From walking down the aisle to hosting an annual fundraiser, the theater is all yours. Michigan's premier venue is unmatched, offering versatile spaces for any celebration. Home to world-class performances and legendary productions, the historic Detroit Opera House offers a backdrop of elegance and drama. Between our exclusive lounges, main stage, grand lobby, and 360° panorama-view Sky Deck, this iconic venue is guaranteed to impress your guests.
Discover why we’re Detroit’s destination for show-stopping experiences.
A message from Patty Isacson Sabee
Welcome to our winter 2025 performances at the Detroit Opera House! As the year begins, we are preparing for Handel’s 314-year-old opera Rinaldo, set in a modern pediatric ward in Louisa Proske’s imaginative new staging. One of the greatest joys of Rinaldo is the gorgeous soprano aria “Lascia ch’io pianga” (“Let me weep”). Listen for it. It may well survive as an undeniable earworm days after you leave the Opera House. This winter the Detroit Opera Youth Chorus has also been deep in rehearsals for Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic operetta H.M.S. Pinafore , which will be performed on Saturday, March 8. It is sobering to look back to the pandemic shutdowns of 2020, when joining others in song seemed like the most dangerous thing one could do. The youth chorus produced its first virtual opera during the pandemic, The Very Last Green Thing, a bright spot during those dark months, but there is nothing like witnessing these young singers’ joy at rehearsing and performing on the mainstage of the Detroit Opera House.
Young people are the future of opera. Thanks to an award from the State of Michigan, Detroit Opera will be able to bring 2,000 students to a performance of H.M.S. Pinafore, where they will see their peers on stage, mixing it up with the witty lyrics and joyful tunes of this Gilbert and Sullivan classic.
We also look forward to the return of Ailey's much-heralded residency, which utilizes Alvin Ailey's signature work, Revelations, as the inspirational framework for a comprehensive study of language arts, social studies, and dance! Thanks to a grant from the Fisher Foundation, this community engagement program will take place at two Detroit public schools in March, with students exploring and embodying the life story of Alvin Ailey and Revelations, while connecting this story to their own life experiences, community, and the broader world around them. Ailey’s Detroit residency will also include a professional development session and a workshop on active aging through dance.
Thank you to the many who have supported Detroit Opera’s education programming, including the Bartush Foundation challenge grant, which will double the impact of new and increased gifts this winter.
We are so grateful that you will join us at the Detroit Opera House, either again or for your first time, to experience the power and impact of opera and to thrill to the ensemble magic of dance.
Patty Isacson Sabee President & CEO, Detroit Opera
Così fan tutte
APR 05 / SAT / 7:30PM
APR 11 / FRI / 7:30PM
APR 13 / SUN / 2:30PM
This brand-new production by Artistic Director Yuval Sharon offers a fresh take on Mozart’s controversial comedy, where the role of Artificial Intelligence turns the tale into a futuristic experiment. Don Alfonso’s manipulations of the “emotions” of his robotic inventions (the lovers) become an obsessive quest to develop spiritual machines.
The Central Park Five
MAY 10 / SAT / 7:30PM
MAY 16 / FRI / 7:30PM
MAY 18 / SUN / 2:30PM
Malandain Ballet Biarritz
APR 26 / SAT / 7:30PM
APR 27 / SUN / 2:30PM
DANCE
Malandain Ballet Biarritz has become one of the most important companies of the French choreographic landscape. This original production combines Antonio Vivaldi’s famous Four Seasons and the little-known works of his contemporary and compatriot Giovanni Antonio Guido. With Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, dancers are moved by a more natural, more human form of dance.
Anthony Davis, composer of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Music for this true story adaptation of systemic discrimination. This gripping opera follows the wrongful convictions of five African American and Latino teenagers in the assault of a white female jogger in Central Park.
A message from Jon H. Teeuwissen
Twyla Tharp has been a force in dance for over six decades. A milestone in her choreographic career was her creation of Deuce Coupe in 1973, commissioned by the Joffrey Ballet, set to the popular music of the Beach Boys. It is considered the first “crossover” ballet, combining elements of classical ballet and modern dance. She has since created ballets for dance companies around the world, while continuing to create work on her own hand-selected artists.
In 1998 Twyla Tharp choreographed a ballet to a set of variations for the piano written by Ludwig van Beethoven on a waltz composed by Anton Diabelli. I had the opportunity to see a run-through of Diabelli in a studio at New York’s City Center when the piece had just been created. Performed with live piano, it remains my favorite piece of Tharp repertoire. I am thrilled that this masterful work is back in active repertoire, and that it will grace the opera house stage.
Also on the program is a new piece by Twyla Tharp called SLACKTIDE, set to the music of Philip Glass and performed by Chicago’s Grammy award-winning ensemble Third Coast Percussion.
Alvin Ailey premiered his masterwork Revelations in 1960. It is now the most performed ballet in the world. Originally a full-length piece set to spirituals, Revelations was edited down to the version we know and love today. Interestingly, Matthew Rushing, Ailey’s interim artistic director, has revisited the spirituals that were cut from the original Revelations, and choreographed a new ballet called Sacred Songs.
This season Ailey celebrates the 25th anniversary of Ronald K. Brown’s Grace , also a very spiritual piece, which opens and closes with two versions of Duke Ellington’s “Come Sunday”—the first by Jimmy McPhail, and the last by Jennifer Holliday—to the lyrics “God of love, please look down and let my people go.” The middle section is infused with house music. Brown interweaves modern and contemporary with West African forms to create some of the most rigorous dance one will ever experience.
Also on the theme of spirituality and connecting with one’s higher power is a new piece called Many Angels, choreographed by Lar Lubovitch to the serene, poetic Adagietto of Mahler’s 5th Symphony.
May your spirit soar!
Jon H. Teeuwissen
Artistic Advisor for Dance, Detroit Opera
Storybook Opera presents
Touring April – June, 2025
This spring, Detroit Opera’s Education Department will present two operas in its Storybook Opera touring season: Cinderella, composed by Gioachino Rossini and illustrated by Detroit-based artist Carole Morisseau, and Little Red Riding Hood, composed by Seymour Barab and illustrated by Detroit-based artist Vito Valdez. Storybook Opera shares these operas in a truncated form aimed at
pre-K through 2nd-grade audiences. Advised by Dr. Shannan Hibbard, Assistant Professor of Vocal Music Education at Wayne State University, and instructed by DO teaching artists Lucia Flowers, Victoria Lawal, and David Moan, this program encourages early literacy comprehension-infused with the creativity of song and dance.
To bring a performance to your community or school, call 313.309.8258 or email edinfo@detroitopera.org
Imagine a gift that outlives you, allowing future generations to experience and enjoy the world of opera and dance. The Avanti Society at Detroit Opera represents a designated group of donors who have included the organization in their estate plans—whether by will, trust, insurance, or life income arrangement.
Membership in The Avanti Society is open to all. In thanks for their generous support and foresight, Avanti Society members are given special benefits and recognition for their heartfelt commitment to Detroit Opera.
The Avanti Society— Ensuring the Future Mona Alonzo
Membership benefits to The Avanti Society include...
■ Your named recognition in opera and dance program books
■ Annual events held exclusively for members of the Avanti Society
■ Invitations to special events and previews
Contact Juliano Bitonti Stewart, Director of Development, at
or jstewart@detroitopear.org to learn more.
A Legacy of Generosity (1941-2024)
Anyone who had the good fortune to know Mona Alonzo—a longtime Detroit Opera donor and patron who passed away in February 2024— will remember her as an exceedingly warm and sincere person who was deeply committed to her family and friends, and generously supportive of the numerous organizations that were dear to her heart.
Possessing a profound passion for culture, and especially the arts, Mona attended theater festivals every summer and regularly visited and contributed to cultural institutions like Detroit Opera. Mona and her husband Richard were loyal DO subscribers for 25 years and donors for more than 30. And now, with her passing, Mona has left us a generous legacy gift as well. In accordance with her wishes, and her enthusiasm for Yuval Sharon’s ambitious artistic vision for DO, this gift will be used to support our general operations, giving us the freedom to direct the funds wherever they are most needed.
We are eternally grateful to Mona—for her stalwart support through every phase of our evolution as a driver of culture in Detroit, for her fervent belief in our transformative vision and auspicious future, and for her tremendous generosity, which will significantly benefit our organization, our audiences, and our community for many years to come.
A message from Yuval Sharon
When Detroit Opera presented Handel’s Xerxes two seasons ago, audiences couldn’t believe that this lush and lively opera was a flop at its premiere. How could a work that gave the world so many immortal melodies have been met with anything but instant adoration? Whatever issues Xerxes faced with the London audience in 1738, this 21st-century Detroit audience had no difficulty embracing this work—as your roars of laughter and audible pleasure throughout the performance made clear.
It's a great joy to now introduce Detroit audiences to Handel’s biggest success, Rinaldo (1711). This opera shows Handel in full swagger mode: this music is sensational, and he knows it. The score is so confident and forceful that it’s easy to imagine the youthful Handel arriving in London and throwing down the gauntlet with this work. He is ready to conquer the city and show off all the ways he can fill the opera seria conventions with his inimitable musical imagination.
Louisa Proske’s inventive and deeply felt production finds enchantment in the everyday, as a child’s imagination transforms hospital beds into ships and window washers into crusading knights. And you are in for a musical feast in the hands of our music director, Roberto Kalb. We are especially thrilled to welcome back to Detroit the world-famous countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo and soprano Nicole Heaston. We are also excited to introduce you to the remarkable artists Elena Villalón, Kyle Sanchez Tingzon, and Jusung Gabriel Park.
Rinaldo is only the third of Handel’s 42 operas to have graced the Detroit Opera House stage. I am sure this performance will have you clamoring for the other 39!
Gary L. Wasserman Artistic Director, Detroit Opera
encountering Countertenors
David Shengold explores the trending, versatile, and sometimes confusing voice type.
As a 10-year old more familiar with Simon and Garfunkel than Dowland and Purcell, I accompanied my parents to a concert in my suburban hometown. A slight, middle-aged guy with a goatee came onstage next to a man holding a lute. When he opened his mouth to sing, the almost disembodied sounds threw me for a loop. Where was the woman he was ventriloquizing hiding? Or was that his voice floating out? That staid, ordinary-looking man was Alfred Deller (1912–79), out touring his countertenor gospel. He had reclaimed whole fields of music for his then almost forgotten voice type: lute songs, Baroque arias, folk songs, and more, touring and recording widely. A door opened from the past, changing opera’s future.
“Baroque” refers to preMozart works, notably encompassing the operas of Monteverdi, Handel, and Vivaldi.
These “huh?” moments still proliferate today, when some gym-toned guy with a sword turns out to sound like Céline Dion. Detroit Opera audiences didn’t encounter countertenors until 2012, when the company (then Michigan Opera Theatre) presented George Frideric Handel’s Giulio Cesare. Rinaldo marks Detroit Opera’s third opera by Handel, following Xerxes in 2023. All three feature countertenors in the title role. Countertenors have been making their mark in Baroque repertory. (They also have been featured in contemporary stage works in a steadier stream since about 1960.)
“Baroque” refers to pre-Mozart works, notably encompassing the operas of Monteverdi, Handel, and Vivaldi. Many of them initially deployed castratos. The practice of castrato singing began in Italy. These were singers surgically altered before puberty to take part specifically in church music, which for centuries excluded female voices. With rigorous training and luck—if that’s the word, since often the practice involved disadvantaged children whose parents hoped for financial rewards—this practice could yield high sounds issuing forth from strong male lungs. As eminent American singer Anthony Roth Costanzo—returning
to Detroit Opera in Rinaldo ’s title role and also readying his book Countertenor (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) for publication later this year—says, the greatest castratos were their era’s rock stars, wealthy international travelers pursued by men and women. The castrato Nicolò Grimaldi (“Nicolini”) sang Rinaldo’s title role in the world premiere in London in 1711.
In France, the practice of castration to preserve high male singing voices was shunned or banned. Though some of the famous Italian castratos appeared in France, they were always considered alien (Honoré de Balzac’s 1830 novella Sarrasine, famously deconstructed in Roland Barthes’ book S/Z 140 years later, explores this troubling, seductive “othering”). So Jean-Philippe Rameau wrote no castrato roles. And, when working in French theaters, Christoph Willibald Gluck wrote no castrato roles, either; significantly, when the latter reworked his Viennese Orfeo for a Parisian Orphée, the title role—after all, opera’s archetypal musician—changed from a castrato to a high tenor role. The French term haut-contre, meaning a light tenor who can sail up to high Ds, breeds further confusion even today. There certainly are many French contreténors—notably the angelic-sounding Philippe Jaroussky, the more macho-voiced Christophe Dumaux, and sonorous newcomer Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian—plying the international waters today.
People often assume that whenever they hear a countertenor in Baroque music today they’re hearing music written for a castrato. Not at all. There has always existed a kind of singer called “falsettist,” someone whose natural voice placement, even when past puberty, allows them to sing very high in an airy head voice. Some just retain the boyish voice they always had; others are baritones who discover a facility for accessing those clear, high sounds that can thrill audiences. Costanzo likes to cite many examples among pop vocalists, not least Black musicians like Aaron Neville, Smokey Robinson, and Michael Jackson (for whom as a child he once sang backup).
In the English church music tradition— severed from Continental Catholic practice by the Reformation—men with the ability to sing high performed alongside youthful “trebles” or boy singers, meaning that composers like Henry Purcell and—especially in his English oratorio-writing period— Handel could write specifically for the countertenor voice as we know it today. Hence, the “young lover” role of Athamas in 1744’s Semele is a genuine countertenor role. But in 1724’s Giulio Cesare, perhaps Handel’s most commonly staged opera, the heroic role of the warrior Julius Caesar went to the apparently superhuman-lunged castrato Senesino; another castrato sang Cleopatra’s villainous halfbrother Ptolemy (Tolomeo).
In 2012, Michigan Opera Theatre cast these roles with countertenors David Daniels and Costanzo. Mezzosoprano Emily Fons sang Sesto—the teenaged warrior who seeks to avenge his murdered father—and that part was indeed created in 1724 by a low soprano, Margherita Durastanti.
In 1724’s Giulio Cesare, the heroic role of the warrior Julius Caesar went to the apparently superhuman-lunged castrato Senesino; another castrato sang Cleopatra’s villainous half-brother Ptolemy.
In Baroque opera, mistaken identity of all sorts often fuels the plot. This is certainly true in Rinaldo, in which the sorceress Armida transforms herself to resemble her rival, the title hero’s beloved Almirena. Many other young male roles sung by women—from Mozart’s Cherubino to Bellini’s Romeo to Humperdinck’s Hänsel—echo this tradition of female voices singing the parts of young men. However, Sesto, like many a lower Baroque or even Mozartian soprano role, can be and nowadays often is cast with a countertenor.
Conventions change. Some modern stage directors prefer traditional notions of gender, deploying a visibly male singer (countertenor) in a male role.
In fact, when German theaters began reviving Handel’s operas in the 1920s, after nearly two centuries of neglect, it was felt necessary to cast almost all heroic roles with deepvoiced men, resulting in damaging transpositions of the swift-moving vocal line. For decades afterwards, many famous basses and baritones lumbered through Cesare, Tolomeo, and (weirdly) even the small part of the eunuch Nireno. So there’s an inherent casting fluidity—in vocal and gender terms—that the current flood of countertenors has spurred.
In one Met Rodelinda, the splendid countertenor Bejun Mehta took ill and yielded the (originally) castrato part of Unulfo to the equally well-cast mezzo-soprano Theodora Hanslowe.
In the decades after World War II, Alfred Deller, a distinguished member of the British falsettist tradition, rose to fame via radio performances. Impressed, his countryman Benjamin Britten created the otherworldly role of Oberon in 1960’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for him. Britten deployed the voice type again for Death in Venice ’s Voice of Apollo: gifts to generations of countertenors and an example for many other late-20th -century composers, including Leonard Bernstein (Chichester Psalms), Michael Tippett (Astron in The Ice Break), and Aribert Reimann (Edmund in Lear).
There’s an inherent casting fluidity— in vocal and gender terms—that the current flood of countertenors has spurred.
Following in Deller’s wake, a generation or two of other falsettists ever more stylishly renewed old music: Britain’s James Bowman, Paul Esswood, and Christopher Robson; Germany’s Jochen Kowalski and France’s Henri Ledroit; and Americans Russell Oberlin, Drew Minter, Jeffrey Gall, and Derek Lee Ragin, the first Black countertenor to perform and record internationally.
Derek Lee Ragin
Alfred Deller
A sea of change happened in the late 1990s, when the groundwork already done opened the path to international prominence to two singers with agile, theater-filling voices as traditionally beautiful as those of, say, Marilyn Horne or Leontyne Price: Andreas Scholl and David Daniels. Their artistic and commercial success in turn inspired opera and recording companies to seek other such talents, like America’s Bejun Mehta and Britain’s scrupulously musical Iestyn Davies.
The explosion
of countertenor talent has
allowed not only the revival of many antique scores but the extension of contemporary composers’ and librettists’ aural imaginations.
And these days one can hardly name all the noteworthy countertenors. Among Black artists flourishing in Ragin’s tradition are meteorically rising Key’mon Murrah, the scholarly Reginald Mobley, and the extraordinary multi-platform phenomenon John Holiday, widely known for his jawdropping style and sound on The Voice America can also boast ace Handelians Christopher Lowrey and Nicholas Tamagna plus Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, with a soaring tone and wide stylistic interests. Countertenors are
everywhere: internet sensations Jakub Józef Orliński (Poland), specializing in reviving forgotten Baroque scores, and Kangmin Justin Kim (South Korea), who’s followed Davies, Costanzo, and Holiday in helping create contemporary operas. The mix also includes the pioneering Ukranian Yuriy Mynenko and a vocal daredevil like Argentina’s Franco Fagioli. Countertenors can sing in mezzo-soprano or alto or soprano range; Brazil’s Bruno de Sá bills himself as a “male soprano” and tackles higherset music than most countertenors.
The explosion of countertenor talent in the last three decades has allowed not only the revival of many antique scores but the extension of contemporary composers’ and librettists’ aural imaginations. Sometimes the text and music now awarded to countertenors reflects a sense of fluid or dual identity. Examples include the visionary, gender-ambiguous Pharoah at the center of Philip Glass’s 1984 opera Akhnaten , created by Esswood and more recently by Costanzo, magnificently; the displaced, categorytranscending Refugee Robson unveiled in Jonathan Dove’s Flight (1998); the John Holiday-originated haunting transboy John Blue in Daniel Bernard Roumain’s 2017 We Shall Not Be Moved; and the flamboyant, Greta Garbo-channeling Leonardo in Gabriela Lena Frank’s 2022 El último sueño de Frida y Diego (which Key’mon Murrah created in San Diego).
Creators have also crafted significant parts in George Benjamin’s Written on Skin, Thomas Adès’s The Tempest and The Exterminating Angel, Brett Dean’s Hamlet, and Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice. Costanzo alone has launched operas by Jimmy López (Bel Canto), Paola Prestini (Gilgamesh), Jake Heggie (Great Scott), John Corigliano (The Lord of Cries), Gregory Spears (Fellow Travelers), and Scott Wheeler (Naga).
I sometimes compare countertenor timbres to varieties of wine: there’s a seemingly infinite variety, all different.
Keep sampling, and you’ll find your favorites. 2023’s Xerxes introduced Detroit audiences to title hero Key’mon Murrah’s rich, soaring quality. 1711’s Rinaldo—considered Handel’s earliest great opera—will now offer Detroit’s ears three very different “vintages” to savor. Rising countertenors Kyle Sanchez Tingzon and Nicholas Kelliher join Costanzo here as (respectively) Rinaldo’s commander/prospective father-in-law Goffredo and the Sorcerer he consults in their rescue quest. That’s a lot of musical magic to go around.
Critic and lecturer David Shengold resides in New York City. He regularly writes for Opera (with Opera News) as well as Opéra Magazine, Opernwelt, and other publications. He has contributed program essays for companies including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and the Wexford and Glyndebourne festivals.
Kangmin Justin Kim
Bruno de Sá
Key'mon Murrah
Anthony Roth Costanzo
John Holiday
Andreas Scholl
POP MUSIC’S counter tenors
The countertenor voice, with its distinctive high register, is often thought of as belonging to the world of Baroque and contemporary opera. It does, but some of the biggest male pop stars of the past few decades also have built their careers on the same qualities: control, expressiveness, and a high vocal range. These singers demonstrate how powerful and versatile the male high voice can be.
By Dr. Austin T. Richey
Smokey Robinson
Smokey Robinson’s silky falsetto is one of the defining sounds of Motown. In Temptations hits like “Tracks of My Tears” and “Cruisin’,” his voice transcends genres, evoking new emotions with every note. More than a signature style, his falsetto became a blueprint for expressing vulnerability in pop and soul music. Robinson’s voice calls to mind opera’s bel canto tradition, where clarity and emotional depth are paramount. He uses his high register to communicate longing, heartbreak, and tenderness, making his falsetto an essential part of Motown’s legacy. Robinson’s Temptations bandmate Eddie Kendricks (“The Way You Do the Things You Do”) also sang in falsetto range.
Frankie Valli
Few male singers are as synonymous with falsetto as Frankie Valli of The Four Seasons. In hits like “Sherry” and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” Valli’s falsetto became a defining feature of 1960s and ’70s pop music. His clear, bell-like tone has a charm and emotional purity often associated with operatic lyric tenors. Valli’s ability to balance sweetness and power in his high notes mirrors the dramatic demands of opera, where the voice must cut through orchestration while maintaining an intimate connection with the listener.
Prince
A pioneer of genre-bending music, Prince had a vocal range that was legendary. His use of falsetto on songs like “Kiss” and “Do Me, Baby” showcased his ability to switch seamlessly between vocal registers, creating a raw, emotional sound. Prince’s falsetto, paired with his theatrical delivery, evokes the dramatic storytelling found in operatic performance. His dynamic shifts between registers parallels the way opera singers navigate different vocal styles to heighten emotional impact.
Ronnie James Dio
Known for his work with metal bands like Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and Dio, Ronnie James Dio had a voice that could soar to dizzying heights with precision and intensity. Dio’s highregister singing carried a dramatic flair reminiscent of operatic tenors tackling heroic roles. His use of dynamics, phrasing, and vocal storytelling brought a larger-than-life quality to his music; his commanding stage presence drew parallels to the dramatic demands of Wagnerian opera, where singers embody larger-than-life characters in epic narratives.
Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd)
Abel Tesfaye, known professionally as The Weeknd, has brought falsetto to the forefront of contemporary R&B and pop. His haunting, ethereal high notes in songs like “Blinding Lights” and “Earned It” communicate the kind of profound beauty and melancholy found in opera. The Weeknd’s falsetto serves as a vehicle for exploring themes of love, loss, and existential longing, like many arias of Puccini or Verdi.
Thom Yorke
As the frontman of Radiohead, Thom Yorke has a high, fragile falsetto that has become a hallmark of the band’s sound. Songs like “Fake Plastic Trees” and “How to Disappear Completely” showcase his use of falsetto to convey vulnerability and depth. Yorke’s falsetto conveys the emotional transparency demanded in verismo opera, where raw human experiences take center stage. His use of silence, breath, and delicate phrasing echoes the way opera singers emphasize text and mood to create intimate performances.
Austin T. Richey is Detroit Opera’s Storyteller and Digital Media Manager. He recently joined the faculty at College for Creative Studies, where he teaches Introduction to Material Culture. He is an ethnomusicologist whose research explores diasporic African music’s role in social movements, identity, and resistance—particularly in Zimbabwe and Detroit.
director’s note
A Conversation Across Centuries
By Louisa Proske
The more I delve into the wondrous universe of Handel’s operas, the more I regard Handel as our contemporary. He wrote about corrupting power and political intrigue, about self-obsession, narcissism, celebrity, and self-promotion, about the entanglement of romance, power, and greed, and, always, about the mind-boggling complexities of human psychology. His enigmatic works at once satisfy our craving for glorious spectacle and adventure, taking us outside of our everyday selves, and they lead us deeper into the recesses of our psyche, taking us inside our own hearts and desires. Handel is our friend and our commentator, and he is speaking to us across centuries with his miraculous music and delirious stories.
When do we need opera most? This is a question I always seek, in one way or another, to answer in my productions. Rinaldo is a story about a hero who aborts his mission in order to save his beloved. Its imagination is wild, its proportions epic—it puts on stage an enchanted castle, a magician in a cave, a heroine abducted by a black cloud, a sorceress who shape-shifts, an entrance by dragon-drawn carriage through the sky, and no less than three battles, featuring knights, demons, and special magic wands. The imagination is child-like but the stakes are life or death. That, for me and my team, was the beginning of creating a world for this opera.
When do we need opera most?
This is a question I always seek, in one way or another, to answer in my productions.
The suffering of children has always posed a special problem for philosophy and theology. How could a just God allow innocent beings to suffer and to die? Doctors at children’s clinics confront these questions every day, and they face families whose lives are turned upside down by their child’s sickness. “Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick,” writes Susan Sontag. “Although we all prefer to use the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place.” I was intrigued by the idea of the story of Rinaldo coming from “that other place”—its strangeness and impulsiveness springing from the fantasy of a young patient, who not only comes alive in the story, but whose imagination in turn starts to influence it. The Baroque sensibility loves “chiaroscuro,” the sharp contrast of entwining darkness and light to offset and heighten each other. So even though our visual design is far removed in time from Handel’s world, I believe that letting the fanciful joy of invention of Rinaldo spring from quite a dark, existential origin is in keeping with the essential Baroque spirit of embracing opposites—as well as letting Handel speak to us in the here and now.
What is heroic? What is courage? What does it mean to cross a threshold? To face terror? To gain victory? I want to take you on an adventure, and I want to create a space full of urgency, surprises, and complex resonance for these questions and for Handel’s sublime music. Thank you for coming on this journey with us!
BY
PHOTO
EVAN ZIMMERMAN
synopsis
The story of Rinaldo, courtesy of The Glimmerglass Festival
ACT I
In a hospital ward, a boy recovering from an operation distracts himself with stories of knights and their heroic deeds. In the bed beside him, an unconscious girl is fighting for her life. The boy becomes deeply absorbed in the storybook, imagining himself the hero of an unfolding tale. Rinaldo, encouraged by his King, Goffredo, pledges to join the fight against Argante, their mysterious adversary. Argante requests a temporary truce, which Goffredo grants. Argante consults the sorceress Armida, who reveals that their side will be victorious if they can capture Rinaldo; she pledges to take the knight herself.
Meanwhile, Rinaldo finds himself mesmerized by Goffredo’s daughter, Almirena. Armida, seeing an opportunity, seizes the girl as bait. Rinaldo is paralyzed by grief but then, encouraged by Goffredo, sets off to save her.
INTERMISSION
ACT II
In Armida’s enchanted domain, Almirena weeps, Argante considers his next move, and Armida waits for Rinaldo to appear. When Rinaldo attempts to rescue Almirena, the battle is intensified and complicated by Armida’s attraction to Rinaldo. Using magic, she disguises herself as Almirena, and thus succeeds in capturing Rinaldo.
Goffredo learns of Rinaldo’s plight; he and the other knights decide to storm Armida’s castle, despite a sorcerer’s warnings. When their first attempt is unsuccessful, they return to the sorcerer, who arms them with magic, allowing them to rescue both Rinaldo and Almirena.
The heroes are reunited, still reeling from all they have endured. Argante and Armida soon appear and the fighting begins again. Rinaldo’s heroic response brings the war to a definitive conclusion, freeing combatants on both sides to begin a new life.
THESE PERFORMANCES OF RINALDO ARE GENEROUSLY PRESENTED BY 24/25 SEASON SPONSOR
Anthony Roth Costanzo (Rinaldo) is generously sponsored by Allan & Joy Nachman.
Elena Villalón (Almirena) is generously sponsored by Richard Sonenklar & Gregory Haynes.
Nicole Heaston (Armida) is generously sponsored by Hon. Jack Martin & Dr. Bettye Arrington-Martin.
Rinaldo’s director, Louisa Proske, is generously sponsored by Barbara VanDeusen.
Detroit Opera gratefully acknowledges Henry Ford Health’s team of professionals, who provide care for the artists on our stage.
MUSIC: George Frideric Handel
LIBRETTO: Giacomo Rossi, adapted from Gerusalemme liberata by Torquato Tasso
WORLD PREMIERE: February 24, 1711, Queen’s Theatre, London Opera in two acts, performed in Italian with projected English surtitles
DURATION: 2HR 30MIN, ONE INTERMISSION
SAT FEB 22, 7:30PM
PRE-PERFORMANCE TALK @6:30PM WITH LOUISA PROSKE, ROBERTO KALB, YUVAL SHARON
FRI FEB 28, 7:30PM
PRE-PERFORMANCE TALK @6:30PM WITH DR. NAOMI ANDRÉ, NATHALIE DOUCET
SUN MARCH 2, 2:30PM
PRE-PERFORMANCE TALK @1:30PM WITH DR. NAOMI ANDRÉ, ROBERTO KALB
No photography or video is allowed during the performance. Please silence all phones.
production
DIRECTOR
Louisa Proske
CHOREOGRAPHER
Jorrell Lawyer-Jefferson
SET DESIGNER
Matt Saunders
COSTUME DESIGNER
Montana Levi Blanco
PROJECTION DESIGNER
Jorge Cousineau
LIGHTING DESIGNER
Amith Chandrashaker
SOUND DESIGNER
Joel Morain
WIG AND MAKEUP DESIGNER
Joanne Middleton-Weaver
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Andrew Neinaber
STAGE MANAGER
Hailli Ridsdale
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGERS
Kaila Madison, Zoë Perrock
REPETITEUR
John Etsell
SURTITLE AUTHOR
Kelley Rourke
This production was originally produced by The Glimmerglass Festival. Sound design by Joel T. Morain originally for The Glimmerglass Festival. Projected titles design by Kelley Rourke originally for The Glimmerglass Festival.
THERAPY DOG .......................................... Aspen
DOG HANDLER ........................... Amanda Loveday = Detroit Opera debut
BY
PHOTO
EVAN ZIMMERMAN
RINALDO ORCHESTRA
Detroit Federation of Musicians, Local # 5, of the American Federation of Musicians
VIOLIN I
Daniel Stachyra* Interim Concertmaster
Yuri Popowycz* Acting Assistant Concertmaster
Velda Kelly*
Molly Hughes*
Henrik Karapetyan*
David Ormai
VIOLIN II
Emelyn Bashour* Principal
Jenny Wan*
Anna Bittar-Weller*
Courtney Lubin
Beth Kirton*
VIOLA
John Madison* Principal
Scott Stefanko*
Julianne Zinn
Jacqueline Hanson*
CELLO
Ivana Biliskov* Principal
Andrea Yun*
Benjamin Maxwell*
BASS
Derek Weller* Principal
Clark Suttle*
RECORDER
Ellen Sauer
Sopranino, Soprano
David Dyer Alto, Soprano
Chasten Musenda Alto
OBOE
Eli Stefanacci* Principal
Mark Doerr
BASSOON
Daniel Fendrick* Principal
TRUMPET
David Ammer* Principal Piccolo Trumpet
Mark Davis* Piccolo Trumpet
Ross Turner
Derek Lockhart
TIMPANI
Eric Stoss* Principal
* Detroit Opera Core Orchestra Members Members of the violin sections occasionally rotate.
Continuo Ensemble
THEORBO
Michael Leopold
CELLO
Ivana Biliskov*
HARPSICHORD
John Etsell
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL | COMPOSER
Born: Halle, Germany, February 23, 1685, Died: London, England, April 14, 1759
Born Georg Friederich Händel, the composer was the son of Georg Händel, a surgeon in the court of Saxe-Weissenfels, and his second wife, Dorothea Taust. After early studies in violin, oboe, organ, harpsichord, and composition, in 1702 Handel attended the University of Halle and was appointed organist at the Halle Cathedral. He left Halle in 1703 for Hamburg, where he worked as a violinist and harpsichordist at the Hamburg Opera. His first opera, Almira , was produced in Hamburg in 1705. In 1706, he traveled to Italy, where he worked in courts and churches in Rome, Florence, Naples, and Venice. Works from this early period include the opera Agrippina , the oratorio La Resurrezione , and two serenatas: Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno and Acis and Galatea . After returning to Germany, in 1709 he was appointed Kapellmeister to the Elector of Hanover (who in 1714 would be become King George I of England).
In 1710, Handel made his first visit to London, where he wrote Rinaldo, with librettist Giacomo Rossi; Rinaldo—about the crusader-knight Rinaldo and the sorceress-queen Armida—ran for 15 performances at the Queen’s Theatre and was an immediate success. The premiere featured the castrato Nicolò Grimaldi (“Nicolini”) in the title role, Isabella Girardeau as Almirena, and Elisabetta Pilotti-Schiavonetti as Armida. Rinaldo includes one of Handel’s best-loved arias, “Lascia ch’io pianga” (“Let me weep,” sung by the character Almirena), and Rinaldo’s minor-key lament “Cara sposa.” Handel settled in London in 1712; in 1719, he founded the Royal Academy of Music, an Italian opera company based in London. In 1727 he became a British citizen and changed the spelling of his name.
Handel wrote more than 40 Italian operas in his lifetime, most of them staged in London; they include Teseo, Amadigi , Giulio Cesare , Tamerlano, Rodelinda , Orlando, and Alcina. His English oratorios were often composed on Old Testament stories such as Esther, Deborah, Samson, Saul, and Joshua; they incorporate Italian opera style, with a larger role for chorus, and include Alexander’s Feast, Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno, L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, Israel in Egypt, Semele, and Theodora. His better-known instrumental music includes the Water Music, Royal Fireworks Suite, and six organ concertos; he composed the anthem Zadok the Priest for the coronation of George II in 1727.
A notoriously fast composer, he wrote the Messiah, his best-known oratorio, in just a few weeks, between August 22 and September 14, 1741. When he died, in 1759, Handel was wealthy and famous; his funeral was attended by 3,000 people. He is buried in London’s Westminster Abbey.
GIACOMO ROSSI | LIBRETTIST
Giacomo Rossi was part of an influx of Italian artists who settled in London in the early 1700s, as Italian opera became increasingly popular there. In London, he was active from 1710 to 1731; he is best remembered for his librettos for works by Handel. In 1710, Aaron Hill, the English poet, dramatist, and essayist, hired Rossi to versify his scenario based on Torquato Tasso’s verse epic La Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem Delivered) for Handel’s Rinaldo Rinaldo was Handel’s first Italian opera composed specifically for the London stage; it was performed at the Queen’s Theatre in Haymarket, where Rossi was the resident librettist and where more than 25 of Handel’s operas were first performed. Handel composed Rinaldo ’s music quickly, in a few weeks. In Rossi’s preface printed in the 1711 libretto for Rinaldo, he describes Handel as “the Orpheus of our century,” apologizes for the text, written in “just a few evenings,” and begs listeners to “appreciate this rapid effort of mine.” Rossi also wrote the librettos for Handel’s Il pastor fido (1712) and Silla (1713), and perhaps other operas of this period. He made revisions and additions for the revival of Rinaldo in April 1731.
ROBERTO KALB
C ONDU CTOR
Mexican-born conductor Roberto Kalb has served as Music Director of Detroit Opera since 2022. He conducted Detroit Opera’s performances of La traviata in October 2024, The Cunning Little Vixen in May 2024, and two concerts featuring the Detroit Opera Orchestra and Resident Artists in the fall of 2023. He conducted Yuval Sharon’s new production of La bohème at Detroit Opera in 2022. Additional 2023–24 season performances for Roberto included house debuts at Santa Fe Opera (L’elisir d’amore) and Atlanta Opera (Rigoletto), concerts with the Kansas City Symphony and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and Cavalleria rusticana/ Pagliacci at Lyric Opera of Kansas City. Season highlights in 2022–23 included performances at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, San Diego Opera, and San Francisco Opera.
In 2019, Roberto concluded a five-year tenure as resident conductor and head of music at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL), where he led the world premiere of Tobias Picker’s Awakenings (2022); he also conducted OTSL’s critically acclaimed run of Rigoletto (2019) in collaboration with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Roberto has also conducted at companies including Opéra Orchestra National Montpellier, Florida Grand Opera, Kentucky Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Maine, and Tulsa Opera.
He has conducted performances with the Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de México, Orquesta Carlos Chavez in Mexico City, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Palm Beach Symphony, and the Orquestra Sinfonica da USP in São Paulo, Brazil.
Roberto holds degrees from the University of Michigan and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and in 2021 was awarded the prestigious Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award. He is married to soprano Mané Galoyan.
Website: robertokalb.com
LOUISA PROSKE DIRECTOR
Louisa Proske has established herself as a versatile, visionary director and arts leader on two continents. She is looking forward to some major house debuts in the coming seasons, including at Opéra de Paris, Detroit Opera, and at Aalto Musiktheater Essen. In 2021, Louisa was appointed Associate Artistic Director and Resident Director of Oper Halle, and is also the Co-Founder and former Co-Artistic Director of the critically acclaimed New York City-based Heartbeat Opera—“pioneers” (Wall Street Journal ) and “an enterprise that, while small and still young, has already contributed more to opera’s vitality than most major American companies,” according to The New York Times. Opera productions include Handel’s Rinaldo (Glimmerglass Festival) and Serse (Händelfestspiele Halle), Ernest Chausson’s Le roi Arthus (Bard SummerScape), and Virgil Thomson’s The Mother of Us All , a historic 2020 collaboration between Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Philharmonic, and Juilliard Vocal Arts. Other recent work: Into the Woods, Rigoletto (Oper Halle), Agrippina (Lincoln Center), Der Freischütz , Don Giovanni , Carmen , Lucia di Lammermoor, Daphnis & Chloé, Miss Handel (all Heartbeat Opera), La bohème (Pittsburgh Festival Opera), Così fan tutte (LoftOpera), Falstaff (Dell’Arte Opera), Gianni Schicchi , Riders to the Sea , La Voix Humaine (Yale Opera), the world premiere of Invisible Cities at the Italian Academy New York, and Anthony Braxton’s Trillium J (Roulette, as associate director). Theater productions include The White Devil (Red Bull Theater), peerless (nominated for a Berkshire Theatre Award for Outstanding Direction), Gaslight, This, Engagements (all Barrington Stage Company), Cymbeline and As You Like It (Yale School of Drama), and a European tour of Macbeth . Louisa holds an MFA in theater directing from Yale School of Drama and a BA in English Literature from Cambridge University, U.K.
Website: louisaproske.com
ANTHONY ROTH COSTANZO | RINALDO
Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo began performing professionally at the age of 11 and has since appeared in opera, concert, recital, film, and on Broadway. He is a distinguished visiting scholar at Harvard University, a recipient of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2020 Beverly Sills Award, a winner of the 2020 Opera News Award, and Musical America’s 2019 Vocalist of the Year.
This season at the Boston Lyric Opera, Anthony produces and stars in The Seasons, a new work incorporating the music of Vivaldi, co-created and written by the renowned playwright and poet Sarah Ruhl. He also stars in and creates a one-man rendition of Le nozze di Figaro in the inaugural season of Little Island’s new performing arts series in New York, returns to the Detroit Opera as the title role in Rinaldo, and makes his Bay Area recital debut with San Francisco Performances. Recent highlights at the Metropolitan Opera include the title roles of Gluck’s Orfeo and Philip Glass’s Akhnaten . He made his Paris Opera debut in a new production of Thomas Adès’s The Exterminating Angel and sang in the world premiere of The Lord of Cries at Santa Fe Opera.
He served as 2021–22 artist-in-residence at the New York Philharmonic; as the Glimmerglass Festival’s 2023 artist-in-residence, he sang the title role in Rinaldo and, together with singer/songwriter Natalie Merchant, performed music from Merchant’s 40-year catalogue. At the Spoleto Festival USA in 2023 he performed orchestra and chamber concerts and as well as Only an Octave Apart , the show he created with cabaret artist Justin Vivian Bond. His first studio album, featuring music by Glass and Handel, was nominated for a Grammy award.
He graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University and received his Master of Music from the Manhattan School of Music, where he now serves on the board of trustees. He is also on the board of National Black Theater.
In June 2024, Anthony began in his new role as general director and president of Opera Philadelphia, balancing his administrative duties there with his international singing career. Website: anthonyrothcostanzo.com Instagram: @arcostanzo
ELENA VILLALÓN | ALMIRENA
Cuban-American soprano Elena Villalón is already attracting major industry attention at just 26 years old. She is winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and Third Prize and Audience Prize at the Operalia competition. The 2024–25 season sees Elena make two major appearances in New York: Nuria in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar at the Met, and her solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall. She also returns to Santa Fe as Gilda in Rigoletto and makes her debuts as Almirena in Rinaldo at Detroit Opera and the title role of Rodelinda at Oper Frankfurt. Last season Elena made her Met debut as Amore in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice and sang Sheila in the world premiere of Gregory Spears and Tracy K. Smith’s The Righteous at Santa Fe Opera. Roles at Oper Frankfurt include Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Frasquita in Carmen, Iole in Hercules, and Atalanta in Xerxes. Other recent engagements include Tina in Flight and Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, both at Dallas Opera; Nannetta in Falstaff in Santa Fe; and Amy in the world premiere of Joel Thompson’s The Snowy Day at Houston Grand Opera. Elena is an alumna of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Houston Grand Opera Studio. She made her professional debut at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro. Website: elenavillalon.com Instagram: @esvillalon
NICOLE HEASTON | ARMIDA
Nicole Heaston completed her master’s degree in voice at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and received her undergraduate degree in music at the University of Akron. She is a distinguished graduate of Houston Grand Opera’s Butler Studio. The soprano began the 2024–25 season by returning to the role of Claire Devon in the North American premiere of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s The Listeners at Opera Philadelphia; a native Chicagoan, she headlines Lyric Opera of Chicago’s spring 2025 performances of the opera. With the National Symphony Orchestra, she sings the title role in Samuel Barber’s Vanessa . Other engagements include the role of Armida in Detroit Opera’s production of Handel’s Rinaldo. A richly varied 2023–24 season included Nicole’s return to Los Angeles Opera, as Mary in William Grant Still’s Highway 1, USA, and to Houston Grand Opera, as Alice Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff. With Philharmonia Baroque, she sang Anna/Dido in Errollyn Wallen’s Dido’s Ghost and Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. During the 2022–23 season, Nicole performed the world premiere of The Listeners at Den Norkse Opera, appeared as Countess Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro with Houston Grand Opera, and gave her first career performances of Samuel Barber’s Vanessa , at Charleston’s Spoleto Festival USA. Since her Metropolitan Opera debut as Zerlina in Don Giovanni , she has returned there as Ilia in Mozart’s Idomeneo, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and Echo in Ariadne auf Naxos. Website: nicoleheaston.com Instagram: @katy operamom
KYLE SANCHEZ TINGZON | GOFFREDO
Filipino countertenor Kyle Sanchez Tingzon has been praised for his “powerful countertenor” voice (Wall Street Journal ) and “lovely, plummy voice” (Opera Today). Kyle has appeared as soloist in California Bach Society concerts of the Biber Requiem and Steffani Stabat Mater, and has performed frequently with American Bach Soloists and Philharmonia Baroque Chorale. He made his solo debut with Pacific Opera Project in the U.S. premiere of Vivaldi’s Ercole su’l Termodonte. At Tacoma Opera, he sang the role of Father Hylebos in the world premiere of Gregory Youtz and Zhang Er’s Tacoma Method . At the Glimmerglass Festival, he was praised for “meltingly pretty tone” as Goffredo in Rinaldo (Bachtrack) in 2023 and “sang the demanding role [of Endimione] with beauty and stamina” in La calisto in 2024 (Times Union). Kyle earned his graduate and postgraduate degrees in vocal performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he sang the title role in Handel’s Giulio Cesare and Ottone in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea . He is first-prize winner of the Handel Aria Competition, third-prize winner of the Loren L. Zachary Society National Vocal Competition, and a Colorado-Wyoming district winner and Rocky Mountain regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. Website: kylesancheztingzon.com Instagram: @kyletingzon
JUSUNG GABRIEL PARK | ARGANTE
South Korean baritone Jusung Gabriel Park is currently a member of the Ensemble of the Wiener Staatsoper, recently performing roles such as Masetto (Don Giovanni) and Wagner (Faust). In the 2024–25 season, his roles include Harlekin (Ariadne auf Naxos), Dancaïro (Carmen), and First Mate (Billy Budd ). Jusung was the Third Prize winner at Operalia in 2021, representing South Korea at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World in the same year. Recent and forthcoming engagements include Argante (Rinaldo) at Detroit Opera; Buddha/Subhuti in The Money King, a newly commissioned work for San Francisco Opera; singing Des Knaben Wunderhorn at the Concertgebouw with pianist Julius Drake; singing and recording the title role in Mendelssohn’s Elias with the Bayerischer Rundfunk Chor and Orchestra; a duo concert with Sumi Jo at the Vienna Musikverein with the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra; Fenicio (Ermione) and Idraote ( Armida) at the Rossini Festival in Bad Wildbad, where he was awarded the International Bel Canto Prize; the title role in Le nozze di Figaro and Leporello (Don Giovanni) at Theater Rudolstadt in collaboration with the Thüringer Symphoniker Orchestra. He performed the Korean premiere of H.K. Gruber’s Frankenstein!! with the TIMF Orchestra and appeared as a principal artist at the Chuncheon International Early Music Festival. Website: jusunggabrielpark.com Instagram: @jusunggabrielpark
NICHOLAS KELLIHER | MAGO
Nicholas Kelliher is an early-career countertenor, originally from Long Island, New York. He most recently sang the role of Mago in Louisa Proske’s acclaimed production of Rinaldo at the 2023 Glimmerglass Festival, where he was an apprentice artist. Nicholas performs frequently in contemporary operas, through the newworks division of companies including the Metropolitan Opera, Cincinnati Opera, and Los Angeles Opera; roles have included Elise Traynor in Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s Lincoln in the Bardo, Orpheus’s Double in Matthew Aucoin and Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice , and Jonathan in Gregory Spears and Tracy K. Smith’s The Righteous, and Man Under the Arch in Kevin Puts and Greg Pierce’s The Hours. He was a 2022 semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, from which he also received the 2023 Education Grant. Nicholas covered Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Des Moines Metro Opera as an apprentice artist. He is a student of internationally renowned soprano Carol Vaness. Instagram: @nickydontdrive
TARA CHARVAT | DANCER
Tara Charvat is a Senior Company Member of Eisenhower Dance Detroit. Tara graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2018 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Western Michigan University. While attending WMU, Tara performed works by renowned choreographers such as Paul Taylor, Anthony Tudor, Lew Christensen, Frank Chavez, and Brian Enos. She attended summer programs with New Dialect, chuthis., BODYTRAFFIC LA, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, The Big Muddy Dance Company, and DanceWorks Chicago. In 2018, she received a scholarship to the Lou Conte Dance Studio, where she attended weekly classes with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago artists and presented her own choreography. In 2019, Tara joined NewDances, a collaboration between Thodos Dance Chicago and DanceWorks Chicago. In the 2019–20 season, she apprenticed with Eisenhower Dance Detroit and was promoted to company member in 2020. During her time with Eisenhower, Tara has worked directly with choreographers such as Tess Voelker, Micaela Taylor, Tamisha A. Guy, Norbert de la Cruz III, Maleek Washington, Joshua Peugh, James Gregg, Rauf “Rubberlegz” Yasit, Hope Boykin, and Marc Brew. Tara is also a teaching artist at the School of Eisenhower Dance Detroit and other studios in metro Detroit. She proudly serves as the Assistant Artistic Director of Eisenhower Dance Detroit’s Youth Ensemble and directs EDDYE’s annual performance concert, Dance Mosaics. Tara choreographs throughout metro Detroit and presents solo choreography each year at the Youth America Grand Prix competition. Instagram: @tara_charvat
NIRVAN SINGH | DANCER
Originally from Brooklyn, NY, Nirvan Singh attended Western Michigan University on full academic scholarship as a Medallion Scholar, graduating in 2021. At WMU, he had the privilege of performing in works created by choreographers Paul Taylor, Aszure Barton, and George Balanchine, as well as Justin Peck and Edward Liang during his summer at BalletMet Company Rep Week. Nirvan has danced as a guest artist with Wellspring Cori/Terry & Dancers and for two seasons with Eisenhower Dance Detroit, where he is currently a company member. Throughout Eisenhower's two seasons, Nirvan has had the opportunity to perform and tour in works by choreographers Norbert De La Cruz III, Maleek Washington, Tess Voelker, WeWolf (Rauf “Rubberlegz” Yasit & James Gregg), Joshua Peugh, Stephanie Pizzo, and Laurie Eisenhower. Nirvan is also a teaching artist at the School of Eisenhower Dance Detroit and other metro Detroit studios. In addition to teaching and dancing, he is also a choreographer; his work has been showcased at Western Michigan University, Detroit School of Arts, NewDANCEFest, and various Youth America Grand Prix competitions. Instagram: @nirvan_singh
ISABELLA VARON | DANCER
Isabella Varon is a professional dancer and dance educator based in Detroit, Michigan. She graduated from Marymount Manhattan College in 2020, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance with a concentration in ballet. Since joining Eisenhower Dance Detroit as a company member in 2023, she has worked closely with and performed works by Stephanie Pizzo, Tess Voelker, Joshua Peugh, Christian Denice, Tamisha A. Guy, Rauf Yasit and James Gregg, and Norbert De La Cruz III. In addition to performance, Isabella has a deep passion for dance teaching and mentorship to young artists. She regularly trains pre-professional dancers in ballet and contemporary forms across various dance programs in metro Detroit. She also offers college preparation and guidance for students aspiring to pursue dance. Isabella’s teaching experience extends to colleges, intensives, and festivals nationwide. Alongside teaching, she serves as the Associate Artistic Director of Young Dancers Initiative and the Off-Ice Program Director at the Detroit Skating Club. Instagram: @bellavaron
JORRELL LAWYER-JEFFERSON CHOREOGRAPHER
Jorrell Lawyer-Jefferson holds both his BA in Music and his MFA in Dance with an emphasis in Choreography from Sam Houston State University. He has worked with and performed work by Tommie-Waheed Evans, Bradley Shelver, Kirven Douthit-Boyd, Omar de Jesus, Jamar Roberts, and Norbert de La Cruz III, among others. He has also worked with directors Francesca Zambello, Rob Ashford, Robert Wilson, Phelim McDermott, and Louisa Proske in performance and design roles. In 2023, Lawyer-Jefferson was appointed the first Young Artist Choreographer in the Glimmerglass Festival’s 37-year history. In January 2025, he continues his collaborative partnership with Proske, Vision into Arts, and MetLiveArts as the choreographer of Primero Sue ñ o, a new processional opera exploring the poetry of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. LawyerJefferson specializes in both linear narrative and non-narrative work, emphasizing connection through contemporary partnering and improvisatory technologies. Lawyer-Jefferson is currently a company member with Saint Louis Dance Theatre and regularly teaches, collaborates, and creates in the St. Louis, Missouri area. Instagram: @jorrell_lawyer_jefferson
MATT SAUNDERS SET DESIGNER
Recent Off Broadway work: Walden (Second Stage), Jordans (Public), FLEX (Lincoln Center), Catch As Catch Can (Playwrights Horizons), Daddy (New Group & Vineyard), Pipeline (Lincoln Center), Venus (Signature), Good Person of Szechwan (Foundry & Public), Thunderbodies (Soho Rep). Over 100 regional credits including: Guthrie, Mark Taper Forum, Berkeley Rep, Yale Rep, Huntington, Long Wharf, Woolly Mammoth, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, Wilma Theater and Kennedy Center. Saunders’s opera credits include: The Apollo, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Spoleto, Opera Philadelphia, Glimmerglass. Internationally, Saunders has designed operas and plays in London, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Bruges, Barcelona, and Malmö. Saunders’s design work has been featured at the Prague Quadrennial, and he has received a Barrymore Award (Philadelphia), Audelco Award for Excellence in Black Theater (NYC) as well as a Drama Desk Award for Best Set Design (NYC). Training: MFA, Yale School of Drama. Saunders is a Pew Fellow and a Hodder Fellow at Princeton Univeristy. Associate Professor of Design at Swarthmore College. Website: mattsaundersdesign.net
MONTANA LEVI BLANCO COSTUME DESIGNER
Montana is a costume designer from Albuquerque, New Mexico. His grandmother, a lampshade artisan, inspired an early love of fabric, color, and beauty. Montana is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (BM, Oboe Performance), Oberlin College (BA, History), Brown University (MA, Public Humanities), and the Yale School of Drama (MFA, Design). Upcoming projects: This House, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (May 2025); Prince Faggot, Soho Rep & Playwrights Horizons (June 2025), Purple Rain , State Theatre/Prince Estate/Orin Wolf Productions (Oct. 2025), Lincoln in the Bardo, Metropolitan Opera (Oct. 2026). Broadway credits: A Strange Loop, The Skin of Our Teeth (Tony Award 2022). Off-Broadway credits: Fairview, Is God Is, Montag (Soho Rep); Ain’t No Mo’ (Public); A Strange Loop, Selling Kabul (Playwrights Horizons). Opera credits: El Niño (Metropolitan Opera); Champion (Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago); Rinaldo (Glimmerglass Opera); Trade // Mary Motorhead (LA Opera/Irish National Opera/Prototype), Iphigenia (Kennedy Center), Hansel and Gretel (Houston Grand Opera), La rondine (Minnesota Opera). Instagram: @montanaleviblanco
JORGE COUSINEAU
PROJECTION DESIGNER
Jorge Cousineau is a filmmaker and production designer specializing in sets, lighting, sound, and projections. His work has been seen and heard inter-nationally, regionally, and all over Philadelphia, his home for 25 years, before relocating to Maine. Jorge is a recipient of two Independence Foundation Fellowship grants, a Lucille Lortel Award in New York City, and several Philadelphia Barrymore Awards. He was awarded the F. Otto Haas Award for Emerging Theater Artist and is a recipient of the Pew Fellowship in the Arts.
AMITH CHANDRASHAKER
LIGHTING DESIGNER
Amith Chandrashaker is a Tony-nominated lighting designer who works in theater, opera, and dance. His credits include Broadway: Prayer for the French Republic (Tony Nom.) and Merrily We Roll Along. Off Broadway: The Public, Playwrights Horizons, NYTW, The Atlantic, and The Signature. Regional theaters: Second Stage, Manhattan Theater Club, Steppenwolf, Chicago Shakespeare, The Geffen, and The Huntington. Opera: Glimmerglass Festival, Houston Grand Opera, and Washington National Opera. Dance: Staatstheater Nuremberg, Lyon Opera Ballet, Royal Ballet of New Zealand, The Joyce, and National Dance Company of Wales. He is the recipient of Drama Desk and Henry Hewes awards.
JOANNE MIDDLETON-WEAVER WIG AND MAKEUP DESIGNER
Born in England, Joanne Middleton-Weaver came to the United States in the late 1980s. She began apprenticing with Elsen Associates at what was then Washington Opera, now Washington National Opera. Joanne has since designed at many opera companies throughout the U.S. during her 30-year career: Glimmerglass Opera, Sarasota Opera, Palm Beach Opera, and Des Moines Metro Opera, to name a few. She has designed for Detroit Opera since 1995. Her credits there include La boh è me , The Passenger, Frida, Margaret Garner, Cyrano, Faust , and make-up design for X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X
ASPEN THERAPY DOG
Aspen lives in Allen Park, Michigan with his owners Amanda Loveday and Taylor Bruckner, and Golden Retriever “sister” Maple. He is a certified therapy dog through USA Therapy Dogs, an organization recognized by the American Kennel Club. Therapy dogs provide comfort, support, and can reduce stress. They do visits in hospitals, nursing homes, schools, and at special events. They are different from service dogs, which perform specific tasks for their owner and should not be pet while working. Therapy dogs are there for others to pet and hug them. Aspen loves socks, as the cast and crew of Rinaldo have witnessed during rehearsals. Aspen participates and competes in sports and activities such as Rally, Barn Hunt, NASDA (North American Sport Dog Association), rodeo dog, trick dog, canine parkour (sometimes known as urban agility), fast CAT (coursing ability test), and more with handler Amanda Loveday. Aspen will turn two years old in June and weighs 84 pounds. His favorite treats are cheese and ice cubes. Rinaldo is Aspen’s debut at the Detroit Opera House, and he is very excited to bring smiles and joy to cast and audience alike!
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Dr. & Mrs. Sam B. Williams*
Matilda R. Wilson Fund
Every effort has been made to accurately reflect donor names and gift levels. Should you find an error or omission, please contact Angela Nelson-Heesch at anelsonheesch@detroitopera.org or 313.237.3438
KEY * Deceased
Contributors to Detroit Opera
Detroit Opera gratefully acknowledges these generous corporate, foundation, government, and individual donors whose contributions to Detroit Opera were received between December 1, 2023 and November 30, 2024. The generosity of our donors is vital to sustaining Detroit Opera’s position as a valued cultural resource.
Foundations, Corporate & Government Support
$1,000,000+
William Davidson Foundation
State of Michigan
$500,000-$999,999
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
$250,000-$499,999
Fred A. & Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation
Ford Foundation
Mellon Foundation
$100,000-$249,999
Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan Ford Philanthropy
General Motors
Gilbert Family Foundation
Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation
$50,000-$99,999
J. Addison Bartush and Marion M. Bartush Family Foundation
Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation
Milner Hotels Foundation
$25,000-$49,999
Applebaum Family Philanthropy
Hudson-Webber Foundation
Kresge Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts
The Karen and Drew Peslar Foundation
The Rattner and Katz Charitable Foundation
Matilda R. Wilson Fund
$10,000-$24,999
Detroit Children's Choir
DTE Energy Foundation
Geoinge Foundation
Masco Corporation
Individual Support
McGregor Fund
MGM Grand Detroit
Oliver Dewey Marcks Foundation
OPERA America
Penske Corporation
Ralph L. and Winifred E. Polk Foundation
Ida and Conrad H. Smith Endowment for MOT
The Mary Thompson Foundation
The Williams Family Fund
$5,000-$9,999
C&N Foundation
Aaron Copland Fund for Music
James and Lynelle Holden Fund
Honigman LLP
Louis and Nellie Sieg Fund
Donald R. and Esther Simon Foundation
The National Circle
Somerset Collection Charitable Foundation
Strum Allesee Family Foundation
The Samuel L. Westerman Foundation
$1,000-$4,999
ABM Janitorial Services
John A. and Marlene L. Boll Foundation
Joyce Cohn Young Artist Fund
Marjorie And Maxwell Jospey Foundation
Josephine Kleiner Foundation
Elmira L. Rhein Family Foundation
Sigmund and Sophie Rohlik Foundation
Introduced in 2024, The National Circle is comprised of Detroit Opera’s leading supporters in this pivotal moment, playing an essential role in bringing the transformative power of opera to audiences in our city and across the country. Through their annual support of $25,000 or more, these donors have an unwavering belief in our art form’s ability to affect meaningful change.
$100,000+
Richard & Mona* Alonzo
Ethan & Gretchen Davidson
Leslie Lazzerin*
Linda Dresner & Ed Levy Jr.
Vivien McDonald*
David & Christine Provost
Matthew & Mona Simoncini
Gary L. Wasserman & Charles A. Kashner
$50,000-$99,999
Mrs. Phyllis F. Snow*
Richard Sonenklar & Gregory Haynes
Lorna Thomas, MD
Jesse & Yesenia Venegas
R. Jamison & Karen Williams
$25,000-$49,999
Dr. Lourdes V. Andaya
Alex Erdeljan
Patricia Isacson Sabee & David Sabee
Denise J. Lewis
The Hon. Jack Martin & Dr. Bettye Arrington Martin
Susanne McMillan
Allan & Joy Nachman Philanthropic Fund
Ann & James B. Nicholson
Ebbie Parsons III & Ayana Parsons
Mrs. Ruth F. Rattner
Barbara Van Dusen
Ms. Barbara A. Walkowski
KEY
* Deceased
The DiChiera Society
DiChiera Society members honor the legacy and vision of our company’s founder, David DiChiera, while bolstering our future as one of the most significant and innovative opera and dance organizations in the country with an emphasis on community engagement, accessibility, and artistic risk taking under the leadership of Gary L. Wasserman Artistic Director Yuval Sharon.
$10,000-$24,999
Gene P. Bowen
Richard & Joanne Brodie
Wayne Brown & Brenda Kee
Mr. Thomas Cohn
Enrico & Kathleen Digirolamo
Nina S. Drolias*
Dr. Raina Ernstoff & Mr. Sanford Hansell
Carl & Mary Ann Fontana
Bharat & Lynn Gandhi
Nancy B. Henk*
Mary Kramer
Michael & Barbara Kratchman
Ms. Mary C. Mazure
Ms. Evelyn Micheletti
Ali Moiin & William Kupsky
Donald & Antoinette Morelock
Mr. Cyril Moscow
William & Wendy Powers
Dr. & Mrs. Samir M. Ragheb
Dr. Irvin D. Reid & Dr. Pamela Trotman Reid
Janice Ross
Concetta V. Ross*
Terry Shea & Seigo Nakao
Prof. Michael Wellman
$5,000-$9,999
Ms. Christine Ammer
Thomas & Gretchen Anderson
Dr. Harold M. Arrington
Richard & Susan Bingham
Beverly Hall Burns
Ms. Violet Dalla Vecchia
Kevin Dennis & Jeremy Zeltzer
Maria & David Duey
Fern Espino & Tom Short
Paul & Mary Sue Ewing
Ms. Laurie R. Frankel
Ralph & Erica Gerson
Toby Haberman
William Hulsker & Aris Urbanes
Jane Iacobelli
Jody & Tara Ingle
John & Arlene Lewis
Don Manvel
Mr. Ronald Michalak
Phillip Minch
Mrs. L. William Moll
Robert & Susan Morris
Mr. George & Mrs. Jo Elyn Nyman
Sara A. Pozzi, Ph.D.
Waltraud Prechter
Ms. Pam E. Rodgers
Evan & Kelsey Ross
Ankur Rungta & Mayssoun Bydon
Mrs. Rosalind B. Sell
Frank & Susan Sonye
Ms. Mary Anne Stella
Mr. Peter C. Stern
Ned & Joan Winkelman
Ellen Hill Zeringue
$3,000-$4,999
Nina Abrams
Gregory & Mary Barkley
Paul & Lee Blizman
Bob & Rosemary Brasie
Dr. & Mrs. Ronald T. Burkman
Dr. Lynne Carter
Albert & Janette Cassar
Anonymous
Maurice & Carolyn Cunniffe
Walter & Lillian Dean
Lisa DiChiera
James & Margo Farber
Sally & Michael Feder
Michael Fisher
Yvonne Friday & Stephen Black
Allan Gilmour & Eric Jirgens
Mr. Lawrence Glowczewski
Mr. & Mrs. Robert & Christine Hage
Roberto Kalb & Mane Galoyan
Max Lepler & Rex Dotson
Mary B. Letts
Nancy & Bud Liebler
Amy McCombs
Ms. Mary McGough
Benjamin Meeker & Meredith Korneffel, MD
Van Momon & Pamela L. Berry
Geoffrey Nathan
Sally Orley
Brock & Katherine L. Plumb
Magdalena Predeteanu*
Carrie & Ted Pryor
Lois & Mark Shaevsky
Susan A Smith
Dr. Gregory E. Stephens, D.O.
Samuel Thomas & Daniel VanderLey
Bret & Susanna Williams
Friends of Detroit Opera
Every gift helps ensure that opera and dance thrive in our community, and that we share the indescribable experience we feel when the curtain rises. Friends of Detroit Opera are among our most loyal and crucial supporters and receive exclusive benefits with annual gifts of $500 or more.
$1,000-$2,499
D.L. Anthony, Ph.D.
Ms. Geraldine Atkinson
Mr. Stanislaw Bialoglowski
Sandra & Doug Bitonti Stewart
Mr. & Mrs. Mitchell Bleznak
Constance Bodurow
Ms. Nicole A. Boelstler
Mr.* & Mrs. John A. Boll Sr.
Marsha Bruhn
Ilse Calcagno
James & Elizabeth Ciroli
John & Doreen Cole
Tonino & Sarah Corsetti
Patricia Cosgrove
Sue Cutler & Jeff Fessler
Carolyn Demps & Guy Simons
Cristina DiChiera & Neal Walsh
Shauna Ryder Diggs, MD
Ms. Mary J. Doerr
Marla Donovan
Nell Duke & David Ammer
Ms. Judith Ellis
Marianne T. Endicott
Marjory Winkelman Epstein
Joseph Fontana & Nada Jurisich-Fontana
Burke & Carol Fossee
Dr. & Mrs. Clifford Furgison
Carol Gagliardi & David Flesher
Arline Geronimus
Thomas M. Gervasi
Mr. Nathaniel Good
Stuart Grigg
Ms. Carole Hardy
Barbara Heller
Mary Ellen Hoy & Jim Keller
Paul Jednak & Tim Kasunic
Richard & Involut Jessup
Mrs. Stephanie Germack Kerzic
Marc Keshishian & Susanna Szelestey
Mr. & Mrs. Gerd H. Keuffel
Gregory Knas
Ms. Cynthia Kratchman
William & Jean Kroger
Jeff & Joanne Kukes
Meria Larson
Stephan & Marian Loginsky
Mr. John Lovegren & Mr. Daniel Isenschmid
Mr. Loreto A. Manzo
Ms. Janet Groening Marsh
Patrick & Patricia McKeever
Eugene & Lois Miller
Craig & Shari Morgan
Ms. Maryanne Mott
Harold Munson & Libby Berger
Brian Murphy & Toni Sanchez-Murphy
George & Nancy Nicholson
Dr. & Mrs. Peter Nickles
Joshua & Rachel Opperer
Daniel & Margaret Pehrson
Coleen Pellerito
Mark & Kyle Peterson
Ms. Irene Piccone*
Shane Pliska
Elizabeth Porter & Larry Hickman
Michael & Charlene Prysak
Rip & Gail Rapson
Ms. Alice Rea
Leon & Debbe Saperstein
Professor Alvin & Mrs. Harriet Saperstein
Mary Schlaff & Sanford Koltonow
Kingsley & Lurline Sears
Susan Sills-Levey & Michael Levey
Michael & Stacey
Simmons
Gabriel & Martha Stahl
Ann Steglich
Dr. Andrew James Stocking
Andrew J. Sturgess
Manuel Tancer & Claire Stroker
Mr. Jon Teeuwissen
Mr. & Mrs. C. Thomas Toppin
Jeff & Amy Voigt
Stanley Waldon
Torben Winther & Linda Hall
Katina Zaninovich
John & Susan Zaretti
$750-$999
Antonia Abbey & James Lee
Marceline Bright
Frank & Jenny Brzenk
Beth Hoger & Lisa Swem
Ms. Vera C. Magee
John & Marie McElroy
Walter & Elizabeth Newgeon
Barbara Roden
Dennis & Jennifer Varian
Ms. Janet Beth Weir
Meredith Weston-Band & Jeffery Band
Rita Winters
$500-$749
Robert & Catherine Anthony
Paul Augustine
Ms. Allison Bach
Ms. Mary Anne Barczak
Martin & Marcia Baum
Barbra Bloch
Amy & Tyler Bouque
Dr. Cynthia Browne, MD
Jonathan Cohn & Daniela Wittmann
Daniel & Susan Drucker
Murray & Alice Ehrinpreis
Daniel H. Ferrier
Julie Finn & Bradley Rowens
Sue Force
John Gierak & Dona Tracey
Joseph & Lois Gilmore
Gil Glassberg & Sandra Seligman
Mr. Robert Theodore Goldman
Todd Gordon & Susan Feder
Philip & Martha Gray
John & Kristan Hale
Paul & Nancy Hillegonds
Kimberly Johnson
Ms. Jill Johnson
Geraldine & Jacqueline Keller
Ms. Lee Khachaturian
Justin & Joanne Klimko
Mr. Alex Koprivica
Jennifer Lindsay Kott
Mary Jane & Jeff Kupsky
Albert Kurt
John & Kimi Lowe
Mrs. Marsha Lynn
Lori Maher
Dr. Anne Missavage & Mr. Robert Borcherding
Mr. Russell Moore
Natasha Moulton-Levy
Ms. Nancy K. Murray
Mr. Ronald Northrup
Jane Panikkar
Bertram & Elaine Pitt
Garry Post & Robert Hill
Shawn Rieschl Johnson & Christian Kirby
Adam D. Rubin, M.D, Lakeshore Professional Voice Center
Mr. Richard Lee Ruby
William* & Marjorie Sandy
Michael Schon
Clara Sumeghy
Dr. Geneva Tatem
Dr. Gretchen Thams
John M. Toth
Barbara & Stuart Trager
Rennard & Daphne Tucker
Joseph & Rosalie Vicari
Ian D. Wiesner
Janice Zeltzer
Elliot & Dr. Susan Zeltzer
Gifts in Tribute
We extend a heartfelt thank you to the families, friends, colleagues, businesses, and groups who generously made gifts to Detroit Opera in honor of or in memory of the special people in their lives, whose names are listed in bold below.
IN HONOR OF
Andrew Berg
Anne & Robert Berg
Harriet Berg
Mr. Richard D. Cavaler
George* & Eleanor Bodurow
Constance Bodurow
Wayne S. Brown
Dr. Lourdes V. Andaya
Barbra Bloch
Philip Brunelle
Larry & Dodie David
Ethan & Gretchen Davidson
Dr. Shauna Ryder Diggs
Mary Lou Falcone
Susan Feder & Todd Gordon
Mary Ann & Carl Fontana
Ellen Hill Zeringue
Patty Isacson Sabee
Ms. Jill Johnson
Barbara & Michael Kratchman
Denise J. Lewis
Bud & Nancy Liebler
Dr. Ali Moiin & Dr. William Kupsky
Allan & Joy Nachman
Naomi Oliphant
William & Wendy Powers
Carrie & Ted Pryor
Mrs. Ruth F. Rattner
Irvin & Pamela Reid
Ankur Rungta & Mayssoun Bydon
Lorna Thomas, MD
John Etsell and Europeras 3 & 4
Katina Zaninovich
Carl Fontana
Nina Abrams
Paul & Orvilla Ashely
Thomas E. Barron
Andre Boulanger
Barbara E. Camph
Wilson Curle
Mary Jo & Donald Dawson
David Feeny
Pamela & Lou Fontana
Cynthia Gitt
Peter Gude
Patty Isacson Sabee
Dan & Theresa Johnson
Allen A. Lewis
Skip Shipman
Sarah Siwek
Michael Bartoy & Lana Tapani-Bartoy
Teresa Taranta
Sara Valenti
Robert Wittenberg
Ellen Jacobowitz
Ann & David Conrad
Chuck & Sandra Jacobowitz
Brenda Kee
Dr. Ali Moiin & Dr. William Kupsky
Mary Kramer
Lois & Mark Shaevsky
Barbara & Michael Kratchman
Jeff & Joanne Kukes
Dr. Ali Moiin & Dr. William Kupsky
Mary Jane Kupsky
William & Elizabeth S. Kupsky
Allan & Joy Nachman
Eliot & Elizabeth Bank
Ruth Rattner
Ann Katz
Lois Shaevsky
Everett & Margery Jassy
Lorna Thomas, MD
Paul & Lee Blizman
Barbara Walkowski
Neal S. Goren
Abbie E. Wisusik
Michelle Tornopilsky
IN MEMORY OF
Harry Cook
Ms. Susan Chevalier
Armando Delicato
Judith Gordon & Lawrence Banka
Jacqueline Shuster
Donald Epstein
Marjory Epstein
Pauline Fucinari
Martha Camorro & Fernando Peralta
Mr. Anthony Delsener
Dr. David & Yvonne Fucinari
Therese, Carole &
Mary Louise Ireland
Heather Gehring
Shawn Rieschl Johnson & Christian Kirby
Devon Hoover
Dr. Cynthia Browne, MD
Patricia Cosgrove
Joseph Katulic
Stuart Grigg
George & Ann Marisl
Thomas Dickson & Carol Dick
John P. McMullin
Alexander Ford
Sean & Tori Murphy
Enrico & Olga Petrini
Miss Alma M. Petrini
Nancy Rade
Paula Lisa Cole
Aphrodite Roumell
Allan & Joy Nachman
Florence, David & Joyce Schon
Michael L. Schon
Dr. Charles B. Smith
Dr. Peggie J. Hollingsworth
Phyllis Snow
Lisa Gross
Carole Heinrich
Kathy & Jack Kennedy
Anne Stricker
Torben Winther & Linda Hall
Beate M. Vreeken
Karen & Matthew Cullen
Vreevious
Bradley & Rachel Benigni
Dr. Margaret Winters
Elizabeth Porter
Sarisa Zoghlin
Kevin Dennis & Jeremy Zeltzer
Every effort has been made to accurately reflect donor, honoree, and memorial names for gifts received between December 1, 2023 and November 30, 2024. Should you find an error or omission please contact Reema Mahmood, Manager of Events and Donor Relations at rmahmood@detroitopera.org or 313.237.3267.
Avanti Society Members Setting the Stage for Tomorrow
Found in many Italian opera texts, the word avanti means “ahead” or “forward,” and the Avanti Society— Detroit Opera’s planned gift recognition program—is a group of thoughtful donors whose generosity is defined by foresight. By including Detroit Opera in their estate plans, members are leaving lasting gifts which will bring the transformative power of opera and dance to audiences in our community and around the country, well beyond our own lifetimes. Thank you, Avanti Society Members!
Douglas* & Sarah Allison
Richard & Mona* Alonzo
Dr. Lourdes V. Andaya§
Mr. & Mrs. Agustin Arbulu§
Mr.* & Mrs. Chester Arnold§
Dr. Leora Bar-Levav
Mr. & Mrs. Lee Barthel
Mr. & Mrs. Brett Batterson§
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Bowlby
Mrs. Doreen Bull
Mr.* & Mrs. Roy E. Calcagno§
Dr. & Mrs. Thomas E.Carson
Dr.* & Mrs. Victor J. Cervenak
Father Paul F. Chateau
Mary Christner
Mr. Gary L. Ciampa
Prof. Kenneth Collinson
Douglas & Minka Cornelsen
Dr. Robert A. Cornette§#
Mr. Thomas J. Delaney
Walter & Adel Dissett
Ms. Mary J. Doerr#
Mrs. Helen Ophelia Dove-Jones
Marianne T. Endicott§#
David & Jennifer Fischer
Mr. & Mrs. Herb Fisher§
Derek & Pamela Francis
Mrs. Barbara Frankel* & Mr. Ronald Michalak§#
Mr. & Mrs. Herman Frankel§#
Dr. & Mrs. Byron P. Georgeson§
Albert & Barbara Glover
Robert Green
Mr. Ernest Gutierrez
Mr. & Mrs. Stephen Hagopian
Mr. Lawrence W. Hall§
Mr. & Mrs. Jerome Halperin§
Ms. Heather Hamilton
Charlene Handleman
Preston & Mary Happel
Mr. Kenneth E. Hart§
Mr. & Mrs. Eugene L. Hartwig§
Dr. & Mrs. Gerhardt A. Hein
Fay & Allen Herman
Derek & Karen* Hodgson
Andrew & Carol Howell
Dr. Cindy Hung§
Eleanor & Alan Israel
Ms. Kristin Jaramillo§
Mr. Donald Jensen§
Mr. John Jickling
Mr. Patrick J.* & Mrs.
Stephanie Germack Kerzic
Josephine Kessler
Edward & Barbara Klarman
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Klein#
Mr. & Mrs. Erwin H. Klopfer§#
Myron & Joyce LaBan
Paul Lavins
Mr. Max Lepler & Mr. Rex Dotson
Linda Dresner & Ed Levy Jr.
Mr. Hannan Lis
Florence LoPatin
Mr. Stephen H. Lord
Ms. Denise Lutz
Laura & Mitchell Malicki
Ms. Jane McKee§
Bruce Miller
Drs. Orlando & Dorothy Miller§
Ms. Monica Moffat &
Mr. Pat McGuire
Drs. Stephen & Barbara Munk
Mr. Jonathan F. Orser
Ms. Julie A. Owens
Mr. Dale J. Pangonis§
Mr. & Mrs. Charles A. Parkhill
Mr. Richard M. Raisin§
Mrs. Ruth F. Rattner§#
Ms. Deborah Remer
Dr. Joshua Rest
Mr. & Mrs. James Rigby§
Mr. Bryan L. Rives
Ms. Patricia Rodzik§
David & Beverly Rorabacher
Dulcie Rosenfeld
Professor Alvin & Mrs. Harriet Saperstein
Ms. Susan Schooner§
Mark & Sally Schwartz
Arlene Shaler§
Ms. Ellen Sharp
Ms. Edna J Pak Shin
Mr. & Mrs. Harold Siebert
Mrs. Loretta Skewes
Ms. Anne Sullivan Smith
Mr.* & Mrs. Richard Starkweather§#+
Ms. Mary Anne Stella
Mr. Stanford C. Stoddard
Mr. Ronald F. Switzer§ & Jim McClure
Lillie Tabor
Peter & Ellen Thurber
Alice* & Paul Tomboulian
Jonathan & Salome E. Walton
Susan Weidinger
Mr. Andrew Wise
Larry* & Mary Lou Zangerle
We express profound thanks to these Avanti Society members whose planned gifts to Detroit Opera have been realized.
Robert G. Abgarian Trust
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Allesee#
Serena Ailes Stevens
Mr. & Mrs. J. Addison Bartush§#
Mr. & Mrs. Mandell Berman
Margaret & Douglas Borden
Charles M. Broh
Milena T. Brown
The Gladys L. Caldroney Trust
Charlotte Bush Failing Trust
Mary C. Caggegi
Allen B. Christman
Miss Halla F. Claffey
Ms. Virginia M. Clementi
Hon. Avern Cohn* & Ms. Lois Pincus
Robert C. & RoseAnn B. Comstock
Mary Rita Cuddohy
Marjorie E. DeVlieg
Nancy Dewar
James P. Diamond
Dr. David DiChiera
Mrs. Karen V. DiChiera
Dr. & Mrs. Charles H. Duncan§
Mr. Wayne C. Everly
Dr. Evelyn J. Fisher
Mrs. Anne E. Ford
Ms. Pamela R. Francis§
Mrs. Rema Frankel
Barbara Lucking Freedman
The Edward P. Frohlich Trust
The Priscilla A.B. Goodell Trust
Freda K. Goodman Trust
Priscilla R. Greenberg, Ph.D.§#
Maliha Hamady
Patricia Hobar
Mary Adelaide Hester Trust
Ms. Nancy B. Henk
Gordon V. Hoialmen Trust
Carl J. Huss
Mr. John Jesser
H. Barbara Johnston
Maxwell & Marjorie Jospey
Mrs. Josephine Kleiner
Misses Phyllis & Selma Korn§*
Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Krolikowski§
Mr. Philip Leon
Dores & Wade McCree
Lucie B. Meininger
Helen M. Miller
Ella M. Montroy
Ronald K. Morrison
Ruth Mott
Elizabeth M. Pecsenye
Clarice Odgers Percox Trust
Thomas G. Porter
Mitchell Romanowski
Ms. Joanne B. Rooney
Concetta Ross
Mr. & Mrs. Giles L. & Beverly Ross
Ms. Merle H. Scheibner
Drs. Heinz & Alice Platt Schwarz§
Ms. Laura Sias
Mrs. Marge Slezak
Ms. Phyllis Funk Snow§
Edward L. Stahl
Mary Ellen Tappan Charitable Remainder Trust
Dr. Mildred Ponder Stennis
Margaret D. Thurber
Mr. & Mrs. George & Inge Vincent§#
Herman W. Weinreich
J. Ernest Wilde Trust
Mrs. Ruth Wilkins
Helen B. Wittenberg
Mr. & Mrs. Walter & Elizabeth Work§
Joseph J. Zafarana
Mr. & Mrs. George M. Zeltzer§
KEY
§ Founding Members
# Touch the Future donors
* Deceased
Membership in the Avanti Society is open to all who wish to declare their intention for a planned gift to Detroit Opera. Call Juliano Bitonti Stewart to learn more, 313.965.4271.
Orchestra
Detroit Federation of Musicians, Local #5, of the American Federation of Musicians
VIOLIN
Eliot Heaton
Concertmaster (on leave)
Daniel Stachyra
Interim Concertmaster
Yuri Popowycz
Acting Asst. Concertmaster
Open Position
Acting Asst. Concertmaster
Emelyn Bashour
Principal Second Violin
Emily Barkakati
Anna Bittar-Weller
Molly Hughes
Bryan Johnston
Henrik Karapetyan
Velda Kelly
Beth Kirton
Jenny Wan
Andrew Wu
VIOLA
John Madison
Principal
Jacqueline Hanson
Scott Stefanko
Open Position
CELLO
Ivana Biliskov
Principal
Benjamin Maxwell
Andrea Yun
Open Position
BASS
Derek Weller
Principal
Clark Suttle
HARP
Open Position
Open Position
Principal
Open Position
Second
OBOE
Eli Stefanacci
Principal
Open Position
Second
CLARINET
Roi Karni
Principal
J. William King
BASSOON
Daniel Fendrick
Principal
Greg Quick
HORN
Colin Bianchi
Principal
Carrie Banfield-Taplin
TRUMPET
David Ammer
Principal
Mark Davis
TROMBONE
Open Position
Principal
Dustin Nguyen
TIMPANI
Eric Stoss
Principal
PERCUSSION
John Dorsey
Principal
Administration & Staff
LEADERSHIP
Patty Isacson Sabee, President & CEO
Yuval Sharon, Gary L.Wasserman Artistic Director
Roberto Kalb, Music Director
Andrew Berg, Chief Development Officer
Daniel T. Brinker, General Manager, Detroit Opera House & Parking Center
Shawn Rieschl Johnson, Chief Programming & Production Officer
Alexis Means, Director of Operations & Patron Experiences
Holly Clement, Senior Manager of Events & Rentals
Jennifer George-Consiglio, Manager of Venue Operations
Michael Hauser, Curator of History & Architecture
Kathie Booth, Volunteer Coordinator
USHERS
Max Aghili, Christine Berryman, Ellen Bishop, Kathie Booth, Lori Burkhardt, Randall Davis, Erin G-Doakes, Suzanne Erbes, Pamela Fergusson, Jo-Ann Hale, Sue Hargrave, Myrna Mazure, Ennis Mcgee, Steven McReynolds, Heddie O’Connor, Bill Ried, Kimberly Ried, Edna Rubin, Ida Vance, Sheryl Weinan-Yee
IN CASE OF EMERGENCY
Please observe the lighted exit signs located throughout the theater. In the event of an emergency, remain calm and walk, do not run, to the nearest exit. Ushers and security personnel are trained to assist. An emergency medical technician (EMT) is on-site during most events. Contact an usher or staff member if you need medical assistance.
GUEST SERVICES:
Vincent Lobby and Broadway Lounge
There are a variety of amenities for your comfort and use located in both guest services locations. Wheelchairs, booster seats*, earplugs, assisted listening devices, feminine hygiene products, basic first aid items, and more are complimentary and available for your convenience. Coat check is also available. The Vincent Lobby is located on the Madison Street side of the building and the Broadway Lounge is located on the Broadway Street side of the building.
*Limited quantity
PHOTOGRAPHY, RECORDING, AND CELL PHONE USE
Photography and/or recording during any performance is strictly prohibited. Photographs taken in the lobby areas, before or after a performance, and during intermission are welcome. As a courtesy to all guests, please turn off all electronic devices and refrain from use during the performance.
RESTROOMS
Women’s restrooms are located off the Ford Lobby (Broadway Street entrance) and down the stairs, and on third floor (Madison Street entrance). Men’s restrooms are located under the Grand Staircase and on the third floor (Broadway Street side). There are two sets of elevators or stairs available to access all third-floor restrooms. All third-floor restrooms are wheelchair accessible (women’s restroom, press 3R in the elevator). There are single-use unisex wheelchair accessible restrooms on the first floor of the Broadway Street side of the building and the Madison Street side of the building. There is also a wheelchair accessible women’s restroom on the Broadway Street side of the building.
NO SMOKING
The Detroit Opera House is a non-smoking facility. This includes e-cigarettes, vapes, and other “smokeless” products.
USHERS
Ushers are stationed throughout the building to assist patrons as needed. Please direct questions, concerns, and feedback to them during your visit. Enjoy volunteering? Please go to guest services or the Detroit Opera website, detroitopera.org/volunteers, for information on becoming a volunteer.
LOST AND FOUND
During the performance, lost and found is located in guest services. Unclaimed items are logged and taken to the Safety and Security office after each performance. To inquire about a misplaced or lost item, please call 313.961.3500. Items left over 30 days will be discarded or donated.
RECORDING IN PROGRESS
Entry and presence on the event premises constitute your consent to be photographed, filmed, and/or otherwise recorded, and to the release, publication, exhibition, or reproduction of any and all recorded media for any purpose whatsoever in perpetuity in connection with Detroit Opera and its initiatives. By entering the event premises, you waive and release any claims you may have related to the use of recorded media of you at the event.
Opera has been described as an art form that tells a story through music and singing. Detroit Opera is innovating new and exciting ways to tell those stories. At The Whitney, we see architecture as another art form that tells a story, in our case through our 125-year-old Romanesque-style mansion, one of the last remaining mansions that once lined Woodward Avenue. It is a true reflection of Old Detroit. Before your next opera, or whenever the urge hits you, come visit our mansion. We promise that the welcoming reception you’ll receive, the food and drink you’ll enjoy, and the ambiance you’ll experience, will make you think you’ve gone back in time. Pre-Theater Dining, Sunday Brunch or Afternoon Tea—It’s a story you won’t forget.
