser Trift
Ist er gesegnet:
Zur Zeit der Ernte regnet
Der Überfluß in seine Scheuern; Kein mördrisch Gift
Ansteckend schwarzer Seuchen
Macht seine Herden dünne, Und was er unternimmt, gereicht ihm zum Gewinne.
Das ganze Dorf nennt ihn Den Reichen.
If it is not you who is this case is deceived!
I do not see
That this is an adventure;
These people all seem so pleased
As to be the living embodiment of pleasure itself. I bet they are celebrating a great occasion!
Scene 2
Chorus
Chorus of Shepherds
The prettiest shepherdess delights
The richest shepherd of these lands. Prolific Nature, you have endowed Her with so many charms!
Today the happy shepherd leaves his flock, He sings and dances and leaps,
And everywhere you look, joy is laughing!
The prettiest shepherdess…
Recitative Sancho
Sir, didn’t I tell you that here there will be no wild prey
For your sword?
Upon my honor, It’s just as I said: Adventures don’t usually come With so much merriment!
Don Quichotte
My good people,
Tell me, what is this couple Who, today, Enter into such a happy union?
Pedrillo & Grisostomo
He is named Comacho, and she is called Quiteria.
Pedrillo
Of all the shepherds in these pastures. He is the most blessed!
At harvest time, Abundance rains down upon his barns, No murderous poison
Nor infectious plague
Thin his flocks, And whatever he undertakes brings him yet more profit.
The whole town calls him “The Rich One.”
Grisostomo
Was je das Auge Schönes sah, Bewundern wir
An ihr.
Schön, wie die Morgenröte, Ist ihr Gesicht;
Entzückend, wie die Flöte,
Schallt es dem Ohre, wenn sie spricht; Von ihr gerührt zu sein, ist hier kein Greis zu alt; Wenn sie sich zeigt, erschallt
Ein allgemeines Lustgetöne;
Das ganze Dorf nennt sie Quiteria, die Schöne.
Arie
Don Quichotte, entrüstet
Beim Amadis, beim Ritter von der Sonne!
Wenn sie so schön, wie Magelone,
Und wie die Göttin von Cithere, So reizend, wie Helene, wäre, So kömmt sie doch bei Dulcineen nicht.
Mein unüberwindliches Eisen
Soll es dem Kühnen beweisen,
Der anders spricht.
Beim Amadis…
Recitativo
Pedrillo
Was sagt mein Herr? In Wahrheit, wir verstehn
Von allem kaum ein einzigs Wort.
Wir sind erstaunt, bei Friedenszeiten
In voller Rüstung euch zu sehn.
O, seid so gut, und sagt uns, wer ihr seid.
Don Quichotte
Mein Nam’ ist Don Quichotte; in Mancha liegt der Ort, Der mich gezeugt;
Die Ritterschaft, zu der ich mich bekenne, Die Irrende; ich nenne
Mich sonst den Löwenritter;
Mit meiner Tapferkeit
Trotz’ ich dem schwersten Ungewitter; In schrecklichen Begebenheiten
Such’ ich den größten Ruhm; dies ist’s, was mich bewegt, Bewaffnet durch das Land zu reiten.
Sancho
Der diesem Held
Die Waffen trägt, bin ich, Und Sancho Pansa nenn’ ich mich,
Grisostomo
Whatever the eye finds beautiful, We see
In her;
Fair as the dawn Is her face.
Her voice enchants the ear
Like a flute; whenever she speaks, No graybeard is too old to be stirred by her; Whenever she appears, A general merriment resounds;
The whole town calls her “Quiteria the Fair.”
Aria
Don Quichotte, incensed
By Amadis, by the knight of the sun, Be she as fair as Magelone, Or as Venus,
Or as charming as Helen, She can’t compare to Dulcinea!
My invincible sword
Will prove it to any fool Who says otherwise!
By Amadis…
Recitative
Pedrillo
What are you saying, milord? In truth, We don’t understand a single word. And we are amazed to see you In full armor in a time of peace. Please tell us who you are!
Don Quichotte
My name is Don Quichotte, of La Mancha,
The town where I was born and raised.
The order of knighthood to which I belong is “The Errantry”; I also call myself
The “Knight of the Lion”.
With my courage
I defy the most violent tempests; In the most horrible conditions
I seek the greatest fame! This is what causes me
To ride, fully armed, through the countryside.
Sancho
The one who carries the arms
Of this hero, is me!
And Sancho Pansa, it is my honor
Mit Ruhm zu melden.
Der Gaul, der dort im Grase geht, Heißt Rosinant.
Der Esel, der hier bei mir steht, Ist, wie ihr alle sehet, grau, Drum nenn’ ich ihn auch meinen Grauen. Wir lieben uns, als wären wir verwandt.
Ich lieb’ ihn mehr als meine Frau.
Arie
Sancho
Mein Esel ist das beste Tier, So, wie mein Weib das schlechtste auf der Erde.
Die Närrin saget mir
Gerad’ ins Angesicht:
Sie will es nicht,
Daß ihre Tochter Gräfin werde.
Wenn sie dann Gift und Galle speit
Und nur mein Grauer drunter schreit, So spür’ ich Mut zum Streit
Und zeige mich ihr
Mit männlicher Gebärde.
Mein Esel…
Recitativo
Grisostomo
So sehr nun dieser Tag die Flur erfreut, Bringt er doch einem unsrer Schäfer
Betrübtes Herzeleid, Vielleicht auch gar den Tod.
Don Quichotte & Sancho
Wieso?
Pedrillo
Hier wohnt ein Hirt, er heißt Basilio, Ein Wunder an Verstand, nur nicht an Talern reich; Im Tanzen und im Singen, Im Fechten und im Springen, Im Kugelwerfen und im Ringen
Kommt ihm kein Schäfer gleich; Der ward mit unsrer Braut von Jugend auf erzogen
Und liebte sie, sie schien ihm auch gewogen
Und hat ihm insgeheim vielleicht ihr Wort gegeben:
Allein der Vater war nicht zur erweichen
Und gab die schöne Schäferin
Dem Reichen
Zur Braut.
To say, is my name!
The nag, that is grazing over there in the field, Is called Rosinant!
The ass standing here next to me
Is, as you all see, gray; Therefore I call him: “My Gray One.” I love him like family.
I love him more than my wife!
Aria Sancho
My ass is the best of beasts, My wife is the worst one on earth!
The silly woman tells me
To my face
She doesn’t want
Her daughter to become a countess!
When she spews poison and bile
And my Gray One cries out, Then I feel the courage for battle, And show myself to her With some manly gestures!
My ass is the best…
Recitative Grisostomo
Even though this day brings joy to our lands, For one of our shepherds it brings Deep sadness, Maybe even death!
Don Quichotte & Sancho
How so?
Pedrillo
There is a shepherd here called Basilio: A prodigy of intelligence, but poor;
In dancing and singing, In fencing and leaping, In shot-putting and wrestling, No shepherd is his equal;
From childhood he was raised together with our bride, And loved her. She seemed to love him too, And perhaps secretly pledged her troth to him:
Alas! Her father could not be swayed And gave his lovely daughter
To the rich man
As his bride!
Sancho
Verdammter Eigensinn!
Arie
Grisostomo
Kein Schlaf besucht die starren Augenlider, Verzweiflungsvoll wirft sich der Schäfer nieder, Dem Tode nah.
In der Wälder Nacht begraben, Krächzt er mit den wilden Raben
Und ruft: Quiteria!
Erschrocken ruft der Nachhall wieder: Quiteria!
Kein Schlaf…
Recitativo
Don Quichotte
Er dauert mich.
Sancho
Wer weiß, was sich ereignen kann.
Comacho ist noch nicht der schönen Hirtin Mann; Man lasse nur die Zukunft sorgen.
Was noch geschehen wird, das kann ja niemand wissen;
Wie mancher legt sich auf sein Kissen
Gesund am Abend hin und steht am Morgen
Tot wieder auf. Ich habe Sonnenschein
Und Regen oft zugleich gesehn.
Kann nicht das Glück
Den Niedrigen gar bald erhöhn?
In einem Augenblick
Stürzt oft ein großer Palast ein.
Von itzo bis nach einer Stunde
Ist noch ein Weilchen hin, und zwischen Ja und Nein
Aus eines Frauenzimmers Munde
Wollt’ ich nicht eine Nadelspitze stecken: Es pflegt beim Kratzen oft zu lecken.
Grisostomo
Das Brautpaar naht heran.
Ihr Schäfer! stimmt den vorigen Gesang, Begleitet mit dem Schall der Pfeifen, Trommeln, Geigen, Und durch ein fröhliches Bezeigen,
Von neuem wieder an:
Arie [Coro]
Chor der Schäfer
Die schönste Schäferin beglückt
Den reichsten Hirten dieser Flur.
Sancho
That is damned selfish!
Aria
Grisostomo
No sleep comes to unclosed eyes; Despair hurls the shepherd downward— Close to death!
In the forest at night
He croaks with the wild ravens, And cries: “Quiteria!”
And the echo comes: “Quiteria!”
No sleep…
Recitative
Don Quichotte I pity him.
Sancho
Who knows what may happen.
Comacho is not yet the pretty girl’s husband.
Let the future worry about itself!
What will happen, no one knows;
Many go to lay their heads on their pillows
In perfect health, only to wake up
The next morning dead! I have often seen sunshine
And rain at the same time.
Can fortune not
Raise the humble in a minute?
Often in a moment
A great palace falls in ruins.
From now until an hour later
Is quite a little while, and between “yes” and “no”
In a wench’s mouth
I wouldn’t want to guess or try to pinpoint; They sometimes lick while they claw!
Grisostomo
The bridegroom approaches. You shepherds, sing that song again!
To the sound of pipes, drums, and fiddles, And with your show of merriment, Begin the song again:
Chorus
Chorus of Shepherds
The prettiest shepherdess delights
The richest shepherd of these lands.
Wie hast du, gütige Natur, Sie mit so vielem Reiz geschmückt!
Recitativo
Sancho
Mich dünkt, es steigt ein Dampf von Wohlgerüchen, Ein Schwein mit Sauerkraut, am Spieß ein fetter Hase, Und sonst noch allerlei
Mir in die Nase.
Ich wett’, er kommt aus jenen Küchen.
Pedrillo & Grisostomo
Ihr Herren! Ist’s euch angenehm, So bleibet hier, wohnt unsrer Freude bei.
Sancho
Wir nehmen’s an.
So wahr ich ehrlich bin, Comacho ist mit alledem Ein braver Mann, Und er verdient die Schäferin.
Arie. Duett
Don Quichotte
Wenn ich die Trommel rühren höre,
Sancho
Wenn ich den Bratenwender höre,
Beide
Dann hüpft mein Herz, dann wallt mein Blut.
Don Quichotte
Der helle Schall lautschmetternder Trompeten
Sancho
Der sanfte Duft aus Torten und Pasteten
Beide
Verdoppelt meinen Mut.
Don Quichotte
Wenn ich die Trommel…
Prolific Nature, you have endowed Her with so many charms!
Recitative
Sancho I sense a pleasant aroma: Pork with sauerkraut, a fat hare on the spit, And more, Rises to my nose! I bet it comes from yonder kitchen!
Pedrillo & Grisostomo
Milords! If it please you, Please stay and join us in our joys!
Sancho
We accept!
If I’m being honest, Comacho, in spite of all, Is an honest man, And deserves the shepherdess!
Duet
Don Quichotte
When I hear the beat of the drums, Sancho
When I hear the squeak of the spit,
Both
My heart leaps, and my blood rises!
Don Quichotte
The bright sound of blaring trumpets
Sancho
The sweet smell of cakes and pastries
Both Redoubles my courage!
Don Quichotte
When I hear…
INTERMISSION n
Dritte Szene
Recitativo
Grisostomo
Dort kommt die Braut, so schön
Hab’ ich sie nie vorher gesehn.
Comacho führet sie, sie bringen
Die ganze Dorfschaft mit.
Don Quichotte
Die Mienen
Der Braut sind ja so traurig, guter Freund.
Grisostomo
Das liebe Kind
Ist, wie die Mädchen alle sind.
Es gibt wohl keines,
Das nicht am Hochzeitstage weint.
Sancho
Ihr irrt euch sehr, mein Freund!
Ich, der ich vor euch steh’, hab’ eines
In meiner Jugendzeit gekannt;
Denn es war meine Braut; die hat am Hochzeitstage
Kein Tröpfelchen geweint.
Im Gegenteil, es wird unglaublich scheinen, Sie brachte mich zum Weinen.
Grisostomo
Hier kommen sie. Jetzt will ich ihnen
Entgegen singen.
Arie e coro
Grisostomo
Dich, Schäfer, dessen Glück die Wälder widerhallen, Dich krönt im Überfluß, was tausend andern fehlt.
Dir, Schäferin, der unsre Lieder schallen, Dir hat die Schönheit jeden Zug beseelt. Wem schenkte die Natur vor allen Schäferinnen
Die Gabe, jedem zu gefallen
Und ohne Kunst sich Herzen zu gewinnen?
Wen hat der Reichtum vor uns allen
Zurn Liebling sich erwählt?
Chor der Schäfer
Dich, Schäfer! dessen Glück die Wälder widerhallen,
Scene 3
Recitative
Grisostomo
There comes the bride; I’ve never seen her so beautiful. Comacho leads her, And the whole town comes along.
Don Quichotte
The facial expression Of the bride is so mournful, my friend.
Grisostomo
The dear child Acts like all maidens; There are none Who do not weep on their wedding day.
Sancho
You’re quite wrong my friend, I, who stand before you, Have known one in my youth! It was my own bride, who, on our wedding day, Shed not a tear; On the contrary, believe it or not, She brought me to tears!
Grisostomo
Here they come, Now I want to sing to them:
Aria and Chorus
Grisostomo
You, Shepherd, you whose luck resounds through these forests, You have in abundance what a thousand others lack. To you, shepherdess, for whom we sing, Beauty has given you everything, And Nature has given you
The gift to please everyone, And without false artfulness, to win all hearts. And who else has Wealth Chosen as its favorite?
Chorus of Shepherds
You, Shepherd, you whose luck resounds through these forests,
Grisostomo & Pedrillo
Dich krönt im Überfluß, was tausend andern fehlt.
Chor der Schäfer
Dir, Schäferin, der unsre Lieder schallen, Grisostomo & Pedrillo
Dir hat die Schönheit jeden Zug beseelt.
Recitativo
Comacho
Geliebte Freundin, höre, Wie alle diesen frohen Tag
Zu deinem Ruhm, zu meiner Ehre
Mit Lustgesängen feiern.
Chor der Schäfer
Ach!
Comacho
Was will das Klaggeschrei, wo nichts als Freude lacht?
Pedrillo
Hier wird von seinen Freunden Basilio gebracht, Entstellt und gleich dem Tode blaß.
Vierte Szene
Recitativo (accompagnato)
Basilio
Schau her, Quiteria! dein Haß
Hat nun sein Werk an mir vollendet.
Sei ganz Triumph; mich decket bald das Grab.
Von deiner Grausamkeit
Hat dieser Dolch auf ewig mich befreit. Du scheinst gerührt? Dein schönes Auge wendet
Die Blicke von mir ab?
Ach! hast du noch nicht ganz das sanftere Gefühl
Der Menschlichkeit für mich aus deiner Brust verbannt?
O, so gewähre mir die Bitte,
Mit der mein starrer Mund dich anzuflehen wagt!
Erkenne mich in diesen Augenblicken, Die mir noch übrig sind, ach, ihrer sind nicht viel!
Erkenne mich für deinen Gatten, Und reiche mir, dem Sterbenden, die Hand,
Die du dem Lebenden versagt.
Wirst du mir diesen letzten Wunsch gewähren, Und würdigest du mich, wenn mir die Augen brechen,
Grisostomo & Pedrillo
You have in abundance what a thousand others lack,
Chorus of Shepherds
To you, shepherdess, for whom we sing,
Grisostomo & Pedrillo
Beauty has given you everything.
Recitative
Comacho
My beloved betrothed, hear How on this happy day, To your fame and my honor, Everyone celebrates with joyful song!
Chorus of Shepherds
Alas!
Comacho
What is this outburst of lamentation when all is joyful laughter?
Pedrillo
Basilio is being brought here by his friends, All disfigured and pale as death!
Scene 4
Accompanied Recitative
Basilio
Look Quiteria! your hatred
Has finally done its work on me. Be triumphant! I’ll soon be in my grave. This dagger has freed me Forever from your cruelty! You seem moved? your fair eye Turns away from me? Alas! Have you not banished all the softer human feelings For me from your breast? Then grant me the wish Which my dying mouth now dares to make! Acknowledge me, in these last few moments Which remain to me—alas, they are not many— And recognize me as your husband, And extend to the dying one, that hand… Which you refused the living one. If you want to grant me this last wish, And do me the honor, when my eyes grow dim,
O Schäferin, mit mitleidsvollen Zähren
Mit deiner Hand sie zuzudrücken; So wird mein Tod mir leicht, so fahr’ ich ganz vergnügt Ins Reich der Schatten.
Recitativo
Sancho
Für einen, der schon halb im Grabe liegt, Kann dieser Mensch noch ziemlich lange sprechen.
Quiteria
Was soll ich tun?
Comacho wird es nicht verstatten.
Chor der Freunde des Basilio O, Schäfer! wir beschwören
Dich bei Quiteria, den Wunsch ihm zu gewähren.
Comacho
Nein, nein!
Sancho
Wer wollte denn so grausam sein?
Ihr könnt ihm ja die Braut ganz ohne Schaden leihn; Ihr seht ja, daß er stirbt.
Comacho
Da er bald stirbt, so mag es sein, Wenn meine Braut so will.
Quiteria
Ich willige darein.
Basilio
So ist es wahr, Quiteria, Daß du dein Herz und deine Hand mir gibst, Daß du mich liebst, So lang’ ich lebe?
Quiteria
Ja!
Ich schwör’s, daß ich mein Herz und meine Hand dir gebe.
Arie
Basilio
Nun bist du mein.
Ich kann mich deinen Gatten nennen, Und Glück für mich, ich werd’ es können, Wenn uns die Gräber wirklich trennen; Denn dieser nahe Tod war Kunst, war nur zum Schein. Nun bist du mein.
O Shepherdess, with merciful tears, To close them with your hand; So will my death be easy, and I shall go contented To the land of the shadows!
Recitative
Sancho
For someone with one foot in the grave, This fellow can talk for quite a long time!
Quiteria
What shall I do? Comacho will not allow it!
Chorus of the Friends of Basilio O shepherd! we beg you In the name of Quiteria, to grant him his wish!
Comacho
No, no!
Sancho
Who would wish to be so cruel? You can lend him your bride without fear; You can see that he’s dying!
Comacho
Since he will soon die, so be it, If that is what my bride wants.
Quiteria
I willingly consent.
Basilio
Then it’s true Quiteria?
That you give me your heart and hand, That you love me
As long as I live?
Quiteria Yes!
I swear it, that I give you my heart and my hand!
Aria
Basilio
Now you are mine, I can call myself your husband, And a good luck for me that I am able to do it, Before the grave truly parts us forever; Because this impending death was a sham, just an illusion!
Now you are mine.
Recitativo
Chor der Freunde des Comacho
O List!
Comacho
Auf, auf, ihr Freunde! greift zu den Waffen, Und seid mir getreu, mir Recht und Rache zu verschaffen.
Chor der Freunde des Comacho
Wir sind getreu, wir greifen zu den Waffen, Dir Recht und Rache zu verschaffen.
Don Quichotte
Gemach!
Bei meiner Dulcineen Blicke, Den ersten, der ein Schwert in seine Hände nimmt, Den hau’ ich gleich in tausend Stücke. Die Hirtin ist vom Himmel
Für den Basilio bestimmt, Drum gebt ihm nach.
Sancho
Herr, Herr! ich bitt’ Euch, laßt Euch raten Und bleibt aus dem Getümmel; Wir kriegen sonst wahrhaftig nichts vom Braten.
Comacho
Bedenke, Schäferin,
Wie reich ich bin, Wie arm der Schäfer ist.
Arie
Quiteria
Behalte nur dein Gold.
Der Schäfer ist mir vom Geschick erkoren, Ich bin für ihn, er ist für mich geboren, Ich war ihm längstens hold.
Behalte nur dein Gold.
Fünfte Szene
Recitativo
Comacho
Nur nicht zu stolz, Treulose, sprich, nicht wahr?
Du denkst wohl gar, Ich werde mich um dich zu Tode kränken?
Du irrest; der Verlust ist leichtlich zu ersetzen. Ich will mein Herz, mit meinen Schätzen, Schon einer Bessern schenken.
Und wenn du einst, an deines Lieblings Brust,
Recitative
Chorus of the Friends of Comacho O trickery!
Comacho
Get up, comrades! Grab your weapons, Be true to me, and get me justice and vengeance!
Chorus of the Friends of Comacho
We are true to you, we are grabbing our weapons To get justice and vengeance for you!
Don Quichotte
Stop!
I swear by Dulcinea, The first one who takes a sword in his hand, I will hack into a thousand pieces. The shepherdess is destined By heaven for Basilio. Therefore, yield to him!
Sancho
Milord, I beg you, heed my advice And don’t get involved in this fight; Otherwise, in truth, we will get none of those roast meats!
Comacho
Consider, shepherdess, How rich I am, And how poor that shepherd is!
Aria
Quiteria
Keep your gold!
Fate has chosen the shepherd for me; I am made for him, and he was born for me, I’ve always loved him!
Keep your gold!
Scene 5
Recitative
Comacho
Don’t speak too proudly, faithless woman! Did you think I’d be pining away for you until I die? Wrong! This loss is easy to replace! I will soon give my heart And my treasure to someone better! And when someday, lying in your sweetheart’s arms,
Mit aller Zärtlichkeit im Hunger darben mußt, Dann wirst du deinen Stolz zu spät, zu spät bereun.
Basilio
Kommt, meine Freunde! kommt mit mir euch zu erfreun
Und tanzt und singt.
Sancho
Ich bleibe stumm.
Basilio Warum?
Sancho
Soll ich mir denn mit euch die Kehle trocken schrein?
Ihr habt ja nichts zu leben, Ihr habt ja keinen Wein.
Basilio
Freund! Euer Durst wird ja zu löschen sein. So viel, als Ihr gebraucht, will ich Euch geben.
Sancho
So stimm’ ich willig ein.
Arie e coro
Quiteria
Die Klugheit ist vom günstigen Geschicke
Das kostbarste Geschenk.
Basilio
Sie ist der Weg zum Glücke,
Quiteria
Das Leben ohne sie ist ein verwirrter Traum.
Don Quichotte
Durch Klugheit kann ein Zwerg den größten Riesen zwingen, Mit ihr durchstreift ein Held der Erde weiten Raum.
Sancho
Mit ihr erhasch’ ich einst, trotz aller Zaubrer Schlingen, Die schönste Insel beim Saum.
Chor der Schäfer
Die Klugheit ist vom günstigen Geschicke
Das kostbarste Geschenk.
Sie ist der Weg zum Glücke, Das Leben ohne sie ist ein verwirrter Traum.
ENDE
Amidst all the love and tenderness, you feel the pangs of starvation, Then you will rue your pride, but too late, too late!
Basilio
Come, my friends! Come with me
To dance and sing and be merry.
Sancho
I’ll just keep quiet.
Basilio Why?
Sancho
Should I shout my throat dry? You have nothing to live on, You surely have no wine.
Basilio
Friend! your thirst will be quenched; As much as you want, I will give you!
Sancho
Then I’ll gladly join you!
Aria and Chorus
Quiteria
Cleverness is the most precious gift Which a kindly fate bestows,
Basilio
It is the path to happiness.
Quiteria
Life without it is a confused dream.
Don Quichotte
With it a Dwarf can master a Giant, And a hero can roam the wide world.
Sancho
With it, one day, I’ll capture, despite the traps of the sorcerer, The most beautiful Island in the world!
Chorus of Shepherds
Cleverness is the most precious gift
Which a kindly fate bestows, It is the path to happiness.
Life without it is a confused dream.
END
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BEMF’S 2023 PRODUCTION OF DESMAREST’S CIRCÉ
Boston Early Music Festival
The Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF) is universally recognized as a leader in the field of early music. Since its founding in 1980 by leading practitioners of historical performance in the United States and abroad, BEMF has promoted early music through a variety of diverse programs and activities, including an annual concert series that brings early music’s brightest stars to the Boston and New York concert stages, and the biennial weeklong Festival and Exhibition, recognized as “the world’s leading festival of early music” (The Times, London). Through its programs BEMF has earned its place as North America’s premier presenting organization for music of the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods and has secured Boston’s reputation as “America’s early music capital” (Boston Globe).
INTERNATIONAL BAROQUE OPERA
One of BEMF’s main goals is to unearth and present lesser-known Baroque operas performed by the world’s leading musicians armed with the latest information on period singing, orchestral performance, scenic design, costuming, dance, and staging. BEMF operas reproduce the Baroque’s stunning palette of sound by bringing together today’s leading operatic superstars and a wealth of instrumental talent from across the globe to one stage for historic presentations, all zestfully led from the pit by the BEMF Artistic Directors Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, and creatively reimagined for the stage by BEMF Opera Director Gilbert Blin. Biennial centerpiece productions feature both the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra and the Boston Early Music Festival Dance Company.
The twenty-second biennial Boston Early Music Festival, A Celebration of Women, was held in June 2023 and featured Henry Desmarest’s 1694 opera Circé from a libretto by Louise-Geneviève Gillot de Saintonge. The twenty-third Festival, in June 2025, will have as its centerpiece Reinhard Keiser’s 1705 opera Octavia.
BEMF introduced its Chamber Opera Series during its annual concert season in November 2008, with a performance of John Blow’s Venus and Adonis and Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Actéon. The series features the artists of the Boston Early Music Festival Vocal and Chamber Ensembles and focuses on the wealth of chamber operas composed during the Baroque period, while providing an
International Baroque Opera • Celebrated Concerts • World-Famous Exhibition
PHOTO: KATHY WITTMAN
increasing number of local opera aficionados the opportunity to attend one of BEMF’s superb offerings. Subsequent annual productions include George Frideric Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, combined performances of Charpentier’s La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers and La Couronne de Fleurs, Monteverdi’s Orfeo, a double bill of Pergolesi’s La serva padrona and Livietta e Tracollo, a production titled “Versailles” featuring Les Plaisirs de Versailles by Charpentier, Les Fontaines de Versailles by Michel-Richard de Lalande, and divertissements from Atys by Jean-Baptiste Lully, Francesca Caccini’s Alcina, the first opera written by a woman, a combination of Telemann’s Pimpinone and Ino, joint performances of Lully’s Idylle sur la Paix and Charpentier’s La Fête de Rueil, and most recently John Frederick Lampe’s The Dragon of Wantley. Acis and Galatea was revived and presented on a four-city North American Tour in early 2011, which included a performance at the American Handel Festival in Seattle, and in 2014, BEMF’s second North American Tour featured the Charpentier double bill from 2011.
BEMF has a well-established and highly successful project to record some of its groundbreaking work in the field of Baroque opera. The first three recordings in this series were all nominated for the Grammy Award
for Best Opera Recording, in 2005, 2007, and 2008: the 2003 Festival centerpiece Ariadne, by Johann Georg Conradi; Lully’s Thésée; and the 2007 Festival opera, Lully’s Psyché, which was hailed by BBC Music Magazine as “superbly realized…magnificent.” In addition, the BEMF recordings of Lully’s Thésée and Psyché received Gramophone Award Nominations in the Baroque Vocal category in 2008 and 2009, respectively. BEMF’s next three recordings on the German CPO label were drawn from its Chamber Opera Series: Charpentier’s Actéon, Blow’s Venus and Adonis, and a release of Charpentier’s La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers and La Couronne de Fleurs, which won the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording and the 2015 Echo Klassik Opera Recording of the Year (17th/18th Century Opera). Agostino Steffani’s Niobe, Regina di Tebe, featuring Philippe Jaroussky and Karina Gauvin, which was released in January 2015 on the Erato/ Warner Classics label in conjunction with a seven-city, four-country European concert tour of the opera, has been nominated for a Grammy Award, was named Gramophone’s Recording of the Month for March 2015, is the 2015 Echo Klassik World Premiere Recording of the Year, and has received a 2015 Diapason d’Or de l’Année and a 2015 Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. Handel’s Acis and Galatea was released in November 2015. In 2017, while maintaining the focus on
SCENE FROM BEMF’S 2023 PRODUCTION OF LAMPE’S THE DRAGON OF WANTLEY
PHOTO: KATHY WITTMAN
Baroque opera, BEMF expanded the recording project to include other select Baroque vocal works: a new Steffani disc, Duets of Love and Passion, was released in September 2017 in conjunction with a six-city North American tour, and a recording of Johann Sebastiani’s St. Matthew Passion was released in March 2018. Four Baroque opera releases followed in 2019 and 2020: a disc of Charpentier’s chamber operas Les Plaisirs de Versailles and Les Arts Florissants was released at the June 2019 Festival, and has been nominated for a Grammy Award; the 2013 Festival opera, Handel’s Almira, was released in late 2019, and received a Diapason d’Or. Lalande’s chamber opera Les Fontaines de Versailles was featured on a September 2020 release of the composer’s works; Christoph Graupner’s opera Antiochus und Stratonica was released in December 2020. BEMF’s recording of Desmarest’s Circé, the 2023 Festival opera, was released concurrently with the opera’s North American premiere, Pergolesi’s La serva padrona and Livietta e Tracollo was released in December 2023, and the newest recording, Telemann’s Ino and opera arias for soprano featuring Amanda Forsythe, was released in October 2024.
CELEBRATED CONCERTS
Some of the most thrilling musical moments at the biennial Festival occur during one of the dozen or more concerts presented around the clock, which always include the acclaimed Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra led by Orchestra Director Robert Mealy, and which often feature unique, once-in-a-lifetime collaborations and programs by the spectacular
array of talent assembled for the Festival week’s events. In 1989, BEMF established an annual concert series bringing early music’s leading soloists and ensembles to the Boston concert stage to meet the growing demand for regular world-class performances of early music’s beloved classics and newly discovered works. BEMF then expanded its concert series in 2006, when it extended its performances to New York City’s Gilder Lehrman Hall at the Morgan Library & Museum, providing “a shot in the arm for New York’s relatively modest early-music scene” (New York Times).
WORLD-FAMOUS EXHIBITION
The nerve center of the biennial Festival, the Exhibition is the largest event of its kind in the United States, showcasing nearly one hundred early instrument makers, music publishers, service organizations, schools and universities, and associated colleagues. In 2013, Mozart’s own violin and viola were displayed at the Exhibition, in their first-ever visit to the United States. Every other June, hundreds of professional musicians, students, and enthusiasts come from around the world to purchase instruments, restock their libraries, learn about recent musicological developments, and renew old friendships. For four days, they visit the Exhibition booths to browse, discover, and purchase, and attend the dozens of symposia, masterclasses, and demonstration recitals, all of which encourage a deeper appreciation of early music, and strengthen relationships between musicians, participants, and audiences. n
THE BEMF ORCHESTRA AT THE JUNE 2023 FESTIVAL PHOTO: KATHY WITTMAN
BECOME A FRIEND OF THE
Boston Early Music Festival
Revenue from ticket sales, even from a sold-out performance, accounts for less than half of the total cost of producing BEMF’s operas and concerts; the remainder is derived almost entirely from generous friends like you. With your help, we will be able to build upon the triumphs of the past, and continue to bring you thrilling performances by today’s finest Early Music artists.
Our membership organization, the FRIENDS OF THE BOSTON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL, includes donors from around the world. These individuals recognize the Festival’s need for further financial support in order to fulfill its aim of serving as a showcase for the finest talent in the field.
PLEASE JOIN THE FRIENDS OF THE BOSTON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL BY DONATING AT ONE OF SEVERAL LEVELS:
• Friend
$45
• Partner $100
• Associate $250
• Patron $500
• Guarantor $1,000
• Benefactor $2,500
• Leadership Circle $5,000
• Artistic Director’s Circle $10,000
• Festival Angel $25,000
THREE WAYS TO GIVE:
• Visit BEMF.org and click on “Give Now”.
• Call BEMF at 617-661-1812 to donate by telephone using your credit card
• Mail your credit card information or a check (payable to BEMF) to Boston Early Music Festival, 43 Thorndike Street, Suite 302, Cambridge, MA 02141-1764
OTHER WAYS TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT:
• Increase your philanthropic impact with a Matching Gift from your employer.
• Make a gift of appreciated stocks or bonds to BEMF.
• Planned Giving allows you to support BEMF in perpetuity while achieving your financial goals.
• Direct your gift to a particular area that interests you with a Named Gift.
QUESTIONS? Please e-mail Kathleen Fay at kathy@bemf.org, or call the BEMF office at 617-661-1812. Thank you for your support!
FRIENDS OF THE
Boston Early Music Festival
This list reflects donations received from June 1, 2023 to November 7, 2024
FESTIVAL ANGELS
($25,000 or more)
Anonymous (2)
Bernice K. Chen
Brit d’Arbeloff
Peter L. Faber
David Halstead & Jay Santos
George L. Hardman
Glenn A. KnicKrehm
Jeffrey G. Mora, in memory of Wendy Fuller-Mora
Miles Morgan†
Lorna E. Oleck
Susan L. Robinson
Andrew Sigel
Joan Margot Smith
Piroska Soos†
Donald E. Vaughan & Lee S. Ridgway
ARTISTIC DIRECTORS’ CIRCLE
($10,000 or more)
Anonymous (2)
Katie & Paul Buttenwieser
Susan Denison
Tony Elitcher & Andrea Taras
Marie-Pierre & Michael Ellmann
Lori Fay & Christopher Cherry
Clare M. S. Fewtrell†
Donald Peter Goldstein, M.D., in memory of Constance Kellert Goldstein
Ellen T. & John T. Harris
Barbara & Amos Hostetter
David M. Kozak & Anne Pistell, in memory of their parents
Bill McJohn
Karen Tenney & Thomas Loring
Christoph Wolff
LEADERSHIP CIRCLE
($5,000 or more)
Anonymous
Diane & John Paul Britton
Gregory E. Bulger & Richard Dix
Peter & Katie DeWolf
Susan Donaldson
Jean Fuller Farrington
James A. Glazier
Mei-Fung Kerley, in memory of Ted Chen
Robert E. Kulp, Jr., in memory of James Nicolson, Miles Morgan & Ned Kellogg
Mr. & Mrs. Thomas G. MacCracken
Heather Mac Donald & Erich Eichman
Bettina A. Norton
Harold I. Pratt
Joanne Zervas Sattley
David Scudder, in memory of Marie Louise Scudder
Maria van Kalken & Hal Winslow, in memory of Adrian van Kalken
BENEFACTORS
($2,500 or more)
Anonymous
Annemarie Altman
Douglas M. & Aviva A. Brooks
Amy Brown & Brian Carr
Beth Brown, in memory of Walter R.J. Brown
David Emery & Olimpia Velez
Kathleen Fay, in memory of Dorothy Ryan Fay
John Felton & Marty Gottron
Harriet Lindblom
John S. Major & Valerie Steele
Victor & Ruth McElheny
Kenneth C. Ritchie & Paul T. Schmidt
Nina & Timothy Rose
Catherine & Phil Saines, in honor of Barbara K. Wheaton
Paul L. Sapienza PC CPA
Adrian & Michelle Touw
Allan & Joann Winkler
GUARANTORS
($1,000 or more)
Anonymous (10)
A.M. Askew
Ann Beha & Robert Radloff
Mary Briggs & John Krzywicki
The Honorable Leonie M. Brinkema & Mr. John R. Brinkema
Pamela & Lee Bromberg
James Burr
Betty Canick
John A. Carey
Robert & Elizabeth Carroll
Bernice Chen & Mimi Kerley, in memory of Ted Chen
Carla Chrisfield & Benjamin D. Weiss
Peter S. Coleman
Dr. & Mrs. Franklyn Commisso
Mary Cowden
Belden & Pamela Daniels
Mary Deissler
Jeffrey Del Papa
Carl E. Dettman
Charles & Elizabeth Emerson
Phillip Hanvy
Dr. Robert L. Harris
Rebecca & Ronald Harris-Warrick
Michael Herz & Jean Roiphe
Jessica Honigberg
Jane Hoover
Alan M. King
Art & Linda Kingdon
Amelia J. LeClair & Garrow Throop
John Leen & Eileen Koven
Dr. Peter Libby, in memory of Dr. Beryl Benacerraf
Lawrence & Susan Liden
Mark & Mary Lunsford
MAFAA
William & Joan Magretta
David McCarthy & John Kolody
Michael P. McDonald
Rebecca Nemser, in memory of Paul Nemser
Keith Ohmart & Helen Chen
Louise Oremland
Richard & Julia Osborne
Brian Pfeiffer
Neal J. Plotkin & Deborah Malamud
Amanda & Melvyn Pond
Tracy Powers
Susan Pundt
Paul Rabin & Arlene Snyder
Christa Rakich & Janis Milroy
Alice Robbins & Walter Denny, in honor of Kathy Fay
Sue Robinson
Jose M. Rodriguez & Richard A. Duffy
Patsy Rogers
Lois Rosow
Michael & Karen Rotenberg
Carlton & Lorna Russell
Kevin Ryan & Ozerk Gogus, in memory of Dorothy Fay
Lynne & Ralph Schatz
Susan Schuur
Cynthia Siebert
Raymond A. & Marilyn Smith
Elizabeth Snow
Richard K. & Kerala J. Snyder
Hazel & Murray Somerville
Ted St. Antoine
Lisa Teot
Paula & Peter Tyack
Peter J. Wender
PATRONS
($500 or more)
Anonymous (6)
Morton Abromson & Joan Nissman
Eric Hall Anderson
Tom & Judy Anderson Allen
Susan Bromley
Frederick Byron
John Campbell & Susanna Peyton
Mary Chamberlain
David J. Chavolla
Joseph Connors
Geoffrey Craddock
Richard & Constance Culley
Kathryn Disney
John W. Ehrlich
Mary Fillman & Mary Otis Stevens
Martin & Kathleen Fogle
Claire Fontijn, in memory of Arthur Fontijn & Sylvia Elvin
Bruce A. Garetz
Alexander Garthwaite
Sarah M. Gates
George & Marla Gearhart
David & Harriet Griesinger
James & Ina Heup
Phyllis Hoffman
Thomas M. Hout & Sonja Ellingson Hout
Jean Jackson, in memory of Louis Kampf
Richard Johnson & Annmarie Linnane
Paul & Alice Johnson
Robin Johnson
Barry Kernfeld & Sally McMurry
Fran & Tom Knight
Neal & Catherine Konstantin
Kathryn Mary Kucharski
Robert & Mary La Porte
Frederick V. Lawrence, in memory of Rosemarie Maag Lawrence
Catherine Liddell
Roger & Susan Lipsey
James Liu & Alexandra Bowers
Quinn Mackenzie
Marietta Marchitelli
Carol Marsh
Amy & Brian McCreath
Marilyn Miller
Alan & Kathy Muirhead
Robert Neer & Ann Eldridge
Clara M. & John S. O’Shea
Richard† & Lois Pace, in honor of Peter Faber
William J. Pananos
Henry Paulus
Phillip Petree
Hon. W. Glen Pierson & Hon. Charles P. Reed
Gene & Margaret Pokorny
Martha J. Radford
Arthur & Elaine Robins
Ellen Rosand
Cheryl K. Ryder
Richard Schroeder & Dr. Jane Burns
Wendy Shattuck & Sam Plimpton
Kathy & Alexander Silbiger Fund
Harvey A. Silverglate, in memory of Elsa Dorfman
Lynne Spencer
Louisa C. Spottswood
Catherine & Keith Stevenson
Ann Stewart
Ronald W. Stoia
Theresa & Charles Stone
David & Jean Stout, in honor of Kathy Fay
Carl Swanson
Ralph & Jeanine Swick, in memory of Alan & Judie Kotok
Kenneth P. Taylor
Douglas L. Teich, M.D.
Reed & Peggy Ueda
Richard Urena
Patrick Wallace & Laurie McNeil
Louella Krueger Ward, in memory of Dr. Alan J. Ward, PhD, ABPP
Polly Wheat & John Cole
Kathleen Wittman & Melanie Andrade, in memory of John Wittman
ASSOCIATES
($250 or more)
Anonymous (7)
Anonymous, in honor of Nancy Olson
Jonathan B. Aibel & Julie I. Rohwein, in honor of James Glazier
Elizabeth Alexander
Nicholas Altenbernd
Brian P. & Debra K. S. Anderson
Julie Andrijeski & J. Tracy Mortimore
Louise Basbas
William & Ann Bein
Noel & Paula Berggren
Michael & Sheila Berke
James Bowman
David Breitman & Kathryn Stuart
David C. Brown
Robert Burger
Darcy Lynn Campbell
Joseph Cantey
Anne Chalmers & Holly Gunner
Peter Charig & Amy Briemer
JoAnne Chernow
Sherryl & Gerard Cohen
Derek Cottier & Lauren Tilly
Tekla Cunningham & David Sawyer
Warren R. Cutler
Eric & Margaret Darling
Leigh Deacon
Michael DiSabatino, in honor of Nancy Olson
Ellen Dokton & Stephen Schmidt
Charles & Sheila Donahue
Alan Durfee†
The Rev’d Richard Fabian
Charles Fisk
Fred Franklin, in memory of Kaaren Grimstad
Elizabeth French
Jonathan Friedes & Qian Huang
Fred & Barbara Gable
Sandy Gadsby & Nancy Brown
The Graver Family
Sonia Guterman, in memory of Martin Guterman
Laury Gutierrez & Elsa Gelin
Dr. Joanna Haas
Eric & Dee Hansen
Joan E. Hartman
Rebecca & Richard Hawkins
Diane Hellens
Katherine A. Hesse
David Hoglund
Amy & Seamus Hourihan
Wayne & Laurell Huber
Charles Bowditch Hunter
Francesco Iachello
Chris & Klavs Jensen
Patrick G. Jordan
Edward & Kathleen Kelly
David P. Kiaunis
Robert L. Kleinberg
Forrest Knowles
Christopher Larossa
Jasper Lawson
David A. Leach & Laurie J. LaChapelle
William Leitch
Rob & Mary Joan Leith
Susan Lewinnek
William Loutrel & Thomas Fynan
Mary Maarbjerg
Anne H. Matthews
June Matthews
Sally Mayer
Donna McCampbell
Ray Mitzel
Stephen Moody
Nancy Nuzzo
Eugene Papa
John Parisi
David & Beth Pendery
Joseph L. Pennacchio
Susan Pettee & Michael Wise
Stephen Poteet
Anne & François Poulet
Lawrence Pratt & Rosalind Forber
Michael Rogan & Hugh Wilburn
Rusty Russell, in honor of Kathy Fay
Susan Sargent
David Schneider & Klára Móricz
Charles & Mary Ann Schultz
Laila Awar Shouhayib
Jacob & Lisa Skowronek
Mark Slotkin
David Snead & Kate Prescott
Jeffrey Soucy
Victoria Sujata
Jonathan Swartz
Mark S. Thurber & Susan M. Galli
John & Dorothy Truman
Peter & Kathleen Van Denmark
Robert Viarengo
Robert & Therese Wagenknecht
Robert Warren
Thomas & LeRose Weikert
Scott & Barbara Winkler
Beverly Woodward & Paul Monsky
PARTNERS
($100 or more)
Anonymous (12) Anonymous, in memory of Dorothy Ryan Fay Anonymous, in memory of Thomas Roney
Vilde Aaslid
Anne Acker
Joseph Aieta III
Joanne Algarin
Druid Errant D.T. Allan-Gorey
Ken Allen
Neil R. Ayer, Jr. & Linda Ayer
Carl Baker & Susan Haynes
Eric & Rebecca Bank
Dr. David Barnert & Julie Raskin
Rev. & Mrs. Joseph Bassett
Alan Bates & Michele Mandrioli
Lawrence Bell
Alan Benenfeld
Helen Benham
Susan Benua
Judith Bergson
Larry & Sara Mae Berman
John Birks
Sarah Bixler & Christopher Tonkin
Moisha Blechman
Wes Bockley & Amy Markus
Deborah Boldin & Gabriel Rice
Sally & Charlie Boynton
Joel Bresler
Andrew Brethauer
Catherine & Hillel Shahan Bromberg
David L. Brown
Lawrence Brown
Margaret H. Brown
John H. Burkhalter III
Judi Burten, in memory of Phoebe Larkey
William Carroll
Bonnie & Walter Carter
Floyd & Aleeta Christian
Robert B. Christian
Daniel Church & Roger Cuevas
John K. Clark & Judith M. Stoughton
Deborah J. Cohen
Carol & Alex Collier
Anne Conner
David Cooke
Robert B. Crane
Elizabeth & David Cregger
Martina Crocker
Katherine Crosier, in memory of Carl C. Crosier
Gray F. Crouse
Donna Cubit-Swoyer
Alicia Curtis & Kathy Pratt
Ruta Daugela
Carl & May Daw
William Depeter
Jim Diamond
Paul Doerr
Tamar & Jeremy Kaim Doniger
John Dunton & Carol McKeen
Peter A. Durfee & Peter G. Manson
Jane Edwards
Mark Elenko
David English
Chuck Epstein & Melia Bensussen
Jake Esher
Lila M. Farrar
Marilyn Farwell
Margot Fassler
Gregg, Abby & Max Feigelson
Ellen Feingold
Grace A. Feldman, in honor of Bernice Chen
Carol L. Fishman
Dr. Jonathan Florman
Howard C. Floyd
Gary Freeman
Marica & Jeff Freyman
Friends
Thomas Fynan
Michael Gannon
Gisela & Ronald Geiger
Stephen L. Gencarello
Monica & David Gerber
William Glenn
The Goldsmith Family
Lisa Goldstein
Lorraine & William Graves
Winifred Gray
Judith Green & James Kurtz
Mary Greer
Thomas H. & Lori B. Griswold
Deborah Grose
John Gruver & Lynn Tilley
Peter F. Gustafson
Eric Haas, in memory of Janet Haas
Judy & Wayne Hall
Suzanne & Easley Hamner
David J. Harris, MD
Sam & Barbara Hayes
Marie C. Henderson, in memory of A. Brandt Henderson
Rebecca Henderson
Catherine & John Henn
Roderick J. Holland
Jackie Horne
Valerie Horst & Benjamin Peck
John Hsia
Constance Huff
Keith L. & Catherine B. Hughes
Joe Hunter & Esther Schlorholtz
Brian Hussey
Susan L. Jackson
Michele Jerison
Karen Johansen & Gardner Hendrie
Robert & Selina Johnson
Tim Johnson, in memory of Bill Gasperini
David K. Jordan
Marietta B. Joseph
David Keating
Mr. & Mrs. Seamus C. Kelly
Joseph J. Kesselman, Jr.
Holly Ketron
Leslie & Kimberly King
Maryanne King
Pat Kline
Valerie & Karl KnicKrehm
George Kocur
Leslie Kooyman
Valerie Krall
Ellen Kranzer
Barbara & Paul Krieger
Jay Carlton Kuhn, Jr.
Peter A. Lans
Claire Laporte
Bruce Larkin & Donna Jarlenski
Diana Larsen
Joanne & Carl Leaman
Alison Leslie
Drs. Sidney & Lynne Levitsky
Ellen R. Lewis
Robert & Janice Locke
Laura Loehr
Sandra & David Lyons
Desmarest Lloyd MacDonald, in memory of Ned Kellogg
Dr. Bruce C. MacIntyre
Louise Malcolm, in memory of W. David Malcolm, Jr.
Jeffrey & Barbara Mandula
Timothy Masters
Dr. Arnold Matlin & Dr. Margaret Matlin, Ph.D.
Mary McCallum
Anne McCants
Lee McClelland
Heidi & George McEvoy
Dave & Jeannette McLellan
Cynthia Merritt
Susan Metz, in memory of Gerald Metz
Eiji Miki†
Marg Miller
Nicolas Minutillo
Stefanie Moritz
Gene Murrow
Rodney & Barbara Myrvaagnes
Arthur & Charlotte Ness
Nancy Nicholson
Jeffrey Nicolich
Caroline Niemira
Lee Nunley
Leslie Nyman
Michael & Jan Orlansky
Patricia T. Owen
David & Claire Oxtoby
John R. Palys
Jane P. Papa
Ruth & Ted Parent
Susan Patrick, in memory of Don Partridge
Jonah Pearl
Elizabeth Pearson-Griffiths
John Petrowsky
Bici Pettit-Barron
Elizabeth V. Phillips
Susan Porter & Robert Kauffman
George Raff
Rodney J. Regier
Deborah M. Reisman
Melissa Rice
Marge Roberts
Dennis & Anne Rogers
Sherry & William Rogers
Stephanie L. Rosenbaum
Peter & Linda Rubenstein
Charlotte Rutherfurd
Paul Rutz
Patricia & Roger Samuel
Mike Scanlon
Richard L. Schmeidler
Robert & Barbara Schneider
R. Scholz & M. Kempers
Lynn & Mary Schultz
Alison M. Scott
David Sears
Jean Seiler
David Seitz & Katie Manty
Mr. Terry Shea & Dr. Seigo Nakao
Aaron Sheehan & Adam Pearl
Michael Sherer
Kathy Sherrick
Susan Shimp
Rena & Michael Silevitch
John & Carolyn Skelton
Elliott Smith & Wendy Gilmore
Richard Snow
Jon Solins
Scott Sprinzen
Gail St. Onge
Esther & Daniel Steinhauer
Barbara Strizhak, in memory of Elliott Strizhak
Robert G. Sullivan & Meriem Pages
Richard Tarrant
Lisa Terry
Meghan K. Titzer
Janet Todaro
Edward P. Todd
Peter Townsend
Pierre Trepagnier & Louise Mundinger
Donald & Elizabeth Trumpler
Konstantin & Kirsten Tyurin
Barbara & John VanScoyoc
Richard & Virginia von Rueden
Cheryl S. Weinstein
The Westner Family
Juanita H. Wetherell
The Rev. Roger B. White, in memory of Joseph P. Hough
Susan & Thomas Wilkes
David L. Williamson
Phyllis S. Wilner
John Wolff & Helen Berger
Susan Wyatt
Jerome Yavarkovsky & Catherine Lowe
Paulette York & Richard Borts
David Yutzler
Ellen L. Ziskind
The Zucker Family
Lawrence Zukof & Pamela Carley
† deceased
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Anonymous (2)
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That Feeling You
The virtuous Empress Octavia is betrayed by her increasingly erratic husband, Nero, putting all of Rome on the brink of rebellion in Keiser’s monumental work for the famed Hamburg Opera in 1705.
