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For 12 days, our city is a stage.
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festival CALENDAR September
Th
F
Sa
Su
M
Tu
W
Th
F
Sa
Su
M
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Perelman Theater
ELIZ ABE T H CREE
2:30 p.m.
8:00 p.m. Gala
8:00 p.m.
8:00 p.m.
2:30 p.m.
Academy of Music
THE MAGI C F LUTE
8:00 p.m.
2:30 p.m.
8:00 p.m.
8:00 p.m.
2:30 p.m.
The Wilma Theater
WE SHA L L N OT BE MOV ED
8:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m.
2:30 p.m. 8:00 p.m. Student Matinee
8:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m.
Philadelphia Museum of Art
WAR S TORIES
8:00 p.m. Preview
8:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m.
8:00 p.m.
8:00 p.m.
8:00 p.m.
The Barnes Foundation
T HE WAK E WORLD
8:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m.
8:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m.
Perelman Theater
S ONDRA RADVAN OVSK Y Festival Artist
2:30 p.m. 2:30 p.m. Recital Master Class
Independence National Historical Park
OPERA O N THE MAL L
7:00 p.m.
The Marriage of Figaro
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T W E LV E S T E A K S , T W E LV E H U N D R E D W I N E S .
1 4 2 6 - 1 4 2 8 C H E S T N U T S T. , P H I L A D E L P H I A , PA 1 9 1 0 2 Call for Reservations
215.231.7199
D E L F R I S C O S . C O M
table of CONTENTS
exclusive east coast appearance
THE MAGIC FLUTE
30
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ _ _ _ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ _
48 philadelphia premiere
WAR STORIES
festival artist
03 06 07 09 11 29 34 38 54 56 82
Festival Calendar Board of Directors Board Chairman Festival Support General Director Carmen A Magical Storybook A Philadelphia Story A Tragic History, A Lingering Hope The Cost of Education A Journey Through the Barnes
world premiere
WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED
64 78
SONDRA RADVANOVSKY
ELIZABETH CREE
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ _ _ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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world premiere
world premiere
THE WAKE WORLD
92 84 100 102 104 106 108 110 112 114 116 118
Chorus Takes the Spotlight Opera on the Mall Thank You Leadership Giving General Director’s Council Patron Program Membership Encore Society Corporate Council VIVACE Making a Difference
121 122 124 127 128 129 130 131
Festival Merchandise Workforce Readiness The O17 Team Written on Skin Festival Map Festival App O18 Masthead
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board of DIRECTORS OFFICERS
D a n i e l K . M e y e r, M . D . C h a i r m a n o f t h e B o a r d F r e d e r i c k P. H u f f V i c e C h a i r Peter Leone Vice Chair S c o t t F. R i c h a r d S e c r e t a r y T h o m a s M a h o n e y Tr e a s u r e r David B. Devan* President
MEMBERS
Benjamin Alexander Sandra K. Baldino F. J o s h u a B a r n e t t , M . D . , J . D . Willo Carey Katherine Christiano Ady L. Djerassi, M.D. Charles C. Freyer Ehab Hammad Alexander Hankin F r e d e r i c k P. H u f f Caroline J. MacKenzie Kennedy Beverly Lange, M.D. Ellen Berman Lee Gabriele Lee Peter Leone Thomas Mahoney D a n i e l K . M e y e r, M . D . Agnes Mulroney S c o t t F. R i c h a r d Jonathan H. Sprogell D r. E u g e n e E . S t a r k , J r. William R. Stensrud Kenneth R. Swimm M a r i a Tr a f t o n D o n n a We c h s l e r
HONORARY MEMBERS
Dennis Alter Alan B. Miller H . F. ( G e r r y ) L e n f e s t Stephen A. Madva, Esq. Chairman Emeritus
List as of August 2017 *Ex officio
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WELCOME
D E AR FR I E NDS , Welcome to O17, Opera Philadelphia’s inaugural fall festival. For twelve days, operatic voices will blanket our city in 31 performances across some of our greatest theaters as well as iconic spaces like the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Barnes Foundation, and the birthplace of our nation, Independence National Historical Park. This city has long celebrated its revolutionary spirit, and with this annual festival Opera Philadelphia will spark that same spirit in the art form that we all love. What is the future of opera? That is a question many have sought to answer in recent years. Where is the future of opera? I like to think the answer is Philadelphia.
Dan Meyer Letter
We invite you to immerse yourself in opera during your O17 experience while also taking in Philadelphia’s great dining scene, cultural attractions, and historic treasures. Philadelphia has been having “a moment” of late, and O17 is just the latest in a series of international events that have amplified our deep sense of community. We are delighted to welcome you to the Phamily. This inaugural festival would not be possible without the generous philanthropic support of many members of our community. They are listed throughout this festival book, and they have my unending gratitude for their belief in the innovative spirit of Festival O. We arrive at this first festival after many thoughtful years of research, workshopping, prototyping, and careful curation by a dedicated Board of Directors and administrative staff at Opera Philadelphia. They have worked tirelessly to create this experience with you, our longtime fans and first-time attenders, in mind. I applaud their efforts, their commitment, and their creativity, and I thank them in advance for the many long hours they have worked and continue to work before, during, and after the festival. Thank you for coming along with us on this journey through an urban operatic landscape as we explore the future of opera. I look forward to seeing you throughout O17 and again at O18, O19, and beyond! Sincerely,
DANIEL K. MEYER, M.D. CHAIRMAN
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_ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ _ ________________
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ________________ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____
Significant support for Opera Philadelphia's festival O has been provided by: William Penn Foundation The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Wyncote Foundation T h e Wa l l a c e F o u n d a t i o n T h e P e w C h a r i t a b l e Tr u s t s T h e H o r a c e W. G o l d s m i t h F o u n d a t i o n The Neubauer Family Foundation Mrs. Sandra K. Baldino Judy and Peter Leone B a r b a r a A u g u s t a Te i c h e r t Donald and Gay Kimelman Caroline J. MacKenzie Kennedy
O17 has received additional support from: The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage O P E R A A m e r i c a ’s B u i l d i n g A u d i e n c e s g r a n t p r o g r a m a n d a n OPERA America Innovation Grant, both supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation The Presser Foundation The Barra Foundation PNC Arts Alive Pennsylvania Council on the Arts The Independence Foundation National Endowment for the Arts Ady L. Djerassi, M.D. and Robert Golub, M.D. Mazzotti/Kelly Fund-BBH of the Philadelphia Foundation Constance and Michael Cone A l l e n R . a n d J u d i t h B r i c k F r e e d m a n Ve n t u r e F u n d f o r N e w O p e r a
9
FOR 12 DAYS, OUR CITY IS A
STAGE.
Congratulations to Opera Philadelphia on their debut of Festival O!
WELCOME
D E AR FR I E NDS , Over the past few weeks, I have felt like the proverbial kid in a candy store. Since my arrival at Opera Philadelphia more than a decade ago, we have worked hard to create an artist-focused company that gives artists the support they need to bring their most imaginative and inspired work to you, our loyal patrons. We have also strived to author the future of opera through a comprehensive Composer in Residence program and a new works practice that supports the creation of outstanding scores and librettos that tell relevant contemporary stories. O17 is, in many ways, both the culmination of the past decade of progress at Opera Philadelphia and the beginning of the next decade of innovation. We announced the Dan Meyer Letter blueprint for this inaugural festival nearly two years ago, but in recent weeks, as so many incredible artists arrived, the spirit of Festival O has truly emerged, and our great city has been bursting with creative energy. At the Wilma Theater, the legendary Bill T. Jones has been working with the cast of We Shall Not Be Moved as they rehearse Daniel Bernard Roumain’s music and Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s powerful libretto. Across the street, the Elizabeth Cree cast, conductor Corrado Rovaris, and director David Schweizer have been creating the first chamber opera by the renowned duo of Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell. Down the road, the amazing Opera Philadelphia Chorus under the baton of Elizabeth Braden sound amazing as they work with resident composer David Hertzberg’s ambitious creation, The Wake World. At the Academy of Music, longtime Opera Philadelphia favorites Jarrett Ott and Rachel Sterrenberg have been preparing professional role debuts in an innovative staging of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, while Ben Bliss, Olga Pudova, and other great talents prepare to make their company debuts. Our first Composer in Residence, Lembit Beecher, has been working to bring his opera I Have No Stories to Tell You to the galleries of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in a pairing with a Monteverdi work, while also writing his next opera for a world premiere in O18 (but I’m not allowed to tell you about that just yet). This festival is about artistic inspiration. That is why I am thrilled to have soprano Sondra Radvanovsky here as our inaugural festival artist, sharing her talents in a recital and master class while also working with us to hatch a project for a future festival season (but I can’t really go into detail about that yet, either). I want to thank all of the artists of O17 for bringing so much talent, passion, and joy to Philadelphia. You have truly made us a better company, and you have made my job as general director even sweeter. It is an honor to be surrounded by such incredible artistry. A kid in a candy store, indeed. Now comes the best part, as I get to share the sweets with all of you. Welcome to O17!
D AV I D B . D E VA N GENERAL DIRECTOR & PRESIDENT
11
>
Resident Artist Vanessa Vasquez in a coaching with AVA voice teacher Bill Schuman.
Founded in 1934 and headquartered in Philadelphia, the Academy of Vocal Arts is dedicated to giving voice to opera’s future. AVA provides four years of tuition-free training in voice, languages, acting and other skills needed by the opera stars of the future and focuses exclusively on the study of voice. Resident Artists, such as fourth-year soprano VANESSA VASQUEZ pictured above, study at AVA and go on to perform in leading roles and win major competitions, such as the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. More than 200 singers from across the globe audition each year for the 6-10 spots available in each class. No other opera training program in the world rivals AVA’s success in developing individual artists whose extraordinary voices inspire millions on international stages. AVA alumni regularly star in major roles at the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, La Scala Milan, San Francisco Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Bavarian State Opera, Salzburg Festival, Vienna State Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and many other renowned opera houses throughout the world.
> ACADEMY OF VOCAL ARTS 1920 Spruce Street Philadelphia, PA 19103 avaopera.org / 215-735-1685
AVA proudly counts among its alumni such distinguished international stars as Stephen Costello, Ellie Dehn, Joyce DiDonato, Michael Fabiano, Bryan Hymel, Angela Meade, Latonia Moore, James Morris, Zachary Nelson, Ailyn Pérez, Ruth Ann Swenson, Richard Troxell, Corinne Winters, and many more.
AVA 2017–2018 OPERA SEASON New Artist Recital at AVA
> September 19 and September 21
Giargiari Bel Canto Competition > Saturday October 7
at the Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center
MUSIC DIRECTOR: Richard Raub
Il trovatore Giuseppe Verdi at AVA with the AVA Opera Orchestra CONDUCTOR: Christofer Macatsoris STAGE DIRECTOR: Tito Capobianco
> November 4 – November 28
Russian Romances
MUSIC DIRECTOR AND PIANO: Ghenady Meirson
> December 12 and December 14
Das Rheingold Richard Wagner
Ariadne auf Naxos Richard Strauss with the AVA Opera Orchestra GUEST CONDUCTOR: David Aronson STAGE DIRECTOR: Dorothy Danner
> February 24 – March 3
Jubilate! A Concert of Sacred Music with the AVA Opera Orchestra CONDUCTOR: David Antony Lofton
> March 16 – March 18
La traviata
Giuseppe Verdi
with the AVA Opera Orchestra CONDUCTOR: Christofer Macatsoris STAGE DIRECTOR: Jeffrey Marc Buchman
> April 21 – May 5
Farewell Recital
MUSIC DIRECTOR AND PIANO: José Meléndez
with piano accompaniment
> Tuesday, May 8
MUSIC DIRECTOR AND PIANO: Luke Housner
at The Church of The Holy Trinity,
> January 20 – January 30
Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia
Subscriptions and tickets are available online at www.avaopera.org or by calling 215-735-1685.
Giving Voice to Opera’s Future @avaopera
ELIZABET CREE PUTS/CAMPBELL S E PTE MBE R 14 , 16 M, 19 , 21, 23M, 2 017 P E R E L MAN THE ATE R Part of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
WORL D P REMI ERE
14
TH
O17
Opera Philadelphia
C R E AT I V E Music K E V I N P U T S Libretto M A R K C A M P B E L L Based on the novel The Trial of Elizabeth Cree by P E T E R AC K R OY D Conductor C O R R A D O R OVA R I S Director DAV I D S C H W E I Z E R* Set/Costume Design DAV I D Z I N N* Lighting/Projection Design A L E X A N D E R V. N I C H O L S* Wig/Make-up Design DAV I D Z I MMER MAN Assistant Conductor G E O F F R E Y M C D O N A L D Stage Manager JA N E T N E U K I R C H N E R Flying Effects F LY I N G BY F OY CAST
Elizabeth Cree DA N I E L A M AC K* John Cree T R OY C O O K Dan Leno J O S E P H GA I N E S Inspector Kildare DA N I E L B E LC H E R Aveline Mortimer D E A N N A B R E I W I C K* Uncle M AT T B O E H L E R* Doris M E L I S S A PA R K S Little Victor Farrell JA S O N F E R R A N T E Mr. Greatorex/George Gissing/Etcher J O H N AT H A N M C C U L L O U G H Mr. Lister/Karl Marx/Solomon Weil T H O M A S S H I VO N E Jane Quig/Annie the Serving Girl M A R E N M O N TA L B A N O Priest/Librarian/Mr. Gerrard DA N I E L TAY L O R *Opera Philadelphia debut
A M ERI C A N REPERTO I RE PRO G R A M
Co-commissioned and co-produced with Hackney Empire. Co-produced with Chicago Opera Theater. By arrangement with Aperto Press; Sole Agent: Bill Holab Music. Major support for Elizabeth Cree has been provided by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Production underwritten by the Wyncote Foundation at the recommendation of Frederick R. Haas. Additional production support provided by Ady L. Djerassi, M.D., and Robert Golub, M.D. Commissioning support provided by Constance and Michael Cone.
15
elizabeth cree
SCENE 5
September 10, 1880; The Diary of John Cree An entry in the diary of John Cree recounts the murder of a young prostitute named Jane Quig. SCENE 6
synopsis by Mark Campbell PROLOGUE
April 9, 1881; Camberwell Prison Elizabeth Cree is hanged for the murder of her husband, John. As the noose tightens around her neck, Elizabeth utters an enigmatic phrase: “Here we are again.” SCENE 1
January, 1881; The Courtroom Elizabeth stands on trial for murdering her husband. The prosecuting attorney inquires about her former life before she met and later married John Cree. SCENE 2
September, 1878; A Street in London Elizabeth returns in memory to her youth when she was known as Lambeth Marsh Lizzie and lived in poverty with her abusive mother, mending sails for the fishermen on the Thames. After her mother dies, Elizabeth uses the collection the fishermen have raised to fulfill her dream of visiting the music hall. She runs across town to a theatre, buys a ticket, and goes inside. SCENE 3
September, 1878; The Music Hall, Onstage Elizabeth watches a variety show, enthralled as the famous comedian Dan Leno performs a skit playing Bluebeard’s housekeeper. SCENE 4
September, 1878; The Music Hall, Backstage Elizabeth slips backstage after the performance and meets Dan Leno, as well as others in his company: “Uncle” the Ventriloquist; Doris, the Goddess of Wire-Walking; Little Victor Farrell the Magician; and Aveline Mortimer the Wide-Eyed Warbler (who leaves soon after Elizabeth arrives). The performers, hearing of Elizabeth’s plight, quickly adopt her into their stage family.
16
September 12, 1880; An Office in Scotland Yard Panic grips London after the murder of Quig, and Inspector Kildare of Scotland Yard is assigned to the case. Searching for clues, he learns that Quig occasionally swept the floors of the Reading Room in the British Museum, so he interrogates the noted novelist George Gissing who does his writing there. SCENE 7
February, 1881; The Courtroom At her trial, Elizabeth is questioned by the defense attorney. Elizabeth suggests that John took his own life, due to a “morbid disposition.” The prosecution attorney implies that Elizabeth murdered John for his money and calls Aveline Mortimer to the stand. SCENE 8
April, 1878; The Music Hall, Backstage and On After working for several months backstage with the troupe of actors, Elizabeth makes her stage debut, replacing an increasingly truant Aveline Mortimer. It is a great success. When she leaves the theatre after her performance, John Cree, playwright and critic, approaches her and introduces himself. SCENE 9
September 12, 1880; The Diary of John Cree Another entry in the diary of John Cree records the murder of Solomon Weil, a Hebrew scholar. SCENE 10
September 14, 1880; An Office in Scotland Yard Kildare interrogates Karl Marx, who was a colleague of Weil’s and also frequents the Reading Room. Meanwhile, public panic grows and the murderer is dubbed “The Limehouse Golem,” because of the geographic location of the crimes and because a Jewish man is the latest victim. SCENE 11
February, 1881; The Courtroom At the trial, the prosecution attorney interrogates Aveline Mortimer and raises the suspicion that Elizabeth killed John by poisoning him with a “physic” she concocted herself. SCENE 12
November, 1878; The Music Hall, Backstage and On Elizabeth has risen to star status in the world of the music hall, but grows bored with ingénue roles. She
elizabeth cree
performs a song in male attire with Dan called, “Here We Are Again.” SCENE 13
September 15, 1880; The Diary of John Cree An entry chronicles another brutal murder: that of the entire Gerrard family, slaughtered to commemorate the Marr family murders immortalized in Thomas De Quincey’s “On Murder As One of the Finer Arts.” SCENE 14
September 26, 1880; An Office in Scotland Yard Kildare seeks clues in the Gerrard family murders and questions Dan, as Mr. Gerrard once served as his dresser. After Dan leaves Scotland Yard, he quietly bemoans a world in which such evil exists. Meanwhile, the panic in London builds and Kildare feels more pressure to find the murderer. SCENE 15
February, 1881; The Courtroom At the trial, Aveline raises stronger suspicions that Elizabeth murdered her husband.
SCENE 22
September, 1880; The Reading Room, the British Museum John continues to voice his sorrow at his unhappy marriage while working on Misery Junction. He is joined in the Reading Room by Karl Marx, George Gissing and Dan Leno. SCENE 23
September, 1880; The Home of John and Elizabeth Cree Elizabeth tells Aveline that John suffers from mad dreams and orders her to give him a “physic” that she prepares herself every night. SCENE 24
March, 1881; The Courtroom The two attorneys conclude their arguments in the trial of Elizabeth Cree. SCENE 25
October, 1880; The Reading Room, the British Museum John is absent from the chair in which he usually sits. Marx, Gissing, and Leno continue to read their books. Elizabeth returns three books to the librarian.
SCENE 16
SCENE 26
November, 1879; The Music Hall, Backstage After a performance, Uncle learns that Elizabeth is about to go on another date with John Cree. He accuses her of opportunism, mentioning that John is both a theatre critic and wealthy.
November, 1880; An Office in Scotland Yard Kildare is dumbfounded that the Limehouse Golem's murders have suddenly stopped and that the public now turns its fickle attention to the trial of Elizabeth Cree.
SCENE 17
March, 1881; The Courtroom Elizabeth is convicted of murdering John and sentenced to death.
November, 1879; A Street in London, Under a Full Moon John confesses his love for Elizabeth and proposes marriage. Elizabeth accepts. SCENE 18
June, 1880; The Music Hall, Backstage At a marriage celebration, Dan toasts “Lambeth Marsh Lizzie’s” new life...as Mrs. John Cree. SCENE 19
September, 1880; The Home of John and Elizabeth Cree John is frustrated that Elizabeth refuses to consummate their marriage. He leaves for the Reading Room at the British Museum. Elizabeth decides to engage Aveline as a maid to satiate John’s desires. SCENE 20
September, 1880; The Reading Room, the British Museum In the Reading Room, John expresses despair about his marriage. While working on his new play, entitled Misery Junction. Karl Marx appears and requests a book from the librarian. SCENE 21
September, 1880; The Home of John and Elizabeth Cree Aveline is engaged to work in the Cree household as a housekeeper. John meets and is instantly attracted to Aveline. He leaves, but returns and flirts with Aveline while Elizabeth looks on approvingly.
SCENE 27
SCENE 28
April 9, 1881. A Cell in Camberwell Prison/The Diary of John Cree The Priest visits Elizabeth and hears her confession. SCENE 29
September, 1881; A Theatre A year later, it’s opening night of John Cree’s play, now entitled The Crees of Misery Junction, which has been rewritten to capitalize on his murder and stars Aveline Mortimer (“The Woman Who Was There”) as Elizabeth Cree. Unfortunately, there is a calamitous scenic malfunction, prompting Dan to remark, “Here we are again.” © 2017 by Mark Campbell
RUNNING TIME
Approximately 90 minutes with no intermission
Photograph by Andrew Ousley
17
elizabeth cree
composer’s note by Kevin Puts
opera, Silent Night, a few months after its premiere by Minnesota Opera. During the run, David Devan asked Mark Campbell and me if we would be interested in writing a chamber opera for the company. Mark suggested an adaptation of Peter Ackroyd’s The Trial of Elizabeth Cree. After reading the first few pages of Ackroyd’s gripping novel, I was hooked.
My approach to any piece of music, whether an opera, a string quartet, or a symphony, is to start at the beginning and let things unfold naturally and intuitively. For example, Silent Night begins with a loud fanfare played in counterpoint by the brass. This idea is transformed and restated in all sorts of ways as the piece progresses and in essence becomes thematic, signifying the broader picture of the vast war of which the setting of the opera is only a small part. This was not my intention when I began composing; I discovered the idea’s significance as I went along. As Elizabeth Cree opens, an offstage voice announces Elizabeth’s forthcoming execution by hanging. This pronouncement is set in motion by an emphatic, three-note motive initiated by the interval of a falling fourth which, though played by the orchestral percussion, resembles a horn call.
Following a brief prologue in which Elizabeth utters the line “Here we are again!,” the story moves back in time to the courtroom where Elizabeth stands trial for the murder of her husband. Throughout this scene, the opening motive continues to waft its way through the piano’s harmonically-ambiguous arpeggiations, until Elizabeth sings the line “That was once my name, sir.” At this moment, Elizabeth looks out reflectively and sings her first aria (“We had one room in Lambeth Marsh”), a dark depiction of her squalid childhood, and the opening motive finally assumes a central, melodic role.
room
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As this aria concludes, Elizabeth sings of her fascination with the music hall. Here, the syncopated rhythm of the opening motive is compressed and played staccato in parallel triads by the woodwinds, and it becomes the underpinning of Elizabeth’s first encounter with the spectacle of a variety show at the music hall.
I found that I would use the rhythm of that opening motive later in the score, as the basis for the orchestral accompaniment as John Cree summons the courage to propose marriage to Elizabeth.
This “organic,” unpremeditated approach to developing material, in allowing musical ideas to morph and evolve as the story demands, facilitates a sense of both discovery and inevitability for me—and I hope for the audience— at every juncture. Though throughout its mere ninety minutes Elizabeth Cree is constructed of no less than twentyeight scenes, I was determined to achieve the sense of incessant motion throughout. For this reason,
Photograph by David White
In 2013, Opera Philadelphia presented the second production of my first
frequent changes of tempo would prove to be obstructive. To the amusement of assistant conductor Geoffrey McDonald and me, it seems the opera’s “center of gravity” hovers rather obstinately around quarter note = 104 or 108, often with little flexibility faster or slower. I reveled in the challenge of largely (but not slavishly) maintaining this tempo from scene to scene. So as the piece moves swiftly among its primary arenas—the courtroom, the police station, the music hall, the residence of Elizabeth and John Cree, and eventually the Reading Room of the British Library—the pulse is consistent. I rely upon other parameters such as harmony and texture to set each apart from the others.
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One setting in which I broke from this sense of consistent pulse was in the three murder scenes, described in horrific detail by John Cree. I wanted complete freedom in these moments to illustrate in the music the creativity, artfulness, and passion with which he commits these grisly acts. It was an enormous pleasure to know the extraordinary cast throughout the entire process of composing, to have the opportunity to create roles specifically designed around their wonderful voices. I am deeply grateful to Opera Philadelphia and to everyone involved in the production of Elizabeth Cree, and also to Mark Campbell and David Schweitzer for the vibrant spirit of collaboration we shared.
WASHINGTON CONCERT OPERA 2017-2018 SEASON
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elizabeth cree
l ibrettist’s note by Mark Campbell
An entry from the recently discovered diary of John Cree.
versatility and concision to tell its story In 1995, when I first read Peter Ackroyd’s musically. Kevin expertly navigates all of novel The Trial of Elizabeth Cree, I hoped the challenges the libretto presents: he that someday I’d be given the chance to maintains suspense through the music hall adapt it into a music-theatre work; to find a songs, the murders, the narrative voice of gifted composer to make the story sing and a nurturing producer to help put it on stage. Elizabeth herself, and the many twists the plot takes as it speeds to its conclusion in I found both when Opera Philadelphia asked Kevin Puts and me to create a new 90 minutes. chamber work for the company, following the success of our opera Silent Night at the The production of this opera has been a “many-Davided” thing. My deep gratitude Academy of Music in 2013. goes to these three particular Davids: director Schweizer, designer Zinn, and finally The story of Elizabeth Cree works on many levels—courtroom drama, backstage story, to Opera Philadelphia visionary Devan, for helping Kevin and me bring Mr. Ackroyd’s Gothic thriller, and historical fiction—and novel to the operatic stage. the libretto requires a composer of true
20
elizabeth cree
director’s note by David Schweizer
In the case of Elizabeth Cree, Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell welcomed my dramaturgical input while they created the piece, allowing me to share an invigorating and passionate creative experience with them from the get-go. And now, to enable this “staging” to happen, so much had already been calculated between us in the most satisfying collaborative method that theater artists are lucky enough to have. I feel tremendously excited at this moment to be actively involved in the ex-
plosion of compelling new work arriving from the American opera scene. More and more companies are supporting brand new, audacious work by gifted composers and librettists who do not see limitations in the kind of story that an opera can tell. Mark and Kevin seized eagerly upon the narrative opportunities of the multi-localed and richly complex story that Elizabeth Cree tells.
hall performance settings, the courtroom scenes, the murder scenes—must all tumble together in a propulsive, inevitable rush to the end. And for me, along with brilliant designers David Zinn and Alexander Nichols, to be given the job of guiding that RUSH of staging is the kind of privilege that one dreams about after a lifetime of work in this magical realm.
And now the many, nuanced scenes and My thanks to those of you, our friends rich, exciting scoring have been rendered “out there in the dark,” for coming to see onto the stage and become a new “world” something so brand new and being its in which they can live at their most ex- first audiences; it is only when you are here with us, receiving our breathless pressive. message, that our work can truly LIVE. For me, the rendering of this opera into In your eyes, ears, feelings of surprise or stage terms is an exquisite assignment. recognition. That is why directors LOVE audiences. YOU breathe the life into our And not just because the setting of scary Victorian London with a danger- best-laid plans. ous “Jack the Ripper” kind of feel is so juicy and full of atmosphere and mood. Welcome. But each facet of our world—the music
Daniela Mack as Elizabeth Cree. Photograph by Dominic M. Mercier.
As a stage director who has moved between the worlds of new opera theater, music-driven theater of all sorts, and “spoken” theater for some decades now, the most exciting thing is always the beguiling, seductive JOY of participating in the telling of a unique story, and my job in helping to figure out how to put it onto the stage.
21
elizabeth cree
composer + librettist
KEVIN PUTS
MARK CAMPBELL
composer
librettist
St. Louis, Missouri 2013 Silent Night
New York, New York 2013 Silent Night
Winner of numerous prestigious awards, including the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for his debut opera Silent Night, Kevin Puts’s works have been commissioned, performed, and recorded by leading ensembles and soloists throughout the world, including Yo-Yo Ma, Jeffrey Kahane, Dame Evelyn Glennie, the New York Philharmonic, the Tonhalle Orchester (Zurich), the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Miro Quartet, and the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Cincinnati, Detroit, Atlanta, Colorado, Houston, Fort Worth, St. Louis, and Minnesota. His newest orchestral work, The City, was co-commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in honor of its 100th anniversary and by Carnegie Hall in honor of its 125th anniversary.
Mark Campbell’s work as a librettist is at the forefront of the current contemporary opera scene in this country. He has written more than fifteen librettos, his best-known work being Silent Night, which received the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Music for composer Kevin Puts. His other successful operas include As One (Laura Kaminsky, composer; Kimberly Reed, co-librettist), Later the Same Evening ( John Musto, composer), Volpone ( John Musto, composer), Bastianello/Lucrezia ( John Musto/ William Bolcom, composers), Rappahannock County (Ricky Ian Gordon, composer), The Manchurian Candidate (Kevin Puts, composer), and The Shining (Paul Moravec, composer).
Silent Night, commissioned and premiered by Minnesota Opera, has been produced at Opera Philadelphia, Fort Worth Opera, Cincinnati Opera, the Wexford Opera Festival, Calgary Opera, Montreal Opera, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Atlanta Opera, Opera San Jose, and Michigan Opera Theatre. In 2013, his choral works To Touch The Sky and If I Were A Swan were performed and recorded by Conspirare. His second opera, also commissioned by Minnesota Opera, The Manchurian Candidate, based on the novel, had its world premiere in 2015. A new vocal work for soprano Renée Fleming and orchestra, based on the personal letters of Georgia O’Keeffe, received its world premiere in New York in 2016. A former Composer-in-Residence of Young Concerts Artists, he is currently a member of the composition department at the Peabody Institute and the Director of the Minnesota Orchestra Composer’s Institute. N E X T : Composer, Network, The New World Symphony
22
Awards include: a Grammy® nomination, the first Kleban Foundation Award for Lyricist, two Richard Rodgers Awards, a Larson Foundation Award, a NYFA Playwriting Fellowship, the first Dominic J. Pellicciotti Award, and a NYSCA grant. Mark also mentors the future generation of librettists and composers through such organizations as American Opera Projects, American Lyric Theatre, the University of Colorado’s New Opera Workshop, and Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative. Other premieres in 2017 include: Dinner at Eight for Minnesota Opera (William Bolcom, composer), Some Light Emerges for Houston Grand Opera (Laura Kaminsky, composer; Kimberly Reed, co-librettist), The Nefarious, Immoral but Highly Profitable Enterprise of Mr. Burke & Mr. Hare for Boston Lyric Opera ( Julian Grant, composer) and The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs for Santa Fe Opera (Mason Bates, composer). N E X T : Librettist, The Nefarious, Immoral but Highly Profitable Enterprise of Mr. Burke & Mr. Hare, Boston Lyric Opera
elizabeth cree
conductor + director
C O R R A D O R O VA R I S
D AV I D S C H W E I Z E R
conductor
director
Bergamo, Italy 2017 The Marriage of Figaro 2015 Charlie Parker’s YARDBIRD 2006 Cinderella (partial listing)
Baltimore, Maryland Opera Philadelphia debut
Corrado Rovaris is the Jack Mulroney Music Director of Opera Philadelphia and Music Director of the Artosphere Festival Orchestra, founded in 2011 by the Walton Arts Center. He also serves as principal conductor of the Italian chamber orchestra I Virtuosi Italiani, based in Verona, and leads the Orchestra i Pomeriggi Musicale in concerts in Italy. In 2016, Rovaris was awarded the Abbiati Prize by the Associazione Nazionale Critici Musicali. Born in Bergamo, Italy, Rovaris graduated from the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory of Milan with degrees in composition, organ, and harpsichord. From 1992-1996, he was the assistant chorus master of the Teatro alla Scala and made his debut on the podium with Il filosofo di campagna by Galuppi in a production by Associazione Lirica e Concertistica Italiana. He was subsequently invited to conduct at the Teatro Comunale in Florence and at the Rossini Opera Festival, and soon began appearing as a regular guest in many of the major Italian houses such as La Scala, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro La Fenice, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, and Teatro Comunale di Bologna. Internationally he has led productions for the Opéra de Lyon, Théâtre Municipal de Lausanne, Oper Köln, Oper Frankfurt, Opéra Nationale de Lorraine à Nancy, Bergamo Gaetano Donizetti Music Festival, and Japan Opera Foundation in Tokyo, among others.
David Schweizer makes his Opera Philadelphia debut with Elizabeth Cree, though he has been directing and developing new opera theater, performance, and spoken work for several decades, beginning with his revival of Shakesepeare’s Troilus and Cressida at Lincoln Center for producer Joseph Papp at age twenty-two. Career highlights include his OBIE Award-winning production of Rinde Eckert’s And God Created Whales in N.Y.C. and Lisa Loomer’s internationally award-winning play The Waiting Room at several regional theaters including the Mark Taper Forum in L.A., and such opera work as Thomas Ades’ Powder Her Face (Long Beach Opera), Victor Ullmann’s Emperor of Atlantis (Boston Lyric Opera), Richard Rodney Bennett’s The Mines of Sulphur (New York City Opera), and Stephen Hartke’s The Greater Good (world premiere at Glimmerglass Opera). Other work with librettist Mark Campbell includes As One (Long Beach Opera), Songs from an Unmade Bed and Three Lost Chords (off-Broadway). N E X T : Director, The Nefarious, Immoral but Highly Profitable
Enterprise of Mr. Burke & Mr. Hare, Boston Lyric Opera
Making his U.S. debut in 1999 with Opera Philadelphia in Le nozze di Figaro, Rovaris quickly became a company regular, eventually leading to his appointment as music director in 2005. With the company, he has conducted new works like the world premiere of Daniel Schnyder’s Charlie Parker’s YARBIRD and the East Coast premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain. He has also led productions at the Santa Fe Opera, the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Glimmerglass Opera. N E X T : Conductor, Written on Skin, Opera Philadelphia 23
artists | elizabeth cree
DANIEL BELCHER baritone inspector kildare
JOSEPH GAINES tenor dan leno
St. Joseph, Missouri R E C E N T: Orfeo, L’Orfeo, Chautauqua Opera Company; Ping, Turandot, Atlanta Opera; Brian Castner, The Long Walk, Utah 2016 Turandot 2008 The Italian Girl in Opera Algiers 2006 Cinderella (partial listing)
N E X T: James “Dad” Addison Mills, III, The House without a Christmas Tree, Houston Grand Opera
B oulder, Colorado
2016 Turandot 2015 Oscar 2013 The Magic Flute
B uenos Aires, Argentina
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Opera Philadelphia debut
Opera Philadelphia debut
N E X T: Bartolo, The Marriage of Figaro, Minnesota Opera
Seattle, Washington
Opera Philadelphia debut
2016 Turandot 2014 The Barber of Seville
TROY COOK baritone john cree
N E X T: Enrico, Lucia di Lammermoor, Florida Grand Opera JASON FERRANTE tenor little victor farrell
Willingboro, New Jersey
2017 The Marriage of Figaro 2015 ANDY: A Popera 2009 Madama Butterfly (partial listing)
R E C E N T: Bridesmaid, The Marriage of Figaro, Opera Philadelphia; Soloist, Seven Responses: Ad Genua, The Crossing; Soloist, Destinos vencen finezas, Tempesta di Mare N E X T: Soloist, Monteverdi: Vespers of 1610, Bach Festival of Philadelphia A L E X A N D E R V. N I C H O L S lighting/projection designer
R E C E N T: Don Basilio/Don Curzio, The Marriage of Figaro, Opera Philadelphia; Goro, Madama Butterfly, Arizona Opera; Nika Magadoff, The Consul, Florida Grand Opera N E X T: Little Bat, Susannah, Nashville Opera
R E C E N T: Oromasès, Zoroastre, Komische Oper Berlin; Sid, The Girl of the Golden West, Michigan Opera Theatre; J. Robert Oppenheimer, Doctor Atomic, Curtis Opera Theatre
M A R E N M O N TA L B A N O mezzo-soprano jane quig/annie the serving girl
Baltimore, Maryland
2017 The Marriage of Figaro
Opera Philadelphia Emerging Artist
N E X T: Moralès, Carmen, Opera Philadelphia
Eminence, Kentucky
2015 Don Carlo 2013 Silent Night 2012 La bohème (partial listing)
N E X T: Bradamante, Alcina, Washington National Opera
L os Angeles, California
N E X T: Drusilla, L’incoronazione di Poppea, Opernhaus Zürich
R E C E N T: Fredrik Egerman, A Little Night Music, Des Moines Metro Opera; Sharpless, Madame Butterfly, Washington National Opera; Eugene Onegin, Eugene Onegin, Syracuse Opera
R E C E N T: Bradamante, Alcina, Santa Fe Opera; Angelina, Cinderella, Arizona Opera; Kitchen Boy, Rusalka, The Metropolitan Opera
J O H N AT H A N M C C U L L O U G H baritone m r. g r e a t o r e x / g e o r g e g i s s i n g / etcher
DEANNA BREIWICK soprano aveline mortimer
R E C E N T: Dorothy, Der Zauberer von Oz, Opernhaus Zürich; Rosasharn, The Grapes of Wrath, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; Despina, Così fan tutte, Opera Omaha
N E X T: Pang, Turandot, San Diego Opera DANIELA MACK mezzo-soprano elizabeth cree
M AT T B O E H L E R b a s s uncle
R E C E N T: Mr. Mister, The Cradle Will Rock, Opera Saratoga; Sarastro, The Magic Flute, Canadian Opera Company; Il Cieco, Iris, Bard SummerScape
R E C E N T: The Servants, The Tales of Hoffmann, Hawaii Opera Theatre; Pong, Turandot, Virginia Opera; Pong, Turandot, Opera Philadelphia
B erkeley, California
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: Production Designer, Ernest Shackleton Loves Me, Second Stage Theater; Scenic/Projection Designer, Nixon in China, The Los Angeles Philharmonic; Scenic/ Projection Designer, Optimistic Tragedy, San Francisco Ballet N E X T: Lighting Designer, Watch on the Rhine, Guthrie Theater
24
M E L I S S A PA R K S m e z z o - s o p r a n o doris El Paso, Texas
1998 The Daughter of the Regiment 1997 The Rake’s Progress
R E C E N T: Marcellina, The Marriage of Figaro, Utah Opera; Katisha, The Mikado, Performance Santa Fe; Ruth, The Pirates of Penzance, Opera Memphis N E X T: Zita, Gianni Schicchi, Utah Opera THOMAS SHIVONE bass-baritone m r. l i s t e r / k a r l m a r x / solomon weil Fort Worth, Texas
2017 The Marriage of Figaro 2015 Oscar 2013 Silent Night (partial listing)
R E C E N T: Don Bailey, The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing, American Lyric Theater; First Nazarene, Salome, Pittsburgh Opera; Magistrate, The Thieving Magpie, Glimmerglass Festival D A N I E L TAY L O R b a s s p r i e s t / l i b r a r i a n / m r. g e r r a r d Hatboro, Pennsylvania
2015 La traviata 2015 Oscar 2013 The Magic Flute (partial listing)
R E C E N T: Stone Thrower/Chorus, Breaking the Waves, PROTOTYPE Festival; Stone Thrower/Chorus, Breaking the Waves, Opera Philadelphia; Giuseppe/Chorus, La traviata, Opera Philadelphia N E X T: Remendado, Carmen, Opera Philadelphia D AV I D Z I M M E R M A N wig/make-up designer Mt. Pleasant, Texas
2017 The Marriage of Figaro 2016 Cold Mountain 2015 Charlie Parker’s YARDBIRD (partial listing)
R E C E N T: Wig/Make-up Designer, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, Santa Fe Opera; Wig/Make-up Designer, Dinner at Eight, Minnesota Opera; Wig/Make-up Designer, The Shining, Minnesota Opera N E X T: Wig/Make-up Designer, Don Pasquale, Minnesota Opera D AV I D Z I N N scenic/costume designer Bainbridge Island, Washington
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: Costume Designer, A Doll’s House Part 2, Golden Theatre; Scenic Designer, Hamlet, Public Theater; Set Designer, Present Laughter, St. James Theater N E X T: Costume/Set Designer, The Spongebob Squarepants Musical, Palace Theater
“
I am delighted that my book
has been found worthy to have an opera devoted to its narrative. To have such a cast
is equivalent to have written another book.
PETER ACKROYD author
”
Peter Ackroyd is an award-winning historian, biographer, novelist, poet, and broadcaster. He is the author of the acclaimed non-fiction bestsellers London: The Biography, Thames: Sacred River, and London: Under; biographies of figures including Charles Dickens, William Blake, Charlie Chaplin (which is under option as a television drama series) and Alfred Hitchcock. He has won the Whitbread Biography Award, the Royal Society of Literature’s William Heinemann Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Guardian Fiction Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award, and the South Bank Prize for Literature. He holds a CBE for services to Literature. His latest non-fiction published in April 2017 is Queer City: Gay London from the Romans to the Present Day, and he continues to write his multi volume The History of England. A film adaptation of The Trial of Elizabeth Cree entitled The Limehouse Golem opens worldwide in autumn 2017 starring Bill Nighy, Douglas Booth, and Olivia Cooke.
elizabeth cree
ar tistic + production Assistant Director
Dylan Evans
Fight Director
J. Alex Cordaro
Assistant Conductor
Geoffrey McDonald
Principal Pianist/Musical Assistant
Grant Loehnig
Supplementary Pianist
Emily Senturia
Diction/Dialect Coach
Lynn Baker
Production Supervisor
Janet Embree
Properties Supervisor
Avista Custom Theatrical Services
Supertitles Author
Chadwick Creative Arts
Supertitles Operator
Jack Schmieg
Assistant Stage Managers
Sara Prince, Brandon Ehrenreich
Costume Coordinator/ Assistant to Designer
Kate Edelson
Wardrobe Supervisor
Sue Cerceo
Drapers
Kara Morasco, Althea “Nell� Unrath, Suzie Morris Barrett, Kevin Ross, Mark Mariani, Muriel Mangual
First Hands
Patrick Mulhall, Joy Rampula, Susie Benitez
Stitchers
Kathryn Calhoun, Laura Seeley, IATSE Local 799
Wig/Make-up Assistant
Ashley Wise
Associate Projection Designer/ Watchout Programmer
Ahren Buhmann
Assistant Lighting Designer
Jose Antonio Dominic Chacon
Head Carpenter
Pete Mohan
Head Props
Chuck Scott
Head Electrician
Terry Smith
Assistant Electrician
Ali Blair Barwick
Flyman
Tom Devine
Video Operator
Rich Ellerson
cover cast
26
Elizabeth Cree
Allegra De Vita
John Cree
Johnathan McCullough
Dan Leno
Ian McEuen
Greatorex/Gissing/Etcher/Witness #6
Dogkan Kuran
elizabeth cree
orchestra Violin I
Dayna Hepler, Concertmaster
Violin II
Emma Kummrow
Viola
Jonathan Kim
Cello
Vivian Barton Dozer
Bass
Miles B. Davis
Flute
Adeline Tomasone
Oboe
Geoffrey Deemer
Clarinet
Doris J. Hall-Gulati
Bassoon
Emeline Chong
French Horn
John David Smith
Trumpet
Brian D. Kuszyk
Bass Trombone
Philip McClelland
Harp
Sophie Bruno Labiner
Piano/Synthesizer
Linda Henderson
Percussion
Ralph Sorrentino, David Nelson
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Daniela Mack returns in April to close out the season as Carmen CARMEN April 27–May 6, 2018 Academy of Music
The 2017–2018 Season at Opera Philadel-
With its twisting tale of romance, deceit,
phia is a good year for title roles starring
and disaster set to magnetic melodies, Car-
Daniela Mack.
men has become one of the world’s most popular operas. Everyone is drawn to Car-
The Argentinian-American mezzo opens the
men – except Corporal Don José (Evan Le-
O17 festival making her company debut as
Roy Johnson). But even he soon succumbs to
Elizabeth Cree in the world premiere from
her seduction, fleeing a life in the military
composer Kevin Puts and librettist Mark
to join the gypsy world, all in Carmen’s
Campbell, and then returns in April 2018
name. When the famous bullfighter Esca-
to close the spring season in a new pro-
millo (Adrian Timpau) begins to win her af-
duction of Bizet’s Carmen directed by Paul
fection, however, a dangerous love triangle
Curran (2015’s La traviata).
grows. Micaëla (Kirsten MacKinnon), Don José’s hometown sweetheart, attempts to
Described as “a singer with dark hued sul-
wrest him from Carmen’s grasp, but to no
try tones” (Opera Today), Mack is a natural
avail – fate has already dealt its hand. This
in the role of the irresistible Spanish gyp-
unforgettable story of runaway passions
sy. “Like Elizabeth Cree, Carmen is an ex-
and dire consequences meets its match in
traordinary woman: strong and self-aware,
Bizet’s intoxicating score in this bold new
multifaceted and yet surprisingly simple at
production from the team behind 2015’s
heart. She is a woman who knows her own
stylish La traviata.
mind, who can walk into a room and command the attention of everyone and anyone without even trying,” Mack said.
ORDER NOW FOR THE BEST SEATS operaphila.org | 215.732.8400 29
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TH E M AG F LU TE MOZART
S E P TE MBE R 15 , 17 M , 2 0 , 2 2, 24M, 2 017
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30
GIC
O17
Opera Philadelphia
C R E AT I V E
Music WO LF GAN G AMADEU S MO Z AR T Libretto EMANU EL SC HI K ANEDER Conductor DAVI D C HAR LES ABELL* Co-directors S UZ A NNE ANDR ADE* & BAR R I E KO SK Y * Production S UZ A NNE ANDR ADE* & BAR R I E KO SK Y * Animation PAU L BAR R I T T * Concept 19 27 ( S UZ ANNE ANDR ADE & PAU L BAR R I T T ) *
& BAR R I E KO SK Y*
Stage/Costume Design ES T HER BI AL AS* Lighting Design C HR I S TO P HER J . HET HER I N GTO N Wig/Make-up Design DAV I D Z I MMER MAN Stage Director TO BI AS R I BI T Z K I * Associate Director DANI EL ELLI S* Chorus Master ELI Z ABET H BR ADEN Stage Manager LI AM RO C HE* CAST
Tamino BEN BLI SS* Pamina R AC HEL S T ER R ENBERG Queen of the Night O LGA P U DOVA* Sarastro/Speaker P EI X I N C HEN* Papageno JAR R ET T OT T Papagena ASHLEY RO BI LL AR D* Monostatos BR ENTO N RYAN* First Lady ASHLEY MI L ANESE Second Lady SI EN A MI LLER * Third Lady AN AS TASI I A SI DO ROVA First Armored Man ROY HAGE Second Armored Man MARC U S DELOAC H First Spirit AJ OWENS* Second Spirit DAMI AN F ER R ARO * Third Spirit PAT R I C K C O RC O R AN* *Opera Philadelphia debut
Production from Komische Oper Berlin. Co-produced by L.A. Opera and Minnesota Opera. Production underwritten, in part, by Barbara Augusta Teichert.
31
WELCOME HOME TO PHILADELPHIA, DAVID CHARLES ABELL! See him perform with The Philly POPS February 2-4, 2018 for ‘Lenny’s Revolution’ during Leonard Bernstein’s 100th anniversary celebration! Visit our website for more information and to purchase tickets.
PHILLYPOPS.ORG/LENNY
Photograph by Iko Freese
synopsis ACT ONE In a dark forest, far away... As he flees from a dangerous giant serpent, Tamino is rescued at the last second by the three ladies who serve the Queen of the Night. When he regains consciousness, the first thing Tamino sees is Papageno, and he believes him to be his rescuer. Papageno, a bird catcher in search of love, does nothing to dispel the misunderstanding. The three ladies return and punish Papageno for his lies by rendering him mute. They show Tamino a picture of Pamina, the daughter of the Queen of the Night. Tamino instantly falls in love with Pamina. Shortly thereafter, the Queen of the Night herself appears and tells Tamino of her daughter’s kidnapping at the hands of Sarastro. Tamino responds with great enthusiasm to her command that he free Pamina. The three ladies give Papageno back his voice and instruct him to accompany Tamino. As a protection against danger, they give Tamino the gift of a magic flute, while Papageno receives magic bells. The three ladies declare that three boys will show Tamino and Papageno the way to Sarastro. Pamina is being importuned by Sarastro’s slave Monostatos. Papageno, who has become separated from Tamino on the way to Sarastro, is as scared by the strange appearance of Monostatos as the slave is by Papageno’s. Alone with Pamina, Papageno announces that her rescuer Tamino will soon arrive. Papageno himself is sad that his search for love has thus far proved fruitless. Pamina comforts him. The three boys have led Tamino to the gates of Sarastro’s domain. Although he is initially refused entry, Tamino begins to doubt the statements made by the Queen of the Night regarding Sarastro. He begins to play on his magic flute, enchanting nature with his music.
INTERMISSION ACT TWO Papageno meanwhile flees with Pamina, but they are caught by Monostatos and his helpers. Papageno’s magic bells put their pursuers out of action. Sarastro and his retinue then enter upon the scene. Monostatos leads in Tamino. The long yearned-for encounter between Tamino and Pamina is all too brief. Sarastro orders that they must first face a series of trials. The trial of silence Tamino and Papageno must practice being silent. Because of the appearance of the ladies and their warnings, their ordeal is a truly testing one. Tamino remains resolute, while Papageno immediately begins to chatter. Meanwhile, Monostatos again tries to get close to the sleeping Pamina. The Queen of the Night appears and orders her daughter to kill Sarastro. Pamina remains behind, despairing. Sarastro seeks to console Pamina by foreswearing any thoughts of revenge. The trial of temptation Tamino and Papageno must resist any temptation: no conversation, no women, no food! As well as the magic flute and magic bells, the three boys also bring Tamino and Papageno food, which Tamino once again steadfastly resists. Even Pamina fails to draw a single word from Tamino’s lips, which she interprets as a rejection. She laments the cooling of Tamino’s love for her. Before the last trial, Pamina and Tamino are brought together one last time to say farewell to one another. Papageno is not permitted to take part in any further trials. He now wishes only for a glass of wine—and he dreams of his great love.
boys, who assure her that Tamino still loves her. Gladdened and relieved, Pamina accepts their invitation to see Tamino again. Reunited at last, Tamino and Pamina undergo the final trial together. The trial of fire and water The music of the magic flute and their love for one another allow Tamino and Pamina to conquer their own fear and overcome the dangers of fire and water. Papageno is meanwhile still unsuccessful in his search for his great love. Despairing, he now also seeks to end his life, but is also prevented from doing so by the three boys. Papageno’s dream finally comes true: together with his Papagena, he dreams of being blessed with many children. Meanwhile...the Queen of the Night, the three ladies and the turncoat Monostatos arm themselves for an attack against Sarastro and his retinue. However, the attack is repelled. Tamino and Pamina have reached the end of their trials, and can finally be together.
RUNNING TIME
Approximately two hours and 45 minutes, including one 20-minute intermission
For her part, Pamina believes that she has lost Tamino forever. In her despair, she seeks to end her own life, but is prevented from doing so by the three 33
Photograph by Iko Freese
the magic flute
A ST
Barrie Kosky, Suzanne Andrade, and Paul Barritt on flying elephants, the world of silent film, and the eternal search for love.
A M AG I C A L TO RY BO OK The Magic Flute is a roaring-twenties set vision. It has the beauty of a classic silent film, but live. Here, the production team – Suzanne Andrade, Barrie Kosky, and Paul Barritt – talk about the concept behind their vision for Mozart’s fantasy opera. HO W D I D Y O U C O M E U P W I T H T H E I D E A O F S TA G I N G T H E M A G I C F L U T E W I T H 19 2 7 ? Barrie Kosky (stage director; Intendent of the Komische Oper Berlin): The Magic Flute is the most frequently performed German-language opera, one of the top ten operas in the world. Everyone knows the story; everybody knows the music; everyone knows the characters. On top of that, it is an “ ageless” opera, meaning that an eight-year-old can enjoy it as much as an octogenarian can. So you start out with some pressure when you undertake a staging of this opera. I think the challenge is to embrace the heterogeneous nature of this opera. Any attempt to interpret the piece in only one way is bound to fail. You almost have to celebrate the contradictions and inconsistencies of the plot and the characters, as well as the mix of fantasy, surrealism, magic, and deeply touching human emotions. About six years ago, I attended a performance of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, the first show created by the British theater company known as 1927. From the moment the show started, there was this fascinating mix of live performance with animation, creating its own aesthetic world. Within minutes, this strange
mixture of silent film and music hall had convinced me that these people had to do The Magic Flute with me in Berlin! It seemed to me quite an advantage that Paul and Suzanne would be venturing into opera for the first time, because they were completely free of any preconceptions about it, unlike me. The result was a unique Magic Flute. Although Suzanne and Paul were working in Berlin for the first time, they had a natural feel for the city’s artistic ambiance, especially the Berlin of the 1920s, when it was such an important creative center for painting, cabaret, silent film, and animated film. Suzanne, Paul, and I share a love for revue, vaudeville, music hall, and similar forms of theater, and, of course, for silent film. So our Papageno is suggestive of Buster Keaton, Monostatos is a bit Nosferatu, and Pamina perhaps a bit reminiscent of Louise Brooks. But it’s more than an homage to silent film—there are far too many influences from other areas. But the world of silent film gives us a certain vocabulary that we can then use in any way that we like.
IS YOUR LOVE OF SILENT FILM THE M O T I VAT I O N B E H I N D T H E N A M E 19 2 7 ? Suzanne Andrade (stage director/writer/performer; co-creator of 1927): 1927 was the year of the first sound film, The Jazz Singer with Al Jolson, an absolute sensation at the time. Curiously, however, no one believed at that time that the talkies would prevail over silent films. We found this as35
pect especially exciting. We work with a mixture of live performance and animation, which makes it a completely new art form in many ways. Many others have used film in theater, but 1927 integrates film in a very new way. We don’t do a theater piece with added movies. Nor do we make a movie and then combine it with acting elements. Everything goes hand in hand. Our shows evoke the world of dreams and nightmares, with aesthetics that hearken back to the world of silent film. Paul Barritt (filmmaker; co-creator of 1927): And yet it would be wrong to see in our work only the influence of the 1920s and silent film. We take our visual inspiration from many eras, from the copper engravings of the 18th century as well as in comics of today. There is no preconceived aesthetic setting in our mind when we work on a show. The important thing is that the image fits. A good example is Papageno’s aria “ Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen” [a girl or a little wife]. In the libretto, he is served a glass of wine in the dialogue before his aria. We let him have a drink, but it isn’t wine. It’s a pink cocktail from a giant cocktail glass, and Suzanne had the idea that he would start to see pink elephants flying around him. Of course, the most famous of all flying elephants was Dumbo—from the 1940s—but the actual year isn’t important as long as everything comes together visually. S: Our Magic Flute is a journey through different worlds of fantasy. But as in all of our shows, there is a connecting style that ensures that the whole thing doesn’t fall apart aesthetically. B: This is also helped by 1927’s very special feeling for rhythm. The rhythm of the music and the text has an enormous influence on the animation. As we worked together on The Magic Flute, the timing always came from the music,
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even—especially—in the dialogues, which we condensed and transformed into silent film intertitles with piano accompaniment. However, we use an 18th century fortepiano, and the accompanying music is by Mozart, from his two fantasias for piano, K. 475 in C minor and K. 397 in D minor. This not only gives the whole piece a consistent style, but also a consistent rhythm. It’s a silent film by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, so to speak! DOES THIS PIECE WORK WITHOUT THE DIALOGUES? S: I think that almost any story can be told without words. You can undress a story to the bone, to find out what you really need to convey the plot. We tried to do that in The Magic Flute. You can convey so much of a story through purely visual means. You don’t always need two pages of dialogue to show the relationship between two people. You don’t need a comic dialogue to show that Papageno is a funny character. A clever gimmick can sometimes offer more insight than dialogue. P: Going back to silent films, for a moment—they weren’t just films without sound, with intertitles in place of the missing voices. Intertitles were actually used very sparingly. The makers of silent films instead told their stories through the visual elements. While talkies convey the stories primarily through dialogue, silent films told their story through gestures, movements and glances, and so on. B: This emphasis on the images makes it possible for every viewer to experience the show in his or her own way: as a magical, living storybook; as a curious, contemporary meditation on silent film as a singing silent film; or as paintings come to life. Basically, we have a hundred stage sets in which things happen that normally aren’t possible onstage:
the magic flute
flying elephants, flutes trailing notes, bells as showgirls... We can fly up to the stars and then ride an elevator to hell, all within a few minutes. In addition to all the animation in our production, there are also moments when the singers are in a simple white spotlight. And suddenly there’s only the music, the text, and the character. The very simplicity makes these perhaps the most touching moments of the evening. During the performance, the technology doesn’t play in the foreground. Although Paul spent hours and hours sitting in front of computer to create it, his animation never loses its deeply human component. You can always see that a human hand has drawn everything. Video projections as part of theatrical productions aren’t new. But they often become boring after a few minutes, because there isn’t any interaction between the two-dimensional space of the screen and the three dimensions of the actors. Suzanne and Paul have solved this problem by combining all of these dimensions into a common theatrical language. W H AT I S T H E M A G I C F L U T E R E A L L Y A B O U T ? P: It’s a love story, told as a fairy tale. S: The love story between Tamino and Pamina. Throughout the entire piece, the two try to find each other—but everyone else separates them and pulls them away from each other. Only at the very end do they come together. B: A strange, fairytale love story, one that has a lot of archetypal and mythological elements, such as the trials they must undergo to gain wisdom. They have to go through fire and water to mature. These are ancient rites of initi-
ation. The Masonic trappings imposed on the story interested us very little, since they have, of course, much, much deeper roots. Tamino falls in love with a portrait. How many myths and fairy tales include this plot point? The hero falls in love with a picture and goes in search of the subject. And on his way to her, he encounters all sorts of obstacles. And, at the same time, the object of his desire faces her own personal obstacles on her own journey. You can experience our production as a journey through the dream worlds of Tamino and Pamina. These two dream worlds collide and combine to form one strange dream. The person who combines these dreams and these worlds is Papageno. We are very focused on these three characters. Interestingly, Papageno is in pursuit of an idealized image too: the perfect fantasy woman at his side, something he craves almost desperately. Despite all of the comedic elements, there is a deep loneliness in The Magic Flute. Half of the piece is the fact that people are alone: Despite the joy in Papageno’s bird catcher aria, it’s ultimately about a man who feels lonely and longs for love. At the beginning of the opera, Tamino is running alone through the forest. The three ladies are alone, so they are immediately attracted to Tamino. The Queen of the Night is alone—her husband has died and her daughter has been kidnapped. Even Sarastro, who has a large following, has no partner at his side. Not to mention Monostatos, whose unfulfilled longing for love degenerates into unbridled lust. The Magic Flute is about the search for love, and about the different forms that this search can take. Interview by Ulrich Lenz
Photographs by Iko Freese
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A Philadelphia Story H O W T W O I N T E R N AT I O N A L OPERA CAREERS AND A LIFE-LONG FRIENDSHIP S TA R T E D I N T H E C I T Y O F B R O T H E R LY L O V E
It’s June, the fourth time that soprano Rachel Sterrenberg is opening a production of the jazz-infused opera Charlie Parker’s YARDBIRD—but this time it’s a little different. Sure, most of the cast is the same as the 2015 world premiere staging at Opera Philadelphia, but what makes this iteration, a co-production with the English National Opera at Hackney Empire, unique for Sterrenberg is that it marks her European debut.
one of the most iconic Broadway musicals of all time: Oklahoma!, as Curly. Ott has just finished a stint at Deutsche Oper Berlin in the world premiere of Andrea Scartazzini’s Edward II.
“It’s unreal,” she said. “I’m coming from doing Mozart, The Elixir of Love, all that kind of stuff you’re typically doing. It’s hard to bring a new piece to new audiences, and I feel so lucky. I really want to just soak it up.”
“Philly has put me exactly where I am today,” he said. “There is such nurturing and commitment to the people in the arts. Anyone who is anyone in the opera world knows my work because of Philadelphia.”
Across the Atlantic, and closer to Philadelphia, baritone Jarrett Ott is preparing for his turn at the world-renowned Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, New York. He’ll be performing, ironically, not in an opera, but in
Ask any friends who are professional opera singers and they’ll tell you that the old adage is absolutely true: distance makes the heart grow fonder. In the case of Sterrenberg and Ott, stars of O17’s The Magic Flute and
However, despite all of his national and international acclaim, when asked what role Philadelphia had on his growth as an artist, Ott admittedly got a bit teary-eyed.
Photographs by Dominic M. Mercier and Kelly & Massa
B Y B R YA N B U T T L E R
real-life best friends, they know that despite the miles apart, Philadelphia is their artistic home. Sterrenberg, who arrived in Philly back in 2012 to attend the Curtis Institute of Music, shares a great affection for the city that arguably started her professional career. She was, to use her own words, a “country gal from Middle Georgia” when she first started Curtis, but she had the support of several mentors who saw her talent for what it was.
the exact day, September 6, 2012, when they were in a rehearsal room at Curtis and Mikael Eliasen, Artistic Director of the Curtis Opera Theatre, approached them with what he called “a really fun project.”
That project ended up being the opera Cold Mountain, written by Phillybased composer Jennifer Higdon, that was co-commissioned by Opera Phila- performed the part, she remembered delphia, the Santa Fe Opera, and Min- hearing about the Andrade-Kosky nesota Opera. Ott and Sterrenberg production in Berlin, famed for its were cast as the leads, W.P. Inman and now-iconic 1920s silent movie stylizaAda Monroe, throughout the opera’s tion and huge video projections. She workshop development. Ott went on “Once you find people who believe had to find out more. to cover Inman in Sante Fe and, in a in you and in the art you create, you have to hold on to them,” she recalled. last-minute casting change, performed “When you’re a musician, you’re a nerd,” the role during the East Coast pre- she joked. “When this production was “Once I got to Curtis, I got a real taste: miere of the work in Philadelphia. Handel, Britten, this huge spectrum of opening in Germany, I found the trailstuff. ‘This is what [opera] is,’ I rememer for it. I remember thinking, ‘This is “The Cold Mountain process was so spe- the coolest thing ever.’ It was a totally ber thinking. ‘Give me cial to us,” Sterrenberg said. “It was more! I can handle different way of thinking of Mozart.” the first time that Jennifer [Higthis! This is what don] was writing an opera, too, While in Berlin, Ott, who plays Pakeeps me going.’” so on so many levels it became pageno in the O17 production, actually quite personal.” Ott, too, is a saw the opera at Komische Oper BerCurtis alum, but lin. He was also amazed by the unique Ott remembers many calls from his artistic Philaand fanciful approach to the material. Higdon during her composition of “It’s so spot on,” he said. “It has these delphia roots started the opera, asking him how he would long before his enrollchild-like whimsical animations that ment at the prestigious conservatory. personally approach certain notes or are done in such an adult manner that In fact, Ott completed his undergrad- certain phrases in the score. It was an everyone can connect. The singers litexperience that was utterly uate degree at nearby West Chester erally get to pop out of a screen in the unique: not only was University, and he credits his voice middle of a silent film. It looked like he singing music teacher there, Randall Scarlata, for such a blast.” never heard behis artistic aspiration. And, despite fore, but he was, his rigorous national and international Sterrenberg admitted that performance schedule, Ott still con- in a way, actively she’s a little intimidated by the participating in siders Philadelphia to be his “artistic jaw-dropping technical theatrics the creation of home base.” of the production, including beit. It was during ing holstered into a platform nearly this time that both Ironically, Sterrenberg and Ott didn’t 30-feet above the stage (“I’m scared Ott and Sterrenberg were initially meet in the City of Brotherly of heights,” she said. “But I’m going named to the inaugural class of the Love, but at the Chautauqua Music to have to get over it”). However, any Festival in New York in 2012. Howev- Opera Philadelphia Emerging Art- opportunity to be on the same stage ists program for both the 2014–2015 er, the subsequent academic year, both with her best friend is one that she singers began their careers at Curtis, and 2015–2016 seasons, appearing in can’t pass up. Neither can Ott. “She’s both new works (Sterrenberg made where they became something of an such a doll and I’ve seen her grow so her professional debut as Chan in artistic cohort on stage. “We ended up much,” he said. No doubt, both singers in every [Curtis] production together,” Charlie Parker’s YARDBIRD while Ott can thank their ongoing commitment Ott remembered. “We were either lov- appeared in Oscar) and classics like La to their music, and to Philadelphia, for traviata. ers or brother and sister, and we ended shaping their growth as artists and for up becoming the best of friends.” a friendship that will last a lifetime. When Cold Mountain opened in Philadelphia in 2016, Sterrenberg played “Curtis sealed the deal,” Sterrenberg Bryan Buttler is a writer, educator, and the minor role of Sara. But this fall, in said of her friendship with Ott. “There publicist living in Philadelphia O17’s Suzanne Andrade– and Barrie were all of these productions where we Kosky–directed The Magic Flute, she’ll were singing together.” be making her professional role debut as Pamina. In a way, it’s all coming But the artistic relationship between full-circle: Sterrenberg’s first role ever Ott and Sterrenberg didn’t stop at at Curtis was Pamina, and when she Curtis. Both of the singers recalled 39
the magic flute
conductor + co-director
D AV I D C H A R L E S A B E L L
SUZANNE ANDRADE
conductor
co-director
Mount Airy, Pennsylvania Opera Philadelphia debut
Paisley, Scotland Opera Philadelphia debut
David Charles Abell is a regular guest of leading British orchestras including the London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Bournemouth, City of Birmingham, Royal Scottish, and Hallé. Internationally, he has conducted the Wiener Symphoniker, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Iceland Symphony, West Australian Symphony, Boston Pops, Philly Pops, New York Pops, Atlanta Symphony and Cincinnati Symphony among others.,
Suzanne Andrade is the co-founder and co-artistic director of 1927. For 1927 she has written and directed Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (BAC, UK, and international touring); The Animals and Children took to the Streets (BAC, National Theatre, UK, and international touring); and Golem (Salzburg Festival, Young Vic, Théâtre de la Ville Paris, UK, and international touring). Andrade’s opera debut was The Magic Flute for the Komische Opera, which she co-conceived and co-directed with Barrie Kosky (Komische Oper Berlin, LA Opera, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Minnesota Opera, Finnish National Opera, Polish National Opera). Andrade recently co-directed Stravinsky’s Petrushka and Ravel’s L’enfant et les Sortilèges in a 1927 creation for Komische Oper Berlin. In 2015, Andrade featured alongside co-artistic director Paul in The Progress 1000, a list of the 1000 most influential people in London and in 2016 featured in The Stage 100 List of the most influential people in UK Theatre. Awards for productions written and directed by Andrade include Herald Angel, Fringe First, Carol Tambor, Arches Brick, Total Theatre, Off West End, Peter Brook Empty Space, Opera World, and Critics Circle Awards.
Television and radio appearances include a series focused upon the music of Johann Strauss with the period-instrument Wiener Akademie and the Ten Pieces classical music education project with the BBC Concert Orchestra. Notable recordings includes excerpts from La bohème and Madama Butterfly with the Royal Philharmonic, Jonathan Dove’s opera Tobias and the Angel on Chandos, complete recordings of the musicals Miss Saigon and Man of La Mancha, and solo albums for EMI Classics and for Chandos. Recent engagements in opera include Silent Night for Cincinnati Opera and Michigan Opera Theatre, and returned to Kansas City to conduct Carmen and Rigoletto. Other notable engagements include Sweeney Todd with Emma Thompson and Bryn Terfel at English National Opera, La cenerentola at the Theater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich, and Porgy and Bess and Die Fledermaus at Cincinnati Opera. N E X T : Conductor, Sweeney Todd, Zurich Opera
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N E X T : Writer/Director, Golem, International Tour: Liverpool Playhouse, LG Arts Centre, Théâtre Nationalle Wallonie-Bruxelles, Théâtres de la Ville Luxembourg
the magic flute
co-director + per for mance company
BARRIE KOSKY co-director
Melbourne, Australia Opera Philadelphia debut
Barrie Kosky is the Intendant and Chefregisseur of the Komische Oper Berlin. At the end of his first season for 2012– 2013, the Komische Oper was voted ‘Opera House of the Year’ by Opernwelt magazine and in 2016, Barrie Kosky was voted ‘Director of the Year’ by Opernwelt. His most recent work at the Komische Oper Berlin has included The Monteverdi Trilogy, Ball in Savoy, West Side Story, Moses and Aron, The Tales of Hoffmann, Eugene Onegin, and his production of Castor and Pollux (co-produced by the English National Opera) which won the Laurence Olivier Award for best opera production in 2012. Kosky has directed opera productions for the Bayerische Staatsoper (Die Schweigsame Frau and The Fiery Angel), Glyndebourne Festival Opera (Saul), Oper Frankfurt (Dido and Aeneas/Bluebeard’s Castle and Carmen), Dutch National Opera (Armide), Oper Zurich (La Fancuilla del West and Macbeth).He has also presented his productions at the LA Opera, Teatro Real Madrid, Gran Liceu Barcelona, Vienna Staatsoper, English National Opera, Oper Graz, Theater Basel, Aalto Theater Essen, Staatsoper Hannover, Deutsches Theater Berlin, and Schauspielhaus Frankfurt and is a regular guest at the Edinburgh International Festival.
1927
Founded in 2005 by director, writer, and performer Suzanne Andrade and animator and illustrator Paul Barritt, 1927 is a multi-award winning Margate and London based performance company that specialises in combining performance and live music with animation and film to create magical filmic performance. Working from its creation base in Margate and office in London, 1927 works across theatre and opera to craft productions of ambition and scale for audiences and participants in the UK and across the globe. 1927’s work has been seen by over 700,000 people in 35 countries, across five continents. In 2012, 1927 collaborated with the Komische Oper Berlin, to conceive and create its first opera – an acclaimed reimagining of The Magic Flute, co-directed by 1927’s co-artistic director Suzanne Andrade, with animation and film from 1927’s co-artistic director Paul Barritt. Following a premiere in November 2012, the show continues to play in repertoire in Berlin, has had six new productions mounted and running in repertoire at LA Opera, Minnesota Opera (USA), Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Germany), Teatro Real Madrid (Spain), Finnish National Opera in Helsinki, and Polish National Opera in Warsaw alongside touring across Europe and China, with forthcoming premieres this year at Opéra Comique Paris, Cincinnati Opera, Bolshoi Theatre Moscow, and Palace of Arts Budapest.
Kosky was artistic director of the 1996 Adelaide Festival and has directed opera and theatre productions for Opera Australia, Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, and the Sydney and Melbourne International Festivals. From 2001–2005 he was co-artistic director of the Vienna Schauspielhaus. N E X T : Director, La Belle Hélène, Komische Oper Berlin
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artists | the magic flute
PA U L B A R R I T T animation designer
PAT R I C K C O R C O R A N a l t o third spirit
W rexham, Wales
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: Animation/Director/Designer/ Writer, Cat & Mouse, Village Underground London; Animation/Concept/Stage/Cocostume Designer, Petrushka & L’enfant et les Sortilèges, Komische Oper Berlin; Animation/ Film/Design, Golem, Lincoln Center Festival
West Chester, Philadelphia
Opera Philadelphia debut
N E X T: The Philadelphia Boys Choir, A Philly POPS Christmas: Spectacular Sounds of the Season, The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
N E X T: Animation/Film/Design, Golem, International Tour: Liverpool Playhouse, LG Arts Centre, Théâtre Nationalle WallonieBruxelles, Théâtres de la Ville Luxembourg
MARCUS DELOACH baritone second armored man
ESTHER BIALAS stage/costume designer Hamburg, Germany
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: Costume Designer, Tri Sestri, Wiener Staatsoper; Costume Designer, Les contes d’Hoffmann, Royal Danish Opera; Costume Designer, La Cenerentola, Den Norske Opera
A ndover, Massachusetts R E C E N T: Minister, Breaking the Waves, PROTOTYPE Festival; Figaro, The Guilty 2016 B reaking the Waves Mother, On Site Opera; Senator Joseph McCarthy, Fellow Travelers, Cincinnati Opera 2016 C old Mountain N E X T: Soloist, Messiah, Tuscon Symphony Orchestra
N E X T: Costume Designer, La traviata, Theater Basel and English National Opera
DAMIAN FERRARO soprano second spirit
BEN BLISS tenor tamino Prairie Village, Kansas
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: Tamino, The Magic Flute, The Metropolitan Opera; Steuermann, Der fliegende Holländer, The Metropolitan Opera; Tom Rakewell, The Rake’s Progress, Boston Lyric Opera
Bryn Mawr, Philadelphia
Opera Philadelphia debut
ROY HAGE tenor first armored man
ELIZABETH BRADEN chorus master
R E C E N T: Chorus Master, The Marriage of Figaro, Opera Philadelphia; Chorus Master, Doctor Atomic, Curtis Opera Theatre; Director 2017 The Wake World 2016 Breaking the Waves of Music, Wallingford Presbyterian Church 2016 Cold Mountain (partial listing)
B eirut, Lebanon
2016 C old Mountain 2015 La traviata 2015 Oscar
N E X T: Director of Music, Messiah Sing, Wallingford Presbyterian Church
Opera Philadelphia debut
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R E C E N T: Figaro, Le nozze di Figaro, Opera Saratoga; Dr. Bartolo, The Marriage of Figaro, Houston Grand Opera; Bass Soloist, Verdi Requiem, Houston Grand Opera N E X T: Oroveso, Norma, Houston Grand Opera
R E C E N T: Hoffmann, The Tales of Hoffmann, Miami Music Festival; Duke of Mantua, Rigoletto, Academy of Vocal Arts; Chevalier des Grieux, Manon, Curtis Opera Theatre N E X T: Froh, Das Rheingold, Academy of Vocal Arts CHRISTOPHER J. HETHERINGTON lighting designer
PEIXIN CHEN bass sarastro/speaker Hulunbeier, China
R E C E N T: The Philadelphia Boys Choir, Let’s Be Free, Annual International Concert Tour; Knaben, Die Zauberflöte, Academy of Vocal Arts; Noah, Genesis, The Philadelphia Boys Choir N E X T: Ensemble, The Philadelphia Boys Choir
N E X T: Ferrando, Così fan tutte, The Metropolitan Opera
Easton, Pennsylvania
R E C E N T: The Philadelphia Boys Choir, Annual International Concert Tour; Select Choral Ensemble, The Celebrantes, The Haverford School; Ensemble, Little Shop of Horrors, The Haverford School
Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: Co-founder, Dark Space Solutions; Co-creator, Lightning Tapes Software N E X T: Lighting Designer/Stage Manager, Ballet X
artists | the magic flute
ASHLEY MILANESE soprano first lady
TOBIAS RIBITZKI stage director
New Orleans, Louisiana
B erlin, Germany
Opera Philadelphia Emerging Artist 2017 The Marriage of Figaro
R E C E N T: Barbarina, The Marriage of Figaro, Opera Philadelphia; Susanna, Le nozze di Figaro, Curtis Opera Theatre; Manon, Manon, Curtis Opera Theatre
Opera Philadelphia debut
N E X T: Continued studies at Curtis Institute of Music
N orton, Massachusetts
Portland, Oregon
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: L’enfant, L’enfant et les Sortilèges, Aspen Music Festival; Kitty Oppenheimer, Doctor Atomic, Curtis Opera Theatre; Lucretia, The Rape of Lucretia, Curtis Opera Theatre N E X T: Baba, The Medium, Curtis Opera Theatre
N E X T: Director, Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten, Komishe Oper Berlin ASHLEY ROBILLARD soprano papagena
SIENA MILLER mezzo-soprano second lady
Opera Philadelphia Emerging Artist
R E C E N T: Director, La clemenza di Tito, Staatsoper Hannover; Director, Der Liebestrank, Staatsoper Hannover; Assistant Director, Komische Oper Berlin
Opera Philadelphia Emerging Artist Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: Musetta, La bohème, Curtis Opera Theatre; Poussette, Manon, Curtis Opera Theatre; Lucia, The Rape of Lucretia, Curtis Opera Theatre N E X T: Tatyana, Eugene Onegin, Curtis Opera Theatre
JARRETT OTT baritone papageno Penn Argyl, Pennsylvania
2016 Caprriccio 2016 Cold Mountain 2015 L a traviata (partial listing)
R E C E N T: Angel, Edward II, Deutsche Oper Berlin; Zurga, The Pearl Fishers, North Carolina Opera; Curly, Oklahoma!, Glimmerglass Festival N E X T: Figaro, The Barber of Seville, Lyric Opera of Kansas City AJ OWENS soprano first spirit Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: The Philadelphia Boys Choir, Annual International Concert Tour; Soloist, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, The Philadelphia Orchestra; Knaben, Die Zauberflöte, Academy of Vocal Arts N E X T: Ensemble, The Philadelphia Boys Choir; Studies of the double bass
Our Perfect View is Expanding
O L G A P U D O VA s o p r a n o queen of the night
OPENING 2018!
St. Petersburg, Russia
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: The Queen of the Night, Die Zauberflöte, Teatro Regio Torino, Maggio Musicale Firenze, and Bayersiche Staatsoper N E X T: Zerbinetta, Ariadne auf Naxos, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
Experience the far-reaching views of Philadelphia's historic landscape from our expanded terrace.
TheLibertyView.com/2018 MEETINGS • WEDDINGS • SOCIAL
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the magic flute
B R E N T O N R YA N t e n o r monostatos
chorus
Sedalia, Missouri
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: Pedrillo, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, The Metropolitan Opera; Janek, Makropolus Case, San Francisco Opera; Der Narr, Wozzeck, Lyric Opera of Chicago
Soprano
Noël Graves-Williams Julie-Ann Green
N E X T: Spoletta, Tosca, The Metropolitan Opera
Valerie Haber Evan Kardon
A N A S TA S I I A S I D O R O VA mezzo-soprano third lady
Jessica Mary Murphy Christine Nass
St. Petersburg, Russia
Evelyn Santiago
Opera Philadelphia Emerging Artist 2017 Tancredi
R E C E N T: Roggiero, Tancredi, Opera Philadelphia; Magd II, Elektra, The Verbier Festival; Olga, Eugene Onegin, The Verbier Festival
Amy Spencer Alto
N E X T: Mercédès, Carmen, Opera Philadelphia
Erica Finnie
RACHEL STERRENBERG soprano pamina
Carole Latimer
Eve Hyzer Megan McFadden Paula Rivera
R E C E N T: Chan Parker, Charlie Parker’s YARDBIRD, Madison Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and English National Opera; Soloist, Summerfest Faculty Recital, Curtis Institute of Music
Tenor
Fernando Mancillas Remy Martin Toffer Mihalka
D AV I D Z I M M E R M A N wig/make-up designer
DonLeroy Morales Cory O’Niell Walker
Mt. Pleasant, Texas R E C E N T: Wig/Make-up Designer, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, Santa Fe Opera; Wig/Make-up Designer, Dinner at Eight, Minnesota Opera; Wig/Make-up Designer, The Shining, Minnesota Opera N E X T: Wig/Make-up Designer, Don Pasquale, Minnesota Opera
Sang B. Cho A. Edward Maddison
N E X T: Annina, La traviata, The Dallas Opera
2017 The Marriage of Figaro 2016 Cold Mountain 2015 Charlie Parker’s YARDBIRD (partial listing)
Patricia Conrad Emily Drummond
Madison, Georgia 2016 Cold Mountain 2015 Charlie Parker’s YARDBIRD 2015 La traviata (partial listing)
Natalie Dewey
Bass
Gregory Cantwell Jeffery Chapman Chris Hodges Maxwell Levy Frank Mitchell Garrett Obrycki Robert Phillips Andrew Skitko Tim Stopper
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orchestra Violin I
Dayna Hepler, Concertmaster
Flute
Adeline Tomasone, Principal Eileen Grycky
Igor Szwec, Assistant Concertmaster Meichen Liao Barnes Charles Parker
Oboe
Geoffrey Deemer, Principal Dorothy Freeman
Diane Barnett Donna Grantham  Elizabeth Kaderabek
Clarinet
Joseph A. Smith, Principal Allison Herz
Alexandra Cutler-Fetkewicz Piotr Filochowski Gared Crawford
Bassoon
Norman Spielberg, Principal Emeline Chong
Violin II
Emma Kummrow, Principal Sarah Dubois
French Horn
Karen Schubert, Principal Ryan Stewart
Paul Reiser Christof Richter Guillaume Combet
Trumpet
Brian D. Kuszyk, Principal Steven Heitzer
Samantha Crawford Gail Hernandez Rosa Yu-Hui Tamae Lee
Trombone
Bradley Ward, Principal Edward Cascarella
Viola
Philip McClelland
Jonathan Kim, Principal Carol Briselli, Assistant Principal Julia DiGaetani
Fortepiano
Renate Rohlfing
Ellen Trainer Elizabeth Jaffe
Timpani
Martha Hitchins, Principal
Banda
Ralph Sorrentino, Principal
Steven Heitlinger Cello
Vivian Barton Dozor, Principal
Bradley Loudis
Jennie Lorenzo Brooke Beazley David Moulton Dane Anderson Bass
Fortepiano courtesy of Rutgers University-Camden Department of Fine Arts
Miles B. Davis, Principal James Freeman, Assistant Principal Anne Peterson
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ar tistic + production Assistant Chorus Master
Emily May Sung
Principal Pianist
Renate Rohlfing
Supplementary Pianist
Reese Revak
Supertitles Operator
Tony Solitro
Diction Coach
Ulrike Shapiro
Production Supervisor
Matthew Lewandowski
Properties Supervisor
Avista Custom Theatrical Services
Video Stage Manager
Hannah Holthaus
Video Operator
Rich Nordaby
Assistant Stage Managers
Kristy Matero, Jen Shaw
Wardrobe Supervisor
Elisa Murphy
Stitchers
Lorraine Anderson, Cathy Pierson, IATSE Local 799
Wig/Make-Up Assistants
Mannie Jacobo, Amanda Clark, Destinee Steele
Head Carpenter
Frank Grasso
Head Electrician
Uel Bergery
Head Props
Paul Lodes
Flyman
Mike Ruffo Supertitles courtesy of Los Angeles Opera and Komische Oper Berlin
covers + supers
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Spirit Covers
Philip Okala, Jr., Alden Walker, Aiden Barrow
Supers
Emma D. Orr, Bobb Hawkey
May 12, 16, 19 Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor Sonya Yoncheva Soprano (Tosca) Yusif Eyvazov Tenor (Cavaradossi) Ambrogio Maestri Baritone (Scarpia) Philadelphia Symphonic Choir Joe Miller Director James Alexander Stage Director Puccini Tosca Only superlatives suffice as an all-star cast of international singers joins the Philadelphians to stage Puccini’s impassioned tale of love, murder, and redemption. The world’s leading opera conductor, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, brings one of the finest of Italian grand operas to Verizon Hall with the unparalleled Philadelphia Orchestra on stage. Superstar Sonya Yoncheva makes her Philadelphia Orchestra debut as Tosca in this famously demanding role. These concerts will be LiveNote enabled.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Sonya Yoncheva
These performances are made possible through generous support from Mrs. Jacqueline Desmarais.
Tickets On Sale Now! www.philorch.org 215.893.1999 Photos: Jan Regan, Julian Hargreaves-Sony Music Entertainment
WE SHAL N OT B E M OV E D ROUMAIN/ JOSEPH S E PTE MBE R 16 , 17, 18, 2 0 M , 21, 23, 24 , 2 017 THE WIL MA THE ATE R
WORL D P REMI ERE
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O17
Opera Philadelphia
C R E AT I V E Music DANI EL BER N AR D RO U MAI N* Libretto MARC BAMU T HI J O SEP H* Director/Choreographer/Dramaturge BI LL T. J O NES* Conductor V I S WA SU BBAR AMAN* Set Design MAT T SAU NDER S* Costume Design LI Z P R I N C E* Lighting Design RO BER T WI ER Z EL* Projection Design J O RGE C O U SI NEAU Sound Design RO BER T K AP LOWI T Z * Wig/Make-up Design DAV I D Z I MMER MAN Stage Manager MI K E JANNEY* CAST Un/Sung L AU R EN WHI T EHEAD* Glenda K I R S T I N C HĂ VEZ John Blue J O HN HO LI DAY* John Little DANI EL SHI R LEY* John Mack ADAM R I C HAR DSO N* John Henry AU BR EY ALLI C O C K * OG MI C HAEL BI SHO P * OG DUANE LEE HO LL AND, J R * OG T ENDAYI K U U MBA* OG C AC I C O LE P R I TC HET T * Voice of the Reporter PAT C I AR RO C C HI * Caller MI K E J . DEES* *Opera Philadelphia debut
AMERICAN REPERTOIRE PROGRAM
Co-commissioned and co-produced with The Apollo Theater and Hackney Empire. Developed in partnership with Art Sanctuary. Presented in partnership with FringeArts as part of the 2017 Fringe Festival. Production underwritten by the Wyncote Foundation at the recommendation of David Haas. Major support for We Shall Not Be Moved has been provided by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Additional support is provided by William Penn Foundation and The Wallace Foundation. Generous commissioning support provided by Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the Ed Bradley Family Foundation. The Student Performance (20M) of We Shall Not Be Moved has been made possible by the Mazzotti/Kelly Fund-BBH of The Philadelphia Foundation.
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Photograph by Dominic M. Mercier
we shall not be moved
validity of this ‘movement of holy ghosts,’ but cannot deny that whatever the origins, the young people, led by the sole female-identified teen, Un/Sung, are clearly operating from a place of conviction.
synopsis ACT I
On the run after a series of tragic incidents, five North Philly teens ( John Henry, John Blue, John Little, John Mack, and Un/Sung) find refuge in an abandoned, condemned house in West Philadelphia. The home sits at the exact location of the headquarters of the MOVE organization before it was infamously burned to the ground in a 1985 police confrontation that left 11 people dead and no government officials indicted or meaningfully reprimanded. The teens are assuaged and even inspired by the ghosts who inhabit this home (who we refer to as the OGs), and begin to see their squatting in the home as a matter of destiny and resistance rather than urgent fear or precarious circumstance. Into this mix enters Glenda, a north Philly native turned West Philly cop who patrols this quiet stretch of Osage Avenue on her regular beat. Glenda observes that the young people have taken over the home and are “hanging out” there when they are supposed to be in school. She moves determinedly to sweep the kids out of the home, threatening them with arrest and ridiculing their intentions. But in a chaotic accident, she moves too far and mistakenly discharges her firearm, injuring one of the teens. In her temporary shock, Glenda is overrun by the other young people, who turn the tables on the situation by pointing Glenda’s own gun at her and subsequently handcuffing her to a chair in the center of the house. INTERMISSION ACT II
John Henry lays bleeding in a pool of sorrow, confronted at a desperately young age with his own mortality. All parties are now frightened, disoriented, and vulnerable, and the only sense of empowerment in this bleak moment comes from the OGs who infuse the home with a spirituality that is palpably felt by the young people in particular. Glenda challenges the 50
Still suspicious and driven by her vulnerable position, Glenda probes this conviction, intimating that the teens are not motivated by principle alone. Finally the teens succumb to the reality of the moment: their brother has been wounded and is in need of help, and the most expedient way to help him is to leave the house. They decide to reveal to Glenda the circumstances that drove them to squat in the house on Osage. They think Glenda has something to hide (firing at an unarmed teen) and so do they, and if they come clean with their story, the combination of transparency and quid pro quo may grant them safe, unreported passage out of the house. However, in revealing the origins of their plight, they also realize that a young man who John Blue has killed is Glenda’s own brother, Manny. ACT III
The family confers feverishly about the increasingly limited options for their next move, concluding that the best “survival” tactic is to “disappear” Glenda altogether. Un/Sung commits to completing the task, instructing her brothers to leave quickly for a predetermined location to avoid any further witnesses while she does “something awful.” A confrontation between the young girl and Glenda ensues, concluding with silence, complete darkness in the theater, and the assumption of injury. When the lights come all the way up, the family has vanished, and the house on Osage Avenue has burned to the ground. Glenda tells an interviewer the story of her waning moments with the family from a plane above the action, but we watch a different story unfolding at eye level. All the players are setting the house on “fire,” not with kerosene or grand flames, but with small, glass-framed candles. The image is not of arson, but of ritual. The Family is turning the home into an altar, perhaps an instrument of forgiving, of letting go, of release, and of renewal. As the lights come down for the final time, the last remaining image on stage is of the skeleton of a house, lit up like a shrine, while the OGs move around it in holy rites.
RUNNING TIME
Approximately two hours and five minutes, including one 20 minute intermission
2018 Festival
is a revelation...
Seven acts in two weekends! Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Puccini’s Il Trittico.
Suor Angelica Il Tabarro
“Opera De regiona laware has be l compa come a n savvy o peragoe y whose plans rs should follow.” far and wide -Opera News
Giacomo Puccini
April 28 & May 6
Gianni Schicchi Giacomo Puccini
Buoso’s Ghost Michael Ching
April 29 & May 5 Opera Uncorked: A Flight of Puccini Three glorious acts of Puccini with optional wine pairing. Concert performance with piano.
May 4
...come revel with us!
April 28 - May 6, 2018 For Tickets & Info: 302-442-7807 | operade.org This organization is supported, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. The Division promotes Delaware arts events on www.DelawareScene.com.
we shall not be moved
composer’s note by Daniel Bernard Roumain
As the composer of We Shall Not Be Moved, I hope my work and music reflect on the lives of the children murdered within a home that should have been a safe, sacred place, as it expresses the revelatory nature of Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s poetry and the mystic rhythms of his words.
Marc’s words are the foundation upon which the score and story unfold. Our collaboration spans works for the theater, ballet, chorus, orchestra, hip-hop, chamber music, and video performances. He is my spiritual and musical brother, and I trust and admire what he writes and the process by which he creates. The story of We Shall Not Be Moved belongs to him, and Marc wanted to commemorate the memories and histories of the MOVE organization within an original story that honored the legacy of their work and the horrors of what happened in that house, on the block, on that day, between the lawlessness of law enforcement and the clear courage of the MOVE men, women, and children who fought for their lives and the dignity of their families in what was their home in their city. These ideas were always in the words Marc created, and in meeting with MOVE members Sue and Ramona Africa, and having them tell us what happened and the pain and tragedy of the events, it was clear to Marc and me that our opera need only do and be one thing: true. So, I created music that is and remains true to Marc’s words, and in this, we hope to remain true to the enduring spirit of what children aim to teach us every day:
We are your children and you are responsible for our past, present, and future selves. The original idea for this project was to incorporate words from students studying in Opera Philadelphia and Art Sanctuary’s Hip H’opera program into a libretto Marc would edit and design. This proved to be problematic, in that the students’ words couldn’t be assembled into a singular narrative vision. Our work with those students manifests in Marc’s story of five runaway children who decide to become a family, learning from the ghosts of children lost in a fire years ago. The music is equal parts classical, operatic, soulful, melodic, dissonant, driving, and ever-funky. Each scene 52
has its own narrative logic and the score serves as canvas, concrete, and commentator, using the metaphor of a house to create music that supports a flurry of spoken-word; sonic textures that are percussion, angular, and incisive; and songs that evoke Satie, Sade, Frank Ocean, and Nina Simone. I use repetition to recall and remember the complex nature of Black and American music wedded with the musical aesthetics of my Haitian ancestry. The cast consists of operatic singers, a spoken-word artist, and non-operatic voices that have all come together to form a unified ensemble. The sounds of our world rage through them—as our conductor courageously navigates complex musical terrain—and what I find most intriguing is how much they have learned and reflect one another’s singing styles. In this, I thought the last, critical act should be a duet between Un/Sung and Glenda, our virtuosic spoken-word artist and our brilliant mezzo-soprano. They both sing and they both “spit,” and what reconciles the differences in their music making is how much singing is akin to spoken word. This reconciliation proves consequential to our understanding of Marc’s story:
is there hope for public, unified
forgiveness beyond our private, individual pain?
Bill T. Jones has provided important questions for Marc and me to answer. We are in his debt. As a composer and father, I hope We Shall Not Be Moved might be one small part of a larger attempt by any city, anywhere, to allow artists into a process of dialogue, conversation, and conversion within the history of the cities that have hurt us, loved us, and made us not who we are, but have shown us who we ought to be.
we shall not be moved Librettist Marc Bamuthi Joseph, composer Daniel Bernard Roumain, and director Bill T. Jones. Photograph by Dave DiRentis.
director’s note by Bill. T. Jones
When I came on board as director and choreographer, I was asked to join into the development of an already bold and singular work on several fronts. The “choreo-poem” that Marc Bamuthi Joseph had written and that Daniel Bernard Roumain was struggling to define as a hybrid— while highly symbolic with a lead character whose name is literally “Un/Sung”—was rooted in profound concerns and treading its way through perilous contemporary issues, even as it cried out for a coherent narrative. My job was to assert how the spoken word sense of relentless text, rapidly switching points of view, and vocabularies of high art and popular culture in uneasy conversation, needed to be interrogated and reconciled and how a narrative structure could be imposed upon the entire proceedings. It was through this that I took on a dramaturg’s way of thinking and went in search of a three-act narrative arc. In casting and conversation, characters had to be more fully developed, choices made about what delineates them as individuals and connects them as an ensemble. The rambunctious nature of urban youth in movement and song had to be channeled through the score and operatic convention. The librettist had indicated in many places actions that, for the most part in their early stages, were primarily symbolic, but over time came to share duties with storytelling that required a more naturalistic world and compelling choreographic language to be developed. After determining with our set designer that the world of We Shall Not Be Moved would not be naturalistic and that the decor would become a player in the show, the projections, sound and costume designers went to work developing strategies that would bridge the gap between the gritty reality that’s being described and the poetic, though topical, questions this work is at the service of. My goal was to create the freest and most energized theater event directed at a diverse contemporary audience. We Shall Not Be Moved workshop rehearsals in March 2017. Photographs by Dave DiRentis.
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A T RAGIC H ISTORY, A LINGERING HOPE: 32 Years After the MOVE Bombing, One Man Reflects by Naila Francis When members of Philadelphia’s radical MOVE group moved onto the 6200 block of Osage Avenue in 1981, Baba Taiye Renfrow had only one question: “Do they have kids?” The 48-year-old Philadelphia native was about 11 at the time and only dimly aware of the group’s controversial ideology, of the showdown with police in their former Powelton Village headquarters that would send nine of their own to prison, charged with the shooting death of an officer, and eventually force their relocation to his Cobbs Creek neighborhood.
Back then, there were block parties and cookouts and an easy community knitting together each lovingly kept, middle-class home. It was the kind of neighborhood where kids grew up to raise their own families, as Renfrow’s own parents did, putting down roots at 6234 Osage, mere blocks from his grandparents. Even the MOVE members seemed to settle in peaceably, going door to door selling the fruits and vegetables grown in their gardens to gain their neighbors’ trust.
The day before, Mother’s Day, officers pounded on residents’ doors with instructions to evacuate. “They were saying, ‘Don’t worry. This will be over by tomorrow. You’ll be back here when it’s over with,’” Renfrow said. His parents piled a few things into their pickup truck and drove the few blocks with Renfrow and his two younger siblings to his grandparents’ house. When police dropped the bomb on MOVE’s headquarters the following day, the reverberation rattled the home five blocks away, where the Renfrows sat watching the entire tragedy unfold on TV. They watched as the fire ignited by the bomb raged unchecked.
“If someone was suspicious, they would cut a piece of watermelon or whatever it was and eat it themselves,” Renfrow said. “They moved in with one of my neighbors, “None of us wanted any trouble.” Louise James,” recalls Renfrow of the rowBut then the group boarded up the winhome at 6221 Osage Avenue that belonged to MOVE founder John Africa’s sister. dows on its property, fenced in a driveway “You don’t understand what’s happening neighbors often used as a cut-through, but when you see the fire is not going out, “There was a bit of apprehension by the you become grief-stricken because all you and built a bunker on the roof. Their kids neighbors but they came onto our block were no longer allowed out to play, al- see is your life going up with no regard for peacefully.” though they could sometimes be seen ri- it,” Renfrow said, who was 15 at the time. fling through the compound’s trash. And And their kids were quickly welcomed day and night, the revolutionaries took The blaze destroyed 61 homes and disinto the games that floated rambunctious placed 250 residents. It killed 11 in the to broadcasting their anti-police rhetoric chatter and laughter from the streets and house at 6221 Osage Avenue, including from a bullhorn. sidewalks. five children. Only two MOVE mem“All of us on the block were like brothers “All of a sudden, they became unsanitary. bers—Ramona Africa and 13-year-old Birdie Africa, who had once played with and sisters. All we wanted was to play with They started hanging raw meat on their Renfrow and his friends on the street— fence, attracting stray cats and dogs. The their kids,” said Renfrow, who now lives survived. gnats one day clouded the street like it in suburban Montgomery County with was smoke,” said Renfrow, who remema family of his own. “We were just kids bers having to wear his faux Cazal sun- “We had a million questions,” Renfrow said. hanging out, whether it was on the block or going down to the park or playing bas- glasses to shield his eyes whenever he was “Why didn’t they put out the fire? Who do we talk to about this? Who’s going to talk outside. ketball.” to us about this? There was the shock of just trying to wrap your brain around it That was a different era on Osage Ave- Neighbors complained. The MOVE nue, a time where children roamed free- members racked up violation after viola- and every time you thought about your tion, ignoring them all. On May 13, 1985, loss, you’d just break down and cry.” ly, unencumbered by the scourge of drug police decided to clear them out. dealing and prostitution, the shadows of violence and blight. 54
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Baba Renfrow (left) toured Osage Avenue with We Shall Not Be Moved cast members in March 2017. Photographs by Dominic M. Mercier.
Even now, more than 30 years later, his voice cracks and a muffled keening threatens to undo him as tears fill his eyes. The city temporarily relocated those who had lost their homes to the Korman Suites near the Philadelphia International Airport. The Renfrows, like all their neighbors, had little to take with them. But one small belonging became a priceless treasure. “When we were leaving our house after being evacuated, I said ‘Wait!’ and ran into the house to grab this particular photo—my parents’ high school prom photo. I had become very fond of that picture as a young boy. It was in the original frame it was put in back in the sixties,” Renfrow said. “I didn’t grab the magazines with all my rap idols or what I had left of my radio. Something just struck me, telling me ‘Baba, you need to run back in there and grab that photo.’ That was God in my mind.” Today, it is not only a reminder of a blossoming love that would endure, but a link to the heartbreak and devastation that still shroud the Cobbs Creek neighborhood and its residents today. Families who lost everything in the fire were allowed to move back into new homes made of brick after more than a year in temporary housing. But those were shoddily built, leading to a decades-long battle with the city of Philadelphia. In 2000, 37 homeowners took a $150,000 buyout after Mayor John F. Street’s administration decided to stop pouring mon-
ey into repairs promised by his predecessor. are seeking a developer for those properties. But optimism is hard to root for in Twenty-four residents sued for breach of a history of broken promises and blatant contract and won in federal court but an neglect. appeal ultimately brought their award of half a million dollars each to $190,000 per house. Sixteen homeowners accepted the “As an African American, I’ve learned from experience how an administration settlement and eight, including Renfrow’s responds to us,” Renfrow said. “I saw what parents, Gerald and Connie, refused. they’re willing to do—to drop a bomb on an entire family and let their neighbor“To watch our parents have to fight and hood burn.” deal with the city day in and day out—it’s consumed our lives on a level that nothFor Renfrow, having that night evoked ing else ever has,” Renfrow said. “Every Thanksgiving, every Christmas, every Eas- onstage through Opera Philadelphia’s ter, when the family gets together for din- world premiere of We Shall Not Be Moved reawakens the sense of tragedy. ner, that’s the topic of conversation. When is this going to end? When are we going “This was 32 years ago. Everything we’re to go back to how we used to be?” going through in the world with African He, too, has thrown himself into the fight, Americans today, black males today, and having finally, as an adult, tasted the bit- how law enforcement is perceiving and reterness of the unconscionable, the heavi- ceiving us and how we’re reacting to them, to see it all dramatized—it brought back ness of the hurt his parents tried to shield the people who perished,” he said. “It’s the him and his siblings from as a boy. most horrible death you ever want to hear “They just wanted to normalize our life,” about.” Renfrow said. “I didn’t feel any emotions He hopes the power of the piece connects about it. It was too surreal for me.” with as wide an audience as possible, especially given how few in the Philadelphia When he returned to school, he even had a running joke when homework assign- region know about the bombing today. ments were due: “That burned up in the “Because of how many years have passed, fire.” someone being brought to justice is the one thing that will never be. And I’m OK “I didn’t really start to hurt about the whole with that,” Renfrow said. “But I want my tragedy until we were way into the years of parents to live in a home they deserve. I wondering why isn’t the city doing what want Osage Avenue restored to what it it’s supposed to,” Renfrow said. was, which was a beautiful, loving block of West Philadelphia.” Today, many of the rebuilt houses on the 6200 block of Osage and Pine sit vacant, boarded with plywood and padlocks. Naila Francis is a writer and editor based Last year, city officials announced they in Philadelphia.
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The Cost of Education: A Look Back at the Philadelphia School Closures of 2013 by Alexis Johnson
Students no longer roam the hallways “They could’ve waited. They should’ve of the historic Edward W. Bok Techni- just stopped letting kids cycle in and cal High School. Although the original allowed current students to graduate,” infrastructure remains, there has been said Kynan Chambers, a former stua change of residency. Classrooms are dent at Bok who was transferred to now being utilized as shared workspac- South Philadelphia High School after es, while the school’s gym and auditori- the closing, and one of the many teens um are suitable to host events. Located involved in Hip-H’opera. Hip-H’opera in the East Passyunk Crossing neigh- is the collaborative program between borhood of South Philadelphia, for 75 Opera Philadelphia and Art Sanctuary years the former public school provided that provides workshops for students vocational programs from engineering to channel self-expression through varto culinary arts. Today Bok’s hands-on, ious art forms, which ultimately served ready-to-work entrepreneurial spirit as the inspirational platform for We and facilities are preserved through a Shall Not Be Moved. collective of small businesses, artists, craftsmen, chefs, and community or- We meet the teens of We Shall Not Be ganizers. The building was converted Moved at the crossroads of real-life into a mixed-use development after events that shape their journey. Like being acquired through public auction the characters who find themselves in the aftermath of Bok’s closing in shut out of school and taking refuge 2013, alongside 22 other K-12 schools as at 6221 Osage Avenue, many Philapart of The School District of Philadel- delphia teens have been affected by phia's “Facilities Master Plan.” the homeless youth crisis and the 2013
school closures. These closures led to the displacement of thousands of students and educational staff, including a number of Hip-H’opera students who attended schools that would shut down after a closed vote. Mass school closings have become a recurring trend in large cities, including nearby areas like Washington, D.C., New York City, and Pittsburgh, in an effort to offset budget deficits and the increasing number of available seats. In an article for the Washington Post, independent education research organization Research for Action (RFA) detailed the overall short- to long-term impact of school closures based on statistics from cities that have taken similar actions as well as the proposed actions of the School Reform Commission. Their findings showed that, while there is a rather immediate amount of money saved by closings, from building maintenance to staff cuts, there are many implementation expenses, including costs associated with student relocation and moving, demolition and often the devaluation of closed buildings. There was very little conversation surrounding the well-being of the students as an impact of the 2013 school closures. Originally set at 37 proposed schools to be closed by the School District of Philadelphia, parents, teachers, students, and community supporters voiced their concerns in the 21 community meetings leading up to the March 7, 2013 decision. On the day of the final hearing, Randi Weingarten, President
The Edward W. Bok Technical High School was one of the 23 schools closed in 2013 by the School District of Philadelphia. Photograph by Alexis Johnson.
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Kynan Chambers (third from left) took part in the Hip H’opera program from 2014 to 2017. Photograph by Phillip Todd.
of the American Federation of Teachers, as well as 18 other activists were arrested in protest. Many doubted the amount of savings the closings would return, but there was also the larger concern of whether the closings would improve the education of those transferred as stated by the School Reform Commission. Research from RFA showed that the schools selected by the School Reform Commission for closure due to low performance had very similar performance standards to the receiving schools, meaning the transferring students wouldn’t necessarily be provided with a better education. Other concerns included longer walks and increased transportation time in unfamiliar neighborhoods. “I feel like if I stayed at Bok I would’ve come out of high school with better opportunities and a higher education,” said Chambers. His transition from Bok to South Philadelphia High School created early challenges in the classroom. “When they closed the schools, they moved the CTE (Career & Technical Education) Programs. It was difficult because the staff at South Philadelphia didn’t understand students in vocational programs, how we operate and the time and resources we need within the program. The resources didn’t transfer over. The rooms and workshop spaces weren’t equivalent. It went in a crazy direction because the program conflicted with South Philadelphia’s curricu-
lum, making it difficult to learn.” Teachers and staff were affected by the closings as well. Barbara Keating was a teacher at South Philadelphia during the transition, witnessing employees from both transferring and receiving schools experiencing layoffs. “This stirred peoples’ lives into turmoil. South Philadelphia High School lost a lot of really great teachers because of seniority and right to follow,” said Keating. “Teachers at Bok had a right to follow their students over to South Philadelphia and we didn’t get as many of them as they thought, so that meant teachers who had less seniority from South Philadelphia lost their jobs. Teachers who had been at Bok for a really long time were really beholden to the building and the school and the programs and it’s jarring to have all of that ripped away from you.”
been rushed for them,” noting that as many as “1 of 3 students have a challenge at home.” Closures recurrently affect minorities and the effects of shuttered schools can disrupt a student’s education and relationships with peers and teachers. “All around everyone was upset and bothered because we had to go to a school that was completely different, not only the education but culturally,” said Chambers. “It’s like buying a brand-new car, investing into it and getting it recalled after you made an investment. It’s like ‘wow, we have to start all over again’ especially as a freshman, recently adjusting from middle school.” The School District of Philadelphia has continued to seek solutions, developing multi-year plans to tackle budget cuts and the shift of student enrollment, possibly leading to more closures in the future.
On the receiving end, South Philadelphia would have to prepare for more than 750 transfer students from Bok, “It’s tough, it’s really, really tough to be doubling their enrollment. This was all moved without your consent from one in an effort to increase utilization with- building to another,” said Keating. in The School District of Philadelphia as they experienced a decline in enroll- While there are many factors involved ment due to factors such as the increase in school closures, the cost at which of students attending charter schools. these decisions are made undoubtedly have a major impact students, teachers, Nationwide school closures have dis- staff and parents for years to come. proportionately affected Black and Latino students, many of them residing in underserved communities. As a teacher for 14 years, Keating has come to terms that “a lot of these students come from places where childhood has
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we shall not be moved
composer + librettist
DANIEL BERNARD ROUMAIN
MARC BAMUTHI JOSEPH
composer
librettist
Margate, Florida and New York, New York Opera Philadelphia debut
New York, New York and Oakland, California Opera Philadelphia debut
Daniel Bernard Roumain’s acclaimed work as a composer and performer spans more than two decades, and has been commissioned by venerable artists and institutions worldwide. “About as omnivorous as a contemporary artist gets” (The New York Times), Roumain is perhaps the only composer whose collaborations traverse the worlds of Philip Glass, Bill T. Jones, Savion Glover, and Lady Gaga. Known for his signature violin sounds infused with a myriad of electronic and urban music influences, Roumain takes his genre-bending music beyond the proscenium. He has been nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Musical Composition for his work with ESPN; featured as keynote performer at technology conferences; and written large scale, site-specific music for public parks. Roumain made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2000 with the American Composers Orchestra performing his Harlem Essay for Orchestra, a Whitaker commission. He went on to compose works for the Boston Pops Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, the Stuttgart Symphony, and myriad others. Roumain’s commitment to arts education has garnered longterm relationships with countless universities, orchestras, and performing arts centers. He earned his doctorate in Music Composition from the University of Michigan. He is currently Institute Professor of Practice at Arizona State University. An avid arts industry leader, Roumain serves on the board of directors of the League of American Orchestras, Association of Performing Arts Presenters and Creative Capital, the advisory committee of the Sphinx Organization, and was co-chair of 2015 and 2016 APAP Conferences. N E X T : Composer, Little Boy Lost: One Child’s Story of Life Behind Bars, The National YoungArts Foundation
Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a curator of words, ideas, and protagonists. His bold poetically-driven work investigates social issues and cultural identity. He is a steadfast believer in empathy as the most valuable currency in building community, and seeks to spark curiosity and dialogue about freedom, compassion, and fearlessness through pioneering arts stewardship and education. A 2017 TEDGlobal Fellow, Bamuthi graced the cover of Smithsonian Magazine as one of America’s Top Young lnnovators in the Arts and Sciences; artistically directed HBO’s “Russell Simmons presents Brave New Voices” and is an inaugural recipient of the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship, which annually recognizes 50 of the country’s greatest living artists. Dance Magazine named him a Top Influencer in 2017. Bamuthi’s evening length work red black and GREEN: a blues was nominated for a 2013 Bessie Award for “Outstanding Production (of a work stretching the boundaries of a traditional form)” and he has won numerous grants including from the National Endowment for the Arts and Creative Capital Foundation. His latest touring work /peh-LO-tah/ is inspired by soccer and Bamuthi’s first generation American experience, intersecting global economics, cross border fan culture, and the politics of joy. Recent commissions include the libretto for Home in 7 for the Atlanta Ballet and theater work for South Coast Repertory Theater. He is currently collaborating with composer Roumain on a duo show, Blackbird, Fly. Bamuthi is the founding program director of the exemplary non-profit Youth Speaks, and is a co-founder of Life is Living, a national series of one-day festivals which activate under-resourced parks and affirm peaceful urban life. His essays have been published in Harvard Education Press, he has lectured at more than 200 colleges, has carried adjunct professorships at Stanford and Lehigh, among others, and currently serves as Chief of Program and Pedagogy at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. N E X T : Creator/Writer/Performer, /peh-LO-tah/, Brooklyn Academy of Music
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we shall not be moved
director + conductor
B I L L T. J O N E S
V I S WA S U B B A R A M A N
director/choreographer/dramaturge
conductor
New York, New York Opera Philadelphia debut
Big Spring, Texas Opera Philadelphia debut
Bill T. Jones, a multi-talented artist, choreographer, dancer, theater director, and writer, has received major honors ranging from a 1994 MacArthur “Genius” Award to Kennedy Center Honors in 2010. He was inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2009 and named “An Irreplaceable Dance Treasure” by the Dance Heritage Coalition in 2000. His ventures into Broadway theater resulted in a 2010 Tony Award for Best Choreography in the critically acclaimed FELA!, the new musical co-conceived, co-written, directed, and choreographed by Jones. He also earned a 2007 Tony Award for Best Choreography in Spring Awakening as well as an Obie Award for the show’s 2006 off-Broadway run.
American conductor Viswa Subbaraman has received international acclaim for his work on the orchestral podium and in the opera house. Most recently, Subbaraman led the world premiere of Voir Dire for Fort Worth Opera.
Jones began his dance training at the State University of New York at Binghamton (SUNY ), where he studied classical ballet and modern dance. Jones became co-founder of the American Dance Asylum in 1973 and in 1982 he formed the Bill T. Jones/ Arnie Zane Dance Company with his late partner, Arnie Zane. In 2011, Jones was named Executive Artistic Director of New York Lives Arts, a new model of artist-led, producing/presenting/touring arts organization unique in the United States that was formed by a merger of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and Dance Theater Workshop. In addition to creating more than 140 works for his own company, Jones has received many commissions to create dances for modern and ballet companies, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Boston Ballet, Lyon Opera Ballet, and Berlin Opera Ballet, among others. Jones has also choreographed for Houston Grand Opera and Glyndebourne Festival Opera. His Mother of Three Sons was performed at the Munich Biennale, New York City Opera, and the Houston Grand Opera, and Jones also directed Lost in the Stars for the Boston Lyric Opera.
He was artistic director at Skylight Music Theatre in Milwaukee for three seasons, where his artistic leadership garnered recognition for expanding the company’s repertoire and placed it at the forefront of the industry in producing contemporary opera and reimaging traditional works. He led a production of Thomas Ades’ Powder Her Face, directed by Robin Guarino, that was declared “a triumph for Skylight’s artistic leader” and he was named one of Milwaukee Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 list, and one of Milwaukee’s 14 most influential people by local writer Dave Begel. Before his time with the Skylight, Subbaraman was the artistic director and founder of Opera Vista, Houston’s innovative contemporary opera company. In his time with Opera Vista, Subbaraman was selected by the HoustonPress as a 100 Creatives 2012: one of the one hundred most creative people in Houston. Opera Vista and Subbaraman were also honored with the 2010 Mastermind Award from the HoustonPress for artistic creativity and innovative outreach. Performance highlights during his tenure with Opera Vista include the world premiere of James Norman’s Wake…, the world premiere of Line Tjørnhøj’s Anorexia Sacra (marking Subbaraman’s stage directing debut), the Texas premiere and historic New Orleans premiere of Amy Beach’s Cabildo, the world premiere of Somtow Sucharitkul’s The Silent Prince, and the creation of the annual Vista Competition for new opera. N E X T : Conductor, We Shall Not Be Moved, The Apollo Theater and Hackney Empire
N E X T : Choreographer/Director, A Letter to My Nephew, Brooklyn Academy of Music
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artists | we shall not be moved
AUBREY ALLICOCK bass-baritone john henry
J O H N H O L I D AY c o u n t e r t e n o r john blue
Tuscon, Arizona
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: Bass Soloist, El Niño, Omroep Muziek-Concertgebouw; Young Emile, Champion, Washington National Opera; General Leslie Groves, Doctor Atomic, BBC Symphony Orchestra
R osenberg, Texas
Opera Philadelphia debut
N E X T: Figaro, Le nozze di Figaro, Michigan Opera Theatre
New York, New York
Opera Philadelphia debut
Devon, Pennsylvania Opera Philadelphia debut
N E X T: OG, We Shall Not Be Moved, The Apollo Theater and Hackney Empire
ROBERT KAPLOWITZ sound designer
Albuquerque, New Mexico R E C E N T: Meg Page, Falstaff, San Diego Opera; Carmen, Carmen, Kaohsiung Spring Arts Festival; Carmen, Carmen: Fire and Fate, London Tour N E X T: Ultima, Bless Me Ultima, Opera Southwest PAT C I A R R O C C H I voice of the reporter
P hiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: Former News Anchor, CBS3 Philadelphia; Live broadcaster during the May 1985 MOVE confrontation
T E N D AY I K U U M B A d a n c e r og
JORGE COUSINEAU projections designer
R E C E N T: Dancer/Singer, Walking with ’Trane, Urban Bush Women; Dancer/Singer, Electric Lucifer, Jim Findlay; Dancer/Singer, Heroin’e, A Solo Work
Dresden, Germany
2015 A NDY: A Popera
R E C E N T: Production Designer, PERFECT BLUE, Tiny Dynamite and Pursued By A Bear; Sound Designer, Gypsy, Arden Theatre Company; Production Designer, Gumshoe, New Paradise Laboratories and Free Library of Philadelphia
A tlanta, Georgia
Opera Philadelphia debut
N E X T: Dancer/Singer, Hair & Other Stories, Urban Bush Women LIZ PRINCE costume designer N yack, New York
N E X T: Sound Designer, Cabaret, Arden Theatre Company Opera Philadelphia debut 60
R E C E N T: Sound Designer/Composer, The Cost of Living, Manhattan Theatre Club; Sound Designer/Composer, Coriolanus, Shakespeare in Clark Park; Sound Designer, /peh-LO-tah/, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts N E X T: Sound Designer, Jesus Hopped the A Train, Signature Theater
Merion Station, Pennsylvania
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: Co-choreographer/Dancer, Regalia: Plantation Lullabies of Royalty, 313 to the 514 Choreography Expo; Cochoreographer/Dancer, Regalia: Plantation Lullabies of Royalty, Duke University; Choreographer, The 150th Anniversary Gala Finale, The Boston Conservatory at Berklee N E X T: Choreographer, New Commission with Nona Hendryx and Hank Shocklee, Boston Conservatory at Berklee
KIRSTIN CHÁVEZ mezzo-soprano glenda
2007 Rigoletto 2006 The Marriage of Figaro 2001 The Magic Flute
N E X T: Orfeo, Orfeo ed Euridice, Florida Grand Opera DUANE LEE HOLLAND, JR. dancer og
MICHAEL BISHOP dancer og
R E C E N T: Dancer, Amore Impossible/Just Joy, Alessandra Corona Works; Choreographer, Memorium, Forza Malizia Dance Company; Rehearsal Director, Fuerza Fest, Forza Malizia Dance Company
R E C E N T: Xerxes, Xerxes, Glimmerglass Opera; Tolomeo, Giulio Cesare in Egitto, Boston Baroque; First Male Singer, Paradise Interrupted, Spoleto Festival
R E C E N T: Costume Designer, Analogy/ Ambros: The Emigrant, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company; Costume Designer, Echo in the Valley, Pilobolus; Costume Designer, FOLDED, Dough Varone and Dancers
artists | we shall not be moved
N E X T: Costume Designer, The Making Room, Bebe Miller Company
N E X T: Playwright, The Play Which Raises the Question…of Anita Freeman & Her Kids, Judson Memorial Church
CACI COLE PRITCHETT dancer og
ROBERT WIERZEL lighting designer
Atlanta, Georgia
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: Company Member, Moving Spirits Inc.; Soloist, As Clear As Tear Water, Ron K. Brown/Evidence; Dancer, The Moving Beauty Series, Williamsburg Movement & Arts Center N E X T: OG, We Shall Not Be Moved, The Apollo Theater and Hackney Empire
B ranford, Connecticut
Opera Philadelphia debut
M AT T S A U N D E R S set designer
Opera Philadelphia debut
N E X T: Set Designer, Grace Notes: Reflections for Now, The Kennedy Center DANIEL SHIRLEY tenor john little
M t. Pleasant, Texas
2017 The Marriage of Figaro 2016 C old Mountain 2015 Charlie Parker’s YARDBIRD (partial listing)
Greenville, North Carolina
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: Tenor Soloist, Beethoven Symphony No. 9, Seattle Symphony; Ballad Singer, Of Mice and Men, Austin Opera; Nanki-Poo, The Mikado, Kentucky Opera N E X T: Tenor Soloist, Bach Christmas Oratorio, Raleigh Bach Soloists & North Carolina Baroque Orchestra
N E X T: Lighting Designer, Eugene Onegin, Lyric Opera of Kansas City D AV I D Z I M M E R M A N wig/make-up designer
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania R E C E N T: Set Designer, Pipeline, Lincoln Center Theater; Set Designer, Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern, Spoleto Festival; Set Designer, Káťa Kabanová, Spoleto Festival
R E C E N T: Lighting Designer, Xerxes, Glimmerglass Festival; Lighting Designer, Oklahoma!, Glimmerglass Festival; Lighting Designer, The Summer King, Pittsburgh Opera
R E C E N T: Wig/Make-up Designer, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, Santa Fe Opera; Wig/Make-up Designer, Dinner at Eight, Minnesota Opera; Wig/Make-up Designer, The Shining, Minnesota Opera N E X T: Wig/Make-up Designer, Don Pasquale, Minnesota Opera
ON VIEW SEP 13–DEC 23, 2017
Jibade-Khalil Huffman, Steffani Jemison, Tony Lewis, Tiona Nekkia McClodden, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Martine Syms, with poetry and prose by Morgan Parker and Simone White
ADAM RICHARDSON baritone john mack Smithfield, Virginia
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: Jake, Porgy and Bess, Staatsoper Hamburg; Horace Tabor, The Ballad of Baby Doe, Central City Opera; Sciarrone, Tosca, Central City Opera N E X T: John Mack, We Shall Not Be Moved, The Apollo Theater and Hackney Empire LAUREN WHITEHEAD spoken-word poet un/sung Vernon Hills, Illinois
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: Dramaturg, Colorado New Play Summit, The Denver Center for Performing Arts; Director, How Bodies Reclaim Light at New York Live Arts, Urban Word NYC; Zillah Katz, A Bright Room Called Day, The Connelly Theater
Free. For All.
Free admission is courtesy of Amanda and Glenn Fuhrman.
�
icaphila.org
we shall not be moved
orchestra Violin I
Alexandra Cutler-Fetkewicz, Concertmaster
Viola
Lelia-Michelle Walker
Cello
Jennie Lorenzo
Piano/Synthesizer
Mila Henry
Acoustic/Electric Bass
Steve Beskrone
Drums
Jimmy Coleman
Percussion
Behn Gillece
ar tistic + production Assistant Choreographer
Raphael Xavier
Assistant Director
Seth Hoff
Fight Director
J. Alex Cordaro
Principal Pianist
Mila Henry
Diction Coach
Lynn Baker
Stilt Master
Kristen Bailey
Production Supervisor
Vincent Feraudo
Properties Supervisor
Avista Custom Theatrical Services
Supertitles Author
Julia Bumke
Supertitles Operator
Aurelien Eulert
Assistant Stage Managers
Anna Reetz, Megan Coutts
Costume Coordinator/ Assistant to Designer
Sarah Greenstone
Wardrobe Supervisor
Becca Austin
Stitchers
IATSE Local 799
Wig/Make-up Assistants
Destinee Steele, Ashley Wise
Assistant Lighting Designer
Ted Boyce-Smith
Head Carpenter/Props
James Wojrnowski
Wilma Technical Director
Ethan Mimm
Wilma Master Electrician
Stephanie DiBona
Wilma Sound Engineer
Joe Samala
Wilma Light Board Operator
Alyssa Cole
cover cast
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Un/Sung
Bethlehem Roberson
Glenda
Sishel Claverie
John Blue
Brennan Hall
John Little
Ian McEuen
John Henry/John Mack
Nicholas Davis
OG’s
Morgan Bryant, Justin Campbell
What is an appropriate monument for the current city of Philadelphia?
monumentlab.muralarts.org
WA R S TO R I ES MONTEVERDI BEECHER/ MOSCOVITCH
S E P TE MBE R 14 P, 16 , 17, 19 , 21, 23, 2 017 PHIL ADELPHIA M U S E U M OF ART
PH IL A DELP HIA
P RE MI ERE
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O17
Opera Philadelphia
C R E AT I V E Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda Music C L AU DI O MO NT EVER DI I Have No Stories to Tell You Music LEMBI T BEEC HER *
Libretto HANN AH MO SC OVI TC H* Conductor GARY T HO R WEDOW* Director RO BI N GUAR I N O * Design Consultant ANDRO MAC HE C HALFANT * Costume Design K AYE VOYC E* Lighting Design MARY ELLEN S T EBBI NS* Sound Design DANI EL P ER EL S T EI N Wig/Make-up Design DAV I D Z I MMER MAN Stage Manager BR ET T F I NLEY* CAST Clorinda/Sorrel C EC ELI A HALL Tancredi/Daniel C R AI G VER M Testo/Noah SAMU EL LEVI NE* Memory 1 SAR AH T U C K ER * Memory 2 R AC HEL C ALLOWAY* Testo/Memory 3 ABI GAI L LEVI S* *Opera Philadelphia debut
Co-presented by Opera Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Support for War Stories has been provided by William Penn Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and The Presser Foundation. The Composer in Residence program is made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. P = Preview
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war stories
synopses IL COM BAT T I M EN T O D I TA N C R E D I E C LORIN D A
Music C L AU D I O M O NTE V E R DI Tancredi, a Christian soldier, and Clorinda, a Muslim soldier, have fallen in love. But when Clorinda, disguised as a man, leads a successful attack on a Christian fortress, Tancredi challenges this unknown soldier to a fight for revenge. The battle wages all night long and by dawn Clorinda is severely wounded, though she refuses to tell Tancredi her name. Finally, Clorinda is mortally wounded and falls to Tancredi's feet; only then does he raise her visor and recognize his beloved. Clorinda forgives him and asks Tancredi to baptize her; he grants her this wish as she dies in his arms.
I HAVE NO S T OR I E S T O T E LL Y O U
Music L E M B I T B EE C HE R Libretto H AN N AH M O S C OV I TC H Sorrel, a soldier recently returned from deployment, walks up and down the corridors of her home at night, struggling with PTSD. Her husband, Daniel, awakens, and comforts her. This scene repeats. And repeats. Each of the opera’s four scenes depicts a new night, and a new confrontation between the two—loving and gentle at first, but increasingly raw and frustrated. Daniel urges Sorrel to talk to him about her experiences, convinced that this will help mend their relationship, but Sorrel refuses, holding precariously to a safe but lifeless middle place between memories of the past and engagement with the present. Pressured by Daniel and haunted by her memories of a fellow soldier named Noah, Sorrel gradually relents. But the story Sorrel manages to tell Daniel is only half the truth and both Sorrel and Daniel are each forced to confront the chasm that has opened between them in their relationship.
RUNNING TIME
Approximately two hours and ten minutes, including one 25 minute intermission Photographs by Stephanie Berger
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“
In prison, they called me Picasso. –John Myatt, criminal art forger
I was painted by a criminal art forger responsible for one of the biggest art cons of the 20th century. A real Master of Deceit! Convicted of forgery after an investigation by Scotland Yard, my painter went to prison—and emerged as a celebrity intent on redemption through the sale of “genuine fakes.” It sounds fantastic! Do you believe me?
Treasures
TRIAL
ON
The Art and Science of
DETECTING FAKES
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What if I told you that my original hangs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York? Climb into the life and mind of my artist. His artwork is in great demand! Ah, notoriety.
Discover how experts answer the question, “Is it real or fake?”
APRIL 1, 2017–JANUARY 7, 2018 • WINTERTHUR GALLERIES Presented by
Funded in part by
John Myatt’s copy of Oleanders, after Vincent Van Gogh, is just one of the more than 40 examples of forgeries and counterfeit objects featured in the exhibition, many of which have been at the center of major scandals and court cases. Mixed media on canvas, 2012. Courtesy of Washington Green Fine Art.
WINTERTHUR MUSEUM, GARDEN & LIBRARY • 800.448.3883 • winterthur.org/treasuresontrial
Photograph by Philadelphia Museum of Art
war stories
composer’s note by Lembit Beecher
I Have No Stories to Tell You was commissioned and premiered by Gotham Chamber Opera in 2014 as a companion piece to Monteverdi’s Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. I was asked to write a work to be performed in the resonant acoustic of the Metropolitan Museum’s Medieval Sculpture Hall, completing an evening alongside Monteverdi’s wonderfully vivid, but short opera about a battle between Christian and Muslim knights. Having long admired the expressive qualities of old-style gut strings, I was particularly excited to write for the same Baroque instruments as used in the Monteverdi piece (though I added a Baroque oboe to the mix). In the contemplative, stone-lined atmosphere of a large museum gallery, surrounded by strangely wellpreserved relics of past battles and past lives, it was hard not to think about the aftereffects of war—the way the repercussions of brief moments can linger on for days, years, and decades. Together with director Robin Guarino and librettist Hannah Moscovitch, who had recently completed a series of interviews with Canadian soldiers serving in Afghanistan in preparation for writing her play This Is War, I thought about the intensity of relationships between soldiers and the difficulty of coming home after time spent in a war zone.
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Writing this opera was a true collaboration between librettist, composer, and director, and it was wonderful to see the ways in which the Monteverdi fed into our work, with dramatic moments, themes, and images sometimes directly mirroring the Monteverdi and sometimes standing in contrast. Musically, much of my writing sought to coax a new, unusual sound world out of these historical instruments, but I found myself continually drawn back towards a Baroque-style bass line, which emerged throughout the piece in the cello part. Perhaps the most significant influence of the Monteverdi was structural: the Monteverdi presents itself as a series of three battles or confrontations between the two protagonists. In I Have No Stories to Tell You, these battles are domestic but no less intense, and appear as four telescoping scenes, each one longer than the previous one. This was our way of capturing, in a short piece, the development of a relationship across time, and the way post-traumatic stress shapes days into a repetitive grind, a continual struggle to stay afloat. The opera was developed in conjunction with Opera Philadelphia’s Composer in Residence program, and I am deeply thankful for the opportunities the residency provided me to workshop the piece, and in particular, to experiment with the sonic possibilities of Baroque instruments.
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war stories
War Stories: Setting Up Camp by Robin Guarino
Beyond knowing the craft and the medium, opera “makers” must possess the ability and flexibility to collaborate with constantly changing companies. Like nomads we travel from place to place “setting up camp” for the next production. We have to be nimble and responsive to change and thankfully our theatre training teaches us to coexist well with the “unknown.” In searching for the truth, we cannot honestly know the outcome ahead of time. We venture out into the world and amongst the people: the alternative venue. We collaborate outside of our comfort zone across art institutions and outside of theaters. When I first directed an opera at a museum, I learned the difference between curators, docents, and stage directors pretty quickly. I learned that curators and docents were often trying to restore, curate, protect, and display what stage directors threatened to dismantle and explode. The normal questions of stage footprint versus audience seating became part of the concept out of necessity. What are you going to do with the space? Where does the orchestra go? Will they have enough light to read their
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music and what will keep the light from going in their eyes? Can the singers see the conductor? “Don’t touch the art!” It was a challenge after all those questions were answered to actually find the concept. Needless to say, I was apprehensive before our first meeting for staging War Stories at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. To my surprise and joy, our first meeting was the opposite of what I feared. In The Philadelphia Museum of Art and Opera Philadelphia we found a group of like-minded collaborators. The museum staff kept offering ideas and showing their enthusiasm and curiosity. The production staff of the Opera was open-minded, adventurous, and enthusiastic, both institutions eager to push the boundaries and both interested in becoming agents of change in their community and vital on the frontline of possibility. We made site visits together and separately as we came to know each other as one creative producing team. We knew from the beginning that we wanted to use the great stairs and the cloisters as our performance sites. War Stories is a dou-
Photograph by B. Krist for Visit Philadelphia™
war stories
ble-bill uniting Monteverdi’s Il Combatti- In I Have No Stories, the protagonist Sorrel mento di Tancredi e Clorinda, a text setting wakes every night beside her husband remembering the frontline. As he questions drawn from Torquato Tasso’s La Jerusalem Liberate – Canto XII, and combining it and then more aggressively interrogates, with the Philadelphia premiere of Lembit her memories literally drag them up the stairs to relive the experience. CombattiBeecher and Hannah Moscovitch’s work, I Have No Stories to Tell You in a single eve- mento is performed in the museum’s 14th ning. Both works are “Romances” set in the century cloister where a military campsite context of struggle between man and wom- has been set-up. Tancredi and Clorinda an; the Monteverdi against the backdrop of are portrayed by the husband and wife in I the First Crusade, the Beecher in an un- Have No Stories. Members of the ensemble named contemporary war. Both struggles narrate the story of their battle as the audiare set and told in the context of a journey; ence gathers to surround them. the Combattimento on horseback and in hand-to-hand combat and I Have No Sto- “Teamwork” is the word that comes to mind ries in the bedroom, in the halls and in the in this kind of collaboration. We have never shrapnel of PTSD-induced flashbacks of stopped talking. We the composer, libretthe frontline, issues of consent, safety, and tist, director, conductor, singers, set, cosrape in the military. tume, and lighting designers, production managers, artistic administrators, and diThe performance of I Have No Stories is rectors, and sound designers, and Museum staged on a marital bed being dragged up staff. The War Stories Dropbox folder keeps the great staircase of the museum. The stag- growing and we have conference calls with ing was inspired by the story of the Colum- the opera and the museum team at least bia University student Emma Sulkowicz once a week. At the heart of all of this is who had carried her mattress on her back communication: Asking a lot of questions, as an act of protest that her rapist was nei- listening and responding and setting up our ther found guilty or expelled from school. collective camp.
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war stories
composer + librettist
LEMBIT BEECHER
HANNAH MOSCOVITCH
composer
librettist
Santa Cruz, California Opera Philadelphia debut
Toronto, Canada Opera Philadelphia debut
Praised by The San Francisco Chronicle as “hauntingly lovely and deeply personal,” Lembit Beecher’s music combines “alluring” textures (The New York Times) and vividly imaginative colors with striking emotional immediacy. Noted for his collaborative spirit and “ingenious” interdisciplinary projects (The Wall Street Journal), Beecher is currently the composer-in-residence of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, having previously served a three-year term as the inaugural composer-in-residence of Opera Philadelphia. A constant across his wide range of works is a potent sense of drama, which manifests itself through a musical language filled with both poignant intimacy and propulsive rhythmic energy.
Hannah Moscovitch is an acclaimed Canadian playwright. She has been dubbed “the wunderkind of Canadian theatre” by CBC Radio, “an indie sensation” by Toronto Life Magazine, and the “dark angel of Toronto theatre” by the Toronto Star.
Born to Estonian and American parents, Beecher grew up under the redwoods in Santa Cruz, California, a few miles from the wild Pacific. Since then he has lived in Boston, Houston, Ann Arbor, Berlin, New York, and Philadelphia, earning degrees from Harvard, Rice, and the University of Michigan. This varied background has made him particularly sensitive to place, ecology, memory, and the multitude of ways in which people tell stories. Recent and upcoming premieres include “The Conference of the Birds” for the chamber orchestra A Far Cry, as well as new works for the Diderot Quartet, Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings/University of Michigan Symphony Band, Opera Philadelphia, the Juilliard Quartet, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Many of Beecher’s latest projects involve the incorporation of untraditional elements into operatic form, working with baroque instruments, electronic sounds, animation, new technologies, and devised theatre actors. Recent honors include a MacDowell Colony Fellowship, the S&R Foundation Washington Award Grand Prize, and a major grant from the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage to develop and produce Sophia’s Forest, a chamber opera for soprano Kiera Duffy, the Aizuri Quartet, and a multipiece sound sculpture, developed in collaboration with librettist Hannah Moscovitch, director Brian Staufenbiel, and the ExCITe Center at Drexel University. N E X T : Composer, Newly Commissioned Piece, Julliard String Quartet 72
Her work for the stage includes East of Berlin, The Russian Play, Little One, This is War, Infinity, What a Young Wife Ought to Know, and Bunny. Her plays have been produced across Canada, as well as in the United States, Britain, Ireland, Greece, Austria, Germany, Japan, and Australia. Moscovitch’s won multiple awards for her work, including the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play, the SummerWorks Performance Festival Prize for Production, the Toronto Critic’s Award for Best New Canadian Play, the Trillium Book Award (Moscovitch is the first and only playwright to win in the award’s twenty-nine year history), and the prestigious international Windham-Campbell Prize administered by the Beinecke Library at Yale University. She’s been nominated for the Siminovitch Prize, The Governor General’s Award, and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Most recently, Moscovitch collaborated on the genre-bending music-theatre hybrid smash hit Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story (co-created with Ben Caplan and Christian Barry) that toured to CanScene at the NAC (Ottawa) in July and to the Canada Hub at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August. Moscovitch is a playwright-in-residence at Tarragon Theatre in Toronto. N E X T : Librettist, Secret Lives of Mothers, The Theatre Centre
war stories
conductor + director
GARY THOR WEDOW
ROBIN GUARINO
conductor
director
La Porte, Indiana Opera Philadelphia debut
Bronxville, New York Opera Philadelphia debut
Conductor Gary Thor Wedow has established an enviable reputation for dramatically exciting and historically informed performances with opera companies, orchestras, festivals, and choral organizations throughout North America.
Robin Guarino has directed opera, musical theatre, film, and new works in The Metropolitan Opera, The Avery Fischer and Alice Tully Hall, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, Next Wave Festival, San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Virginia Opera, Gotham Chamber Opera, The Skylight Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, The Bard Festival, Eos Orchestra, as well as Juilliard Opera Theatre, The Yale Institute for Music Theatre, The Jacobs School of Music, The Manhattan School of Music, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and such distinguished Young Artist Training Programs such as The San Francisco Merola and Adler Programs among others. Her film, Crossing the Atlantik, was featured on Independent Focus, PBS. She recently directed a critically acclaimed Madame Butterfly at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
Wedow’s 2017-2018 season includes master classes at Teatro Colon, Handel’s Messiah with the Nashville Symphony, Die Fledermaus with Utah Opera, L’incoronazione di Poppea with Cincinnati Opera, as well as a concert appearance with Madison Opera. Wedow also returns to Manhattan School of Music conducting La cenerentola and Lucia di Lammermoor for The Jacobs School of Music. The 2016-2017 season included his debut with San Diego Opera conducting Rossini’s La cenerentola, Lucia di Lammermoor for Utah Opera, Rodelinda for The Jacobs School of Music, The Magic Flute for Madison Opera, and a Mozart concert at Alice Tully Hall with the combined forces of The Juilliard School and Westminster Choir College. A favorite with Seattle Opera audiences, Wedow has also been a frequent guest of Florida Grand Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Berkshire Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Amherst Early Music Festival, and Pittsburgh Opera among others. He was for many years associated with New York City Opera, leading the New York premiere of Telemann’s Orpheus, the groundbreaking Christopher Alden productions of Don Giovanni and Stephen Wadsworth’s Xerxes. Choral masterpieces and symphonic repertoire have taken him to the podiums of the New York Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Portland Baroque, New York’s St. Thomas Church, Edmonton Symphony, Alabama Symphony, Berkshire Choral International in Massachusetts and in Salzburg, and Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society where he was, for many years, associate conductor.
She holds the J. Ralph Corbett Distinguished Chair of Opera at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music since 2008. She has a strong commitment to developing new works and supporting the work of living composers and librettists and continues that passion as artistic director of Opera Fusion: New Works a collaboration with Cincinnati Opera and funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that has workshopped the following new operas and world premieres: Intimate Apparel, Some Light Emerges, DOUBT, Champion, Shalimar the Clown, Morningstar, Fellow Travelers, Meet John Doe, and Some Light Emerges. This fall Opera Fusion: New Works will workshop Rufus Wainwright’s new opera, Hadrian, together with the Canadian Opera Company. N E X T : Director, Blind Innocence, Ohio Innocence Project
N E X T : Conductor, Die Fledermaus, Utah Opera
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artists | war stories
R A C H E L C A L L O WAY mezzo-soprano memory 2
ABIGAIL LEVIS mezzo-soprano testo/memory 3 Portland, Maine
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: Sister, The House Taken Over, National Sawdust; Soloist, Lord Nelson Mass, Oratorio Society of New York; Soloist, Madrigals, Philharmonie de Paris
Opera Philadelphia debut
N E X T: Soloist, Goldbeater’s Skin, Third Coast Percussion
P hiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Brooklyn, New York
Opera Philadelphia debut
2015 ANDY: A Popera 2014 A Coffin in Egypt
MARY ELLEN STEBBINS lighting designer
CECELIA HALL mezzo-soprano clorinda/sorrel
A ugusta, Georgia
D urham, North Carolina
2017 The Marriage of Figaro 2016 Cold Mountain 2014 Don Giovanni
Opera Philadelphia debut
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R E C E N T: Lighting Designer, Orpheus Unsung, Guthrie Theater; Lighting Designer, Quixote, Peak Performances at Montclair State; Lighting Designer, Phases: A Lunar Fantasy, Peabody Essex Museum
N E X T: Dido, Dido and Aeneas, Oper Frankfurt
N E X T: Lighting Designer, Orpheus Unsung, Princeton Festival of the Arts
SAMUEL LEVINE tenor testo/noah
SARAH TUCKER soprano memory 1
Boston, Massachusetts
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: Composer/Sound Designer, Hand to God, Philadelphia Theatre Company; Sound Designer, Adapt!, The Wilma Theater Company; Sound Designer, Kingdom Come, Roundabout Theatre Company N E X T: Sound Designer, The Diary of Anne Frank, Cleveland Play House
N E X T: Set Designer, Mary Stuart, Chicago Shakespeare Theater
R E C E N T: Sesto, La clemenza di Tito, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; Zerlina, Don Giovanni, Oper Frankfurt; Komponist, Ariadne auf Naxos, Moscow State Philharmonic
N E X T: Flora, La traviata, The Dallas Opera
DANIEL PERELSTEIN sound designer
A N D R O M A C H E C H A L FA N T design consultant
R E C E N T: Set Designer, The Purple Lights of Joppa Illinois, Atlantic Theater Company; Set Designer, Rimbaud in New York, BAM; Set Designer, Reverberation, Hartford Stage
R E C E N T: Cherubino, The Marriage of Figaro, Utah Opera; Dido, Dido, Deutsche Oper Berlin; Thibaut, Don Carlo, Deutsche Oper Berlin
R E C E N T: Joe/Marcus, Three Way, Nashville Opera; Kudrjáš, Káťa Kabanová, Juilliard Opera; Narraboth, Salome, Virginia Opera N E X T: Tenor Soloist, Messiah, Houston Symphony
Houston, Texas
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: Norina, Don Pasquale, Opera Orlando; Micaëla, Carmen, Utah Opera; Jano, Jenůfa, San Francisco Opera N E X T: Micaëla, Carmen, San Diego Opera
CRAIG VERM baritone tancredi/daniel
D AV I D Z I M M E R M A N wig/make-up designer
Houston, Texas
2016 The Elixir of Love 2012 La bohème
R E C E N T: Billy Budd, Billy Budd, Des Moines Metro Opera; Papageno, The Magic Flute, Seattle Opera; Der Graf, Capriccio, Santa Fe Opera N E X T: Doug Hansen, Everest, Lyric Opera of Kansas City
M t. Pleasant, Texas
2017 The Marriage of Figaro 2016 Cold Mountain 2015 Charlie Parker’s YARDBIRD (partial listing)
R E C E N T: Wig/Make-up Designer, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, Santa Fe Opera; Wig/Make-up Designer, Dinner at Eight, Minnesota Opera; Wig/Make-up Designer, The Shining, Minnesota Opera N E X T: Wig/Make-up Designer, Don Pasquale, Minnesota Opera
K AY E V O Y C E costume designer New York, New York
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: Costume Designer, Significant Other, Roundabout Theatre Company; Costume Designer, Il turco in Italia, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence; Costume Designer, The Summer King, Pittsburgh Opera N E X T: Costume Designer, La traviata, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis
JUST OUTSIDE OF PHILLY
TH ER E ’S S O M U CH M O R E T O E X PL O RE. ..
A RT S M O N T C O. C O M
#MAKEITMONTCO
war stories
orchestra Violin I
Mandy Wohlman, Concertmaster
Violin II
Christof Richter
Viola
Daniela Pierson
Cello
Eve Miller
Harpsichord
Gary Thor Wedow (Monteverdi) David Hanlon (Beecher)
Theorbo
William Sims
Baroque Oboe
Geoffrey Burgess Stephen Bard
Harpsichords courtesy of The Curtis Institute of Music and Kevin Freer
ar tistic + production
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Assistant Director
Andreas Hager
Fight Director
J. Alex Cordaro
Assistant Lighting Designer
Sasha Anistratova
Assistant Sound Designer
Lucas Fendlay
Principal Pianist
David Hanlon
Supplementary Pianist
Emily Senturia
Diction Coach
Lynn Baker
Production Supervisor
Cynthia Hennon Marino
Properties Supervisor
Avista Custom Theatrical Services
Supertitles Author
Chris Bergen
Supertitles Operator
Natalie Dewey
Assistant Stage Manager
Tracy Hofmann
Costume Coordinator/ Assistant to Designer
Hanna Hamilton
Wardrobe Supervisor
Marla Schleffer
Stitchers
IATSE Local 799
Wig/Make-up Assistant
Mannie Jacobo
Head Electrician
Jay Madara
Yamaha exclusively trusts Cunningham Piano Company with Opera Philadelphia and all Yamaha Artist Activity in the Delaware Valley.
198 Allendale Road, King of Prussia (800) 394-1117
TH E WA K WO R L D HERTZBERG
S E P TE MBE R 18 , 19 , 23, 24 , 2 5 , 2017 THE BAR N E S FOUNDATION
WORL D P R E MI ERE
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KE
O17
Opera Philadelphia
C R E AT I V E Music/Libretto DAVI D HER T Z BERG* Conductor ELI Z ABET H BR ADEN Director R . B. SC HL AT HER * Costume Design T ER ESE WADDEN * Lighting Design JAX MESSEN GER Wig/Make-up Design DAV I D Z I MMER MAN Dramaturge J U LI A BU MK E* Stage Manager LI SA MAR I E L AN GE CAST Lola MAEV E HÖ GLU ND* The Fairy Prince R I HAB C HAI EB* Parthenope R EBEC C A MYER S*
Ligeia VERO NI C A C HAP MAN-SMI T H Leucosia J OANN A GAT ES* Luna/Hecate J ESSI C A BEEBE* Morbus GEO RGE RO SS SO MERV I LLE Pestilitas J O HN DAVI D MI LES Giant/Bone Man/Man in the Azure Coat/ Man of the Blue House JAMES O SBY GWAT HNEY, J R .* Palace of Names O P ER A P HI L ADELP HI A C HO RU S
PAL AC E O F N AMES Soprano Jessica Beebe Julie Bishop Veronica Chapman-Smith Rebecca Myers
Tenor Benjamin T. Berman Colin Doyle George Ross Somerville Steven Williamson
Alto Marissa Chalker Joanna Gates Ellen Grace Peters Kaitlyn Tierney
Bass James Osby Gwathney, Jr. John David Miles Daniel Schwartz Jackson Williams *Opera Philadelphia debut
AMERICAN REPERTOIRE PROGRAM
Based on the story The Wake World by Aleister Crowley. Co-presented by Opera Philadelphia and The Barnes Foundation. Production underwritten by the Wyncote Foundation at the recommendation of Daniel K. Meyer, M.D. Support for The Wake World has been provided by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Additional support provided by the Allen R. and Judith Brick Freedman Venture Fund for New Opera. The Composer in Residence program is made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
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the wake world
synopsis The Wake World
(a tale for babes and sucklings) T HE ARGU MENT
I. RITUAL PROCESSION
V. T R E A S U R E H O U S E O F G O L D
what’s this? a secretive somniloquy? a half-remembered hush? (let’s crawl inside and disclose it.)
this part is really secret so I can’t tell you about what we did. and I even had to make a promise that I would never, ever betray my wake-up person.
II. PRELUDIUM IN (THROUGH) T H E T H E AT R E
love, Lola
gray, viscous. plastic prattle with dead sounds. something about something past. until
VI. MISTRESS OF IT ALL
III. THE BEGINNING
Lola! wake up! there’s mischief about!
sleepy Lola! breathe the wet perfumes! drink the crimson skies! the wake-up person is coming!
VII. OUT OF DOORS
I V. T H E PA L A C E
i. rust, hollow, all sleep. don’t stay here, silly! ii. the lady with the silver hair iii. the feast (most people stay here forever) iv. sleepy, fuzzy, green. zzz…
i. underneath orange is red. (and most people stay here all their lives) ii. underneath green is blue. and blue is the sleepiest color.
in the end there is no more roof. but if you squint you can find me on the other side. love, the wake-up person p.s. I love you. RUNNING TIME
Approximately one hour and 15 minutes with no intermission Pictured: Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French, 1841–1919 Bather Drying Herself (Baigneuse s'essuyant), c. 1901–1902 Oil on canvas 36 5/8 x 28 7/8 in. (93 x 73.3 cm) BF28, The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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Photograph by Dominic M. Mercier
the wake world
composer’s note by David Hertzberg
When I was living in Philadelphia studying at the Curtis Institute of Music, I often spent time at the Barnes Foundation. It felt less like a museum to me and more like a shrine, a strange and wondrous temple exhumed from outside of time, wrought with symbols and hieroglyphs whose sympathetic resonances carried some unspoken and inarticulable significance.
So when I was asked by Opera Philadelphia to create something for the Barnes, it rekindled these impressions, and my mind wandered to mystery and magic. During a site visit to the museum, I learned that Dr. Barnes was constantly rearranging the beautiful and mystifying ‘ensembles’ of work that give the space its singular character, in order to illuminate different formal or coloristic aspects of the particular works. To him, it was important that these pieces were configured not chronologically or according to their medium or even their authorship, but rather by a set of underlying, essential formal principles to which they adhered, principles that he felt transcended time, space, and genre alike. His collection is a testament to and expression of his belief in the universality of human symbols, in the essential oneness of human experience, and in the edifying and transformative power of this realization. When I first read Aleister Crowley’s The Wake World several years ago, I was both confounded and intoxicated by it, and it has lingered with me since. Crowley conceived of his story, which is in turns ecstatically silly, horrendously lurid, and blindingly vivid, as a tale of ascent through spheres of mystical consciousness, aestheticized as the journey of a wide-eyed seeker through the enchanted palace of her guardian angel. The bizarre, fantastical, and restless vortex of imagery into which the reader is swept is a sea of mystical correspondences that was the essence of Crowley’s life’s work. He sought this kind of imagistic alchemy in his writing in much the same way Dr. Barnes sought to express the universality of human forms and symbols in the arresting ensembles of art that hang in the rooms of his own magical palace. It is out of this shared visionary spirit, and from this kernel of inspiration that I have written this work, and it is my hope that it too can serve as a totem to the transformative power of art and the transcendent singularity of the human condition.
The performance is what you see. Move around. Create your own experience. – R. B. Schlather
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A JOURNEY THROUGH THE Barnes AND INTO THE MIND OF ITS founder by Naila Francis
That Dr. Albert Barnes possessed a deep affinity for music is a biographical detail often overlooked in any chronicling of the chemist and entrepreneur’s legacy of assembling the largest collection of Modernist and Post-Impressionist art in the world within the walls of his namesake foundation.
Dr. Albert C. Barnes. Photograph by Angelo Pinto.
the space, that captured that feeling of being in the Barnes or amplified that ineffable quality I think is there.” The composer and librettist turned to English occultist Aleister Crowley to expand upon that idea. He drew on the mythical, mystical qualities in Crowley’s fairy tale The Wake World to create a portrait of a psyche that would relentlessly adhere to the similarities in light, color, line, and space — as if creating a dialogue within each wall composition — when organizing his art collection.
Yet Dr. Barnes not only invited musicians to perform in the galleries of his Lower Merion educational institution, he often played music to accompany his own lectures. Perched in a chair under Matisse’s “Seated Riffian” and across from a Magnavox turntable — on view in the museum today — Dr. Barnes hoped to deliver his audienc- “In (Crowley’s) story, there is the journey through all these fantastical rooms but I never thought of them as being rees to a greater appreciation of the formal qualities of his collection through the sounds and textures of the Afri- alized in this very literal, overt way,” says Hertzberg. “I felt can-American spirituals and classical music that he loved. like I definitely wanted to create something that was in a psychological setting rather than a physical one.” The staging of David Hertzberg’s The Wake World in the Barnes Foundation’s Annenberg Court harkens to that The result is not so much an opera that specifically references the collection or even Crowley’s story but a work experience. that is a reverberation of Barnes’ egalitarian and eccentric As audiences are swept into the fantastical tale of a young aesthetic and philosophies — and even an echo of the man girl named Lola being guided through a labyrinthine pal- himself. ace of bizarre houses by her Fairy Prince, there is the sense of moving through the galleries themselves — of encoun- “It’s more about the idea of a collector and someone who tering the idiosyncrasies of a collection that simultaneous- wants to guide you through their collection and wants you, through the process of going through the collection, to ly clusters the decorative, the fine and the functional from learn more about yourself,” says director R. B. Schlather. multiple cultures and art periods. “It feels like a crazy temple, definitely mysterious, and just so strange and really, really beautiful,” says Hertzberg, of Dr. Barnes’ meticulously arranged universe. “I was interested in finding something that illuminated that aspect of 82
During his initial visits to the Barnes, he, too, was intrigued by the mind of someone who would defy traditional nods to nationality, chronology, style, and genre in arranging, and rearranging, his collection.
the wake world
“I was really excited about that because I think that’s some- cals also allow them to morph into the crowd, the story’s secondary characters, and the palace itself. thing that’s really relatable for all of us. We all have things we collect or things we’re drawn to. We all like to organize or arrange things in an aesthetic way,” says Schlather. “The choir is this totally omnipresent musical and dramatic force,” he says. “Knowing there would be no break be“Seeing how he arranged everything made me think this tween the audience and the orchestra, I wanted the choir place is so much about the mind or the personality or the ego of the man. I felt like it was a really fertile, inspiring to represent different ideas, to bridge the divide between the orchestra and mise-en-scene, and to navigate all these space to envisage a performance for.” different aspects of the opera.” The Annenberg Court seemed an ideal setting. The Wake World would have undoubtedly appealed to Dr. Barnes, says Thom Collins, executive director and presi“I thought we should just have a long catwalk down the dent of the Barnes Foundation. middle of the room and start at one end and have people move down the room,” he says. “The catwalk is the metaphor for a journey because this story on some level is just “He was a theorist of the relationships between progressive music and progressive visual arts,” says Collins, citing Dr. about this girl and her journey toward enlightenment.” Barnes’ enthusiastic embracing of Leopold Stokowski, the Schlather found his costuming inspiration in the paint- legendary and uncompromisingly innovative conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra who was among the speakings themselves. Lola, for instance, is an evocation of the ers at the 1925 dedication ceremony for the Foundation’s girl in a white dress in Renoir’s “Henriot Family.” opening in Lower Merion. But rather than give too much weight to the spectacle of the story, dwelling on how characters including a giant, “Dr. Barnes was really a sophisticated formalist and I think angels and sirens would mirror particular works, he fo- this being an environmental theater piece that allows us to experience the structure of David’s music in an immersive cused on creating an intimate experience that invites the way would have been of tremendous interest to him. slowing down inherent to walking through a museum. “If we were at The Metropolitan Opera or a gigantic the- “What we do here,” continues Collins, “is try to present ideas and experiences that are powerful and progressive in ater or rock stadium, then maybe we’d have to capture all and of themselves but that also resonate with some aspect these big, visual fantastic events. But this is a small room of 300 people and they’re very close up to the performers. of the collection or of our institutional history.” I like to strip stuff way down so it just becomes about the Schlather hopes audiences simply enjoy being exposed to performers and their body,” he says. something new. While audiences will have time to walk the galleries before each performance, a 16-voice chorus will draw them “It’s about coming and creating your own experience of the more fully into the collection during the opera. The en- piece. Whatever you experience,” he says, “is the performance.” semble serves an orchestral function, creating the texture and harmonic fabric of a visceral score, which, according to Hertzberg, plays to the text with both “maniacal breath- Naila Francis is a writer and editor based in Philadelphia. lessness” and “intense maximal profundity.” But their vo83
the wake world
Chorus Takes the Spotlight by Aubrey Nagle
“Fun and exciting and crazy and scary.” That’s how Chorus Master Elizabeth Braden sums up her task this fall: lead the Opera Philadelphia Chorus through two festival productions at the same time and, oh, conduct one of them, too. But the chorus and their fearless leader are ready. After all, they've been through this before, conquering simultaneous fall roles in both a new and a familiar opera. In September 2015, five singers performed in both ANDY: A Popera and La traviata. Last season, six of the dozen male choristers featured in September’s world premiere of Breaking the Waves simultaneously sang in the Turandot chorus, with Braden leading both, every other evening, over two weeks. But it isn’t every day—or every season—that a chorus has the chance to both sing in a mainstage repertoire production and be featured in a new work carefully crafted around their chemistry. For the inaugural Festival O, the Opera Philadelphia Chorus has double duty, with 32 members singing in the whim-
sical Komische Oper Berlin production of The Magic Flute and 16 singing in the world premiere run of The Wake World, composed by David Hertzberg specifically to highlight their versatile talents. Before a polished performance takes the stage, though, it’s time to practice. For a repertory production, the chorus begins rehearsing music about five weeks before opening night. Throughout the process, in addition to running chorus rehearsals, Braden and assistant chorus master Emily May Sung also assist the conductor during orchestra rehearsals. (Since neither Braden or Sung could be in two places at once, O17 rehearsals required extra staff and lots of planning. “It’s one big puzzle,” Braden said.) For a new work, music rehearsals also begin about five weeks in advance. But unlike a repertory production, where the chorus may have performed the role before or have recordings handy to help with memorization, this music is brand new. Thus, they get their hands on the score as soon as possible to begin practicing. Luckily, many members of the final Wake World cast and chorus have been involved in “workshopping” the new opera.
Elizabeth Braden conducts a May workshop of The Wake World. Photograph by Aubrey Nagle.
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Members of the chorus in 2015's ANDY: A Popera. Photograph by Dominic M. Mercier.
During a workshop, singers and musicians gather with the “The choral part of it is very instrumental,” Miles said. “It’s creative team of a new work—in this case Hertzberg, dra- not traditional like a La bohème or Carmen chorus. There maturge Julia Bumke, and director R. B. Schlather—to play are not a lot of words for the chorus; there’s a lot of oohs the written music aloud and work through edits or chang- and aahs where we’re supporting the singers as an orcheses. Workshops provide the composer with a live canvas on tra does—which presents numerous challenges, the least of which to experiment with their piece and, for The Wake World, which is memorization. Without words, to memorize pages the opportunity to draw on the skills of the artists in the and pages of oohs and ahhs in a choral setting is interesting.” room. “It’s a great opportunity for them to show off,” Braden said. Chorister Veronica Chapman-Smith, who is also Opera Philadelphia’s Community Initiatives Administrator, has The Barnes Foundation serves as The Wake World’s unusual sung in new works like A Coffin in Egypt and ANDY: A Pop- setting, but unlike a traditionally staged opera, here the cast era in the past. She loved participating in workshops for The will move throughout the space and, at times, mingle with Wake World. the audience. “It’s been awesome. I’ve gotten to work with most of the mu- “Bringing the performance into the midst of the audience sic ahead of time and really live in [David Hertzberg’s] lan- is something that’s uncomfortable for both the performer guage. It really enriches the experience because you feel like and the audience,” Miles said, “but the take away from that you understand what he’s trying to say,” she said. can be so much more than just them sitting in a seat and us standing on a stage.” Chorister John David Miles, a ten-year vet of the Opera Philadelphia chorus who has sung in and workshopped new To pull off such a feat, both technically as artists and emoworks like ANDY and Breaking the Waves, agrees. tionally as co-workers, takes a special group. For Braden, building a team with the requisite chemistry has taken a “The involvement and use of the chorus for these new works keen ear and eye. and the workshops—I love the workshops—and the availability to do small roles once in a while, it’s just really been a “You always have people that can sing really well and have pleasure to be part of it,” he said. good stage presence, but it’s also for me been really important to find people that are really collaborative and get along “Where you see over the course of the three or four work- with everybody,” Braden said. shops how things get refined from one to the other, how things work and what doesn’t, and then to be involved in And, if The Wake World is any indication, Braden’s ideal chothe final product...Just to know that you own this little bit rus chemistry has come to fruition. of what’s going on is a very humbling and powerful thing to feel.” “We’re very supportive of each other. It’s really like my second family,” Chapman-Smith said. “It’s like working with brothNot only is the chorus heavily involved in The Wake World— ers and sisters. Sometimes we fight, but we always have each in addition to the ensemble and principal soloists Rihab other’s best interests at heart and defend each other to the Chaieb and Maeve Höglund, seven choristers take up in- bitter end...That’s the beauty of family.” dividual roles—but they’re also utilized in unorthodox ways.
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composer + director
D AV I D H E R T Z B E R G
R . B . S C H L AT H E R
composer/librettist
director
Los Angeles, California Opera Philadelphia debut
Cooperstown, New York Opera Philadelphia debut
Hailed as “opulently gifted” by Opera News and “utterly original” by The New York Times, the music of David Hertzberg (b. 1990) is swiftly garnering recognition.
Artist and opera director R. B. Schlather (b. 1986) is recognized for his innovations in the presentation of opera performance. His work is increasingly located in fine art spaces in dialogue with larger themes about opera production, process, and access. He has been described as “having a gift for drawing our vivid performances” (The New York Times), and an “ability to demolish the barriers of propriety and politeness that seem to plague much of traditional operatic experience” (Opera Today).
Hertzberg is Composer in Residence for Opera Philadelphia, a post he will hold through the end of the 2017–2018 season. Highlights of recent seasons have included the premieres of his Chamber Symphony with the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Sunday Morning with New York City Opera at Lincoln Center, alba and Daphne Unbound on the Concert Artists Guild series at Carnegie Hall, as well as performances of his orchestral works for none shall gaze upon the Father and live with the Kansas City Symphony and Spectre of the Spheres with the Pittsburgh Symphony, a selection of vocal and chamber works at the Kennedy Center, and a presentation of scenes from his one act chamber opera The Rose Elf on Opera Philadelphia’s Double Exposure program. Upcoming projects include a new work for cellist Jay Campbell and pianist Conor Hanick commissioned by the Fromm Foundation of Harvard University. Recent distinctions have come from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Tanglewood, Copland House, BMI, ASCAP, and Young Concert Artists, where he served as Composer in Residence from 2012–2015. Hertzberg began his musical studies in violin, piano, and composition at the Colburn School and received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees with distinction from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Samuel Adler. He holds an Artist Diploma from The Curtis Institute of Music. N E X T : Composer, New Commission for Cellist Jay Campbell and Pianist Conor Hanick, The Fromm Foundation
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Upcoming performances include the unique Virgil Thompson/Gertrude Stein collaboration The Mother of Us All at New York state’s oldest surviving theater at Hudson Hall. In the 2016–2017 season he made his debut with Wolf Trap Opera directing a double bill of Philip Glass’ The Juniper Tree and John Musto’s Bastianello. He also directed John Adams’ Doctor Atomic for Curtis Opera Theatre, and was an artist-in-residence at celebrated Williamsburg new music venue National Sawdust, staging Vasco Mendonca’s The House Taken Over, Philip Glass’ Madrigal Opera, and leading a workshop developing G. F. Handel’s Ariodante. His 2016 staging of David Lang’s Pulitzer Prize-winning the little match girl passion appeared at the Jack Shainman School Gallery in Kinderhook, New York. This performance was originally commissioned and produced by Miami-based art song and vocal chamber music series Illuminarts as a week-long installation at the Perez Art Museum Miami where “the piece came alive for artists and audience in ways that would have been impossible in a traditional proscenium theater” (Miami Herald). N E X T : Director, The Mother of Us All, Hudson Hall
the wake world
conductor + dramaturge
ELIZABETH BRADEN
JULIA BUMKE
conductor
dramaturge
Easton, Pennsylvania 2017 The Magic Flute 2016 Breaking the Waves 2016 Cold Mountain (partial listing)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Opera Philadelphia debut
Elizabeth Braden is in her fourteenth season as Chorus Master with Opera Philadelphia. During her tenure there, she has prepared the chorus for over 40 operas, including new works like Breaking the Waves, Oscar, and Silent Night, as well as traditional favorites like Aida, Carmen, La traviata, and La bohème. She makes her conducting debut with the company in David Herztberg’s The Wake World. She has also prepared the chorus for several productions with Curtis Opera Theatre, most recently a production of John Adams’ Doctor Atomic. Braden is also the Director of Music at Wallingford Presbyterian Church in Wallingford, Pennsylvania where she leads the choirs and music program. Highlights from Wallingford include conducting recent performances of the Requiems of Duruflé and Fauré, conducting an annual Messiah Sing, and leading past productions of Godspell and Amahl and the Night Visitors. Braden lives in Collingswood, New Jersey with her wife Denine and their son, Nate. N E X T : Director of Music, Messiah Sing, Wallingford Presbyterian Church
Julia Mauro Bumke is a Philadelphia-based dramaturg specializing in the development of new music theater and opera. Her recent projects include premieres and workshops with Opera Philadelphia, Music-Theatre Group, the American Repertory Theater, Lincoln Center Theater, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and the John Duffy Institute for New Opera, among others. Most recently, Bumke served as dramaturg for the premiere of Kristin Kuster and Megan Levad’s Kept (Virginia Arts Festival/M.T.G.). She was production dramaturg for the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin’s Crossing at the A.R.T., which was praised as “a taut, teeming and inspired work” by the The New York Times, and will be subsequently produced at Brooklyn Academy of Music and LA Opera this season. Bumke has served as a script evaluator for the O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference, the American Repertory Theater, and Williamstown Theater Festival, and is a current member of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas. She returned to the O’Neill this summer as a writing fellow in their National Critics Institute. Bumke received her M.F.A. in Dramaturgy and Theater Studies from the A.R.T.’s Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University; and her A.B. in History and Theater from Princeton University. As part of her graduate training, she completed an intensive residency at the Moscow Art Theatre, where she served as a literary consultant on MXT’s A Streetcar Named Desire, and wrote about Russian theatrical trends for several American publications N E X T : Dramaturge, Crossing, Brooklyn Academy of Music and L.A. Opera
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artists | the wake world
JESSICA BEEBE soprano luna/hecate
J A M E S O S B Y G WAT H N E Y, J R . bass giant/bone man/man in the azure coat/man of the blue house
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: Lila Cover, Cold Mountain, Opera Philadelphia; Soprano Soloist, Coronation Mass, New York City Chamber Orchestra; Barbarina, Le nozze di Figaro, The Princeton Opera Festival
Opera Philadelphia debut
N E X T: Dalila, Samson, Delaware ChoralArts RIHAB CHAIEB mezzo-soprano the fairy prince
Opera Philadelphia debut
N E X T: Sandman, Hansel and Gretel, The Metropolitan Opera
O lympia, Washington
Opera Philadelphia debut
JAX MESSENGER lighting designer
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 2016 Turandot 2015 ANDY: A Popera 2012 Manon Lescaut (partial listing)
Erie, Pennsylvania
2013 Nabucco
N E X T: Soprano Soloist, Magnificat, Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival
J O H N D AV I D M I L E S bass-baritone pestillitas
W ilmington, Delaware
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R E C E N T: Hansel, Hansel and Gretel, Children’s Opera Box; Alto Soloist, Elijah, Ursinus College; Alto Soloist, Petite Messe Sollenelle, Drexel University N E X T: Chorus, Carmen, Opera Philadelphia
R E C E N T: Lighting Designer, Adam H. Weinert’s Monument, Hudson Hall; Lighting Designer, Das Rheingold, North Carolina Opera; Lighting Designer, In the Penal Colony, Boston Lyric Opera N E X T: Lighting Designer, The Mother of Us All, Hudson Hall
J O A N N A G AT E S a l t o leucosia
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: Arminda, The Secret Gardener, On Site Opera and Atlanta Opera; Margaret Hughes, Prince of Players, The Little Opera Theatre of NY; Musetta, La bohème, The Charleston Opera N E X T: Susanna, The Marriage of Figaro, Michigan Opera Theatre
VERONICA CHAPMAN-SMITH soprano ligeia
R E C E N T: Candy’s Inside/Ensemble, ANDY: A Popera, Seattle Symphony; Princess X, Color Me Bearded, The Bearded Ladies; Lily, Porgy and Bess, Lyric Opera of Chicago
R E C E N T: Chorus, Breaking the Waves, Opera Philadelphia and PROTOTYPE Festival; Marilyn/Brillo/Andy, ANDY: A Popera, Opera Philadelphia and The Bearded Ladies Cabaret MAEVE HÖGLUND soprano lola
Montreal, Canada R E C E N T: Flora, La traviata, Glyndebourne Festival; Cretan Mezzo, Idomeneo, The Metropolitan Opera; Zulma, L’Italiana in Algeri, The Metropolitan Opera
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Omaha, Nebraska
2017 Tancredi 2015 La traviata 2015 Oscar (partial listing)
R E C E N T: Andy (Bass), ANDY: A Popera, Seattle Symphony; Sadistic Sailor, Breaking the Waves, Opera Philadelphia; Thomas, Cold Mountain, Opera Philadelphia N E X T: Elijah, Elijah, The Philadelphia Chorus
REBECCA MYERS soprano parthenope
Francesca Zambello, Artistic Director
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: Soprano Soloist, Thomas Lloyd: Bonhoeffer, Albany Records; Founding Ensemble Member, Variant Six; Chorus Member/Soloist, The Crossing N E X T: Guest Artist, Lyric Fest
Point Pleasant, New Jersey R E C E N T: Trin, La fanciulla del West, Des Moines Metro Opera; Spoletta, Tosca,
2016 Breaking the Waves Sarasota Opera; First Armored Man, Die 2016 Turandot Zauberflöte, Opera Saratoga 2015 La traviata (partial listing)
Aida, Photo by Cory Weaver
GEORGE ROSS SOMERVILLE tenor morbus
N E X T: Obadiah/Tenor Soloist, Elijah, Doylestown Presbyterian Church
T E R E S E WA D D E N costume designer Brooklyn, New York
Opera Philadelphia debut
R E C E N T: Costume Designer, Farnace, Spoleto Festival; Costume Designer, Doctor Atomic, Curtis Opera Theatre; Costume Designer, In The Penal Colony, Boston Lyric Opera N E X T: Costume Designer, Acquanetta, PROTOTYPE Festival D AV I D Z I M M E R M A N wig/make-up designer Mt. Pleasant, Texas
2017 The Marriage of Figaro 2016 Cold Mountain 2015 Charlie Parker’s YARDBIRD (partial listing)
R E C E N T: Wig/Make-up Designer, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, Santa Fe Opera; Wig/Make-up Designer, Dinner at Eight, Minnesota Opera; Wig/Make-up Designer, The Shining, Minnesota Opera N E X T: Wig/Make-up Designer, Don Pasquale, Minnesota Opera
2017–2018 SEASON
Aida Alcina Don Carlo The Barber of Seville Candide kennedy-center.org/wno Major support for WNO is provided by Jacqueline Badger Mars. David and Alice Rubenstein are the Presenting Underwriters of WNO. WNO acknowledges the longstanding generosity of Life Chairman Mrs. Eugene B. Casey. WNO’s Presenting Sponsor
the wake world
orchestra Violin
Meichen Liao Barnes, Concertmaster
French Horn
Karen Schubert
Trumpet
Robert Skoniczin
Piano/Keyboards
Grant Loehnig
Percussion
Ted Babcock
ar tistic + production Principal Pianist
Grant Loehnig
Supplementary Pianist
Renate Rohlfing
Diction Coach
Lynn Baker
Production Supervisor
Derek Hachkowski
Properties Supervisor
Avista Custom Theatrical Services
Supertitles Author
Julia Bumke
Supertitles Operator
Tony Solitro
Assistant Chorus Master
Emily May Sung
Assistant Stage Manager
Bee Reed
Costume Coordinator/ Assistant to Designer
Asaki Kuruma
Wardrobe Supervisor
Bridget Beauchamp
Drapers
Mark Mariani, Julie Watson
Stitchers
Laura Seeley, IATSE Local 799
Wig/Make-up Assistant
Amanda Clark
Head Carpenter/Props
Paul Hewitt
covers + super
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Lola
Ashley Milanese
The Fairy Prince
Siena Miller
Parthenope
Julie Bishop
Ligeia
Marissa Chalker
Leucosia
Kaitlyn Tierney
Luna/Hecate
Julie Bishop
Morbus
Steven Williamson
Pestilitas
Jackson Williams
Giant/Bone Man/ Man in the Azure Coat/ Man of the Blue House
Daniel Schwartz
Lilith/Super
Hanna Gaffney
“The go-to summer festival for audience members seeking interesting, varied repertory…” – Chicago Tribune
“No US company has shown more leadership in the development of the art form.” – Denver Post
2018 FESTIVAL SEASON MAY 19 – JUNE 24 LA TRAVIATA Giuseppe Verdi
REGINA Marc Blitzstein
Featuring the directing debut of Patricia Racette
Featuring Susan Graham and James Morris
AN AMERICAN SOLDIER Huang Ruo & David Henry Hwang World Premiere of the New Two-Act Opera
ORFEO & EURIDICE Christoph Willibald Gluck
CENTER STAGE
Featuring Jennifer Johnson Cano and Andriana Chuchman
Convenient Weekender Packages Available. ExperienceOpera.org/Weekender | (314) 961-0644 All performances sung in English and accompanied by members of the St. Louis Symphony.
A Young Artist Showcase
SO N D R A
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Opera Philadelphia
IN RE CITAL
F E ST I VA L ART I ST
Sunday, September 17, 2017 Perelman Theater 2:30 p.m.
MAS TE R CL ASS Featuring
Opera Philadelphia Emerging Artists
Monday, September 18, 2017 Perelman Theater 2:30 p.m. Recital Collaborative Pianist ANT HO NY MAN O LI Master Class Collaborative Pianist GR ANT LO EHNI G Stage Manager SAR A P R I N C E
EM ERG I N G A R T I S T S Baritone J O HN AT HAN MC C U LLO U GH Soprano ASHLEY MI L ANESE Mezzo-soprano AN AS TASI I A SI DO ROVA
The Perelman Theater is part of the Kimmel Center for Performing Arts
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Season opens September 25
Photo: Paola Kudacki/Metropolitan Opera
THE VOICE MUST BE HEARD
Don’t miss the excitement of the 2017–18 season, opening September 25 with Sondra Radvanovsky in the title role of Bellini’s Norma—the first of five gripping new productions. Tickets start at $25 metopera.org 212.362.6000
So n dr a Rad va novsky In Recital S U N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 7 , 2 0 1 7
Sposa son disprezzata from Bajazet
Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741)
Per pietà, bell'idol mio La Ricordanza Ma rendi pur contento
Vincenzo Bellini (1801–1835)
Allerseelen, Opus 10, No. 8 Befreit, Opus 39, No. 4 Morgen!, Opus 27, No. 4 Heimliche Aufforderung, Opus 27, No. 3
Richard Strauss (1864–1949)
INTERMISSION
S'il est un charmant gazon, S. 284 Enfant, si j'étais roi, S. 283 Oh! quand je dors, S. 282
Franz Lizst (1811–1886)
At Saint Patrick's Purgatory St. Ita's Vision The Crucifixion The Monk and His Cat The Desire for Hermitage from Hermit Songs
Samuel Barber (1910–1981)
La mamma morta from Andrea Chénier
Umberto Giordano (1867–1948)
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sondra radvanovsky in recital
Sondra Radvanovsky
Anthony V. Manoli
s o p ra n o
c olla b or a t i ve p i a n i st
Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky is a globally celebrated artist. The depth and exquisite color of her voice are matched by her dramatic acting ability and versatility across a remarkable range of repertoire. She is widely regarded as one of the premiere Verdi sopranos alive today, as well as one of the premiere interpreters of bel canto. This season, Radvanovsky strengthens her claim to be—as critics have called her—the Norma of her generation. She opens The Metropolitan Opera's season with a new production of the Bellini masterpiece. This reunites her with Sir David McVicar, who directed her as Donizetti's “three queens,” the leading soprano parts in his Tudor dramas, two seasons ago. In 2015-2016, in a feat never before undertaken by any singer in Met history, Radvanovsky sang the title roles in Anna Bolena and Maria Stuarda and the role of Queen Elizabeth in Roberto Devereux. The triple crown showcased her acting abilities and her vocal finesse in vastly different parts. The New York Times described her conquest of Queen Elizabeth as “an emotionally vulnerable and vocally daring performance, a milestone in the career of an essential artist.” In 2017-2018 Radvanovsky returns to some of her beloved Verdi parts, as
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Amelia in Un ballo in maschera and Leonora in Il trovatore, both at the Paris Opera. At the Liceu Opera Barcelona, she makes two role debuts: as Paolina in Donizetti's Poliuto and as Maddalena in Giordano's Andrea Chénier, opposite Jonas Kaufman. Other season highlights include recitals at Opera Philadelphia and the Grand Théâtre de Québec, and Anna Bolena at the Canadian Opera Company. She has performed in every major opera house in the world, including the Royal Opera House, Teatro alla Scala, Opernhaus Zürich, and numerous others. She trained at The Metropolitan Opera in the late 1990s in the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. After performances in smaller roles there, Radvanovsky caught the attention of critics as Antonia in Les Contes d'Hoffmann and was singled out as a soprano to watch. Her recordings include Verdi Arias and an album of Verdi opera scenes with Dmitri Hvorostovsky. She also stars in a Naxos DVD of Cyrano de Bergerac alongside Plácido Domingo, and in transmissions of Il trovatore, Un ballo in maschera, and Roberto Devereux for the wildly popular “Met: Live in HD” series.
Pianist and coach Anthony V. Manoli has worked with some of the leading opera companies throughout the world including the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Opera Lausanne, and L’Opéra Du Rhin as assistant conductor and coach. In addition, the Spoleto Festival in both Italy and the United States, The LA Opera, The Washington National Opera, Opera New England, Lake George Opera Festival, and L’Opera Francais de New York have engaged him as both conductor and pianist/coach. He is summer faculty for Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Young Dramatic Voice and the Miami Summer Music Festival. Manoli was a Fellowship coach at the Tanglewood Festival and has given master classes in London, France for the Foundation Royaumont, Denver Opera, the USC School of Music, and more recently at the SIVAM Institute in Mexico City. He received his musical training at the New England Conservatory of Music and the Juilliard School where he was a staff member. He is a faculty member of the Mannes College of Music in New York City where he lives and maintains an active coaching studio.
THE STANDARD IN ULTRA-LUXURY LIVING HAS BEEN RAISED AGAIN. Model Premieres This Fall. 215.574.0500 | 500WALNUT.NET
master class
Master Class Monday, September 18 2:30 p.m. Meet Opera P hila d e lp h i a ’s Emerging Ar t ist s The Opera Philadelphia stage has a history as a welcoming environment where rising vocal talents are nurtured. The Emerging Artists Program returns in 2017–2018 with a crop of six burgeoning talents—including three returning artists and three new to the program—who will engage with Opera Philadelphia onstage, appearing in at least one production, while also singing in community recitals and special events. Discover the Emerging Artists who will join the Master Class with Sondra Radvanovsky below, then visit operaphila.org/emergingartists to meet the entire class of 2017–2018! Baritone Johnathan McCullough
Soprano Ashley Milanese
Baritone Johnathan McCullough, from Los Angeles, California, recently completed his graduate studies in the opera program at the Curtis Institute of Music. During the 2016–2017 Season, he sang the role of The Mandarin in Turandot and covered the role of Jan Nyman in Breaking the Waves. This season, he will sing the roles of Mr. Greatorex, George Gissing, and Etcher in Elizabeth Cree, and Moralès in Carmen. Soprano Ashley Milanese, from New Orleans, recently completed her graduate studies in the opera program at the Curtis Institute of Music, and has previously studied at The Juilliard School. During the 2016–2017 Season, she sang Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro and covered the role of Bess McNeil in Breaking the Waves. This season she will sing the role of First Lady in The Magic Flute. Mezzo-soprano Anastasiia Sidorova, from St. Petersburg, Russia, is currently studying in the voice program at the Curtis Institute of Music. During the 2016–2017 Season, she sang Roggiero in Tancredi and covered the role of Dodo McNeil in Breaking the Waves. This season, she will sing the roles of Third Lady in The Magic Flute and Mercédès in Carmen.
For more information on underwriting one of these talented young singers,
Mezzo-soprano Anastasiia Sidorova
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contact Anna Penchuk, Major Gifts Manager, at 215.893.5944 or penchuk@operaphila.org.
master class
Grant Loehnig c o l labo rat iv e pi a n i st Grant Loehnig, opera administrator and vocal coach, is Head of Music Staff at Opera Philadelphia and Wolf Trap Opera, where he is additionally Music Director of the Studio young artist program. He has worked regularly as music staff at Lyric Opera of Chicago and Opera Philadelphia, and currently serves on the faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music.
Collaborative Pianist Grant Loehnig
As a recital pianist, Loehnig has collaborated with artists including Susanne Mentzer, Morris Robinson, Albina Shagimuratova, Paul Groves, and Marcus DeLoach. His premiere recording of songs of Carlisle Floyd with Susanne Mentzer was recently released by GPR Records. He has also prepared choruses for the Houston Symphony and Wolf Trap Opera, where Opera News praised his “finely honed, spirited chorus.” Loehnig holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a Masters of Music degree in vocal accompanying from Manhattan School of Music. He is a graduate of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Music Academy of the West, and San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program. Before joining the Curtis faculty, Loehnig served on the Opera Studies faculty at Rice University in Houston.
Celebrating 25 years of the Astral National Auditions.
OCTOBER 11-15, 2017: ear-opening chamber and orchestra performances, including rediscoveries, a mixed-discipline talk-show, and pop-up events in gardens, pubs, museums and boats across Philadelphia. FOR TICKETS AND MORE INFORMATION:
TEMPESTADIMARE.ORG
We applaud the careers of our notable Voice category winners: Eric Owens, 1994 Karen Slack, 2001 Meredith Arwady, 2002 Angela Meade, 2007 Jonathan Beyer, 2009 Sarah Shafer, 2014 Chrystal E. Williams, 2014
215-755-8776
Major support for Telemann 360° provided by:
Astral is an early career incubator that fosters ingenuity in rising-star classical musicians in instrumental and voice disciplines. Astral is a nonprofit, registered charitable organization. AstralArtists.org / 215.735.6999
SATU RDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2017 INDEPENDEN CE N ATION AL HIS TORIC AL PARK
MOZART
6:00 P.M. PRE-SHOW 7:00 P.M. BROADC AS T
TH E M A R
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Opera Philadelphia
C R E AT I V E Music WO LF GAN G AMADEU S MO Z AR T Libretto LO R ENZ O DA P O NT E Conductor C O R R ADO ROVAR I S Director S T EP HEN L AWLESS Set/Costume Design LESLI E T R AV ER S * Lighting Design T HO MAS HASE Wig/Make-up Design DAV I D Z I MMER MAN Chorus Master ELI Z ABET H BR ADEN Assistant Director/Choreographer
ER I C SEAN FO GEL*
Stage Manager DI ANE LI N* Broadcast Director BRU C E BRYANT Broadcast Assistant Director MELO DY WO N G CAST
Count Almaviva J O HN C HES T * Countess Almaviva L AYL A C L AI R E* Figaro BR ANDO N C EDEL Susanna YI N G FAN G* Cherubino C EC ELI A HALL Bartolo PAT R I C K C AR F I Z Z I * Marcellina LU C Y SC HAU F ER Don Basillo/Don Curzio JASO N F ER R ANT E* Barbarina ASHLEY MI L ANESE* Antonio T HO MAS SHI VO NE Bridesmaids MAR EN MO NTALBAN O AMY SP EN C ER
*Opera Philadelphia debut
Production underwritten, in part, by Judy and Peter Leone. Additional support provided by Ellen Berman Lee. MEDIA PARTNERS
New co-production with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, San Diego Opera, and Palm Beach Opera. Support for Opera on the Mall: The Marriage of Figaro has been provided by PNC Arts Alive!
R R I AG E
R E GI S TER F OR FREE T IC K ETS AT O PER AO NTH EMAL L . O RG 101
thank you Opera is a group effort.
foundation making a grant to
Composer, librettist, conductor,
an individual writing a personal
singers, orchestra, chorus,
check, makes it possible for us to
designers, director, stage crew—
present operatic masterpieces.
every single person involved is
Thank you for being an
crucial to bringing opera to the
essential member of the Opera
stage, in all of its splendor. You
Philadelphia creative community.
are a member of that group, too. Each donor, from a large
We couldn’t do it without you.
Marita Altman Vice President of Development 215.893.5906 altman@operaphila.org Clockwise from top: David A. Dubbeldam, Chairman’s Council Member Donna Wechsler, General Director’s Council Member Timothy Moir, Patron Program member Kelley Reilly, Stephen Somkuti, and Chairman’s Council member Ady Djerassi. Mezzosoprano Stephanie Blythe with her underwriter, Chairman’s Council member Agnes Mulroney. Dorothy Hanrahan and Alex Kaplan with Chairman’s Council members Katherine and Drew Christiano. Leadership Circle members Peter Leone, Heidi Kolberg, and Joshua Barnett. J. Donald Dumpson and Valerie Gay. Photographs in this section by HughE Dillon, Ashley Magitz, J. R. Blackwell Photography, Dominic M. Mercier, and Sof ia Negron.
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For more information, contact Rachel McCausland, Director of Philanthropic Engagement, at 215.893.5909 or mccausland@operaphila.org.
Leadership Giving Opera Philadelphia’s Leadership Circle and Chairman’s Council are comprised of passionate philanthropists committed to ensuring that the future of opera is right here in Philadelphia. Their collective generosity underwrites more than half of Opera Philadelphia’s artistic expenses each season, including productions in the Academy of Music, internationallylauded chamber opera at the Perelman Theater, site-specific work, Opera on the Mall, and our award-winning programs for children. Clockwise from top left: Leadership Circle members Sandra K. Baldino and Peter Leone. Soprano Christine Goerke with Leadership Circle member Barbara Augusta Teichert. Leadership Circle members Gene and Jean Stark with Breaking the Waves composer Missy Mazzoli. Chairman Daniel K. Meyer, M.D. with Maria and Jack Trafton. Chairman’s Council Members Hal Marryatt and John Alchin with General Director & President David B. Devan.
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Leadership Support + Major Gifts P ET E R L E ON E INS T I T U T I ON AL A DVA N CE M E NT C HA I R
Opera Philadelphia gratefully acknowledges the following individuals and institutions who have made significant contributions to Opera Philadelphia.
L EA D E R SH I P C I RCLE $ 1,000,000+
Mrs. Sandra K. Baldino Judy and Peter Leone John S. and James L. Knight Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation The Pew Charitable Trusts Barbara Augusta Teichert The Wallace Foundation William Penn Foundation Wyncote Foundation
$ 5 0 0 ,000+
Judith Durkin Freyer and Charles C. Freyer The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Neubauer Family Foundation Jean and Gene Stark
$ 10 0 ,000+
Mr. and Mrs. Frederick P. Huff Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation Dr. Heidi L. Kolberg and Dr. F. Joshua Barnett Gabriele Lee The Lenfest Foundation Mr. Thomas Mahoney The Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation OPERA America Carolyn Horn Seidle Alice and Walter Strine, Esqs. Charlotte and Bob Watts
C HAI R MAN’S C O U N C I L $50,000+
Mr. John R. Alchin and Mr. Hal Marryatt Mr. Peter A. Benoliel and Ms. Willo Carey Ady L. Djerassi, M.D., and Robert Golub, M.D. Allen R. and Judy Brick Freedman Independence Foundation Donald and Gay Kimelman Mr. William A. Loeb Mrs. John P. Mulroney Pennsylvania Council on the Arts PNC The Presser Foundation Scott F. Richard and Mamie Duff
$25,000+
Drs. Renato and Beverly Baserga Beth and Gary Glynn Katherine and Drew Christiano The Dorrance H. Hamilton Charitable Lead Trust Hamilton Family Foundation Mark and Helene Hankin Family Ms. Caroline J. MacKenzie Kennedy Jacqueline Badger Mars Mazzotti/Kelly Fund-BBH of The Philadelphia Foundation The McLean Contributionship National Endowment for the Arts William R. Stensrud and Suzanne E. Vaucher Mr. Jonathan H. Sprogell and Ms. Kathryn Taylor Wells Fargo Ann Ziff
List as of August 2017 10 5
General Director’s Council Members of the General Director’s
through private dinners with artists,
Council play a pivotal role in
cast parties, dress rehearsals, and
the future of Opera Philadelphia.
exclusive opportunities to hear
Council members may align their
from leadership about Opera
support with areas of special
Philadelphia’s vibrant future plans.
interest, such as sponsoring Emerging Artists, supporting
General Director’s Council
community programming that
membership begins with an annual
furthers arts education, or funding
gift of $10,000. We invite you to
Opera Philadelphia’s innovative
become an essential member of
new works.
Opera Philadelphia’s donor family by joining the Council today!
Members enjoy an enhanced connection to the art on our stages
For more information, contact Rebecca Ackerman, Director of Individual Giving and Advancement Services, at 215.893.5904 or ackerman@operaphila.org.
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D O N C OONE Y C H A I R
PL AT I N U M $15,000+
Anonymous BNY Mellon Wealth Management Constance and Michael Cone Eugene Garfield Foundation Linda and David Glickstein Nancy and Al Hirsig Mrs. Sheila Kessler The Samuel P. Mandell Foundation Constance C. Moore Kenneth Swimm David and Susan Rattner Dr. Renée Rollin Dr. and Mrs. Andrew Wechsler Wells Fargo Private Bank
DI AMO ND $10,000+
Anonymous Lorraine and Ben Alexander Myron and Sheila S. Bassman Sarah Billinghurst and Howard Solomon Ira Brind and Stacey Spector Dianne and Don Cooney David B. Devan and David A. Dubbeldam Ellen Berman Lee William Lake Leonard, Esq. The Estate of Renee T. Levin Philadelphia Cultural Fund Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rollins Mr. and Mrs. Steve Sheller Robert V. Taglieri and Timothy J. Moir
List as of August 2017
Left to right: General Director’s Council member Judith Brick Freedman with General Director & President David B. Devan and Artistic Advisor Lawrence Brownlee (photograph by HughE Dillon). Phil Le with Chairman’s Council member Drew Christiano. Chairman’s Council members William R. Stensrud and Suzanne Vaucher with Chairman Daniel K. Meyer, M.D. General Director’s Council member Renée Rollin, with 2015–2016 Emerging Artist Andrew Bogard.
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Official Sponsor, Patron Program
Patron Program The Patron Program is comprised of committed opera enthusiasts whose collective generosity provides vital support for Opera Philadelphia’s productions and community programs. Patrons enjoy access to VIP benefits in the opera house including champagne intermission receptions and a VIP coat check, as well as invitations to exclusive social events throughout the season and priority ticketing services. Join this passionate group of opera lovers with a gift of $2,500 or more today!
For more information, contact Rebecca Ackerman, Director of Individual Giving and Advancement Services, at 215.893.5904 or ackerman@operaphila.org.
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Top to bottom: Patron Program member and composer Jennifer Higdon with Chairman’s Council Member Allen Freedman at a reception for Cold Mountain. Member Benjamin Minick with 2014–2015 Emerging Artist Sarah Shafer.
D O N N A WEC HS LE R C H A I R
GOL D $7,500+
Anonymous Drs. Jean and Robert Belasco In honor of Joseph G. Leone Tom and Jody O’Rourke Suzanne and Robert Welsh Ethel Benson Wister
S I LV E R $5,000+
Anonymous Aaron Copland Fund for Music James and Nancy Abbott Mrs. Carolyn Aller Alpin J. and Alpin W. Cameron Memorial Fund Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bergen Mr. and Mrs. Julian A. Brodsky Robert Bryan and Julie J. Bryan Madeleine and James Carlson The CHG Charitable Trust Mrs. Alma Cohen In memory of Sylvan M. Cohen Joseph Cunningham and Bruce Barnes Deluxe Corporation Foundation Estate of Joanne Fidler Pauline Gray and Edward Barnard Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence O. Houstoun Jeffrey R. Jowett Joel and Sharon Koppelman Morgan Stanley Foundation Dr. Stanley Muravchick and Ms. Arlene Olson Mr. and Mrs. R. Anderson Pew Dr. and Mrs. Joel Porter Anna K. Reimann Bud and Betty Shapiro Drs. Richard and Rhonda Soricelli Mr. and Mrs. James B. Straw Mr. Jay H. Tolson Mr. Robert Zimet Mr. and Mrs.† Thomas E. Wiener Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Williams Drs. Anne and Jim Williamson
B RON ZE $2,500+
Anonymous (2) Drs. Ronald D. and Marcia Abraham Mr. John Aglialoro and Ms. Joan Carter Mr. and Mrs. Paul Anderson Mark Baker Mrs. Joanne Berwind Mr. Allen D. Black and Mr. Randolph Apgar Dr. Lamberto and Barbara Donnelly Bentivoglio Dr. Claire Boasi Beaty Bock and Jonathan Miller
Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Bohn Mr. Michael Bolton and Mr. Peter Keleher Dr. Luther W. Brady Mr. Michael F. Cade and Mr. Mayron Lizardo Lopez Ruiz William B. Carey Drs. Judith and Jeffrey Carpenter Joan and Frederick Cohen Dr. and Mrs. Frank Craparo Dr. Richard Davidson Mark Duckett and Stan Gaddy Drs. Bruce and Toby Eisenstein Mr. and Mrs. Joseph P. Fanelli, Jr. Mr. Arthur F. Ferguson Jim and Kay Gately Dr. Stanley Goldfarb Joan and William Goldstein Mr. and Mrs. William A. Graham, IV Ms. Carolyn L. Green and Mr. Michael T. Blakeney Dr. and Mrs. Henry J. Greenwood and Ms. Marilyn Greenwood David and Ann Harrison, Esqs. Dr. and Mrs. Leonid Hrebien Bruce and Robin Herndon Ms. Rhoda K. Herrold Dr. and Mrs. Peter M. Joseph Mr. Matthew Karstetter and Ms. Ellen Rosenberg Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Lans Maribeth and Steven Lerner Fran and Leon L. Levy Liddy and John Lindsay Dr. and Mrs. Michael B. Love Harriet and Shelly Margolis Andrew J. Martin-Weber Mr. and Mrs. Norman McCausland Leonard Mellman and Deborah Glass Ms. Evalind Minor Denise and Volker Oakey Kelley S. Reilly Dr. David J. Richards Anna C. O’Riordan, M.D. Mr. David Sacker and Ms. Darcy Hayes Mr. and Mrs. Curtis E. Sawyer Katie Adams Schaeffer and Tony Schaeffer Drs. Daniel Schidlow and Sally Rosen Joyce Seewald Sando Dr. Laura Stanton and Kim Tomlinson Dr. and Mrs. Richard N. Taxin The Rev. & Mrs. Richard L. Ullman Laurie Wagman In memory of Irvin J. Borowsky Carol A. Westfall Dr. Leah Whipple List as of August 2017 †
Deceased
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Photograph by Nicholas Korkos
Memberships start at
Membership
$100
Even when every seat in the house sells out, this dazzling blend of theatrical, orchestral, and vocal splendor requires considerable philanthropic support from within our community. Play an active role in bringing great opera to Philadelphia while enjoying exclusive benefits that enhance your opera experience when you make a membership gift of $100 or more. M E M B E R S E NJOY:
Early access and savings on ticket purchases Invitations to member-only recitals and lectures Behind-the-scenes events like dress rehearsals and backstage tours And much more!
For more information, visit our information desk in the lobby, contact Guest Services at 215.732.8400 or membership@operaphila.org.
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PAR T N E R S $ 1,0 0 0+
Brian and Max Baker Mr. Richard F. Baruch and Mrs. Clark Hooper Anonymous (2) Mr. and Mrs. Marc E. Batt Lydia Alvarez Mr. John Beck In memory of Isabelle Ferguson Drs. Deidre and Michael Blank Ms. Susan Asplundh Dr. and Mrs. Joseph Bohen Mr. and Mrs. Richard A. Bazelon Mr. Will Sears Bricker, II Mrs. Elaine Camarda Lynn and Jerri Burket Louis N. Cassett Foundation Paula C. Burns Mr. Yuming A. Chiu David and Jennifer Cardy Mr. Mark Cornish Dr. and Mrs. Albert S. Chinappi, Jr. Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation Mr. Yuming A. Chiu Mr. Andrew R. Gelber Dr. and Mrs. Michael Conrad In memory of Sylvia Gelber Mr. Peter Cressman Mr. and Mrs. W.D. Gillen, Jr. Mark and Peggy Curchack Ms. Phyllis S. Gitlin Mr. and Mrs. Claude DeBotton Ms. Barbara A. Graul Mr. and Mrs. George T. Craven, Jr. Mr. Donald A. Hamme, III and Mr. and Mrs. Mark S. Dichter Dr. Christina Gregory Lois and John Durso Hellendall Family Foundation Drs. Christina L. and Richard J. Herring Mr. Dave Eder Ms. Carol S. Eicher Cheryl Lawson and Jennifer Higdon Mr. William Eisen Dr. Richard B. Kent Mr. John H. Erickson and Anne and Wynn Lee Mr. Harry I. Zaleznik Mr. and Mrs. David Levy Mr. Daniel Ludwig and Ms. Anne Leone Thomas Faracco Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Fiorenza Christian R. and Mr. and Mrs. Henry Foehl Mary F. Lindback Foundation Helen H. Ford Mackie and Charlotte MacLean Deborah E. Glass Dr. and Mrs. Larry Mapow Mr. and Mrs. Ronald S. Gross Jeremiah and Leslie Marks Ms. Cheryl Gunter and Mr. Paul A. Rabe Edward and Roberta Martin Mr. Arthur Gutzler Dwight and Christina McCawley Mr. and Mrs. John B. Hagner Mr. and Mrs. H.G. McDonald Luke Halinski Mr. and Mrs. George Morris Mr. Thomas A. Hamilton, III Ms. Susan F. Morris Mr. Paul S. Harris Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin R. Neilson Mr. Timothy Harris Dr. and Mrs. A. H. Nishikawa Charles Head, Jr. and John Faggotti Mr. and Mrs. Mario Palumbi Mr. and Mrs. Dale Heist Mr. and Mrs. Bert Redgrave Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Helverson Susan and Paul Shaman Dr. Mark Hemling and Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Smith Mr. John Marazzo The Stainrook Foundation Ms. M.C. Hemsley Dr. Josephine Joan Templeton Ms. Susan Henry Dr. and Mrs. Rocco P. Triolo Terry and Paul Hirshorn Mr. Peter Wender Mr. Ken Hutchins Ms. Laura A. Williamson Dr. E. Gardner Jacobs Ana-Maria Zaugg and David Anstice Laura and Bernard Jacobson Dr. and Mrs. William Jantsch SUS TAI N E R S Marjorie and Joel Jensen $5 0 0 + Ronald Mack Joseph Anonymous (2) Mr. Robert E. Keppler and Mrs. Barbara Abrahams Mr. Edward Feldman Mr. and Mrs. Ronald M. Agulnick Stephen Klasko and Colleen Wyse Sarah Alderfer Dr. and Mrs. Richard P. Kluft Mrs. Mary Asplundh Mr. Michael Knight Asplundh Foundation Dr. Alfred Knudson and Eileen Baird Dr. Anna Meadows
Dr. Judith M. LaLonde and Mr. Peter V. Bodine Lucinda and Charles Landreth Dr. and Mrs. J. Frederick Laucius Mr. Joseph J. Leube, Jr. Mr. Stanley Levy Mr. Ryan Lewis Dr. Thomas S. Lin Ann Csink and John Linck Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Lukens Dr. Colin F. MacKay Dr. Joel Marmar and Ms. Alexis Berg Marmar, Esq. Mr. John Mastrobattista Drs. Joseph and Jane McGowan Mr. Donald McPhail Mr. Robert J. McShea, Jr. and Mr. Bill Ward In memory of Mr. Ray DiSandro Mr. and Mrs. William Mueller Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Munson Giang Nguyen and Sean Healy Ms. Katherine L. Niven Dr. and Mrs. Mark Pello Dr. and Mrs. William P. Potsic Catherine M. Raué Drs. William C. and Susan H. Regli Ms. Barbara Rice and Ms. Tina Phipps Mr. Philmore Robertson Dr. Joel Rosenbloom Mr. and Mrs. Daniel R. Ross Mr. Peter J. Ryker Mr. Stephen M. Sader The Reverend Dr. Alan K. Salmon P. Layton Sanders Jr. Dr. Margot Savoy Anne Faulkner Schoemaker Dr. and Mrs. Robert Sharrar Ms. Susan E. Sherman Ms. Anna Simonova Mr. James L. Smith Ms. Kathleen Stephenson and Mr. James E. Colberg Ms. Corinne R. Stone Mr. and Mrs. Edward L. Thomas Mrs. Catherine M. Raué Anthony and Elizabeth Vale Ms. Elisabeth Lynne Van Buskirk Stephanie and Fernando van Reigersberg Mr. John Ventura Dr. Steven and Janet Weinberger Ms. Barbara Westergaard Nancy Brent Wingo Mrs. Joan P. Wohl Mr. and Mrs. Peter T. Zenner Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Zuritsky List as of August 2017 111
Photograph by George Widman
Encore Society If the Opera has played a significant role in your life, we invite you to pay it forward to future generations by including Opera Philadelphia in your estate plans. Opera Philadelphia’s Encore Society acknowledges the generosity of the following individuals who have included the company in their estate plans as an important commitment to the future of opera in Philadelphia.
To join or to receive more information, go to operaphila.org/encore or contact Mark Nestlehutt, Director of Planned Giving, at 215.893.5905 or nestlehutt@operaphila.org.
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Official Sponsor, Encore Society
Anonymous (6) Lorraine and Ben Alexander Mr. Kenneth H. Barr Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bergen Ms. Jane A. Berryman Dr. Claire Boasi Constance G. Burton† Dr.† and Mrs. Elaine Cassalia Mr. Lloyd Christy Dr. Maria Elisa Ciavarelli† Dianne and Don Cooney Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Covello Ms. Ginny L. Coyle Dr. Kenneth R. Cundy† Ms. Virginia Del Sordo† Mr. Robert Devoe Mr. and Mrs. Joseph P. Fanelli, Jr. Ms. Joanne D. Fidler† Ms. Harriet Forman† Judith and Charles Freyer Ms. Sylvia Green† Mr. Timothy V. Gardocki Dr. Mark H. Haller† Mrs. Gail Hauptfuhrer Mr. Stephen T. Janick Mrs. Sheila Kessler Dr. Thomas Knadig Mr. Michael Knight Mr. Tom LaPorta Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest Mrs. Renée T. Levin† Mr. William A. Loeb Eugene C. Menegon† Mrs. Lois Meyers Mrs. Ellen Cole Miller† Ms. Constance C. Moore Mr. William Reily† Dr. Scott F. Richard Mr. Laurence T. Robbins† Dr. Renée Rollin Jeffrey and Kendell Saunders Mr. and Mrs. Morton F. Steelman† Ms. Lee Steinberg Mrs. Charlotte Watts Dr. and Mrs. Andrew Wechsler Ester C. Weil† Mr. George P. White† Drs. James and Anne Williamson †
Deceased
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Corporate Council The Corporate Council generously supports Opera Philadelphia’s artistic and educational programming through contributions and in-kind donations.
2017–2018 Season Sponsors
Official Sponsor, Patron Program
Official Hotel
Brand Communications Partner
Reception Partner
Season Media Partner
Season Media Partner
Official Make-up Partner
Corporate Council Sponsors
Official Piano
CRW Graphics
Ballard Spahr LLP
PNC
Morgan Stanley
Universal Health Services
PECO
Deluxe Corporation Foundation
Tiffany & Co.
Official Piano Service Provider
Official Sponsor, Encore Society
Center City Film and Video Ernst Brothers Designers + Builders Exelon Business Services Termini Bros. Bakery
The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and Opera Philadelphia are collaborative partners in delivering the highest quality opera programs in world class venues for the benefit of regional audiences, international artists, and the broader community.
For more information about sponsorship opportunities, or to join Opera Philadelphia’s Corporate Council, contact Nathan Schultz, Manager of Institutional Giving, at 215.893.5932 or schultz@operaphila.org. 114
Discover VIVACE Opera Philadelphia's Community for Young Professionals
VIVACE offers a curated suite of exclusive events for young professionals between the ages of 21–45. See the shows, meet the casts, and mingle with like-minded peers at VIVACE nights throughout the season. All-inclusive experiences start at just $50.
For more information, visit operaphila.org/vivace or call 215.732.8400. Top to botom: VIVACE attendees mingle with artists at the afterparty for The Marriage of Figaro. Photographs by HughE Dillon.
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Opera can quench your thirst for culture. We’re here to just quench your thirst.
Flying Fish is proud to support the inaugural Festival with our Opera Philadelphia Ale. JOURNEY FROM MOZART TO JAZZ, WITH NARRATOR BARNEY FRANK Friday, October 6, 8 PM | FREE
Lang Concert Hall, Swarthmore College
Saturday, October 7, 3 PM | FREE Roberts Hall, Haverford College
Sunday, October 8, 3 PM | $10-$20 Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts kimmelcenter.org 215-893-1999 kimmelcente
Chamber Orchestra FIRST EDITIONS James Freeman, conductor Heidi Jacob, conductor
Barney Frank, narrator Andrew Hauze, piano Rittenhouse Jazz Quintet Gabriel Globus-Hoenich, jazz drummer
Stop by the brewery to see where this good stuff is made. Wed.- Fri. 3 - 9 PM Sat.- Sun. 12 - 6 PM 900 Kennedy Blvd. Somerdale, NJ 856-504-3442 www.flyingfish.com
ChamberOrchestraFE.org
“Vividly appealing” T H E N E W YO R K T I M E S
“Wonderful, wonderful - and yet again - wonderful” THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
“One of the country’s primary producers of new ballet” THE DENVER POST
BalletX 2017 - 2018 Season
Philadelphia’s Premier Contemporary Ballet www.BalletX.org
“Top 10 of the year in dance” THE BOSTON G LO B E
Resident Dance Company of The Wilma Theater
M A KI N G A D I F F E RE N C E OFF -S TAGE A N D IN-SC H O OL by Aubrey Nagle The work of an arts organization does not end when the curtain falls and the lights go out. It is part of the core mission of Opera Philadelphia to extend beyond the stage and into the community. Every year, through Sounds of LearningTM, T-VOCE, and other community initiatives, we bring the arts to thousands of Philadelphia youths—and every year we strive to reach even more hearts and minds.
SOU N D S OF L E A R NI N G TM Since 1991, Opera Philadelphia’s award-winning Sounds of LearningTM program has touched the lives of over 160,000 students from the Philadelphia area. The in-school, curriculum-based program addresses the arts education gap in the Greater Philadelphia region by bringing music education opportunities directly to students. The heart of this initiative is the Dress Rehearsal Program, during which classroom teachers utilize Student Guides, created in partnership with curriculum consultants from the School District of Philadelphia, to teach 5th through 12th graders all about opera. These students then become truly immersed in the art form as they prepare to attend a dress rehearsal of an Opera Philadelphia production, free of charge. During the 2016-2017 season, more than 4,000 students enjoyed productions of Turandot, Tancredi, and The Marriage of Figaro. Students are joining us for O17, too, attending We Shall Not Be Moved, Elizabeth Cree, and The Magic Flute. In addition to these special dress rehearsals, last season over 3,800 students participated in the Classroom and Artist Residency Programs, which place teaching artists into the classroom where they lead lessons on art, music, and even staging an opera. The 2016-2017 season saw the program’s first residency program working in 4th grade classrooms to create two “mini-operas” with students at Pan American Academy Charter School and William Cramp Elementary
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School. We cannot wait to see what these incredible students do next!
T -VO C E Offered in partnership with Art Sanctuary, Esperanza Academy Charter School, Play On! Philly, and Singing City, T-VOCE, or the Teen Voices of the City Ensemble, is an all-city youth choir for young adults of all musical backgrounds. T-VOCE comes from the Italian word “voce,” meaning “voice,” because this choir is all about empowering and celebrating the voice of Philadelphia youth and their overwhelming talents. On May 18, 2017, T-VOCE took the stage for the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts’ Philadelphia Children’s Festival and wowed the packed crowd with choral music, original poetry and raps, and dance performances from the students of Esperanza Academy. The chorus brought the house down with African folk songs, renditions of Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” and civil rights anthem “We Shall Not Be Moved,” and a solo performance of Ruth B.’s “Lost Boy” by Amber Ruiz. The 2017-2018 season marks the third year for T-VOCE, and an expansion of the program. While in previous seasons T-VOCE practiced and performed during the spring semester, this year they will be gathering year round, performing both this fall and spring. Stay tuned for more information on T-VOCE's next concert!
HI P H' O P ER A What first began as a song cycle collaboration between students and classically trained performers in 2007 grew into the multi-year initiative that, since 2012, has taken Phil-
adelphia teens on a journey of self-discovery and self-expression. Conducted in partnership with Art Sanctuary, Hip H’opera students have explored the arts through song, dance, poetry, storytelling, and more. They’ve even had the chance to meet and work with We Shall Not Be Moved composer Daniel Bernard Roumain and librettist Marc Bamuthi Joseph. The final Hip H’opera student cohort spent the past year exploring themes and historic events relative to We Shall Not Be Moved by creating a series of oral histories with community members impacted by the events dramatized in the opera. The students’ experience comes full circle this fall as they complete the program by attending a world premiere performance of We Shall Not Be Moved. Check out their remarkable oral histories at operaphila.org/unsungstories.
WOR K FO RC E R E A DI NE S S In 2016, Opera Philadelphia launched a pilot program called Workforce Readiness in partnership with the Federation of Neighborhood Centers, Mastery Charter School, Charter High School for Architecture and Design, with input from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (I.A.S.T.E.). Created to help students discover career paths behind the scenes in the arts, this season the pilot blossoms into an immersive three-year program. Learn more about this new project on page 122.
L EA R N M OR E
operaphila.org/in-schools 215.893.5927
Opera Philadelphia thanks those who have dedicated their support to Community Initiatives: SO U NDS O F LEAR NI N G TM
The William Penn Foundation William A. Loeb The Mazzotti/Kelly FundBBH of The Philadelphia Foundation Wells Fargo Hamilton Family Foundation Universal Health Services Eugene Garfield Foundation The Hirsig Family Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation Morgan Stanley Foundation Alpin J. and Alpin W. Cameron Fund The McLean Contributionship Louis N. Cassett Foundation
T -VO C E
Wyncote Foundation HI P H' O P ER A
Katherine Christiano The Wyncote Foundation
Photographs by Phillip Todd
WO R K FO RC E R EADI NESS
Lenfest Foundation Sheller Family Foundation
M AY 10 -1 3 , 2 0 1 8
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A P R I L 5-8 , 2 01 8
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OCT 12-22, 2017
MARCH 8-1 8, 201 8
Our 2017-2018 season features the music of Tchaikovsky, Minkus, Schubert, and Stravinsky performed live by the Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra.
GET TICKETS 215.893.1999 or PABALLET.ORG | USE PROMO CODE O17 FOR $10 OFF! THANK YOU TO OUR SEASON SPONSORS: Arian Molina Soca; Lillian Di Piazza; Alexandra Hughes and Ian Hussey; Mayara Pineiro; Dayesi Torriente; Oksana Maslova and Sterling Baca. Photography: Nic D’Amico.
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TA K E O P E R A PHILADELPHIA HOME
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OPERA IS NOW OPEN WOW OPERA IS NOW OPEN WOW OPERA IS NOW OPEN WOW OPERA IS NOW OPEN WOW OPERA IS NOW OPEN WOW OPERA IS NOW OPEN WOW OPERA IS NOW OPEN WOW OPERA IS NOW OPEN WOW OPERA IS NOW OPEN WOW OPERA IS NOW OPEN WOW FESTIVAL. September 14–25
ELIZABETH CREE THE MAGIC FLUTE
S O N D R A R A DVA N OVS K Y WE SHALL N OT BE MOVED
OPERA ON THE MALL WAR S TORIES
S H O P. O P E R A P H I L A . O R G THE WAKE WORLD
S T O P B Y T H E M E R C H A N D I S E TA B L E
AFTER EACH PERFORMANCE OR VISIT
Costume Director Millie Hiibel teaches students in the Workforce Readiness program about costume design.
Students stop for a quick selfie on their tour of the Academy of Music.
Crafting a New Way to Support Philly Youth by Aubrey Nagle
Philadelphia youth face a crisis when they leave school. Recent surveys show that 38% of the city’s 16-24 year olds live in poverty and more than 40% of all youth with high school educational equivalency or less are unemployed. In an effort to support this segment of our community, this season Opera Philadelphia launches a multi-year Workforce Readiness program, funded by the Lenfest Foundation and the Sheller Family Foundation, to provide non-college bound high school seniors with a post-graduation path of economic independence and a living wage through technical careers in theater. Founded in partnership with the Federation of Neighborhood Centers, and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (I.A.T.S.E.), Workforce Readiness is growing from a pilot project into a three-phase initiative that will see a cohort of high school students through graduation and into the job market. In the spring of 2016, the pilot program saw 15 students from Mastery Charter Schools, Simon Gratz High School enrolled in 12 weeks of career exploration. Students learned about various jobs and met with several highly skilled tradesmen from I.A.T.S.E. Local 8, which provides the Opera with stagehands, electricians, props makers, wardrobe artists, and more. They also took tours of the Academy of Music and the Opera Philadelphia 12 2
Scene Shop, attended the final dress rehearsal of The Elixir of Love, created theater models, and participated in mock interviews and job-hunting exercises. A second trial during the spring of 2017 included 12 students from the Charter High School for Architecture + Design (CHAD). They met with Opera Philadelphia staff, joined tours and workshops, worked with a technical theater teacher to understand the development behind a production, created individual concepts for their own production of Romeo and Juliet, attended the final dress rehearsal of The Marriage of Figaro, and saw the Pulley & Buttonhole Theater production of One More River to Cross. Joy Waldinger, a CHAD educator who participated in the 2017 program, felt the hands-on, experiential learning really hit home with her students, especially those unfamiliar with theater production. “It was pretty new to everybody. They had these abstract understandings of all that stuff, but it really became more solidified when they actually went to a production,” she said. Thanks to the success of these pilots, this spring the program’s next stage will begin. During Opera Philadelphia's new production of Written on Skin February 9-18, 2018, hundreds of high school students will descend upon the Academy of the Music to learn about technical theater fields during Career Day. Afterwards, a few dozen high school juniors will join monthly demonstrations and field
“We’re not just teaching them skills, we’re teaching them appreciation of something they may not other wise be connected with.” trips geared toward career exploration through the end of the school year. Over the summer, select students will join internships in arts-related fields. In the fall of 2018, a smaller cohort will enter phase two. This group of students, all of whom will be high school seniors, will get to experience hands-on instruction in a variety of skills, from electrical and carpentry work to prop and costume building. As graduation approaches, the students will be paired with a mentor in the I.A.T.S.E. Local 8 as the third and final program phase. Their mentor will help them make connections in the industry and obtain the entry-level jobs they need in order to apply for a union card and get apprenticeship training. “It’s meant to expand their network so that they’re making active connections in the industry,” Michael Bolton, Opera Philadelphia Vice President of Community Initiatives, said. In the end, the goal is for these knowledgeable students to find job placement within the technical career of their choice right out of high school. Many high school students are encouraged to seek higher education post-graduation, but those who do not are often unaware of careers that lie outside a college degree. Thus Anja LeBlanc, Director of Innovative Partnerships at Federation of Neighborhood Centers, believes the exposure to the career possibilities in the Workforce Readiness program can be just as important as this technical instruction. “A lot of them have never been to a theater or to a production and they have no idea that these types of careers are available,” she said. “We’re not just teaching them skills, we’re teaching them appreciation of something they may not otherwise be connected with.” The Workforce Readiness program has few peers in the industry. Collaborating across arts organizations and theaters is logistically challenging, as is organizing many students across schools spread out over a large city like Philadelphia. “This is all new territory,” Bolton said. As an additional challenge, like many fields, the arts industry in Philadelphia does not truly reflect the racially and economically diverse city population. For Waldinger, the program’s aim of diversifying the arts, and the trades that support them, is a worthy goal.
Draper Suzie Morris demonstrates constructing a costume for students.
“I just think it’s awesome to involve kids and have them start thinking about their future, giving students a leg-up and connecting students to institutions like the Academy of Music that can be really white-washed, where they might not even think of themselves being in a space like that. I think that’s also really important,” she said. Though she knows pumping new blood into an entrenched industry will be a challenge, LeBlanc agrees that opening up the technical trades to more Philadelphians is a crucial objective. “It cannot just be lip service. It has to be backed up by action,” she said. Thus, with the help of its partner organizations, Opera Philadelphia's Community Initiatives team is excited to dive into this new program. “It’s a way for us to give back to the city in a very different way,” Bolton said. Photographs by Michael Bolton
E D U C AT O R S & PA R E N T S
For more information, contact Veronica ChapmanSmith, Community Initiatives Administrator, at 215.893.5946 or chapman-smith@operaphila.org TO SUPPORT WORKFORCE READINESS
Contact Rachel McCausland, Director of Philanthropic Engagement, at 215.893.5909 or mccausland@operaphila.org
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L EADE RS H IP
M USIC
PRODU C TION
David B. Devan General Director & President
Michael Eberhard Artistic Administrator
Drew Billiau Director of Design & Technology
Corrado Rovaris Jack Mulroney Music Director Marita Altman Vice President of Development Michael Bolton Vice President of Community Initiatives David Levy Vice President of Artistic Operations Ryan Lewis Vice President of Marketing Frank Luzi Vice President of Communications Jeremiah Marks Chief Financial Off icer Lawrence Brownlee Artistic Advisor Kristy Edmunds Artistic Advisor Mikael Eliasen Artistic Advisor
Sarah Williams New Works Administrator Elizabeth Braden Chorus Master & Music Administrator J. Robert Loy Director of Orchestra Personnel & Orchestra Librarian Grant Loehnig Head of Music Staff David Hertzberg Rene Orth Composers in Residence Peggy Monastra Partnerships, New Productions, & Commissions Rebecca Ostermann Nathan Lofton Festival Music Librarians & Orchestra Personnel Coordinators Emily May Sung Assistant Chorus Master Jane Hulburt Festival Company Manager
Ken Smith Assistant to General Director & Board Relations Coordinator
the O17 FESTIVAL TEAM 12 4
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Up Next: Written on Skin PH I L A DE LP HI A P R E M I E R E O F GEO RGE BENJAMI N’S W RI T TE N O N SK I N C O M E S TO T HE AC ADEMY O F MU SI C I N F E BRUA RY 2018
Opera News calls this production one of the “hottest opera tickets of the year.” Since its 2012 premiere, composer George Benjamin’s first full-length opera, Written on Skin, has received wide critical acclaim. The New York Times called the score “a triumph for modernist musical languages” and Rupert Christiansen of The Telegraph said, “If Written on Skin doesn’t end up a modern classic, I’ll eat my hat.” Now this thrilling tale, with a haunting libretto by Martin Crimp, makes its Philadelphia debut in a new production at the Academy of Music, February 9–18, 2018. A powerful landowner, the Protector, commissions a young artist to create an illuminated manuscript celebrating his life and family. When a relationship develops between the Boy and the Protector’s wife, Agnès, she compels him to reveal their clandestine love within his illustrations. Both passion and violence erupt in the household; all the while, a mysterious cluster of angels watches the story unfold. Drawn from a 12th-century legend but imbued with a contemporary twist, “an achievement like Written on Skin is awesome by any measure” (The New Yorker). Lauren Snouffer lends her “rich-toned soprano” (Boston Globe) to the role of Agnès, alongside the “matinee-idol good looks, vocal warmth and personal charm” (Opera News) of baritone Mark Stone in his role debut as the Protector. Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, who boasts an “instrument of inexorable beauty” (Opera News), takes on the dual role of Boy and First Angel. Jack Mulroney Music Director Corrado Rovaris leads the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra in a new production by director Will Kerley (2013’s Powder Her Face), with set and costume design by Tom Rogers. Support for Written on Skin has been provided by Judy and Peter Leone.
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The Academy of Music and Perelman Theater are part of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. Photographs by Jeff Fusco, B. Krist, and George Widman for Visit Philadelphia.
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