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WELCOME LETTER
Welcome to the 2016–2017 Minnesota Opera season! We are happy to have you with us as we open our season with Romeo & Juliet. Our new production of Gounod’s eternal romance is the perfect way to mark my first full season back at Minnesota Opera. This grand opera’s spinning waltzes, dramatic choruses, and family rivalry form the epic backdrop against which our star-crossed lovers choose to part with life rather than part with each other. The ageless tale, based on Shakespeare’s masterwork, is bold, beautiful, and seamlessly weaves spectacle and intimacy together for a memorable night at the theater!
Contents
6 Synopsis
7 Romeo & Juliet
8 About the Opera 11 Charles-François Gounod
Romeo & Juliet stars former Minnesota Opera Resident Artist Angela Mortellaro as Juliette, and features eight current Resident Artists in supporting roles. As a former Minnesota Opera Resident Artist myself, I couldn’t be happier to see the Resident Artist Program flourishing. This important Program launched my professional career. My journey in the world of opera — including a 10-year career as an operatic baritone and three years as the General Director of Arizona Opera — has come full circle with my return to Minnesota Opera. I’m honored to be part of the future of this esteemed organization, working alongside so many passionate supporters, staff, and artists.
12 Director's Notes
Looking ahead, I’m especially excited for the new voices that the 2016–2017 season brings to Minnesota. The new season features four Minnesota Opera directorial debuts, three operas never before seen on the Ordway stage, and a highly anticipated world premiere. Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy Award-winning composer William Bolcom and librettist Mark Campbell’s new opera Dinner at Eight brings to life the witty and biting depression-era comedy by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber. I hope you’re looking forward to the many vibrant stories that we’ll bring to the stage this season.
18 Social Media
Great opera attempts to give vocal expression to the human experience, and conveys our common struggles with the power, passion, and precision that only this unique art form is capable of achieving. It’s a powerful tool of social connectivity by which we hold a mirror to our own soul and see our reflection with the world around us. In the ongoing quest to better understand others, opera is vital. Thank you for your patronage and support of Minnesota Opera, an organization that always strives to provide fabulous entertainment, and that is a true cultural leader for the greater Minnesota community. I hope you enjoy the start to what promises to be an awfully exciting season!
13 The Artists 17 Meet the Artists: Joshua Dennis and Angela Mortellaro 18 Upcoming Events
19 Opera Education 20 Das Rheingold preview 20 Tempo 22 Minnesota Opera Board of Directors, Staff, and Volunteers 23 New Works Initiative 24 Annual Fund 26 Institutional Giving 27 Legacy Circle 27 Minnesota Opera Information 28 Opera Gala 2016
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RYAN TAYLOR President and General Director
Large-print and Braille programs are available at the Patron Services Office.
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SYNOPSIS
PROLOGUE
A chorus laments the ongoing feud between the houses of Capulet and Montague. ACT I
In the grand hall of the Capulet palace, party guests assemble for Juliette’s debut as her cousin Tybalt and her suitor Pâris praise her beauty. Capulet presents his daughter to everyone’s delight. The crowd includes a disguised Roméo, Mercutio, Benvolio, and others associated with the Montagues. Mercutio chides his friend’s melancholy, for Roméo’s romantic pursuit of the fair Rosaline has yielded nothing — she is not at the party. The lovelorn Roméo spots Juliette, and not knowing she is a Capulet, immediately falls in love. Meanwhile, Juliette’s nurse Gertrude is excited about her charge’s potential marriage, but the young girl will have none of it, preferring a carefree life. Juliette and Roméo finally meet and she returns his affection, but their short-lived bliss is interrupted when it is revealed that the new lovers belong to rival houses. Tybalt has recognized Roméo and promises to avenge this affront to the Capulets’ honor.
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ACT II
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The page Stéphano assists Roméo in scaling a wall outside Juliette’s rooms, where Roméo and Juliette soon share a tender moment. Grégorio and other Capulets are heard in the distance, looking for the disruptive Montagues, and Roméo hides in the darkness of the garden. After speaking with Grégorio about the intrusion, Gertrude encourages Juliette to go to bed, but the young girl tarries outside, where the two lovers are soon reunited. Juliette suggests they marry the very next day and Roméo heartily accepts her offer.
ACT III
Scene one
In the cell of Frère Laurent, the monk celebrates the couple’s union while Gertrude serves as a witness.
– Intermission – Scene two
Out in the streets of Verona, Stéphano taunts the Capulets with a song. Mercutio defends the young boy from Grégorio’s blade, but is soon drawn into a disagreement with Tybalt. When a freshlymarried Roméo happens upon the scene, Tybalt turns his attention to his enemy, but Roméo merely embraces him as kin. Mercutio draws Tybalt into a duel, and in the ensuing melee, is mortally wounded. Now enraged over the death of his friend, Roméo slays Tybalt and is banished from Verona as a result.
ACT IV
As day breaks, the two lovers awaken after a night of passion. Juliette pardons Roméo for the murder of her cousin, and the two languish in bed, refusing to greet the day. But Roméo must leave, and moments after his departure, Gertrude enters, followed by Capulet and Frère Laurent. Angered by recent events, Juliette’s father demands she marry Pâris immediately. Left alone with Laurent, she tearfully comes to terms with her situation, and the monk offers a cure to end her woes — a special potion that will simulate death. Once placed in the family crypt, she will revive in Roméo’s waiting arms.
ACT V
Having missed a letter revealing Laurent’s plan, Roméo has heard of Juliette’s “death,” and now inside the family vault, laments over her lifeless body. Wishing to join her in eternity, he empties a phial of poison, but as the toxin takes effect, Juliette begins to wake.
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MUSIC BY CHARLES-FR ANÇOIS GOUNOD LIBRET TO BY JULES BARBIER AND MICHEL CARRÈ AF TER THE PLAY BY WILLIAM SHAKESPE ARE
World premiere at the Théâtre Lyrique, Paris | April 27, 1867
SEPTEMBER 24, 27, 29; OCTOBER 1 AND 2, 2016 | ORDWAY MUSIC THEATER Sung in French with English translations projected above the stage
TYBALT NEPHEW OF LADY CAPULET David Walton
GRÉGORIO SERVANT TO CAPULET Joel Mathias
PÂRIS A YOUNG COUNT Alex Ritchie
FRÈRE LAURENT Ben Sieverding
CAPULET Thomas Glass
STÉPHANO PAGE TO ROMÉO Gina Perregrino
JULIETTE DAUGHTER OF CAPULET Angela Mortellaro
BENVOLIO NEPHEW OF MONTAGUE Christopher Colmenero
MERCUTIO FRIEND TO ROMÉO Phillip Addis
LADY CAPULET Mary Evelyn Hangley
ROMÉO SON OF MONTAGUE Joshua Dennis GERTRUDE NURSE TO JULIETTE Nadia Fayad
SEASON SPONSOR
THE DUKE OF VERONA William Lee Bryan Male and female retainers and kinsfolk of the House of Capulet and the House of Montague, party guests, residents of Verona
Creative Team
CONDUCTOR Michael Christie
FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHER Doug Scholz-Carlson
STAGE DIRECTOR Matthew Ozawa
CHORUS PREPARATION Lara Bolton
CHOREOGRAPHER Penelope Freeh
DANCE CAPTAIN Brittany Keefe
SET DESIGN William Boles
FIGHT CAPTAIN Tom Ringberg
COSTUME DESIGN Sarah Bahr
RÉPÉTITEURS Jessica Hall Lindsay Woodward
LIGHTING DESIGN Paul Whitaker WIG AND MAKEUP DESIGN David Zimmerman ASSISTANT DIRECTOR David Radamés Toro ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR Jonathan Brandani
ESTIMATED RUNNING TIME
PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER Kerry Masek FRENCH DICTION COACH Cecile Crozat-Zawisza ENGLISH CAPTIONS Dale Johnson
MEDIA PARTNER
Running time is approximately 2 hours and 59 minutes, including one 20-minute intermission. The intermission will occur approximately 80 minutes into the opera.
The appearances of Joshua Dennis, Angela Mortellaro, Alexandra Razskazoff, Benjamin Sieverding, and David Walton, regional finalists; and Christopher Colmenero, district finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, are made possible through a Minnesota Opera Endowment Fund established for Artist Enhancement by Barbara White Bemis. The appearances of the Resident Artists are made possible, in part, by the Virginia L. Stringer Endowment Fund for the Minnesota Opera Resident Artist Program.
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Cast
in order of vocal appearance
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ABOUT THE OPERA
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| MINNESOTA OPERA mnopera.org
hough Faust would become Charles Gounod’s most enduring work, Roméo et Juliette was his only uncontested triumph during the composer’s lifetime. Gounod became acquainted with the Italian version, Giulietta e Romeo, at the Villa Medici during his Prix de Rome stay in Florence as well as with the symphonic poem by Hector Berlioz (which he had seen as a young man). Hence he had the story in the back of his mind for many years. When the offer came from Léon Carvalho, the Théâtre Lyrique’s impresario, for an opera to be included as part of the 1867 Exposition Universelle, the composer knew the competition would be stiff. The Paris Opéra had engaged Giuseppe Verdi to write Don Carlos, and Jacques Offenbach’s Bouffes-Parisiens could be counted on for a hit — the resulting La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein did not fail to please.
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Fortunately, the indefatigable librettist team of Jules Barbier and Michel Carré would once again work their magic [they had also written the words for Faust (1859) and would do so again for Ambroise Thomas’ Hamlet (1868) and Jacques Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann (1881), among others]. The two collaborators had an excellent resource at their disposal. By the 18th century, William Shakespeare’s dramas had reached the continent but often were presented in poor translations and in altered form. Jean-François Ducis created French variations of Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet that barely resembled their predecessors — imagine the former with no ghost, gravediggers, and fencing, or the latter
In addition to the task of streamlining a lengthy and complex play into a musical drama, Barbier and Carré had to conform to the operatic requirements of the day. Audiences would have expected a big, splashy opening, so Shakespeare’s first four scenes setting up the family feud [the brawling in scene one, Romeo’s infatuation with Rosaline (scenes two and four), and Juliet’s impending wedding (scene three)] are all rolled into an elegant ball at the Capulet palace. Mercutio’s Queen Mab speech found its way into a ballade, and Juliet’s indifference to marriage became the sparkling waltz aria “Je veux vivre.” Other small changes in Act i included the exact manner in which the couple discover each other’s family roots ( Juliette from Tybalt and Roméo from Juliette), the timing of Tybalt’s discovery of Roméo’s identity (at the end rather than the beginning of the scene), and the omission of Capulet subduing his nephew’s subsequent rage (a traditional cut). French taste dictated the inclusion of a musico pants role (much like Siébel in Faust and Thibault in Don Carlos) depicted by the young page Stéphano, a character not found in Shakespeare. In Act ii, we are introduced to him by way of a stage direction as he helps hoist Roméo into the Capulet garden (this does not occur in the original play), and by Act iii he sings a chanson of double entendres, irritating his Capulet enemies. Act ii also includes a short exchange between Grégorio and Gertrude during which he suspects Montagues have infiltrated the Capulet grounds. Both of these encounters echo the street violence Shakespeare employs at the beginning of his play, and the resulting duels of Act iii segue neatly from Stéphano’s insolence. Before we get to the climax of the five-act drama, there has to be a wedding. Once again, the librettists pandered to their bourgeois audience by conflating two scenes from the play (2.3; 2.6) and expanding
them into an extended wedding ceremony, something we don’t get to see in Shakespeare. Juxtaposed with this happy moment, the second scene of Act iii ends in brutality with the onstage deaths of Tybalt and Mercutio (again, according to the stage directions — in the play Mercutio dies offstage). The scene ends with the duke personally banishing Roméo (Shakespeare has the impulsive young man run off before the crowd assembles). The elder Montagues are completely absent from the opera. Act iv is an abbreviation of several more scenes. Of course, the librettists had to include the famous lark/nightingale wedding night/morning scene. Tybalt’s dying wish to be avenged, as we learn in Act iv from Capulet (also not in the play), is for Juliette to marry Pâris, thus setting into motion the sudden and impending wedding — in Shakespeare’s drama, the union is only intended to assuage Juliet’s grief. Frère Laurent’s quick fix gets us to the “potion aria” (“Amour ranime mon courage”), one of the most dramatic moments of the entire opera. Yet it was omitted for many years — the first Juliette, Madame Marie Caroline Miolan Carvalho, found the piece too difficult, and being the impresario’s wife, demanded quite late in the rehearsal process the more colorful ariette, “Je veux vivre,” to showcase her own special talents. Rather than “dying” in her sleep, Gounod’s Juliette has a far more public collapse on her way to the altar, yet one more grand spectacle in the piece expected by the Parisians. (An obligatory ballet was inserted near this point for the fourth version of Roméo et Juliette, presented at the Paris Opéra in 1888.) The act concludes with a brief exchange (frequently omitted) between the frères concerning the failed delivery of Laurent’s letter to Roméo. Rather than being detained by the plague as in the play, Frère Jean reports that the communiqué was entrusted to Stéphano, who was set upon by angry Capulets, thus failing him of his charge. Barbier and Carré chose to eliminate Balthasar (Stéphano’s Shakespearian inspiration) and his Mantuan mission to inform Romeo of Juliet’s reported death. The dark scene with the sinister apothecary, where Romeo buys his poison, is gone and also omitted is much of the play’s final tableau: Romeo’s duel with Paris (whom
Romeo and Juliet (1867) | Ford Madox Brown (1821–1893 | Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (Great Britain) | Album/Art Resource, NY
with no balcony scene — and that tradition continued until the early 19th century when Alfred de Vigny tried to clean things up a bit. Dating from 1839, Berlioz’s dramatic symphony presented a somewhat abstract version of the Bard’s epic love story, and though Victor Hugo finally created a faithful translation of the play only a few years before Gounod’s opera premiered, it’s not certain the librettists bothered to use it.
ABOUT THE OPERA
Gounod’s finale runs contrary to Shakespeare’s, which included a further dash of irony in his story of “star-crossed love” when Juliet awakens to find Romeo already dead. As we have seen, the composer was familiar with the Italian roots of the story, which had been set to music many times, most famously as Vincenzo Bellini’s I Capuleti ed I Montecchi and works by Niccolò Zingarelli and Nicola Vaccai, all of which employ Gounod’s ending. As it turns out, both play and opera share that common Italian literary ancestor in Luigi da Porto’s Giulietta e Romeo, which was adapted from a slightly earlier source, a segment from Masuccio Salernitano’s 15th-century Il novellino. In da Porto’s version, the setting is changed from Siena to Verona and the lovers are aristocrats. The families, the Montecchi and the Capelletti, representatives of the real-life, perpetually hostile Guelphs (loyal to the Pope) and Ghibellines (loyal to the Holy Roman Emperor), are first named. The next incarnation, by Matteo Bandello, made its way to France in the 1540s. His Romeo e Giulietta has a didactic bent, advising young people to “tame passions led by furious desires.” (In a fortunate improvement, Giulietta dies of a broken heart rather than by simply holding her breath.) A French version of Bandello was fleshed out by Pierre Boaistuau and translated into English by William Painter as part of The Palace of Pleasure. In addition to several small changes, including Juliette’s expiration by way of Roméo’s dagger, Boaistuau introduced the modification of the final scene with Roméo and Juliette’s ill-timed suicides. This innovation was
then passed on to Shakespeare via Arthur Brooke’s poem The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet, his principal source. Brooke stressed the ever predictable Wheel of Fortune in his relatively static verse. Though Shakespeare preserved much of the poet’s structure, he did make several important changes, in most ways improving upon the narrative. His intent was to fashion a tragedy of circumstances (though some say those events occur in an implausible sequence) with fate as a menacing agent. Time becomes a critical factor — Shakespeare condensed Brooke’s several month affair to a mere four or five days in the sultriness of Verona in mid-July. Everything is in a rush as urgency becomes the norm — evenings and mornings meld, there are frequent interruptions, and no one gets any rest until it becomes eternal. THe drama is compressed into a very passionate and memorable one-night stand.
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Romeo is a victim of his own impatience ...” Within this highly tense climate, Romeo and Juliet consistently make the wrong choices whenever faced with a difficult challenge. Romeo could listen to Lawrence’s advice early in the drama — with Cassandralike prophecy, the friar warns him of intense passion’s danger — but the young man follows his heart, and a union between the two lovers is hastily made. When confronted with the death of his friend, Romeo could wait for the law to mete its punishment, but instead chooses to finish Tybalt off. This slaying marks a turning point from which there is no return — Capulet and Montague, both getting older, see the potential for peace, seconded by Lawrence’s willingness to marry the couple in order to meet that end, but the murder of the next generation’s scion will make that accord impossible. After killing Paris (who gallantly defends the grave of his fiancée from a would-be desecrater), there’s no way out — death is his only option. Romeo is a victim of his own impatience — if he had waited a few more minutes before taking the poison,
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Mortality is an overriding theme in Shakespeare’s language.” Juliet would have revived and they would be together forever. He is the quintessential romantic in love with love, who rashly plunges head-on with fury and despair, a tragic hero (like so many Shakespeare male protagonists) responsible for his own actions. On the other side, in spite of her scant 13 years, Juliet undergoes a surprisingly quick maturation, and she becomes more thoughtful, sensible, and realistic than her older (aged 16–20) husband. It is she who introduces the idea of marriage, presumably to preserve her honor in light of the inevitable, yet she’s also the one with a man in her bedroom at the very moment her parents negotiate the marriage contract with Paris downstairs. Mortality is an overriding theme in Shakespeare’s language. Juliet constantly compares death to her wedding bed — in fact it becomes her grave, which she ends up sharing with all three men in her life: her protector, her suitor, and her husband. While in Mantua, Romeo dreams of his own passing, only to be revived by the kiss of a young woman (if only he had understood its significance). Death, not Paris, becomes Romeo’s rival. The count’s murder may seem unnecessary (he does not die in Brooke), but with the offstage death of Lady Montague, ratchets up the body count, satisfying a trademark prerequisite of Elizabethan theater. The drama is laced with mysterious potions and poisons that ultimately contribute to the inevitable disaster.
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we haven’t seen since the opera’s Act 3.2, a moment in which he doesn’t appear in the play); Lawrence’s presence at, then fearful exit from, the burial crypt; his owning up to everything after having been caught; and the Prince’s final pronouncement at the end of the drama. Gounod’s Act v is devoted exclusively to the two lovers — in line with the public’s expectations, Juliette revives before Roméo expires and they share a final tender duet. Suicide being a mortal sin in the eyes of the opera’s mostly Catholic audience, their last words are for God’s forgiveness, and the orchestra’s celestial harp in the concluding bars seems to imply the two lovers’ souls are together, reunited in a better place.
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ABOUT THE OPERA And yet, critics have claimed that with very few adjustments, Shakespeare’s play could almost be a comedy — in spite of the brutal demise of two prominent characters, the Bard teases his audience with the possibility that Lawrence’s plan might actually work. Certainly, up to Mercutio’s death, the drama unfolds much like the standard non-tragic work, with the lovers facing adversity (including parental conflict) before ending up happily married. Two comic characters are introduced. Descended from Bandello’s Marcuccio, Mercutio is mentioned only in passing as a courtly icy-handed beau for Juliet’s consideration in Brooke’s poem. Shakespeare seized upon the slippery, quicksilver name to create one of his most memorable roles. In Brooke, Mercutio is not killed (Tybalt, appearing alive only once, directly provokes Romeo into fighting), but Shakespeare probably thought it prudent to remove such a colorful character whose personality would likely overshadow the rest of the cast. It also doubles the gravity of the event, signifying the annihilation of comedy itself. The other unforgettable and equally burlesque individual transformed from Brooke to Shakespeare is the Nurse, who in her non-stop babbling, bawdy talk provides much of Juliet’s background and
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Reviewing Shakespeare’s play, one Elizabethan chronicler noted ‘Death is the common catastrophe of those who love unwisely,’ and even the presumably chaste Friar Lawrence was aware ‘violent delights have violent ends.’”
displays a base banality that contrasts with Lawrence’s solemnity (in the opera, her coarse disposition had to be erased, and she is reduced to a subsidiary role). What of the character of Friar Lawrence who creates turmoil out of good intentions? Earlier Italian versions portray Lorenzo as a malevolent personality, at once both liar and necromancer, and often depict him as a physician, a dubious profession in those days. In Anglican Elizabethan times, Catholicism was still a very incendiary topic and well within recent memory. A Franciscan monk could be subject to ridicule onstage and in literature. Used to working in the Church’s characteristic secrecy, Lawrence bungles at every turn, failing to disclose to Friar John the importance of his letter to Romeo, and trying to cover his tracks — the risky potion ruse is designed so that no one will discover his complicity in the secret union. The friar could come clean, but doesn’t, and when the whole plan goes awry, he suggests Juliet hide in a convent so that their misdeeds will not be discovered. Near the very end of the play, in breathless double-talk delivered to the prince, he manages to explain everything away, deferring blame and implicating the Nurse, who in earlier versions of the story, is relieved of her duties. Brooke’s Lawrence is a confidant of the prince, but Shakespeare made him less of a public figure, someone to be used as a confessor or an obscure celebrant to preside over a somber, private wedding in light of Tybalt’s recent demise. Indeed, Romeo trusts the friar’s worldly advice, rather than seeking it from his natural father. Where are the Montagues? Completely missing from the opera, Romeo’s father appears in only three scenes in Shakespeare’s play and Lady Montague utters a mere three lines. In some interpretations, the Montagues are considered impoverished, intellectual, and a whisper of their former glory, while the Capulets, wealthy merchants, are men-of-action. Montagues are thinkers, Capulets are movers — it is worth noting that in the play, all of the civic disorder is instigated by the extended family. The action is concentrated at the Capulet palace, in which one very festive and significant party takes place. Rosaline is a Capulet, indicated by the guest list as niece to the family’s leader (oddly, Romeo
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Juliet and Romeo, whether motivated by entangled stars or their own mischievous dealings, never have a chance against such unforgiving circumstances.” has no qualms about courting her). Tybalt may be a blood relative — he is described as Lady Capulet’s nephew — if in fact she married one of her cousins. It may be of little consequence — in a household where even the servants Sampson and Gregory show such fierce devotion, everyone is considered part of the tribe. Juliet and Romeo, whether motivated by entangled stars or their own mischievous dealings, never have a chance against such unforgiving circumstances. Reviewing Shakespeare’s play, one Elizabethan chronicler noted “Death is the common catastrophe of those who love unwisely,” and even the presumably chaste Friar Lawrence was aware “violent delights have violent ends.” In its finality, the drama through its musical counterpart, Roméo et Juliette, dominated by its extended duets, becomes a Tristan-esque Liebestod — “… a fulfillment and consummation of [Romeo and Juliet’s] passion. Their deaths celebrate the strength and intensity of their devotion to each other.”*
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– DAVID SANDER
* quotation from Shakespeare on Love and Lust by Maurice Charney. New York: Columbia University Press, © 2000.
COMPOSER
B. Paris, June 17, 1818; D. St. Cloud (France), Oct. 18, 1893
Still, a debut at Paris’ leading opera house gave the composer a certain cachet, and Gounod was offered subsequent commissions from the Opéra, La nonne sanglante and Ivan le terrible. Unfortunately, the composer’s second opera was only marginally more successful than the first, and the Ivan project was canceled after an attempt had been made on French Emperor Louis-Napoleon’s life (the libretto contained a similar plot of regicide). Gounod’s fate at the Opéra was placed in limbo. Meanwhile, Léon Carvalho, new director of the Théâtre Lyrique, courted the composer with the prospect of producing Faust. It was soon discovered another theater, the Théâtre de la Porte-St-Martin, had planned an extravagant spectacle based on the Goethe play, and Gounod’s Faust had to be put on hold. The impresario tried to appease the composer with a comic libretto, Le médecin malgré lui, based on text by Molière.
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Although the libretto was beyond reproach and the music critically well-received, Le médecin again did not prove successful. In the meantime, the St. Martin theater had postponed its production of Faust, and Carvalho gave Gounod the go-ahead to complete his opera. Its resounding success in France and all over Europe elevated Gounod to a composer of international acclaim.
The young composer showed early artistic talent, but his parents were determined that he study law. Gounod’s preference for music eventually won, and at the age of 16, the rebellious teen began the official path of a typical 19th-century composer in France.
Over the next few years, Gounod produced four more operas: Philémon et Baucis, a mythological comedy (that tried to capitalize on Jacques Offenbach’s hugely successful Orphée aux enfers); La colombe, an opéra comique about an impoverished nobleman’s attempts to win the heart of a wealthy countess; La reine de Saba, another commission from the Opéra based on the biblical tale of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba; and Mireille, a love story set in southern France. None of these works ever achieved the special appeal of Faust, although Mireille became a staple of the Opéra-Comique’s repertory for many years. The composer’s life began to unravel — his
harles-François Gounod emerged as one of the leading figures in French music during the latter part of the 19th century. Although the composer never achieved the titanic stature of Wagner or Verdi, Gounod’s opera Faust once rivaled in popularity some of their most successful works.
At the Paris Conservatoire, Gounod studied with Halévy, Le Sueur, and Reicha. Winning the Prix de Rome in 1839, he embarked upon a two-year study in Italy, during which the composer first became familiar with the Faust and Romeo legends. Returning to France, Gounod quickly obtained a position in a mission church
unsteady career was plagued by claims of Wagnerism by the French press as a result of his association with the German composer. A nervous condition had resurfaced, and rehearsals of Mireille put Gounod’s friendship with Carvalho to the test — at one point their communication was reduced to the exchange of notarized letters. He eventually mended his relationship with the impresario in time to produce another work for the Théâtre Lyrique, Roméo et Juliette. His next opera, Polyeucte, was not produced until 1878. In the meantime Gounod had received yet another offer from Carvalho, who had assumed directorship of the Opéra-Comique after Camille du Locle’s bankruptcy. Cinq Mars was set to a story of political conspiracy and intrigue by Sir Walter Scott. Its reception echoed those of his early operas — the work was neither offensive nor memorable in any way. Le tribut de Zamora was Gounod’s last work for the stage. His final years were spent composing sacred music, and his reputation had begun to decline as the more austere
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Gounod is perhaps most remembered for his restoration of a higher purpose in French theater at a time when it was most needed.” Third Republic tended to look down on any products from the frivolous Second Empire. Today Faust and Roméo et Juliette remain in repertory, and in addition to leaving behind these masterpieces, Gounod is perhaps most remembered for his restoration of a higher purpose in French theater at a time when it was most needed.
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Charles Gounod | Ary Scheffer (1795–1858) | Musée du Château de Versailles | Gianni Dagli Orti/The Art Archive at Art Resource, NY
CharlesFrançois Gounod
but was fortunate to befriend an influential soprano, Pauline Viardot, who maneuvered a commission for him from the Paris Opéra: Sapho. Set to a libretto by Émile Augier, it was a succès d’estime — but not a huge box-office draw. Sapho was dropped after six performances.
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DIRECTOR'S NOTES
Pulling from one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, Gounod’s opera is a poetic
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| MINNESOTA OPERA mnopera.org
Pulling from one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, Gounod’s opera is a poetic interpretation of the conflict between youthful passionate desire and societal expectation.”
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interpretation of the conflict between youthful passionate desire and societal expectation. The true challenge in approaching any famous literary adaptation is seeing the material through a completely unbiased lens. How does one actually tell a story everyone knows so intimately as if for the first time? Or is part of the tragedy the fact that despite knowing the ending, we still desperately hope Romeo and Juliet will escape their fate? I won’t lie that approaching such a wellknown story can be daunting. But what struck me so profoundly in re-examining the opera is how the raw quality of the music depicts the character’s extreme emotional states. Love and hate, while on opposite sides of the emotional spectrum, are both fueled by passion, and it is this passion that ultimately leads to violence and then death. Romeo and Juliet experience all forms of love from joyful to romantic, passionate to overpowering. We root for their love because it is untarnished and seems exquisite. However, it is this precise youthful love that blinds Romeo and Juliet, enabling them to defy family, religion, and society. In order to preserve the sanctity of their holy love in a world that cannot let
such love exist, they must end their lives. It is this fate, this tragedy that makes our hearts weep each and every time. Ultimately, a world of violence will affect purity, and what more do we yearn for than the protection of an everlasting love. Gounod’s music is filled with a lush, dreamy quality that almost places Romeo and Juliet in a realm beyond that of the natural world. As a result, while our symbolic production sets the story during the time of Shakespeare, it mixes dreamlike images which both capture the idealism of love (large roses) with the dangerous world of societal division (a ceiling of weapons). Just as love morphs as Romeo and Juliet’s story develops, so too do the images of our show. Love, violence, and death become intertwined, and time ultimately moves Romeo and Juliet swiftly forward to a fate that is both poetic and tragic. My sincere hope is that you open yourself to the joy and pain that is this timely love story.
▪
– MATTHEW OZAWA Stage Director
Set design by William Boles
R
omeo and Juliet. Together, these two names comprise the most famous pair of young lovers in Western consciousness, synonymous with an eternal form of love. Yet their story tells a raw gut-wrenching tragedy where love, violence, and death are at times one and the same.
THE ARTISTS
mercutio Praised for his creamy, bright, smooth voice, Canadian baritone Phillip Addis has established himself as a leading interpreter of opera, concert, and recital repertoire with his spell-binding, daring, yet sensitive performances throughout Canada, the United States, Europe, and the Far East. Phillip begins his 2016–2017 season as Mercutio in this production followed by his reprisal of Lt. Audebert in Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell’s Silent Night with Michigan Opera Theatre. He then returns to Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre as Papageno in coc’s The Magic Flute and to Vancouver Opera as Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro. Last season, Phillip appeared as Pyramus in the Canadian Opera Company’s highly acclaimed world premiere of Pyramus and Thisbe by Barbara Monk Feldman, as Pelléas in Pelléas et Mélisande at the Hamburg Staatsoper, and as Marcello in the Opéra de Québec's new production of La bohème. Previous seasons have seen Phillip make debuts in the title role of Billy Budd in Genoa, as Figaro in Edmonton Opera's Il barbiere di Siviglia, and as Jaufré Rudel in the Festival d’Opéra de Québec’s L’amour de loin.
William Lee Bryan
the duke of verona A native of Saint Paul, Minnesota, baritone William Lee Bryan was praised in the Minneapolis Star Tribune for his “large, ingratiating baritone” in the role of Curly in Bloomington Civic Theater’s production of Oklahoma!. Mr. Bryan has performed opera, operetta, musical theater, and concert works across the United States. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from the University of Minnesota, where he studied with Philip Zawisza, and a Master of Music degree in vocal performance from Florida State University, studying with David Okerlund. His favorite roles have included Don Giovanni, Elmer Gantry, and Elijah, Ford in Falstaff, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Rappaccini in La hija de Rappaccini, Fredrik in A Little Night Music, Lancelot in Camelot, Hans Scholl in Weisse Rose, and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. Mr. Bryan joins Minnesota Opera’s Resident Artist Program this season performing the roles of the Duke of Verona in Romeo and Juliet, Mr. Hatfield in Dinner at Eight, and Marcello in La bohème.
Sarah Bahr
costume design Sarah Bahr is a costume and scenic designer based in Minneapolis. She is making her Minnesota Opera debut designing costumes in this production. Over the past four years, she has worked as a design assistant at Minnesota Opera on many productions including Carmen (2015), Doubt (2013), and Turandot (2013). During her career in costumes, she has worked for prestigious companies such as Santa Fe Opera, Aspen Opera, Guthrie Theater, Children's Theatre Company, and Parsens Meares Inc. nyc. Her recent design credits include Earthquakes in London at the Guthrie Dowling Studio, Donald Giovani in Cornlandia: A Picnic Operetta with Mixed Precipitation, and Juniper Tree at Open Eye Figure Theatre. Sarah attended the University of Minnesota and received her mfa in Design and Technical Theater. She also holds an ma in Studio Art from New York University. Currently she is serving as an adjunct faculty member in the University of Minnesota’s Department of Theater Arts and Dance.
Michael Christie
conductor Michael Christie became music director of Minnesota Opera in September 2012. Before coming to Minnesota, he served as music director of the Phoenix Symphony (2005– 2013), the Brooklyn Philharmonic (2005–2010), the Queensland Orchestra (Brisbane, Australia; 2000–2004), and the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder (2000–2013).
Recent opera engagements have included productions with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (Alice in Wonderland, The Ghosts of Versailles, and The Death of Klinghoffer), Wexford Festival Opera (Silent Night and The Ghosts of Versailles), Minnesota Opera (Carmen, The Shining, Ariadne auf Naxos, The Magic Flute, and Rusalka, among others), and Aspen Opera Theatre (The Ghosts of Versailles and West Side Story). He has also conducted at Opéra de Montréal and Opera Philadelphia (Silent Night) and Lyric Opera of Chicago (Rising Stars). He made his San Francisco Opera debut with the world premiere of The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, and in 2017, he continues his symphonic conducting activities as well as making debuts at Washington National Opera (Dead Man Walking) and at Santa Fe Opera, leading the world premiere of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. Michael lives with his family in Minneapolis.
William Boles
set design William Boles is a Chicago-based scenic designer. Chicago: Goodman Theater, Steppenwolf Theater Company, Second City, The Lyric, Victory Gardens Theater, The Hypocrites, American Theater Company, Timeline, A Red Orchid Theater, About Face Theater (Associate Artist), Chicago Children’s Theater, Sideshow (Associate Artist), Steep Theater Company, Step-Up Productions ( Jeff Nominated design for Barefoot in the Park), First Floor Theater, Opera Northwestern. Regional: Children's Theater Company, Wolf Trap Opera, Minnesota Opera, Milwaukee Rep, Pig Iron Theater Company, Arizona Broadway Playhouse. International: Stockholm Vocal Academy and Opera Siam in Bangkok. Upcoming productions include The Sneetches at Children’s Theater Company and King of the Yees by Lauren Yee at the Goodman Theater. Education: mfa, Northwestern.
Christopher Colmenero
benvolio Tenor Christopher Colmenero begins his first season as a Minnesota Opera Resident Artist, singing Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet and Froh in Das Rheingold. He also covers the title role of Roméo, and later, Rodolfo in La bohème. Other engagements include performing Judge Danforth in Robert Ward’s The Crucible for Purchase Opera and Carlson in Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men for the Phoenicia Festival. Mr. Colmenero also sang Pablo Neruda in Daniel Catán’s Il Postino at Mannes Opera, as well as the Male Chorus in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, and the title role in Stravinsky’s Mavra. At the Purchase College Conservatory of Music, where he received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, he performed the roles of Prince Charmant in Cendrillon, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, and Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi. He was also a Young Artist at Chautauqua Opera in 2014. Christopher has distinguished himself as a district finalist at the 2016 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
| ROMEO & JULIET
Phillip Addis
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THE ARTISTS Joshua Dennis
roméo Possessing a tenor voice The New York Times declares is filled with “youthful ardor,” Joshua Dennis makes role and company debuts with Minnesota Opera as Roméo in Roméo et Juliette and Kentucky Opera as Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail. He also returns to Arizona Opera as Bern Venters in Bohmler’s Riders of the Purple Sage and to Opera Idaho in the title role of Werther. Additionally, he joins the Metropolitan Opera for Die Zauberflöte. Last season, he sang Tamino in Die Zauberflöte with Michigan Opera Theatre; Alfredo in La traviata with Opera Columbus and Opera Idaho; Roy Dexter in the American premiere of Arizona Lady with Arizona Opera; Ferrando in Così fan tutte with Ash Lawn Opera; and joined Dallas Opera for its production of Heggie’s Great Scott.
Mr. Dennis recently returned to Santa Fe Opera as Jacquino in Fidelio. Previously as an Apprentice Artist, he sang Serano in La donna de lago, scenes of Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, and Ruggiero in La rondine as well as appearing in productions of Arabella, La traviata, and Morrison’s Oscar.
| MINNESOTA OPERA mnopera.org
Thomas Glass
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capulet Baritone Thomas Glass joins the Minnesota Opera’s Resident Artist program this season as Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, Gustave in William Bolcom and Mark Campbell’s world premiere of Dinner at Eight, and Schaunard in La bohème. He also covers Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet and Donner in Das Rheingold. He has previously appeared in the Opera’s celebrated world premiere production of Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell’s Silent Night in 2011. For the Wolf Trap Opera Studio, Mr. Glass performed as Joseph in Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles in 2015, and returned the following year as Bragherona in Florian Leopold Gassmann’s 18th-century rarity L’opera seria, where he also covered the roles of Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia and Schaunard in the Filene Center’s production of La bohème. He received his Master of Music degree in vocal performance from Rice University and his undergraduate degree from Saint Paul’s University of St. Thomas. He has also attended the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria.
Nadia Fayad
gertrude Mezzo-soprano Nadia Fayad is quickly gaining recognition for her rich and earthy sound, with expressive musicality in her lower register. Ms. Fayad was just recently an apprentice with Santa Fe Opera, where she covered the role of the Baroness in Barber’s Vanessa and sang in Roméo et Juliette. In 2015, Ms. Fayad was a studio artist with Wolf Trap Opera, appearing as the Woman with Hat in Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles and La Zia in Madame Butterfly. Nadia recently received a Master of Music from Rice University, where she performed the leading role of Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, Melantho in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria, and Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She received her bachelor’s degree at the Eastman School of Music, where she sang the roles of Madame de Croissy in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Mrs. Jones in Street Scene, and Medoro in Orlando. Nadia is an alumna of Minnesota Opera’s Project Opera Program. As a Minnesota Opera Resident Artist this season, Nadia sings Gertrude in Roméo et Juliette, Flosshilde in Das Rheingold, Cloe in Diana’s Garden, and Tina in Dinner at Eight.
Joel Mathias
grégorio Baritone Joel Mathias returns to Minnesota Opera, having appeared as the Senator in The Shining, the Jailer in Tosca, the Wigmaker in Ariadne auf Naxos, Dr. Yen Lo in The Manchurian Candidate, and Happy in La fanciulla del West. He has also been deeply involved in the Opera’s New Works Initiative workshops and has been a regular chorister since 2013. Other credits include the Forester in The Cunning Little Vixen, Kezal in The Bartered Bride, Falke in Die Fledermaus, the title role in Elmer Gantry, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, a hen in Renard, the Foreman in Jenufa, a son in The Seven Deadly Sins, and Carl Olsen in Street Scene for the University of Minnesota Opera Theatre. Mr. Mathias has also appeared as Pistola in Falstaff for Opéra Louisiane; as Captain Duval in The New Moon and Schaunard in La bohème for Louisiana State University Opera Theater; as Oliver in The Vagabond King for Skylark Opera; and as the Count in Il matrimonio segreto, the Bonze in Madame Butterfly, and Benoit/Alcindoro in La bohème for La Musica Lirica (Novafeltria, Italy).
Penelope Freeh
choreographer Choreographer Penelope Freeh is a two-time McKnight Artist Fellow and a sage Awardee for Outstanding Performer. She has been commissioned by James Sewell Ballet, Minnesota Ballet, Gem City Ballet, Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Walker Art Center/Southern Theater’s Momentum, and Russia’s Link Vostok Dance Festival, among others. She frequently works with opera and musical theater groups including Skylark Opera, Nautilus Music Theater, and Mu Performing Arts. She has created several works with composer Jocelyn Hagen, including Test Pilot, a chamber dance opera about the Wright Brothers and the birth of aviation, which will tour in Minnesota this fall. Penelope danced with James Sewell Ballet for 17 years, serving as Artistic Associate from 2007 to 2011. She teaches at the University of Minnesota, the Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, tu Dance, and Zenon. Ms. Freeh has previously danced in Minnesota Opera productions of Aida, Romeo and Juliet, and Nixon in China.
penelopefreeh.com
Angela Mortellaro
juliette Soprano Angela Mortellaro has captivated audiences from the onset of her young career. Described as “beautiful to watch on stage,” the “richness” of her voice, and skilled delivery of “dazzling vocal pyrotechnics,” and her innate acting have made this soprano a singer in demand.
Upcoming engagements in the 2016–2017 season include role debuts of Juliette with Minnesota Opera and Norina in Don Pasquale with the Sarasota Opera. Ms. Mortellaro will also reprise the role of Doris Parker in Charlie Parker’s yardbird, that premiered with Opera Philadelphia, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Lyric Unlimited. She will also debut Micaëla in Carmen in upcoming seasons. Ms. Mortellaro has previously appeared with Minnesota Opera singing Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Josie in The Manchurian Candidate, and Jean Acker in The Dream of Valentino. She recently debuted in the United Kingdom as Adina in L’elisir d’amore with the Dorset Opera Festival, Musetta in La bohème with Sarasota Opera, and Violetta in La traviata with Opera North.
THE ARTISTS Matthew Ozawa
stage director American stage director, Matthew Ozawa, has an international career spanning all artistic disciplines having worked for prestigious companies worldwide including Canadian Opera Company, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Siam, Macau International Festival, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Additionally, Ozawa is the Founder and Artistic Director of Mozawa.
Mr. Ozawa’s upcoming engagements include Don Quichotte (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Madama Butterfly (Arizona Opera), Le nozze di Figaro (North Carolina Opera), Sweeney Todd (Skylight Music Theater), and A Little Night Music (Des Moines Metro Opera). His most recent credits include L’opera seria (Wolf Trap Opera), After The Storm* (Houston Grand Opera), Nabucco (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Hand Eye (Eighth Blackbird/Carnegie Hall), Arizona Lady (Arizona Opera), Second Nature* (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Y Portraits: Awakening* (Mozawa), Snow Dragon* (Opera Siam), Tsuru* (Houston Ballet/Asia Society), and Porcelain (Prologue Theater Company).
Gina Perregrino
stéphano Mezzo-soprano Gina Perregrino makes her debut with Minnesota Opera this season as Stéphano in Romeo and Juliet. Most recently she sang Maddalena in Rigoletto with Querido Arte at the Teatro Nacional. The production was recorded and aired on Univision TeleOnce tv throughout Guatemala. In 2016, Ms. Perregrino was a Gerdine Young Artist with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where she performed the role of Blindwoman in Shalimar the Clown. In the 2015–2016 season, Ms. Perregrino performed the title role of Carmen in New York City and was the grand prize winner of the Metropolitan International Vocal Competition, where she sang the Brahms’ Songs with Viola at Lincoln Center.
During her first season as a Minnesota Opera Resident Artist, Ms. Perregrino also sings Clizia in Diana’s Garden and covers Amore in Diana’s Garden, Wellgunde in Das Rheingold, and Lucy Talbot in Dinner at Eight. She is a graduate of Manhattan School of Music, where she earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree. There she starred as the Marquise de Merteuil in Dangerous Liaisons to critical acclaim.
Alex Ritchie
pâris Dubbed “very entertaining” (Cherry and Spoon), baritone Alex Ritchie has performed on numerous Twin Cities stages including Minnesota Opera, Skylark Opera, Minnesota Concert Opera, Mill City Summer Opera, the MacPhail Center for Music, and Theatre in the Round.
With Minnesota Opera, Mr. Ritchie was seen most recently as Horace Derwent in The Shining, the Lackey in Ariadne auf Naxos, Sid in La fanciulla del West, the Yes Man in The Dream of Valentino, and Polonius in Hamlet. He has also been avidly involved in workshops with the New Works Initiative, helping prepare world premieres including Doubt and The Manchurian Candidate. In 2015, Mr. Ritchie performed the Corporal in Mill City Summer Opera’s La fille du régiment. On the theatrical stage, he was most recently seen as Sullen in Theatre in the Round’s 2014 production of The Beaux’ Stratagem. He also portrayed the Pooh-Bah for Skylark Opera’s 2013 production of The Mikado, a collaboration with Mu Performing Arts.
*world premiere
frère laurent Bass Benjamin Sieverding has been recognized by critics nationwide for his “surprising depth” (Boulder Daily Camera), "natural gift for comedy,” and “full, rich sound” (Ann Arbor Observer). For Minnesota Opera, he has appeared as Truffaldino in Ariadne auf Naxos, Sarastro in The Magic Flute, the Sacristan in Tosca, and the Ranger and the Man-in-dog-mask in The Shining. For his second season as a Resident Artist, he later sings Max Kane in Dinner at Eight and Colline in La bohème.
Most recently, Sieverding performed Montano in Minnesota Orchestra’s Otello. Earlier, he has reprised the roles he created in Theodore Morrison’s Oscar with Opera Philadelphia and made his role debut as Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni, performing as a guest artist with the University of Alabama Opera Theatre. An Apprentice Artist with Santa Fe Opera for two seasons, Sieverding made his company debut in three roles for the world premiere of Oscar. As one of the infirmary patients, Sieverding “lent heart-choking realism” to the role (Bay Area Reporter), and the Huffington Post called it “the single most moving scene in the opera.”
David Walton
tybalt Tenor David Walton returns to Minnesota Opera for the 2016–2017 season, most recently as Delbert Grady in The Shining, Spoletta in Tosca, the Hunter in Rusalka, Tamino in The Magic Flute in Duluth, Brighella in Ariadne auf Naxos, Ed Mavole in the world premiere of The Manchurian Candidate, and Il Postiglione in La fanciulla del West. In January 2017, he also sings Silvio in Diana’s Garden and covers Larry Renault in Dinner at Eight.
This past summer, Mr. Walton participated as a Young Artist with the Glimmerglass Festival, performing Parpignol in its production of La bohème, Count Alberto in L’occasione fa il ladro, and covering Reverend Parris in The Crucible. He has also appeared as Tamino and Ernesto (Don Pasquale) with Atlantic Music Festival, spent three years with the Cantus Vocal Ensemble in Minneapolis, and was a Gerdine Young Artist in 2015 with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, covering Matthew Gurney in Emmeline. Mr. Walton has toured Azor in Grétry’s Zemire et Azor with Opera for the Young and was a regional finalist in the Upper Midwest Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
Paul Whitaker
lighting design New York credits include work at The Public Theater, mcc Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage Theatre, Atlantic Theater Company, The Play Company, Ma-Yi Theater Company, the labyrinth Theater Company, Intar Theatre, the Mint Theater Company, among others. Regional credits include the Guthrie Theater, Children’s Theatre Company, Yale Repertory Theatre, the Geffen, South Coast Repertory, La Jolla Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, Alley Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, Center Stage, Hartford Stage, Dallas Theater Center, George Street Playhouse, and Two River Theater, among others. Paul is a graduate of Macalester College and the Yale School of Drama. He is a Senior Lighting Designer/Senior Theatre Consultant for Schuler Shook.
paulwhitakerdesigns.com
| ROMEO & JULIET
Benjamin Sieverding
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THE ARTISTS
MINNE SOTA OPER A CHORUS Eric Broker Michael Burton Corissa Bussian Emi Chen Christina Christensen Ben Crickenberger Cecile Crozat-Zawisza Jennifer Eckes Stefan Egerstrom Sara Fanucchi Benjamin Hills Timothy James Gary Kubert Michelle Liebl Maggie Lofboom Elizabeth Longhurst Alejandro Magallón Alisa Magallón
Joel Mathias Michael Mayer Kristin Morant Jessica Nesbit Phong Nyugen Sandra Partridge Rick Penning Mario Perez Tyler Raad Alex Ritchie Ashley Sievers Justin Spenner Lauren Stepka Kelly Turpin Eryn Tvete Brian Wallin Lola Watson Lu Zang
VIOLIN I
CELLO
HORN
Allison Ostrander Concertmaster Natalia Moiseeva Asst. Concertmaster Julia Persitz David Mickens Angela Waterman Hanson Heidi Amundson Troy Gardner Colin McGuire Brian Krinke
Teresa Richardson Sally Gibson Dorer Kirsten Whitson Dale Newton Diane Tremaine
Matt Wilson Charles Hodgson Timothy Bradley Michael Alexander
BASS
John G. Koopmann Christopher Volpe
VIOLIN II
Michele Frisch Amy Morris
Elise Parker Stephan Orsak Melinda Marshall Huldah Niles David Block Alastair Brown Carol Lebovic
DA NCER S Darwin Black Brittany Keefe Aaron Komo
MINNE SOTA OPER A ORCHE S T R A
VIOLA
Demetrius McClendon Jennifer Pray Katelyn Skelley
Susan Janda Laurel Browne Jenny Lind Nilsson James Bartsch Valerie Little
John Michael Smith Constance Martin Jason C. Hagelie
FLUTE
TRUMPET
TROMBONE Phillip Ostrander John Tranter David Stevens
TIMPANI
OBOE
Kory Andry
Michael Dayton Jeffrey Marshak
PERCUSSION Paul Hill
CLARINET Karrin Meffert-Nelson Nina Olsen
BASSOON Coreen Nordling Laurie Hatcher Merz
HARP Min J. Kim Nikki Lemire
KEYBOARD Lindsay Woodward
2017– 2018 Resident Artist Program
Applications now available!
| MINNESOTA OPERA mnopera.org
Information at mnop.co/rap and YAP
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Tracker
Minneapolis Auditions November 7–12, 2016 Photo: Minnesota Opera Resident Artist Program Cabaret, 2016 © CJ Standish
MEET THE ARTISTS
JOSHUA DENNIS AND ANGELA MORTELLARO
Photo by Brent Dundore
What are some underlying elements of this story that audiences can relate to today? JD: Hopefully everyone can remember their first teenage love. That time was filled with so much passion, nervousness, and stupidity. It was as if nothing else mattered in the world but that other person. Romeo and Juliet can bring that memory back. It can give you a sense of nostalgia. I think audiences really can relate to what these characters feel, because all of us have felt that unquestioning love at least once in our lives. What are some of your favorite things to do in the Twin Cities? AM: I’m a museum lover, and I really enjoy the Minneapolis Institute of Art. I also love to eat out at the awesome restaurants, and
spend as much time as I can with my friends here — more than a few have become like family to me. Your identical twin brother is also a tenor! Do you two ever find opportunities to sing together? JD: Not professionally. He's having his career in Europe, while I'm having mine stateside, and it is almost impossible to get any time together. But when we do get together, we spend a lot of time around the piano, showing each other new songs and giving each other voice lessons. We are very supportive of each other. What are some of the joys and the challenges of performing Juliette? AM: It is always a joy to sing beautiful, romantic music. It is a very satisfying opera to study because Juliette takes a musical journey as well as a dramatic journey. Her music changes with her character. What would you say makes Minnesota Opera’s production of Romeo and Juliet special? JD: I think that Matthew Ozawa, our stage director, is fabulous. I've worked with him multiple times before — he's a good friend and I know his work can be very beautiful, meaningful, and deep. This being my debut with Minnesota Opera, I don't know exactly what to expect, but I know that they hired
Joshua Dennis and Angela Mortellaro's biographies appear on page 14.
the right director for the job and this production will be beautiful. Describe your character in three words. AM: Playful, soulful, and impulsive. JD: Loyal, passionate, and tender. What did you want to be when you grew up? JD: Some type of artist. I used to love to draw and cook. I do remember, after listening to Les Miserables as a child, telling my Mom that I wanted to be a tenor when I grew up. She wisely replied, “Well, that's not really up to you,” not knowing what would happen after my voice changed. But I did end up being one, and now I have a career being one. What advice would you give to young singers today? AM: I am a young singer still because there is always more growing and learning to do. No matter what stage I’m in, I always find ways I can improve. I would tell young singers to focus on their work. If you are working toward being your best self and your best artist, you will be successful. JD: Find the best teacher you can find and do whatever it takes to study with them. Once you do, practice, practice, practice!
| ROMEO & JULIET
Angela, you were a Minnesota Opera Resident Artist during the 2010–2011 and 2011–2012 seasons. Welcome back! What do you like about working with Minnesota Opera? AM: Minnesota Opera is a wonderful company. Because I was a Resident Artist, coming back to the Twin Cities and performing with this company feels like coming home! I enjoy the supportive work environment, the high quality of music making and productions, and I love the enthusiasm and passion from our opera audience.
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UPCOMING EVENTS Romeo and Juliet Live Broadcast
Social Media Preview Night
Minnesota Public Radio broadcasts the Opera’s production of Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet, which features Joshua Dennis, Angela Mortellaro, and Phillip Addis. Michael Christie conducts.
NOV. 10, 6:30 pm
SEPT. 29, 7:30 pm
MNOPERA.ORG/LISTEN
Wagner Colloquium OCT. 23, 2–5 pm RECEPTION AT 1:30 pm
Join guest speakers Matt Bribitzer-Stull, Karen Painter, and David Walsh at the Black Forest Inn for insights into Das Rheingold and the life of Richard Wagner. (1 East 26th Street, Minneapolis; cost — $45) WAGNERTC.ORG
Tempo Happy Hour + Behind the Curtain OCT. 26, 5 pm
Meet up at a North Loop neighborhood hot spot for cocktails and nosh. Then head over to the Opera Center for Behind the Curtain: Das Rheingold. MNOPERA.ORG/TEMPO
Behind the Curtain OCT. 26, 7 pm
At the historic Minnesota Opera Center, get the inside scoop on Das Rheingold as opera experts and members of the cast and creative team lead discussions exploring the music, history, and design of opera. MNOPERA.ORG/BTC
Arrowhead Library System OCT. 3–14
| MINNESOTA OPERA mnopera.org
The Opera’s talented Teaching Artist, Alisa Magallón, tours northern Minnesota libraries. Check mnopera.org for more details.
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Das Rheingold
Minnesota Opera allows a pre-screened group of press members, bloggers, and social media influencers to attend the final dress rehearsal of Das Rheingold at the Ordway. We encourage live tweeting, blogging, note taking, and illustrating. MNOPERA.ORG/PREVIEW
Project Opera performs Imant Raminsh’s The Nightingale FEB. 10–11
The Nightingale, based on the famous Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, is the story of a Chinese Emperor who prefers the tinkling of a bejeweled mechanical bird to the song of a real nightingale. Sung in English with English captions projected above the stage. Presented at the Lab Theater, 700 North First Street, Minneapolis (next to the Minnesota Opera Center).
Das Rheingold
MNOPERA.ORG/THE-NIGHTINGALE
Das Rheingold begins the epic cycle of the ring. This tale of seduction, deception, and betrayal features the Minnesota Opera Orchestra on stage as a dramatic central character, and is reimagined with innovative video and staging.
Resident Artist Cabaret
NOV. 12–20
MNOPERA.ORG/DAS-RHEINGOLD
Opera Insights
Come early and enjoy free, fun, and informative half-hour sessions, hosted by Minnesota Opera artistic staff in Ordway’s mezzanine lobby one hour prior to each performance. Join us for Opera Insights and get an overview of the characters and music, historical and cultural context for the opera, and highlights to watch for during the show.
Taste of Opera NOV. 15
Enhance your opera-going experience with a delicious pre-show dinner at Vieux Carré and casual conversation with the experts of Das Rheingold. Leave the logistics to us and enjoy an all-inclusive evening out at the opera. For more information, call Brian at 612-342-9563. MNOPERA.ORG/EVENT/TASTE
APR. 8
By popular demand, we are returning to the Metropolitan Ballroom for an evening of music and merriment! Minnesota Opera Resident Artists will delight with a cabaret of favorite tunes and a few surprises. The evening includes several fun opportunities to enjoy yourself while supporting the Opera. Look for tickets on sale soon.
Attend these events, sponsored by The Wagner Society of the Upper Midwest. SEPT. 29 (BLACK FOREST INN) PRESENTED BY DANIEL FREEMAN
Tristan und Isolde: An Introduction to Wagner's Music Drama
RWSUM.TICKETLEAP.COM/METTRISTAN
OCT. 8 (VARIOUS TWIN CITIES THEATER VENUES) Tristan und Isolde will be broadcast as part of Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD transmissions. METOPERA.ORG/SEASON/IN-CINEMAS
OCT. 30 Richard Wagner Society’s Founders Day Dinner WAGNERTC.ORG
SOCIAL MEDIA PREVIEW NIGHT Do you tweet? Post on Facebook? Instagram your entire life? Join us on THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 6:30 pm for DAS RHEINGOLD SOCIAL MEDIA PREVIEW NIGHT Get a behind-the-scenes look at the final dress rehearsal for Das Rheingold. Inside the theater, using your phone, taking photos, and sketching is encouraged! Event is free, but please apply at mnopera.org/preview. SHOW US YOUR MN OPERA STYLE
#DAS RHEINGOLD @MNOPERA
F L X : I I
OPERA EDUCATION
SUMMER OPERA CAMP
The 12th annual Summer Opera Camp was held on the beautiful campus of Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Faribault, Minnesota. Teens from Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Louisiana, Florida, and California spent a very intensive June week improving their skills in singing, acting, learning about the professional life of an opera singer, and attending live performances. More information about our summer camps can be found at: mnopera.org/camp
PROJECT OPERA
This season Project Opera will present The Nightingale by Imant Raminsh on February 10–11, 2017. The opera is a beautiful telling of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. The performances will be sung in English with English titles projected above the stage. Tickets will be on sale soon. Project Opera is a vocal training program for singers ages 8–18 that meet on Saturdays throughout the school year. Participants come from across the metro area and western Wisconsin to learn about vocal technique, acting, and movement. More info at mnopera.org/project-opera
Minnesota Opera welcomes Matt Abernathy as its new Project Opera Music Director and lead Teaching Artist for Music Out Loud. Matt’s thrilled to bring the excitement of opera to young musicians across the Twin Cities.
DAS RHEINGOLD PREVIEW No, this isn’t a concert opera with the singers performing in front of the orchestra. Instead of playing from the traditional pit, the Minnesota Opera Orchestra will be integrated into the stage action with singers. The Rhine River will be located where the orchestra usually sits, and we have more surprises in store.
of the world’s great masterworks. Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen is a four-evening, 16-hour epic musical journey of ambition, forbidden love, greed, hatred, revenge, fate, and some very bad choices. It is with great enthusiasm that we tackle the first opera in this epic saga.
Director Brian Staufenbiel makes his debut with this new and innovative production, In addition to the plot’s twists and turns, and Matthew Lefebvre has designed the eyethe production itself will be presented popping costumes. I hope you will enjoy this in an interesting way. Most notably, Das extremely innovative exploration of Wagner’s Rheingold will feature Michael Christie and Das Rheingold. the Minnesota Opera Orchestra on stage. Over the past few years, Maestro Christie – DALE JOHNSON has built a wonderful ensemble, and we felt Artistic Director it was time to show them off a bit.
Production Concept by Brian Staufenbiel
B
ack in 1994, the Minnesota Opera announced a new production of Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot. I can remember the scoffs of disbelief that a medium-sized opera company could pull off such a monumental work. Many of you will recall that Minnesota Opera did indeed pull it off, designing a production that would pave the way for many opera companies of our size and smaller to present similarly grand operas. When the Opera announced it was presenting Das Rheingold, there were some words of disbelief and an accompanying sense of great anticipation — the excitement comes from the Company producing one
To produce this wondrous opera we have enlisted some of the best Wagnerian singers in the world. Greer Grimsley has few equals when it comes to the role of Wotan, and has performed many roles with us over the years, including Jack Rance and Macbeth. He is supported by Katharine Goeldner (Hamlet) as Fricka and Karin Wolverton (Silent Night) as Freia. We welcome Richard Cox as Loge and Nathan Berg as Alberich. And, in a great coup, we have engaged mezzosoprano legend Denyce Graves in her first Wagnerian role, Erda.
JOIN TEMPO, OUR YOUNG PROFESSIONALS GROUP!
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To learn more about tempo and to purchase your membership, visit mnopera.org/tempo or call the Minnesota Opera ticket office at 612-333-6669, M – F, 10am – 5pm. 2015 Corrine Standish for Minnesota Opera
| MINNESOTA OPERA mnopera.org
Are you 21 – 39 and interested in experiencing opera, meeting new people, and receiving invitations to After Parties and one-of-a-kind events? Join Minnesota Opera’s young professionals group and enjoy a steep discount on the hottest tickets in town.
Thank you for attending Romeo & Juliet.
Das Rheingold
Add two or more operas for savings and benefits!
Diana‘s Garden
• Save up to 25% • Flexible exchanges • Discounts for family and friends • And more... Visit the Ordway box office at intermission, or call 612-333-6669 M–F, 10am–5pm.
Service charges and other restrictions may apply.
Nov. 12–20, 2016
Das Rheingold begins the epic story of the ring. This tale of seduction, deception, and betrayal features the Minnesota Opera Orchestra on stage as a dramatic central character, along with gods, goddesses, and mythical characters. Jan. 21–29, 2017
Diana, the goddess of chastity, is the target of Cupid’s interference as he brings unwelcome love to her sacred garden. This opera is a sparkling comedy filled with witty social commentary on freedom and power.
Dinner at Eight
Mar. 11–19, 2017
Manhattan socialite Millicent Jordan plans a dinner party for guests linked by business intrigues and romantic entanglements. Composer William Bolcom and librettist Mark Campbell successfully wed American musical comedy and opera in this winning new work based on the play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber.
La Bohème
May 6–21, 2017
Lose your heart to La Bohème’s captivating blend of music and theater as we follow the story of Parisian artists, surviving on only friendship and the promise of love.
GOLD RULES
First time at Minnesota Opera! WAGNER / Nov. 12–20
BUY TODAY!
mnopera.org 612-333-6669
STAFF, BOARD, AND VOLUNTEERS BOARD OF DIRECTORS
MINNESOTA OPERA STAFF
OFFICERS
ADMINISTRATION
PRODUCTION
Chair | Margaret Wurtele
President and General Director | Ryan Taylor
Production Director | Karen Quisenberry
President and General Director | Ryan Taylor
Director of Board Relations | Theresa Murray
Production Stage Manager | Kerry Masek
Vice Chair | H. Bernt von Ohlen
Finance Director | Jeff Couture
Secretary | Nadege Souvenir
Human Resources Director | Jen Thill
Assistant Stage Managers | Jamie K. Fuller, Hannah Holthaus
Treasurer | John C. Junek
Facility Manager | Steve Mittelholtz
DIRECTORS Richard Allendorf Patricia Beithon Karen Brooks Jane M. Confer Jay Debertin Sara Donaldson Sidney W. Emery Maureen Harms Sharon Hawkins Ruth S. Huss Mary IngebrandPohlad Philip Isaacson J Jackson James E. Johnson John C. Junek Christl Larson Mary Lazarus
Cynthia Y. Lee Mike McNamara Albin “Jim” Nelson Kay Ness Jose Peris Elizabeth Redleaf Connie Remele Don Romanaggi Christopher Romans Mary H. Schrock Linda Roberts Singh Nadege Souvenir David Strauss Virginia Stringer Ryan Taylor H. Bernt von Ohlen William White Margaret Wurtele
EMERITI Karen Bachman
Julia W. Dayton
John A. Blanchard III
Mary W. Vaughan
Burton Cohen
HONORARY DIRECTORS Dominick Argento
Norton M. Hintz*
Philip Brunelle
Liz Kochiras
Dolly Fiterman
Patricia H. Sheppard
Finance Associate | Dylan Howell
ARTISTIC Artistic Director | Dale Johnson Music Director | Michael Christie Artistic Administrator | Roxanne Stouffer Artist Relations and Planning Director | Floyd Anderson Dramaturg | David Sander Resident Artists | Jonathan Brandani, William Lee Bryan, Christopher Colmenero, Nadia Fayad, Thomas Glass, Jessica Hall, Mary Evelyn Hangley, Gina Perregrino, Alexandra Razskazoff, Benjamin Sieverding, David Radamés Toro, David Walton, Lindsay Woodward
Moss & Barnett
Community Education Director | Jamie Andrews Teaching Artist | Alisa Magallón Project Opera Music Director | Matthew Abernathy
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MEMBERS Brad Benoit Liz Brenner Kamruz Darabi Emily Engel
* Deceased
Mark Giga Laura Green Chaffee Sarah Fowler
Drapers | Chris Bur, Emily Rosenmeier
Stitchers | Ann Habermann, Sara Huebschen, Kristine Robinson Wardrobe Supervisor | Emily Rosenmeier
Chief Development Officer | Carley Stuber Director of Development, Operations and Community Giving | Dan Sassenberg
Development Operations Coordinator | Jonathan Lundgren
MARKETING/COMMUNICATIONS
Marketing and Communications Associate | Kate Saumur
Social Media Specialist | Jana Sackmeister
Costume Director | Corinna Bohren Assistant Costume Director | Beth Sanders
Wig/Makeup Crew | Heath Bryant-Huppert
Marketing Director | Katherine L. Castille
Treasurer | Faris Rashid
COSTUMES
DEVELOPMENT
Vice Chair | Jennifer Engel
Secretary | Aimee Tritt
Master Carpenters | Nate Kulenkamp, Eric Veldey
Wig/Makeup Supervisors | Priscilla Bruce, Manuel Jacobo
Chief Marketing Officer | Darby Lunceford
Staff Liaisons | Kristin Matejcek, Eric Broker
Production Carpenter | JC Amel Scene Shop Foreman | Larry Kline
Project Opera Accompanist | Kathy Kraulik
Chair | Rhonda Skoby
Programming Co-chair | Kara Eliason
Lighting and Video Coordinator | Raymond W. Steveson Jr.
First Hands | Helen Ammann, Kelsey Glasener, Rebecca Karstad
OFFICERS
Programming Co-chair | Thomas Bakken
Properties Master | Jenn Maatman
EDUCATION
Development Associate | Nickolas Sanches
Audience Development Chair | Brian Halaas
SCENERY Technical Director | Mike McQuiston
Tailor | Yancey Thrift
Institutional Grants Manager | Diana Konopka
TEMPO BOARD MEMBERS
Production Assistant | Lorely Dedrick
Master Coaches | Lara Bolton, Mary Jo Gothmann, Eric McEnaney, Jenya Trubnikava
Director of Development, Leadership and Institutional Giving | Mallory Roberts
LEGAL COUNSEL
Assistant to the Production Director | Julia Gallagher
Audience Engagement Manager | Kristin Matejcek Design Manager | Kristin Backman Communications Manager | Eric Broker Audience Services Manager | Kevin Beckey Associate Audience Services Manager | Karl Annable Audience Services Representatives | Carol Corich, Madeleine Hallberg, Brian Johnson-Weyl, Evan Martinak, Trevor Schaeffer, Charlotte Summers
MINNESOTA OPERA VOLUNTEERS The following volunteers contribute their time and talent to support key activities of the company. Get involved with Bravo! Volunteer Corps at mnopera.org/volunteer, or email volunteering@mnopera.org for more information. Lynne Beck Gerald Benson Debra Brooks Jerry Cassidy Judith Duncan Jane Fuller Joan Gacki Merle Hanson Robin Keck Mary Lach Jerry Lillquist Joyce Lillquist Melanie Locke
Suzan Lynnes Mary McDiarmid Barbara Moore Douglas Myhra Candyce Osterkamp Pat Panshin Sydney Phillips Kari Schutz Janet Skidmore Wendi Sott Stephanie Van D’Elden Barbara Willis
Minnesota Opera is a proud member of The Arts Partnership with Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and The Schubert Club.
NEW WORKS INITIATIVE
A pioneering movement in new opera when it was launched in 2008, Minnesota Opera’s New Works Initiative continues to invigorate the operatic art form with an infusion of contemporary works, while fulfilling the company’s commitment to artistic growth, leadership, and innovation. This season’s world premiere of Dinner at Eight marks the latest opera created through the NWI. In July of 2014, Minnesota Opera was awarded a three-year, $750,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support the commission of Dinner at Eight. It was thrilling news, marking both the completion of the first $7 million
The first public reading of Dinner at Eight was held in Minneapolis in May 2016. Composer William Bolcom, librettist Mark Campbell, and conductor David Agler came together to work through the early stages of the opera with local artists. Dinner at Eight is a Depression-era comedy of manners in which the wife of a once-affluent shipping magnate plans a society dinner for an assortment of wealthy and well-born acquaintances. Eventually, the guests’ tangled and intimate connections to one another are revealed. The original play opened in 1932 on Broadway at the Music Box Theater, and inspired a star-studded film adaptation the following year. It has
enjoyed two Broadway revivals; the opera will be its first musical adaptation. “It is tremendously gratifying to work on a comic opera, particularly by an American legend such as William Bolcom,” said Artistic Director Dale Johnson. “The Great Depression provided fodder for a multitude of artistic masterpieces, and Dinner at Eight by Kaufman and Ferber belongs in that category. The play is an ensemble piece, fast-paced and brilliantly witty, filled with extraordinary characters. These are ideal elements for an opera. Both William Bolcom and Mark Campbell straddle the classical and American popular styles, and I can’t think of a better combination to bring this delicious comedy, with its rapid-fire dialogue and hilarious situations, to the operatic stage.” A final weeklong public reading takes place in November 2016 with principal artists, orchestra, and chorus. Rehearsals for the full production begin in February 2017, leading up to the March 11, 2017 world premiere performance at the Ordway. The commission promises to be a noteworthy addition to a line of successful and influential works.
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What is the NWI?
New Works Initiative (NWI) fundraising campaign, as well as the beginning of a bold, new phase of the project. Minnesota Opera is grateful to the Mellon Foundation for its extraordinary support of our efforts to expand the operatic art form. It is a great testament to opera’s vitality in the 21st century and underscores the national importance of our landmark initiative for the development of new opera.
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ANNUAL FUND
I N D I V I D UA L G I V I N G
It is with deep appreciation that Minnesota Opera recognizes and thanks all of the individual donors whose annual support helps bring great opera to life. It is our pleasure to give special recognition to the following individuals whose leadership support provides the financial foundation which makes the Opera’s artistic excellence possible.
bel canto circle Platinum $50,000 and above Julia W. Dayton Vicki and Chip Emery Ruth and John Huss Lucy Rosenberry Jones and James E. Johnson C. Angus and Margaret Wurtele Wayne Zink and Christopher Schout Platinum $20,000 – $49,999 An Anonymous Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Mary and Gus Blanchard
camerata circle
Platinum $7,500 – $9,999 Anonymous (2) Allegro Fund of the Saint Paul Foundation Richard Allendorf Barry and Wendy Brunsman Maureen and Mike Harms Patricia Johnson and Kai Bjerkness Miriam and Erwin Kelen Chris Larsen and Scott Peterson Cynthia and Lawrence Lee Connie and Lew Remele Don and Patricia Romanaggi Mary H. and Christian G. Schrock Gold $5,000 – $7,499 Anonymous Martha and Bruce Atwater Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation William Biermaier and David Hanson Kenneth and Peggy Bonneville Dr. Lee A. Borah Jr. Michael and Alexis Christie Peter Davis and Pamela Webster Mary Dearing and Barry Lazarus Cy and Paula DeCosse Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Dorothy Horns and James Richardson Jay and Cynthia Ihlenfeld
| MINNESOTA OPERA mnopera.org
artist circle
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$1,000 – $2,499 Anonymous Mark W. Addicks Eric S. Anderson and Janalee R. Aurelia Floyd Anderson Jamie Andrews and Jane Kolp-Andrews Annette Atkins and Tom Joyce Rebecca D. Arons and Thomas J. Basting Jr. Ruth and Dale Bachman Thomas and Ann Bagnoli Barbara S. Belk Carl and Joan Behr Donald E. Benson Shari and David Boehnen Mrs. Paul G. Boening Ed and Mimi Bohrer Allan Bradley Drs. Eli and Jan Briones
Sara and Jock Donaldson Mary Ingebrand-Pohlad Mr. and Mrs. Philip Isaacson John and Kathleen Junek Elizabeth Redleaf Mary Vaughan H. Bernt von Ohlen and W. Thomas Nichol William White Gold $15,000–$19,999 Patricia Beithon Ellie Crosby – The Longview Foundation
The Art and Martha Kaemmer Fund of HRK Foundation Robert and Sandy Klas Robert Kriel and Linda Krach Ilo and Margaret Leppik From the Family of Richard C. and Elizabeth B. Longfellow Diana Lee Lucker Karla Miller Dr. and Mrs. Alfred Moore Jenny L. Nilsson and Garrison Keillor Greg and Cindy Page Jose Peris and Diana Gulden Sarah and Rolf Peters Ken and Nina Rothchild Dorothy Sinha Nadege J. Souvenir and Joshua A. Dorothy Charles Allen Ward Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation Silver $2,500 – $4,999 Anonymous Nina and John Archabal Dan and Martha Goldberg Aronson Karen Bachman Michael Birt Alexandra O. Bjorklund Margee and Will Bracken
Joan and George Carlson Steve Coleman Barb and Jeff Couture Mike and Stacey Crosby – The Longview Foundation Helen and John Crosson Fran Davis Charles M. Denny Jr. and Carol E. Denny Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Mrs. Susan DeNuccio Joyce and Hugh Edmondson Rondi Erickson and Sandy Lewis Ester Fesler Gail Fiskewold Salvatore Silvestri Franco Terence Fruth and Mary McEvoy Family Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Joan and William Gacki James and Teddy Gesell Heidi and Howard Gilbert
William I. and Bianca M. Fine Charitable Trust Harvey T. McLain Mrs. Walter Meyers Estate Paul and Mary Reyelts Silver $10,000–$14,999 Anonymous Susan Boren and Steve King Rachelle Dockman Chase Jane M. and Ogden W. Confer Dolly J. Fiterman Mr. and Mrs. William Frels Beverly N. Grossman Sharon Hawkins
Warren and Patricia Kelly Robert L. Lee and Mary E. Schaffner Leni and David Moore Jr./Moore Family Fund for the Arts of The Minneapolis Foundation Albin and Susan Nelson Kay Ness and Chris Wolohan Luis Pagan-Carlo and Joseph Sammartino Jennifer and Chris Romans Mahlon and Karen Schneider Linda and Jesse Singh Virginia L. and Edward C. Stringer Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Memorial Foundation
Laurie Carlson and William Voedisch Nicky B. Carpenter Darlene J. and Richard P. Carroll Family Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Rusty and Burt Cohen Jill Irvine Crow Ruth Dayton Jay and Rebecca Debertin Thomas and Mary Lou Detwiler Mary Dolan Restricted Family Fund of The Longview Foundation Joan Duddingston Ralph D. Ebbott Dr. Mary Anne Ebert and Paul Stembler Nancy and Rolf Engh Ann Fankhanel Bruce and Melanie Flessner Patricia R. Freeburg Friborg Family Charitable Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Judith Garcia Galiana and Alberto Castillo Meg and Wayne Gisslen Dr. Richard Gregory Mrs. Myrtle Grette Mary Guignon Richards Susanne Haas and Ross Formell Michele Harris and Peter Tanghe
Linda and Jack Hoeschler Jean McGough Holten Dr. Arthur Horowitz Hella Mears Hueg Diane and Paul Jacobson Dale A. Johnson Robert and Susan Josselson Lyndel and Blaine King Helen L. Kuehn* David MacMillan and Judy Krow Dorothy and Roy Mayeske Mary Bigelow McMillan Velia R. Melrose Jodi and Michael Mooney Sandy and Bob Morris Thomas and Stefanie Murtha Richard and Nancy Nicholson Fund Kelly and Michael Palmer Mrs. William S. Phillips John and Sandra Roe Foundation Thomas D. and Nancy J. Rohde James and Andrea Rubenstein Frank and Lynda Sharbrough Julie Steiner Dr. Andrew J. Thomas Dr. Norrie Thomas and Gina Gillson Stephanie C. Van D’Elden Dr. Craig S. and Stephanie Walvatne Nancy and Ted Weyerhaeuser Woessner Freeman Family Foundation
Goodale Family Foundation Jennifer Gross and Jerry LeFevre Bruce and Jean Grussing Roger and Karen Hale Marion and Donald Hall Alfred and Ingrid Lenz Harrison Stefan and Lonnie Helgeson Don Helgeson and Sue Shepard Elfrieda Hintze Steve Horan Thomas Hunt and John Wheelihan Bryce and Paula Johnson Janet N. Jones Margaret V. Kinney Sally and Bill Kling Mrs. James S. Kochiras Anna Kokayeff Kyle Kossol and Tom Becker Constance and Daniel Kunin Christl and Andrew Larson Laurence and Jean LeJeune
Sy and Ginny Levy Family Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Benjamin Y. H. and Helen C. Liu William F. Long Leland T. Lynch and Terry Saario Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Reid and Ann MacDonald Mr. Jim Macknick and Dr. John Pemberton Carolyn Mayo Helen and Charles McCrossan Deb and Jon McTaggart Eileen and Lester Meltzer David and LaVonne Middleton Betty Myers Joan and Richard Newmark Jane and Robert Oberrender Ruth and Ahmad Orandi Suzanne and William Payne Marge and Dwight Peterson Kay Phillips and Jill Mortensen Mary and Robert Price
Scott and Courtney Rile Lois and John Rogers Dr. Donald V. Romanaggi Sr. Sampson Family Charitable Foundation Fred and Gloria Sewell
patron circle
Gold $750 – $999 Anonymous Laurie Anderson and Jon Hanson Gerald and Phyllis Benson Holli and Stefan Egerstrom Barbara McBurney Lucia Newell and Steven Wiese Liane A. Rosel David E. Sander Rhonda Skoby Warren Stortroen Silver $500 – $749 Thomas O. Allen John and Ashley Anderson Katherine Anderson August J. Aquila and Emily Haliziw Dr. Thomas Arlander Dr. and Mrs. Orn Arnar Jo and Gordon Bailey Family Fund of the Catholic Community Foundation Christopher Beaudet Chuck and Estelle Bennett Martin and Patricia Blumenreich
associate circle
$250 – $499 Anonymous (2) Jerry Artz Dan Avchen and David Johnson James and Gail Bakkom Bender Vocal Studio Kenneth J. Berglund Mitch and Michele Blatt Roger and Ronnie Brooks Dr. Hannelore Brucker Philip and Carolyn Brunelle Renee Campion and David Walsh Alan E. and Ruth Carp Katherine L. Castille C. Cesnik C.D.F. Foundation Margaret Clouthier Kay Constantine Shana Crosson and John Gisselquist Mr. Andrew Dahlen Douglas and Kathleen Drake Virginia Dudley and William Myers Candace and Dan Ellis Leah and Ian Evison Charlie and Anne Ferrell Mina Fisher and Fritz Nelson Greta and Paul Garmers Cecilie and Emanuel Gaziano Stanley and Luella Goldberg Charlotte L. Grantier
ANNUAL FUND
Cherie and Robert Shreck Kevin and Lynn Smith Matthew Spanjers and Annie Carvalho Daniel J. Spiegel Family Foundation Dana and Stephen Strand
Carley and Bill Stuber Vern Sutton Michael Symeonides and Mary Pierce Mr. Lester L. Temple Jill and John Thompson
Bryn and Schelly Vaaler Mrs. Joanne Von Blon Frank and Frances Wilkinson John W. Windhorst Jr. Carolyn, Sharon, and Clark Winslow
Thomas and Joyce Bruckner Jean and Bruce Carlson Kyle Clausen and Bethany Moritz Brenda Colwill Page and Jay Cowles Marilyn Crilley and George Rowbottom Amos and Sue Deinard Barry Divine Ellen Doll and Jay Swanson David Dudycha and Dorothy Vawter Christine Fleming Bradley Fuller and Elizabeth Lincoln David and Terry Gilberstadt Marsha and Richard Gould Rehael Fund – Roger Hale/Nor Hall of The Minneapolis Foundation Tom and Susan Handley Stuart Holland Barbara Jenkins Erika and Herb Kahler Jane and Jim Kaufman Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Carole and Joseph Killpatrick Jennifer Konz-Alt and Aaron Alt Robert and Venetia Kudrle
Barbara and Robert Kueppers Scott and Karla Lalim Beatrice H. Langford Mr. Bryan Lechner Tim and Susanna Lodge Ruth W. Lyons Bridget Manahan and Joe Alexander Frank Mayers Laura McCarten Kris and Bill McGrath Steven J. Mittelholtz Kathleen and Donald Park Ilya Perepelitsyn and Lioudmila Sitnikova Carol Peterson Corine and John Petraborg Walter Pickhardt and Sandra Resnick Christina and Dwight Porter Lorraine Potuzak Dennis M. Ready Lawrence M. Redmond Bob and Donna Rose Enrique and Clara Rotstein Fred Sandal Mary Savina
Jon L. Schasker and Debbie Carlson Gale Sharpe Morris and Judith Sherman Madeline Simon Stanislaw Skrowaczewski Dr. Leslie W. Smith Clifford C. and Virginia G. Sorensen Charitable Trust of The Saint Paul Foundation Jon Spoerri and Debra Christgau Michael Steffes Mary K. and Gary Stern Thomas and Sharon Stoffel Craig and Janet Swan Dr. Anthony Thein Irma Thies Susan Travis Cindy and Steven Vilks Olga Viso and Cameron Gainer David L. Ward Elizabeth Wexler Deborah Wheeler Barbara White John M. Williams
Joseph and Deirdre Haj Russell and Priscilla Hankins Jaden Hansen and Kathryn Louis Mounira Hassan Patrick and Susan Haub Alfred E. Hauwiller Rosmarie and John Helling Holly C. Hickman Mary K. Hicks John Hogie Andrew and Gary Whitford Holey Brian and Karen Hopps Burton and Sandra Hoverson Mark and Kathleen Humphrey Thomas and Vicki Hurwitz Mr. Rob Hutter Ray Jacobsen Deborah and Ronald Jans Charlie Johnson Nancy Jones Charles and Sally Jorgensen Jim and Kathleen Karges Barry and Cheryl Kempton Janice Kimes Tara and Peter Klatt Nathan Kulenkamp Gene and Phyllis Letendre Lisa and Jonathan Lewis Stuart MacGibbon Elizabeth and Whitney MacMillan
Dr. Joan E. Madden The Mahley Family Foundation Dusty Mairs Kristin and Jim Matejcek Orpha McDiarmid Family Fund Laurie and David Mech Adele Mehta Curtis and Verne Melberg John L. Michel and H. Berit Midelfort Virginia Miller Sonny Miller Brad Momsen and Rick Buchholz Merritt C. Nequette and Nancy Hartung William and Sharon Nichols Brandon and Melissa Novy Patricia A. O’Gorman Dennis R. Olson Donna and Marvin Ortquist Julia and Brian Palmer Marcia and Jon Pankake James A. Payne Lana K. Pemberton Margaret and John Perry Jane M. Persoon John and Norma Pierson Anne and John Polta Nicole and Charles Prescott Philip Rickey
Robert E. Rocknem William and Nancy Rodman Tamara and Michael Root Ruth Rose Daniel Roth Dan Sassenberg Kate Saumur Beth and Steve Schneider Paul L. Schroeder Juliana Simmons Dale and Marilyn Simmons Bonnie and Peter Sipkins Arthur and Marilynn Skantz Linda Soranno and Howard Bolter Mark and Kristi Specker Dr. David M. Steinhaus Barbara Stoll Mark Stutrud Katharine E. Thomas Dr. Norrie Thomas and Gina Gillson Susan Truman John Vilandre Elaine B. Walker Greg and Ellen Weyandt John and Sandra White Jeff Wiemiller Barb Wildes Wendy Wildung Jenna Wolf * Deceased Ruth Wood
These lists are current as of September 1, 2016, and include donors who gave a gift of $250 or more during Minnesota Opera’s Annual Fund Campaign. If your name is not listed appropriately, please accept our apologies and contact Mallory Roberts, Director of Development, Leadership and Institutional Giving, at mroberts@mnopera.org or 612-342-9566.
become a donor
Bring innovative opera productions to life with your charitable gift, and join Minnesota Opera’s family of donors today. Visit mnopera.org/support to give online. Thank you!
| ROMEO & JULIET
INDIVIDUAL GIVING
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INSTITUTIONAL GIVING
Minnesota Opera gratefully acknowledges its major institutional supporters: $100,000 + This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
$50,000 – $99,999
$25,000 – $49,999
$10,000 – $24,999
For information on making a corporate or foundation contribution to Minnesota Opera, please contact Mallory Roberts, Director of Development, Leadership and Institutional Giving, at mroberts@mnopera.org or 612-342-9566.
minnesota opera sponsors
| MINNESOTA OPERA mnopera.org
Season Sponsor
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Tempo After Parties Sakura
Tempo Print Sponsor Press Sure Print
Official Make-Up Partner
corporations, foundations, and government Gold $5,000 – $9,999
The Aaron Copland Fund for Music Inc. Best Buy Children’s Foundation Boss Foundation Briggs & Morgan p.a. Dellwood Foundation Ernst & Young Hardenbergh Foundation Harlan Boss Foundation for the Arts Anna M. Heilmaier Charitable Foundation r.c. Lilly Foundation Mayo Clinic RBC Wealth Management
Rothschild Capital Partners James Rubenstein, Moss & Barnett Schwegman, Lundberg & Woessner p.a.
Silver $2,500 – $4,999 Anonymous Hutter Family Foundation Margaret Rivers Fund Maurices Minnesota Power Morgan Family Foundation National Bank of Commerce Peravid Foundation The Elizabeth C. Quinlan Foundation Tennant Foundation
Thomson Reuters Wells Fargo Advisors
Bronze $250 – $2,499
Carlson Family Foundation Enterprise Holdings Foundation Fredrikson & Byron Foundation Hammel, Green and Abrahamson Inc. McVay Foundation Onan Family Foundation Sit Investment Foundation Wells Fargo Insurance Services
In-Kind Donations Dunn Bros. Coffee Jefferson Lines
production multimedia
Publicity Photographer, Brent Dundore | Production Photographer, Dan Norman Videographer, Flight Creative Media | Event Photographer, CJ Standish Broadcast Recording
Media Sponsor
Media Sponsor
MINNESOTA OPERA THANKS the following donors who, through their foresight and generosity, have included the Opera in their wills or estate plans. We invite you to join other opera lovers by leaving a legacy gift to Minnesota Opera. If you have already made such a provision, we encourage you to notify us so that we may appropriately recognize your generosity. Anonymous (4)
Margaret Kilroe Trust*
Paul and Val Ackerman
Lyndel and Blaine King
Thomas O. Allen
Gretchen Klein*
Dr. and Mrs. Rolf Andreassen*
Sally and William Kling
Mary A. Andres
Gisela Knoblauch*
Karen Bachman
Liz and Jim Krezowski
Randolph G. Baier*
Robert Kriel and Linda Krach
Patricia and Mark Bauer Mrs. Harvey O. Beek* Barbara and Judson Bemis Sr.*
Robert and Venetia Kudrle Helen L. Kuehn* Robert J. Lawser Jr.
Dr. Lee Borah Jr.
Jean Lemberg*
Allan Bradley
Joyce and Jerry Lillquist
C.T. Bundy II
Patricia Ruth Lund*
Margaret M. Carasik
David Mayo
Joan and George Carlson
Barbara and Thomas* McBurney
Darlene J. and Richard P. Carroll
Mary McDiarmid
Julia and Dan Cross Julia and Kenneth* Dayton Charles M. Denny George and Susan Doty Rudolph Driscoll* Anne P. Ducharme Ester and John* Fesler Dr. Paul Froeschl Katy Gaynor Nettie Grabscheid*
Mildred McGonagle* Sheila McNally* Mrs. Walter Meyers John L. Michel and H. Berit Midelfort Susan Molder* Edith Mueller* Kay Ness Joan and Richard Newmark Philip Oxman and Harvey Zuckman Scott J. Pakudaitis
MINNESOTA OPERA INFO Minnesota Opera Ticket Office 620 North First Street, Minneapolis, MN 55401 612-333-6669 Regular Hours: Monday – Friday, 10am – 5pm. Performances: Weekdays — phones open until curtain. Weekends — phones open at 2pm for evening performances and at 10:30am for matinee performances. Minnesota Opera staff will be available at the Ordway’s Box Office 90 minutes prior to curtain. mnopera.org Visit mnopera.org to watch behind-the-scenes videos, read synopses, browse digital programs, and more. Join our e-club to receive special offers and opera news. Ticket Policies Tickets are not refundable. Subscribers may make exchanges for a different performance or opera up to one hour prior to curtain. Any ticket may be turned back for a tax deductible donation up until curtain. Call the Minnesota Opera Ticket Office at 612-333-6669. Parking Prepaid parking is available for opera patrons at the Lawson Commons Ramp. Call 612-333-6669 or visit mnopera.org to purchase passes. Opera Insights Come early for Opera Insights — free, fun, and informative half-hour sessions held in the lobby one hour before curtain. Accessibility For patrons with disabilities, wheelchair-accessible seats are available. Audio description will be available for select performances. Please call 612-333-6669 for details and indicate any special needs when ordering tickets. At Ordway, accessible restrooms and other facilities are available, as well as Braille or large-print programs and infrared listening systems.
Sydney M. and William S.* Phillips
At the Ordway Ordway is a smoke-free facility.
Julia Hanna*
Richard G.* and Liane A. Rosel
Latecomers will be seated at an appropriate break.
Ruth Hanold*
Ken and Nina Rothchild
Frederick J. Hey Jr.*
Berneen Rudolph
Norton M. Hintz Trust*
Mary Savina
Elfrieda Hintze
Frank and Lynda Sharbrough
Jean McGough Holten
Drew Stewart
Charles J. Hudgins*
James and Susan Sullivan
Dale and Pat Johnson
Gregory C. Swinehart
Ruth Jones*
Stephanie C. Van D’Elden
Charles and Sally Jorgensen
Mary W. Vaughan
Robert and Susan Josselson
Bernt von Ohlen
Robert and Ellen Green Dr. Ieva M. Grundmanis*
Charlotte* and Markle Karlen Mary H. Keithahn Warren and Patricia Kelly
Lana K. Pemberton
Sandra and Dale Wick
Please have all cell phones and pagers turned to the silent mode. Children under six are not permitted in the hall. Cameras and recording equipment are strictly prohibited in the theater. Please check these items with an usher. Food and beverages are available for purchase prior to the show and during intermission. Water and other beverages are allowed in the theater (hot beverages require lids), but food is strictly prohibited.
Richard Zgodava* Daniel Richard Zillmann
* In remembrance
For more information on making planned giving arrangements, please contact Carley Stuber, CFRE, Chief Development Officer, at cstuber@mnopera.org or 612-342-9579. Your attorney or financial advisor can then help determine which methods are most appropriate for you.
The phone number for emergencies is 651-224-4222. Please leave seat locations with the calling party. Lost and Found is located at the Stage Door. Call 651-282-3070 for assistance.
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LEGACY CIRCLE
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Gala Chairs Honorary Gala Chairs - Ruth and John Huss
Gala Committee Shelli Chase
Kay Ness
Gala Chair - Leni Moore
Jane Confer
Connie Remele
Corporate Chair - Don Romanaggi
Sara Donaldson
Linda Singh
Mary Schrock
Mary and Gus Blanchard • Sara and Jock Donaldson • Chip and Vicki Emery Maureen and Mike Harms • Ruth and John Huss • Mary Ingebrand-Pohlad Lucy Rosenberry Jones and James E. Johnson • Martha and Arthur Kaemmer Christl and Andrew Larson • Leni and David Moore Bernt von Ohlen and Thomas Nichol • William White • Margaret and Angus Wurtele
Minnesota Opera Board of Directors • 2016 Gala Committee • Catherine Allan and Tim Grady Michael Christie • Chip and Vicki Emery • Carole Finneran • Sue and Jim Nelson Leni and David Moore • Elizabeth Redleaf • Travelers • Margaret and Angus Wurtele
Helping kids dream with their eyes open. Project SUCCESS motivates and inspires young people to dream about the future, helps them take steps to get there and gives them the tools they need to achieve their goals.
Project SUCCESS thanks
MINNESOTA OPERA
for giving young people and their families the ticket to dream. IN MINNEAPOLIS SINCE 1994
612 874.7710
www.projectsuccess.org
BRINGS A WORLD PREMIERE TO
MILWAUKEE, WI ®
Mezzo-soprano
Baritone
Adriana Zabala*
Keith Phares
in the role of
in the role of
Carrie Meeber
Hurstwood
Season tickets on sale now!
All performances at Ted Mann Concert Hall. Aldridge & Garfein’s World Premiere and Recording
December 9-10, 2016 • 8pm December 11, 2016 • 2pm
April 7-8, 2017 • 8pm AT THE
MARCUS CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS IN MILWAUKEE, WI
FRIDAY
SUNDAY
7:30 PM
2:30 PM
with
OCT. 7 OCT. 9 SISTER CARRIE IS SUPPORTED IN PART BY AN AWARD FROM THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS AND LLOYD GERLACH IN MEMORY OF MARY ANN GERLACH The 83rd Season is made possible with major support from:
* NITA SOREF TITLE ARTIST SPONSOR
• MARIE Z. UIHLEIN ARTIST FUND
Season artwork by Bill Baldus Creative Agent
HOTEL AND DINING PACKAGES AVAILABLE WHEN YOU CALL
featuring Tyler’s Suite
June 16-17, 2017 • 8pm June 18, 2017 • 2pm
The Demmer Foundation
CALL
1800 32 OPERA TODAY! WWW.FLORENTINEOPERA.ORG
FO MN Opera SEPT SC Ad.indd 1
U of M Tickets and Events: 612-624-2345 or tickets.umn.edu
Chorus: 612-339-7664 • tcgmc.org
9/8/16 4:15 PM
CALLING ALL BOYS! (Choirs for Boys ages 5–18)
perpetually learning
Refreshing artistic expression At Breck, because we encourage our students’ self-expression, they fearlessly explore the arts—coming into their own as singers, dancers, painters, sculptors, actors, or art historians. Join us for our Open House | Saturday, Nov. 12 | 9:00 a.m. - Noon
breckschool.org one campus p-12 in Golden Valley
Are you interested in music, fun opportunities, and new friends?
So are we!
The Metropolitan Boys Choir is inviting new members for our 2016 Spring choirs. Now is the perfect time to get involved! We have choirs for all experience and skill levels. Please visit our website at:
www.mbchoir.com
For more info, email us at: metroboyschoir@gmail.com or call 612-827-6501.
Are your glasses aging you ? VISIT, CALL or CLICK: UPTOWN Hennepin Avenue NEW BRIGHTON Silver Lake Rd ST. PAUL Grand Avenue BURNSVILLE Burnsville Center 888.797.EYES spectacleshoppe.com
We’ve been putting people in glasses they love since 1969. Let us do the same for you. You’ll look as young as you feel. Our lovely model and customer is wearing Jono Hennessy frame 8300.
Craft Cocktails & Creole Inspired Dining straight from
NEW ORLEANS Present your Opera ticket before 8pm and receive a free menu item up to $15 and/or after the Opera for waived cover charge!
VIEUX-CARRE.COM
DOWNTOWN, DOWNSTAIRS, HISTORIC HAMM BUILDING, SAINT PAUL MN
Osmo Vänskä /// Music Director
ESTHER YOO
NOV E M B E R CONCERTS VÄNSKÄ CONDUCTS NEW WORLD SYMPHONY Thu Nov 3 11am Fri Nov 4 & Sat Nov 5 8pm
Osmo Vänskä, conductor / Esther Yoo, violin Yoo plays the popular Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1. Dvořák’s Ninth and Copland’s moving Lincoln Portrait inspire a love of home and a call to our deepest American ideals.
GUARANTORS’ WEEK
CLAUDIO PUNTIN
VÄNSKÄ CONDUCTS MAHLER’S SIXTH Fri Nov 11 & Sat Nov 12 8pm
Osmo Vänskä, conductor / Claudio Puntin, clarinet Mahler’s Sixth is his unsung masterpiece, thrilling in its sweep and drama, and Puntin’s clarinet concerto AROMA was created at the request of Music Director Osmo Vänskä.
CHRIS BOTTI Fri Nov 18 8pm
Trumpeter and bandleader Chris Botti is the complete package—a great musician and showman who promises an unforgettable evening at Orchestra Hall.
DISNEY•PIXAR
RATATOUILLE IN CONCERT
COMPLETE FILM WITH LIVE ORCHESTRA
Sat Nov 26 & Sun Nov 27 2pm CHRIS BOTTI
You’ll eat up this tasty treat about an ambitious French rat (Remy) who dreams of becoming a gourmet chef in this Disney-Pixar animated film with live music from the Minnesota Orchestra!
RATATOUILLE IN CONCERT
Sarah Hicks, conductor
minnesotaorchestra.org 612.371.5656 / Orchestra Hall
PHOTOS Vänskä: Joel Larson; Yoo: Marco Borggreve; Puntin: Grzegorz Golebiowski; Botti: Fabrizio Ferri; Ratatouille: Presentation licensed by Disney Concerts © All Rights Reserved. Media Partner:
JAMES SEWELL BALLET
2016-2017 season
PRESENTS
Photo by Sara Rubinstein
Octet (premiere) Music performed live by The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Musicians.
Killer Pig Created by McKnight International Choreographers Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar — presented with intensely uncompromising honesty and physicality.
November 4 – 6
The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University
TICKETS: OSHAG.STKATE.EDU 651.690.6700
Adapted from Herman Melville’s
MOBY DICK ONE MAN, THREE MUSICIANS & A WHITE WHALE JANUARY 6 – 15, 2017
THE SOUTHERN THEATER 1420 WASHINGTON AVE SOUTH MINNEAPOLIS
TICKETS: 612.326.1811 SOUTHERNTHEATER.ORG