Richard Strauss
Salome
The Schubert Club MAUD MOON WEYERHAEUSER SANBORN
International Artist Series Renée Fleming, soprano Thursday, October 7, 2010
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Salome Contents Minnesota Opera Staff and Volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Notes from the Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Salome. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Synopsis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Richard Strauss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 Background Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Oscar Wilde – Beyond Decadence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 The Artists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Minnesota Opera Orchestra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Minnesota Opera New Works Initiative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Education at the Opera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 2010–2011 Season. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Minnesota Opera Annual Fund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Donor Spotlight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Minnesota Opera President & ceo Artistic Director Chair, Board of Directors
Kevin Smith Dale Johnson Chip Emery
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notes from the Leadership
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from the Artistic Director Officers David Daniels will make his Minnesota Chip Emery, Chair debut. The rest of the lineup of worldclass opera experiences includes the Rachelle D. Chase, Vice Chair Romanian mezzo-soprano Roxana Stephanie J. Prem, Secretary Constantinescu’s American opera Heinz F. Hutter, Treasurer stage debut in Rossini’s Cinderella; the next installment in Donizetti’s Tudor Kevin Smith, President & CEO trilogy, Mary Stuart, with dueling divas Judith Howarth and Brenda Harris; Directors Verdi’s La traviata starring Elizabeth Martha Goldberg Aronson Ruth S. Huss Futral with conductor Michael Christie Wendy Bennett Philip Isaacson making his Minnesota Opera debut; and a world premiere by the creative team Charles Berg Lynne E. Looney who brought The Grapes of Wrath to life Shari Boehnen Diana E. Murphy in 2007, Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Susan S. Boren Luis Pagan-Carlo Korie’s The Garden of the Finzi-Continis. Kathleen Callahan Debra Paterson You won’t want to miss any of them, so please visit mnopera.org or call the Nicky B. Carpenter Jose Peris ticket office and purchase your season Jane M. Confer Mary Ingebrand-Pohlad tickets today! Thank you for being here Mary A. Dearing Elizabeth Redleaf and I hope you enjoy Salome. Jodi Dehli
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Dale Johnson Artistic Director
Bianca Fine Peter Sipkins Thomas J. Foley Steve Fox
from the President Welcome to Salome. As we wrap up our 2009–2010 season, I want to thank you for your dedication to the Opera. We had high hopes for this season, and your support and attendance have exceeded our expectations. We have seen ancient Ceylon in our sold-out performances of The Pearl Fishers, visited Venice by gondola in the sensational 25th anniversary remounting of Casanova’s Homecoming, traveled to Elizabethan London with Brenda Harris’ glorious role debut in Roberto Devereux, walked the streets of Bohemian Paris in our hit production of La bohème and tonight journey to Biblical Judea to experience the drama
Connie Remele
of one of opera’s most psychologically challenged families in Richard Strauss’ thrilling drama, Salome. Looking ahead to Minnesota Opera’s 2010–2011 season, I want to invite you to continue the fantastic journey with us to more faraway lands in operas based in myth and fantasy, as well as those steeped in historical context. You won’t want to miss a single show, so turn to Page 24 and peruse the fantastic artistic offerings we have in store next season. P.S. April 30 is the deadline for subscribers to renew! The Box Office will be open after the performance for your convenience. Enjoy the show!
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Welcome to this performance of Salome, the final production of our thrilling 2009–2010 season. Richard Strauss’ first masterpiece is an extraordinary and potent mixture of vibrant orchestral writing, amazing singing and a brilliant libretto. Based on Oscar Wilde’s controversial play, this opera tells the story of the infamous daughter of Herodias, who demands from Herod the head of John the Baptist as a prize for her Dance of the Seven Veils. David Lefkowich (Romeo and Juliet) directs this beautiful new production. Lust, desire, vengeance … what a way to end the season! You will only need to wait a few short months for the 2010–2011 opera season, which begins on September 25 with a new production of Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice, in which countertenor
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ordway.org ON STAGE
April 10 & 15 (7:30pm); April 18 (2pm); April 20 & 24 (7:30pm) Minnesota Opera Salome by Richard Strauss April 27 (7pm) Saint Paul Public Schools Honors Concert & Art Exhibit April 29-May 1 (8pm) The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Dennis Russell Davies Conducts Beethoven’s 1st Symphony
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May 4-16 Times Vary Lincoln Center Theatre’s Production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific May 20 (7:30pm) Target World Music and Dance Series dre.dance Dance with depth May 25 (8pm) The Schubert Club Christine Brewer, soprano May 27 (8pm); May 28 (10:30, 8pm); May 29 (8pm) The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Joshua Bell Returns June 5 - 6 Times Vary FLINT HILLS International Children’s Festival
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June 11 (10:30am, 8pm); June 12 (8pm) The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Schumann’s Spring Symphony
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It starts softly, but soon there are bursts of color and texture. New discoveries and vivid surprises fill the air.
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Salome Music by Richard Strauss Libretto after Hedwig Lachmann’s German translation of Oscar Wilde’s play World premiere at the Hofoper, Dresden December 9, 1905 April 10, 15, 18, 20 and 24, 2010 Ordway Center for the Performing Arts Sung in German with English translations Conductor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Emmanuel Joel-Hornak Stage Director and Choreographer. . . . . . . .David Lefkowich Set and Lighting Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Steve TenEyck Costume Designer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jennifer Caprio Wig and Makeup Designers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jason Allen, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ronell Oliveri Assistant Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Octavio Cardenas Assistant Conductor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Clinton Smith Stage Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alexander Farino English Captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Floyd Anderson
The Cast Salome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mlada Khudoley Jokanaan, the prophet John the Baptist . . . . . . . Jason Howard Herod, Tetrarch of Judea, Salome’s stepfather . . .Dennis Petersen Herodias, Salome’s mother . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elizabeth Byrne Narraboth, captain of the guard . . . . . . . . . . Christian Reinert Herodias’ page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nicole Percifield Five Jews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brad Benoit, Dan Dressen, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Richard Lawrence Joseph, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brian J. Kuhl, Michael Nyby Two Nazarenes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Obed Floan, Seth Keeton Two soldiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jonathan Kimple, Rodolfo Nieto A cappadocian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeffrey Madison A slave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Naomi Isabel Ruiz Setting: A great terrace in Herod’s palace on Lake Galilee
The appearances of Seth Keeton, national semifinalist; and Jonathan Kimple and Jeffrey Madison, district finalists 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.
Performances of Salome are being taped for delayed broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio, ksjn 99.5 in the Twin Cities. The Minnesota Opera season is sponsored by The Private Client Reserve at U.S. Bank. The appearances of the 2009–2010 season conductors are underwritten by SpencerStuart.
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Salome is supported in part through the National Endowment for the Arts Recovery Act.
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Synopsis
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arraboth praises Salome’s beauty as the page observes the moon and warns of an ominous future. Two soldiers watch Herod as he stares at Salome during dinner and comment on the man in the cistern. He is John the Baptist, known in Hebrew as Jokanaan, a prophet who wandered the desert until he was imprisoned by Herod for slandering his wife Herodias and for fear of his heretical beliefs.
Herod and Herodias come out onto the terrace. The tetrarch slips on Narraboth’s blood and senses a portentous omen. Still entranced by her beauty, Herod offers Salome refreshments, which she curtly refuses. Overhearing Jokanaan’s denunciations, Herodias demands that he be silenced, but Herod refuses, believing he could be a holy man. Five Jews debate that theory. Two Nazarenes tell of the man whom Jokanaan believes to be the Son of God and of the miracles he
has performed, putting more fear into Herod’s mind. Still, he will not silence Jokanaan, to Herodias’ exasperation. Herod asks Salome to dance, but she refuses. He then offers her anything she wants and she agrees, performing a seductive dance to Herodias’ objections. Afterwards, she names her prize – the head of Jokanaan. Herod is mortified and offers everything in his realm rather than kill the supposed prophet, but Salome will not budge. Delighted, Herodias slips the ring of death off the tetrarch’s finger and gives it to the executioner, who performs the grisly task. Offered the head on a golden charger, Salome claims the prize that was denied earlier – the kiss from Jokanaan’s lips. Absolutely revolted, Herod orders his soldiers to crush her to death with their shields. ❚
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Salome enters, disgusted by her stepfather’s lecherous glances, the bickering Jews and the uncouth Romans. She hears the voice of Jokanaan and is intrigued. Though no one is allowed to see him, Salome uses her seductive charm on Narraboth. Jokanaan is brought before her and speaks of Herodias’ incest, for she has married the brother of her first husband, a violation of Jewish canon.
He ignores Salome’s flirtations until he learns she is Herodias’ daughter. Narraboth is horrified by Salome’s blatant advances and kills himself, hoping to allay her abhorrent behavior. The prophet continues to hurl insults at Salome as he repels her desire to kiss his mouth. He returns to the cistern as Salome, now insulted, momentarily conceals her thirst for revenge.
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richard Strauss b Munich, June 11, 1864; d Garmisch, September 8, 1949
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K
biting tonality may have been too barbaric for audiences nown informally as the “second Richard” or the of the day. For their next project, Strauss wanted a comedy “other Strauss,” Richard Strauss rose to become in the vein of Mozart. Der Rosenkavalier, complete with the most important composer of German opera basso buffo and en travesti (pants) roles undercut with a in the early 20th century. Living in the shadows of Richard persistent Viennese waltz, easily fit the bill. It is perhaps Wagner and Johann Strauss, Jr., Richard Strauss advanced their most popular and enduring work. melodic and harmonic theories, while at the same time For the next collaboration, the librettist envisioned looking over a sentimental shoulder toward the waltz a new adaptation of Molière’s Le bourgeois gentilhomme, king’s Viennese dramaturgy and stagecraft. supported with incidental music by Strauss and followed Strauss was Bavarian, born to a wealthy mother and by a short opera. The double bill failed to please, with the a musical father. Franz Strauss, a noted horn player in the theater-going audiences being unreceptive to opera and court orchestra, occasionally was called upon as a principal vice versa. The work was revised horn for Wagner’s operas at Bayreuth. considerably, jettisoning the Molière Although he performed in a number play and refashioning Ariadne auf of important premieres, father Strauss Naxos into an opera-within-an-opera. considered the much-venerated Hofmannsthal and Strauss’ composer’s music to be cacophonic and “modern,” discouraging his young son next few works were varied in their from paying it much mind. But Richard themes and forms. Die Frau ohne would not obey his father’s wishes, Schatten is a Gozzi-esque fairy tale and as a teen who had been studying about a mythical empress who must music since age four, he was completely procure a shadow in order to save consumed by Tristan und Isolde. her husband from turning to stone. Strauss had the good fortune to Die ägyptische Helena concerns serve as assistant conductor to Hans Helen of Troy’s post-war marital von Bülow at Meiningen, which led to problems. Arabella was intended as various postings in Munich, Bayreuth another Viennese comedy, styled and Weimar. Eventually he would assume to become a second Rosenkavalier. prestigious positions at the Berlin Court It was to be their last collaboration. Opera and the Vienna State Opera, as While dressing for his son’s funeral, Richard Strauss (1945) well as conduct major orchestras around Willy Damian (1900–1969) Hofmannsthal died of a stroke, Musikinstrumenten-Museum, Staatliches Institut fuer Europe and the Americas. leaving the words for Arabella’s Musikforschung (Berlin, Germany) Strauss’ first opera, Guntram, was second and third acts in draft form. Photo Credit: Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz/Art Resource, NY cast in the Wagnerian mold, complete Strauss set the unfinished text as an with characters based on Teutonic history. It was not a huge homage to his colleague, and the opera premiered in 1933. success, but the opera received courteous acknowledgement Apart from Hofmannsthal, Strauss wrote and composed from Giuseppe Verdi, to whom Strauss had sent the score. Intermezzo, based on a real-life misunderstanding between It was also during Guntram that Strauss announced his him and Pauline that almost led to divorce. engagement to soprano Pauline de Ahna, who sang the Like many Jewish artists, Strauss’ next librettist, Stefan leading female role at the premiere. Many found Pauline’s Zweig, suffered religious persecution, and their opera, temperament to be downright shrewish, but somehow, Die schweigsame Frau (based on a play by Shakespeare offset by the composer’s gentle manner, the marriage contemporary Ben Jonson), encountered some difficulties as stood the test of time. a result. Zweig chose to leave Germany but presented Joseph Strauss’ next opera, Feuersnot, was based on a bawdy Gregor as a replacement and was still able to influence Strauss’ Flemish legend and initiated a trend of indelicate themes works from a distance. Together the new team produced that pervade many of his works. The opera that followed, Friedenstag, an opera set in 17th-century Austria at the end Salome, displayed full-blown sexuality and was his first of the Thirty Years War; Daphne, a subject again steeped in big succès du scandale. mythology; and Die Liebe der Danae, another ancient tale In 1900, when he first saw Oscar Wilde’s play Salomé, fusing the Greek legend of Danae with that of King Midas. Strauss made an important contact with playwright Hugo Capriccio was Strauss’ last opera, a “conversation with von Hofmannsthal. Hofmannsthal’s own adaptation of music” based on an 18th-century text. Its premiere occurred Sophocles’ Electra later would impress the composer when before Danae’s, however, as the considerably shorter Capriccio he saw it in a Max Reinhardt production. Strauss set the could be played before the nightly air raids commenced. Four play to music, and a fruitful artistic partnership was born. years after the Second World War, Strauss died in his sleep at Elektra was also a success but not quite to the same his Bavarian villa. Pauline died one year later, just nine days degree as Salome. Its relentless dramatic impetus and before the premiere of Strauss’ monumental Four Last Songs. ❚
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background Notes by David Sander
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n 1904, Richard Strauss was chiefly known for his evocative tone poems. Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Also sprach Zarathustra and Don Quixote had made his name as a master of the orchestra, but his first two operatic attempts, Guntram (1894) and Feuersnot (1901) had not achieved the notoriety he had hoped for as a potential successor to Richard Wagner, the German Titan whose works were now at the height of their popularity worldwide. Like many composers (Gustav Mahler, to name one), he had to supplement his creative spirit with income earned as a conductor, in this case for Berlin’s royal family at the court opera house. Salome would change all of that.
The Apparition (1874)
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Gustave Moreau (1826–1898) Musée Gustave Moreau (Paris, France) Photo Credit: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY
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Strauss became familiar with the subject when a young poet, Anton Lindner, sent him a German translation of the Oscar Wilde play – in fact, he was captivated by the opening lines (“How beautiful Princess Salome looks tonight”) and began to set them to music in his head. But it was a production by Max Reinhardt, with a translation by Hedwig Lachmann, that truly captured his attention. Reinhardt was in the early stages of his career, but was already demonstrating his consummate skill as an impresario that would make him one of the most famous directors of the early 20th century. His production of Salome would achieve a monumental run of over 200 performances at Berlin’s Deutsches Theater.
If only Oscar Wilde had been so lucky. His drama, said to have been intended for the legendary French actress Sarah Bernhardt, was postponed in Paris and banned in London due to its biblical subject matter (to be fair, other works, such as Saint-Saëns’ Samson et Dalila, shared a similar fate). By the time it reached the French Théâtre de l’Oeuvre in 1896, Wilde had been imprisoned for “gross indecency,” and the once famous playwright, now insolvent, would not see a public production in his lifetime. Bernhardt, well known for such strong female leads as Tosca, Théodora and Cléopatre, would never have the opportunity to realize the complex psychosexual role of Salome. Historically, the story of Salome gives us very little basis for those emotions. Passages in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew mention a nameless girl who danced for Tetrarch Herod, demanded the head of John the Baptist and presented it to her mother. A contemporary historian, Flavius Josephus in his The Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews, gave Salome a name (believed to be derived, oddly, from Shalom, or peace) and a family ancestry, including a life and marriage after the “Baptist incident.” The beheading, along with other biblical decapitation stories, was frequently realized by Renaissance and Baroque painters, then took a hiatus when religious depictions in art fell out of fashion. Writers and artists of the 19th century, particularly in France, took a renewed interest in Salome and her mother. Herodias had taken on a rather abominable reputation by that time for divorcing her first husband, Herod Philippus, and marrying his brother Herod Antipas. In a power coup, Herod imprisoned his sibling, who was once Tetrarch of Judea (according to Wilde’s play, in the very cistern in which Jokanaan resided), and then executed (again, according Wilde, strangled after waiting for 12 years for him to expire naturally). In Atta Troll, Heinrich Heine tells of Herodias’ lust for the prophet’s head and in Joseph Converse Heywood’s dramatic poem Salome, Herodias threatens the life of Salome’s husband Sextus if she does not complete the task (at the end, Salome is absolved by Jesus Christ). But it was the French Decadent frameof-mind that would explore Herodias’ depravity to its fullest. Gustave Flaubert and Stéphane Mallarmé both produced Herodias (Flaubert’s text would be set to music by Jules Massenet in 1881). More intrigued by Salome’s role in the murder, Symbolist painter Gustave Moreau produced a series of artworks depicting various stages of the beheading. These intrigued Joris-Karl Huysmans, in his novel À rebours, to have his ennui-debilitated artistprotagonist Duc Jean de Floressas des Esseintes become obsessed with Moreau’s opulent Orientalist paintings as he languishes in a decomposing world. Des Esseintes wasn’t the only one fascinated by Moreau’s works. Oscar Wilde made a point of viewing them during a lengthy stay in France. He was already aware of Huysmans’ narrative after having read it while
background Notes
Oscar Wilde – Beyond Decadence Whether given as an opera or a play, Salome is a sensational piece, and an examination of this masterpiece could not escape a look at its extraordinary author, Oscar Wilde. The poet and playwright’s meteoric rise to fame followed by complete and utter devastation in only a decade is a fascinating exploration into the Victorian legal system and its flailing social mores. Oscar Finagal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin on October 16, 1854 to an ear surgeon-occultist and a literary doyenne. Following undergraduate work at Trinity College, he flourished at Oxford, completing his degree with a “First in Greats.” His atypical “dandified” manner of dress and sharp wit appear to have inspired a role, Bunthorne the fleshy poet, in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patience. In connection to this homage, Wilde traveled as an unofficial ambassador to the United States, coinciding with the operetta’s New York premiere, in order to ensure American audiences would understand its British humor. His other purpose was to deliver lectures across North America on the English Renaissance and Decorative Arts as a representative of the Aesthetic Movement. Indicative of his already inflated ego and witty repartee, upon arriving on U.S. soil, he remarked to customs officials that he “had nothing to declare but his genius.” Wilde’s early writings included the publication of his poems and three plays, Vera, or the Nihilists (1880), The Duchess of Padua (1883) and Salomé (1891), all featuring complex, formidable women. He worked as a journalist and his The Portrait of Dorian Gray (1890) was first printed in Lippincott’s Magazine, prior to being expanded into a novel. This brought him some notoriety, but it was his later social comedies, Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895) and finally The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) that lay his path to literary fame. While he enjoyed success in London’s West End, Wilde’s personal life began to unravel. As early as 1891, he met Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas, 16 years his junior. Also adept at poetry, both enjoyed an attractive verse and each other’s company. This unusually close association drew the attention of Bosie’s father, the irascible John Sholto Douglas, Eighth Marquess of Queensberry. Though the Douglas family had an illustrious past, dating back to the eighthcentury Scottish Du-glas clan and immortalized in opera and literature by Sir Walter Scott (The Abbot; The Bride of Lammermoor), father Douglas displayed little of this blue-blooded finery. A veritable brute of a man, his narrow range of interests included hunting and boxing (the latter’s “Queensberry Rules” being his only legacy other than the spectacular dealings with Wilde) as well as drinking and womanizing. By 1891, the “Black Douglas” or “Scarlet Marquis” as he would come to be known, had alienated his ➤
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at university. Responding to the Symbolist vein in literature (Maurice Maeterlinck, of Pelléas et Mélisande fame, being one of the most important proponents), Wilde produced his drama, complemented by flowery language and Symbolist stammering mannerisms. The moon, a potent icon of mental instability (and an image frequently employed by the ever-nocturnal Decadents and Symbolists) provides a framework for erratic behavior – each member of Herod’s little cosmos is haunted by it, except the dry realist Herodias (“the moon is just the moon”). Frustrated desire abounds as every character is obsessed with someone or something – the page with Narraboth (the homosexual overtones expunged from Strauss’ opera), Narraboth and Herod with Salome, Salome with Jokanaan, Jokanaan with God, Herodias with revenge. Perhaps still emulating Wagner, Strauss prepared his own libretto, working from the Lachmann translation. He deleted about forty percent of Wilde’s original text, including most of the word reiterations and a key scene describing the murder of Herod’s brother. This sets up the ring ritual when Herodias stealthily removes it to give to the executioner, thus initiating Jokanaan’s sentence of death. Musically, Strauss pulls out all the stops. Where Wilde tacitly leaves the horror and revulsion unspoken, the composer exploits these emotions at every opportunity. Employing one of his largest orchestras (second only to the forthcoming Elektra), Strauss colors his entire musical palette with the full range of every section in a psychologically demented aural stream of consciousness that often feels as if one’s nerves are exposed. Described as a tone poem for voice, Strauss’ score is harmonically complex with harsh tonalities and recurrent melodies attached to specific people and things (and one structural one, the infamous “Salome chord,” a signifier of death). Looking to the future, Strauss’ proto-Expressionist opera would have a profound impact on composers of the early 20th century, Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky and Alban Berg among them. In spite of its strong subject matter that reaches its apex in Salome’s dramatic monologue as she holds the head of John the Baptist (sometimes referred to in Wagnerian terminology as a “necrophiliac Liebestod”), the opera was a hit with the audience at its premiere. Nonetheless, critics were abusive to Strauss’ new musical voice and future producers were skittish. In New York, the production was banned after a single performance at the Metropolitan Opera. A belated London staging had Salome singing her triumphant demand for a kiss to a headless plate of blood. After the Berlin premiere, Kaiser Wilhelm is to have said, “I believe this will cause Strauss some trouble,” after which Strauss was to have later retorted, “The harm helped me build my villa in Garmisch.”
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three oldest sons and divorced his wife, yet still managed to intrude upon their lives. He was an outright bully, ready to physically abuse his enemies (even at the ripe age of 50) as well as wage epistolary warfare on extended relatives when letters to his own family were returned unopened. With only the slightest sympathy, one could understand his concern (however maligned) for his sons. Prior to fully addressing the liaison between Bosie and Wilde, Queensberry had experienced a sort of dry run with his oldest son and heir, Francis Douglas, Viscount Dramlanrig. It appeared that Francis had been involved in a romantic relationship with his boss, first Foreign Secretary, then Prime Minister Archibald Primrose, Fifth Earl of Rosebery. After a series of promotions within the ranks, Francis was given a seat in the House of Lords and a peerage, something Queensberry had been unable to achieve when he had refused to declare an oath of allegiance (he was a vehement atheist). In a strong missive to his ex-father-inlaw (a political insider), the Marquess warned that Rosebery best leave his son alone or he would give him a sound thrashing. Queensberry went as far as to follow Rosebery to a diplomatic mission at Homburg armed with a dog whip, and had to be intercepted and disarmed by the Prince of Wales. Francis didn’t have a happy future. Hoping to mitigate the unflattering attention Rosebery was receiving from his father and the general public, he became affianced to an eligible debutante. We don’t know exactly what was said between the two men on the weekend he announced the engagement, but clearly it had not diffused Queensberry’s vendetta against his former lover. Later that day, Francis was found dead in a “hunting accident,” a thinly veiled suicide by gunshot. The Black Douglas wasn’t about to lose another child. A few years earlier, the Marquess had begrudgingly joined Wilde and Bosie for lunch and had pleasantly chatted with the poet well into the afternoon even after his son had left. The warmth was short-lived, however, as Queensberry continued to hear rumors about the private goings-on at the Savoy Hotel and elsewhere. He began a relentless search, trying to keep tabs on his son and became a nuisance. In June 1894, Queensberry went to Wilde’s Tite Street address, hurling insults once admitted inside. At the opening of The Importance of Being Earnest, the Scarlet Marquis had planned to disrupt the premiere by heaving a bouquet of rotting vegetables at the stage. The playwright had caught wind of the vicious plot and had the theater surrounded by police, forcing Queensberry to stew outside.
Wilde and Bosie left on a trip soon afterwards, but Queensberry hadn’t given up. In February 1895, he left his card at one of the playwright’s regular spots, the Albemarle Club, with a barely legible note inscribed “For Oscar Wilde, posing as so[m]domite” (spelling was not his forte). When Wilde returned days later and found the damning slur, the shocked playwright was at a loss. His friends suggested he leave the country, sensing danger in the wider knowledge of Wilde’s personal lifestyle. But Bosie, ever tempestuous and spoiled, convinced him to file a libel suit against Queensberry, relishing the day when he could see his father tried for his transgressions. This turned out to be exactly the wrong thing to do, the “booby trap” Queensberry later boasted about setting for the playwright. With exaggerated hubris, Wilde saw the courtroom as a platform to espouse his literary views and prove he was beyond the repressed moral codes of the days. For the first trail, he held his own, dazzling the courtroom with linguistic facility and erudition while answering malicious, probing questions. The lead council for the defense, Sir Edward Carson, was a former Oxford classmate who had been bested by Wilde at every turn during his student days. Clearly he had an axe to grind. After the playwright had successfully defended his personal letters and writings, Carson revealed the surprise, a Plea for Justification of Queensberry’s actions. An unseemly side of Wilde’s life began to emerge as his relationships with a series of questionable young men were brought to light. The playwright had been in Monte Carlo the month before the trial and had not adequately prepared for this revelation of sordid details, which he emphatically denied. Apparently, Queensberry had hired private investigators to dig up dirt, and when they were not entirely successful, he found an ally in Charles Brookfield, an actor currently performing in The Importance of Being Earnest. Brookfield was also an unsuccessful dramatist and was envious of Wilde’s accomplishments and superior talents. He was somewhat connected to the underbelly of society and knew a female prostitute who in turn knew Alfred Taylor, a frequent host of clandestine social gatherings and a confidant of Wilde. The detectives visited Taylor’s former residence where he had carelessly left a box full of incriminating documents with a number of names. These individuals had all been deposed prior to the libel suit, and when Carson opened his argument for the defense, he made it be known that they were in the next room, ready to testify. Wilde’s attorney urged him to withdraw the court case, but the judge allowed both the verdict of “not guilty” and
circumstantial evidence and was clearly affronted by the Plea of Justification to go to the jury. This essentially made Wilde in violation of the Criminal Law Amendment, a the morality of the case, Wilde also being his Tite Street fairly recent decree enacted in 1885 that was “to make further neighbor. Many of the facts Justice Charles had excluded provision for the protection of women and [underage] girls, were readmitted. During the proceedings, Queensberry had been determined to be present, symbolically taking his seat the suppression of brothels and other purposes.” Title 11 near the judge as was his station’s due. For all three court relating to the criminalization of same-sex relations was cases, he had bankrolled the witnesses, who lived in constant merely an afterthought. With Queensberry’s help, his fear of being prosecuted themselves. The evidence had been supporters moved rather quickly, drawing up an arrest as lurid as before, and after Wills’ prejudicial comments to warrant on the very day he was acquitted. True to form, the Scarlet Marquis sent his trademark epistle to Wilde later that the jury, a guilty verdict was returned for seven counts of afternoon: “If the country allows you to leave, all the better “gross indecency.” Wilde was sentenced to two years hard for the country; but if you take my son with you, I will follow labor, the maximum allowed by law. Prison life was understandably difficult for a cultured you wherever you go and shoot you.” and pampered man such as Wilde. His belongings had Whatever his reasons, Wilde chose to stay, with the long since been auctioned to pay for his legal expenses and vain notion that he could win the case. After his arrest, he remained a broken man. When the former playwright he was denied bail and remained in jail for several weeks. was released, he immediately set sail for Dieppe, never to The playwright’s finances had become precarious as he return to England again. He wrote The Ballad of Reading was forced to pay Queensberry’s legal expenses, and his Gaol that summer, a piece of literature that, in its own plays, two of which were still running at the West End, would eventually become taboo. His bail and some of the right, could have guaranteed his immortality. It was the upcoming legal fees were temporarily provided by Bosie’s last thing he would ever pen. family. Bosie’s allowance had been cut off, but his mother, In spite of everything, Wilde and Bosie reunited, and Lady Queensberry, was all-too-willing to help, just to vex her spent three months in Naples, a direct violation of an ex, and his brother Percy Douglas shared his enmity for their agreement with his wife Constance, who had taken their father. In response to Percy’s support of Bosie and Wilde, children to Switzerland. Although clearly angered and Queensberry sent a barrage of letters, first to Percy, then embarrassed by the entire affair, she still provided a small his wife Minnie, then his wife’s father, Reverend Thomas stipend for her husband, which could easily be withdrawn. Walters, and finally to their solicitor. The peak of their Lady Queensberry had a similar hold over Bosie, and without acrimony occurred in a heated altercation in financial support from either side, the Piccadilly, just after Queensberry had sent couple parted, although they both would another scathing telegraph to Minnie, which soon live separately in Paris. Wilde survived began when the marquis struck his son in meagerly in the city that bore Salomé and the face. The whole matter had to be sorted prematurely died there at the age of 46. out by the police, but again Queensberry’s Coincidentally, both sides of the noble standing gained his release. infamous Queensberry libel case passed The second trial went far worse than the away in 1900 within months of each other, first, with a parade of young men describing at the very close of the Victorian Era. The (albeit with Victorian modesty) the “acts” Scarlet Marquis died of a brain tumor – his which Wilde had allegedly committed in temper hadn’t mellowed in his final years, exchange for money or gifts. However, the and is said to have spat upon his son Percy case relied on uncorroborated testimony, and at his deathbed. Both men left behind much was made of the low standing of these grandchildren who could later objectively opportunistic rogues, some of whom were access their ancestors from a safe distance, John Sholto Douglas, not above blackmail. Justice Arthur Charles Queensberry by Percy’s son, in Oscar Wilde Eighth Marquess of Queensberry fairly accessed the evidence and dismissed and the Black Douglas, a book dedicated most of the proceedings of the Queensberry trial, instructing to his friend, Oscar’s son Vyvyan Holland, whose own the jury accordingly. They deliberated to no avail as a verdict offspring published The Real Trial of Oscar Wilde – the first could not be reached. The case could have ended there, but uncensored transcript. The two authors try to understand was instead scheduled for another hearing. the complex personalities of their subjects with candor, the Wilde’s final ordeal differed from the first two in several Marquess of Queensberry’s controlling familial devotion and respects. The Crown had appointed the ruthless SolicitorOscar Wilde’s decadence, whose passion for excess led to his General Sir Frank Lockwood, showing the government’s downfall. In the sum of his life, one wonders if he regretted special interest in the case, again due to Queensberry’s the axiom once stated during the height of his American connections and potential blackmail of the Prime Minister. tour: “There is only one thing in the world worse than being The judge in this case, Sir Alfred Wills, was an expert in talked about and that is not being talked about.” ❚
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background Notes
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For more biographical information about these artists, visit our website at mnopera.org
the Artists Brad Benoit Third Jew (tenor) Kankakee, Illinois
2010 Parpignol, La bohème 2010 Lord Cecil, Roberto Devereux 2009 Gabrielle, Casanova’s Homecoming 2009 Almaviva, Il barbiere di Siviglia 2009 Lampwick, The Adventures of Pinocchio 2008 Ruiz, Il trovatore
Recently Martin, The Tender Land, Sugar Creek Symphony Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Artist
Dan Dressen First Jew (tenor) Pipestone, Minnesota
2009 Marquis de Lisle, Casanova’s Homecoming 2008 Elcius, The Fortunes of King Croesus 2007 Grampa, The Grapes of Wrath 2003 Doctor, The Handmaid’s Tale 2003 Gastone, La traviata
Recently Schubert Club Art Song Festival soloist, Songs of Innocence and Experience; The Passion of Jesus of Nazareth, VocalEssence
Jason Howard Jokanaan (baritone) Merthyr Tydfil, Wales (United Kingdom)
2004 Rigoletto, Rigoletto 2003 Giorgio Germont, La traviata 2002 Rodrigue, Don Carlos 2000 Macbeth, Macbeth
Recently Wotan, Siegfried, Opéra National du Rhin Jokanaan, Salome, Teatro São Carlos (Lisbon)
Upcoming
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Wotan, Die Walküre, Longborough Opera Scarpia, Tosca; Jack Rance, La fanciulla del West, Oper Stadtische Buhnen
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Seth Keeton First Nazarene (bass-baritone) Durham, North Carolina
2006 Crespel/Luther, Les contes d’Hoffmann 2006 Carr-Gomm, The Elephant Man 2006 Leporello, Don Giovanni 2004 Sprecher, Die Zauberflöte 2004 Lt. Lombardi, Passion
Recently Allazim, Zaïde; Alidoro, La Cenerentola; Sigibert, Fredegunda; Zaccaria, Nabucco; Admiral Lefort, Zar und Zimmermann, Theater Bremen
Elizabeth Byrne Herodias (soprano) Clitheroe, Lancashire (United Kingdom)
2006 Tosca, Tosca
Recently Fricka, Das Rheingold; Mother/Witch, Hänsel und Gretel, Indianapolis Opera Isolde (cover), Tristan und Isolde, Los Angeles Philharmonic; San Francisco Opera Senta, The Flying Dutchman, Portland Opera Kostelnička, Jenufa, Glimmerglass Opera Composer, Ariadne auf Naxos, Dallas Opera Fidelio (cover), Fidelio, Metropolitan Opera
Obed Floan Second Nazarene (tenor) Hallock, Minnesota
Recently Laca, Jenufa, Univ. of Minn. Opera Theatre Arrigo, La battaglia di Legnano, Amici Opera Tito, La clemenza di Tito, Susquehanna Symph. Arturo, Lucia di Lammermoor, Center Stage Opera Florestan, Fidelio, The Other Company Judge Gray, Vanqui, Opera North (p.a.) Mayor, Albert Herring; Second Priest, Die Zauberflöte; Basilio, Le nozze di Figaro, Luther College Opera
Richard Lawrence Joseph Second Jew (tenor) San Francisco, California
2009 Charlatan, Casanova’s Homecoming
Recently Watchman, Troilus and Cressida; Giovanni (cover), Una cosa rara, Opera Theatre of St. Louis Bardolfo, Falstaff; Dudley, Little Red’s Most Unusual Day, Florida State University Perchik, Fiddler on the Roof, Clearwater Christian College
Mlada Khudoley Salome (soprano) Moscow, Russia
2008 Leonora, Il trovatore
Recently Abigaille, Nabucco; Kaiserin, Die Frau ohne Schatten; Cassandre, Les Troyens; Renata, The Fiery Angel; Polina, The Gambler, Mariinsky Theatre
Upcoming Katerina, Lady Macbeth at Mtsensk, Komische Oper Berlin; Opernhaus Graz Abigaille, Nabucco, Royal Danish Opera Les noces, New York Philharmonic
For more biographical information about these artists, visit our website at mnopera.org
the Artists
Jonathan Kimple
Brian J. Kuhl
Second Soldier (bass-baritone)
Fourth Jew (tenor)
Dallas Center, Iowa
Sartell, Minnesota
2010 Colline, La bohème 2010 Gualtiero Raleigh, Roberto Devereux 2009 Tartaglia/Inquisitor, Casanova 2009 Nourabad, The Pearl Fishers
2009 Demofoonte, Casanova’s Homecoming 2009 Crow Doctor; Bricklayer, Pinocchio
Recently Ferrando, Così fan tutte; Gastone, La traviata, St. Petersburg Opera Messenger, Aida; Gastone, La traviata, Minnesota Orchestra Billy, Mahagonny Songspiel, Des Moines Metro
Recently Count Ceprano, Rigoletto; Giove, La Calisto; Marchese d’Obigny, La traviata, Portland Op. Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Artist Ceprano, La traviata, Sarasota Opera
Upcoming Spoletta, Tosca, Minnesota Orchestra
Jeffrey Madison
Rodolfo Nieto
A cappadocian (baritone)
First Soldier (bass-baritone)
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Hickory Hills, Illinois
2010 Schaunard, La bohème 2007 Antonio, Le nozze di Figaro
2010 Colline, La bohème 2009 Spanish Captain/Inquisitor, Casanova
Recently
Recently
Father, Hänsel und Gretel, Minnesota Orchestra Marcello, La bohème, West Virginia Symphony Bottom, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Seattle Opera Young Artist Albert, Werther, Chautauqua Opera Malatesta, Don Pasquale; Mr. Webb, Our Town, Skylark Opera
Don Alfonso, Così fan tutte, Cedar Rapids Opera Theater Don Magnifico/Alidoro, Cinderella; Godofredo, La Curandera, Opera Colorado Gravitas, Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings, Theatre @ Boston Court
is proud to support the Minnesota Opera
WE ARE PLEASED TO PRESENT GUEST CONDUCTOR MAESTRO EMMANUEL JOEL-HORNAK IN MINNESOTA OPERA’S
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PRODUCTION OF SALOME.
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For more biographical information about these artists, visit our website at mnopera.org
the Artists Michael Nyby Fifth Jew (baritone) Hamilton, Ontario (Canada)
2010 Schaunard, La bohème 2009 Montebank, Casanova’s Homecoming
Recently Moralès, Carmen, Vancouver Opera Don Giovanni, Don Giovanni; Figaro, Il barbiere di Siviglia, European Music Acad. of Teplice Haly, L’italiana in Algeri, Burnaby Lyric Opera Ford, Falstaff; Falke, Die Fledermaus; Cascada, The Merry Widow, Univ. of British Columbia
Dennis Petersen
Blackie, Alberta (Canada)
2009 Timante, Casanova’s Homecoming 2009 Beetle Doctor, Pinocchio 2009 Siébel, Faust
Recently Opera Theatre of St. Louis Apprentice Artist Esprit Cinq, Cendrillon, Central City Opera Statue, Griffelkin; Araboolies, Araboolies of Liberty Street; Nancy Ford, The Village Singer, Manhattan School of Music
Christian Reinert Narraboth (tenor)
West Branch, Iowa
Great Falls, Montana
Recently Ariadne auf Naxos; The Nose; Madame Butterfly, Metropolitan Opera Il maestro di scuola, Cunning Little Vixen, Teatro Communale di Firenze Mime, Ring Cycle, Seattle Opera
Upcoming Spoletta, Tosca; Boyar Kruschov, Boris Godunov, Metropolitan Opera
Jennifer Caprio
2008 Eliates, The Fortunes of King Croesus 2008 Roméo, Roméo et Juliette 2007 Armfelt, Un ballo in maschera
Recently Cassio, Otello, Kentucky Opera Edmondo, Manon Lescaut, New Orleans Opera Alfredo, La traviata, Opera Birmingham Arturo, Lucia di Lammermoor, Fort Worth Opera Don José, Carmen, Ash Lawn Opera Steva, Jenufa, Glimmerglass Opera
Emmanuel Joel-Hornak
costume designer
conductor
Chatham, New Jersey
Paris, France
2010 La bohème 2008 Roméo et Juliette
Recently Spelling Bee, Broadway; Chicago; San Fran.; Boston In Transit, Primary Stages; Fugitive Songs, Dreamlight; Masked, dr2; Striking 12, Daryl Roth; Serendib (est), The Blowin’ of Baile Galle, Irish Arts Ctr., (nyc) Collected Works of Billy the Kid, Edinburgh Fringe Opera Boston; Actors Theater of Louisville; Williamstown Theater Festival, (Regional)
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Herodias’ page (mezzo-soprano)
Herod (tenor) 2003 Luke, The Handmaid’s Tale
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Nicole Percifield
David Lefkowich stage director and choreographer Albany, New York
2008 Roméo et Juliette
Recently The Rake’s Progress, La Monnaie (Brussels) Mahagonny Songspiel; Don Giovanni Chicago Symphony Ravinia Festival La traviata, Lake George Opera L’histoire du soldat, Juilliard School of Music Roméo et Juliette, Virginia Opera Le portrait de Manon, Glimmerglass Opera; Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona)
2010 La bohème
Recently La Périchole, Opéra de Lausanne Les brigands, Opéra National de Bordeaux Les contes d’Hoffmann, Opera Colorado Carmen, New Israeli Opera (Tel Aviv) La traviata, Scottish Opera Carmen, Bolshoi Theatre (Moscow)
Upcoming Il trovatore, Opéra National de Bordeaux
Steve TenEyck set and lighting designer Eugene, Oregon
2008 Roméo et Juliette
Recently Antony and Cleopatra, Penn. Shakespeare (sets & lights) The Little Prince, Ithaca College (lights) La voix humaine, The Kitchen Theatre (lights) Once On This Island, Hangar Theatre (sets and lights) Les liaisons dangereuses, Syracuse Stage (sets & lights) Northwestern University Presidential Inauguration (sets & lights) asst. professor; assoc. chair of theater – Ithaca College
minnesota opera Orchestra Violin I
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Laurie Petruconis Concertmaster Julia Persitz David Mickens Allison Ostrander Judy Thon-Jones Andrea Een Giselle Hillyer Natalia Moiseeva Lydia Miller Helen Foli Jill H. Olson
Jim Jacobson Sally Gibson Dorer Thomas Austin Ramiro Alvarez Teresa Richardson Joe Englund
Coreen Nordling Laurie Hatcher Merz Cheryl Kelley (double contrabassoon)
Violin II
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Conor O’Brien Elizabeth Decker Stephan Orsak Margaret Humphrey Huldah Niles Lindsay Erickson Orietta Dado Nora Scheller Anne Strasser
Michele Frisch Amy Morris Casey Kovacic (double piccolo)
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Mark Seerup
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Minnesota Opera?
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Supernumeraries
Emily King Megan McClellan Collen McClellan Ueland
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Dancers
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minnesota opera new works initiative
“Minnesota Opera deserves enormous credit for continuing to devote resources to the future of the art form, especially now.” – Wall Street Journal, March 7, 2009
“The most important new works program in the country.” – Marc A. Scorca, President, OPERA America
The most beloved operas were all once new works. A new work by Puccini was welcomed with the same enthusiasm as a Hollywood opening night. Minnesota Opera is bringing that magic back to the opera house with its seven-year program called Minnesota Opera New Works Initiative.
The Grapes of Wrath, 2007, photo by Michal Daniel
2009: The Adventures of Pinocchio (American premiere) Jonathan Dove
2010: Casanova’s Homecoming (revival) Dominick Argento 25th anniversary production
2011: The Garden of the Finzi-Continis | MINNESOTA OPERA mnopera.org
(world premiere) Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie Based on the novel by Giorgio Bassani
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2012: Silent Night (world premiere) Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell
2013: Title TBA (world premiere) Composer TBA
2014: El Niño (revival) John Adams
2015: Wuthering Heights (revival) Bernard Herrmann
Next season, the Minnesota Opera New Works Initiative will feature the world premiere of The Garden of the FinziContinis, the eagerly awaited follow-up to the 2007 hit, The Grapes of Wrath, by composer Ricky Ian Gordon and librettist Michael Korie. We were delighted that so many Minnesotans went to see the successful debut of The Grapes of Wrath at Carnegie Hall on March 22, 2010. The tremendous success of The Grapes of Wrath inspired the creation of the Minnesota Opera New Works Initiative, the only program of its kind in the country. We still love the classic standards. Our recent production of La bohème was one of the most successful productions in our 47-year history. Anoka’s own Ellie Dehn was our Mimì, and next season will play the part of Musetta in The Metropolitan Opera’s production of La bohème. James Valenti, our Rodolfo, is one of the world’s great young tenors, singing at The Met, La Scala and Royal Opera House. We will continue to devote significant resources to the beloved classics, including next season’s production of La traviata. Just as opera is dependent on the development of young singers like James Valenti, so too has the art form always needed new works. We believe that opera is as relevant today as it has ever been. It is our mission to bring to you the best from the world of opera, including works that will premiere right here at Ordway.
Education at the opera Project Opera: Apprentices There is still time to sign up to audition for the Summer Opera Camp. For vocalists and instrumentalists in grades 9–12, it will be held from June 19–26 at Perpich Center for Arts Education. Stage scenes and explore new music with daily sessions in movement, vocal coaching and staging. Participation is by audition only. Angie Keeton at Rutherford Elementary in Stillwater.
Vocal Auditions:
coOPERAtion!
Albert Lea High School
Minnesota Opera Center
Monday, April 12 3–4 p.m.
Saturday, April 24 9 a.m. – noon
As in years past, Minnesota Opera’s Teaching Artist Angie Keeton has traveled around the state bringing opera to students. From Minneapolis and St. Paul, to Stillwater and Hopkins, to Albert Lea and Chisholm, Angie reached students from grades k–12, demonstrating the power and beauty of the human voice. Artist residencies like this are part of the Opera’s coOPERAtion! program that is generously supported by Medtronic.
Monday, April 26 6–8 p.m.
Instrumental Auditions: Submit a CD recording by May 10
For more information or to sign up for an audition, please contact Jamie Andrews at 612.342.9573 or andrews@mnopera.org.
Project Opera Where are they now?
Mario as Harasta in Janácˇek’s The Cunning Little Vixen (University of Colorado at Boulder)
He says about his time with Minnesota Opera: “The Apprentice Program gave me opportunities that are rarely available to young singers. By training and coaching with seasoned professionals, I was able to grow far beyond a typical singer of my age in language, style, dramatic ability and musicianship. The culmination of this training in a year-end recital prepared me for recital work in my degree, enabling me to perform far above the level of my peers. The other main aspect of the internship, performing in mainstage operas, allowed me to work in a professional environment as a young adult, resulting in a strong sense of professionalism and what is expected of professional singers. These experiences have informed every other decision I have made as a young singer and enabled me to take on many lead roles in my undergraduate as well as completing two prestigious young artist programs. I can easily say that much of my success as a young singer is due to my training with the Apprentice Program. Thank you so much for spending time and resources training emerging singers.”
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Mario Diaz-Moresco, while attending Wayzata High School, participated in the first and second year of Project Opera. During his time here he performed in the Opera’s chorus of The Magic Flute and Madame Butterfly. Upon graduation he attended University of Colorado at Boulder.
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Education at the opera
Project Opera: La bohème chorus Project Opera had a very exciting February and March as the Ragazzi ensemble was the children’s chorus for La bohème. It was the first time for the young singers to perform in an opera on the Ordway stage and was an experience for them to perform alongside singers like James Valenti, Ellie Dehn and Karin Wolverton!
Want to get involved? Auditions for next year’s Project Opera will take place over the summer. Call 612.342.9573 for more information.
Justin Way giving stage direction
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Molly Hayes about to pick a pocket
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Mackenzie Cross and Conner Stewart fighting over a wooden horse
Education at the opera
Molly, Ellie and Michelle in costume for La bohème
La bohème was a family affair her first rehearsal. We were on our way home, and after a few moments of silence, Molly said, “I think I am going to really like it here.” That was music to my ears! After years of singing opera myself, I was finally going to get to share my passion for the stage with my daughter! For two weeks, I had the pleasure of performing along with my two favorite opera stars – one certain – the other hopeful! When I crossed by Ellie on the stage, I could still see her in my classroom and I was so proud of who she has become. And as I passed by my daughter, I was so proud of who she is now and I get very excited for who she will be in the future. Does it get any better than that? – Michelle Hayes, Choral Director, Anoka High School
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It was three generations of singers on stage for La bohème last March that made for one unique experience. Michelle Hayes, longtime chorus member, was thrilled to perform along side her daughter Molly and her former student Ellie Dehn. Michelle, who also teaches choir at Anoka High School remembers having Ellie in class and wrote this about her experience: Her face was young, her hair was long, but it was her eyes that gave it all away. They had the eagerness of youth, yet the sophistication that usually comes with age. This is the picture I have in my mind of Ellie Dehn as a ninth grader in my choral music classroom! Musically, she stood out from the others. She was a great sight reader, sang lyrically and had great style! This all began to make sense as I learned she had spent many summers of her youth learning flute from her grandfather in Florida. She had all of these great gifts, but yet she was rather quiet – hard to believe that ninth grader, fresh out of Catholic school, would soon grace the stage as an opera singer. Recently, Ellie, along with James Valenti (La bohème’s Rodolfo), visited with my choral students at Anoka. During this wonderful collaboration, Ellie mentioned her first opera experience. I had given her two tickets the see Minnesota Opera production of Tosca (I just happened to be in that production). She was hooked. It is fun to think I had some small part in her love for opera! My daughter Molly, age 12, had been going from activity to activity trying to find something that suited her. This past fall she auditioned for Project Opera’s Ragazzi children’s chorus. I knew it was going to be a good year the day of
Ellie Dehn and James Valenti perform for Anoka High School students
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Opera Tickets for $30!
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Located on 12 beautiful wooded acres along the bluffs of the Mississippi River, Becketwood is the ideal place for active, independent people who enjoy the best of the Twin Cities. Here you are within 15 minutes of both downtowns and the International Airport, with easy access to prime venues in St. Paul or Minneapolis.
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minnesota opera Annual
Fund
individual giving
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. For information on making a contribution to Minnesota Opera, please call the Director of the Annual Fund Dawn Loven at 612-342-9567, or email her at dloven@mnopera.org.
Bel Canto Circle Platinum $20,000 and above Anonymous (1) Karen Bachman Mary and Gus Blanchard Jane M. and Ogden W. Confer Julia W. Dayton Sara and Jock Donaldson Vicki and Chip Emery Ruth and John Huss Sisi and Heinz Hutter Mr. and Mrs. Philip Isaacson
Lucy Rosenberry Jones The Art and Martha Kaemmer Fund of HRK Foundation Nadine and Bill McGuire Dwight D. Opperman Ronning Family Foundation Elizabeth Redleaf Mary W. Vaughan Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation C. Angus and Margaret Wurtele
Gold $15,000–$19,999
Mr. and Mrs. William Frels Denver and Nicole Gilliand Alfred and Ingrid Lenz Harrison Bill and Hella Mears Hueg Tina and Ken Hughes Kirsten and Ron Johnson Debra and James Lakin Ilo and Peggy Leppik Mr. and Mrs. B. John Lindahl, Jr. Lynne Looney Mr. and Mrs. Donald Lucker The Kendrick B. Melrose Family Foundation Sandy and Bruce Nelson Debra Paterson and Mark Winters Bill and Barbara Pearce Jose Peris and Diana Gulden Edward Phares Stephanie Prem and Tom Owens Lois and John Rogers Chris and Mark Schwarzmann Drs. Joseph and Kristina Shaffer Peter and Bonnie Sipkins Kevin and Lynn Smith Karen Sternal Virginia L. and Edward C. Stringer Mr. and Mrs. James Swartz Bernt von Ohlen and Thomas Nichol Lori and Herbert Ward
Silver $2,500–$4,999
Mrs. Paul G. Boening Conley Brooks Family Joan and George Carlson Barb and Jeff Couture Mrs. Thomas M. Crosby, Sr. Fran Davis Judson Dayton Ruth and Bruce Dayton The Denny Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Margaret Diablasio Jessica and Jonathan Doklovic Elise Donohue Sally J. Economon
Ann Fankhanel Ester and John Fesler Salvatore Silvestri Franco Leslie and Alain Frecon Kris and Kristina Fredrick Terence Fruth and Mary McEvoy Family Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Christine and W. Michael Garner Heidi and Howard Gilbert Stanley and Luella Goldberg Michael and Elizabeth Gorman Sima and Clark Griffith Bruce and Jean Grussing Mr. and Mrs. Roger Hale
Ellie and Tom Crosby, Jr. Cy and Paula Decosse Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Dolly J. Fiterman Barbara McBurney Stephanie Simon and Craig Bentdahl
Silver $10,000–$14,999 Anonymous William Biermaier and David Hanson Susan Boren
Dr. and Mrs. Daniel D. Buss Sharon and Bill Hawkins Mary and Barry Lazarus Peter J. King Jenny Lind Nilsson and Garrison Keillor Harvey T. McLain Mrs. Walter Meyers Diana and Joe Murphy Mary Ingebrand Pohlad Joseph Sammartino
Camerata Circle Platinum $7,500–$9,999 Allegro Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation Shari and David Boehnen Kathleen and William Callahan Nicky B. Carpenter Rachelle Dockman Chase N. Bud and Beverly Grossman Foundation Erwin and Miriam Kelen Albin and Susan Nelson Connie and Lew Remele Maggie Thurer and Simon Stevens
Gold $5,000–$7,499
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Anonymous Tracy and Eric Aanenson James Andrus Martha Goldberg Aronson and Daniel Aronson Martha and Bruce Atwater Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Nancy and Chuck Berg Darlene J. and Richard P. Carroll James and Gisela Corbett Susan and Richard Crockett David and Vanessa Dayton Mary Lee Dayton Connie Fladeland and Steve Fox Tom and Lori Foley
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Anonymous (5) Kim A. Anderson Annette Atkins and Tom Joyce Alexandra O. Bjorklund Dr. Lee Borah, Jr. Margee and Will Bracken Christopher J. Burns Elwood and Florence Caldwell Rusty and Burt Cohen Jeff and Wendy Wenger Dankey Thomas and Mary Lou Detwiler Mona and Patrick Dewane Patricia R. Freeburg Bradley Fuller and Elizabeth Lincoln Christine and Jon Galloway Lois and Larry Gibson Meg and Wayne Gisslen Mrs. Myrtle Grette Dorothy Horns and James Richardson Dr. and Mrs. Arthur Horowitz Cynthia and Jay Ihlenfeld Dale A. Johnson Jacqueline Nolte Jones Robert and Susan Josselson Stan and Jeanne Kagin Warren and Patricia Kelly Lyndel and Blaine King Robert Kriel and Linda Krach
Helen L. Kuehn Robert L. Lee and Mary E. Schaffner Benjamin Y. H. and Helen C. Liu Leland T. Lynch and Terry Saario Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation David MacMillan and Judy Krow Mary Bigelow McMillan Nancy and Richard Nicholson Eric Norman Ruth and Ahmad Orandi Marge and Dwight Peterson Mr. and Mrs. William Phillips Redleaf Family Foundation Mary and Paul Reyelts Nina and Ken Rothchild Kay Savik and Joe Tashjian Fred and Gloria Sewell Lynda and Frank Sharbrough Bruce and Julie Jackley Steiner Tanrydoon Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation Carolyn and Andrew Thomas William Voedisch and Laurie Carlson Ellen M. Wells Nancy and Ted Weyerhaeuser Carolyn, Sharon and Clark Winslow
Artist Circle $1,000–$2,499 Anonymous Arlene and Tom Alm Lowell Anderson and Kathy Welte Paula Anderson and Sheila Bray Jamie Andrews and Jane Kolp-Andrews Nina and John Archabal Satoru and Sheila Asato August J. Aquila and Emily Haliziw Ruth and Dale Bachman Ann and Thomas Bagnoli Maria and Kent Bales
Hackensack Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation Robert Harding and Allan Valgemae, M.D. Don Helgeson and Sue Shepard Sharon and Cliff Hill Diane Hoey Andrew Holly and Svea Forsberg-Holly John and Jean McGough Holten Margaret and Andrew Houlton Thomas Hunt and John Wheelihan Ekdahl Hutchinson Family Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Todd Hyde
minnesota opera Annual
individual giving
Fund
Artist Circle (continued) Teresa and Chuck Jakway James Jelinek and Marilyn Wall Markle Karlen E. Robert and Margaret V. Kinney Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Gerard Knight Mrs. James S. Kochiras Constance and Daniel Kunin Mark and Elaine Landergan Sy and Ginny Levy Family Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Rondi Erickson and Sandy Lewis Jerry and Joyce Lillquist Bill Long Dawn M. Loven
Roy and Dorothy Mayeske Helen and Charles McCrossan Sheila McNally Velia R. Melrose Jane and Joseph Micallef David and LaVonne Middleton Anne W. Miller Victoria and Charles Mogilevsky Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Moore Moore Family Fund for the Arts Sandy and Bob Morris Judy and David Myers Elizabeth B. Myers Joan and Richard Newmark Rebecca and Bradley Nuss
Julia and Brian Palmer Derrill M. Pankow Allegra W. Parker Paula Patineau Suzanne and William Payne Suzanne and Rick Pepin Mary and Robert Price Connie and Jim Pries Sara and Kevin Ramach George Reid John and Sandra Roe Foundation Thomas D. and Nancy J. Rohde Gordon and Margaret Rosine Sampson Family Charitable Foundation Patty and Barney Saunders
Dr. and Mrs. Richard J. Schindler Stanislaw and Krystyna Skrowaczewski Matthew Spanjers Kristi and Mark Specker Julie and Bruce Steiner Dana and Stephen Strand Robert and Barbara Struyk Michael Symeonides and Mary Pierce Tempo Board Members Lois and Lance Thorkelson Mr. and Mrs. Philip Von Blon James and Sharon Weinel Mr. and Mrs. Don White
Barbara S. Belk Martin and Patricia Blumenreich Judith and Arnold Brier Thomas and Joyce Bruckner Juliet Bryan and Jack Timm I-ming Shih and Arnold Chu Joann Cierniak J.P. Collins Elisabeth Comeaux Roxanne and Joseph Cruz Norma Danielson Bruce Dayton Amos and Sue Deinard Mary Elise Dennis Joan R. Duddingston Joyce and Hugh Edmondson Herbert and Betty Fantle Mr. and Mrs. William Farley Joyce and Hal Field C.D.F. Foundation Pamela and Richard Flenniken Jane Fuller Katy Gaynor David Gilberstadt R. Hunt Greene and Jane Piccard
Marjorie and Joseph Grinnell Roger L. Hale and Nor Hall Albert and Janice Hammond Stefan and Lonnie Helgeson Frederick Hey, Jr. Diane and Paul Jacobson Mrs. Owen Jenkins Margaret and Phillip Johnson Janet N. Jones Drs. Charles and Sally Jorgensen Jane and Jim Kaufman Mr. and Mrs. Stafford King Jonathan and Lisa Lewis Ruth Lyons Donald and Rhoda Mains Tom and Marsha Mann Carolyn and Charles Mayo Sam Meals Mary Monson Jack and Jane Moran Lowell and Sonja Noteboom John Ohle Ann and John O’Leary James A. Payne Dan Rasmus and Kari Fedje Rasmus
Dennis M. Ready Lawrence M. Redmond William and Sue Roberts Ann M. Rock Liane A and Richard G Rosel Gordon and Margaret Rosine Kim W. and Peter J. Rue Anne Salisbury David E. Sander Dr. Leon and Alma Satran Ralph Schneider Mrs. Donald Sell Clifford C. and Virginia G. Sorensen Charitable Trust of The Saint Paul Foundation Anthony Thein Norrie Thomas Susan Travis Emily Anne and Gedney Tuttle Stephanie C. Van D’Elden Jo and Howard Weiner Barbara and Carl White Helen and J. Kimball Whitney Barbara and James Willis Mr. John W. Windhorst Jr.
Keith and Linda Donaldson Charles and Anne Ferrell Greta and Paul Garmers John and Lynn Goodwyne Richard and Marsha Gould Robert and Ann Groover Jennifer Gross and Jerry LeFevre Laurie Hansen Doug O. Happe Sarah Harris and David Holmgren Norton M. Hintz and Mary Abbe Andrew Holey and Gary Whitford Reverend and Mrs. Henry H. Hoover Worth L. Hudspeth Ray Jacobsen Kathleen Junek Erika and Herb Kahler Carole and Joseph Killpatrick Dr. and Mrs. John Kipp Ms. Alexandra Kulijewicz
Diane and Sid Levin Mr. and Mrs. Chris Levy Rebecca Lowe Joan E. Madden L. David Mech Katherine Merrill John Michel and H. Berit Midelfort Steven J. Mittelholtz Michael J. and Judith Mollerus Brad Momsen and Rick Buchholz William Moore and Janet Dolan Ms. Jill Mortensen Mr. and Mrs. David Murphy Merritt C. Nequette Patricia A. O’Gorman Dennis R. Olson David and Marilyn Palmer Lana Pemberton Erica Perl and George J. Socha Jr. Kathleen M. Philipp
Stephen and Julianne Prager Nicole and Charles Prescott Robert E. Rocknem Daniel Roth Enqirue and Clara Rotstein Doris Jean Seely Mr. and Mrs. Morris Sherman Mr. John Shigeoka Cherie and Bob Shreck Debra Sit and Peter Berge Sandra and Richard Smith Joanne Strakosch and William Umscheid Sarah Suemnig Delroy and Doris Thomas Bryan Walker and Christine Kunewa-Walker Lana K. Wareham Mark Warnken and Rebecca Peason Wendy Wildung
Patron Circle Gold $750–$999 Anonymous Dr. and Mrs. Orn Arnar Gerald and Phyllis Benson Wanda and David Cline Mr. Steven A. Diede Jennifer Gross and Jerry LeFevre Ruth E. Hanold Nancy and Donald Kapps Mahley Family Foundation Judith and James Mellinger Pat and Dan Panshin The Harriet and Edson Spencer Foundation Warren Stortroen Cindy and Steven Vilks Frank and Frances Wilkinson Lani Willis and Joel Spoonheim
Silver $500–$749 Charles Anderson Eric S. Anderson and Janalee R. Aurelia Jo and Gordon Bailey Family Fund of the Catholic Community Foundation Donald and Naren Bauer
$250–$499 Anonymous (1) Bryan and Judith Anderson Floyd Anderson James and Gail Bakkom Bishu and Irina Bandyopadhyay Steven and Mindy Benton Mr. and Mrs. John F. Beaukema Judith and Arnold Brier Debra Brooks and James Meunier Mr. and Mrs. Philip Brunelle Mr. Stephen Bubul Emilie and Henry Buchwald Katherine Castille Sandy and Doug Coleman Kay Constantine Jeanne Corwin Sage and John Cowles Jr. Barbara J. Dacy Mrs. Kay Dewane
These lists are current as of March 1, 2010 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 Dawn Loven, Director of the Annual Fund, at 612-342-9567.
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Associate Circle
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Legacy Circle
individual giving
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 that so we may appropriately recognize your generosity. Anonymous (3) Valerie and Paul Ackerman Thomas O. Allen Mr. and Mrs. Rolf Andreassen Mary A. Andres Karen Bachman Mark and Pat Bauer Mrs. Harvey O. Beek (†) Barbara and Sandy Bemis (†) Joan and George Carlson Darlene J. and Richard P. Carroll Julia and Dan Cross Judy and Kenneth (†) Dayton Mrs. George Doty Rudolph Driscoll (†) Sally Economon Rondi Erickson
Ester and John Fesler Paul Froeschl Katy Gaynor Lois and Larry Gibson Robert and Ellen Green Ieva Grundmanis (†) Ruth Harold Norton M. Hintz Jean McGough Holten Charles Hudgins Dale and Pat Johnson Drs. Sally and Charles Jorgensen Robert and Susan Josselson Charlotte (†) and Markle Karlen Mary Keithahn Steve Keller Patty and Warren Kelly
Margaret Kilroe Trust (†) Blaine and Lyndel King Gretchen Klein (†) Bill and Sally Kling Gisela Knoblauch (†) Mr. and Mrs. James Krezowski Robert Kriel and Linda Krach Venetia and Robert Kudrle Robert Lawser, Jr. Jean Lemberg (†) Gerald and Joyce Lillquist David Mayo Barbara and Thomas (†) McBurney Mary Bigelow McMillan Margaret L. and Walter S. (†) Meyers John L. Michel and H. Berit Midelfort
Susan Molder (†) Edith Mueller (†) Joan and Richard Newark Scott Pakudiatis Sydney and William Phillips Mrs. Berneen Rudolph Mary Savina Frank and Lynda Sharbrough Drew Stewart James and Susan Sullivan Gregory C. Swinehart Stephanie Van D’Elden Mary Vaughan Dale and Sandra Wick
(†) Deceased
For more information on possible gift arrangements, please contact the Director of the Annual Fund Dawn Loven at 612-342-9567. Your attorney or financial advisor can then help determine which methods are most appropriate for you.
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Donor Spotlight
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I
n June 2009, Sidney “Chip” Emery was elected Chairman of the Opera’s Board of Directors. Now at the final production of the season, we asked Chip what the highlights have been during his first year as Chairman.
“It has been a fantastic first year,” Chip said. “I truly enjoy working with the most enthusiastic and energetic professional arts board in the Twin Cities. Not only has the Opera produced a top notch season – wasn’t Roberto Devereux a wonderful surprise? – but also it’s gratifying how our community of dedicated patrons pulled together to support Minnesota Opera in these tough economic times. And the people who bring us these great shows are just as enthusiastic and dedicated. Dale and Kevin are motivated leaders who know how to bring out the best from the entire crew of musicians, artists, stagehands and the behind-the-scene folks who keep the business running smoothly; and they do this in a way that makes being part of things here a joy. We have a gem in Minnesota Opera; the board’s job is to keep the luster of that gem sparkling.”
Maestro Leonardo Vordoni with Vicki and Chip Emery Photo by Theresa Murray
“I know I can speak on behalf of the entire board of directors, when I express deepest thanks to each and every patron. Your support has truly given Minnesota Opera the financial stability to continue to fulfill its mission of bringing great opera to life.”
minnesota opera Annual
institutional giving Minnesota Opera Sponsors Season Sponsor
Gala Sponsors
The Private Client Reserve at U.S. Bank
Travelers U.S. Bank
Production Sponsors The Pearl Fishers, The Private Client Reserve at U.S. Bank Casanova’s Homecoming, Ronning Family Foundation Roberto Devereux, Ameriprise Financial National Endowment for the Arts La bohème, Target Salome, National Endowment for the Arts Recovery Act
Conductor Appearances SpencerStuart
Fund
Minnesota Opera gratefully acknowledges its major institutional supporters: $100,000+
Meet the Artists Official Caterer Wildside Caterers
Production Innovation System General Mills
Resident Artist Program Wenger Foundation
Tempo Gray Plant Mooty
Tempo Opera Night Out Pop!!
Broadcast Partner Minnesota Public Radio
Camerata Dinners
$50,000–$99,999
Lowry Hill
Corporations, Foundations and Government 3M Foundation Ameriprise Financial City of Saint Paul’s Cultural STAR Program General Mills Foundation The McKnight Foundation The Medtronic Foundation Minnesota State Arts Board National Endowment for the Arts National Endowment for the Arts Recovery Act Target The Private Client Reserve at U.S. Bank Travelers Foundation U.S. Bancorp Foundation UnitedHealth Group The Wallace Foundation Wells Fargo Foundation Minnesota
Platinum $10,000–$24,999 Fred C. and Katherine B. Andersen Foundation Cargill Foundation Deluxe Corporation Foundation Dorsey & Whitney Foundation Ecolab Foundation Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation Gray Plant Mooty Anna M. Heilmaier Charitable Foundation Lowry Hill The MAHADH Fund of HRK Foundation RBC Foundation – USA RBC Wealth Management SpencerStuart Twin Cities Opera Guild Valspar Foundation Wenger Foundation
Gold $5,000–$9,999 ADC Telecommunications Allianz Life Insurance of North America Bemis Company Foundation Boss Foundation Briggs and Morgan, P.A.
Cleveland Foundation Deloitte Education Minnesota Foundation Faegre & Benson Harlan Boss Foundation for the Arts R. C. Lilly Foundation Mayo Clinic Onan Family Foundation Pentair Foundation The Carl and Eloise Pohlad Family Foundation Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi Rahr Foundation Schwegman, Lundberg & Woessner, p.a. Securian Foundation Xcel Energy Foundation
$25,000–$49,999
Silver $2,500–$4,999 Dellwood Foundation Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation Hutter Family Foundation The Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation Peravid Foundation The Elizabeth C. Quinlan Foundation Margaret Rivers Fund Tennant Foundation Thyme to Entertain
$10,000–$24,999
Bronze $1,000–$2,499 The ADS Group Arts & Custom Publishing Co., Inc. Bailey Nurseries, Inc. Burdick-Craddick Family Foundation Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation Hammel, Green and Abrahamson, Inc. Hogan & Hartson Leonard, Street & Deinard McVay Foundation Alice M. O’Brien Foundation Lawrence M. O’Shaughnessy Charitable Annuity Trust in honor of Lawrence M. O’Shaughnessy Peregrine Capital Management Sit Investment Foundation The Regis Foundation The Southways Foundation Wells Fargo Insurance Services
For information on making a corporate or foundation contribution to Minnesota Opera, please contact the Institutional Gifts Manager Beth Comeaux at 612-342-9566 or email her at bcomeaux@mnopera.org.
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Sponsors $25,000+
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Life beyond the bottom line.
The most important moments are often the ones before the performance. The Private Client Reserve at U.S. Bank understands that true wealth is measured not just in the final outcome, but in the work that went into it. That’s why we provide private banking, financial planning, personal trust, and investment management services that offer you a solid plan to create the financial security you need to support your great performances. Michael Boardman Central Region President 612.303.2398
Proud sponsor of the 2009-2010 Minnesota Opera season.
Deposit products offered by U.S. Bank National Association. Member FDIC © 2009 U.S. Bancorp