UBC Opera Ensemble: A Midsummer Night's Dream program book

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

UBC UBC

2016–2017 2016 –2017

OPERA

SEASON

OPERA SEASON

The Consul

Gian Carlo Menotti

NOV 3, 4, 5 — 7.30 P.M. NOV 6 — 2 P.M. OLD AUDITORIUM

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Eugene Onegin Ariadne auf Naxos

FEB 2, 3, 4 — 7.30 P.M. FEB 5 — 2 P.M. CHAN CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

Richard Strauss

JUNE 22, 23, 24 — 7.30 P.M. JUNE 25 — 2 P.M. OLD AUDITORIUM

Opera productions made possible with the assistance of The David Spencer Endowment Encouragement Fund and The Chan Endowment Fund of the University of British Columbia

presents

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM Sung in English with English Surtitles

Opera in Three Acts

By Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) Libretto by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears June 23, 24, 25 at 7.30 p.m. | June 26 at 2 p.m.

Conductor – Leslie Dala Director – Nancy Hermiston Set Design – Alessia Carpoca Costume Design – Parvin Mirhady Lighting Design – Jeremy Baxter UBC Opera Ensemble with members of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra Presented in cooperation with Vancouver Opera By arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes Inc., publisher and copyright owner There will be one 20-minute intermission This production is made possible by the David Spencer Endowment Encouragement Fund

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A MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR NANCY HERMISTON, O.C. Welcome to A Midsummer Night’s Dream! The cast, crew, and all of the production team are delighted to bring this masterpiece by Benjamin Britten to life on the stage of the Old Auditorium for the first time. We are pleased to be joined once again by Maestro Leslie Dala and the Vancouver Opera Orchestra.

It has been a busy and exciting year of learning for the Ensemble as we celebrated UBC’s Centennial.

We started the year with a successful production of Manon in November and then began our Centennial touring activities with concerts in Beijing and Hong Kong in December. We continued our centenary celebrations in February with a colourful production of A Night in Venice at the Chan Centre, then travelled to the Czech Republic and Germany, where we performed in Pilzen and Karlovy Vary, the Czech Republic and in Nürnberg, Germany. As well, we presented our popular Opera Teas and celebrated the life of our dear friend Dal Richards at our Centennial Opera Ball. We finished our Centennial tour performing at the 10th Anniversary of the UBC Okanagan Campus. In addition to our performances here and abroad we have had the privilege of participating in the popular Christmas concerts presented by the Vancouver Symphony throughout the lower mainland, as well as their recent VSO Pops concerts – “Rocket Man” with astronaut Chris Hadfield and “Broadway Rocks”.

In July, we will return to the Czech Republic with a production of Die Zauberflöte and then later in the summer will present an excerpted version of this production when we join conductor Leslie Dala, and members of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra at Bard on the Beach. Our 2016–2017 season is shaping up to be equally inspiring as we present Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Consul, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos.

But now, back to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I would like to thank all of our wonderful music staff, designers, crew and administration; the incredible Frederic Wood Theatre and School of Music colleagues; our professional partners, Vancouver Opera; our loyal donors, and especially the Board of The David Spencer Endowment Encouragement Fund for their part in making this production possible. Finally, to our talented students – THANK YOU! – for the dedication, discipline, time and talent that you have brought to this production!

I hope you will continue to enjoy the energy, talent and exceptional voices of our wonderful young singers and through your attendance at our performances support their journey to the professional world of opera. Enjoy!

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THE CAST* JUNE 23, 25

JUNE 24, 26

Oberon

Shane Hanson (June 23) Benjamin Shaw (June 25)

Darin Grant (June 24) Shane Hanson (June 26)

Tytania

Marie Civitarese

Tamar Simon

Puck

Jeremiah Carag

Justin Chen

Theseus

Luka Kawabata

Matthew Kim

Hippolyta

Moriah Wax

Shante van Horlick

Lysander

Scott Rumble

Spencer Britten **

Demetrius

Yuhui Wang

Geoffrey Schellenberg

Hermia

Charlotte Beglinger

Yeeun Lee

Helena

Amira McCavitt

Isabella Halladay

Bottom

Duncan Watts-Grant

Scott Brooks

Quince

Jason Klippenstein

Stephen Duncan

Flute

Ian McCloy

Kurt Haunsperger

Snug

Matthew McLellan

Liam Robertson

Snout

Kevin Ching Guiman

Kevin Ching Guiman

Starveling

Alireza Mojibian

Brandon Shapiro

Cobweb

Roan Shankaruk

Andrea Wyllie

Peaseblossom

Melodie Corbett

Amanda Na

Mustardseed

Simran Claire

Dallas Hayes-Sparks

Moth

Christopher Dala

Andreas Dala

UBC OPERA ENSEMBLE CHORUS* Simran Claire, Melodie Corbett, Dallas Hayes-Sparks, Amanda Na, Taryn Plater, Roan Shankaruk, Andrea Wyllie Children’s Chorus: Andreas Dala, Christopher Dala, Samantha Jinks, Emilia Norman, Kiernan Pearce, Quinlin Pearce, Noah Skarsgard **Appears with the permission of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association. *All cast and chorus are subject to change.

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SYNOPSIS ACT I Night has fallen. Oberon, King of the Fairies, is quarrelling with Tytania, his queen, over a young boy who is under her protection. She refuses to give him up. Oberon sends his servant Puck to find a magic flower, whose juice, sprinkled on Tytania’s eyelids, will make her fall in love with the first creature she sees upon waking.

He plans to steal the boy while she is under the spell. Lysander and Hermia have escaped from the city and its law, which allows Hermia’s father to force her into marriage with Demetrius. They decide to elope and set off into the woods.

Demetrius, who loves Hermia, chases after her, himself pursued by Helena, who is hopelessly in love with him. But Demetrius scornfully rejects her and runs off into the forest. Oberon, who has witnessed their argument, orders Puck to seek out Demetrius and make him fall in love with Helena with the help of the magic juice. Six working men have also left the city to discuss in secret a play they hope to perform at the wedding of Theseus, Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. There is some disagreement over casting, with Bottom, the weaver, and Flute, the bellows-mender, finally agreeing to play the parts of Pyramus and Thisbe, the star-crossed lovers of the play’s title. Quince, the carpenter, as well as the author and director of the play, hands out scripts, and all agree to meet later that night to rehearse. Exhausted and lost, Lysander and Hermia lie down to sleep. Puck, who thinks he has found Demetrius, sprinkles the juice of the magic flower on Lysander’s eyes. Demetrius appears, still pursued by Helena, and angrily abandons her. Alone and in despair, she sees the sleeping Lysander and wakes him. Under the effect of the spell, he immediately declares his love. Helena is furious and runs off, thinking he is making fun of her. Lysander follows. Hermia awakes from a terrible dream to find herself alone. In the heart of the forest, the fairies help their mistress Tytania to sleep.

Oberon steals in to put the juice on her eyes, hoping she will “wake when some vile thing is near.”

ACT II, Part 1 Later that night, Quince and his men meet to rehearse. Puck, seeing them at work, decides to amuse himself by turning Bottom into an ass. At the sight of this strange and terrifying transformation, the others run off. Bottom sings out loud to keep his courage up. This wakes Tytania, who immediately falls in love with him. With the help of the fairies, she manages to coax him to bed.

— Intermission —

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SYNOPSIS ACT II, Part 2 Oberon is delighted to find Tytania in love with an ass. But when Demetrius arrives, still in pursuit of Hermia, he realizes Puck has made a mistake. Demetrius falls asleep, and Oberon pours the juice on his eyes. The arrival of Helena and Lysander wakes Demetrius, who now declares his passion for Helena. When Hermia appears as well, only to be rejected by Lysander, Helena is convinced that the men have planned it all to mock her. The four quarrel furiously. Enraged at Puck, Oberon gives him an antidote to administer to Lysander. Puck leads the lovers away through the forest until they fall asleep and puts the herb on Lysander’s eyes.

ACT III Shortly before dawn, Oberon releases Tytania from the spell. Daybreak rouses the four lovers, who are finally reconciled—Demetrius with Helena and Lysander with Hermia. Bottom, restored to human shape, wakes from what he thinks was a strange dream. He wanders off while his friends search for him. They’re about to give up when he returns with news that their play has been chosen to be performed at court.

Back in Athens, the four lovers ask Theseus’s forgiveness for their disobedience to the law. Theseus decides that they shall be married together with him and Hippolyta.

Quince and his players finally give their performance of “Pyramus and Thisbe,” and the three couples retire to bed. Oberon, Tytania, and the fairies bless the sleeping household—with Puck having the last word.

Reprinted from The Metropolitan Opera

Edwin Landseer, Scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Tytania and Bottom.

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NANCYDirector HERMISTON, O.C. & Soprano Canadian-born lyric coloratura soprano Nancy Hermiston has performed throughout Europe and North America. Parallel to her extensive singing career, Miss Hermiston worked as voice teacher, stage director, and Co-coordinator with the University of Toronto’s Opera and Performance Divisions. In 1995, she joined the University of British Columbia’s School of Music as the Head of the Voice and Opera Divisions, where she established the UBC Opera Ensemble. In 2004, Miss Hermiston was named the UBC University Marshal, and in 2008, UBC awarded her the Dorothy Somerset Award for Performance and Development in the Visual and Performing Arts. She was also honoured with a Killam Teaching prize in 2010. In October 2011, she received an Opera Canada Rubie Award for her contributions to opera in Canada. In December 2013, Miss Hermiston was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Miss Hermiston is also a favourite guest for master classes throughout Canada, the United States, China and Germany. Her UBC Opera Ensemble tours regularly to the Czech Republic, Germany, Ontario, and throughout British Columbia. The Opera Ensemble gave their first performances in Beijing and Chengdu in May of 2009, and returned to Shanghai in 2010 for concerts at the Shanghai Conservatory and the Shanghai Normal University and again in May 2011, for a production of Giulio Cesare.

To celebrate UBC’s Centennial the Ensemble travelled to Hong Kong, Beijing, Pilsen and Karlovy Vary, the Czech Republic and Nürnberg, Germany as well as Kelowna BC where they gave concerts to celebrate UBC’s 100th Birthday. Miss Hermiston appeared with Vancouver Opera as Stage Director for their 2012/13 Season’s opening production of La Bohème and returned in 2015 to direct their production of Die Fledermaus. She opened VO’s 2015–16 season in September, directing their production of Verdi’s Rigoletto, starring UBC Alumna, Simone Osborne.

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LESLIE DALA — Conductor Leslie Dala is Music Director of the Vancouver Bach Choir, the Associate Conductor and Chorus Director for Vancouver Opera, and Music Director of the Vancouver Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra. He has worked at the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Canadian Opera Company, the Santa Fe Opera and l’Opera National du Rhin and is a frequent guest conductor with the UBC Opera Ensemble, the COSI Program in Sulmona Italy, and Soundstreams Canada. This past season Leslie conducted Vancouver Opera’s world premiere production of Stickboy by Neil Weisensel and Shane Koyczan; The Magic Flute for Edmonton Opera; Madama Butterfly for Saskatoon Opera and Domenic Argento’s Postcards from Morocco for the University of Toronto Opera Division. This season includes a concert in Toronto with soprano Adrianne Pieczonka featuring George Crumb’s Ancient Voices of Children; an 80th birthday gala concert celebrating iconic composer Steve Reich with the composer in attendance; the North American premiere of Philippe Boesmans’ opera Julie with Soundstreams and Canadian Stage Theatre; Carmina Burana, Messiah and St. Matthew Passion with the Vancouver Bach Choir; and Madama Butterfly with Vancouver Opera.

ALESSIA CARPOCA — Set Designer’s Message The enchanted forest backdrop you see behind the set was painted by students in the School of Theatre & Dance at the University of Montana (UM) as part of their final project for their scene painting class this past spring.

My name is Alessia Carpoca and I am the Head of the Design/Technology Program for the School of Theatre and Dance at UM and I have designed 16 operas for UBC. In early March of this year, while designing the set for Midsummer Night’s Dream, UBC Theatre Production Manager Jay Henrickson and UBC Opera Director Nancy Hermiston, informed me that a backdrop for the show was not possible due to a shortage of scenic artists in Vancouver. Knowing a full stage drop was important to this production, I proposed to have my students and I paint it in Missoula. Giving my students the opportunity to work on a full stage size backdrop for a real production was profoundly beneficial in several ways. First of all, it would go in their professional portfolio (theatre technicians and designers get hired based on pictures of their work collected in a portfolio or website). Secondly, I had the opportunity to teach them several new techniques including; painting foliage, prepping a full size backdrop, planning, and time management for a full scale drop. Finally, it gave the students an amazing experience that will give them the confidence to know that they have the skills to paint at a professional level.

This was the first chance for an international collaboration between the University of Montana School of Theatre and Dance and UBC Opera and Theatre. We are very proud of the result and hope that this collaboration will continue and expand in the future.

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Photo: Tim Matheson

UBC OPERA ENSEMBLE The University of British Columbia Opera Ensemble was founded by Canadian lyric coloratura Nancy Hermiston in 1995. Beginning with a core of seven performers, Ms. Hermiston has built the program to a 90-member company, performing three main productions at UBC every season, several Opera Tea concerts, and several engagements with local community partners. The Ensemble’s mission is to educate young, gifted opera singers, preparing them for international careers. It also seeks to give students international exposure relating to their profession through cultural and social experiences abroad. The Division also seeks to create interdisciplinary projects for the students to foster a broader perspective towards opera, the arts in general and society. Past main‑stage productions have included Le nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, Die Gärtnerin aus Liebe, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Suor Angelica, La Bohème, Dido and Aeneas, The Bartered Bride, Manon, Eugene Onegin, Florence: the Lady with the Lamp, Dreamhealer, Falstaff, Don Giovanni, Cendrillon, Albert Herring, the Western Canadian premiere of Harry Somers’ Louis Riel, The Crucible, Die Lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow), Rusalka, Così fan tutte, Dialogues des Carmélites, Carmen, The Tales of Hoffmann, The Florentine Straw Hat and La Traviata.

The 2015/2016 Season includes Manon, A Night in Venice (Eine Nacht in Venedig) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

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VANCOUVER OPERA ORCHESTRA The Vancouver Opera Orchestra was established in 1977, replacing an orchestra made up of members of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Comprised of the region’s leading freelance players, the VO Orchestra has developed into a fine ensemble that has taken the specialized and demanding art of pit performance to a very high level. Several of the current roster of musicians were in the pit for the orchestra’s inaugural performances, in 1977, of Massenet’s Le Roi de Lahore, starring Joan Sutherland and conducted by founding Music Director Richard Bonynge. There have since been two music directors: David Agler (1992–1999) and Jonathan Darlington (2002 to the present).

VIOLIN I

HARP

BASSOON

Mark Ferris* (Concert Master) Angela Cavadas Dom Ivanovic Ellen Farrugia

Janelle Nadeau*

Ingrid Chiang*

KEYBOARD

HORN

Richard Epp

Laurel Spencer* Stephen Denroche

VIOLIN II

Patricia Armstrong* Andrea Siradze

HARPSICHORD/CELESTE

David Boothroyd FLUTE

TRUMPET

Tom Shorthouse*

Brenda Fedoruk* Anne-Elise Keefer

TROMBONE

Tawnya Popoff* Marcus Takizawa

PICCOLO

TIMPANI

Anne-Elise Keefer

Philip Crewe*

VIOLONCELLO

OBOE

PERCUSSION

Rebecca Wenham* Heather Hay

David Owen*

Graeme Tofflemire*

CLARINETS

ORCHESTRA CONTRACTOR

BASS

Mary Backun* Michelle Anderson

Jim Littleford

VIOLA

Les Kasprzak* Brian Arkell

Jeremy Berkman*

* denotes principal

SPECIAL THANKS TO David Spencer Endowment Fund Vancouver Opera Guild Robert Dales Martha Lou Henley Charitable Foundation Judith and Graham Forst Milena Janda Dean of Arts, Gage Averill SOM Director, Richard Kurth

Director of UBC Theatre, Stephen Heatley Assistant Dean, Gerald Vanderwoude SOM, Administrative Assistant, Isabel da Silva Stephen Quigley and Colborne Architects Vancouver Opera Parvin Mirhady Valerie Moffat

Gregg Steffensen Suzanne Poohkay Bard on the Beach Catherine Alkenbrack Bradley Powers Lynn Burton UBC Theatre Props Jay Henrickson Keith Smith Jim Fergusson Heidi Wilkinson 9

PRODUCTION TEAM DIRECTOR

SEAMSTRESS

Nancy Hermiston

Elena Razlog

CONDUCTOR

WARDROBE

Leslie Dala

Charlotte Beglinger Spencer Britten Amanda Na Tamar Simon

SET DESIGN

Alessia Carpoca LIGHTING DESIGN

Jeremy Baxter OPERA COACHES

David Boothroyd Richard Epp Michael Onwood Kate Utegenova STAGE MANAGER

Collette Brown* ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER

Jacqueline Wax PROPS

Lynn Burton PROPS ASSISTANT

Jacqueline Wax HAIRDRESSING & WIGS

Elke Englicht MAKE-UP

Carmen Garcia COSTUME CREATION & DESIGN

Parvin Mirhady

CUTTERS

Paul Fan Xiao Ping Liu SEWERS

Xiao Ping Liu Mo Lin Ng PROGRAMME

Sheila Munn PROGRAMME PRINTING

Ancan Marketing OFFICE ASSISTANT

Alireza Mojibian SURTITLES

Milena Janda SURTITLES OPERATOR

Kallie Clayton MARKETING COORDINATION & GRAPHIC DESIGN

Miles Linklater OPERA LIBRARIAN

Melodie Corbett DANCE LEAD

MANAGER, TECHNICAL THEATRE PRODUCTION

Jay Henrickson TECHNICAL DIRECTORS

Jim Fergusson Keith Smith STUDENT TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

Matthew McLellan SCENIC PAINTERS

Alessia Carpoca Matthew McLellan Duncan Watts-Grant Geoffrey Schellenberg Kallie Clayton Scott Rumble SCENIC ARTISTS – UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA (BACKDROP)

Patrick Gerrits Allison Hinkle Kersti and Sam Malmberg Mariah McGarvey Bayne Tilton Danniele Warmuth SCENIC CARPENTERS/ STAGE CREW

Matthew McLellan Duncan Watts-Grant Geoffrey Schellenberg Kallie Clayton Scott Rumble LIGHTING OPERATOR

Ryan Yee

Spencer Britten

* The participation of this Artist is arranged by permission of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association under the provisions of the Dance Opera Theatre Policy (DOT)

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Opera & Arias, 2015

OPERA & ARIAS: The Magic Flute A costumed concert staging of Mozart’s beloved opera – so delightfully entertaining in Vanier Park!

Featuring the UBC Opera Ensemble and members of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra.

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Mondays, Aug 29 & September 5 • 2pm & 7:30pm (both dates) BMO Mainstage | Global BC Youth Price available

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