Leporello No 11 July August 2012

Leporello Contemporary

Opera

Nr. 11

Newsletter July, August 2012

World Première Performances In July and August 2012, nine new operas will be performed in European Festivals in Finland, France, Austria, Italy, Spain and Scotland. Lucia Ronchetti has composed several music theatre works but her first opera is to be performed. The Savonlinna Opera Festival will present two new operas, after 11 world premieres in its 100 years history. As a result of Operas Made in Scotland, the program of the Edinburgh Festival includes three new operas in partnership with the Scottish Opera. Aix-enProvence, Bregenz, Perelada and Martina Franca are also contributing to the wealth of contemporary opera.

Lucia Ronchetti : Neumond Chamber opera for young audiences, after Mozart’s The Magic Flute Libretto : Kristo Šagor Mannheim, Nationaltheater July 1, 2012 Duration : 60 minutes

with Antje Bitterlich, Sophie Sauter, Benedikt Nawrath, Benedikt Kauff, Georg Gädker, Magnus Piontek.

Joseph Trafton conducts and Christian Pade directs.

The opera explores the liminal zone of adolescence, the developmental phases when attachment is still primarily parental, but there is nevertheless increasing openness to peers, when defense mechanisms are not yet organized, and apparently achieved positions can easily slip back to the previous status quo.

Kimmo Hakola : La Fenice Opera tragicomica in 3 acts Libretto : Juha-Pekka Hotinen, in Italian.

Savonlinna, Olavinlinna Castle July 6, 2012 Duration : 2 hours

with Tuija Knithilä, Dinyar Vania, Burak Bilgili, Valentina Farcas, Tommi Hakala, Juha Kotilainen.

Jari Hämäläinen conducts and Vilppu Kiljunen directs.

This opera is about a fire at the Venice Opera and two funny electrician cousins. Bankruptcy threatens – could a little fire be their salvation? These people are driven by loyalty, love, deceit, and the inexhaustible energy that springs from the cousins’ firm friendship. Is a short-circuit a victory or a defeat?

more on p. 2

DVD Cristóbal Halffter : Lázaro, Neos, 50802 with Jörg Sabrowski, Friedemann Kunder, Julia Henning, Claudia Iten First performed in Kiel on May 4, 2008. The opera relates the life of Lazarus, from Jesus of Nazareth’s arrest to his second death.

Recorded in Kiel in May 2008. Conducted by Georg Fritzsch. Directed by Alexander Schulin. more on p. 3

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World Première Performances George Benjamin : Written on Skin Opera in 3 parts Libretto : Martin Crimp Aix-en-Provence, Grand Théâtre de Provence July 7, 2012 Duration : 100 minutes

with Christopher Purves, Barbara Hannigan, Bejun Mehta, Victoria Simmonds, Allan Clayton.

The composer conducts and Katie Mitchell directs.

Orchestra of 60 players with some unusual additions including a bass viola de gamba and a glass harmonica Based on an Occitan legend from the 12th century and performed under the cold gaze of 21st-century angels, this new opera explores the explosive consequences of self-discovery and the limitations of the power that one human being can exert on another.

Markus Fagerudd : Free Will Opera in 2 acts Libretto : Iida Hämeen-Anttila Savonlinna, Olavinlinna Castle July 21, 2012 Duration : 120 minutes

with Christina Juslin, Matias Tosi, Cynthia Hanna, Jennifer Rowley, Jouni Kokora, Danielle Pastin.

Sasha Mäkilä conducts and Jere Erkkilä directs.

This opera has been composed by an open, international online community. It is about a fight between good and evil in the year 2012. God has had enough of all the misery and suffering in the world and has called a meeting of angels. They decide to send past geniuses (Joan of Arc, Oscar Wilde and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) back to the land of the living to make life better.

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Detlev Glanert : Solaris Opera in 2 parts Libretto : Reinhard Palm, after Stanislaw Lem’s novel Bregenz, Festspielhaus July 18, 2012 Duration : 135 minutes

with Dietrich Henschel, Marie Arnet, Martin Koch, Martin Winkler, Bonita Hyman, Christian Oertel.

Markus Stenz conducts ; Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier direct.

4 major roles, 3 minor roles, large mixed chorus and orchestra.

Science fiction is not an end in itself but a vehicle for constructing a metaphor for the moral problem of guilt and memory and for our strategies of dealing with them. The opera presents possible reactions of people who are directly confronted by a quasi-physical manifestation of a memory: suppression by various technical means, and the acceptance of responsibility.

Marco Taralli : Nûr Chamber opera in 1 act Libretto : Vincenzo De Vivo Martina Franca, Teatro Verdi July 21, 2012 Duration : 80 minutes

with Tiziana Fabbricini, David Ferri Durà, Paolo Coni, Davide Sotgiu, Marta Calcaterra, Emanuele Cordaro Jordi Bernacer conducts and Roberto Recchia directs.

The opera takes place during one night, within the beds of an improvised field hospital organized in Collemaggio meadow, the day after the terrible earthquake that destroyed the city of L’Aquila. It tells the story of a unnamed woman, terrified and confused, which became mysteriously blind during her house collapse, and who spent a night into a frenzy and having visions; the people on the hospital ward, disturbed by the continuous moaning for the darkness surrounding her, call her Luce (Light).

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Agusti Charles : Java Suite Chamber opera in 1 act Libretto : Marc Rosich Perelada, Castle (Carmen Cloister) August 14, 2012

Craig Armstrong : The Lady from the Sea Chamber opera in 1 act Libretto : Zoe Strachan, after Henrik Ibsen Edinburgh, King’s Theatre August 29, 2012 Duration : 75 minutes

with Maria Hinojosa and Xavier Mendoza Nacho de Paz conducts and Rita Cosentino directs.

With a libretto written after Marc Rosich’s play Surabaya, the opera tells the story of two brothers, a story that has a lot to say about decadence, sex and the abuse of power.

with Claire Booth, Mark Milhofer, Sarah Shorter, Daire Halpin, Stephan Loges, Alexander Sprague.

Derek Clark conducts and Harry Fehr directs.

Ellida, the daughter of a lighthouse-keeper, lives a narrow life with a husband several years her senior.

Full of longing for the sea and for a freedom she does not have, she is shaken from her lethargy when the unexpected arrival of a mysterious stranger creates a storm that threatens to submerge the whole family.

Huw Watkins : In the Locked Room Stuart MacRae : Ghost Patrol with (1) Paul Curievici, Håkan Vramsmo, Louise Winter and (2) James McOran-Campbell, Nicholas Sharratt, Jane Harrington.

Conducted by Michael Rafferty and directed by (1) Michael McCarthy and (2) Matthew Richardson 2 short operas Libretto : (1) David Harsent after Thomas Hardy and (2) Louise Welsh Edinburgh, Traverse Theatre August 30, 2012 Duration : 125 minutes

These two short operas explore the capacity of the mind to shape our lives, whether through the potency of imagination or the overwhelming power of memories.

In my collection Below are listed parts of my collection. There will be more in the next issues.

1) DVD : Thomas Adès : Powder Her Face, Digital Classics, DC10002 with Mary Plazas, Heather Buck, Dan Norman, Graeme Broadbent Premiered in Cheltenham on July 1, 1995, the chamber opera is based on the life of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, and her sexual exploits.

Motion picture released in 1999.

Conducted by Thomas Adès and directed by Margaret Williams.

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2) Program books : - Claudio Ambrosini : Il Killer di Parole, Venezia, December 10, 2010 (PDF) - Markus Fagerudd : Free Will, Savonlinna, July 21, 2012 - Carlos Galán, a Babel, Madrid, June 19, 2010 (PDF) - Detlev Glanert : Das Holzschiff, Nürnberg, October 9, 2010 (PDF) - Alexander Goehr : Promised End, London, October 9, 2010 (PDF) - Kimmo Hakola : La Fenice, Savonlinna, July 6, 2012 - Gordon Kerry : Midnight Son, Melbourne, May 16, 2012 - Gisle Kverndokk : The Fourth Watch of the Night, Savonlinna, August 1, 2012 - Tod Machover : Death and the Powers, Monte Carlo, September 24, 2010 (PDF) - Robin de Raaff : Waiting for Miss Monroe, Amsterdam, June 9, 2012 - Kaija Saariaho : Emilie, Lyon, March 1, 2010 (PDF) - Anno Schreier : Mörder Kaspar Brand, Düsseldorf, June 14, 2012 - Jean-Luc Trulès : Chin, Vitry-sur-Seine, October 1, 2011 (PDF) - Jennifer Walshe : Die Taktik, Stuttgart, June 14, 2012

3) Libretti : - Xavier Benguerel / Jaime Salom, Yo, Dalí, Madrid : Teatro de la Zarzuela, 2011, 29 p. (PDF) - Markus Fagerudd / Iida Hämeen-Anttila, Free Will, Savonlinna : Savonlinna Opera Festival, 2012, 32 p.

- Luca Francesconi, Quartett, Milano : Teatro alla Scala, 2011, 22 p. (PDF) - Carlos Galán, a Babel, Madrid : Teatro de la Zarzuela, 2010, 51 p. (PDF) - Kimmo Hakola / Juha-Pekka Hotinen, La Fenice, Savonlinna : Savonlinna Opera Festival, 2012, 76 p.

- Gisle Kverndokk / Ivar Tindberg, The Fourth Watch of the Night, Savonlinna : Savonlinna Opera Festival, 2012, 68 p.

4) Book : - Pierre Brévignon, Samuel Barber, Paris : Hermann Musique, 2011, 505 p.

5) Full scores : - Hans Werner Henze, The Bassarids, Mainz : Schott, 1998, 671 p.

- Aribert Reimann, Die Gespenstersonate, Mainz : Schott, 1992, 165 p.

- Manfred Trojahn, Was ihr wollt, Basel : Bärenreiter Verlag, 1998, 367 p.

6) Vocal scores : - John Corigliano, The Ghosts of Versailles, New York : G. Schirmer, 2010, 369 p.

- Wolfgang Rihm, Dionysos, Vienna : Universal Edition, 2010, 258 p. (PDF) 7) CD : Jack Beeson : Sorry, Wrong Number, Albany, Troy 1009. with Patricia Dell, Charlotte Surkin, Roosevelt André Credit, Kimako Trotman.

First performed in New York on May 25, 1999. Based on Lucille Fletcher’s play, this murder story is a character study of a desperate and helpless woman.

Recorded in New York on May 26, 1999. Conducted by Richard Marshall.

Philippe Boesmans : Winter’s Tale, Deutsche Grammophon, 469 556-2 with Dale Duesing, Susan Chilcott, Cornelia Kallisch, Anthony Rolfe Johnson.

First performed in Brussels on December 10, 1999. Based on Shakespeare’s play.

Recorded live in Brussels in December 1999. Conducted by Antonio Pappano.

William Bolcom : A View from the Bridge, New World Records, 80588-2 with Kim Josephson, Timothy Nolen, Ronald Watkins, Dale Travis, Jeffrey Picón Premiered in Chicago on October 9, 1999, it tells the story of Eddie Carbone, the main character of Arhur’s Miller 1955 play.

Recorded live in Chicago in 1999. Conducted by Dennis Russel Davies.

James Dillon : Philomela, æon, AECD 0986 with Anu Komsi, Susan Narucki, Lionel Peintre First performed in Porto on September 18, 2004. The opera is inspired by the myth of the nightingale’s sad song, originally a woman whose sister killed her own son.

Recorded in Porto in October 2006. Conducted by Jurjen Hempel.

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Jonathan Dove : Flight, Chandos, CHAN 10197(2) with Christopher Robson, Claron McFadden, Richard Coxon, Mary Plazas.

First performed in Glyndebourne on September 24, 1998. It is based on the true-life story of an Iranian refugee who lived at Charles de Gaulle Airport for several years.

Recorded in Glyndebourne in 1999. Conducted by David Parry.

René Gerber : Le Songe d’une nuit d’été, MGB, CD 6210 with Pierre-Éric Monnin, Susan Müller, Sylvie Chevalley, Claude Darbellay.

First performed in Biel on February 10, 1984. Based on Shakespeare’s play, it includes all elements from the original play : rustics, Athenian court and fairies.

Recorded live in Neuchâtel in February 1999. Conducted by Théo Loosli.

Jonathan Harvey : Wagner Dream, cypres, CYP5624 with Claire Booth, Gordon Gietz, Matthew Best, Dale Duesing, Richard Angas.

First performed in Luxembourg on April 28, 2007. The last day of Richard Wagner, considering his 28-year-old project to write an opera on a Buddhist subject.

Recorded in Amsterdam in June 2007. Conducted by Martyn Brabbins.

Heinz Holliger : Schneewittchen, ECM New Series, 465 287-2 with Juliane Banse, Cornelia Kallisch, Steve Davislim, Oliver Widmer First performed in Zurich on October 17, 1998. The work is a psychoanalytical reworking of the fairy tale, analyzing the complex relationships between the characters.

Recorded in Zurich in January 1999. Conducted by the composer.

Michael Levinas : La Métamorphose, æon, AECD 1220 with Fabrice di Falco, Magali Léger, André Heyboer, Anne Mason, Simon Bailey.

First performed in Lille on March 7, 2011. Based on Kafka’s novel, the story of Gregor Samsa who finds himself turned into a gigantic cockroach.

Recorded in Lille in March 2011. Conducted by Georges-Elie Octors.

Siegfried Matthus : Judith, Ars Vivendi, 2200239 with Eva-Maria Bundschuh, Christiane Röhr, Werner Haseleu, Wolfgang Hellmisch.

First performed in Berlin on September 28, 1985. The libretto, based on Friedrich Hebbel’s drama, relates the story of Judith and Holofernes.

Recorded in Berlin in 1986. Conducted by Rold Reuter.

Nancy Van de Vate : Hamlet, Vienna Modern Masters, VMM4008 with Alexander Kaimbacher, Timothy Schmidt, Steven Scheschareg, Michelle Vought Unperformed. Completed in 2009.

Recorded in Olomouc in August 2011. Conducted by Petr Vronský.

Nancy Van de Vate : Where the Cross is Made, Vienna Modern Masters, VMM 4006 with Christopher Hollingsworth, Timothy Schmidt, Michelle Vought, Clinton Desmond.

First performed in Normal (IL) on September 1, 2005. The opera is based on Eugene O’Neill’s play.

Recorded in Normal in September 2005. Conducted by Karyl Carlson.

In progress Shakespearean Opera Performance Guide This book will include all operas listed in previous studies as well as new operas composed in the last 20 years. It will give all information needed to perform it : characters with tessituras (and complete cast for the world première performance), complete orchestral setting, sets as described in libretto, duration, recordings, publishers. It is to be published before the Shakespeare anniversaries in 2014 (450th of his birth) and 2016 (400th of his death).

COWARC holds a collection of more than 6,100 documents published by opera companies since 1989 with information about more than 132,000 performances. A great amount of information has also been gathered on Shakespearean operas from all times and all countries.

Leporello is published by COWARC - Contemporary Opera Worldwide Archive and Research Center 29, rue de la Clef, F-75005 Paris Directeur de la publication : Mathias LEHN - Rédacteur en chef : Mathias LEHN contact : Leporello21@orange.fr © COWARC, 2012

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