Leporello No 20 May 2013

Leporello Contemporary

Opera

Nr. 20

Newsletter May 2013

World Première Performances In May 2013, we will have the opportunity to witness twelve world première performances : 4 in the United States of America (including 3 chamber operas), 3 in Austria, 2 in Germany and Poland (double bill), 1 in Norway. Seven years after the premiere of his 1968 opera The Passenger, the discovery of Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s work continues with The Idiot, after Dostoyevsky, one of the two ‘literature’ opera, alongside with Cristóbal Halffter’s Schachnovelle, after Stefan Zweig.

Helmut Schmidinger : Lynx, der Luchs Opera for children (50 minutes) Libretto : Elisabeth Vera Rathenböck Linz, Landestheater (Foyerbühne) May 1, 2013

with Elisabeth Breuer, Sven Hjörleifsson, Pedro Velázquez Díaz, Mari Moriya, Martin Achrainer.

The orchestra consists of one clarinet, one cello and percussion (1 player).

Conducted by Marc Reibel.

Directed by Tanja Weidner.

The libretto is based on the poetic legend of the naming of the city of Linz. Two young kids travel in time to the Middle Ages and discover the different laws of nature and civilization, of men and animals.

Hilda Paredes, Arlene Sierra, Lei Liang, Hebert Vázquez Sandrin : Cuatro Corridos Chamber opera (60 minutes) Libretto : Jorge Volpi San Diego (CA), University of California, CPMC Theatre May 8, 2013

with soprano Susan Narucki Steven Schick (percussion), Aleck Karis (piano), Pablo Gómez (guitar), Ayano Kataoka (percussion) The libretto is about human trafficking. Based on true events, it tells the story of women trapped in a cycle of prostitution and slavery in and around the San Diego / Tijuana border region.

more on p. 2

DVD Pascal Dusapin : Faustus, the Last Night, naïve, MO 782177 with Georg Nigl, Urban Malmberg, Robert Wörle, Jaco Huijpen, Caroline Stein.

First performed in Berlin on Januarys21, 2006. Mainly based on Christopher Marlowe, the opera is a verbal joust between Faust and Mephistopheles. Recorded live in Lyon in March 2006.

Conducted by Jonathan Stockhammer. Directed by Peter Mussbach.

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World Première Performances Franz Koglmann : Join !

Opera (90 minutes) Libretto : Alfred Zellinger Vienna, MuseumsQuartier (Halle E) May 8, 2013

with Anna Erb, Wolfgang Gratschmaier, Anthony Heidweiller, Dennis Kozeluh, Max Niemeyer.

Conducted by Carsten Paap.

Directed by Michael Scheidl.

The struggle to maximise profit at any cost transforms humans into bizarre fighting machines deploying their hard and soft skills on the battleground of the global market in an effort to pulverise all adversaries. With a chip implanted directly in the humain brain, the marketing executives of Gen & Brain stay online 24/7, trying to outdo each other with their strategies.

Knut Vaage : Khairos Opera in 2 acts (120 minutes) Libretto : Torgeir Rebolledo Pedersen Oslo, National Opera, Scene 2 May 10, 2013

with Nils Harald Sødal, Tone Kummervold, Håvard Stensvold, Elisabeth Teige, Svein Erik Sagbråten Conducted by Pierre-André Valade Directed by Kjersti Horn When the noise from a leaf-blower in Khairos Park drives a man with a hyper-sensitivity to sound mad, he kills the machinist. He must serve his sentence for the crime on an oil platform. Here his exceptional hearing abilities are discovered, making seismic instruments for oil drilling redundant.

Mieczyslaw Weinberg : The Idiot Opera in 4 acts (160 minutes) Libretto : Alexander Medvedev, after Fyodor Dostoyevsky Mannheim, Nationaltheater May 9, 2013

with Ludmila Slepneva, Steven Scheschareg, Lars Møller, Alexander Vassiliev, Elzbieta Ardam.

Conducted by Thomas Sanderling.

Directed by Regula Gerber.

Weinberg’s final opera, composed in 1986-87. Twentysix-year-old Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin returns to Russia after spending several years at a Swiss sanatorium. Scorned by the society of St. Petersburg for his trusting nature and naivety, he finds himself at the center of a struggle between a beautiful kept woman and a virtuous and pretty young girl, both of whom win his affection.

Cristóbal Halffter : Schachnovelle Opera in 1 act (115 minutes) Libretto : Wolfgang Haendeler, after Stefan Zweig Kiel, Theater May 18, 2013

with Jörg Sabrowski, Michael Hofmeister, Heike Wittlieb, Anna Petrova, Susan Gouthro Conducted by Georg Fritzsch Directed by Daniel Karasek.

Czentovic and Dr. Berger are chess players : one of them can only play when he has the chess board and the pieces directly before his eyes, whereas the game saves the other man from Nazi persecution, even if it only happens in his mind, against himself and drives him to the brink of madness. The two players meet in New York, and a decisive “match” ensues – materialism versus idealism. more on p. 3

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World Première Performances Lee Holdridge : Dulce Rosa

Jagoda Szmytka : for voices and hands Wojtek Blecharz : Transcryptum

Opera in 2 acts Libretto : Richard Sparks, after Isabel Allende’s Una Venganza Los Angeles (CA), Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (Opera) May 17, 2013

Libretto: Jagoda Szmytka, Michał Zadara Libretto: Wojtek Blecharz Warsaw, Młynarski Hall (Teatr Wielki) May 23, 2013

with María Antúnez, Alfredo Daza, Greg Fedderly, Craig Colclough, Peabody Southwell, Benjamin Bliss.

Conducted by Plácido Domingo.

Directed by Richard Sparks.

with Izabella Kłosińska, Barbara Wysocka, Małgorzata Moniuk ; Anna Radziejewska Directed by Michał Zadara and Wojtek Blecharz

Dulce Rosa relates the aftermath of a violent political uprising, as a young woman plans her revenge against a merciless attacker.

Jagoda Szmytka and Michał Zadara take the spectators on a journey through the anatomy of the sound, the body and the opera.

Transcryptum is an object, an event or an artistic operation, a procedure containing an imprint of trauma with all the tracks leading to it.

Adam Roberts : Giver of Light

Georg Friedrich Haas : Thomas

Chamber opera in 2 acts Libretto : Adam Roberts, based on the life of Rumi Boston (MA), Zack Box Theatre (Guerilla Opera) May 23, 2013

Opera Libretto : Händl Klaus Schwetzingen, Rokokotheater May 24, 2013

with Aliana de la Guardia, Jennifer Ashe, Jonas Budris, Brian Church Instruments : clarinets, cello, saxophones, percussion Directed by Andrew Eggert.

with Otto Katzameier, Wolfgang Newerla, Kai Wessel, Daniel Gloger, Michael Feyfar, Raminta Babickaite Instruments : harpsichord, zither, percussion (2), accordion, harp, mandolin, guitar (2) Conducted by Michel Galante Directed by Elisabeth Gabriel

This drama is inspired by the real life events of the 13th-century Sufi mystic poet, Rumi, whose life was forever changed after an encounter with the wandering mystic, the Shams of Tabriz. When Shams disappeared, Rumi spiraled into a deep sorrow, giving birth to much of the poetry we know today. When John, a successful and socially conscious family man who seemingly has it all, but is troubled by a nagging emptiness that gnaws at his soul, encounters a mystic — who is also his son’s school bus driver — his world is turned upside down and he pursues a friendship.

Matthias, Thomas’ friend, is moribund in the hospital.

At the deathbed are Thomas, associate of Matthias and the Doctor Michael. The work is about the link between love and death, with love as the only possible form of transcendence, of survival, of the Hereafter, and ultimately, of spirituality.

more on p. 4

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World Première Performances David Lang : The Whisper Opera

with soprano Tony Arnold The music and the environment work to convey themes of secrets, and the tension between what we hide and what we choose to reveal. The project is inspired by Lang’s visits to small opera houses in rural Italy.

Chamber opera for flute, clarinet, percussion, cello, and solo soprano Chicago (IL), Museum of Contemporary Art Stage (International Contemporary Ensemble) May 30, 2013

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

1) Program books : - Michel van der Aa : Sunken Garden, London, April 12, 2013 - Sidney Corbett : Das große Heft, Osnabrück, March 16, 2013 - Thierry Escaich : Claude, Lyon, March 27, 2013 - Anno Schreier : Wunderland, Würzburg, April 18, 2013 (PDF)

2) Full scores : - Philip Glass, Akhnaten, New York : Dunvagen Music Publishers, 1983, 3 vol., 653 p.

- Philip Glass, Satyagraha, New York : Dunvagen Music Publishers, 1979, 3 vol., 401 p.

3) CD : Bruno Maderna : Satyricon, Salabert, SCD 9101 with Paul Sperry, Aurio Tomicich, Liliana Oliveri, Milagro Vargas.

First performed in Scheveningen on March 16, 1976. Based on Petronius’ text, it places the whole action in the scene of Trimalcion’s banquet.

Recorded in L’Aquila in March 1991. Conducted by Sandro Gorli.

Rodion Shchedrin : The Enchanted Wanderer, Mariinsky, MAR0504 with Sergei Aleksashkin, Kristina Kapustinskaya, Evgeny Akimov First performed in New York on December 19, 2002. Based on Nikolai Leskov, the opera deals with pilgrimage, selfless love, fusion of righteous and sinful.

Recorded in St Petersburg in July 2008. Conducted by Valery Gergiev.

COWARC holds a collection of more than 6,500 documents published by opera companies since 1989 with information about more than 142,000 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, 2013

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