THE ATLANTA OPERA ENCORE :: LA CENERENTOLA

THE ATLANTA OPERA

LA CENERENTOLA Gioachino Rossini

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BY NOEL MORRIS

18 DIRECTOR'S NOTE: THE TIMELESSNESS OF LA CENERENTOLA

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WELCOME London called her “stunning”), and Atlanta native and Grammy Award-winning mezzo Jennifer Larmore. Bass-baritone Nathan Berg completes the trio to weave an edgy psychological thriller around the luscious soundscapes of Richard Strauss.

photo: Patrick Heagney

Dear Friends, As The Atlanta Opera moves into its 40th season, we have a lot to celebrate: 143 productions, 700 performances. We’ve served 2.6 million people, engaged over 2 million students, and the future looks bright. The October issue of Opera News featured a story about the growth of our company under the headline, “Innovative Risk-Taker.” What they’re really talking about is the community we represent.

Atlanta has grown into an international city, populated by tech-savvy, civic-minded, culture-loving, and adventuresome people.

To properly serve such a community, it is essential for The Atlanta Opera to lead the way in innovation.

Already, Atlanta is home to a surprising number of top tier opera singers such as Jamie Barton, Morris Robinson, Jennifer Holloway, and Kevin Burdette, among many others. I’m glad to say The Atlanta Opera has been developing and growing into a company worthy of their talents.

During the 2019-20 season we will continue to welcome these artists into our orbit alongside an ever-growing line-up of veteran and up-and-coming performers.

Rossini’s La Cenerentola opens the mainstage; a romantic comedy starring Emily Fons, “a singer to watch” (Opera News), and Atlanta favorite Santiago Ballerini. Together they’ll fend off despicable stepsisters in hopes of a fairytale ending.

Then, in January, we’ll welcome two of Atlanta's own in Salome: Jennifer Holloway as Salome, a part she practically owns on the European stage (The Times of

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In the spring, we’ll welcome two artists who sang Porgy and Bess together on one of the most storied stages in the world, Teatro alla Scala. In a powerful production

by Francesca Zambello, Atlanta-native Morris Robinson will sing the role of Porgy opposite Kristin Lewis, a singer just off her Met debut as Aida. A masterpiece by George and Ira Gershwin, Porgy’s melodies (“Summertime”, “It Aint Necessarily So”) are timeless—yet, as you will see, its story is as current as the evening news.

In May, after many, many requests, we are bringing back Puccini’s gut-wrenching Madama Butterfly, the acclaimed production first seen in 2014. A love-storygone-bad, Butterfly features Yasko Sato in her Atlanta Opera debut, and Atlanta favorite Gianluca Terranova (Carmen, Turandot) as her faithless sailor.

We will close the 40th-anniversary season with our popular Discoveries series, which offers a more intimate, more contemporary theatrical experience. We are thrilled to bring back Michael Mayes, whose spellbinding performance in Dead Man Walking won critical praise across the board. This time, Mayes stars as America’s longest-held prisoner of war in Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied.

A 40th anniversary is indeed something to celebrate. I’m glad to say we’ll be doing it with high drama, world-class talent, and a few laughs—in a truly great city. I hope you will join us and bring your friends.

Thank you for 40 wonderful years.

Sincerely,

Tomer Zvulun Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. General & Artistic Director The Atlanta Opera

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SPONSORS SANTIAGO BALLERINI'S PERFORMANCE SPONSORED BY

John & Rosemary Brown

Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs

Major support for The Atlanta Opera is provided by the Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs.

This program is also supported in part by the Georgia Council for the Arts through the appropriations of the Georgia General Assembly.

GCA also receives support from its partner agency - the National Endowment for the Arts.

THE ATLANTA OPERA DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE Cathy & Mark Adams Mr. & Mrs. Ronald R. Antinori Nancy & *Jim Bland Laura & Montague Boyd Dr. Harold Brody & Mr. Donald Smith John & Rosemary Brown Mr. & Mrs. John L. Connolly Ann & Frank Critz Martha Thompson Dinos John L. Hammaker Howard Hunter, Gramma Fisher Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Michael L. Keough 6

*Mr. & Mrs. Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. James B. Miller, Jr. Mary Ruth McDonald Victoria & Howard Palefsky Mr. William Pennington Jerry & Dulcy Rosenberg Mr. William F. Snyder Judith & Mark Taylor Triska Drake & G. Kimbrough Taylor Brian & Marie Ward Rhys T. & Carolyn Wilson The Mary & Charlie Yates Family Fund

*deceased

CREDITS MUSIC Gioachino Rossini LIBRETTO Jacopo Ferretti FIRST PERFORMANCE January 25, 1817, Teatro Valle, Rome, Italy CONDUCTOR Dean Williamson ORIGINAL PRODUCTION Joan Font SET & COSTUME DESIGNER Joan Guillén ORIGINAL LIGHTING DESIGNER Albert Faura ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR & CHOREOGRAPHER Xevi Dorca WIG & MAKEUP DESIGNER Brittany Crinson ASSISTANT WIG & MAKEUP DESIGNER Brittany Essen ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR/CHORUS MASTER Rolando Salazar SUPERTITLES Patricia Houk CAST (IN ORDER OF VOCAL APPEARANCE) CLORINDA Bryn Holdsworth** TISBE Elizabeth Sarian* ANGELINA Emily Fons ALIDORO Alan Higgs** DON MAGNIFICO Dale Travis DON RAMIRO Santiago Ballerini** DANDINI Thomas Glass MUSICAL PREPARATION Valerie Pool**, Alvaro Corral Matute* ASSISTANT STAGE DIRECTOR Ellen Jackson† PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER Brian August ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGERS Renée Varnas, Marisa Brink PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Colleen Kane Performed in Italian with English supertitles The supertitles used in this production are owned by Houston Grand Opera: Patrick Summers, Artistic and Music Director; Perryn Leech, Managing Director.

Approximate running time: 3 hours with one intermission *member of The Atlanta Opera Studio **alumnus of The Atlanta Opera Studio †The Jerry & Dulcy Rosenberg Young Artist Stage Director, given in honor of Tomer Zvulun La Cenerentola is a co-production of Houston Grand Opera Association, Welsh National Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu, and Grand Théâtre de Genève.

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SYNOPSIS

From the archives: The Atlanta Opera's 1981 production of La Cenerentola with George Massey as Dandini, Rockwell Blake as Prince Ramiro, Stephen Markuson as Don Magnifico, and Emily Golden as Angelina. photo: Charles M. Rafshoon

ACT I In a hall of Don Magnifico’s castle, his vain and demanding daughters Clorinda and Tisbe are busy primping.

Their stepsister, Angelina (known as Cenerentola), consoles herself with a song about a king who chose a kindhearted bride rather than a rich one. A beggar (actually Prince Ramiro’s tutor Alidoro) comes in; Angelina gives him some coffee and bread, angering the stepsisters. The prince’s courtiers enter, announcing the imminent arrival of the prince himself — that evening at a palace ball, he will choose the most 8

beautiful woman among the guests as his wife. The ensuing excitement generates great confusion. The knights leave and so does the “beggar,” foretelling that Angelina will be happy the next day.

Quarreling for the privilege of telling their father the good news, Clorinda and Tisbe accidentally awaken him.

Don Magnifico interprets a dream he was just having as a prediction of his fortune: the impoverished baron’s vision of himself as grandfather of kings is apparently confirmed by his daughters’ announcement.

Prince Ramiro, having decided to explore the situation incognito, has exchanged clothing with his servant, Dandini. Alidoro has advised him that kindness, truth and virtue can be found in this home. When the disguised prince enters the house, he and Angelina instantly fall in love. Dandini arrives, awkwardly playing the prince, and Clorinda and Tisbe are introduced to him. Angelina begs her stepfather to take her to the ball, but Magnifico orders her to stay at home. Alidoro, with a list of the unmarried women in the city, asks Don Magnifico about a third daughter, but Magnifico quickly covers his tracks, stating that she is dead.

After everyone has left, Alidoro returns in finer apparel and invites Angelina to the ball, alluding to a change in her fortunes. He supplies an elegant dress and jewelry so that she may be appropriately attired.

At the palace Dandini, still disguised as the prince, appoints Magnifico his wine steward if he can successfully taste all the wines in the cellar and still remain sober. Magnifico rises to the challenge and proclaims new drinking laws: wine shall no longer be mixed with water. Clorinda and Tisbe each vie for the prince’s attention — Clorinda is the eldest, therefore, more suitable

From the archives: The Atlanta Opera's 2008 production of Cinderella. Hugh Russell as Dandini, Richard Bernstein as Alidoro, Ani Maldjian as Clorinda, Jennifer Larmore as Angelina, Magdalena WĂłr as Tisbe, Nicholas Phan as Prince Ramiro, and Peter Strummer as Don Magnifico. photo: Tim Wilkerson

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for marriage, but Tisbe counters that she, as the younger one, shall not age as quickly. Ramiro confers with Dandini — Alidoro said that a daughter of Magnifico would be the one, yet both girls are equally repellent. Dandini further tests them — he shall select one sister to be his queen, the other shall marry his valet (that is, Ramiro).

Both Clorinda and Tisbe are disgusted by the mere suggestion of marrying beneath their station, should they not win the prince, and rebuke the offer.

All are enchanted by the sudden arrival of a mysterious lady. When she unveils herself they are struck by her uncanny resemblance to someone very familiar.

ACT II From a discreet distance the courtiers laugh at the sisters’ distress. Magnifico imagines himself in the privileged position as the prince’s father-in-law, making money in exchange for granting favors. Angelina enters, with Dandini in an amorous pursuit. Hiding nearby Ramiro overhears her refusal of the poseur’s attentions because she loves his valet. Overjoyed, Ramiro asks her to be his, but departing, she gives him one of her bracelets, stating that if he can find her wearing its twin, she will marry him. Ramiro reassumes his princely role, and gathering his courtiers, Dandini (Earle Patriarco), and Ramiro (Lawrence Brownlee) in Houston Grand Opera's 2007 production of La Cenerentola. photo: Brett Croomer

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Dandini and Angelina (Joyce DiDonato) in the Houston Grand Opera's 2007 production of La Cenerentola. photo: Brett Croomer

determines to look for Angelina at once. Dandini encourages Magnifico’s fantasies, and then reveals his real identity, much to the baron’s ire. He blusters out of the room.

Returning home, the sisters find Angelina by the fire and berate her incessantly for looking like the beautiful lady at the ball. Alidoro arranges an accident for the prince’s carriage, which overturns in front of the house during rather serendipitously inclement weather. Angelina and Ramiro recognize one another, and he matches the bracelet

to its mate, proclaiming her as his bride.

Angelina goes to embrace her awestruck family, but is rebuked. Angered, Ramiro whisks Angelina away, while Alidoro convinces the sisters to ask forgiveness so as to avoid ruin. Tisbe is the first to see reason.

At the wedding banquet, Angelina intercedes with the prince for Magnifico and her stepsisters, offering as her “vendetta” their pardon. She revels in her newly found happiness.

Courtesy of Minnesota Opera 11

PROGRAM NOTE

Ramiro and Angelina in the Houston Grand Opera's 2007 production of La Cenerentola. photo: Brett Croomer

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BY NOEL MORRIS

THE CINDERELLA STORY

Hollywood could learn something about strong women from Rossini. His Angelina of Cenerentola is more than an accessory on the arm of some glib urban warrior.

And she isn’t waiting for Mr. Wonderful to bring her out of her shell. She’s already out. She’s a believable human being who remains true to herself, and above all remains true to love. Not bad for an opera from 1817.

Few things are as universally recognizable as a classic fairy tale. Fairy tales are timeless yet far away, connecting us to an age when things changed very little from one generation to the next; when few people traveled beyond a neighboring village, and when magic seemed more credible than science. For thousands of years, these folk tales were told and retold. Journeying the caravans and the sea lanes, they captured

the imagination of weary travelers, crossing barriers of language and time to enter the collective knowledge of remote civilizations. Cinderella is one of these tales.

There are many variations. The ancient Greeks had a Cinderella story about a girl named Rhodopis. The ancient Chinese had one called Ye Xian. There are several in the One Thousand and One Nights collection. Getting closer to our own cultural memory, the Brothers Grimm wrote Aschenputtel, and it is grim. In this particularly Gothic rendering, the stepsisters hack off lumps of their own flesh in order to squeeze into the slipper.

Also, Aschenputtel isn’t aided by a fairy godmother but a magic tree growing from her mother’s grave. Today, the best-known version of Cinderella is the one published

by Charles Perroult in 1697.

LA CENERENTOLA & THE ENLIGHTENMENT When Rossini took on Cinderella, he tapped into a stock character and used it as a framework to tell a contemporary story à la 1817 (Warner Bros. did much the same when they created the 2004 cult classic A Cinderella Story.) This is to say that La Cenerentola is not the Cinderella story you grew up with. There’s no magic, no glass slipper, and no fairy godmother. Rather, it is an Enlightenment opera created by men who were products of the “Age of Reason.”

Cinderella’s pragmatism and strong sense of self reflect Enlightenment values — science, reason, equality, self-determination. She doesn’t win her prince by accident (losing a shoe), but keeps a cool head and remains steadfast in her character. In fact, she spurns the man she believes to be the prince. When her love says, “So you would be mine?”, she

doesn’t say yes, but gives him a bracelet that will lead to her humble existence beside the fireplace. “Plan, you must first search for me, meet me, see me, examine my luck.” In essence, she tells him: go figure it out and decide what kind of man you are.

When Rossini and his librettist, Jacopo Ferretti, conceived this story in 1817, Europe was still convulsing over the effects of the French Revolution. The people continued to push back against the power and privilege of the hereditary ruling class (notice the opera’s villains are three degenerate nobles). At the end of La Cenerentola, the prince chooses inner beauty over pedigree, becoming a champion of equality.

BEL CANTO Bel canto, Italian words meaning beautiful singing, came to represent an era in opera which catered to a taste for vocal acrobatics. Singers were required to maintain a beautiful sound while singing higher and faster, sailing through harrowing clusters of notes with effortless aplomb. Rossini was a master of this style, writing music that leveraged the virtuosity of bel canto style toward dramatic—and a more profound—effect.

In La Cenerentola, for example, he makes frequent use of the patter song, rapid-fire singing (Anthony Kiedis, eat your heart out) to evoke agitation, excitement or, in the case of Don Magnifico, silliness.

ROSSINI Gioachino Rossini was born into a musical family in Pesaro, Italy. His mother was a working opera singer.

When he was fourteen, he entered the conservatory in Bologna. In 1810, at the 13

age of eighteen, he received his first opera commission. Incredibly, he composed another seventeen operas before writing La Cenerentola—all before his twenty-fifth birthday. He wrote La Cenerentola for a production in Rome in January of 1817.

The full title is Cinderella, or Goodness Triumphant. Rossini finished the opera in just over three weeks, although he borrowed the overture from his earlier opera La gazzetta, which had premiered in Naples the previous September.

It would be difficult to overstate Rossini’s rock-star status. In 1823, the French author Stendhal wrote: “Napoleon is dead, but a new conqueror has already shown himself to the world; and from Moscow to Naples, from London to Vienna, from Paris to Calcutta, his name is constantly on every tongue. The fame of this hero knows no bounds save those of civilization itself—and he is not yet thirty-two!” From there, Rossini, who had already written thirty-four operas, went on to compose five more, ending with his massive drama on the subject of William Tell in 1829.

depression and some unpleasant symptoms of gonorrhea, yet he frequently welcomed friends and fellow composers into his home. Pursuing a passion for food, he inspired a number of chefs to dedicate recipes “alla Rossini”. After his last opera, he wrote numerous songs as well as his famous sacred choral work Stabat Mater.

When Rossini died in 1868, Verdi organized a team of Italian composers (enlisting “no foreign hand”) to craft a memorial. Each composer contributed a single movement to a “Messa per Rossini”; Verdi himself wrote the “Libera me.” The performance, which had been scheduled for the first anniversary of Rossini’s death, was scuttled by political squabbles, and the manuscripts were returned to their respective composers.

Six years later, Verdi repurposed his “Libera me” for his great Requiem Mass.

With that he was done. He lived another four decades but refused to write another opera.

Since that year, scholars and Rossini fans have proposed explanations for what one author called “the great renunciation,” yet none has managed to satisfy the curious or the heartbroken. Giuseppe Verdi, who was fifteen when Rossini quit, idolized the older composer and eventually came into his cadre of composer-friends.

The thirty-seven-year-old Rossini retired a wealthy man. We know he suffered 14

photo: Brett Croomer

WARHOL DID WESTERN ART ?

No Fooling?

Sure Shooting!

Through December 31 Andy Warhol, Cowboys and Indians: General Custer, 1986 Screenprint on Lenox, museum board Edition 55/250 36 × 36 inches, Collection Booth Western Art Museum, © 2019 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY; Andy Warhol, Cowboys and Indians: Annie Oakley, 1986 Screenprint on Lenox museum board Edition 55/250 36 × 36 inches, Collection Booth Western Art Museum © 2019 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

BoothMuseum.org | Cartersville, GA

The dinner scene in the castle in Joan Font's production of La Cenerentola at Houston Grand Opera, 2006-07 season.

Seated at the table, left to right, are Catherine Cook (Tisbe), Lawrence Browlee (Ramiro), Joyce DiDonato (Angelina), Earle Patriarco (Dandini), and Tamara Wilson (Clorinda). photo: Brett Croomer

DIRECTOR'S NOTE: THE TIMELESSNESS OF LA CENERENTOLA

as a catalyst for this change. But this love arrives from the outside as if by magic, and it's from another social class: the highest.

BY JOAN FONT

That's why the story is set in an empty, clean space, and it's here where the transformations are experienced. In our interpretation everything is a dream, the space is constantly changing, and the transformation of each situation in the story is through light. Moreover, there is no specific architecture (not in a defined or temporal sense), but rather, there's room for everything. Our aim has been to preserve the basic concept of the original tale as well as respecting the opera version, where Rossini's music adds a real dimension to the feelings, sensations, and emotions of the work.

The basis for La Cenerentola is a tale by Charles Perrault in 1697. This tale has become a classic and tells a universal story - that of a girl who is mistreated by her own family and, thanks to a fairy's magic, can see her dream come true: being the love object of a prince who will take her out of her poverty and servitude and crown her as princess and queen.

We wanted to take a new look at the tale's dramatic narration and to accentuate the concept of timelessness. This isn't something that happened purely in the past: it is still valid today and is not the legacy of a single culture but of all humanity. We all dream of escaping poverty and misery, of living full and happy lives, and it is better if love brings about or acts 16

This composer takes us along different paths: the comic path with characters and situations distorted from the "real" characters; the romantic path when there are love scenes between the couple, because

this is a proper love with passion and desire, and it's eager to be revealed; and the clash of the characters' contradictory feelings and the conflictive narrative between the plot and the characters, creating different musical moments of great beauty and complexity. The characters are created under the gaze of a Mediterranean light with pure, highly exaggerated colors, a deformation that accentuates the personalities of each of the singers-actors and how they evolve within the tale.

A constant metamorphosis occurs in this apparently simple and empty space and one that follows the plot since, in our interpretation, it's all a story imagined by the main character in order to escape from her dramatic situation. We enter a world of dreams-reality-fiction-imagination, combined in such a way that we're not sure where or when we are actually living.

Spatial concepts appear within this empty world to bring the scenes to life, from the home of Don Magnifico to the palace, the gardens and the cellar, with the appearance of symbolic elements, essential for giving meaning to the dramatic evolution of the opera: the coaches, the tables laid with food, the throne, the costumes. And so each of the settings, situations, and actions of this voyage gradually transmute, going from the particular true reality of the beginning to another new reality, of which we have always dreamed and which might be as real as the authentic reality.

Rossini is a great artist and a versatile composer with a playful sense of art and of creation, as well as of the meaning of life.

I am particularly interested in the concept of game in both his music, with a vibrant beauty and complexity; and his stories,

which are tremendously contemporary and valid these days. Rossini never loses this ironic and absurd sense in his perspective; he places a mirror in front of the audience so that they can see their own reality in a distorted yet augmented way. He plays with our passions, doubts, hopes, and feelings, and we see ourselves reflected on stage in our own misery and aspiration – a reflection of the human behavior. Rossini is a modern artist who exudes aroma, colors, flavors, and Mediterranean sounds. I feel very much identified in this aspect of homo ludem, so well represented in his opere bua, meaning splendid comedies, that transport us to other worlds, other stadiums, sometimes through a fairy tale, sometimes an exotic journey, sometime an epic legend or a theater play.

Our staging aims to show the indefinite nature of a reality that clashes with fantasy and that perhaps, when all is said and done, was only a dream like life itself ... because dreams are but dreams.

Joan Font photo: unknown

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CAST & CREATIVE DEAN WILLIAMSON CONDUCTOR ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

Dean Williamson is widely known for his perceptive and commanding conducting. The Washington Post praised him for “a brilliantly directed, beautifully sung and endlessly funny Barber of Seville ... the orchestra, which played the sparkling overture and the vivid storm music with grace and color under the expert baton of Dean Williamson.” This season, he enters his 5th season as Music Director for Nashville Opera conducting productions of Madama Butterfly, Turn of the Screw, and Rigoletto, and last season, conducting productions of La traviata, and Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers. He was honored with a nomination for the 2015 Emmy Awards for the televised broadcast of the production of Le comte Ory that he conducted for Des Moines Metro Opera. He has served as the Artistic Director of Opera Cleveland, Music Director and Conductor of the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program, Music Director of the Washington East Opera, and Artistic Director of the Viva Voce Song Recital Series with the Northwest Chamber Orchestra. He has worked with the Caramoor Festival, Central City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Blossom Festival, Banff Festival, Colorado Arts Festival, Northwest Chamber Orchestra, Opera Idaho, Bellevue Philharmonic, and has served as Guest Faculty for the University of Washington and New York University. He has performed as accompanist with some of the world’s leading singers in such venues as Weill Recital Hall, the Wieniawski Society, and at Merkin Hall.

JOAN FONT ORIGINAL PRODUCTION ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

Joan Font is a founding director of Comediants, and has participated in the creation of more than 30 stage productions globally. He has had sell-out performances of his productions of The Magic Flute, Cinderella, L’Italiana in Algeri, The Barber of Seville in leading opera houses throughout the world. He has presented his operas with absolute absolutes at Liceu Barcelona, Teatro Real, Welsh National, Opera di Firenze, Royal Opera House of Muscat, Grand Theater of Geneve, La Monnaie / DeMunt, Opera National de Bordeux, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, Canadian Opera Company (Toronto), and Opéra de Montréal, among others. He has worked on special projects for the Festival d’Avignon and Venice’s Biennale, as well as other projects in Paris, New York, Chicago, Bogotá, Sydney, Tokyo, Dublin, Edinburgh, London, Hannover, and Beijing, amongst others. He premiered a new production of the zarzuela La Verbena de la Paloma at Granada’s Festival.

More recently, he worked as artistic director of L’Italiana in Algeri at Madrid’s Teatro Real, a co-production of Houston Grand Opera, the Opéra National de Bordeaux, and the Maggio Fiorentino in Florence.

Outside opera he worked with Comediants on the presentation of a special performance for Shanghai’s World Expo and the specially-made show for the celebration of Hanoi’s Millenium (Vietnam).

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JOAN GUILLÉN SET & COSTUME DESIGNER ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

Barcelona-based designer and artist Joan Guillén has designed sets, costumes, masks, and props for opera and theater. His opera work includes The Italian Girl in Algiers at Houston Grand Opera, Teatro Real in Madrid, Teatro Comunale of Florence, the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, and Teatre de les Arts in Valencia; La Cenerentola staged at Houston Grand Opera, La Monnaie in Brussels, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Welsh National Opera, Seattle Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Opera Omaha, Washington National Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago; The Barber of Seville at Houston Grand Opera, the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, Gran Teatre del Liceu, and Canadian Opera Company. Another important production was Faust-Bal at Teatro Real. He has also done extensive work in the arts as a painter, sculptor, and cartoonist. He has taught at the School of Dramatic Art at Barcelona’s Theatre Institute for many years and has also been a visiting professor at many schools and universities around the world. One of his many honors was the 2016 National Culture Prize, awarded by the Catalan National Council of Culture and the Arts. Other awards include the gold medal for costume design at the 1999 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, the world’s largest exhibition in the field of set design and theater architecture.

ALBERT FAURA ORIGINAL LIGHTING DESIGNER ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

Albert Faura studied lighting at Institut del Teatre of Barcelona and took part in an international course of lighting in London. He has lighted theatre, opera and concerts at Los Angeles Opera, Houston, Opera Bastille, Palais Garnier of Paris, Teatro Comunale di Firenze, Fenice of Venezia, Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona and Teatro Real of Madrid among others. Recent projects include A Midsummer Night's Dream (Madrid, 2019), Il Pirata (La Scala, Milano 2018), La jaula de las locas (Tívoli, Barcelona 2018), Molt soroll per no res (Barcelona, 2015), Voronia (La Veronal, 2015), La Cenerentola (Washington National Opera), L'Italiana in Algeri (Maggio Musicale Florence), Turandot (Opera de Monte-Carlo), Simon Boccanegra (Grand Theatre de Geneve), Una giornata particolare (Teatre Biblioteca de Catalunya, Barcelona), Eclipsi (Teatre Nacional de Catalunya), 2666 (Schaubüne Berlin), and Incendis (Teatre Romea) among several other shows.

Besides performing arts, he lighted the Spanish pavilion in the universal exhibition in Shangai (2010). He has been awarded with six Butaca awards, two Barcelona Critics awards and two Max awards.

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XEVI DORCA ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR & CHOREOGRAPHER ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

Xevi Dorca is a wise, intuitive choreographer who collaborates frequently with director Joan Font, most recently on productions of the operas La Cenerentola, The Barber of Seville, and L’Italiana in Algeri, and that have been presented in Geneva, Barcelona, Valencia, Los Angeles, Seattle, Omaha, Toronto, and Washington D.C. following their presentation by lead producer, Houston Grand Opera. He has been praised for his ability to produce dynamism on stage. In opera, he has participated as a dancer in The Barber of Seville (Dir. Carlos Santos) and Orfeo ed Euridice (by Joan Font) both at Perelada Festival; The Fairy Queen (Dir. Lindsay Kemp); and Fuastball (Dir. L. Balada at Teatro Real). As a dancer, he has worked in multiple companies including Sol Picó, Color Danza, Anima’s Animal Art, Mar Gomez, and Rasatabula, touring multiple countries. He has participated in films, plays and commercials as an actor.

BRITTANY CRINSON WIG & MAKEUP DESIGNER

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT: WEST SIDE STORY, 2018

Brittany Crinson is a wig and makeup designer from Detroit. She lives in Chicago where she is the head of hair and makeup at the Joffrey Ballet. She began her professional career at Des Moines Metro Opera, where she continues to design. She spent several years at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and plans to be back there later this year. In the spring of 2020 Brittany will head to Ann Arbor, Michigan to design for the University of Michigan.

ROLANDO SALAZAR ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR/CHORUS MASTER ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT: LA TRAVIATA, 2013

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Rolando Salazar is the Associate Conductor and Chorus Master for The Atlanta Opera. He has served as assistant conductor and pianist at the Bellingham Festival of Music, as assistant conductor at La Musica Lirica in Novafeltria, Italy, and as coach/conductor for the Harrower Opera Workshop. He serves as artistic director and conductor of the Georgia Piedmont Youth Orchestra while maintaining a guest conducting schedule, most recently in performances with the Georgia State University Orchestra, Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra, Georgia State University Opera, and the Ozark Family Opera. Mr. Salazar also keeps an active coaching and collaborative piano schedule in Atlanta, preparing numerous singers for engagements with major orchestras and opera houses worldwide. A student of Michael Palmer, he is a graduate of Georgia State University with a Master of Music in orchestral conducting and an Artist Diploma in orchestra and opera.

DISCOVER THE SPIVEY DIFFERENCE

2019-2020 Concert Series Clayton State University

WINTER TALES: THE SWINGLES Saturday, December 7, 2019

RODERICK WILLIAMS, baritone JULIUS DRAKE, piano Saturday, January 11, 2020

JAMIE BARTON, mezzo-soprano KATHLEEN KELLY, piano Sunday, December 8, 2019

BEHZOD ABDURAIMOV Sunday, January 19, 2020

For tickets or more information call (678) 466-4200 or visit

SPIVEYHALL.ORG

SUPERB ACOUSTICS • OUTSTANDING INTERNATIONAL MUSICIANS INTIMATE CONCERT EXPERIENCES

EMILY FONS ANGELINA

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT: FAUST, 2014 Mezzo-Soprano Emily Fons has made several exciting role and company debuts in recent seasons that have set her apart as a versatile, powerful, and engaging performer. She was hailed by Opera News as one of opera’s rising stars and one of the best singing actresses of her generation, and received a Grammy nomination for her work on Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain. She has been lauded for her virtuosic abilities in Baroque and Bel Canto repertoire, her winning portrayals of opera’s traditional “trouser roles,” and the dramatic commitment and musicality she brings to modern works. In the past few seasons She has sung with The Berlin Philharmonic, The Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, The International Händel Festspiele, the Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Opera, San Diego Opera, Opera Omaha, Boston Lyric Opera, the Florentine Opera, Madison Opera, Opéra de Lille, the OngakuJuku Festival, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and The Seattle Opera. Ms. Fons began 2019 at Seattle Opera singing the role of Laurene Powell Jobs in Mason Bates’ and Mark Campbell’s The [R]evolution of Steve Jobs. She then returned to Michigan Opera Theatre to sing Hansel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel. This summer, she took on the title role in Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea with Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Her 2019-20 season continues with a return to the Canadian Opera Company for the role of Hänsel in a new production of Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel.

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emoryhealthcare.org/voicecenter 288

SANTIAGO BALLERINI DON RAMIRO

PERFORMANCE SPONSORED BY JOHN & ROSEMARY BROWN STUDIO ARTIST ALUMNUS ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT: ROMEO AND JULIET, 2016 Argentinian tenor Santiago Ballerini is recognized as one of the leading tenors in the Bel Canto repertoire, having appeared at many of the major opera houses in North and South America. In the 2016-17 season he was a member of the an inaugural class of The Atlanta Opera Studio Artist program. In the 2019-20 season, he will make his debut at the Canadian Opera Company as Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, after which he will sing his first Duke in Rigoletto with Opera San Antonio, and his first Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Teatro Municipal de Santiago in Chile. He will begin the season with his return to the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires as Ernesto in Don Pasquale. On the concert platform, he has sung Carmina Burana with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C. under Gianandrea Noseda, and performed at the inauguration of the new performing arts center at Auburn University this summer. Last season, he made his debut at the Teatro Regio di Torino as Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, a role which he later sang for his debut with Opéra de Toulon. He then returned to the United States for his debut with Opera Saratoga as Tonio in La fille du regiment and to sing concerts in New York, Savannah, and Atlanta. He also appeared at the Teatro Colón, singing Mozart’s Requiem. Highlights from previous seasons include Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore at the Teatro Solis in Montevideo alongside baritone Erwin Schrott, and performances at the Teatro Colón as the title role in Luigi Nono’s Prometeo and Arbace in Mozart’s Idomeneo.

He was named Argentina’s “Upcoming Opera Singer” by the Congress of Argentina and the Argentine Association of Critics. He was also a featured soloist for the Metropolitan Opera's 50th Anniversary Gala, receiving a scholarship to study with Sherrill Milnes. Before starting his professional singing career, he was a pianist for nine years and studied Music Therapy at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, specializing in addiction treatment.

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THOMAS GLASS DANDINI ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

Baritone Thomas Glass is a Grand Prize winner of the 2019 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a recent alum of the Houston Grand Opera Studio. In the 2019-20 season, he returns to Houston Grand Opera for a role debut as Papageno in Barrie Kosky’s acclaimed production of The Magic Flute, under the baton of Jane Glover. He also makes a house and role debut with Arizona Opera as John Lassiter in Riders of the Purple Sage. On the concert stage, he joins Ars Lyrica Houston for a program of Bach and presents a solo recital with the Nantucket Musical Arts Society. In the 2018-19 season, he made his role debut as Marcello in La bohème with Houston Grand Opera, and subsequently made his Des Moines Metro Opera debut in the same role.

At Houston Grand Opera, he sang Alvaro in Florencia en el Amazonas and covered the title role in Don Giovanni. Career highlights include multiple assignments with Houston Grand Opera including role debuts as Figaro in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, Baron Douphol in La traviata, and Officer Krupke in Bernstein’s West Side Story, as well as covering the role of Achilla in Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto. He joined Wolf Trap Opera to sing Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette and was the baritone soloist for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Bramwell Tovey.

DALE TRAVIS DON MAGNIFICO ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

Dale Travis has become one of the most sought after bass-baritones in America today. With a repertoire of 50 roles in a wide variety of styles, he has been a frequent guest artist at the most prestigious opera companies in the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Washington Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Colorado, Spoleto Festival USA, the Saito Kinen Music Festival, Teatro Regio in Torino, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, the Berlin Komische Oper, and the New Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv. Most recently he returned to The Glimmerglass Opera for The Barber of Seville, West Side Story, and Silent Night; San Francisco Opera for the Sacristan in Tosca, and Benoit/Alcindoro in La bohème, Minnesota Opera for Nino Rota’s The Straw Hat, and Santa Fe Opera as Don Alfonso in Così fan Tutte. This season he debuts with Virginia Opera as Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola. Other future engagements include a return to San Francisco Opera, Dallas Opera, and Tokyo for the role of Frank in Die Fledermaus. In recent seasons he returned to Lyric Opera of Chicago for Tosca and The Merry Widow, Santa Fe Opera for The Magic Flute and Albert Herring, San Francisco Opera for The Marriage of Figaro and The Makropoulos Case, Teatro dell’ Opera in Rome for A View from the Bridge, Opera Colorado for La Cenerentola, St. Louis for Daughter of the Regiment, and The Makropoulos Case at the Metropolitan Opera.

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ALAN HIGGS ALIDORO

STUDIO ARTIST ALUMNUS ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT: MADAMA BUTTERFLY, 2014

American bass-baritone Alan Higgs is a recent alumnus of the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, where during his residency he performed The King in Cendrillon, the Second Trojan Man in Idomeneo, Count Ceprano in Rigoletto, and Gualtiero Valton in I puritani, along with other assignments.

Most recently he returned to The Atlanta Opera as Dr. Grenvil in La traviata and Santa Fe Opera as the Mayor in Jenůfa. The 2019-20 season includes his debut with San Antonio Opera as Angelotti and Sciarrone in Tosca, the Fifth Jew in Salome with The Atlanta Opera, Handel’s Messiah with the Boise Philharmonic Orchestra, and a return to the Lyric Opera of Chicago in the fall of 2020. He made his debut with Santa Fe Opera as an Apprentice Artist for their 60th anniversary season, where he performed the role of Jose Castro in La fanciulla del West and covered roles in Vanessa and Capriccio. While at Santa Fe, he received the Katharine Mayer Award for his outstanding performance as a Santa Fe Opera Apprentice. Additional notable engagements include the British Major in Silent Night and Gregorio in Romeo and Juliette with The Atlanta Opera, Raphael in Haydn’s Creation with the Georgia State Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Pirate King in Pirates of Penzance in The Atlanta Opera studio tour.

BRYN HOLDSWORTH CLORINDA

STUDIO ARTIST ALUMNA ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT: SILENT NIGHT, 2016 Praised by the New York Times for her “limpid-toned, articulate soprano,” Bryn Holdsworth is already garnering attention. This summer, she joined The Glimmerglass Festival for a second season singing Annina in La traviata and Opera Box Ghost in John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles which she will perform again this winter at the Château de Versailles.

Last season, she performed Vixen (cover) in The Cunning Little Vixen and Bard 2 in Francesca Zambello’s original production of a new youth opera

by Ben Moore, Odyssey. In the 2017-18 season, she joined The Atlanta Opera for a second season where she performed in Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins, Marie (cover and student performance) in The Daughter of the Regiment, and Pamina (student performances) in The Magic Flute.

She performed the role of Krysia in Jake Heggie’s world premiere, Out of Darkness: Two Remain. Other credits include Norina in Don Pasquale and Belinda in Dido and Aeneas, both with Crested Butte Opera Studio, and Rachel Dowling in Patience and Sarah with New York Opera Festival. She holds graduate and undergraduate degrees from the Manhattan School of Music. She was awarded the prestigious Rodgers and Hammerstein/ Richard Rodgers Scholarship as well as the ASCAP Foundation Fran Morgenstern Davis Scholarship. She was a National Finalist in the New York Lyric Opera competition and a National Semifinalist in both the Classical Singer and Palm Beach Opera competitions.

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ELIZABETH SARIAN TISBE

STUDIO ARTIST ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT: DEAD MAN WALKING, 2019 Elizabeth Sarian is quickly gaining recognition for her unique timbre and versatility as a young mezzo-soprano. As a studio artist, she also sang Olga (cover) in Eugene Onegin, and Rosina in the Studio Tour of The Barber of Seville. Her 2017-18 season included the title role in Massenet’s Cherubin with Peabody Opera, Olga in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin with Bel Cantanti Opera, and several concert and oratorio debuts including Handel’s Messiah and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Ms. Sarian received her second Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and was previously a Studio Artist with Central City Opera to cover Mercédès in Bizet’s Carmen. Ms. Sarian is a recent graduate from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where she earned her Master of Music and Graduate Performance diploma.

Recent role debuts with Peabody Opera have included Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Hansel (cover) in Hansel und Gretel, Dorabella (cover) in Così fan tutte, and Third Lady in The Magic Flute.

Originally from Long Island, she completed her undergraduate studies at Hofstra University.

photo: Brett Croomer

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CHORUS SPOTLIGHT MICHAEL VAVASES, TENOR Get to know tenor Michael Vavases, who starts his first season as a new member of The Atlanta Opera Chorus.

We took a few minutes to chat with the recent Reinhardt University graduate about his audition for the chorus, the mentors who helped him along the way, and his favorite operas.

THE ATLANTA OPERA: Welcome to The Atlanta Opera Chorus! What did you sing for your audition?

MICHAEL VAVASES: First, I'm honored to be part of such an incredible organization. I love how the Atlanta Opera treats opera. For my audition, I sang Lensky's aria from Eugene Onegin and “De' miei bollenti spiriti” from La traviata.

TAO: Why did you pick these arias for your audition?

MV: Each aria is a soliloquy in its own way. Lensky's aria is a declaration of love and loss, while the Verdi is a declaration of new love. Each piece has it's own moment to express these ideas. I love how forlornly Lensky opens his aria. Just through the music, without any vocal color, you know that Lesnky is reminiscent of a time that no longer exists. I just adore the Verdi aria for how demonstrative it can be, especially in contrast to Lensky's.

Also, Chorus Master Rolando Salazar sat in my audition. He made me 28

photo: Elise Kristen Davis

anxious by asking me to “use the space” more. I'm pretty sure I ran all over the space because of that. I really wanted to work with the chorus and thankfully it worked out.

TAO: Why did you want to sing for the chorus and what are you looking forward to?

MV: I was in awe of the chorus in La traviata last season. Having a background in Drum Corps International as a previous trumpet player, I have a particular affinity for walls of sound.

That La traviata chorus was just that: a wall of sound. Due in part to my marching band background, I'm looking forward to being part of something bigger than myself. Opera is a team sport!

TAO: You’re a Georgia native! Where did you grow up, and how did you get into singing?

MV: I was born in Augusta, grew up in Cartersville, and currently live in Canton. I got into singing late. I was originally a music education major with a focus in instrumental.

I taught three seasons of band camp: two as a brass instructor and one as a saxophone instructor. It wasn't until my fourth year in undergrad when I switched my major to voice and gave up the trumpet. I credit Dr. Martha Shaw for inspiring the original switch to voice.

TAO: Any other teachers or mentors to which you’d like to give a shout out?

MV: Well, I just mentioned Dr. Shaw.

I'd also like to mention Cory Schantz, Brian Osborne, Benton Hess, Austin Flint, and the esteemed tenor Chris Merritt. Without any of their guidance and patience, I would not be anywhere near where I am today.

TAO: What do you do when you’re not singing?

MV: During my breaks, I read and play video games, and I try to go to the gym to maintain some semblance of physical and mental health.

TAO: Your top 3 favorite operas and why?

MV: I love Puccini's La bohème. "Che gelida manina" is such a gorgeous aria and there is a lot of dramatic material with which an actor can work. And I love Carmen specifically for the Toreador aria.

Dead Man Walking is my favorite of all, currently. Seeing The Atlanta Opera's production last season changed how I view opera as an art. Opera needs to be met with a social conscience and Heggie's work does that in such an incredible way.

TAO: You recently finished the music program at Reinhardt University.

What advice would you give to students just starting school as a young singer?

MV: First, embrace failure. Failure is the context of your success.

Second, you might not think you need piano, music theory, and music history, but you do. It gives you context for the work you do and makes sure that you can hold conversations with professionals in your field.

Third, treat your voice respectfully.

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THE ATLANTA OPERA CHORUS CHORUS MASTER Rolando Salazar

CHORUS MEMBERS TENOR Robert Banks Kyle Barnes Jose Caballero Ramon Centeno James Douglas William Green Grant Jones Timothy D. Parrott Michael Vavases Daniel Weisman Lloyd White

DANCERS

Meredith Bennett Marcellis Cutler Kathleen MacCutcheon Emi Mastey Jonathan McCullum Alicia Thompson

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BASS Christopher S. Connelly Samuel Ferreira C. Agustus Godbee Samy Itskov Michael Lindsay Stephen McCool Rhane McQuain Sheldon Michael Taylor Miller Jason Royal

THE ATLANTA OPERA ORCHESTRA VIOLIN

CELLO

TRUMPET

Peter Ciaschini The Loraine P. Williams Orchestra Concertmaster Chair

Charae Kreuger Principal

Yvonne Toll Principal

Hilary Glen* Assistant Principal

Hollie Lifshey

Helen Kim Assistant Concertmaster Fia Durrett Principal Second Violin

Cynthia Sulko Acting Assistant Principal David Hancock

Adelaide Federici* Assistant Principal Second Violin

Mary Kenney

Shawn Pagliarini Acting Assistant Principal Second Violin

BASS

Barney Culver†

Edward Eanes

Lyn DeRamus Principal

Felix Farrar

Emory Clements

Robert Givens

Christina Ottaviano

Patti Gouvas Lisa Morrison*

FLUTE

TROMBONE Mark McConnell* Principal Richard Brady Bass Trombone

TUBA Donald Strand* Principal

TIMPANI John Lawless* Principal

PERCUSSION

Anastasia Petrunina*

James Zellers Principal

Virginia Respess-Fairchild

Kelly Bryant

Mike Cebulski* Principal

OBOE

HARP

Jessica Stinson

Diana Dunn Principal

Rafael Veytsblum

Susan Brady* Principal

Christina Gavin

HARPSICHORD

Patrick Ryan Angèle Sherwood-Lawless

Sally Gardner-Wilson† Alison James†

CLARINET

Kathryn Koch†

David Odom Principal

VIOLA

John Warren

William Johnston Principal

BASSOON

Elizabeth Derderian-Wood Assistant Principal

PERSONNEL MANAGER Mark McConnell

Ivy Ringel* Principal

Julie Rosseter*

Stephanie Patterson† Acting Principal

Karl Schab

Debra Grove

Joli Wu*

HORN

Tania Clements†

Dean Williamson†

Patrick Shelc†

David Bradley Principal

Meghan Yost†

Jason Eklund

*core musician on leave † non-core musician

Musicians employed in this production are represented by the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada.

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Children enjoying The Studio Tour production of The Barber of Seville at Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center at City Springs. photo: Raftermen

OPERA IN YOUR COMMUNITY

BY JESSICA KIGER, AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT & EDUCATION MANAGER A core mission of The Atlanta Opera is to provide opportunities for students of all ages. We believe opera is for everyone, and we are committed to ensuring that the art form is available to the widest possible cross-section of our community.

Each year, our education programs serve more than 25,000 students in MetroAtlanta and throughout the state of Georgia. Our programs seek to inspire creativity, stimulate critical conversations, promote an enduring appreciation of the arts, and create audiences for the future.

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Founded in 1980, The Atlanta Opera Studio Tour is the company’s longest-

running educational initiative. Over the past 40 years, approximately one-million students throughout the state have been introduced to opera in their schools through the Studio Tour. This season, we are excited to present a new version of Humperdinck’s enchanting fairytale Hansel and Gretel. Adapted by stage director and Studio Artist Program alumna Brenna Corner, the Tour features a new interactive version where students are invited to take centerstage alongside Atlanta Opera artists. Sung in English, the Studio Tour will travel across the state of Georgia for eleven weeks and more than 80 performances.

On November 1, 2019, The Atlanta Opera partners with the Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs’ Cultural Experience Project and the ArtsBridge Foundation to present a special daytime field trip presentation of Rossini’s La Cenerentola for over 1,600 students. The story of the good-hearted Angelina casts off the helpless damsel-in-distress persona to hold the original Mean Girls at bay.

The full-length opera will be performed onstage with sets, costumes, and orchestra at the Cobb Energy Centre.

The Atlanta Opera will continue to be a vital arts presence in the Atlanta community by bringing the power and passion of opera to thousands of students and audience members across the Atlanta metro area.

The power of music is deeper than notes on a page. It ignites imagination, and it teaches lifelong lessons that go beyond academic outcomes, including social and emotional skill development and growth. When children are introduced to opera for the first time, they sit wide-eyed and in awe of the power of the human voice. They leave with an energized confidence and openness to new ideas that help them succeed in the classroom.

Through our educational programs, we hope to inspire the next generation of artists and audiences. Learn more about the Opera’s education and community programs by visiting us online: atlantaopera.org/education Houston Grand Opera's production of La Cenerentola. photo: Brett Croomer

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JOHN & ROSEMARY BROWN

photo: Jeff Roffman

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The Atlanta Opera will celebrate its 40th Anniversary with a gala on February 8, 2020, at Piedmont Driving Club. Our honorees for this milestone event are John and Rosemary Brown, whose love of the arts and education has inspired philanthropic support that has helped to transform The Atlanta Opera.

Zvulun and directed Zvulun to the executive education program at Harvard Business School. The Browns not only sponsored Zvulun’s Harvard program participation but were instrumental in developing The Opera’s relationship with the Harvard Business School and the resulting case study.

The Browns have been tireless advocates for and supporters of the performing arts and education. Rosemary serves on the board of directors of The Atlanta Opera. A former teacher, she maintains a passion for education, serving on the board’s community engagement committee. She was part of the search committee that brought Tomer Zvulun to Atlanta in 2013, as the company’s new General and Artistic Director. John has been a key business mentor for Mr.

Mr. Zvulun said, “Rosemary and John Brown have changed my life personally, and forever altered the trajectory of The Atlanta Opera. Their support enabled us to launch the Discoveries series and the Studio Artist Program and attract world class singers to Atlanta. These new initiatives were critical in growing our audiences and putting us on solid financial ground. The truly outstanding quality of the Browns’ philanthropy is this: they are so incredibly generous,

yet humble, quiet and sensitive to every detail. I am so proud to know them and call them friends and mentors.�

Among their other involvements with The Atlanta Opera, the Browns have sponsored performances by prominent opera stars such as Meredith Arwady (Eugene Onegin) and Santiago Ballerini (The Daughter of the Regiment) who was a studio artist with The Atlanta Opera in the 2016-17 season and has gone on to perform around the world in many distinguished opera houses. The Browns are sponsoring Ballerini for a second time for this production of La Cenerentola.

John Brown was CEO and Chairman of the Board of Stryker Corporation, a leading medical device company with annual revenue exceeding $9 billion.

He retired from Stryker in 2009 but has continued as chairman emeritus.

Rosemary Kopel Brown retired after serving as a mathematics teacher for almost 30 years. Prior to serving on The Atlanta Opera’s Board of Directors, she served on the boards of Freed-Hardeman University, Kalamazoo College, the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra and the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. John has served on the boards of St. Jude Medical, the American Business Conference and the Auburn University Foundation.

The Browns have two daughters, Sarah and Janine, who like their parents are active philanthropists and community volunteers. Rosemary and John also have four grandchildren.

The Atlanta Opera is extraordinarily grateful to John and Rosemary Brown for their vital support and friendship, and we look forward to honoring their legacy at the 40th Anniversary Gala.

Santiago Ballerini, Rosemary and John Brown, and Tomer Zvulun backstage at The Dautghter of the Regiment.

photo: Tomer Zvulun

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ANNUAL GIVING We are grateful for the following donors’ generous support.

This list reflects gifts and pledges to unrestricted operating expenses, special projects, and/or endowment made between July 1, 2018, through Aug. 27, 2019.

DIRECTOR'S CIRCLE $1,000,000+ John & Rosemary Brown $200,000+ Dr. Harold Brody & Mr. Donald Smith Ann & Frank Critz Mr. Howard W. Hunter, Gramma Fisher Foundation *Mr. & Mrs. Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. Mr. James B. Miller, Jr. $100,000+ Anonymous Jerry & Dulcy Rosenberg $50,000+ Mr. & Mrs. Ronald R. Antinori Laura & Montague Boyd Martha Thompson Dinos Triska Drake & G. Kimbrough Taylor Donald & Marilyn Keough Foundation Rhys T. & Carolyn Wilson The Mary & Charlie Yates Family Fund $25,000+ Cathy & Mark Adams Nancy & *Jim Bland Mr. & Mrs. John L. Connolly John L. Hammaker Mary Ruth McDonald Victoria & Howard Palefsky Mr. William Pennington Mr. William F. Snyder Judith & Mark Taylor Brian & Marie Ward PATRON'S CIRCLE $15,000+ Mr. & Mrs. C. Duncan Beard Mr. David Boatwright Ms. Janine Brown & Mr. Alex J. Simmons, Jr. Mr. Robert P. Dean & Mr. Robert Epstein Carl & Sally Gable Kevin & Michelle Kelly Mr. & Mrs. Michael L. Keough Ms. Bunny Winter & Mr. Michael Doyle GOLD $10,000+ Elizabeth & Jeremy Adler 36

Anonymous Julia & Jim Balloun Dr. Florence C. Barnett Dr. & Mrs. Asad Bashey Mr. Mario Concha *Heike & Dieter Elsner Mrs. Gail G. Johnson James M. Kane & Andrea Braslavsky Kane Mr. Alfred D. Kennedy & Dr. Bill Kenny Sandra & Peter Morelli Clara M. & John S. O'Shea Mr. & Mrs. Michael E. Paulhus Mr. Charles Sharbaugh Mr. & Mrs. Timothy E. Sheehan Christine & Mark St.Clare Mr. & Mrs. William E. Tucker Bob & Cappa Woodward Charitable Fund Mr. Tomer Zvulun & Mrs. Susanna Eiland SILVER $5,000+ Mrs. Phillip E. Alvelda Mr. & *Mrs. Shepard B. Ansley Bryan & Johanna Barnes Mr. & Mrs. Dante Bellizzi Dr. R. Dwain Blackston Jean & Jerry Cooper Ms. Suzanne Mott Dansby Mr. & Mrs. Robert G. Edge Mr. Arthur Fagen Ms. Ariana B. Fass Mr. James Flanagan Judge Adele P. Grubbs Mr. L. D. Holland William & Debbie Hyde Mr. & Mrs. Michael A. Klump Dr. & Mrs. James Lowman Mimi & Dan Maslia Mr. Conrad Mora Mrs. Polly N. Pater Mr. & Mrs. Robert Ratonyi Kevin Greiner & Robyn Roberts Drs. Aileen & Richard Robinson John & Barbara Ross Milton J. Sams Katherine Scott Baker & Debby Smith

John & Yee-Wan Stevens Mr. Tarek Takieddini Mr. & Mrs. Bill Vance Dr. & Mrs. Nicholas Valerio III Larry & Beverly Willson Mrs. Wadleigh C. Winship BRONZE $2,500+ Mr. & Mrs. Paul Blackney Mrs. Enrique E. Bledel Mr. & Mrs. Raymond H. Chenault Dr. John W. Cooledge Mr. Richard H. Delay & Dr. Francine D. Dykes Col. & Mrs. Edgar W. Duskin Drs. Morgan & Susan Horton Eiland Dr. & Mrs. Donald J. Filip Ms. Rebecca Y. Frazer & Mr. Jon Buttrey Dr. Thomas N. Guffin, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Edward J. Hardin Eda Hochgelerent MD & Bruce Cassidy MD Linda L. Lively & James E. Hugh III Candy & Greg Johnson Mr. & Mrs. Gert Kampfer Ms. Salli LeVan Belinda & Gino Massafra Mr. James D. Powell Lynn & Kent Regenstein Mr. James L. Rhoden Mr. & Mrs. J. Barry Schrenk Morton & Angela Sherzer Mr. & Mrs. Nicholas Shreiber Johannah Smith Mrs. Hugh Tarbutton Peter J. Stelling & Joyce C. Weatherly Mr. & Mrs. George B. Taylor, Jr. FRIEND'S CIRCLE INVESTOR $1,000+ Ms. Hope M. Barrett Stanford M. Brown Chris Casey & Douglas Weiss Carol Comstock & Jim Davis Mr. & Mrs. Edward S. Croft III Mrs. Overton A. Currie Maureen & Michael Dailey Dr. & Mrs. F. Thomas Daly Jr. Amy & James Davis Mr. Thomas Emch Rita Evans Dr. Mary M. Finn

Mr. Micah Fortson R. Derril Gay, Ph.D. Mr. Michael Golden & Dr. Juliet Asher Mrs. John W. Grant III Mrs. Helen C. Griffith Mr. George Hickman, III Mr. & Mrs. Thomas D. Hills Mr. & Mrs. Harry C. Howard *Mr. & Mrs. W. Barrett Howell, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. David C. Huffman Mrs. Cecile M. Jones Lisa Kennedy Mr. & Mrs. Gedas Kutka Mrs. Treville Lawrence Dr. Carlos E. Lopez Dr. & Mrs. Steven Marlowe Mr. & Mrs. Lee Mathis Mr. Stedman C. Mays , Jr. & Mr. Charles Bjorklund Mr. & Mrs. Allen P. McDaniel Shelley McGehee James & Kathleen Meucci Ms. Audrey Morgan Barbara & Mark Murovitz Mr. & Mrs. Richard P. Nicholas III The Opera Guild for Atlanta George Paulik Lucy S. Perry Dr. & Mrs. Lawrence S. Phillips Mrs. Betsy Pittman The Reverend Neal P. Ponder, Jr. Dr. Michael F. Pratt & Nancy Peterman Richard Restagno R.J. & D.G. Riffey, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. S. Albert Sherrod Mr. & Mrs. Milton W. Shlapak Mr. Fred B. Smith Gail & Barry Spurlock Dr. Jane T. St. Clair & Mr. James E. Sustman Lynne & Steven Steindel Mr. Peter James Stelling Mr. Paul Snyder Dr. & Mrs. Kenneth G. Taylor Mr. Stephen H. Thompson & Mr. Drew Mote Beth O. Wade Dr. & Mrs. James O. Wells, Jr. Dr. & Mrs. R. Craig Woodward SUPPORTER $500+ Judith M. Alembik Anonymous Mr. & Mrs. Robert O. Banker 37

Colonel & Mrs. John V. Barson, D.O. Natalie & Matthew Bernstein Mrs. Marilee F. Betor Cynthia & Albert Blackwelder Dr. & Mrs. Jerry Blumenthal Ms. Martha S. Brewer Cynthia Carns Mr. & Mrs. George Cemore Mr. Lawrence M. Cohen Mr. N. Jerold Cohen & Ms. Andrea Strickland Mr. & Mrs. Charles Cohn Mrs. Jan W. Collins Ms Lillianette Cook & Ms. Carol Uhl John & Linda Cooke Mrs. Carol J. Clark Mr. & Mrs. Michael J. Curry Jim & Carol Dew Denis & Sandra DuBois Mr. & Mrs. Robert F. Engeman Sr. Dr. & Mrs. David J. Frolich John Gam, Ph. D. Ms. Louise S. Gunn Mr. Joseph Gyengo Jim & Virginia Hale Mr. & Mrs. Douglas Hantula Mr. Ronald L. Harris & Mrs. Jacqueline Pownall Dean & Vivian Haulton Donna & Richard Hiller James E. Honkisz & Catherine A. Binns Richard & Linda Hubert Mrs. & Mr. Dorothea Jeffrey Mr. Richard P. Johnson Cliff Jolliff & Elaine Gerke Mrs. Peter G. Kessenich Ms. Eleanor Kinsey Joan & Arnold Kurth Chris & Jill Le Juliette & Andrew Lebor Livvy Kazer Lipson Allan & Veneesa Little Richard Lodise & Valerie Jagiella Dr. Robert & Judge Stephanie Manis Samantha & William Markle Mr. Thomas L. McCook Mr. & Mrs. M. Sean Molley Mrs. Thespi P. Mortimer Terri & Stephen Nagler Ms. Mollie W. Neal John & Agnes Nelson Mr. Denis Ng The Honorable & Mrs. George A. Novak 38

Mr. Darryl-Christopher Payne Mr. Lawrence F. Pinson Mr. Stephen L. Rann & Ms. Dytre Fentress Sandra & Ronald Rousseau Mr. Alan J. Savada Dr. & Mrs. William M. Scaljon Judge Mike & Mrs. Jane Stoddard Steve & Christine Strong Dr. & Mrs. William H. Stuart Kay & Alex Summers Dr. & Mrs. Michael Szikman Ms. Virginia S. Taylor Alan & Marcia Watt Jody Collins Weatherly Rae & George Weimer Kiki Wilson Jerrie S. Woodward Sherrilyn & Donn Wright CONTRIBUTOR $250+ Dr. Raymond Allen Paula Stephan Amis Mr. & Mrs. David S. Baker Drs. Tatiana & Igor Bidikov Mr. Matt Blackburn Jonathan Blalock Mr. & Mrs. George Boulineau Ms. Dianne Brannen Paul Brenner James & Nancy Bross Dr. Christine Bruno Mark & Peg Bumgardner Lori & David Chastain Mr. & Mrs. Don S. Coatworth Mr. & Mrs. Newt Collinson Mrs. Claudia Colvin Mr. T. Dennis Connally Mr. David D'Ambrosio Mr. & Mrs. Harold T. Daniel Jr. Dr. & Mrs. Albert De Chicchis Mr. Mark du Mas Mr. Mark Edmundson Ms. Martha Fineman Dr. & Mrs. Richard D. Franco, MD Ms. Maryanne F. Gaunt Col. & Mrs. Donald M. Gilner Dr. & Mrs. Martin Goldstein James C. Goodwyne & Christopher S. Connelly Mr. & Mrs. Richard P. Grodzicki Mr. & Mrs. Sam Hagan Ms. Marilyn M. Hall

Pearlann & Jerry Horowitz Ms. Jan W. Hughen Mr. Scott Ingram Robert & Barbara Jackson Ms. Brenda D. Jennings Mr. & Mrs. Edward Katze Mr. & Mrs. Larry C. Keister Mr. & Mrs. Fred R. Keith John & JoAnn Keller Dr. Rose Mary Kolpatzki Ms. Leslie Leland Mrs. Dale Levert & Mr. George W. Levert Mrs. Jeanine Lewis Sophie Li Mr. & Mrs. Allen H. Lipis Stanley & Elaine Mager Mr. & Mrs. David N. Minkin Mr. Frank M. Monger Ms. Carol Niemi Mr. John Owens Mr. Joseph M. Pabst Mr. & Mrs. William A. Parker, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Henry C. Parrish III Mr. & Mrs. John Payan Ms. Sandra Perkowitz Mr. & Mrs. John H. Petrey Dan Pompilio & Lark Ingram *Sharon & Jim Radford Mrs. Karin Radosta Ward Reed Weslyn A. Samson Ms. Regina Schuber Dr. & Mrs. Steve M. Shindell Mr. Robert Sidewater Dr. & Mrs. Stanley J. Smits Mr. & Mrs. Robert Stansfield Mr. John Stephenson Dr. Susan Y. Stevens Fred & Linda Stewart Mr. & Mrs. Frederick A. Stuart Sarah & David Sutherland Carolyn & Robert Swain Mr. & Mrs. Charles D. Tuller Dr. & Mrs. James H. Venable Mrs. Linda P. Vinal Ms. Parsla A. Welch Jone Williams Mr. & Mrs. John Zellner $100+ Dr. Catherine Allard Mr. Mostafa Ammar

Anonymous Anonymous Anonymous Ms. Janice Arsan Atlanta Opera Orchestra Players Association Mrs. Elizabeth Bair Mr. Jordan Barkin Mr. Brian D. Beem Carol J. Belay Claire & Bryan Benedict Daniel & Bethann Berger Ms. Jane Beylouny Mr. & Mrs. Michael Blackwood Ms. Barbara Blankenbeker Dr. & Mrs. Donald Block Dr. Daniel S. Blumenthal & Dr. Marjorie Speers Ms. Martha Bobo Ms. Mary D. Bray Mr. Richard Brownlee Ms. Anne Burnett Drs. Brenda & Craig Caldwell Michael J. & Debra M. Caldwell William A. Campbell Dr. & Mrs. W. Jerry Capps Mr. Rik Carlson Ms. Kathleen Casses Mr. & Mrs. Thomas E. Ciecorka Dr. Earle D. Clowney Ms. Sally Combs Dr. & Mrs. John R. Corbin Mr. Bruce W. & Mrs. Kate Cotterman Mrs. Eleanor Crosby Ms. Ann Cummings Mr. Daniel Dammann & Dr. Michael Zinsmeister Leatrice Damus Su & Gordon Danniels Mr. Philip D. Dawson Ms. Barbara B. Dowd Mr. & Mrs. David R. Dye Mr. & Mrs. Robert R. Eckardt Janice & Charles M. Edwards III Mrs. Teresa Elbel Ms. Paula L. Ellis Grazyna Eubanks Mrs. Arnoldo Fiedotin Judy & Stan Fineman Ms. Lora Fitzgerald Ms. Mozelle Funderburk Mr. Glen Galbaugh Mr. James Gary Dan & Harriet Gill 39

Mr. & Mrs. Sander L. Gilman Mr. Richard Goodjoin Marie Graham A. J. Earley & W. L. Green Ms. Anne L. Grossman & Dr. Leonard Berger Ms. Donna Hall Dr. & Mrs. Bannester L. Harbin Kent & Toni Harrington Ms. Freya Harris Dr. Thomas High Cathy & Mark Hill Ms. Sharon E. Hill Mr. Joseph Ho Mrs. Sally Horntvedt Mrs. Margaret Talmadge Howell Mr. David Hubble Guy & Joyce Hutchison Mr. Rolf Ingenleuf Dr. Denise Jamieson & Dr. Tracee Treadwell Ms. Susan Johnston & Mrs. Shannon Motley Mr. & Mrs. Thomas E. Johnston Ms. Beth Jones Mr. John M. Jones Ms. Lynne Elliott Jones Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Juchelka Mr. Stephen J. Kalista Jane & Bob Kibler Donna Jane Kilgore Helen & Steven Kraus Ms. Sandra L. Kroll Mrs. Emma Lankford Mr. & Mrs. Roy M. Lantz Michelle M.S. Lee Lucy R. & Gary Lee, Jr. David & Kathy Linden Donna & Trevor Lumb Mr. & Mrs. William J. MacKenna Dr. Chalam Mahadevan Mr. & Mrs. William J. Majoros Ms. Deborah A. Marlowe Alfred M. Martin Ms. Nancy Martin Adair & Joe Massey Katherine B. Maxwell & Michael J. Maxwell Patricia & Laughlin McDonald Ms. Robin McDonald Peggy Weber McDowell & Jack McDowell Dr. Rene McEldowney Mrs. Gwendolyn Michel Cindy & Edward Miller Mr. Simon Miller 40

Ms. Judith R. Millner Berthe & Shapour Mobasser Ms. Sally B. Molloy & Mr. John Iacovelli Mr. Albert M. Morrison Ms. Camilia Mouton Mr. & Mrs. Michael J. Muszynski David Turnage & Alice Nelson Mr. & Mrs. David Norris Ms. Debra Nuyan Ms. & Mr. Sandra S. Owens Rev. Louisa T. Parsons Edward & Marjorie Patterson Ms. Mary Percy Mr. Robert & Mrs. Pam Peterman George & Libba Pickett Calvin Pleasants & Vasily Goncharov Miss Phoebe Pomeroy Ms. Jean Robertson Catherine Rodrigue George Rodrigue Harriet Ruskin Dr. & Mrs. Joseph M. Scanlan Crista & Glenn D. Schaab Mr. Redd Schoening Mr. Donald Schreiber & Ms. Barbara Seal Ms. Gretchen Schulz Mr. Karin Schwerd Mr. & Mrs. Charles M. Shaffer Jr. Ms. Silke Shilling Mrs. Sara L. Shlesinger Mr. Joshua Shubin Mr. Christopher Smirl Elizabeth Morgan Spiegel Roberta H. Stevens Mr. Raymond A. Strikas Ms. Jennifer C. Su Mr. John Sumrall Ms. Katharine Suttell Barbara & Jon Swann Mr. & Mrs. John Tanzola Mr. & Mrs. Frederick C. Taylor Mr. & Ms. Wolfgang Tiedtke Ms. Nancy A. Thomas Ms. Laura P. Wagner Ms. Betsy K. Wash Mr. & Mrs. A. E. Westmoreland, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Robert P. White Ms. Beth Williamson Dr. & Mrs. David Wingert Mrs. Mary S. Wright *deceased

BARBARA D. STEWART LEGACY SOCIETY The Atlanta Opera established the Barbara D. Stewart Legacy Society to recognize donors who have designated The Opera as a beneficiary in their estate plan. In honor of Barbara D. Stewart’s many contributions to The Atlanta Opera, our planned giving division, the Encore Society, has been renamed the Barbara D. Stewart Legacy Society.

Anonymous Cathy Callaway Adams & Mark Adams Mr. & *Mrs. Shepard B. Ansley Mrs. Wallace F. Beard The Bickers Charitable Trust Mr. Montague L. Boyd, IV Jonathan Blalock Ms. Mary D. Bray Mr. Robert Colgin Martha Thompson Dinos Roy & Janet Dorsey Arnold & Sylvia Eaves Ms. Dorothy E. Edwards *Heike & Dieter Elsner Ms. Melodi Ford Carl & Sally Gable Peg Simms Gary Mr. & Mrs. Sidney W. Guberman Ms. Judy Hanenkrat Mr. Hilson Hudson *Mrs. Joseph B. Hutchison Mr. J. Carter Joseph Mr. Alfred D. Kennedy *Mrs. Alfred D. Kennedy, Sr. *Mrs. Isabelle W. Kennedy Mr. & Mrs. Michael L. Keough Ms. Corina M. LaFrossia

Dr. Jill Mabley Mr. & Mrs. John G. Malcolm Mr. Robert L. Mays Mr. & Mrs. Allen P. McDaniel Peggy Weber McDowell & Jack McDowell Mr. & Mrs. Craig N. Miller Miss Helen D. Moffitt Mr. J. Robert Morring Clara M. & John S. O'Shea Mrs. Polly N. Pater Mr. William E. Pennington Mr. Bruce Roth Ms. Hazel Sanger Mr. D. Jack Sawyer, Jr. Anita & J. Barry Schrenk Elizabeth Morgan Spiegel Christine & Mark St.Clare *Ms. Barbara D. Stewart Dr. Jane T. St. Clair & Mr. James E. Sustman Mr. Tarek Takieddini Mr. & Mrs. Thomas H. Teepen Dr. & Mrs. Harold Whitney *Mrs. Jane S. Willson Rhys T. Wilson Ms. Bunny Winter & Mr. Michael Doyle Mr. Charles R. Yates, Jr. & Mrs. Mary Mitchell Yates *Mr. & *Mrs. Charles R. Yates, Sr.

*deceased

41

TRIBUTES & MEMORIALS IN MEMORY OF DR. JOSEPH C. & RUTH P. BARNETT Dr. Florence C. Barnett

IN HONOR OF MS. SYDNEY HEMBREE Anonymous

IN HONOR OF MR. JOHN BROWN Mr. & Mrs. David S. Baker

IN HONOR OF MRS. MARGARET TALMADGE HOWELL Dr. John W. Cooledge

IN HONOR OF MR. EMORY CLEMENTS *Mr. & Mrs. W. Barrett Howell, Jr.

IN HONOR OF MR. GREGORY F. JOHNSON Cathy & Mark Adams

IN HONOR OF MR. ROBERT P. DEAN Cathy & Mark Adams

IN HONOR OF MR. ALFRED D. KENNEDY Cathy & Mark Adams

IN HONOR OF MR. ROBERT G. EDGE Mrs. Eleanor Crosby Ms. Leslie Leland

IN HONOR OF ALLAN & VENEESA LITTLE Mrs. Kristin D. Whatley

IN HONOR OF MR. LANCE FORTNOW Annie Fortnow IN HONOR OF JOHN L. HAMMAKER Cathy & Mark Adams IN MEMORY OF HARRIET H. HARRIS Ms. Freya Harris

42

IN HONOR OF MR. WILLIAM A. MARKLE Anonymous IN HONOR OF MRS. MARY RUTH MCDONALD Anonymous IN HONOR OF VICTORIA & HOWARD PALEFSKY Elizabeth Morgan Spiegel Judith & Mark Taylor

IN HONOR OF MRS. POLLY N. PATER Anonymous Mr. & Mrs. Brian Beem IN HONOR OF MR. & MRS. MICHAEL E. PAULHUS Cathy & Mark Adams IN HONOR OF MR. LAWRENCE F. PINSON Anonymous IN MEMORY OF MR. GEORGE P. RODRIGUE Dororthy McDaniel Mr. & Mrs. Thomas D. Hills Catherine Rodrigue IN MEMORY OF MRS. MARY C. RODRIGUE Marcella Jimenez Dororthy McDaniel George Rodrigue Ms. Jennifer C. Su IN HONOR OF MR. G. KIMBROUGH TAYLOR, JR. Laura & Cosmo Boyd Mr. & Mrs. Bill Vance

IN HONOR OF MR. & MRS. WILLIAM E. TUCKER Cathy & Mark Adams IN HONOR OF MRS. RAE WEIMER Anonymous Mr. & Mrs. Montague L. Boyd IV Mr. William A. Markle Mr. & Mrs. Allen P. McDaniel Mary Ruth McDonald Peggy Weber McDowell & Jack McDowell John & Yee Wan Stevens Mr. Tomer Zvulun & Mrs. Susanna Eiland IN HONOR OF RHYS & CAROLYN WILSON Cathy & Mark Adams IN HONOR OF MR. CHARLES R. YATES, JR. Cathy & Mark Adams Mr. & Mrs. Larry C. Keister Sarah Sutherland IN HONOR OF MR. TOMER ZVULUN & MRS. SUSANNA EILAND Cathy & Mark Adams

43

CORPORATE PARTNERS $100,000+ The Coca-Cola Company Ameris Bank The Home Depot Foundation

$2,500+ UBS Financial Services Inc. Wallace Graphics WhatBox Innovation Partners

$50,000+ Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta

$1,000+ National Distributing Co., Inc.

$10,000+ Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters The Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation Gas South PricewaterhouseCoopers SAP Success Factors TriMont Real Estate Advisors, Inc. The Hilbert Firm, LLC. WarnerMedia

FOUNDATIONS & GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOUNDATIONS $225,000+ Livingston Foundation, Inc. Molly Blank Fund of The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation $50,000+ Atlanta Music Festival Fund of The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta The Sara Giles Moore Foundation The Zeist Foundation, Inc. $20,000+ The Jim Cox, Jr. Foundation Roy and Janet Dorsey Foundation J. Marshall and Lucile G. Powell Charitable Trust $10,000+ George M. Brown Trust Fund JBS Foundation The Ray M. & Mary Elizabeth Lee Foundation, Inc. Norfolk Southern Foundation Wells Fargo Foundation David, Helen, & Marian Woodward Fund 44

$5,000+ Camp-Younts Foundation Nordson Corporation Foundation Frances Wood Wilson Foundation, Inc. $1,000+ Mary Brown Fund of Atlanta, Georgia Hills Family Foundation Kiwanis Foundation of Atlanta Charles Loridans Foundation, Inc. GOVERNMENT FUNDING $20,000+ City of Atlanta Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs National Endowment for the Arts 10,000+ Georgia Council for the Arts

TOGETHER, LET’S MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF OUR NATION’S HEROES The Home Depot Foundation is proud to partner with the Atlanta Opera to honor our U.S. military, veterans and their families.

45 © 2018 Homer TLC, Inc. All rights reserved.

homedepot.com/teamdepot

LEADERSHIP BOARD OF DIRECTORS OFFICERS CHAIR Mr. Rhys T. Wilson IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR Ms. Cathy Callaway Adams VICE CHAIR Mr. John L. Hammaker VICE CHAIR Mr. Charles “Charlie” R. Yates, Jr. TREASURER Ms. Bunny Winter SECRETARY Mr. Michael E. Paulhus

MEMBERS Mrs. Elizabeth Adler Mr. Bryan H. Barnes Mr. Dante Bellizzi Mr. Montague L. Boyd, IV Dr. Harold J. Brody Mrs. Rosemary Kopel Brown Mr. Frank H. Butterfield Ms. Mary Calhoun Mr. Mario Concha Dr. Frank A. Critz Mr. Robert Dean Ms. Martha Thompson Dinos Mr. Dieter Elsner Dr. Donald J. Filip Mr. Kevin Greiner Mrs. Joanne Chesler Gross

HONORARY MEMBERS

46

Mrs. Nancy Carter Bland The Very Reverend Samuel G. Candler Mr. Robert G. Edge Mr. Carl I. Gable, Jr. Mrs. Nancy Hall Green Mr. Gregory F. Johnson Mr. Carter Joseph Mr. Alfred Kennedy, Jr. Mr. Michael Keough Mrs. Emily C. Knobloch

Mr. Howard W. Hunter Mr. Andrew R. Long Mr. James B. Miller, Jr. Mrs. Stephanie Morela Mrs. Sandra S. Morelli Mr. William E. Pennington Mr. Herbert J. Rosenberg Mr. Charles Sharbaugh Mr. Alex Simmons, Jr. Mr. William F. Snyder Mrs. Christine St.Clare Mr. G. Kimbrough Taylor, Jr. Mr. William E. Tucker Mrs. Marie Ward Mr. Tomer Zvulun, ex-officio member

Mr. George Levert Mrs. Peggy Weber McDowell Mr. Harmon "Sandy" B. Miller, III Mr. Bruce A. Roth Mr. J. Barry Schrenk Mr. Timothy E. Sheehan Mr. Mark K. Taylor Mr. Thomas R. Williams Mr. Robert G. Woodward

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Mr. Rhys T. Wilson BOARD CHAIR Mr. John L. Hammaker VICE-CHAIR Mr. Charles “Charlie” R. Yates, Jr. VICE-CHAIR; DEVELOPMENT CO-CHAIR; NOMINATING & BOARD ENGAGEMENT CO-CHAIR Mr. Michael E. Paulhus SECRETARY Ms. Bunny Winter TREASURER Mr. Bryan H. Barnes AUDIT CHAIR Mr. Alex Simmons, Jr. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CHAIR Mr. G. Kimbrough Taylor, Jr. INVESTMENT CHAIR & DEVELOPMENT CO-CHAIR Ms. Cathy Callaway Adams NOMINATING & BOARD ENGAGEMENT CO-CHAIR Mr. Howard W. Hunter AT-LARGE MEMBER Mrs. Christine St.Clare AT-LARGE MEMBER Mrs. Sandra S. Morelli AT-LARGE MEMBER Mr. Tomer Zvulun CARL W. KNOBLOCH, JR. GENERAL & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, ex-officio member

47

STAFF EXECUTIVE Tomer Zvulun CARL W. KNOBLOCH, JR. GENERAL & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Micah Fortson MANAGING DIRECTOR Chamberlynn Shelton EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT ARTISTIC Arthur Fagen CARL & SALLY GABLE MUSIC DIRECTOR Lauren Bailey DIRECTOR OF ARTISTIC ADMINISTRATION Rolando Salazar ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR / CHORUS MASTER Wade Thomas ARTISTIC SERVICES & STUDIO MANAGER Katie Lawrence ARTISTIC COORDINATOR & ORCHESTRA LIBRARIAN Mark McConnell ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL MANAGER Jessica Kiger AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT & EDUCATION MANAGER Alexandria Sweatt EDUCATION COORDINATOR PRODUCTION Kevin G. Mynatt DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION Joshua Jansen ASSOCIATE TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Brian August PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER Marisa Brink ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER Renée Varnas ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER Justin Michel LIGHTING SUPERVISOR Kelsey Bailey PROPERTIES COORDINATOR Joanna Schmink COSTUME DIRECTOR Lauren Allmeyer ASSISTANT COSTUME SHOP MANAGER / WARDROBE SUPERVISOR Kelly Isaac WORK ROOM MANAGER Elizabeth Payne FIRST HAND Brandon T. Thompson STITCHER Brianna Wiegand STITCHER Frandresha “Brie” Hall WIG / MAKEUP MANAGER Blythe Dever WIG / MAKEUP ASSISTANT FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION Kathy J. White DIRECTOR OF FINANCE Inga V. Murro CONTROLLER Kenneth R. Timmons HUMAN RESOURCES & OFFICE MANAGER Ruth Strickland BOOKKEEPER 48

DEVELOPMENT Paul Harkins CHIEF ADVANCEMENT OFFICER Amy Davis ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT Jonathan Blalock INDIVIDUAL GIVING OFFICER Camille Cordak INSTITUTIONAL GIVING OFFICER Steven Bras DATABASE & I.T. MANAGER Elizabeth Root DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR Sandy Feliciano EVENTS & VOLUNTEER MANAGER

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS Holly Hanchey DIRECTOR OF MARKETING Rebecca Danis ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF MARKETING Laura Lucas MARKETING MANAGER Renee Smiley SENIOR MANAGER, TICKETING SERVICES Matt Burkhalter CREATIVE SERVICES MANAGER

The Atlanta Opera | 1575 Northside Drive N.W., Suite 350 | Atlanta, GA 30318 404-881-8885 | atlantaopera.org

photo: Jeff Roffman

49

HOUSE POLICIES CONCESSIONS

Concession stands are located in the center of the lobbies on all three levels. Food and beverage items are prohibited inside the theater. Thank you for your cooperation.

RESTROOMS

Restrooms are located on house right and house left of all three lobbies. Family restrooms are also located on house right of all three lobbies. Mobility-impaired patrons may use any of our restrooms.

PARKING

There are 1,000 parking spaces available at $10 per car. Valet service is available for $15. Please be sure to allow enough time for travel to the theater and parking as there is no late seating.

Persons requiring access assistance are asked to contact the box office at 770-916-2850 for advance arrangements.

Audio-clarification devices are available to our hearing-impaired guests at no charge.

This is on a first-come, first-served basis, or you may call the House Manager ahead of time to reserve one at 770-916-2828.

A limited number of booster seats are also available. All items require a form of identification to be held until the item is returned.

COBB ENERGY CENTRE RULES & REQUESTS

ATM

• All patrons, regardless of age, must have a ticket in order to be admitted to the performance. Please be aware that not all performances are suitable for children.

COAT CHECK

• Infants will not be admitted to adult programs. Parents will be asked to remove children who create a disturbance.

There is one Bank of North Georgia ATM located in the grand lobby.

Coat check is available at the concierge desk.

EMERGENCY INFORMATION In the event of an emergency, please locate the nearest usher who will direct you to the appropriate exit.

ELEVATORS

Elevators are located on each side of the lobbies on all levels.

LOST & FOUND

Lost and Found items are turned into the concierge desk on the day of a performance.

To inquire about a lost item, please call the House Manager at 770-916-2828.

SMOKING

Smoking is prohibited inside the building.

50

SPECIAL ASSISTANCE

• There is no late seating allowed. Closedcircuit monitors are provided in the lobby as a courtesy to latecomers.

• Please turn off all cellphones prior to the beginning of each performance.

• Please limit conversation during the performance.

• Cameras (including use of cellphone camera) and audio and video recording devices are strictly prohibited at all times.

• Leaving while the show is in progress is discourteous and we ask that you refrain from doing so.

• Please unwrap all candies and cough drops before the performance.

ENCORE’S DINING GUIDE ALMA COCINA introduces Atlanta to a refreshing new approach to modern Mexican cuisine. Bright, fresh ingredients and traditional regional influences come together with other Latin American flavors in a variety of vibrant fresh dishes.

Alma Cocina also features the most unique tequila selections and a host of innovative Latin-influenced cocktails beyond a superior margarita. | One Ninety One Peachtree Tower, 191 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta, Ga. (404) 968-9662 Located in the heart of Midtown, midway between The Fox Theatre and Atlantic Station, CITY TAP HOUSE is an elevated American pub, specializing in large group dining, corporate and milestone events. City Tap is ideal for game watching sporting events and pre and post show meals & meetups.

With free parking and covered outdoor dining, City Tap offers brick oven pizzas, over 40 beers on draught and a full bar. Serving lunch and dinner daily and brunch on the weekends, reservations are appreciated. For questions, details, or reservations, email Info.Atlanta@ CityTap.com | www.citytap.com 848 Peachtree Street, NE. 470-990-7114 The goal at HERBAN FIX is to share authentic plant based fusion cuisines with vegans, vegetarians, and meat-lovers. Ingredients are premium select, fresh and aimed at good health as well as great tasting.

Traditional and authentic dishes

have been updated into bold and delightful vegan delicacies. | 565 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta, Ga. (404) 815-8787.

THE MELTING POT – Atlanta’s exclusive fondue restaurant – where dining becomes a memorable four-course experience. Dip into something different and discover delectable entrées served with our unique dipping sauces.

You’ll also enjoy creamy cheese fondues, lively salads, fine wines and mouthwatering chocolate fondue desserts. Four Atlanta locations: 754 Peachtree St. NE, 404-389-0099, 3610 Satellite Blvd., Duluth,770-623-1290, 2500 Cobb Place Ln., NW, Kennesaw 770-4251411 and 1055 Mansell Rd., Roswell 770-518-4100.

LA TAVOLA is a classic, cozy Italian trattoria located in Atlanta’s famous Virginia Highland neighborhood featuring an extensive wine list, classic dishes made from the finest traditional ingredients and approachable, friendly service.

Perfect for family gatherings, romantic dinners or just a quick, yet satisfying, bite at the bar, here you will always feel at home around the table at La Tavola. | 992 Virginia Ave. NE, Atlanta, Ga. (404) 873-5430.

Inspired by classic coastal traditions both American and global, LURE presents Atlanta’s freshest fish and the drinks to match in a converted 1920’s bungalow. Anchored in

the heart of Midtown on Crescent Avenue, Lure has a sophisticated but casual vibe, fluidly bridging the gap between a weathered seaside fish house and a fine-dining seafood restaurant. | 1106 Crescent Ave. NE, Atlanta, Ga. (404) 817-3650.

THE ORIGINAL EL TACO is inspired by bold Tex-Mex flavors and by the sunny street markets of Mexico.

The menu is simple cuisine with interesting garnishes and fresh ingredients. Some items are snacks designed to be enjoyed with a cocktail, others are generously portioned and perfect for sharing and some are down-right decadent and require several margaritas or beers to

chase down. | 1186 North Highland Ave. NE, Atlanta, Ga. (404) 873-4656.

SOUTH CITY KITCHEN specializes in contemporary Southern cuisine with a sophisticated twist. Dine on local specialties such as shrimp and grits, buttermilk fried chicken, she-crab soup, fried green tomatoes and banana pudding while enjoying the view of the exhibition kitchen. | Buckhead, 3350 Peachtree Rd. NE, Suite 140, Atlanta, Ga. (404) 8156677; Midtown, 1144 Crescent Ave. NE, Atlanta, Ga. (404) 873-7358; Vinings, 1675 Cumberland Pkwy. SE, Smyrna, Ga. (770) 435-0700.

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VICTORIES HAPPEN HERE. DIAGNOSING CANCER FASTER, TREATING IT SOONER For cancer treatment at the highest level and care that’s personal, turn to WellStar. Our collaborative approach accelerates diagnosis, so treatment can begin quickly. And our oncology radiosurgery team is top-rated in Georgia, delivering better outcomes with faster recoveries. At WellStar, we care for the whole you. Learn more at wellstarhealth.org/cancer.