DOUBLE XPOSURE E
PRESENTED BY OPERA PHILADELPHIA, GOTHAM CHAMBER OPERA, AND MUSIC-THEATRE GROUP
FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 2014 7:30 P.M. | FRINGEARTS PHILADELPHIA, PA SUNDAY, MARCH 23, 2014 5:00 P.M. | NATIONAL OPERA CENTER NEW YORK, NY
WELCOME Dear Friends, One of the great joys of my job as General Director of Opera Philadelphia is having the opportunity to work with incredibly talented composers who are just entering the field of opera. In 2011, we launched our American Repertoire Program and a Composer in Residence program with a goal of being one of the leading instigators of new work in the country. Three years later, we’ve produced and scheduled a number of new works for the stages of Philadelphia, including the first operas written by renowned composers Kevin Puts, Theo Morrison, and Daniel Schnyder. We also have three amazingly talented Composers in Residence, all in their thirties, working for our company and learning what it takes to bring new opera to the stage. Tonight, we invite you into our operatic laboratory to take part in an experiment that should prove both highly engaging as well as informative for both you and two of our in-house composers, Lembit Beecher and Missy Mazzoli. What you’ll see tonight is what one of my colleagues described as opera’s version of a reality TV show: a mashup of America’s Got Talent, Top Chef, and Project Runway. With minimal physical production, talented stage directors Daniel Fish and Stephanie Havey will work with teams of singers and musicians to each stage two scenes Lembit has written for his operas I Have No Stories to Tell You and an untitled work about a character with Alzheimer’s disease, and Missy has written for her opera, Breaking the Waves. The teams will create unique mini-productions that are vivid, imaginative, and allow both the composers and the audience to see how different directors and performers may interpret the same pieces of music. This unique, “opera in the making” event would not be possible without a raft of partners who are dedicated to the creation of new operatic works. Special thanks to my incredible colleagues at Gotham Chamber Opera and Music-Theatre Group, who are our partners in the Composer in Residence Program. The work we all do together would not be possible without the generosity of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Tonight is an exciting glimpse at the long creative process that brings opera to the stage. I look forward to speaking with you and hearing your thoughts at the post-performance reception. Sincerely,
D AV I D B . D E VA N GENERAL DIRECTOR AND PRESIDENT @ddevan
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DOUBLE XPOSURE E
AN OPERA FROM THE LAB INITIATIVE
ORDER OF PROGRAM “SUNNY VIEW” FROM UNTITLED OPERA MUSIC Lembit Beecher TEXT Anisa George
PRESENTED BY TEAM 1, THEN TEAM 2
“HIS NAME IS JAN” AND “WITHOUT JAN” FROM BREAKING THE WAVES MUSIC Missy Mazzoli TEXT Royce Vavrek
PRESENTED BY TEAM 1
“HIS NAME IS JAN” AND “WITHOUT JAN” FROM BREAKING THE WAVES MUSIC Missy Mazzoli TEXT Royce Vavrek
PRESENTED BY TEAM 2
SCENE 3 FROM I HAVE NO STORIES TO TELL YOU MUSIC Lembit Beecher TEXT Hannah Moscovitch
PRESENTED BY TEAM 1, THEN TEAM 2 POST-PERFORMANCE RECEPTION
TONIGHT’S PERFORMANCE FEATURES A STRING QUARTET FROM THE OPERA PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA:
OLIVIA DE PRATO VIOLIN I EMMA KUMMROW VIOLIN II JONATHAN KIM VIOLA PRISCILLA LEE CELLO 3
SCENE DESCRIPTIONS – LEMBIT BEECHER
Craig Verm and Beth Clayton in a scene from I Have No Stories to Tell You at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo by Stephanie Berger.
“Sunny View” is a scene from a yet untitled work focusing on the story of George, a married man with Alzheimer's, who falls in love with another Alzheimer's patient at his assisted living facility. The piece explores the humanity that persists under the fist of a terrible, erasing disease like Alzheimer's and though it deals with the difficulties of dementia and the heartbreak of letting go, it is at its core a love story, painted with a magical realist brush. The work is at an early stage of its development. This scene emerged from an improvisatory and exploratory workshop conducted in collaboration with Pig Iron Theatre Company in Philadelphia. The scene focuses on the moment that George is left by his wife, Rosemarie, at the assisted living facility. The rules of the facility stipulate that Rosemarie is not allowed to visit her husband for a month as he acclimates to his new living situation, and Rosemarie struggles both to say goodbye and to explain the situation to George. In response, George seems to be confused though there are hints that he may have a deeper understanding of the situation than Rosemarie. I HAVE NO STORIES TO TELL YOU is a 35-minute chamber opera in four scenes commissioned by Gotham Chamber Opera as a companion piece to Monteverdi’s Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. Originally written for the same period instrument ensemble as the Monteverdi, the opera explores the return home of a soldier, Sorrel, and her struggle to communicate with her husband, Daniel, and to recapture a sense of home. Scene III opens with Sorrel’s nighttime aria, a love song of sorts, to the sleeping Daniel. Sorrel drifts into a brief nightmarish sleep which is narrated by three memory figures who appear throughout the opera, prodding Sorrel with images from her deployment. Awaking from her sleep to pace up and down the hallway, as she has done at the beginning of both scenes I and II, Sorrel is confronted by Daniel who reminds her of their previous life together and pushes her to tell him about her time at war, the things that keep her from sleeping at night. The scene ends with Sorrel’s telling Daniel that she can’t tell him, that she can only survive in a middle place of silence. 4
SCENE DESCRIPTIONS – MISSY MAZZOLI
Marnie Breckenridge performs “His Name is Jan” from Breaking the Waves at 21c Liederabend at Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival. Photo by Jill Steinberg.
Breaking the Waves is based on the acclaimed 1996 film by Lars von Trier. Set in the Scottish Highlands in the 1970s, Breaking the Waves tells the story of Bess McNeill and her devotion to her new husband Jan. After Jan becomes paralyzed in an off-shore oil rig accident, Bess’s marital vows are put to the test when he encourages her to seek other lovers and return to his bedside to tell him of her sexual activities. He insists that her stories will feel like they are making love together and their love for each other will keep him alive. Bess’s increasing selflessness leads to a finale of divine grace, but at great cost. “His Name is Jan,” the opening aria, features Bess asking for permission to marry the Norwegian Jan, perceived as an outsider by the rigid Calvinist church. In “Without Jan,” Jan and Bess share a final intimate moment before he leaves for the oil rig and she thanks him for this gift of his love. When he flies off in a helicopter, Bess suffers another breakdown. Her sister-in-law Dodo holds her, stroking her hair, forcing medication into her mouth, settling her down. In the distance, Calvinist men carry the coffin of a fellow parishioner. Bess wishes Jan were still there to join the funeral procession as the men condemn the dead sinner to hell.
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LEMBIT BEECHER, COMPOSER
Lembit Beecher was selected as the first Composer in Residence (CIR) in 2011. Lembit is a New York-based composer from Santa Cruz, California. Born of Estonian and American parents, Beecher's music focuses on themes of storytelling, memory, nature, and the immigrant experience. His large-scale composition, And Then I Remember, won the 2010 Opera Vista competition. This piece, which he describes as a “documentary oratorio,” combines Estonian folk poetry, classical singing, orchestral writing, and recorded interviews to tell the moving story of his grandmother’s World War II flight from her native country. In his proposal for the CIR program, Beecher wrote, “I would like to explore the connection between true stories from people’s lives and the fictional stories that they find particularly important.” Gotham Chamber Opera presented the World Premiere of Beecher’s opera, I Have No Stories to Tell You, in February 2014 in the Medieval Sculpture Hall of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Beecher and librettist Hannah Moscovitch responded to Monteverdi’s Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda by focusing on the aftereffects of war. Their 35-minute opera turns from the battlefield to domestic life to tell the story of a soldier’s return home after extended assignment in the Middle East. Haunted by her experiences and reluctant to discuss them with a husband who no longer seems to understand her, she struggles to readjust to home. The “alluring” and “cleverly devised” work was hailed by The New York Times for its “emotive score” and “moments of arresting tension.” Beecher graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 2002 and holds a Masters of Music in composition from Rice University (2005); he earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in composition from the University of Michigan in 2009.
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MISSY MAZZOLI, COMPOSER
Missy Mazzoli has produced new works for eighth blackbird, Kronos Quartet, the League of Composers Orchestra, violinist Jennifer Koh as commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Santa Fe Chamber Players, and has received additional commissions from Carnegie Hall and the Whitney Museum of Art. The winner of four ASCAP Young Composer Awards and a Fulbright Grant to the Netherlands, she was recently deemed “one of the more consistently inventive, surprising composers now working in New York” by The New York Times. In February 2012, she premiered her first full-length opera, Song from the Uproar, at The Kitchen in New York. The Wall Street Journal called the work “powerful and new,” while The New York Times said that, “in the electric surge of Ms. Mazzoli’s score you felt the joy, risk, and unlimited potential of free spirits unbound.” Her new, 25-minute opera entitled SALT, a multimedia collaboration based on the biblical story of Lot’s wife, premiered at UNC Chapel Hill in October 2012. Mazzoli’s 2013-2014 Season includes many exciting new projects. Carnegie Hall recently commissioned her to write a new work for her band Victoire, featuring Wilco drummer/percussionist Glenn Kotche and vocalists Mellissa Hughes, Martha Cluver, and Virginia Warnken. This new work, based on poems by Matthew Zapruder, premiered at Carnegie Hall on February 22, 2014, as part of the Ecstatic Music Festival. The season also includes premieres of newly commissioned works for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, and pianist Emanuel Ax, who will perform her newest solo piano piece on tour across the country. Mazzoli attended the Yale School of Music, the Royal Conservatory of the Hague, and Boston University, and is published by G. Schirmer.
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TEAM ONE DANIEL FISH, DIRECTOR
Daniel Fish is a director of theater, opera, and film. He draws on a broad range of forms and subject matter including film scripts, plays, contemporary fiction, and found audio. His recent film, Eternal, was seen in New York at The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival and Incubator Arts Project. Fish directed Owen Wingrave with Curtis Opera Theatre/ Opera Philadelphia in 2013.
JENNIFER BEATTIE, MEZZO-SOPRANO
(Columbus, Ohio) Soloist, Messiah, The National Opera Orchestra at the Kennedy Center Soloist, Das Lied von der Erde, Argento Chamber Ensemble, Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies Vocalist-in-Residence, New Music on the Point Festival
(Sherman Oaks, California) Le Geôlier, Dialogues of the Carmelites, Curtis Opera Theatre Belcore, L’elisir d’amore, Curtis Opera Theatre Maximilian, Candide, Aspen Opera Theatre Company
JULIA DAWSON,
ASHLEY MILANESE,
(Cobourg, ON, Canada) Soloist, Mass in b minor: Houston Bach Society Polina/Governess/ Milovzor, Pique Dame, AVA Dorabella, Così fan tutte, AVA
(New Orleans, Louisiana) Sr. Constance, Dialogues of the Carmelites, Curtis Opera Theatre Bubikopf, The Emperor of Atlantis, Curtis Opera Theatre Zerlina, Don Giovanni, Chautauqua Institution
MEZZO-SOPRANO
SOPRANO
JOANNA GATES,
THOMAS SHIVONE,
(Princeton, Illinois) Soloist, Dvorak Stabat Mater, Drexel University Angelina, Rossini Cinderella, Children’s Opera Box Soloist, Mozart Requiem, St. Joseph’s University
(Fort Worth, Texas) Mussorgsky, Songs and Dances of Death, Kennedy Center Dulcamara, L’elisir d’amore, Curtis Opera Theatre British Major, Silent Night, Opera Philadelphia
MEZZO-SOPRANO
BASS-BARITONE
BÉNÉDICTE JOURDOIS,
KENSHO WATANABE,
(Paris, France) Principal Pianist, Don Giovanni, Opera Philadelphia Principal Pianist, Dialogues of the Carmelites, Curtis Opera Theatre Principal Pianist, Nabucco, Opera Philadelphia
(Greenwich, Connecticut) Conductor, Concerto for 2 Pianos and Percussion, Curtis Symphony Orchestra Conductor, Nutcracker, Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra and Ballet Conductor, The Emperor of Atlantis & Ich habe genug, Curtis Opera Theatre
PIANIST
BECKI SMITH STAGE MANAGER 8
JOHNATHAN MCCULLOUGH, BARITONE
SARA PRINCE ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER
CONDUCTOR
CHRIS FREY LIGHTING DESIGNER
TEAM TWO STEPHANIE HAVEY, DIRECTOR
Stephanie Havey was the winner of the 2013 Director-Designer Showcase with OPERA America for her production of Elmer Gantry. She has received rave reviews for her productions with Opera in the Heights and Pittsburgh Opera. Her work has been described as “invigorating,” “sexy,” “smart,” and “funny.” Stephanie Havey appears by courtesy of Boston Lyric Opera.
MATTHEW BROWER, PIANIST
HEIDI KURTZ, MEZZO-SOPRANO
VERONICA CHAPMANSMITH, SOPRANO
SEAN PLUMB, BARITONE
ANDRÉ COURVILLE,
EDWARD POLL, CONDUCTOR
(Toms River, New Jersey) Chorus Pianist, Nabucco, Ainadamar, Opera Philadelphia Pianist with 6ixwire Project, University of Delaware Concert Series Staff Pianist, Westminster Choir College
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Soloist, Verdi Requiem, Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival Clara, Porgy and Bess, Opera Delaware Madrigal Singer, Manon Lescaut, Opera Philadelphia
(Pocomoke, Maryland) Soloist, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Pennsylvania Ballet Soloist, Verdi Requiem, Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival Soloist, Canticles of the Holy Wind, The Crossing
(Los Angeles, California) Belcore, L’elisir d’amore, Curtis Opera Theatre Soloist, Academie Mozart at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence Papageno, The Magic Flute, Curtis Opera Theatre
(Lafayette, Louisiana) Marquis d’Obigny, La traviata, The Santa Fe Opera Don Alfonso, Così fan tutte, AVA Soloist, Opera Gala Concert, Acadiana Symphony Orchestra
(Brooklyn, New York) Assistant Conductor, Ariadne auf Naxos and Carousel, Glimmerglass Festival Assistant Conductor, Il viaggio a Reims and The Rape of Lucretia, Mannes Opera Conductor, Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2 and Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, Mannes Orchestra
LAUREN EBERWEIN,
MELINDA WHITTINGTON,
(Vancouver BC, Canada) Mère Marie, Dialogues of the Carmelites, Curtis Opera Theatre The Drummer, The Emperor of Atlantis, Curtis Opera Theatre Dido, Dido and Aeneas, Curtis Opera Theatre
(Charlotte, North Carolina) Lauretta, Gianni Schicchi, Opera Carolina Fiordiligi, Così fan tutte, AVA Donna Elvira, Don Giovanni, Green Mountain Opera Festival
BASS-BARITONE
MEZZO-SOPRANO
MILLIE HIIBEL COSTUME COORDINATION
STEPHEN SMITH COSTUME ASSISTANT
SOPRANO
JOHN BRYANT PROPERTIES COORDINATION 9
Opera from the Lab Tonight’s Double Exposure event is the latest endeavor to emerge from the Opera Philadelphia Lab. The public rarely gets to see this “research and development” work, but it is some of the most rewarding aspects of what we do. What do we mean when we say “Opera from the Lab?” Simply put, it is how we experiment with our art form, in an effort to lead the field in the development of new opera. Two of our major Lab initiatives are the American Repertoire Program, a commitment to produce at least one American opera in each of ten consecutive seasons, working in tandem with the Composer in Residence program, which provides three talented composers with several years of intensive, hands-on work to develop an understanding of the many facets of developing and producing opera. Another Lab initiative currently underway is Hip H’opera, a collaborative, three-year project that combines classical music style with hip-hop sounds to create a compelling new operatic experience. COMPOSER IN RESIDENCE PROGRAM Opera Philadelphia, in collaboration with Gotham Chamber Opera and Music-Theatre Group in New York, launched the nation’s first comprehensive, operatic Composer in Residence program in 2011. Funded by two grants from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the program provides a highly individualized professional development path for today’s most promising opera composers, selected on a competitive basis. The goal is to foster tomorrow’s masterpieces of American opera through individualized creative development. The composers work zealously with the resident companies to take this timeless art form and infuse it with the technological, creative, and collaborative sensibilities most relevant to our time. Lembit Beecher was appointed the first Composer in Residence in September 2011. Missy Mazzoli was appointed in September 2012, with Andrew Norman (pictured) joining the program in September 2013. They take part in personalized learning tracks providing opportunities to cultivate their skills in all aspects of opera production, from working one-on-one with librettists and dramaturges, to workshops and scene treatments with world-class performers. AMERICAN REPERTOIRE PROGRAM Opera Philadelphia launched the American Repertoire Program in 2011, committing to produce an American work in each season for ten years and solidifying our role as a national leader in the creation of new works. The program is aimed at fostering a new generation of opera composers and telling authentically American stories. It is steered by the American Repertoire Council, a committed group of volunteer advisors overseen by operatic baritone, Nathan Gunn. The program launched in June 2012 with the Company Premiere of Dark Sisters by Nico Muhly and Steven Karam. Co-commissioned with New York City’s Gotham Chamber Opera and MusicTheatre Group, it was performed as part of the Aurora Series at the Perelman Theater. The opera was hailed by The Associated Press, which called it, “An intriguing new opera... Muhly and Karam seem to have succeeded where many new operas fail.” Next up was the East Coast Premiere of Silent Night, winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Music, by composer Kevin Puts with a libretto by Mark Campbell. Co-produced with Minnesota Opera, it was hailed as “a tautly paced and involving work” by The New York Times. 10
OPERA PHILADELPHIA THANKS THE FOLLOWING FOR SUPPORTING OPERA FROM THE LAB INITIATIVES: THE ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION WYNCOTE FOUNDATION THE PEW CENTER FOR ARTS & HERITAGE KNIGHT FOUNDATION
Future seasons will feature a number of American works, including the June 2014 East Coast Premiere of A Coffin in Egypt by composer Ricky Ian Gordon and librettist Leonard Foglia, starring Frederica von Stade, which is co-commissioned and co-produced with Houston Grand Opera and The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. February 2015 brings the East Coast Premiere of Oscar by composer Theodore Morrison and librettist John Cox, starring David Daniels and co-produced with The Santa Fe Opera. The first World Premiere from the American Repertoire Program arrives in June 2015 with Charlie Parker’s YARDBIRD by composer Daniel Schnyder and librettist Bridgette A. Wimberly. Tenor Lawrence Brownlee stars as the jazz great, with soprano Angela Brown as his mother, Addie Parker. Future works include the February 2016 East Coast Premiere of Cold Mountain by composer Jennifer Higdon and librettist Gene Scheer, starring Nathan Gunn and Isabel Leonard. Also on tap for the future is a return of the Puts/Campbell team, and the 2017 World Premiere of The Trial of Elizabeth Cree. HIP H’OPERA A partnership between Opera Philadelphia and Art Sanctuary, Hip H’opera brings teaching artists to four Philadelphia high schools: Esperanza Academy Charter School, Kensington Creative and Performing Arts High School, Mastery Charter School – Lenfest Campus, and South Philadelphia High School. In the current initiative, students participate in a threeyear project. In year one, they engaged in writing prompts through which they shared their stories of family, struggle, neighborhood, and future dreams. In phase two, currently ongoing, students explore their own artistic process through monthly Teaching Artist Intensives. Teaching artists include acclaimed photographer Ruth Naomi Floyd, poet Susan DiPronio, and dancer Marcie Mamura, among others. In phase three, students will build upon the work begun in Composer Daniel Bernard Roumain and phase two, learning about career opportunities in the arts librettist Marc Bamuthi Joseph perform for students at a Hip H’opera concert in 2013. and participating in the development of an original opera, inspired by their stories. This professionally-mounted chamber opera-set to premiere in 2015–will be composed by Daniel Bernard Roumain, with a libretto by spoken word artist and dancer/choreographer Marc Bamuthi Joseph. TECHNOLOGY AND THE FUTURE As we move into the future, we continue to experiment with ways to improve opera with technology. In February, we hosted a group of media members, bloggers and Twitter fans for our first Social Media Night @ the Opera. Our guests, who sat in the back of the balcony, live Tweeted the Opening Night performance of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, using the hashtag #lorcaopera. Opera Philadelphia and The Franklin Institute hosted a global experiment in 21st century opera on Sunday, Feb. 16, as a live performance of Death and the Powers by acclaimed American composer/inventor Tod Machover was simulcast from The Dallas Opera to more than ten locations in Europe and the U.S. Audiences who attended this special simulcast received secondary audio, video and multimedia through a specially developed app downloaded to their cellphones, tablets and other handheld devices. After the performance, audience members participated in a Q&A led by David Devan, Opera Philadelphia’s General Director and President, and Youngmoo Kim, Director of the Expressive & Creative Interaction Technologies (ExCITe) Center at Drexel University. 11
2014–2015
FIVE EXCEPTIONAL NEW PRODUCTIONS. ONE INCREDIBLE SEASON.
ROSSINI
THE BARBER OF SEVILLE S E P T . 2 6 – O C T . 5 , 2 014 AC ADEMY OF MUSIC
MORRISON/COX
OSCAR
East Coast Premiere
F E B . 6 – 15 , 2 015 AC ADEMY OF MUSIC
C U R T I S O P E R A T H E AT R E
R. STRAUSS/ VON HOFMANNSTAHL
ARIADNE AUF NAXOS
M A R C H 4 – 8 , 2 015 PERELMAN THEATER
STA R R IN G
Lawrence Brownlee William Burden David Daniels Michelle DeYoung Eric Owens Heidi Stober
VERDI
DON CARLO A P R I L 2 4 – M AY 3 , 2 015 AC ADEMY OF MUSIC
S C H N Y D E R / W I M B E R LY
C H A R L I E PA R K E R ’ S YA R D B I R D World Premiere
J U N E 5 – 14 , 2 015 PERELMAN THEATER THE AURORA SERIES AT THE PERELMAN THEATER IS UNDERWRITTEN BY THE WYNCOTE FOUNDATION
SUBSCRIPTIONS ON SALE NOW 12
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