Yale Opera: Rossini's Le Comte Ory, May 5 & 7, 2023

yale opera

Gerald Martin Moore, Director

Le Comte Ory

Friday, May 5, 2023 | 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, May 7, 2023 | 2:00 p.m.

Robert Blocker, Dean

Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall

Le Comte Ory

Music by Gioachino Rossini

Libretto by Augustin Eugène Scribe & Charles-Gaspard Delestre-Poirson

Performed in French with projected English translations

may 5 & 7, 2023

Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall

gerald martin moore music director & pianist

pat diamond stage director

mike demers lighting designer

john horzen projection designer

alejandro roca chorus master

karen root scenic & properties designer

claire warden intimacy director

rebecca l. welles costume designer

Cast in order of vocal appearance

alex smith, baritone f korin thomas-smith, baritone su

jillian tate, soprano

ana mora, mezzo-soprano f allison fahey, mezzo-soprano su

seiyoung kim, tenor f jordan costa*, tenor su

sergio martínez, bass f finn sagal, bass-baritone su

elana bell, mezzo-soprano f kara morgan, mezzo-soprano su

Countess

Coryphée 1

Coryphée 2

Ensemble

Percussion

jaeeun shin, soprano f amalia crevani, soprano su

ethan burck, tenor samuel kidd, baritone

ethan burck, tenor daniel espinal, tenor samuel kidd, baritone allison fahey, mezzo-soprano f kara morgan, mezzo-soprano f elana bell, mezzo-soprano su ana mora, mezzo-soprano su

makana medeiros

* YSM alumnus

Count Ory knows that the beautiful Countess Adele is alone in her castle while her brother and his men are off to war. Adele has sworn off the company of men, although she pines for her cousin Isolier. To gain access to the Countess, Ory disguises himself as a religious hermit/guru as Isolier becomes Ory’s Page. Ory’s friend Raimbaud sets up a hermit’s camp outside the castle to capture the Countess’ attention. Hoping that that he may cure Adele’s pall of depression, Ragonde seeks the Hermit and falls for his ploy.

Count Ory’s Tutor and Isolier arrive on the scene in search of Ory. Isolier’s real motive is to get closer to the Countess. The Tutor complains about the lack of respect from Ory. Overhearing women discussing the Hermit, the Tutor realizes it must be Ory himself. The Tutor leaves to find a way to unmask Ory.

Alone, Isolier decides to enlist the Hermit in a plan to get the Countess’ attention. Not recognizing him, Isolier reveals to Ory his plan to get inside the castle: he will enter disguised as a nun seeking shelter. Ory agrees to help, now knowing that Isolier is his rival for the affections of the Countess.

The Countess arrives to meet the Hermit. Seeing Isolier, she plays up her sadness to catch his attention. Ory “cures” her of her sadness. Playing that she has been cured, Adele sings of her new-found love for Isolier. Angered, Ory tries to separate the two. The Tutor enters and reveals that the hermit is the Count. All are shocked. The women rejoice when a letter announces the soldiers’ return tomorrow. Brooding, Ory’s men pack up and leave.

act ii

The next day, the women are sitting quietly, if bored, in the castle. The Countess tries to lift their spirits. When a storm unexpectedly whips up, a group of strange pilgrims are heard asking for refuge. The Countess sends Ragonde to see who they are and let them in. Ragonde reports that it’s 14 nuns who are wet, tired, and look terrible. Surprised, Adele begins to have some suspicions as to who they may be. The Countess welcomes the group’s leader “Sister Colette” (Ory in disguise) into her chamber, and schools him on what kind of a lover she would adore.

The pilgrims complain that there is only milk and fruit for dinner and no wine. Luckily, Raimbaud has broken into the castle wine cellar, and has brought back enough for everyone. Ragonde enters to check on them and they pretend to pray, hiding the bottles. She returns with the countess, who sends them to bed.

Isolier comes to let the women know that the soldiers will be arriving at midnight. Ragonde goes to let the “pilgrims” know. Isolier reveals that they are Ory and his men. On hearing this, the women express their fear at the men being discovered by the soldiers.

Isolier offers to stay and protect the Countess in her bed. Ory, as “Sister Colette,” gets in the bed with the Countess as well, not knowing that Isolier is there also. The three all tumble into bed together…

When the lights come on, Isolier reveals to Ory who he was in bed with. The soldiers arrive, Ory vows to leave, and Isolier and the Countess celebrate their love.

Gerald Martin Moore Director of Yale Opera, music direction & piano

Gerald Martin Moore is an internationally renowned singing teacher and vocal consultant. He has worked in such houses as Covent Garden, La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco, and Opera de Bastille in Paris, as well as the Aix-en-Provence, Edinburgh, and Glyndebourne Festivals.

Since moving to NYC in 2008 he has been on the teaching faculty of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann program and Curtis Institute of Music. He regularly gives masterclasses at Glyndebourne, Merola, and Washington National Opera, and is on the regular teaching faculty at Music Academy of the West, Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center, and the Ravinia Steans Music Institute.

A frequent recitalist, most notably with Renée Fleming, he has performed before such dignitaries as President Obama, President Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, King Charles III, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Gerald was recently featured accompanying Renée Fleming in the soundtrack for the movie Bel Canto, and also coached Julianne Moore, who played the role of Roxanne.

Mr. Moore may currently be heard as a regular host of the Metropolitan Opera Quiz, and is a frequent judge for prestigious vocal competitions, including the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions.

Pat Diamond stage direction

Pat Diamond is thrilled to join Yale Opera this year. As Stage Director, he strives to create work

that is fresh, relatable, engaging, and alive. He has selected and conspired to make projects which speak to the moment when they are being performed, and reflect the artists he is collaborating with. His productions include both theatre and opera, ranging from established repertoire to new works and devised events. Pat has directed productions of Shakespeare, Britten, Calderón de la Barca, Mozart, Puccini, Janáček, Mayakovsky, and Verdi, among others. He directed the American revivals of Moniuszko’s rarely-seen Polish opera, Halka, and Wolf-Ferrari’s operatic adaptation of Le donne curiose, based on a play of the same name by Goldoni. Pat has developed new work with playwrights A. Rey Pamatmat, Eric Sanders, and Kathryn Walat, who he also worked with in collaboration with composer Gregory Spears. He is co-creator of the devised music theatre piece drömseminarium, with composer Ellen Lindquist and renowned Nobel Laureate Tomas Tranströmer. Pat was producer and director of The Dido Project, a site-specific performance of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas developed with string quartet Sybarite 5, at the Samsung Experience in New York. Companies that he has worked with include Wolf Trap, Aspen Music Festival, West Edge Opera, 2G, Working Man’s Clothes, Trondheim Sinfonietta, Västmanlandsmusiken, and Prague Summer Nights (at the Estates Theater). He has worked with a wide variety of instrumentalists and vocalists alike, leading music devising workshops in Sweden and Norway, most notably with VoxLAB in Oslo. Pat is deeply committed to cultural sustainability, equity, and inclusion, putting these values at the forefront of his work as an artist in the field. He is the Executive Producer of Unequal Temperament, a podcast series hosted and curated by Timothy Long, centering on Native American cultural issues, and featuring a series of frank, open conversations with artists of color in the field of

opera. Pat has been the Director of Yale Summer Session’s Ten-Day Directing Workshop for the last twenty years. He has been a guest artist at NYU, University of Michigan, and Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music, and taught at Manhattan School of Music and University of Maryland. This Fall, Pat will be joining the faculty at Eastman School of Music as Associate Professor of Opera Studies. He was most recently on the faculty at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he directed Weill, Rice, and Hughes’ Street Scene, as well as a digital streaming production of Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis, which can be seen on Shepherd School’s YouTube channel. He has also been faculty at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, where he received his M.F.A. in Directing.

Alejandro Roca chorus master & music preparation

Opera coach and conductor Alejandro Roca’s recent engagements include performances of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro at Liceu Conservatory in Barcelona, new productions of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, and Falla’s Master Peter’s Puppet Show, and debuts with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Cláudio Santoro National Theater in Brasilia, Brazil. Roca has collaborated with such renowned conductors as Rinaldo Alessandrini, Gustavo Dudamel, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Josep Caballé Domenech, and Hilary Griffiths, among others, and has appeared in recital with numerous vocalists around the world and recorded music by several Latin American composers. Since 2006, Roca has served as a conductor and pianist at the Opera of Colombia, in Bogotá, and his repertoire includes more than 70 fully prepared operas and zarzuelas.

Roca serves as Lecturer in Music/Opera Coach at the Yale School of Music. He previously served as Opera Coach and Director of the Opera Workshop at Central University, in Bogotá, and at Scuola Italia’s summer program for young opera singers in Sant’Angelo in Vado, Italy, and has served as Director of the Cartagena International Music Festival’s academic program. Roca’s pedagogical experience includes the presentation of master classes at Indiana University and the University of Michigan in the United States, Nayang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore, Capela di Santa Maria in Curitiba, Brazil among other institutions in South America.

Mike Demers lighting design

Mike Demers enjoys lighting up live performances, golf courses, and the occasional cigar. If you had been looking for Mike this past year, the best place to begin would have been the University of Connecticut’s Department of Dramatic Arts where Mike mentors students in the practical applications and technologies associated with lighting live performances. If he wasn’t there, you may have had luck going to Old Saybrook wehre he spent time lighting concerts at the Kathering Hepburn Cultural Arts Center. Still no luck, he might have been in Detroit getting the lights ready at Movement Festival of preparing for Mercedes Formula One VIP events at this year’s Miami Grand Prix. If after all this still nothing, the golf course is a solid next attempt. He might have been on the lesson tee providing good golf lessons while telling poor dad jokes, enjoying a round of golf, or preparing for the summer golf camp for kids. No matter where you find him, he will be glad you did.

John Horzen projection design

John Horzen is a third-year M.F.A. candidate in projection design at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Violin Performance from the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University, and is constantly examining the connective tissue that binds his rhyming loves of producing, designing, and communal music-making in order to find new ways of storytelling. John’s selected projection credits include The Planets (Woolsey Hall, Co-Projection Designer), Cuatro Vailes (The Bushnell, Co-Developer and Set/Projections designer), and The Kite Runner (The Hayes Theater, 3D Animator). » johnhorzen.com | @johnhorzen

Karen Root

scenic & properties design

Karen Root is delighted to return to Yale Opera. Previously at Yale Opera, she designed L’elisir d’amore and props for The Rape of Lucretia. Her theatre set design credits include: The Merry Wives of Windsor (upcoming—Elm Shakespeare), Gallathea (Southern Connecticut State University), The Tempest (Elm Shakespeare), Taste of Fear (Elm Shakespeare), All About Image/ We Are the Elite (NY International Fringe Festival), Great Catherine (Helen Gardiner Phalen Playhouse), Like Mamma Made You (Factory Theatre). Other theatre credits include: The Comedy of Errors, and Elm Shakespeare

Youth Festival (Elm Shakespeare), La Ronde (Soulpepper Theatre Company), The Seagull (Stratford Festival of Canada), Pericles, Prince of Tyre (Helen Gardiner Phalen Playhouse). Karen is also an Emmy-nominated and Parents’ Choice Award-winning production designer. Karen holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honors from University of Toronto. She is based in

Westport, CT, where she lives with her husband, kids, and many pets.

» karenrootdesign.com

Claire Warden

intimacy director

Claire Warden (she/her) is an intimacy director and coordinator, fight director, teacher, and actress with over twenty years of experience in theatre, TV, and film across America and the UK. She is the Director of Advanced Training at Intimacy Director and Coordinators, which specializes in training performers and industry professionals to build consent-based work approaches for intimate scenes, as well as training and certifying intimacy coordinators for film and intimacy directors for theatre. She is also part of the collaboration team advising SAG-AFTRA on their effort to standardize, codify, and implement guidelines for on-set intimacy coordinators.

Claire made history as the first intimacy director on Broadway with Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune and also worked as Intimacy Director on the Broadway productions of Slave Play, The Inheritance, Jagged Little Pill, Linda Vista, Company, Death of a Salesman and West Side Story. She was awarded Variety Magazine’s 2019 “10 Broadway Players to Watch.” Claire was recently awarded a special Drama Desk Award for “pioneering work as an intimacy choreographer... and her leadership in the rapidly emerging movement of intimacy direction.” Claire also received a Drama Desk award for Outstanding Fight Choreography for Slave Play at New York Theatre Workshop and was nominated in the same category for the play Daddy. Off-Broadway, she has intimacy- and fight-directed Slave Play (NYTW), Daddy (Vineyard/New Group), Mies Julie and Dance of Death (CSC) and BLKS (MCC Theatre) as well as others both in New York and regionally.

Claire also works as an intimacy coordinator on numerous television productions under various studios including HBO, Hulu, Amazon, Apple, and Showtime, as well major motion picture studios such as Sony and 20th Century Fox. She has just finished filming the TV series Three Women on Showtime in which she was the intimacy coordinator and part of the creative team.

» IDCprofessionals.com » clairewarden.com

Rebecca L. Welles ’12DGSD has been designing for Yale Opera since 2013, where her credits include The Rape of Lucretia, L’elisir d’amore, Florencia en el Amazonas, Eugene Onegin, The Magic Flute, Hansel and Gretel, 2017–2020 Fall Opera Scenes, Le pauvre matelot, The Bear, Don Quichotte, La Cenerentola, Le nozze di Figaro, Gianni Schicci, Riders to the Sea, Bon Appétit!, and Iolanta. Rebecca is also an adjunct professor of performing arts at Eastern Connecticut State University and the costume shop manager at The Mystic Seaport Museum. Other design credits include The Tempest and Comedy of Errors (Elm Shakespeare Company); Million Dollar Quartet and Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Story (Ivoryton Playhouse); La Cenerentola, Gianni Schicchi, The Trial, Magic Flute, and La Bohème (Salt Marsh Opera); Il barbiere di Siviglia (Aspen Opera Center); Cavalleria rusticana, I Pagliacci, and La Bohème (Opera New Jersey).

Regina Carson production stage manager

Regina Carson is a Philadelphia- and New Haven-based stage manager. She is happy to be returning to the Yale School of Music, where

she stage-managed the 2022 Fall Opera Scenes. Recent stage management credits include: Every Brilliant Thing, Dr. Ride’s American Beach House, Dragaret, and the International Collab Festival (Yale Cabaret); The Spitfire Grill, Avenue Q, and Anything Goes (Rutgers University); Liberty To Go To See (Cliveden National Trust). Regina holds a B.A. in Theatre from Rutgers University, specializing in stage management for Opera and Musical Theater. » rcarsonsm.wixsite.com

Rebecca L. Welles costume design

Hometown Education

Young Artists Programs

Elana Bell mezzo-soprano

Baltimore, MD

M.M. University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music;

B.M. & B.A. Oberlin Conservatory & College

Des Moines Metro Opera; Music Academy of the West; Tanglewood Music Center

Ethan Burck tenor

Hometown Education

Young Artists Programs

Hometown Education

Young Artists Programs

Aurora, IL

M.M. Curtis Institute of Music; B.M. Baldwin Wallace Conservatory

Santa Fe Opera; Music Academy of the West*

Jordan Costa tenor

Ridgefield, CT

M.M.A. Yale School of Music; M.M. & B.M. Eastman School of Music

Music Academy of the West; Si Parla, Si Canta; Glimmerglass Opera; Sarasota Opera; Central City Opera*

Amalia Crevani soprano

Hometown Education

Young Artists Program

Hometown Education

Young Artists Program

Hometown Education

Young Artists Programs

Milford, NJ

B.M. DePauw University

Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS

Daniel Espinal tenor

Sarasota, FL

B.M. Manhattan School of Music

Merola Opera*

Allison Fahey mezzo-soprano

Sebastian, FL

B.M. Stetson University

Seagle Festival; Chautauqua Opera Conservatory; Des Moines Metro Opera*

Samuel Kidd baritone

Hometown Education

Young Artists Programs

Ann Arbor, MI

M.M. University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music;

B.M. University of Michigan

Wolf Trap Opera; Houston Grand Opera Young Artists’ Vocal Academy; Music Academy of the West; Merola Opera*

* Upcoming

Hometown Education

Young Artists Programs

Seiyoung Kim tenor

Seoul, South Korea

M.M. New England Conservatory; B.M. The Juilliard School

Santa Fe Opera; Wolf Trap Opera; Houston Grand Opera Young Artists’ Vocal Academy; Lakes Area Music Festival*

Sergio Martínez bass

Hometown Education

Young Artists Programs

Hometown Education

Young Artists Programs

Hometown Education

Young Artists Programs

Hometown Education

Young Artists Programs

Hometown Education

Bogotá, Colombia

M.M. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign;

B.M. Juan N. Corpas University (Bogotá, Colombia)

Glimmerglass Opera*; Washington National Opera*

Ana Mora mezzo-soprano

Venezuela

M.M. & G.D. New England Conservatory;

B.M. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá, Colombia)

Santa Fe Opera; Ravinia Steans Music Institute*

Kara Morgan mezzo-soprano

Andover, MN

M.M. New England Conservatory; B.M. Drake University

Santa Fe Opera; Sarasota Opera

Finn Sagal bass-baritone

La Cañada, CA

B.M. University of California, Los Angeles

Aspen Music Festival; Curtis Summerfest; Merola Opera*

Jaeeun Shin soprano

Seoul, South Korea

M.M. & G.D. New England Conservatory;

B.M. Korea National University of Arts

Alex Smith baritone

Hometown Education

Young Artists Programs

Hometown Education

Young Artists Program

Kalamazoo, MI

B.M. Oberlin Conservatory of Music

SongFest; Oberlin in Italy

Jillian Tate soprano

Fairfax, VA

B.M. University of Maryland, College Park Music Academy of the West*

Hometown Education

Young Artists Programs

Korin Thomas-Smith baritone

Toronto, Canada

M.M. & B.M. University of Toronto Music Academy of the West; Aspen Music Festival; Ravinia Steans Music Institute; Glimmerglass Opera*; Canadian Opera Company*

* Upcoming

Yale Opera Production Staff

pat diamond Stage Director

rebecca l. welles Costume Designer

mike demers

Lighting Designer & Master Electrician

john horzen

Projection Designer & Operator

ein kim Projection Assistant

alejandro roca

Chorus Master & Music Preparation

curtis serafin

Surtitle Operator & Rehearsal Pianist

erika niemi Manager

regina carson Production Stage Manager

erica pajonas Assistant Stage Manager

karen root Props Designer & Manager

lorry polizzi

Costume Assistant

rae mainuli

Wardrobe Assistant

anna smigelskaya Rehearsal Pianist

Special Thanks

Shawn Boyle

Rich Burkam

Wendall K. Harrington

Christopher Melillo

JJ Penna

Kelsey Sapp

Adriana Zabala

David Geffen School of Drama at Yale

Southern Connecticut State University

Upcoming Events at YSM

may 6 Peter Oundjian, principal conductor & Anna Lee, violin

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