West Edge Opera Festival 2016 Brochure

THE

WEST EDGE FESTIVAL 2016

Oakland’s abandoned train station Z July 30-August 14 The Cunning Little Vixen: Janáček Powder Her Face: Adès Agrippina: Handel

WESTEDGEOPERA.ORG

Season 2016

At about midnight on August 10th 2015, the day after the last performance of Lulu, I lay on one of the train benches in the now completely empty station, gazing up at the ornate ceiling.

All the chairs, platforms and carpeting were gone. Now it was just the space, lit by a single lightbulb. I lay there feeling like I was in the most magical place in the Bay Area. Miss Havisham’s train station felt empty and yet alive with history; I could just barely hear Alban Berg’s music still echoing in the rafters. Our lighting director, Kevin Landesman, and technical director, Andy Fitts, walked in looking for me. “I told you,” Kevin said, “he’s in here communing with the theater.” The three of us sat for a minute, amazed at what our company had accomplished in a space with no electricity or running water, in a part of Oakland that just a few years before would have been considered off limits. Then: Three completely sold out performances of an opera that many find hard to take, even knowing it is a masterpiece.

As if a wildly successful Lulu weren’t enough, we had produced two other operas in obscure locations that had audiences cheering. It was a huge gamble – a season that many knowledgeable folks thought we couldn’t pull off. But we did. Last season was the most successful in our company’s history. We are on a roll and we’re ready to ride whatever it is that’s rolling.

The other two venues were fine, but it was the abandoned train station that inspired everyone. We learned a lot: We learned that most people’s first instinct when they come through the door is to take out their phone and start taking pictures…. Move along people! We learned that people love that we provide free wine and beer at intermission! We also learned important things about crowd flow, seating and how best to set up fancy port-a-potties. All of what we learned will be put to use this summer when we take over the station for over a month and do our entire festival there.

To add to the experience we will be adding a festival pavilion, see page 11 to read about it. We will add better box office facilities and better parking organization.

Historical tours will be organized. Our goal is to expand the adventure of joining us at the train station for truly wonderful opera as well as entry into a forgotten part of early bay area history.

See you there!

-Mark Streshinsky

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The abandoned train station Oakland’s 16th Street Station was the terminus for transcontinental trains from 1912 to 1994. Intended to better serve Oakland’s increased population following the 1906 earthquake, the Beaux-Arts building was designed by architect Jarvis Hunt and replaced the original wooden station built in 1870. In 1989, the main building closed following the Loma Prieta earthquake and an adjacent building was temporarily used prior to the opening of the new Emeryville Station. In 1994 the Southern-Pacific tracks were moved to the east side of the highway and a new Amtrak station opened in Jack London Square. Now completely abandoned, the station buildings are largely intact, including the interlocking tower and ironwork elevated platforms behind the main building.

The station is owned by BRIDGE Housing Corporation, a non-profit affordable housing developer with deep roots in helping revitalize and create affordable housing in West Oakland. The Station can be rented for temporary events until a final redevelopment strategy is in place. Some notable recent events include Mayor Libby Schaaf’s 50th Birthday Gala, the movies Hemingway and Gelhorn and Rent, many music videos and photo shoots, private weddings, Burning Man parties and now our Festival. Plans for the future of the station are being worked on with the intention that it remain the lively center of the community for many years to come.

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the cunning le vi xe n l i t tLeoš Janáček

In Czech with English Surtitles

The Opera Suffused with Janáček’s bewitching blend of lyrical modernism and central European folk melody, The Cunning Little Vixen also has the distinction of being the only opera in the repertory based on a graphic novel. Any performance of Vixen is an occasion, so come take in the menagerie as we present Janáček’s late masterpiece-requested by the composer himself as his memorial.

The Artists Music Director and Conductor: Jonathan Khuner Stage Director: Patrick Diamond Orchestral Arrangement: Jonathan Dove Collaboration with Volti Chorus and Piedmont Children’s chorus The Vixen: Amy Foote The Forrester: Philip Skinner The Fox: Nicola Printz The Schoolmaster: Joseph Meyers The Parson: Nikolas Nackley Harašta: Carl King

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p owd e r her face Thomas Adès

In English with English Surtitles

The Composer Thomas Adès was born in London in 1971. His compositions include two operas, Powder Her Face and The Tempest. His orchestral and vocal works have been performed all over the world and from 1999 to 2008 he was Artistic Director of the Aldeburgh Festival. He has conducted for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Symphony and London Symphony Orchestra, The Royal Opera, London and the Zürich Opera. He recently made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera and the Vienna Staatsoper, both conducting The Tempest. Recent piano engagements include solo recitals at Carnegie Hall and a two piano recital with Gloria Cheng in Herbst Theatre for San Francisco Performances in which they performed a suite of the music from Powder Her Face.

The Opera Mining the human drama of recent history is the fodder for some of the last half century’s greatest works. Powder Her Face, Thomas Adès’ portrait of Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll, retains its power to provoke and challenge two decades after its scandalous premiere. Elkhanah Pulitzer, who stunned audiences with last summer’s Lulu returns to direct. Come hear the first West Coast staging of this modern masterpiece.

Please note that this production is for mature audiences

The Artists Music Director and Conductor: Mary Chun • Stage Director: Elkhanah Pulitzer Collaboration with Earplay new chamber music ensemble With Laura Bohn, Emma McNairy, Hadleigh Adams, Jonathan Blalock

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agrippina George Friedrich Handel In Italian with English Surtitles

The Opera Handel’s “Agrippina” might be considered the comic prequel to Monteverdi’s “L’incoronazione di Poppea”. In some ways as lurid as our more tragic offerings, Agrippina features the kind of satirical wit director Mark Streshinsky unearthed in last season’s Ulysses. Along with much of Handel’s work, Agrippina vanished from the repertory for almost two hundred years but is once again performed and beloved.

Rediscover one of ancient Rome’s most tangled webs of intrigue in Handel’s first international triumph.

The Conductor Jory Vinikour is recognized as one of the outstanding harpsichordists of his generation. His versatility takes him to the world’s most important festivals, concert halls and opera houses as recitalist and concert soloist, partner to many of today’s finest instrumental and vocal artists, coach and conductor.

The Artists Music Director/Conductor/Harpsichord: Jory Vinikour Stage Director: Mark Streshinsky Agrippina: Sarah Gartshore Nero: Celine Ricci

Poppea: Hannah Stephens Ottone: Ryan Belongie Claudio: Carl King Pallante: Nikolas Nackley Narciso: Johanna Bronk

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Remembering Festival 2015 “West Edge Opera has proved itself bold and resourceful, and the “Lulu” that opened the company’s summer festival season Saturday night at the abandoned train station in West Oakland is a powerfully impressive undertaking from top to bottom — fearless in its dramatic imagination, arresting in its musical particulars.”

-Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle

Musically speaking, this Ulysses was a charm. ...the immense beauty of this production originated first and foremost from the vocal accomplishments of the young and gifted singers on stage.

- Niels Swinkels, San Francisco Classical Voice

Taps into a deep vein of shared human experience...

As One is a timely, affecting winner.

- Nate Ben-Horin, Peninsula Review

“Even by the high standards of the West Edge Opera, this bold and inventive production of Berg’s expressionist masterpiece, with soprano Emma McNairy’s dazzling star turn in the title role, was a triumph.”

-Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle’s Top Ten in Opera

The Festival Pavillion One of the upgrades we’re most excited about this season is the West Edge Pavilion, a space we think will enhance the opera-going experience in many ways. Before the opera, the pavilion will be the site for pre-curtain talks and the starting point for historical tours. You can bring your own picnic or pick up pre-ordered box dinners and dine al fresco (watch our website for details!) At intermission, meet your friends for a drink at our second bar, and after the opera, stay with us well into the night for receptions with the stars of the opera.

Speaking of drinks, once again beer and wine at the West Edge Festival are free but we welcome your donations which fund our expanded young technical internship program. Have a drink at either of our bars and, if you can, put something in the bar jar. Last year we were overwhelmed by your generosity. Special thanks to Trumer Pils for its help with this program.

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FESTIVAL CALENDAR 2016

Saturday

8:00 pm

The Cunning Little Vixen

J UL 3 1

3:00 pm

Powder Her Face

Saturday

l:00 pm

Powder Her Face

8:00 pm

Agrippina

3:00 pm

The Cunning Little Vixen

AUG 1 2

8:00 pm

Agrippina

Saturday

l:00 pm

The Cunning Little Vixen

8:00 pm

Powder Her Face

3:00 pm

Agrippina

J UL 3 0

Sunday

AUG 0 6

Sunday

AUG 0 7

Friday

AUG 1 3

Sunday

AU G 1 4

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FESTIVAL SERIES

Series A: Openings July 30 Vixen Z July 31 Powder Z August 6 Agrippina

Series B: Saturday Nights July 30 Vixen Z August 6 Agrippina Z August 13 Powder

Series C: Sunday Matinees July 31 Powder Z August 7 Vixen Z August 14 Agrippina

Series D: 3 in 27 hours August 6 Powder Z August 6 Agrippina Z August 7 Vixen

Series E: 3 in 27 hours August 12 Agrippina Z August 13 Vixen Z August 13 Powder

Series F: Make your own

Buy a series and save!

Gold Seats: (Reserved seating, please indicate your seating preference) $260 for three operas

Silver Seats: (General Seating) $154 for three operas

Youth/Senior Silver Seats: $146 for three operas

Series tickets are up to 10% less than single tickets, which will be available on June 1.

Gold Seating Perks - More comfortable, padded chairs - Front section of the station - Ability to choose your own seats if you order online

3 ways to order Online: WestEdgeOpera.org

By Mail: 1700 Shattuck Ave

By Phone: 510-841-1903

#312 Berkeley, CA 94709 using the form.

Getting There From the South on I-880 take the 7th Street Exit. Turn Left on Wood Street and proceed to the 18th Street Gate for Parking.

From The North and Bay Bridge: Take the West Grand Exit and continue on the frontage road to 7th Street. Turn Left and then Left again on Wood Street. Proceed down Wood to the 18th Street Gate for Parking.

Security patrolled parking on the premises $10 – Plenty of free outside parking

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MAKE A GIFT TO WEST EDGE OPERA Ticket sales account for only about 30% of the cost to mount these productions. Please consider a tax-deductible donation to West Edge Opera with your ticket order.

SEASON TICKETS

Series letter

how many

GOLD _______

x _______

Thank You! $ amount

x $260 =

______________

indicate seating preference___________________

SILVER _______

x _______

x $154 =

______________

SILVER YOUTH/SENIOR _______

x _______

x $146 =

______________

TAX DEDUCTIBLE GIFT TOTAL

(Please enclose check or credit card information on this sheet.)

______________ ______________

IF YOU PICKED SERIES F, CHOOSE DATES:_________________________________

PAYMENT INFORMATION  check enclosed (made payable to West Edge Opera)

 pay by credit card (fill out information below)

Name

_______________________________________________________

Address

_______________________________________________________

City

_______________________________ State, Zip ______________

Email

_______________________________________________________

Phone _______________________________________________________ Please charge my:  Visa

 Mastercard

Acct. #

_______________________________ Exp. Date _______________

Signature

________________________________________________________ Check our website to order a picnic meal.

West Edge Opera • 1700 Shattuck Ave #312 • Berkeley, CA 94709

Mark Streshinsky, General & Artistic Director Jonathan Khuner, Music Director

Order now and get the best seats!

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