Leporello Contemporary
Opera
Newsletter
Nr. 22
July, August 2013
World Première Performances In July and August 2013, no less than 13 new operas will be performed in the Netherlands, the UK, France, Russia, Austria, Finland, the USA, Italy, Estonia and Denmark. Sources for the libretti include Julio Cortázar, folktales, William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde (2 different operas, the first with the writer as a character and the second after his work), Camille Claudel and Petronius.
Randal Corsen : Katibu di Shon Opera (70 minutes) Libretto : Carel de Haseth, after her novel Slave and Master, in Papiamento Amsterdam, Stadsschouwburg (Nationale Reisopera) July 1, 2013
with Tania Kross, Peter Brathwaite, Jeroen de Vaal. Conducted by Ed Spanjaard. Directed by Monique Wagemakers. The opera tells the story of Wilmu, a slave owner, and slave Luis, two boys growing up together and their feelings for slave Anita. This triangle ends up in a confrontation between the two boys, between slave and master. Anita loves both men, but in the end she settles for Luis. Both men now oppose each other. This fight between power and powerlessness becomes enlarged in the “Large Slave Revolt” of 1795 in Curaçao. The revolt was overpowered and Luis is sentenced to death and jailed at Fort Amsterdam.
Tim Benjamin : Emily Opera in 2 Acts (100 minutes) Libretto : by the composer Todmorden, Hippodrome Theatre July 4, 2013
with Stephanie Stanway, Marc Callahan, Meinir Wyn Roberts, Louis Hurst, Christopher Jacklin. Conducted by Antony Brannick. Directed by Tim Benjamin. Emily is based on the deeds of Emily Wilding Davison, a suffragette who was killed in 1913 when she apparently attempted to carry out an act of protest on the course of the Derby. She was hit by a galloping horse (which was, surely by coincidence, the King's horse) and died later in hospital from head injuries. Almost overnight she became a widely known public (albeit dead) figure, hated by many as much as she was venerated by others. Her funeral was attended by tens of thousands and was a seminal event in the history of the suffragette movement. more on p. 2
DVD Aribert Reimann : Die Gespenstersonate, ArtHaus Musik, 101 657 with Hans Günter Nöcker, David Knutson, Horst Hiestermann, Martha Mödl. First performed in Berlin on September 25, 1984. Based on August Strindberg’s play, the opera shows how a student learns the world is hell and human beings must suffer to achieve salvation. Recorded in Berlin in 1984. Conducted by Friedemann Layer. Directed by Heinz Lukas-Kindermann.
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World Première Première Performances Vasco Mendonça : The House Taken Over Chamber opera (60 minutes) Libretto : Sam Holcroft, after Julio Cortázar's Casa Tomada Aix-en-Provence, Grand Saint-Jean July 6, 2013
with Oliver Dunn, Kitty Whately. Conducted by Etienne Siebens. Directed by Katie Mitchell.
Zulfiya Raupova : The White Wolf Epic Opera in 4 Acts Libretto : Ruzal Mukhametshin, after a folk tale Kazan, Farmers Palace Square July 15, 2013
with Albina Latipova, Alina Shakirova, Elmira Kalimullina, Ruzil Gatin, Artur Islamov. Conducted by Ruben Agaronyan. Directed by Ayrat Khametov.
A brother and sister live like recluses in an ancestral house, the last of their line. Their days are filled with ritual and repose: cleaning, knitting, cataloguing objects which belong to another time. When a disturbance threatens to shatter their peace, the siblings seal off the offending rooms and attempt to carry on with life. But the strain becomes unbearable and they are forced to choose between the house they love and a terrifying world beyond the front door.
The libretto is an adaptation of the popular Tatar folk tale of the White Wolf. The Wolf knew seven kinds of magic and could turn into seventy kinds of animals. He could become a young man or an old man. He was a Master of the forest. Strict and severe, protecting good people and helping in good deeds, he brought terror to the evil.
André Tchaikowsky : The Merchant of Venice
Timo-Juhani Kyllönen : The Seal
Opera in 3 Acts and an Epilogue (3 hours) Libretto : John O'Brien, after Shakespeare Bregenz, Festspielhaus July 18, 2013
with Richard Angas, Jason Bridges, Kathryn Lewek, Norman Patzke, David Stout, Adrian Eröd. Conducted by Erik Nielsen. Directed by Keith Warner. William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is a play about love and money, mercy and law. The play was turned into an opera by André Tchaikowsky (1935–1982), a Polish-born composer who emigrated to Great Britain. He wrote the opera in 1970s and 80s, but it has never been performed.
Children Opera (75 minutes) Libretto : Iida Hämeen-Anttila, in Finnish Savonlinna, Olavinlinna July 20, 2013
with Miina-Liisa Värelä, Niina Keitel, Juha Kotilainen, Aki Alamikkotervo, Johann Tilli, Melis Jaatinen. Conducted by Atso Almila. Directed by Minna Vainikainen. Summer on Lake Saimaa drags on and on. Autumn, so eagerly awaited, never seems to come, to say nothing of winter. Are the ice and snow so vital for the seal to breed in danger of vanishing from the annual round? The resourceful Lumi (Snow) and her friends set out to discover the reason why.
more on p. 3
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World Première Performances Theodore Morrison : Oscar Opera in 2 Acts Libretto : John Cox and Theodore Morrison Santa Fe, Opera Theatre July 27, 2013
with David Daniels, Heidi Stober, William Burden, Dwayne Croft. Conducted by Evan Rogister. Directed by Kevin Newbury. The opera, based on the life of Oscar Wilde, reveals the profoundly human side of the literary genius and aesthete.
Dominy Clements : An Enlightened Disciple of Darkness Opera Libretto : Dominy Clements Tallinn, Noblessner's foundry (Nargen Festival) August 1, 2013
with Endrik Üksvärav, Maria Valdmaa. Flute Octet BlowUp! Conducted by Tõnu Kaljuste. Directed by Giuseppe Frigeni. The opera tells the story of the life of the renowned Estonian optician and inventor Bernhard Schmidt, who was born on the island of Naissaar in 1879. Most of his working life was spent in Germany, and he achieved renown before World War I as a maker of high quality large scale lenses and parabolic astronomical mirrors.
Gianmaria Griglio : Camille Claudel Opera in 2 Acts Libretto : Eleonora Gai and Gianmaria Griglio Città della Pieve, Teatro degli Avvaloranti (International Opera Theater) July 31, 2013
with Violetta Lazin, Natalie Burdeny, Manuel Gorka, Michaela Magoga, Kim Dn. Conducted by Gianmaria Griglio. Directed by Karen Saillant. The opera traces the key moments in the life of Camille Claudel, the brilliant French sculptor who lived between the 19th and 20th century. It focuses on her relationship with Auguste Rodin and their passionate love affair.
Ben Frost : The Wasp Factory Music Theatre (75 minutes) Libretto : Daid Pountney, after Iain Banks' novel Bregenz, Werkstattbühne August 1, 2013
with Jördis Richter, Mariam Wallentin, Lieselot De Wilde. Three performers, string quintet and electronics Directed by Ben Frost. Abandoned by his mother and left to his own devices by his father, Frank grows up on a remote island. He styles himself as its ruler and adheres to a selfinvented warrior cult. The return of his deranged halfbrother Eric triggers a series of events that finally reveal the secret hidden in his father's locked laboratory. more on p. 4
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World Première Performances Arne Gieshoff : The Viagron Darren Bloom : Kettlehead
Thomas Agerfeldt Olesen : The Picture of Dorian Gray
Chamber Opera (60 minutes) Libretto : Frank Allison, after Petronius' Satyricon. London, Riverside Studios (Tête-à-Tête Opera Festival, Size Zero Opera) August 8, 2013
Choreographic Opera in 2 Acts (2 hours) Libretto : Alasdair Middleton, after Oscar Wilde, in English Aarhus, Musikhuset August 22, 2013
Focusing on the sexual misadventures of the impotent central character, Encolpius, The Viagron presents both his past and present in an explicit and sometimes humorously vulgar examination of lust and love.
with Andrew Radley, Jonathan Best, James Bobby, Janny Thiele, Bolette Bruno Hansen, Birgit Demstrup. Conducted by Joachim Gustafsson. Directed by Marie Brolin-Tani.
Set in colonial Africa at the end of the 19th Century, Kettlehead explores a twisted tale of voodoo and revenge focused on the tragic transformation of a promising young girl into a mutilated social pariah.
This opera, conceived as a combination between opera and dance tells the story of the mysterious Dorian Gray as a modern Narcissus myth told with gotic, spooky spots, unexplained events, unsetting moods, opium dens and thick London fog.
In my collection collection Below are listed parts of my collection. There will be more in the next issues.
1) Program books : - Diego Collatti : Die Ballade von El Muerto, Vienna (Festwochen), June 6, 2013 - Cristobal Halffter : Schachnovelle, Kiel, May 18, 2013 - Matthias Heep : Momo, Stuttgart, June 6, 2013 - Adam Roberts : Giver of Light, Boston (Guerilla opera), May 23, 2013 - D. J. Sparr : Approaching Ali, Washington, June 8 2013
2) Libretti : - Erik Bergman / Bo Carpelan, The Singing Tree, London : Novello, 1991, 61 p. - Krzysztof Penderecki / Harry Kupfer, Die schwarze Maske, Mainz : Schott, 1986, 52 p.
- Steve Reich / Beryl Korot, The Cave, London : Boosey & Hawkes, 1993, 56 p. - Aulis Sallinen, The Red Line, London : Novello, 1982, 24 p. COWARC holds a collection of more than 6,600 documents published by opera companies since 1989 with information about more than 144,000 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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