Yale Opera: Hansel and Gretel, May 4-5, 2018

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Yale Opera

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may 4 & 5, 2018

Hansel and Gretel By Engelbert Humperdinck

Robert Blocker, Dean

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Yale Opera

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engelbert humperdinck

Hansel and Gretel may 4 & 5 Friday & Saturday at 7:30 pm Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall

douglas dickson timothy shaindlin music preparation and direction john giampietro stage director rebecca l. welles costume designer doug harry lighting designer ian mcclain projection designer jill brunelle chorus master

Yale Opera

Hansel and Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel) Music by Engelbert Humperdinck Libretto by Adelheid Wette Music direction by Douglas Dickson and Timothy Shaindlin Performed in German with projected English translations

cast in order of vocal appearance Gretel

sylvia d’eramo F anush avetisyan S

Hansel

rachel weishoff F alexandra urquiola S

Gertrud their mother

lauren mcquistin F sarah saturnino S

Peter their father

andres benavides cascante F matthew cossack S

Sandwoman/Dew Fairy

leah brzyski

The Witch

anne maguire ’17MM *†

Children’s Chorus Gwendolyn Braithwaite Natalia Braithwaite Madison Chueka Vikram Dalal Rachel Domogala Silvan Friedman Ariana Krebel F

= Friday

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Carlie Mathews Momo Miyake Maria Morley James O’Dowd Maya Patel Meena Rajesh Jane Stewart Uriel Yovel

= Saturday * Guest Artist † YSM alumna

Synopsis

act i Hansel and Gretel are forced to do hightech coding work in order to advance their family’s position in society. Their parents ignore them as they live their lives through technology — social media and the virtual currency market.

Hansel and Gretel try to get the attention of their parents, to no avail. Gretel tells Hansel a secret: Mother has a brand new version of a tablet computer, but they are not allowed to play with it.

Hansel suggests they dance and play and not do their work. As they make a mess of the house, their Mother enters and discovers their wildness. As she chases the children around the house, she drops the new tablet and it shatters.

Furious, she tries to get rid of the children by hooking them up to a virtual reality game: Ilsenstein. She then laments the social status of the family. To her, they are poor because they don’t have enough.

The Father enters and he reveals that he has hit it big in the virtual currency market. They are temporarily rich! He asks where the children are and his wife answers that she has sent them into Ilsenstein. He is horrified at this and reveals the dangers of the game. It is a dark place where evil lurks and where children are lured in and get lost. They both decide to enter the game to find the children. act ii The children are in Ilsenstein. They are enjoying collecting berry prizes and begin to encounter strange forms and

figures. As the forest starts to become more menacing, the children realize they cannot get out. They are stuck in the game. A benevolent figure, the Sandwoman, appears and pauses the game so they can sleep. As they sleep, angels appear to comfort and watch over them. intermission act iii The Dew Fairy wakens the children and the game is un-paused. Suddenly a new level appears. Candy, cakes, and sweets are everywhere. The children begin to play again when they suddenly hear a voice. It is the Dark Witch of the Web who captures children. She appears and transfixes Hansel and Gretel. She forces Hansel to play until he is ready to be consumed. The Witch enlists the help of Gretel to prepare Hansel. As the Witch is going through her spells, Gretel learns how to hack into the game. As the Witch is about to claim Gretel for her own, Gretel hacks in and destroys the Witch, sending her back to the dark web. They are freed from the game and release all the children who have been captured by the Witch.

The parents enter and find their lost children. Their eyes are opened, and they can finally see what is real and what has been in front of them the whole time: the children.

Artist profiles

John Giampietro stage director John Giampietro is a Brooklyn-based theater and opera stage director. Recent credits include Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor at The Juilliard School and The Turn of the Screw and Carousel at the Chautauqua Institution Festival of Music. He is a frequent director with Youngblood, Ensemble Studio Theater’s Obie Award-winning young writers group. There, he directed the New York Times-acclaimed production of Year of the Rooster by Olivia Dufault.

Other opera and theater productions have been seen at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, Urban Stages, Vermont Shakespeare Festival, Curtis Institute of Music, The Flea Theatre, and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, among others. He has directed more than 20 operas for the Chautauqua School of Music where he is the principal stage director.

Giampietro is a faculty member of the vocal arts department at The Juilliard School, where he is a stage director and acting teacher. At Juilliard, he has directed Il Turco in Italia, Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, Curlew River, Riders to the Sea, La fedelta premiatà, and Le nozze di Figaro.

He is a founding member of The Director Collective in New York City, an organization dedicated to director-generated theater where he is developing a play based on Marie Antoinette. John’s writings include new English dialogue versions of Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor by Otto Nicolai, and Mozart’s The Impesario and Die Zauberflöte.

He has written three plays: The Immolation of Kathy Chang(e), M. of Versailles, and Strength of God and other grotesques, based

on Sherwood Anderson’s short story collection Winesburg, Ohio.

Douglas Dickson music direction and accompaniment Douglas Dickson earned his bachelor of arts degree from Princeton University and his master of musical arts degree from the Yale School of Music. On various occasions The Washington Post has called him an “intelligent, sensitive” pianist with “super technique” and a “skillful pianist” and has praised him for the “finely integrated oneness” he achieves as an accompanist.

Mr. Dickson has performed in the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America in venues ranging from Japan’s Expo Hall to the Cincinnati Coliseum.

While still in college, he was the accompanist for the American Boychoir. As part of Duodecaphonia, a prize-winning piano duo, he has performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and elsewhere. Dickson has been the music director for productions at Quinnipiac University, the Yale School of Drama, Opera Theater of Connecticut, and Connecticut Experimental Theater. He was the music director and conductor for Yale Opera’s production of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, and he conducted a concert featuring the Yale Opera with the Orchestra Verdi in Milan. He has taught at Quinnipiac University since 1993 and joined the Yale School of Music faculty in 1998. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in an all-Ives concert at Weill Recital Hall. He has recorded more than 80 Charles Ives songs for Naxos.

Artist profiles

Timothy Shaindlin music direction and accompaniment

Rebecca L. Welles costume designer

A native of New York City, Timothy Shaindlin joined the Yale School of Music faculty in 2008. After studies at The Juilliard School and Indiana University, he worked for the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, San Diego Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, and Pittsburgh Opera. He has also coached for Sarasota Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, and Hawaii Opera Theatre. In Europe, he worked for Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu and played master classes for Tito Gobbi.

He has also played classes and coachings for such artists as Joan Sutherland, Birgit Nilsson, Beverly Sills, Marilyn Horne, Natalie Dessay, Ben Heppner, Luciano Pavarotti, Eleanor Steber, Samuel Ramey, Régine Crespin, Thomas Hampson, Frederica von Stade, and Carlo Bergonzi.

Rebecca L. Welles earned her master of fine arts degree in theater design from the Yale School of Drama in 2012. She has been designing for Yale Opera since 2013, with credits including The Magic Flute, the fall 2017 Opera Scenes program, Le pauvre matelot, The Bear, Don Quichotte, La Cenerentola, Le nozze di Figaro, Gianni Schicchi, Riders to the Sea, Bon Appétit, and Iolanta. Rebecca is also an adjunct professor of performing arts at Eastern Connecticut State University, the costume shop manager for the Aspen Summer Music Festival/Aspen Opera Center, and the resident costume designer for ACES Educational Center for the Arts. Other recent Connecticut design credits include Million Dollar Quartet and Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Story at Ivoryton Playhouse.

Shaindlin’s work on the podium includes conducting engagements with the Wolf Trap Opera Festival, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Pittsburgh Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Chicago Light Opera Works, and Eugene Opera. He has assisted such renowned conductors as Sir Andrew Davis, Christoph Eschenbach, Daniel Barenboim, Valery Gergiev, Richard Bonynge, Bruno Bartoletti, Donato Renzetti, Louis Langrée, Edoardo Müller, Yves Abel, Daniele Gatti, Antonio Pappano, and Paul Gemignani.

Doug Harry lighting designer Doug Harry hails from the United Kingdom and trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama way back in the crazy ’80s. He has traveled the world as a lighting designer for theater, opera, and corporate events. He currently splits his time between production management and design and is currently the production manager for the International Festival of Arts & Ideas. He is very happy to be designing for the Yale Opera program.

Artist profiles

Ian McClain projection designer Ian McClain is a New York-based projection designer. Recent New York credits include Ghost (White Plains Performing Arts Center), And It Felt Like A Kiss (HERE Arts Center), El Coqui Espectacular, and Haven Kids Rock (Sheen Center). McClain has also worked regionally at Arena Stage, The Guthrie Theatre, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and on Broadway as an Animator for Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.

Olivia Gemelli stage manager This is Olivia Gemelli’s first show with Yale Opera. She is a graduate of Pace University and is in her third season as the resident production stage manager for Shadowland Stages in Ellenville, New York. She worked previously in New York City for 10 years, for Broadway and off-Broadway productions. Her recent Broadway credits include Amazing Grace (General Management) and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS 2015 and 2016 Gyspy of the Year and Easter Bonnet competitions (Assistant Stage Manager).

Off-Broadway credits include Churchill, How 2 B A New Yorker, NEWSical, Naked Boys Singing, and many others. Thanks to Angela, my dad, Coop, and Brendan for the constant support!

Student Profiles

Education Young Artists Programs

Education Young Artists Program

Education Young Artists Program

Education Young Artists Programs

Education Young Artists Program

Education Young Artists Programs

Education Young Artists Programs

Anush Avetisyan soprano ba University of California, Los Angeles Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Mediterraneo Opera Studio, Wolf Trap Opera, Oberlin in Italy Leah Brzyski soprano bm Michigan State University Charlottesville Opera, Utah Festival Opera Andres Benavides Cascante baritone ba Loyola University Central City Opera Matthew Cossack baritone bm State University of New York at Purchase mm Mannes School of Music at The New School Si Parla Si Canta, Princeton Festival, Music Academy of the West Sylvia D’Eramo soprano ba State University of New York at Purchase Santa Fe Opera Anne Maguire mezzo-soprano bm Boston Conservatory mm Yale School of Music Napa Music Festival, Opera Academy of California, Glimmerglass Opera, Merola Opera Lauren McQuistin soprano bm Royal Conservatoire of Scotland mm Indiana University Center for Opera Studies in Italy, Central City Opera

Student Profiles

Education Young Artists Programs

Education Young Artists Programs

Education Young Artists Programs

Sarah Saturnino mezzo-soprano ba University of California, Los Angeles Bel Canto in Tuscany, Chautauqua Opera Alexandra Urquiola mezzo-soprano bm Northwestern University Aspen Music Festival, Merola Opera Rachel Weishoff mezzo-soprano bm & mm State University of New York at Purchase Princeton Music Festival, Central City Opera, Chelsea Opera, Opera North

Yale Opera Production Staff

john giampietro Stage Director

erika niemi heltzel Manager

rebecca l. welles Costume Designer

olivia gemelli Stage Manager

doug harry Lighting Designer & Master Electrician

zachary johnson Assistant Stage Manager cailey harwood-smith Properties Master

ian mcclain Projection Designer

Hanna Madler Wardrobe Assistant

yaara bar Projection Assistant

jill brunelle Surtitle Operator

sylvia d’eramo zachary johnson Student Assistants

Special Thanks

Shawn Boyle Richard Cross Robert Heltzel Kyle Swann Yale School of Drama Southern Connecticut State University Parents of our children’s chorus Wendall K. Harrington and her projection design students

Upcoming Events Guitar Chamber Music may 5 YSM Ensembles Students from faculty guitarist Benjamin Verdery’s studio perform a chamber-music program that pays tribute to the memory of guitarist and composer Phillip Houghton.

Sudler Recital Hall | Saturday | 4:30 pm free admission

Competition Winners may 8 Oneppo Chamber Music Series Performances by the winners of the School of Music’s annual Chamber Music Competition.

Morse Recital Hall | Tuesday | 7:30 pm Tickets from $10 • Students $6

Horn Studio Recital may 7 YSM Ensembles The YSM Horn Studio, directed by William Purvis, presents a recital of solo and chamber performances of music by Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, and more.

Sudler Recital Hall | Monday | 7:30 pm free admission

YSM Special Events

School of Music Commencement Concert may 20

Performances by members of YSM’s Class of 2018.

Morse Recital Hall | Sunday | 4 pm Free Admission

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Robert Blocker, Dean