WELCOME
One of the most compelling aspects of the Wade Thompson Drill Hall is its capacity for reinvention—to see works anew, to create new productions that defy categorization, to evolve artistic practice, and to alter the audience experience in a myriad of adventurous ways.
The world premiere of Doppelganger, the Armory’s latest commission, does just that. Visionary director Claus Guth has gathered a creative team of brilliant talents—including Michael Levine, Mathis Nitschke, Constance Hoffman, Urs Schönebaum, Mark Grey, and rocafilm—to create a production that is stirring and grand in scale and unexpected in form, defying the conventions of a traditional recital performance and redefining the relationship between artists and audience by removing the confines of a traditional opera house.
Unrivaled tenor Jonas Kaufmann and his long-time collaborator pianist Helmut Deutsch bring Shubert’s beloved Schwanengesang (Swan Song) to life, following the journey of a soldier coming to terms with his own mortality. Amplified by Mathis’s evocative interludes and soundscapes, Schubert’s sublime repertoire becomes a beautifully flowing sonic world that showcases a hunger for life and its beauty and the idea that death is not a sudden moment but a last journey.
Rebecca Robertson
Adam R. Flatto Founding President and Executive Producer
Pierre Audi
Marina Kellen French Artistic Director
OTHER HAPPENINGS
ARTIST TALK: DOPPELGANGER
Tuesday, September 26, 2023 at 6:00pm
Director Claus Guth is joined by pianist Helmut Deutsch to discuss the creation of this new production and incorporating new sonic compositions with Schubert’s enduring scores to form a new musical tapestry, moderated by author and opera director Ian Strasfogel
ARMORY AFTER HOURS
Join us after select evening performances for libations at a special bar in one of our historic period rooms.
WORLD PREMIERE A PARK AVENUE ARMORY COMMISSION
DOPPELGANGER
SCHUBERT’S SCHWANENGESANG (SWAN SONG) WADE THOMPSON DRILL HALL
SEPTEMBER 22 – 28, 2023
Jonas Kaufmann Voice
Helmut Deutsch Piano
Claus Guth Direction
Mathis Nitschke Original Music and Sound Composition
Michael Levine Set Design
Constance Hoffman Costume Design
Urs Schönebaum Lighting Design
Mark Grey Sound Design
rocafilm Video Design
Sommer Ulrickson Movement Direction
Yvonne Gebauer Dramaturgy, Associate Direction
Ronny Dietrich Musical Dramaturgy
Juana Inés Cano Restrepo, Dylan Evans Assistant Direction
Ilker Arcayürek u/s Voice*
Michał Biel Rehearsal Piano*
Gillian Smith Casting, Ensemble
This performance is approximately 90 minutes with no intermission. *Appearing in the student matinee performance on September 26.
SEASON SPONSORS
PUBLIC SUPPORT
Production support for Doppelganger is provided by the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation and The Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Foundation. Support for Park Avenue Armory’s artistic season has been generously provided by The Thompson Family Foundation, the Charina Endowment Fund, the Donald A. Pels Charitable Trust, The Shubert Foundation, the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, the Howard Gilman Foundation, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Marc Haas Foundation, the Prospect Hill Foundation, the Reed Foundation, Wescustogo Foundation, the Leon Levy Foundation, the May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, GRoW @ Annenberg, The Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Foundation, the Richenthal Foundation, and the Isak and Rose Weinman Foundation. Additional support has been provided by the Armory’s Artistic Council. Public support is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature as well as the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Cover image © DBOX.
HAUNTED BY ONESELF:
GHOSTLY DOUBLES AT SCHUBERT’S END
The word “Doppelgänger” was new to literature when Heinrich Heine wrote his famous poem about a man who sees himself aping a still earlier incarnation of himself: three selves present at once. The novelist Jean Paul devised the term for his novel Siebenkäs (SevenCheese) in 1796, and it matters that it was invented on the heels of the French Revolution, that vast gash across the European landscape, when all identities were called into question. In the Doppelgänger’s version of anagnorisis (the Aristotelian category of recognition scenes), recognition of the double becomes an unknowable enigma at the very moment when it seems to provide a solution. “If you are me, then who am I?”, we ask in terror. Most Doppelgänger tales end badly: see your ghostly double, and the jig is up. Repressed memories will “out” only on the brink of the grave, or—in tonight’s performance—at the imminent approach of death.
The music critic and poet Ludwig Rellstab was only thirteen years old when Napoleon led his doomed French troops through Moscow’s burning and the winter snows of Russia in 1812. Throughout his formative years, Europe was at war, and both Rellstab’s poetry and his 1834 novel 1812 give ample evidence of his preoccupation with soldiers, wartime death, and poignant memories of better times and of love. Schubert grew up in those same war years, with Vienna occupied by Napoleon and his troops in 1805 and 1809. By the time, he wrote his swan songs, he knew he would die of the syphilis he had contracted earlier in the 1820s. Many of his works are what the scholar James Sobaskie calls “self-elegies,” sonic imaginings of the Grim Reaper who haunted his every moment. His soldier-alter ego in this theatrical performance is losing the battle with life and now traverses the past, recent and distant, in flashbacks shot through with ghostly noises of war and musical echoes. For the duration of this performance, we are inside the soldier’s head, hearing what he hears and tracing his journey to the final farewell.
Sounds of war punctuate this work, beginning in the Prelude with murmurs, an explosion, hospital noises, a drone, etc. and culminating in the rhythmic pattern and opening chords of Kriegers Ahnung Schubert draws a stark contrast between the dark block chords that bespeak war/death and the warm, fluid passage in major mode that tells of a past beautified by love. In the postlude and interlude before the next song, the once tight, crisp (military protocol) chords come apart bit by bit, filling the air with an increasingly loud drone sound that then fades away into the first bars of Liebesbotschaft . Here, the lover he once was bids the little brook to bring greetings to the
distant beloved. In Schubert’s final exercise in water music, a gently rippling right hand part flows over a bedrock bass and then cradles a vocal line remarkable for its incessant dactylic (long-short-short) rhythms and melodic beauty. We can hear the lover’s fervor in the unforgettable leap upwards at the ends of the first and last stanzas. As if reluctant to let such a beautiful memory go, the pianist repeats the accompaniment in the postlude, eventually whittling it down to the opening chord. Towards the end, we hear the unmistakable initial passage of “Kriegers Ahnung,” bringing us back to war and the beginning of In der Ferne. End-stopped poetic lines, a barrage of present participles, a bizarre combination of florid imagery and clipped utterance: this is a Byronic anti-liturgy, in which a suicidal mind challenges Nature and the cosmos. The harmonic jolt of a semitone downwards at the words “Mutterhaus hassenden” (spurning their mother’s home) would not become standard practice until Wagner. The postlude brings together a cutting tinnitus-like sound, a massive tone cluster in the piano, reverberations, a bass drone, and, finally, crackling spring sounds (created in part by plucking inside the piano) for the approach of Frühlingssehnsucht . Here, the perpetual motion of spring is interrupted by pauses that tell of inner impasse. In the lengthy corridor to the next song, we hear the soldier refusing to let the triplet harmonies go; in one of the most striking compositional decisions of the contemporary sound-world, the piano’s thrumming is sent around the room as if blown by the winds.
In the famous Ständchen, the ardent young man that the soldier once was sings an enchanting song to lure the maiden he desires out of her bedchamber by night “to make me happy.” Schubert, while acknowledging the heart of darkness in this mise-en-scène, fills his song of seduction with vulnerability, uncertainty, and ambivalence. In the strophic song, Herbst , the singer gloomily contemplates the withering of life’s blossoms. For music nerds, the harmony of the flatted second near the end of each stanza is a favorite dramatic gesture of Schubert’s—a “fingerprint” of his style.
For the corridor between “Herbst” and Aufenthalt , first one, then two, and finally all of the hospital patients beat their beds with metal sticks to establish the triplet rhythms against which the singer’s duplets are pitted much of the way. The palpable conflict is emblematic of the soldier’s anguished analogies between his grief and the surging river, roaring forest, and immutable rock of his inner landscape. For the postlude, the pianist repeats the final passage over and over, obsession making its appearance yet again, until the door opens for Abschied
From “Erlkönig” onwards, horses ride through Schubert’s songs, and this one clip-clops through what seems a paradoxically happy farewell. But the merry tone is willed; the soldier suffers even as he is determined to be of stout heart about departure. At song’s end, we hear the door slam shut, followed by a piano interlude in which oddly-pitched snippets whirl around the room. The conundrum of what music becomes in our heads is on display here.
Slow movements in Schubert’s instrumental works could make stones weep, and the second movement of his final piano sonata in B-flat, D. 960 from September 1828 is among the most plangent. It was the custom in Viennese churches to ring the Zügenglöcklein , or “passing bells,” to tell people that someone in the parish was dying; Schubert rings bells for the dying, for himself, for all of us, in many of his compositions. Here, the tolling bell rises through several octaves ranging from the deep bass and ending with a chiming pitch in the treble, while a lullaby for the dead is couched in the inner voices of the minor-mode framing sections. The interior section, with its major mode and increased motion, comes to an unexpected halt with an entire bar of silence (another Schubert signature), followed by a return to the resigned, profound, gentle death-music of the beginning, filled with harmonic-tonal magic.
Late in Schubert’s life, the composer and his friends revived their former reading circle and, on January 12, 1828, met to discuss the new works by Heinrich Heine: a newly corrosive and ironic voice in German poetry. Schubert mined his Buch der Lieder (1827) for six songs that are a quantum leap into the future of music: they are forever radical.
In Ihr Bild , the singer stares at an image of the sweetheart and fancies that it comes to life. This is classic Narcissus imagery, in which one looks obsessively at the beloved/oneself through water—the tears in his eyes—and confuses subject with object, person with thing. In this bleak song, shot through with echoes that also come from the Narcissus myth, the persona cannot really believe his loss: it is the piano, made of sterner stuff, that tells us at the end of irrevocable grief. In its wake, a drone grows louder, then is cut off by a bomb hitting the piano in a massive tone cluster, followed by Der Atlas. Heine’s Byronic Titan makes melodramatic mock of immense misery: he has wagered on eternal happiness or eternal misery and lost the dare. Schubert renders in sound being chained to irrevocable horror and attempting in vain to break free of it; he borrows the circular figure
in the bass from Beethoven’s last piano sonata, Op. 111 in C minor, and chains his Atlas to it.
More drones and plucking gestures inside the piano lead to Das Fischermädchen, in which Jonas sings a barcarolle. A buoyant, charming persona, confident of his powers of attraction, woos a lowerclass girl with his pearls of poetry. One can interpret Schubert’s song as sincere serenade or as mockery, with Schubert perhaps hinting that the persona is not quite the genius he proclaims himself to be. More drones, a fragment of “Das Fischermädchen,” followed by a snippet of the next song leads us to Am Meer : an erotic catastrophe in which a couple makes love by the seashore, she weeps symbolic tears, and he declares himself destroyed by the experience. Schubert contrasts hymn-like stanzas with quivering passages in dark minor mode. The final section is a struggle to keep darkness from wholly overwhelming the memory of past beauty.
The atmosphere of “Kriegers Ahnung” returns, the door opens, and street sounds flood in, leading to Die Stadt . In classic horror movie fashion, the singer stares at mist and darkness until, finally, daylight reveals—absence. Schubert’s music is divided into three compartmentalized segments, linked by a shared obsession with the pitch we hear at the beginning. In the framing sections, we hear echoes of the early 18th-century Baroque world, the rhythmic patterns reminiscent of Handel or Rameau, while in the piano introduction and interior stanza, the infamous “horror chord” of German Romantic opera comes virtually out of nowhere (as does horror itself), goes nowhere, and is repeated over and over. At the end, the door closes; the street falls silent.
Like all ghosts, Der Doppelgänger is both a historical figure, reenacting past times, and anti-historical, stepping out of time; those who see their ghostly double become unwilling voyeurs of their past selves. In the piano introduction, we hear a repeated harmonic “ground bass” pattern of the sort familiar from Bach’s Fugue in C-sharp minor (Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier); here, it sounds both antique and modern-dissonant-hollow-eerie. The climaxes in this song are shattering. Here, the soldier’s soul watches his body die in the wake of memory’s devastating re-play of his life.
“EVENTUALLY THE OTHER WILL MEET ME,
THE ANTIPODE, THE DOPPELGANGER WITH MY FACE OUT OF SNOW. ONE OF US WILL SURVIVE.” — HEINER MULLER, THE MISSION , WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY DENNIS REDMOND
The idea of the doppelganger and its portent of death have inspired and enamored artists, poets, scholars, and researchers throughout history. Below is a selection of excerpts from works inspired by this legend, curated by director Claus Guth.
Tony Cicoria, a surgeon, was struck by lightning a few years ago and suffered a cardiac arrest … He recounted this to me:
I remember a flash of light … hit me in the face. Next thing I remember, I was flying backwards … [then] I was on the ground. I said to myself, “Oh shit, I’m dead.” I saw people converging on the body. I saw a woman … position herself over my body, give it CPR.
Cicoria’s out-of-body experience (OBE) became more complex. “There was a bluish-white light … an enormous feeling of well-being and grace”; he felt he was being drawn into heaven (his OBE had evolved into a “near-death experience,” which is not the case with most OBEs), and then—it could have been little more than thirty or forty seconds from the moment he was struck by lightning—“Slam! I was back.”
The term “near-death experience” (NDE) was introduced by Raymond Moody in his 1975 book Life After Life. Moody, culling information from many interviewees, delineated a remarkably uniform and stereotyped set of experiences common to many NDEs … In a typical NDE, all this was suffused with a sense of peace and joy so intense that being “forced back” (into one’s body, into life) might be accompanied by a strong sense of regret … [Researchers] speculate that … “the experience of dissociation of self from the body is a result of failure to integrate information from the body with vestibular information.”
At other times, one is not disembodied but sees a double of oneself from one’s normal viewpoint, and the other self often mimics (or shares) one’s own postures and movements. These autoscopic hallucinations are purely visual and usually fairly brief … Macdonald Critchley describes this in the great naturalist Carl Linnaeus:
Often Linnaeus saw “his other self” strolling in the garden parallel with himself, and the phantom would mimic his movements, i.e. stoop to examine a plant or to pick a flower. Sometimes the alter ego would occupy his own seat at his library desk. Once at a demonstration to his students he wanted to fetch a specimen from his room. He opened the door rapidly, intending to enter, but pulled up at once saying, “Oh! I’m there already.”
A similar hallucination of a double was seen regularly by Charles Lullin, the grandfather of Charles Bonnet, for about three months, as Douwe Draaisma describes:
One morning as he was quietly smoking his pipe at the window, he saw on his left a man leaning casually against the window frame. Except for the fact that he was a head taller, the man looked exactly like him: he was also smoking a pipe, and he was wearing the same
cap and the same dressing gown. The man was there again the next morning, and he gradually became a familiar apparition.
The autoscopic double is literally a mirror image of oneself, with right transposed to left and vice versa, mirroring one’s positions and actions. The double is a purely visual phenomenon, with no identity or intentionality of its own. It has no desires and takes no initiatives; it is passive and neutral…
The theme of the double, the doppelgänger, a being who is partly one, partly Other, is irresistible to the literary mind, and is usually portrayed as a sinister portent of death or calamity.
Excerpt(s) from HALLUCINATIONS by Oliver Sacks, copyright © 2012 by Oliver Sacks. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Doppelganger
By Joseph SinclairI think that I once met myself upon the roadside coming back. So sure was I that it was me I almost had a heart attack.
Another time I thought I saw myself reflected in a pane of glass upon a garden skip. It almost served to drive me sane.
Then there was that occasion when I found beside me in my bed a doppelganger of myself. Was I alive? Or was I dead?
How can I know what lies in store except by taking one step more. One step to face in the unknown what I had mastered heretofore.
But possibly this other me is simply also hesitant and also chooses to ignore what really is self-evident.
I’m waiting for the day, you see, when opening a door, I pass into a room where bygone me is stepping through a looking glass.
A trivial piece written tongue-incheek . . . or maybe tongue in someone else’s cheek.
“AN EXTREME HUMAN EXPERIENCE …” AN INTERVIEW WITH CLAUS GUTH
Yvonne Gebauer: How would you describe your relationship with the music of Franz Schubert?
Claus Guth: Franz Schubert has been part of my life for a very long time. As a teenager, I didn’t have much of an interest in classical music, but Schubert—along with Bach and Bartók—was among the classical composers who struck me as a real emotional powerhouse.
Ever since I had this early impression, I’ve tried repeatedly to understand the cosmos of Schubert from a theatrical perspective as well. This is by no means easy, since Schubert’s operas are almost unperformable. He didn’t have the Midas touch in his choice of librettists for the stage that he did when he came to writing lieder. He never found an artistic partner who was a real kindred spirit, one with whom he could achieve an expressive openness that would be as successful as his songs were.
While I was a student, I gave a performance of Winterreise [“Winter Journey,” Schubert’s 1828 song cycle]. Then, a few years later—this was in 2002 at Zurich Opera—I became interested in exploring and depicting onstage the father-son conflicts that are negotiated in the perplexing plot of the opera Fierrabras (my first collaboration with Jonas Kaufmann), viewed from the perspective of Franz Schubert’s relationship with his own father. In 2013, I staged the fragment Lazarus at the Theater an der Wien and went the farthest I have gone with this idea—at least so I think. Schubert’s ever-present preoccupation with death here takes center stage in a very simple, straightforward way.
When Pierre Audi gave me carte blanche for this production in the Armory’s Wade Thompson Drill Hall, I soon started thinking that a space as extraordinarily large as the Drill Hall might allow us to convey a narrative of solitude in Schubert’s work particularly well—always keeping in mind that today’s state-of-the-art technical and acoustical possibilities would ensure that this could work.
YG: What interests you about the format of the lieder cycle?
CG: First of all, Schwanengesang [“Swan Song,” a group of songs published after Schubert’s early death]— unlike Winterreise —was not intended to be a cycle. It is a posthumous construction that anthologizes the songs Schubert wrote in the final year of his life. What these songs have in common, however, is the fact that all of them very intentionally focus on the theme of finiteness and valediction: on final moments, final insights, final glimpses of the past.
For some time, I’ve wanted to engage with the format of the lieder recital. It’s always bothered me that in a concert after a single song has been performed, the tension that was just built up falls apart
and the narrative flow is interrupted from that point on, so that a throughline can emerge only in a very fragmentary way.
With Doppelganger I am trying—in collaboration with the composer and sound designer Mathis Nitschke—to create joints and connections between the individual songs. This involves producing an acoustically audible state of consciousness, from which these songs then emanate one after the other—like the waves on a heart rate monitor—and are in turn absorbed by a certain atmosphere. This is an attempt to shape the silence, to stay in the flow and not to allow the audience’s attention to keep getting interrupted. The issue of when and why a song ends and a new one starts up and is then sung is a particular challenge for me as a director.
The song recital format is in some ways more contemporary than an opera by Wagner. An art song’s unit of measure is the same unit we are familiar with from pop songs, for example—the same amount of time we are given to enter into an emotion, into the lyrics.
In contrast to the younger generation, which is mainly familiar with individual, stand-alone songs that are not connected, my experience as a listener to non-classical music was based on complete albums and the carefully designed dramatic meaning that arose from the precise sequence of individual songs. This is also how I understand the sequence of songs in Doppelganger
YG: What dramatic function do the characters who are invented for this production have?
CG: Telling a story about solitude feels most effective in theatrical terms when a character is not alone on the stage but is shown in contrast with a group. Or when an individual emerges from a collective. Beyond that, I’m interested in narrating the story of a character—a man who lies dying in a military hospital during the war—who has universal resonance because they are undergoing an extreme human experience. I want to present in detail the small moments that become important to a person when they suspect that the end is near: What do they long for? What is their greatest fear? or greatest solace?
YG: What role did the historical location play in creating this evening?
CG: We were very interested in and inspired by the history and architecture of the Drill Hall itself—and how the space could be used as a kind of reception center for people in need. For us, the narrative of the Schubert cycle could be linked to this place at the time of World War I. We wanted to create something that seems as if it could really have happened here, and to this situation we give a sound and a language.
YG: The title of the evening is Doppelganger. Why did you choose this title?
CG: “Der Doppelgänger” is the final song of the evening. The motif of the double or Doppelgänger is deeply inscribed in the tradition of Romanticism and is always linked to an experience of death. The encounter with one’s own self involves a body/spirit separation—if you wish to give it a religious formulation; it has to do with the idea that when you can see yourself from the outside, you leave or exit yourself. This is presumably the last moment before actual death. In this sense, the figure of the double or Doppelgänger is a symbol for bidding farewell to earthly existence.
ARTISTIC ABUNDANCE: ENGAGING STUDENTS WITH THE MANY FACETS OF DOPPELGANGER
Arts Education at Park Avenue Armory provides unique artistic engagements and educational programming free of charge to New York City public school students, offering opportunities for students to think creatively and trust their own aesthetic judgments, while encouraging the arts as an avenue for reflection, expression, and action.
Doppelganger presents an abundance of artistic themes for students to explore. The extensive collaboration between the artists who created this artwork offers a tangible example of how confidence in our own strengths and interest in how others think and create can yield beautiful results. The many sources of inspiration for the piece—from Schubert’s original music to the long literary history of doppelgängers to the physical space of the Armory itself—offer a reminder that if you are curious and open, the world around you can spark incredible creativity. The multidisciplinary nature of the production highlights how different art forms can draw you into a story in a variety of ways. And the reinvention of an established work of art offers a powerful reminder to examine the stories we are told and consider why we keep returning to them and how they are being told to us.
Approximately 650 New York City public middle and high school students are diving into Doppelganger through the Armory’s Production-Based Program, attending a student-only matinee on September 26th, and members of Youth Corps, the Armory’s paid, mentored internship program will also have the opportunity to experience the piece. Pre-visit workshops are exploring multisensory storytelling and found elements as the building blocks of an artwork, as well as active listening (both aurally and optically) as techniques for experiencing an artwork. In post-show workshops, students are using different art forms to think creatively about themes such as loss and transitions, the duality of memory and experience, and the fleeting ephemerality of trying to capture and commemorate our time on earth. In each of these, students are invited to create original artworks inspired by Doppelganger and their own reflections on the world around them, giving space to express the complexity and contradiction of each person’s sense of humanity.
Songs from the cycle Schwanengesang (1828) by Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Franz SchubertLyrics by Ludwig Rellstab
“Kriegers Ahnung”
“Liebesbotschaft”
“In der Ferne”
“Frühlingssehnsucht”
“Ständchen”
“Herbst”
“Aufenthalt”
“Abschied”
Piano Sonata No. 21 in B-flat Major, D960, no. 2 Andante sostenuto
Lyrics by Heinrich Heine
“Ihr Bild”
“Der Atlas”
“Das Fischermädchen”
“Am Meer”
“Die Stadt”
“Der Doppelgänger”
Interlude sound compositions by Mathis Nitschke
TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS
Kriegers Ahnung
Poem by Ludwig Rellstab, 1826
In tiefer Ruh liegt um mich her Der Waffenbrüder Kreis; Mir ist das Herz so bang und schwer, Von Sehnsucht mir so heiß.
Wie hab ich oft so süß geträumt An ihrem Busen warm!
Wie freundlich schien des Herdes Glut, Lag sie in meinem Arm!
Hier, wo der Flammen düstrer Schein Ach! nur auf Waffen spielt, Hier fühlt die Brust sich ganz allein, Der Wehmut Träne quillt.
Herz! dass der Trost dich nicht verlässt! Es ruft noch manche Schlacht –Bald ruh ich wohl und schlafe fest, Herzliebste – Gute Nacht!
Warrior’s foreboding
In deep repose my comrades in arms lie in a circle around me; my heart is so anxious and heavy, so ardent with longing.
How often I have dreamt sweetly upon her warm breast! How cheerful the fireside glow seemed when she lay in my arms.
Here, where the sombre glimmer of the flames, alas, plays only on weapons, here the heart feels utterly alone; a tear of sadness wells up.
Heart, may comfort not forsake you; many a battle still calls. Soon I shall rest well and sleep deeply. Beloved, goodnight!
Please turn page quietly.
Liebesbotschaft
Poem by Ludwig Rellstab, 1827
Rauschendes Bächlein, So silbern und hell, Eilst zur Geliebten so munter und schnell? Ach, trautes Bächlein, mein Bote sei du; Bringe die Grüße des Fernen ihr zu.
All’ ihre Blumen im Garten gepflegt, Die sie so lieblich am Busen trägt, Und ihre Rosen in purpurner Glut, Bächlein, erquicke mit kühlender Flut.
Wenn sie am Ufer, in Träume versenkt, Meiner gedenkend, das Köpfchen hängt, Tröste die Süße mit freundlichem Blick, Denn der Geliebte kehrt bald zurück.
Neigt sich die Sonne mit rötlichem Schein, Wiege das Liebchen in Schlummer ein. Rausche sie murmelnd in süße Ruh, Flüstre ihr Träume der Liebe zu.
In der Ferne
Poem by Ludwig Rellstab, 1827
Wehe dem Fliehenden, Welt hinaus ziehenden! –Fremde durchmessenden, Heimat vergessenden, Mutterhaus hassenden, Freunde verlassenden Folget kein Segen, ach, Auf ihren Wegen nach!
Herze, das sehnende, Auge, das tränende, Sehnsucht, nie endende, Heimwärts sich wendende! Busen, der wallende, Klage, verhallende, Abendstern, blinkender, Hoffnungslos sinkender!
Lüfte, ihr säuselnden, Wellen sanft kräuselnden, Sonnenstrahl, eilender, Nirgend verweilender: Die mir mit Schmerze, ach!
Dies treue Herze brach, Grüßt von dem Fliehenden, Welt hinaus ziehenden.
Love’s message
Murmuring brook, so silver and bright, do you hasten, so lively and swift, to my beloved? Ah, sweet brook, be my messenger. Bring her greetings from her distant lover.
All the flowers, tended in her garden, which she wears so charmingly on her breast, and her roses with their crimson glow: refresh them, brooklet, with your cooling waters.
When on your banks she inclines her head lost in dreams, thinking of me, comfort my sweetheart with a kindly glance, for her beloved will soon return.
When the sun sinks in a red flush, lull my sweetheart to sleep. With soft murmurings bring her sweet repose, and whisper dreams of love.
Far away
Woe to those who flee, who journey forth into the world, who travel through strange lands, forgetting their native land, spurning their mother’s home, forsaking their friends: alas, no blessing follows them on their way!
The yearning heart, the tearful eye, endless longing turning homewards! The surging breast, the dying lament, the evening star, twinkling and sinking without hope!
Whispering breezes, gently ruffled waves, darting sunbeams, lingering nowhere: send her, who broke my faithful heart with pain, greetings from one who is fleeing and journeying forth into the world!
Frühlingssehnsucht
Poem by Ludwig Rellstab, 1827
Säuselnde Lüfte wehend so mild, Blumiger Düfte atmend erfüllt!
Wie haucht ihr mich wonnig begrüßend an! Wie habt ihr dem pochenden Herzen getan?
Es möchte euch folgen auf luftiger Bahn, Wohin? Wohin?
Bächlein, so munter Rauschend zumal, Wollen hinunter silbern in’s Tal. Die schwebende Welle, dort eilt sie dahin! Tief spiegeln sich Fluren und Himmel darin. Was ziehst du mich, sehnend verlangender Sinn, Hinab? Hinab?
Grüßender Sonne spielendes Gold, Hoffende Wonne bringest du hold. Wie labt mich dein selig begrüßendes Bild! Es lächelt am tiefblauen Himmel so mild Und hat mir das Auge mit Tränen gefüllt! –Warum? Warum?
Grünend umkränzet Wälder und Höh! Schimmernd erglänzet Blütenschnee. So dränget sich alles zum bräutlichen Licht, Es schwellen die Keime, die Knospe bricht; Sie haben gefunden was ihnen gebricht: Und du? Und du?
Rastloses Sehnen! Wünschendes Herz, Immer nur Tränen, Klage und Schmerz? Auch ich bin mir schwellender Triebe bewusst, Wer stillet mir endlich die drängende Lust? Nur du befreist den Lenz in der Brust, Nur du! Nur du!
Ständchen
Poem by Ludwig Rellstab, 1827
Leise flehen meine Lieder
Durch die Nacht zu Dir;
In den stillen Hain hernieder, Liebchen, komm zu mir!
Flüsternd schlanke Wipfel rauschen
In des Mondes Licht, Des Verräters feindlich Lauschen Fürchte, Holde, nicht.
Hörst die Nachtigallen schlagen?
Ach, sie flehen Dich, Mit der Töne süßen Klagen Flehen sie für mich.
Spring longing
Whispering breezes, blowing so gently, exuding the fragrance of flowers, how blissful to me is your welcoming breath! What have you done to my beating heart? It yearns to follow you on your airy path. Where to?
Silver brooklets, babbling so merrily, seek the valley below. Their ripples glide swiftly by! The fields and the sky are deeply mirrored there. Why yearning, craving senses, do you draw me downwards?
Sparkling gold of the welcoming sun, you bring the fair joy of hope. How your happy, welcoming countenance refreshes me! It smiles so benignly in the deep blue sky and yet has filled my eyes with tears. Why?
The woods and hills are wreathed in green. Snowy blossom shimmers and gleams. All things strain towards the bridal light; seeds swell, buds burst; they have found what they lacked: and you?
Restless longing, yearning heart, are there always only tears, complaints and pain? I too am aware of swelling impulses! Who at last will still my urgent desire? Only you can free the spring in my heart, only you!
Serenade
Softly my songs plead through the night to you; down into the silent grove, beloved, come to me!
Slender treetops whisper and rustle in the moonlight; my darling, do not fear that the hostile betrayer will overhear us.
Do you not hear the nightingales call? Ah, they are imploring you; with their sweet, plaintive songs they are imploring for me.
Please turn page quietly.
Sie verstehn des Busens Sehnen, Kennen Liebesschmerz, Rühren mit den Silbertönen
Jedes weiche Herz.
Lass auch dir die Brust bewegen, Liebchen, höre mich!
Bebend harr ich dir entgegen!
Komm, beglücke mich!
Herbst
Poem by Ludwig Rellstab, 1828
Es rauschen die Winde
So herbstlich und kalt; Verödet die Fluren, Entblättert der Wald.
Ihr blumigen Auen!
Du sonniges Grün!
So welken die Blüten Des Lebens dahin.
Es ziehen die Wolken
So finster und grau; Verschwunden die Sterne
Am himmlischen Blau!
Ach, wie die Gestirne
Am Himmel entflieh’n, So sinket die Hoffnung Des Lebens dahin!
Ihr Tage des Lenzes
Mit Rosen geschmückt, Wo ich die Geliebte
An’s Herze gedrückt!
Kalt über den Hügel
Rauscht, Winde, dahin!
So sterben die Rosen
Der Liebe dahin!
Aufenthalt
Poem by Ludwig Rellstab, 1826
Rauschender Strom, brausender Wald, Starrender Fels mein Aufenthalt. Wie sich die Welle an Welle reiht, Fließen die Tränen mir ewig erneut.
Hoch in den Kronen wogend sich’s regt, So unaufhörlich mein Herze schlägt. Und wie des Felsen Uraltes Erz Ewig derselbe bleibet mein Schmerz.
They understand the heart’s yearning, they know the pain of love; with their silvery notes they touch every tender heart.
Let your heart, too, be moved, beloved, hear me! Trembling, I await you! Come, make me happy!
Autumn
The wind blows with an autumnal chill; the meadows are bare, the woods leafless. Flowering meadows; sunlit green! Thus do life’s blossoms wilt.
The clouds drift by, so sombre and grey; the stars have vanished in the blue heavens. Ah, as the stars disappear in the sky, so does life’s hope fade away.
You days of spring, adorned with roses, when I pressed my beloved to my heart. Winds, blow cold over the hillside! So do the roses of love die.
Resting place
Surging river, roaring forest, immovable rock, my resting place. As wave follows wave, so my tears flow, ever renewed.
As the high treetops stir and heave, so my heart beats incessantly. Like the rock’s age-old ore my sorrow remains forever the same
Abschied
Poem by Ludwig Rellstab, 1827Ade, du muntre, du fröhliche Stadt, ade! Schon scharret mein Rößlein mit lustigem Fuß, Jetzt nimm noch den letzten, den scheidenden Gruß, Du hast mich wohl niemals noch traurig gesehn, So kann es auch jetzt nicht beim Abschied geschehn.
Ade, ihr Bäume, ihr Gärten so grün, ade! Nun reit ich am silbernen Strome entlang, Weitschallend ertönet mein Abschiedsgesang, Nie habt ihr ein trauriges Lied gehört, So wird euch auch keines beim Scheiden beschert.
Ade, ihr freundlichen Mägdlein dort, ade! Was schaut ihr aus blumenumduftetem Haus Mit schelmischen, lockenden Blicken heraus! Wie sonst, so grüß ich und schaue mich um, Doch nimmer wend ich mein Rößlein um.
Ade, liebe Sonne, so gehst du zur Ruh, ade! Nun schimmert der blinkenden Sterne Gold. Wie bin ich euch Sternlein am Himmel so hold; Durchziehn wir die Welt auch weit und breit, Ihr gebt überall uns das treue Geleit.
Ade, du schimmerndes Fensterlein hell, ade! Du glänzest so traulich mit dämmerndem Schein Und ladest so freundlich ins Hüttchen uns ein. Vorüber, ach, ritt ich so manches Mal Und wär es denn heute zum letztenmal.
Ade, ihr Sterne, verhüllet Euch grau! Ade! Des Fensterlein trübes, verschimmerndes Licht Ersetzt Ihr unzähligen Sterne mir nicht, Darf ich hier nicht weilen, muß hier vorbei, Was hilft es, folgt ihr mir noch so treu.
Ihr
Bild
Poem by Heinrich Heine, 1826
Ich stand in dunkeln Träumen, Und starrt’ ihr Bildnis an, Und das geliebte Antlitz Heimlich zu leben begann.
Um ihre Lippen zog sich Ein Lächeln wunderbar, Und wie von Wehmutstränen Erglänzte ihr Augenpaar.
Auch meine Tränen flossen Mir von den Wangen herab –Und ach, ich kann es nicht glauben, Dass ich dich verloren hab’!
Farewell
Farewell, lively, cheerful town, farewell! Already my horse is happily pawing the ground. Take now my final, parting greeting. I know you have never seen me sad; nor will you now as I depart.
Farewell, trees and gardens so green, farewell! Now I ride along the silver stream; my song of farewell echoes far and wide. You have never heard a sad song; nor shall you do so at parting.
Farewell, charming maidens, farewell! Why do you look out with roguish, enticing eyes from houses fragrant with flowers? I greet you as before, and look back; but never will I turn my horse back.
Farewell, dear sun, as you go to rest, farewell! Now the stars twinkle with shimmering gold. How fond I am of you, little stars in the sky; though we travel the whole world, far and wide, everywhere you faithfully escort us.
Farewell, little window gleaming brightly, farewell! You shine so cosily with your soft light, and invite us so kindly into the cottage. Ah, I have ridden past you so often, and yet today might be the last time.
Farewell, stars, veil yourselves in grey! Farewell! You numberless stars cannot replace for us the little window’s dim, fading light, if I cannot linger here, if I must ride on, how can you help me, though you follow me so faithfully?
Her portrait
I stood in dark dreams, gazing at her picture, and that beloved face began mysteriously to come alive.
Around her lips played a wondrous smile, and her eyes glistened, as though with melancholy tears.
My tears, too, flowed down my cheeks. And oh – I cannot believe that I have lost you!
Please turn page quietly.
Der Atlas
Poem by Heinrich Heine, 1826
Ich unglücksel’ger Atlas, eine Welt, Die ganze Welt der Schmerzen muss ich tragen. Ich trage Unerträgliches, und brechen Will mir das Herz im Leibe.
Du stolzes Herz, du hast es ja gewollt, Du wolltest glücklich sein, unendlich glücklich, Oder unendlich elend, stolzes Herz, Und jetzo bist du elend.
Das Fischermädchen
Poem by Heinrich Heine, 1824
Du schönes Fischermädchen, Treibe den Kahn ans Land; Komm zu mir und setze dich nieder, Wir kosen Hand in Hand.
Leg an mein Herz dein Köpfchen, Und fürchte dich nicht zu sehr; Vertraust du dich doch sorglos Täglich dem wilden Meer.
Mein Herz gleicht ganz dem Meere, Hat Sturm und Ebb’ und Flut, Und manche schöne Perle In seiner Tiefe ruht.
Am Meer
Poem by Heinrich Heine, 1826
Das Meer erglänzte weit hinaus Im letzten Abendscheine; Wir saßen am einsamen Fischerhaus, Wir saßen stumm und alleine.
Der Nebel stieg, das Wasser schwoll, Die Möwe flog hin und wieder; Aus deinen Augen liebevoll Fielen die Tränen nieder.
Ich sah sie fallen auf deine Hand, Und bin auf’s Knie gesunken; Ich hab’ von deiner weißen Hand Die Tränen fortgetrunken.
Seit jener Stunde verzehrt sich mein Leib, Die Seele stirbt vor Sehnen; –Mich hat das unglückseel’ge Weib Vergiftet mit ihren Tränen.
I, unhappy Atlas, must bear a world, the whole world of sorrows. I bear the unbearable, and my heart would break within my body.
Proud heart, you wished it so! You wished to be happy, endlessly happy, or endlessly wretched, proud heart! And now you are wretched!
The fisher maiden
Lovely fisher maiden, guide your boat to the shore; come and sit beside me, and hand in hand we shall talk of love.
Lay your little head on my heart and do not be too afraid; for each day you trust yourself without fear to the turbulent sea.
My heart is just like the sea. It has its storms, its ebbs and its flows; and many a lovely pearl rests in its depths.
By the sea
The sea glittered far and wide in the sun’s dying rays; we sat by the fisherman’s lonely house; we sat silent and alone.
The mist rose, the waters swelled, a seagull flew to and fro; from your loving eyes the tears fell.
I saw them fall on your hand. I sank upon my knee; from your white hand I drank away the tears.
Since that hour my body is consumed and my soul dies of longing. That unhappy woman has poisoned me with her tears.
Die Stadt
Poem by Heinrich Heine, 1824
Am fernen Horizonte Erscheint, wie ein Nebelbild, Die Stadt mit ihren Türmen In Abenddämmrung gehüllt.
Ein feuchter Windzug kräuselt Die graue Wasserbahn; Mit traurigem Takte rudert Der Schiffer in meinem Kahn.
Die Sonne hebt sich noch einmal Leuchtend vom Boden empor, Und zeigt mir jene Stelle, Wo ich das Liebste verlor.
Der Doppelgänger
Poem by Heinrich Heine, 1824
Still ist die Nacht, es ruhen die Gassen, In diesem Hause wohnte mein Schatz; Sie hat schon längst die Stadt verlassen, Doch steht noch das Haus auf demselben Platz.
Da steht auch ein Mensch und starrt in die Höhe Und ringt die Hände vor Schmerzensgewalt; Mir graust es, wenn ich sein Antlitz sehe, Der Mond zeigt mir meine eigne Gestalt.
Du Doppelgänger, du bleicher Geselle, Was äffst du nach mein Liebesleid, Das mich gequält auf dieser Stelle So manche Nacht, in alter Zeit?
The town
On the distant horizon appears, like a misty vision, the town with its turrets, shrouded in dusk.
A damp wind ruffles the grey stretch of water. With mournful strokes the boatman rows my boat.
Radiant, the sun rises once more from the earth, and shows me that place where I lost my beloved.
The wraith
The night is still, the streets are at rest; in this house lived my sweetheart. She has long since left the town, but the house still stands on the selfsame spot.
A man stands there too, staring up, and wringing his hands in anguish; I shudder when I see his face –the moon shows me my own form!
You wraith, pallid companion, why do you ape the pain of my love which tormented me on this very spot, so many a night, in days long past?
ABOUT THE TEAM
JONAS KAUFMANN VOICE
Hailed as “the most important, versatile tenor of his generation” (The New York Times) Jonas Kaufmann has performed over 70 roles in the world’s leading opera houses. His repertoire includes the operas of Puccini (Tosca , Turandot, La Fanciulla del West), Verdi (Don Carlo, La Forza del Destino, Aida , Otello), Wagner (Lohengrin , Tannhäuser, Die Walküre, Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal ), Massenet (Werther), Bizet (Carmen), and Britten (Peter Grimes) as well as operetta, oratorio, art song, neapolitan, and pop songs. One of today’s greatest interpreters of Lieder repertoire, Kaufmann is also in very high demand in concert. His long-standing partnership with pianist Helmut Deutsch is proven by both their work in the recording studio and on the stage, including at the Met in October 2011, marking the first solo recital at the opera house since Pavarotti’s appearance there in 1994. His performances and recordings have earned him multiple honors and awards including the Gramophone Award, eleven ECHO/OPUS Klassik awards, and “Singer of the Year” from multiple classical music magazines including Opernwelt, Diapason , and Musical America . Kaufmann has been knighted as a “Chevalier de l’Ordre de l’Art et des Lettres” and named “Kammersänger” in Bavaria and Austria.
HELMUT DEUTSCH PIANO
Helmut Deutsch ranks among the finest, most successful, and indemand song recital accompanists in the world. He was born in Vienna, where he studied at the Conservatory, Music Academy, and University. He was awarded the Composition Prize of Vienna in 1965 and appointed professor at the age of twenty-four. Although he has performed with leading instrumentalists as a chamber musician, he has concentrated primarily on accompanying in song recitals. At the beginning of his career, he worked with the soprano Irmgard Seefried, but the most important singer of his early years was Hermann Prey, whom he accompanied as a permanent partner for twelve years. Subsequently he has worked with many of the most important recital singers and played in the world’s major music centers. His collaborations with Jonas Kaufmann, Diana Damrau, and Michael Volle are currently among his most important.
CLAUS GUTH DIRECTION
Stage director Claus Guth is widely recognized as one of the most esteemed artists of his generation. Born in Frankfurt, he completed his studies in Munich before embarking on a remarkable career. In 1999, Guth achieved international breakthrough status when he directed the world premiere of Luciano Berio’s Cronaca del Luogo at the Salzburg Festival. Guth’s work extends to prominent opera houses, including the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Bayreuth Festival, Zurich Opera, La Scala, Wiener Staatsoper, Staatsoper Berlin, De Nationale Opera, Teatro Real, Opéra National de Paris, Féstival d’Aix-en-Provence, Royal Opera House, Bolshoi Theatre, Met Opera, and more. Select directorial credits include: Pelléas et Mélisande, Don Giovanni, Lohengrin , Tannhäuser, Elektra , Der Rosenkavalier, Handel’s Messiah, Schubert’s Lazarus, Monteverdi trilogy, Rodelinda , and Salome. Contemporary opera work includes: Lullaby Experience with Ensemble Moderne; Pascal Dusapin’s Dante and the world premiere of his Il Viaggio (Féstival d’Aix-en-Provence, 2022); Violetter Schnee
(Staatsoper Berlin); the world premiere of Chaya Czernowin’s Heart Chamber (Deutsche Oper); and Bluthaus, featuring music by Georg Friedrich Haas (Bayerische Staatsoper). He has earnd two “Faust” prizes, a 2022 Olivier Award for Best Production for his Jenufa at the Royal Opera House, and the 2023 Opera Award for Best Director.
MATHIS NITSCHKE ORIGINAL MUSIC AND SOUND COMPOSITION
Mathis Nitschke is an artist who works between disciplines. He combines his studies of classical guitar, liberal arts, and music composition with theater and opera, as well as also coding for some years. In collaboration with artists from various disciplines, Nitschke tries to give contemporary music theater a new face. With his longtime collaborator lighting designer and director Urs Schönebaum, he has created the operas JETZT (2012) and HAPPY HAPPY (2014), commissioned by l’Opéra national de Montpellier. As a composing director, he created MAYA (2017), a pioneering Mixed-RealityTechno-Opera discussing the central questions of post-humanity. In the ruins of a former heating plant near Munich, Nitschke created a virtual cosmos parallel to the real world, on the basis of sound, music, augmented reality technology, and digital art. As a 3D sound nerd, he creates interactive orchestral soundwalk apps for smartphones, e.g., in collaboration with the Müncher Philharmoniker.
MICHAEL LEVINE SET DESIGN
Trained at Central Saint Martins and winner of Designer of the Year at the International Opera Awards 2022. Opera includes: The Magic Flute, Parsifal , Madama Butterfly, Eugene Onegin , Mefistofele (The Metropolitan Opera); Madama Butterfly (Bregenz); Turandot (Amsterdam); Semele, The Cunning Little Vixen (Bayerische Staatsoper); Peter Grimes (Opéra de Paris, Royal Opera House, Teatro Real Madrid); Billy Budd (ROH, Teatro Real Madrid); Jenufa (ROH); Iphigénie en Tauride, The Queen of Spades, Madama Butterfly, Wozzek, Sweeney Todd (Zürich); The Rape of Lucretia , L’incoronazione di Poppea (Glyndebourne); Rusalka , Capriccio, Elektra (Opéra de Paris); Madam Butterfly, Between Worlds, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (English National Opera); Don Giovanni (La Scala); A Dog’s Heart (Lyon, Amsterdam, ENO, La Scala); and Candide (Paris, La Scala, ENO). Theater includes: The Seagull (Stockholm); A Disappearing Number, The Elephant Vanishes, The Encounter, Mnemonic (Complicité); and The Beautiful Game (West End).
CONSTANCE HOFFMAN COSTUME DESIGN
Constance Hoffman has designed costumes for opera, dance, and theater regionally, internationally, and in New York City. Her credits include collaborations with theater artists such as Julie Taymor, Mark Lamos, Eliot Feld, and Mikhail Barshnikov; opera directors Robert Carsen, David Alden, Christopher Alden, Keith Warner; and entertainer Bette Midler. Her work has been seen on many stages in New York City including the Public Theatre, the Joyce, New York City Opera, Theatre for a New Audience, the Cort Theatre, and Second Stage. Hoffman’s collaborations in opera have taken her to the Glyndebourne Festival, Paris Opera, Bayerische Staastoper,
Royal Opera House, Bregenzer Festspiele, and Tokyo Opera Nomori, among others. Recent projects are Der Fliegende Holländer for Santa Fe Opera and the world premiere of John Adams’ Antony and Cleopatra at San Francisco Opera, opening this October at the Liceu in Barcelona and at the Metropolitan Opera in 2024. Hoffman is an Arts Professor in the Department of Design for Stage and Film at the Tisch School of the Arts.
URS SCHÖNEBAUM LIGHTING DESIGN
Following a photography apprenticeship in Munich, Urs Schönebaum worked in the Münchner Kammerspiele lighting department under Max Keller. In 1998, he served as Assistant Director for productions at Grand Theatre de Genève, Lincoln Center, and Münchner Kammerspiele and in 2000 began his lighting design career in opera, theater, dance, art installations, and performances. He has worked with stage directors including Pierre Audi, Claus Guth, Laurent Pelly, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Damien Jalet, Sacha Waltz, Thomas Ostermeier, La Fura dels Baus, Michael Haneke, and Robert Wilson. His work includes also lighting designs for art projects with Vanessa Beecroft, Anselm Kiefer, Dan Graham, Taryn Simon, Soundwalk Collective, William Kentridge, and Marina Abramović. Set and lighting designs include: Bomarzo (Teatro Real); Aus Licht (Holland Festival); Apocalypse Arabe (Féstival d’Aix-en-Provence); Klangwolke 22 (Linz); and Bastarda! (La Monnaie). As set designer and director: Jetzt, What Next?, and Happy Happy (Opéra national de Montpellier); and the second act of the Walküre Project (Staatsoper Stuttgart, 2022).
MARK GREY SOUND DESIGN
Mark Grey is an Emmy Award-winning sound designer and composer who made history as the first sound designer for the New York Philharmonic (On the Transmigration of Souls, 2002, which also won the Pulitzer Prize in Music) and The Met Opera (Doctor Atomic, 2008; Nixon in China , 2011; Death of Klinghoffer, 2014; The Merry Widow, 2015; Bluebeard’s Castle/Iolanta , 2015; L’Amour de Loin , 2016). His grand opera, Frankenstein , recently premiered at La Monnaie in Brussels and his mobile chamber opera, Birds In The Moon , with the New York Philharmonic in 2021. He also has had several commissions from the Atlanta Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has collaborated with composer John Adams and several others for nearly three decades. His sound designs have been heard throughout most major concert halls, HD simulcast theaters, and opera houses worldwide.
ROCAFILM VIDEO DESIGN
Film and video production company rocafilm was founded in 2010 by Carmen Maria Zimmermann and Roland Horvath. Their work focuses on documentaries and video production for opera and theater. They have collaborated with directors such as Damiano Michieletto, Luc Bondy, Vera Nemirova, Robert Carsen, Jürgen Flimm, and Roland Villazon, creating videos for theaters including the Salzburg Festival, Theater an der Wien, La Fenice, La Scala, National Opera of Amsterdam, Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, Teatro Real in Madrid, Opéra national de Paris, Féstival Aixen-Provence, among others. With Claus Guth: Michael Jarrell’s
Bérénice (Opéra de Paris); Orlando (Theater an der Wien); Chaya Czernowin’s Heart Chamber (Deutsche Oper Berlin); Salome (Bolshoi Theatre); Jenufa (Royal Opera House, 2022 Olivier Award for Best Production); Bluthaus featuring music by Georg Friedrich Haas (Bayerische Staatsoper); Pascal Dusapin’s Il Viaggio, Dante (Féstival d’Aix-en-Provence); and Don Carlo (Teatro San Carlo, Naples).
SOMMER ULRICKSON MOVEMENT DIRECTION
Sommer Ulrickson was born in California, and in 1998, she relocated to Berlin with the prestigious Chancellor’s Fellowship. She works as a director and choreographer on a wide range of projects. This includes choreography for opera and creating new works. The focus of these creations is the intertwining of music, dance, theater, and visual art. Recent examples include works with cellist Alban Gerhardt at 92NY, the early music ensemble Phantasm in the Pierre Boulez Saal Berlin, and sculptor Alexander Polzin, respectively. She has worked at various venues including the Paris Opera, Dutch National Opera, Staatsoper Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, The Aldeburgh Music Festival, and the Bolshoi Theater. Her next projects will take her to the Staatsoper Wien, Korea National Opera, and Féstival d’Aix-en-Provence. Doppelganger is the continuation of a long fruitful partnership with Claus Guth.
YVONNE GEBAUER DRAMATURGY, ASSOCIATE DIRECTION
Yvonne Gebauer was born in 1972 and studied German philology, philosophy, and religious studies at the Freie Universität Berlin. Since 1998 she has worked as a dramaturg for theater and opera. She regularly collaborated with directors Hans Neuenfels, Kazuko Wanatabe, Claus Guth, Christof Loy, and Nadja Loschky, and has also worked with Johan Simons, Frank Hilbrich, Tobias Kratzer, David Hermann, and Amélie Niemayer. She has lectured on dramaturgy at the Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaft Hamburg and in Erich Wonder’s class at the Akademie für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna. She taught in Amélie Niermeyer’s class at the Salzburg Mozarteum, at the Musikhochschule Hanns Eisler in Berlin, and the Kunsthochschule Berlin Weissensee. From 2001-8 Gebauer worked as a freelance writer in the literature department of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, and from 2009-18 she was an image dramaturg for Bavarian State Opera and the picture editor of the in-house magazine Max Joseph.
RONNY DIETRICH MUSICAL DRAMATURGY
Ronny Dietrich, born in Frankfurt am Main in 1956, has worked as a dramaturg since 1981, first in the concert area at the Alte Oper Frankfurt (1981-85) and at the Wiener Konzerthaus (1985-90), then as an opera dramaturg in Kiel (1990-93) and at the Zurich Opera House in a managerial position (1993-2012). From 2012 to 2016 she headed the dramaturgy and publications department at the Salzburg Festival. Since 2002 she has been working closely with the team Claus Guth/Christian Schmidt, with whom she elaborated numerous productions at the Zurich Opera House as well as new productions for the Theater an der Wien, Salzburg Festival, Gran Teatre del Liceu, La Scala in Milan, and the Glyndebourne Festival. Conversations
with musical luminaries such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Franz Welser-Möst have resulted in more than 20 years of productionaccompanying contributions for program books, magazines, and CD recordings.
JUANA INÉS CANO RESTREPO ASSISTANT DIRECTION
Juana Inés Cano Restrepo was born in 1991 in Graz, Austria, where she began her artistic career as an assistant director at the age of 19. She made her directorial debut with Il Segreto di Suanna in 2016 and has staged numerous productions in Germany, Austria, and Latvia since then. This season she directs La Bohème, Maria de Buenos Aires, and Die Stimme der Meerjungfrau (The Voice of the Mermaid), a world premiere she is not only staging but also serving as co-writer the libretto. She has been collaborating with Claus Guth since 2019, working together on Orlando, Salome, and Bluthaus.
DYLAN EVANS ASSISTANT DIRECTION
Dylan Evans is a Brooklyn-based stage director at the Metropolitan Opera. He is also a frequent guest stage director at Chicago Opera Theater, where recent credits include Aleko, Everest, and Król Roger. Evans studied Music Performance and German Literature at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music.
ILKER ARCAYÜREK U/S VOICE*
Born in Istanbul and raised in Vienna, tenor Ilker Arcayürek has emerged as an exciting and versatile vocal artist, hailed for his “golden tenor” (Opera Now Magazine) and establishing himself “in a class of his own” (The Guardian). Awards include: winner, Hugo Wolf Academy International Art Song Competition; finalist, 2015 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World; BBC Radio 3 New Generation
Artist. He was also selected to perform at Ronaldo Vilazon’s “Stars of Tomorrow” for ARTE. Solo recordings include: “Der Einsame,” featuring Schubert songs accompanied by Simon Lepper (Champs Hill Records, 2017); and “Path of Life,” also with Lepper, nominated for two Opus Klassik Awards (Prospero Classical).
MICHAŁ BIEL REHEARSAL PIANO*
Polish collaborative pianist Michał Biel has performed at London’s Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Berlin Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Oper Frankfurt, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, and Polish National Opera, among others. He regularly collaborates with countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński, giving notable recitals at the Verbier, Life Victoria, and Lacoste Pierre Cardin festivals. He has released recordings with Orlinski, bass Alexander Rosen, and soprano Alexandra Nowakowski. Biel has earned awards at the International Hugo Wolf Song, Stanisław Moniuszko International, Grand Prix de l’Opéra, and Ludomir Różycki National competitions. Coaches and lectures at Juilliard, Internationale Meistersinger Akademie, Chautauqua School of Music, Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music, and Polish National Opera. Juilliard graduate.
GILLIAN SMITH CASTING, ENSEMBLE
As Director of Actors and Dancers at the Metropolitan Opera, Smith has collaborated with world-renowned directors and choreographers to cast over 75 productions. Past productions include Così fan tutte, Akhnaten , Porgy and Bess, The Hours, Champion , and Die Zauberflöte Upcoming productions include Dead Man Walking, Florencia en el Amazonas, Carmen , and X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X . Smith’s other casting work includes New York Philharmonic’s 2019 double bill of Erwartung and Bluebeard’s Castle.
*Appearing in the student matinee performance on September 26.
NURSES
Jacqueline Calle
Ayaka Kamei
Nicole Leung
Belinda McGuire
Louisa Pancoast
Laila Rosen
SOLDIERS
Xavier Alexander
Nile Baker
Mateus Barbosa da Silva
Jonathan Colafrancesco
Evan Copeland
Benjamin Freedman
Paul Giarratano
Michael Greenberg
Nicholas Korkos
Rayan Lecurieux-Durival
Mcgee Maddox
PRODUCTION CREDITS
PRODUCTION STAFF
Samantha Greene Production Stage Manager
Hannah Woodward, Mickey Acton
Assistant Stage Managers
Kanako Morita Company Manager
Amanda Harris Assistant Company Manager
Janneurys Colon, Silas Rodriguez
Production Assistants
Julius Abrahams Page Turner
Nicholas Houfek Lighting Supervisor
Dave “Tater” Polato Production Electrician
Taylor C. Jensen Lighting Programmer
Andrew Carey Deck Electrician
Ciara McAloon, Omri Schwartz
Followspot Operators
Andrew Lulling Audio Engineer
Jeffery Rowell Production Audio
Kourtney Barber A2
Andrew Gusciora Video Programmer and Engineer
Daniel Santamaria Production Video
Carl Whipple Production Carpenter
Justin Hill Head Deck Carpenter
Mikey Stevens, Joe Pietropaolo Deck Carpenters
Stephen Pucci Production Rigger
Megan Rutherford Associate Costume Design
Victoria Bek Costume Supervisor
Caitlynne Simonton, Jazmine Cuire Dressers
Charlotte Bravin Lee Makeup Artist
Madison Frie Hair Artist
Lauren Page Russell Props Supervisor
Theodore Sarge Seating Supervisor
Celeste Alexander Supertitle Operator
Olivier Medus
Isaiah Newby
Mark Osmundsen
Babou Sanneh
Andy Santana
Marcus Sarjeant
Quincy Southerland
Reza Tabassi
Matthew Michael Uriniak
Brandon Woods
Huiwang Zhang
PRODUCTION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
BNW Rigging
Covey Law
Five Ohm Productions
Premier Stagehands
Mind the Gap
Audio Equipment by Masque Sound
Lighting, Rigging, and Video Equipment by 4Wall Entertainment
Scenic Painting by Jacob Caire and Anna Fredrick
Special Construction by Tom Carroll Scenery, Inc.
Special Effects by J&M Special Effects
Seating Equipment by SteelDeck NY, Inc.
Wig by Charles G. LaPointe
Makeup by Sarah Cimino
Steinway & Sons
SPECIAL THANKS
Monika Rittershaus
ABOUT PARK AVENUE ARMORY
Part palace, part industrial shed, Park Avenue Armory supports unconventional works in the performing and visual arts that cannot be fully realized in a traditional proscenium theater, concert hall, or white wall gallery. With its soaring 55,000-square-foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall—reminiscent of 19th-century European train stations—and an array of exuberant period rooms, the Armory provides a platform for artists to push the boundaries of their practice, collaborate across disciplines, and create new work in dialogue with the historic building. Across its grand and intimate spaces, the Armory enables a diverse range of artists to create, students to explore, and audiences to experience epic, adventurous, relevant work that cannot be done elsewhere in New York.
The Armory both commissions and presents performances and installations in the grand Drill Hall and offers more intimate programming through its acclaimed Recital Series, which showcases musical talent from across the globe within the salon setting of the Board of Officers Room; its Artists Studio series curated by Jason Moran in the restored Veterans Room; Making Space at the Armory, a public programming series that brings together a discipline-spanning group of artists and cultural thought-leaders around the important issues of our time; and the Malkin
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Chairman Emeritus
Elihu Rose, PhD
Co-Chairs
Adam R. Flatto
Amanda J.T. Riegel
President
Rebecca Robertson
Vice Presidents
David Fox
Pablo Legorreta
Emanuel Stern
Treasurer
Emanuel Stern
Marina Abramović
Abigail Baratta
Joyce F. Brown
Cora Cahan
Hélène Comfort
Paul Cronson
Jonathan Davis
Tina R. Davis
Jessie Ding
Sanford B. Ehrenkranz
Roberta Garza
Andrew Gundlach
Samhita Jayanti
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Lecture Series that features presentations by scholars and writers on topics related to Park Avenue Armory and its history. In addition, the Armory also has a year-round Artists-in-Residence program, providing space and support for artists to create new work and expand their practices.
The Armory’s creativity-based arts education programs provide access to the arts to thousands of students from underserved New York City public schools, engaging them with the institution’s artistic programming and outside-the-box creative processes. Through its education initiatives, the Armory provides access to all Drill Hall performances, workshops taught by Master Teaching Artists, and in-depth residencies that support the schools’ curriculum. Youth Corps, the Armory’s year-round paid internship program, begins in high school and continues into the critical post-high school years, providing interns with mentored employment, job training, and skill development, as well as a network of peers and mentors to support their individual college and career goals.
The Armory is undergoing a multi-phase renovation and restoration of its historic building led by architects Herzog & de Meuron, with Platt Byard Dovell White as Executive Architects.
Avant Garde Chair
Adrienne Katz
Directors Emeriti
Harrison M. Bains, Jr.
Angela E. Thompson
Wade F.B. Thompson, Founding Chairman, 2000-2009
Pierre Audi,
Marina Kellen French Artistic Director
Edward G. Klein, Brigadier General NYNG (Ret.)
Ralph Lemon
Jason Moran
Janet C. Ross
Joan Steinberg
Peter Zhou
PARK AVENUE ARMORY STAFF
Rebecca Robertson Adam R. Flatto Founding President and Executive Producer
Pierre Audi Marina Kellen French Artistic Director
ARTISTIC PLANNING & PROGRAMMING
Michael Lonergan Chief Artistic Producer
Kevin Condardo General Manager, Programming
Rachel Rosado Producer
Samantha Cortez Producer
Darian Suggs Associate Director, Public Programming
Kanako Morita Associate Producer / Company Manager
Oscar Peña Programming Coordinator
ARTISTIC PRODUCTION
Paul E. King Director of Production
Claire Marberg Deputy Director of Production
Nicholas Lazzaro Technical Director
Lars Nelson Technical Director
Aidan Nelson Technical Director
Rachel Baumann Production Coordinator
ARTS EDUCATION
Cassidy L. Jones Chief Education Officer
Monica Weigel McCarthy Director of Education
Aarti Ogirala Associate Director of Education, School Programs
Nadia Parfait School Programs Coordinator
Ciara Ward Youth Corps Manager
Bev Vega Youth Corps Manager
Drew Petersen Education Special Projects Manager
Emily Bruner, Donna Costello, Alexander Davis, Asma Feyijinmi, Hawley Hussey, Larry Jackson, Hector Morales, Peter Musante, Drew Petersen, Leigh Poulos, Neil Tyrone Pritchard, Vickie Tanner Teaching Artists
Wilson Castro, Shar Galarza, Daniel Gomez, Nancy K. Gomez, Maxim Ibadov, Stephanie Mesquita, Amo Ortiz Teaching Associates
Arabia Elliot Currence, Victoria Fernandez, Sebastian Harris, Melissa Velasquez Teaching Apprentices
Kenny Amesquita, Nat Banaszek, Eden Battice, Adwoa Boateng, Vicky Braga
Dos Santos Casey, Wildany Ferol, Adonai Fletcher-Jones, Lolo Iberle, Mia Kokilashvili, Sheena Luke, Sofia Maza, Oscar Montenegro, Kelsy Padilla, Silas Rodriguez, Fahmida Rimpa, Denivia Rivera, Arley Suarez, AJ Volkov Youth Corps
BUILDING AND MANAGEMENT OPERATIONS
Jenni Kim Chief Operating Officer
Ashlee Willaman Director of Human Resources
Marc Von Braunsberg Director of Operations and Security
Paul Sutter Director of Facilities and Capital Projects
David Burnhauser Collection Manager
Frank Duda Facilities Manager
Emma Paton Administrative and Office Coordinator Williams Say Superintendent
Jason Moran Curator, Artists Studio Tavia Nyong’o Curator, Public Programming
Olga Cruz, Leandro Dasso, Mayra DeLeon, Mario Esquilin, Jeferson
Avila, Branden Fell, Jacob Garrity, Kariema Levy, Tyrell Shannon Castillo
Maintenance Staff
Oku Okoko Director of IT
Ethan Cohen IT Administrator
Natasha Norton Director of House Management
Alejandra Ortiz House Manager
Jacqueline Babek, Emma Buford, Sarah Gallick, Daniel Gomez, Eboni Green, Maxim Ibadov, Sandra Kitt, Christine Lemme, Beth Miller, Jon Ovadia, Regina Pearsall, Ava Probst, Shimel Purnell, Gloriveht Ortiz, Eileen Rourke, Heather Sandler, Michael Simon, Kin Tam, Kathleen White Ushers
DEVELOPMENT
Melanie Forman Chief Development Officer
Charmaine Portis Executive Assistant to the Chief Development Officer
Sarah Rodriguez Director of Development
Chiara Bosco Individual Giving Coordinator
Angel Genares Manager of Institutional Giving
Kelly Carr Associate Director of Special Events
Séverine Kaufman Special Events Manager
Michael Buffer Database Manager
EXECUTIVE OFFICE
Lori Nelson Executive Assistant to the President
Nathalie Etienne Administrative Assistant, President’s Office
Simone Elhart Rental Events and Project Manager
FINANCE
Jim McGlynn Chief Financial Officer
Khemraj Dat Accounting Manager
Zeinebou Dia Junior Accountant
MARKETING, COMMUNICATIONS, AND BOX OFFICE
Tom Trayer Chief Marketing Officer
Nick Yarbrough Senior Digital Marketing Manager
Allison Abbott Press and Editorial Manager
Joe Petrowski Director of Ticketing and Customer Relations
Monica Diaz Box Office Manager
John Hooper Box Office Lead
Victor Daniel Ayala, Isabelle Graham, Sarah Jack, Max Komisar, Mary McDonnell, Michelle Meged, Maeghan Suzik Box Office Associates Resnicow + Associates, Inc. Press Representatives
armoryonpark.org
NEXT AT THE ARMORY
MUTANT;DESTRUDO
OCTOBER 11 — 15
World Premiere, A Park Avenue Armory Commission
Directed by Arca , Mutant;Destrudo congregates her close friends and collaborators around a shared vision of creating space to allow for deconstruction of preconceptions. This ambitious new project is steeped in electronic music sound design to induce various states of embodied physicality and synthesize new ways to mediate both the ego and identity at large. The resulting Armory commission continues her ongoing practice of creating instances which merge all forms of creative practice, reexamining the ritual of the concert as a moment of heightened connection between those present.
THE RITE OF SPRING / COMMON GROUND[S]
NOVEMBER 29 — DECEMBER 14
New York Premiere
Faithful to Stravinsky’s visceral score, Pina Bausch ’s monumental choreography is given a thrilling new life by a specially assembled company of 36 dancers from 14 African countries. Danced on a peatcovered stage, they clash and engage in a wild and poetic struggle of life, ritual, and sacrifice that pays tribute to her unparalleled genius. Rite is paired with a new work created, performed, and inspired by the lives of two remarkable choreographers, professors, and grandmothers:
Germaine Acogny, the founder of the Senegalese École des Sables who is widely considered to be “the mother of contemporary African dance,” and Malou Airuado, who performed leading roles in many of Bausch’s early works as a member of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. This poetic and tender antidote to Rite reflects their shared histories, emotional experiences, and common ground.
MAKING SPACE AT THE ARMORY CORPUS DELECTI
OCTOBER 14
At a moment of maximum anxiety and backlash over the fundamental human rights to autonomy, expressivity, modification, and self-transformation of the body, this group of artists, activists, and intellectuals gathered by the NYC Trans Oral History Project imagines and enacts transgender art and music as a vehicle for dialogue across differences.
RECITAL SERIES SANDBOX PERCUSSION
OCTOBER 1 & 3
Sandbox Percussion’s unique mix of youthful energy with the precision of a well-established group is on full display in the Veterans Room with a lively program that vibrantly underscores their solid technique, rhythmical musicality, and lively showmanship, including a world premiere piece by Chris Cerrone commissioned by the Armory and the New York premiere of Viet Cuong’s Next Week’s Trees.
KATE LINDSEY & JUSTINA LEE
OCTOBER 16 & 17
One of the most promising voices of her generation, mezzo soprano Kate Lindsey performs on the intimate Board of Officers Room stage in a program of works by Schumann, Fauré, and Sondheim that beautifully highlights her vivacious musicality, agile technique, and unmatched command of an audience.
ARTISTS STUDIO THE AACM: POWER STRONGER THAN ITSELF, A TALK BY GEORGE E. LEWIS
NOVEMBER 18
Founded on the virtually all-Black South Side of Chicago in 1965 and still active today, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians has played an unusually prominent role in the development of American experimental music, exploring an unprecedented range of methodologies, processes, and media. Scholar-composer George E. Lewis, Professor of Music at Columbia University and an AACM member since 1971, presents an historical overview of the works of the famed collective.
THE REGGIE NICHOLSON PERCUSSION CONCEPT NOVEMBER
18
Inventive percussionist Reggie Nicholson performs some of his recent works and world premieres for percussion ensemble, displaying his “exquisite splashes of color and unmetered cascades on the drums” (Chicago Tribune) with his ensemble, the Reggie Nicholson Percussion Concept.
JOIN THE ARMORY
Become a Park Avenue Armory member and join us in our mission to present unconventional works that cannot be fully realized elsewhere in New York City. Members play an important role in helping us push the boundaries of creativity and expression.
FRIEND $100
$64 is tax deductible
• 10% discount on tickets to all Armory tours and performances*
• 20% discount on member subscription packages*
• Invitations to member preview party for visual art installations
• Complimentary admission for two to visual art installations
• Access to the Membership Hotline for ticket assistance
• Discounts at local partnered restaurants
SUPPORTER $250
$194 is tax deductible
All benefits of the Friend membership plus:
• Fees waived on ticket exchanges*
• Two free tickets to Armory Public Tours***
• Invitation to annual Member Event
ASSOCIATE $500
$348 is tax deductible
All benefits of the Supporter membership plus:
• Complimentary admission for two additional guests (a total of four) to visual art installations and member preview party
• Two free passes to annual fairs held at the Armory, such as TEFAF, The Art Show, Salon Art + Design, etc.**
• Access to the Patron Lounge at select productions
BENEFACTOR $1,000
$824 is tax deductible
All benefits of the Associate membership plus:
• Recognition in Armory printed programs
• No-wait ticket pick up at the patron desk
• Handling fees waived on ticket purchases*
• Invitation for you and a guest to a private Chairman’s Circle event
• Two complimentary tickets to the Malkin Lecture Series*
CHAIRMAN’S CIRCLE
starting at $2,500
Chairman’s Circle members provide vital support for the Armory’s immersive arts and education programming and the restoration of our landmark building. In grateful appreciation of their support, they are provided unique and exclusive opportunities to experience the Armory and interact with our world-class artists.
AVANT-GARDE
starting at $350
The Avant-Garde is a group for adventurous art enthusiasts in their 20s to early 40s. Members enjoy an intimate look at Armory productions, as well as invitations to forward-thinking art events around New York City.
Each membership applies to one household, and one membership card is mailed upon membership activation.
For information on ticketing, or to purchase tickets, please contact the Box Office at (212) 933-5812 or visit us at armoryonpark.org.
*Subject to ticket availability
For more information about membership, please contact the Membership Office at (212) 616-3958 or members@armoryonpark.org.
**Certain restrictions apply
armoryonpark.org
***Reservations required
ARTISTIC COUNCIL
Co-Chairs
Noreen Buckfire
Lisa Miller
Anonymous (2)
Anne-Victoire Auriault / Goldman
Sachs Gives
Abigail and Joseph Baratta
Noreen and Ken Buckfire
Hélène and Stuyvesant Comfort
Caroline and Paul Cronson
Courtney and Jonathan Davis
Jessie Ding and Ning Jin
Lisa and Sanford B. Ehrenkranz
LEGACY CIRCLE
Founding Members
Angela and Wade F.B. Thompson
Co-Chairs
Lisa and Sanford B. Ehrenkranz
Marjorie and Gurnee Hart
PATRONS
$1,000,000 +
Charina Endowment Fund
Citi
Empire State Local Development Corporation
Adam R. Flatto
Marina Kellen French
Barbara and Andrew Gundlach
Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, Inc.
Mr. and Mrs. Peter L. Malkin and The Malkin Fund, Inc.
Richard and Ronay Menschel
New York City Council and Council Member
Daniel R. Garodnick
New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
New York State Assemblymember Dan Quart and the New York State Assembly
The Pershing Square Foundation
Susan and Elihu Rose
The Arthur Ross Foundation and J & AR Foundation
The Artistic Council is a leadership group that champions and supports groundbreaking “only at the Armory” productions.
Joan Smilow and Joel Smilow*
The Thompson Family Foundation
Wade F.B. Thompson*
The Zelnick/Belzberg Charitable Trust
Anonymous
The Lehoczky Escobar Family
Adam R. Flatto
Roberta Garza
Lorraine Gallard and Richard H. Levy
Barbara and Peter Georgescu
Kim and Jeff Greenberg
Barbara and Andrew Gundlach
Anita K. Hersh
Samhita and Ignacio Jayanti
Wendy Keys
Kameron Kordestani
Fernand Lamesch
Almudena and Pablo Legorreta
Christina and Alan MacDonald
Lily O’Boyle
Valerie Pels
Amanda J.T. and Richard E. Riegel
Susan and Elihu Rose
Janet C. Ross
Caryn Schacht and David Fox
Brian S. Snyder
Joan and Michael Steinberg
John and Lisa Miller
Emanuel Stern
Jon Stryker and Slobodan Randjelović
Merryl and James Tisch
Saundra Whitney
Peter Zhou and Lisa Lee
The Armory’s Legacy Circle is a group of individuals who support Park Avenue Armory through a vitally important source of future funding, a planned gift. These gifts will help support the Armory’s outside-the-box artistic programming, Arts Education Programs, and historic preservation into the future.
Members
The Estate of Ginette Becker
Wendy Belzberg and Strauss Zelnick
Emme and Jonathan Deland
Lisa and Sanford B. Ehrenkranz
Adam R. Flatto
Roberta Garza
Marjorie and Gurnee Hart
Ken Kuchin
Heidi McWilliams
Michelle Perr
Amanda Riegel
Rebecca Robertson and Byron Knief
Susan and Elihu Rose
Francesca Schwartz
Joan and Michael Steinberg
Angela and Wade F.B. Thompson
Park Avenue Armory expresses its deep appreciation to the individuals and organizations listed here for their generous support for its annual and capital campaigns.
$500,000 to $999,999
Bloomberg Philanthropies
Lisa and Sanford B. Ehrenkranz
Almudena and Pablo Legorreta
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Adam R. Rose and Peter R. McQuillan
Donna and Marvin Schwartz
Emanuel Stern
Anonymous
$250,000 to $499,999
American Express
Abigail and Joseph Baratta
Michael Field
Ken Kuchin and Tyler Morgan
The Rockefeller Foundation
Marshall Rose Family Foundation
$100,000 to $249,999
The Achelis and Bodman Foundations
R. Mark and Wendy Adams
Linda and Earle Altman
Booth Ferris Foundation
Hélène and Stuyvesant Comfort
Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels
Courtney and Jonathan Davis
Jessie Ding and Ning Jin
Roberta Garza
Howard Gilman Foundation
Marjorie and Gurnee Hart
Anita K. Hersh
Samhita and Ignacio Jayanti
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Leonard & Judy Lauder Fund
Mr. and Mrs. Lester Morse
New York State Assembly
New York State Council on the Arts
Stavros Niarchos Foundation
Donald Pels Charitable Trust
Slobodan Randjelović and Jon Stryker
Robert Brawer
Dr. Joyce F. Brown and Mr. H. Carl McCall
Amanda M. Burden
Mary and Brad Burnham
Michael Clifford and Robert Levy
Ben Cohen
Orla Coleman and Rikki Tahta
Joyce B. Cowin
Irene Danilovich
David Schwartz Foundation, Inc.
Jennie L. and Richard K. DeScherer
Jeanne Donovan Fisher
Peggy and Millard Drexler Family Foundation
Douglas and Susanne Durst
Caryl S. Englander
Dr. Nancy Eppler-Wolff and Mr. John Wolff
The Felicia Fund
Andrew and Theresa Fenster
Jill and Michael J. Franco
Amandine Freidheim
Mary Ann Fribourg
Bart Friedman and Wendy A. Stein
Martin and Lauren Geller
Heather & Andrew Georges
The Georgetown Company
Elizabeth and David Granville-Smith
Dedrea and Paul Gray
Great Performances
Guenther Greiner
Allen and Deborah Grubman
George and Patty Grunebaum
Tania Higgins
Adrienne Katz
Claire King
The David L. Klein, Jr. Foundation
Jill and Peter Kraus
Sheila and Bill Lambert
Kate Lauprete
Julia Ledda and Hassan Taher
Gail and Alan Levenstein
The Honorable and Mrs. Earle I Mack
Shelly and Tony Malkin
Marian Goodman Gallery
Joyce F. Menschel
James and Margo Nederlander
Jesse and Stéphanie Newhouse
Elyse and Michael Newhouse
Anna Nikolayevsky
Lynn Nottage and Tony Gerber
Arlena Olsten
David Orentreich, MD / Orentreich Family Foundation
PBDW Architects
Susan Porter
Preserve New York, a grant program of Preservation
League of New York
Frances A. Resheske
Frank Richardson and Kimbra Wood
Richenthal Foundation
Robert Rosen and Dr. Dale Atkins Rosen
Ida and William Rosenthal Foundation
Robyn and Seymour Sammell
Susan Savitsky
Sara Lee and Axel Schupf
David Schwartz Foundation Inc.
Matthew and Stephanie Sharp
Denise Simon and Paulo Vieira da Cunha
Lea Simonds
Patricia Brown Specter
Doug C. Steiner
Michael & Allison Stillman
Michael and Veronica Stubbs
Michael Tuch Foundation
L.F. Turner
Cynthia and Jan van Eck
Alyssa Varadhan
Theodora Velys
Bob Vila and Diana Barrett
Cristina von Bargen and Jonathan McHardy
Anastasia Vournas and J. William Uhrig
Mr. and Mrs. Stanford Warshawsky
Isak and Rose Weinman Foundation, Inc.
Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, GRoW @ Annenberg
Gary and Nina Wexler
Valda Witt and Jay Hatfield
Lisa and David Wolf
Eric Altmann
Ksenia Anisimova
Dr. Lora Aroyo
Catherine S.G. Atterbury
Edward and Elizabeth Baker
Barbara and Jude Barbera
Laurie G Beckelman
Stefan Beckman
Judy and Howard Berkowitz
Richard Berndt and Marie-Camille Havard
Elaine S. Bernstein
Bluestem Prairie Foundation
Boehm Family Foundation
Maegan Boger
Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz
Polly Shih Brandmeyer
Daniel and Estrellita Brodsky
Spencer Brownstone
Hugh Burns and Molly Duffy
Cora Cahan
Janel Anderberg Callon
Sana Clegg
Christine Connolly
Dr. and Mrs. Bradley A. Connor
Andre Cornelius
Marina Couloucoundis
Sophie Coumantaros
Abby and Andrew Crisses
Austen and Ernesto Cruz
Sasha Cutter and Aaron Hsu
John Charles and Nathalie Danilovich
Richard and Peggy Danziger
Richard and Barbara Debs
David desJardins & Nancy Blachman
Amy and Tony Downer
Christopher Duda
Eamon Early
Roger and Carol Einiger
Marla Eisbruck
Frederick & Diana Elghanayan
Patricia Ellis
Cristina Enriquez-Bocobo
Dasha Epstein
Darice and Jason Fadeyi
Patricia Falkenberg
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas N. Farmakis
Femenella & Associates, Inc.
Walter and Judith Flamenbaum
Frances Fontaine and Anthony Chedid
Melanie and Robert Forman
Kristin Gamble
Sayuri Ganepola and Jeff Kaczynski
Bruce and Alice Geismar
Elisa H Gerarden
DeNora Getachew
David and Susan Getz
Gregory Gilmartin
Steven and Jan Golann
Katja Goldman
Mitch Gordon and Julie Appel
Notoya Green and Fred Mwangaguhunga
Karen and Jeff Groeger