Florencia en el Amazonas
Act II Excerpt
Music by Daniel Catán
Libretto by Macela Fuentes-Berain
cast (in order of vocal appearance)
Rosalba
Arcadio
Paula
Riolobo
Capitán
Florencia
Alvaro
Performed in Spanish with projected English translation
Musical direction by Alejandro Roca
Piano by Lucas Nogara
Projection design by Ein Kim
maia aramburu
scott la marca
rosario armas
justice yates shyheim hinnant
eva martinez
john arlievsky
Florencia en el Amazonas details the journey of the legendary diva Florencia Grimaldi and her fellow passengers on a boat ride down the Amazon. Their journey is disrupted when a storm causes Paula’s husband Alvaro to go overboard and the boat to run aground. Arcadio and Rosalba are drawn together but remain wary of love. Paula mourns Alvaro’s loss and realizes pride was dividing them. When Riolobo calls up the mystical power of the Amazon, Alvaro reappears having heard Paula’s voice. The passengers thank him for his heroism and their journey resumes. Rosalba finds her ruined notebook containing notes for her biography of Grimaldi. Florencia tells her it is replaceable and reveals she is the great diva.
Performed by arrangement with G. Schirmer, Inc., publisher and copyright owner.
sunday, november 3
La bohème
Act IV
Music by Giacomo Puccini
Libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica
Performed in Italian with projected English translation
Musical direction by Alejandro Roca
Piano by Lucas Nogara
Projection design by Gib Gibney
cast (in order of vocal appearance)
Marcello
Rodolfo
Schaunard
Colline
Musetta
Mimì
paul jang
giorgi guliashvili
john arlievsky
shyheim hinnant
jillian tate
maia aramburu
Poet Rodolfo and painter Marcello reminisce about their former lovers
Mimì and Musetta. The young artists are joined by their friends
Schaunard and Colline bringing food. Their horseplay is cut short when Musetta arrives with a fragile and weak Mimì. The friends give the lovers some privacy as they recollect the night they fell in love. Rodolfo comforts
Mimì as she closes her eyes to sleep. Musetta returns with medicine, but Schaunard notices Mimì has already died and alerts Marcello. Rodolfo first notices his friends pacing awkwardly, realizes Mimì has died, and cries out in anguish.
saturday, october 28
Iolanta
Scenes 1-3 and 6-7
Music by Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Libretto by Modest Tchaikovsky
Performed in Russian with projected English translation
Musical preparation and piano by Anna Smigelskaya
Conducting by Alejandro Roca
Projection design by Ke Xu
cast (in order of vocal appearance)
Marta Iolanta
Brigitta
Laura Robert Vaudemont
Ensemble
rosario armas julia ernst
laura miah
charity cooper olivier zerouali
charles styles
maia aramburu, jillian tate, christina grohowski
King René’s daughter Iolanta was born blind, but this has been kept secret from her. She is sequestered in a garden and is tended to by her nurse
Marta and maids. Now as a young woman, she expresses her concern that there is more to life than she has been led to believe. Their responses remain ambiguous, and they sing a lullaby.
Meanwhile, Duke Robert travels to King René’s court to fulfill his marital duties, having been betrothed to Iolanta as a child. He confides to his friend Count Vaudemont, that he is madly in love with another woman and would give anything to end his engagement. They find Iolanta asleep in the garden. Vaudemont, struck by her beauty, praises her as an angelic vision. Iolanta welcomes him to the garden, but is confused by his words. He asks her to pick him a red rose, but when she gives him a white rose, he realizes she is blind. He worries that she is missing God’s light in the universe, but she assures him that she experiences it from within.
Gerald Martin Moore
Director of Yale Opera, music direction & piano
Gerald Martin Moore is an internationally renowned singing teacher and a 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, 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 Ravinia Steanes.
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, HRH King Charles, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Gerald was featured accompanying Renée Fleming in the soundtrack for the movie Bel Canto and also coached Julianne Moore who plays the role of Roxanne. In May 2024, Gerald performed in recital with soprano Erin Morley at the Kennedy Center to mark the launch of their album “Rose in Bloom” by Orchid Classics.
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.
John de los Santos stage direction
Director/choreographer John de los Santos’ productions include Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun (world premiere, Santa Fe Opera), Ghosts (world premiere, San Diego Opera), Kinky Boots (Uptown Players), Don Giovanni (Wolf Trap Opera), Before Night Falls (Opera Southwest), L’heure Espagnol (New Camerata Opera), Frida (Opera Orlando), and Maria de Buenos Aires (Arizona Opera). He has also directed at The Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music. As a librettist, John’s first collaboration with composer Clint Borzoni, When Adonis Calls, premiered under his direction at Asheville Lyric Opera. His next collaboration with Borzoni, The Copper Queen, premiered as a feature film in 2021. Their third work, The Christmas Spider, premiered under his direction at Opera Louisiane. His commission by Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative, with composer Christopher Weiss, Service Provider, premiered at the Kennedy Center and has since had numerous productions across the country. In 2020, John wrote and directed the film, The Roost, with Marc Migó for the Decameron Opera Project. John and composer Jorge Sosa’s Ofrenda: A ‘Día de Muertos’ Story was selected for the first Opera ATX Residency for Latinx Creatives Initiative. He is currently a librettist with Minnesota Opera’s New Works Initiative where he will collaborate with Kamala Sankaram on an opera based on Stephen King’s Misery.
johndelossantos.com
Alejandro Roca music direction
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, Patrick Fournillier, Hilary Griffiths, Gérard Korsten, and Miguel Roa. Roca has appeared in recital with numerous vocalists around the world and has 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 fullyprepared 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. He has been a member of the faculty at the University of Antioquia, in Medellín, and at Pontifical Xavierian University in Bogotá, and has served as Director of the Cartagena International Music Festival’s academic program. Roca has presented 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, and the University of Valle and the University of the North in Colombia.
Samuel J. Biondolillo lighting design
Samuel J. Biondolillo is a New York City–based lighting & projection designer originally from Vermont. Recent credits include off-Broadway productions of Brilliance, Brecht on Brecht, Geek! The Musical, and the New York Dance & Musical Festival. Regional credits include Cabaret, Rocky Horror Show, For the Fish (Moonbox Productions); Blood at the Root, Shakespeare in Love, Henry IV Parts 1+2 (Connecticut Repertory Theatre); Les Filles du Quoi, The Hundred Acre Woods, The Complete History of Comedy, Abridged (Lost Nation Theater); Annapurna, The Pitman Painters, Private Lives (Vermont Stage). Dance credits include The Nutcracker 2019–2022, Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty (Ballet Theatre Company); Charles River Ballet Workshop 2019–2022 (CRBA).
Biondolillo is a faculty member at Central Connecticut State University and a proud member of IATSE USA 829. He holds an M.F.A. in Design from the University of Connecticut and a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Boston College.
Seth Tyler Black props design
Seth Tyler Black is a Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary artist & designer, with roots in Buffalo & Philadelphia. Designing & prop mastering for theatre and film since 2011, Black always puts art at the forefront. A few of Black’s credits include Nightmare Alley, A Quiet Place 2, and Gabriel’s Inferno in film, along with productions of Faust, Hedwig & the Angry Inch, Buffalo Gal, Angels in America, and newly devised pieces with Amy Taravella, David Butler, & Gerry Trentham in theatre.
Seth Tyler Black’s 2023–2024 season included projection design for The Words Will Come [premiere, NYC], AI in Delphi [premiere, Buffalo], and a 3-show residency in the Glass Box Theatre at Rochester Institute of Technology: Ada & the Engine [Rochester], a newly devised immersive show, & a cabaret. Black has also scenic designed runs of Drowzy Chaperone [NYC] and You Can’t Take It With You [NYC], as well as prop supervised Gin Game [Bristol], Cats: the Musical [Lincoln], and Venus in Fur [Bristol].
Anna Smigelskaya music preparation & piano
Following her second season as a member of the music staff with the Santa Fe Opera, Anna Smigelskaya joins the faculty as Lecturer at the Yale School of Music. During her recent season in Santa Fe, Smigelskaya was selected as the organist for Tosca, while also preparing performances of scenes from La bohème and Boris Godunov as part of the Apprentice Scenes program. Additionally, Smigelskaya served as the company’s primary Russian diction coach. Prior to her two-year fellowship with Yale Opera, other engagements included the Merola Opera Program, Music Academy of the West, and Renée Fleming’s Song Studio. Smigelskaya formerly held positions at both the Manhattan School of Music and the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston. She began her collegiate education in her native city of St. Petersburg at the Rimsky–Korsakov Music College, subsequently earning solo piano degrees from Sam Houston State University (B.M.) and University of Houston (M.M.). As a student at the Manhattan School of Music, Smigelskaya completed a second M.M. degree under the tutelage of Warren Jones.
Rebecca L. Welles costume design
Rebecca L. Welles (Yale M.F.A. ’12) has been designing for Yale Opera since 2013, where her credits include The Seven Deadly Sins, The Rape of Lucretia, L’elisir d’amore, Florencia en el Amazonas, Eugene Onegin, The Magic Flute, Hanseland Gretel, Le pauvre matelot, The Bear, Don Quichotte, La Cenerentola, Le nozze di Figaro, Gianni Schicchi, Riders to the Sea, Bon Appitit, Iolanta, and Fall Opera Scenes
2017—2020. Welles is 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 Richard III, The Tempest and Comedy of Errors (Elm Shakespeare), Million Dollar Quartet and Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Story (Ivoryton Playhouse), Cenerentola, Gianni Schicchi, The Trial, Magic Flute, and La bohème (Salt Marsh Opera), Il barbiere di Siviglia (Aspen Opera Center), and Cavalleria rusticana, Pagliacci, and La bohème (Opera New Jersey).
Maia Aramburu soprano
Hometown: Lima, Peru;
B.M. the University of Michigan;
M.M. USC Thornton School of Music; Young Artist Programs: Janiec Opera Company, Vienna Summer Music Festival
John Arlievsky baritone
Hometown: New York, NY;
B.M. Peabody Conservatory; Young Artist Programs: Tanglewood Music Center, Castleton Vocal Immersion Program, Berlin Opera Academy
Rosario Armas mezzo-soprano
Hometown: Tlaxcala, Mexico;
B.M. & M.M. Manhattan School of Music; Young Artist Programs: Wolf Trap Opera, Sarasota Opera
Charity Cooper mezzo-soprano
Hometown: Layton, UT
B.M. Snow College;
M.M. Baylor University; Young Artist Programs: Utah Valley Operafest, Utah Vocal Arts Academy, Music on Site
Julia Ernst soprano
Hometown: New Orleans, LA;
B.M. Loyola University of New Orleans; Saluzzo Opera Academy, Music Academy of the West
Christina Grohowski mezzo-soprano
Hometown: Walden, NY;
B.M. SUNY Purchase; Young Artist Programs: Queens Summer Vocal Institute, Young Artist Vocal Academy Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera
Giorgi Guliashvili tenor
Hometown: Tbilisi, Georgia; M.M. Tbilisi State Conservatory; Young Artist Programs: Music Academy of the West, Teatro San Carlo, Merola Opera
Shyheim Hinnant bass-baritone
Hometown: Woodbridge, VA;
B.M. Virginia Commonwealth University; M.M. UCLA; Young Artist Programs: Des Moines Metro Opera, Lyric Opera of Orange County
Paul Jang baritone
Hometown: Seoul, South Korea;
B.M. Hanyang University College of Music; Young Artist Program: Music Academy of the West
Scott La Marca tenor
Hometown: New York, NY; B.M. Queens College;
M.M. Manhattan School of Music; Young Artist Programs: Chautauqua Opera Conservatory, Aspen Music Festival
Eva Martinez soprano
Hometown: Doylestown, PA; B.M. Manhattan School of Music; Young Artist Programs: Young Artist Vocal Academy Houston Grand Opera; Tanglewood Music Center, Ravinia Steans Music Institute
Laura Miah soprano
Hometown: San Juan, Puerto Rico; B.M. Conservatory of Music, Puerto Rico; Young Artists Programs: Young Artist Vocal Academy Houston Grand Opera, Ravinia Steans Music Institute
Charles Styles tenor
Hometown: Tamworth, UK;
B.A. & MPhil University of Oxford; Young Artist Programs: Opernfest Berlin, Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Jillian Tate soprano
Hometown: Fairfax, VA;
B.M. University of Maryland, College Park;
M.M. Yale School of Music Young Artist Program: Music Academy of the West
Justice Yates bass-baritone
Hometown: Leesburg, FL;
B.M. Stetson University;
Young Artist Programs: American Institute of Musical Studies Program in Graz, Austria, SongFest, Young Artist Vocal Academy Houston Grand Opera, Merola Opera
Olivier Zerouali baritone
Hometown: Middletown, DE;
B.M. SUNY Purchase;
Young Artist Programs: Berlin Opera Academy, Young Artist Vocal Academy Houston Grand Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, Merola Opera
Ethan Burck tenor (Guest Artist)
Hometown: Aurora, IL;
B.M. Baldwin Wallace University; M.M. Curtis Institute of Music; M.M.A. Yale School of Music; Young Artist Program: Santa Fe Opera
john de los santos
Stage Director
samuel j. biondolillo
Lighting Designer
ed fogarty
Master Electrician
roman munichiello
Lighting Board Operator
rebecca l. welles
Costume Designer
lori polizzi
Costume Assistant
rae mainuli
Wardrobe Assistant
curtis serafin
anna smigelskaya
Surtitle Operator
erika niemi
General Manager
regina carson Production Coordinator
emily smith Stage Manager
ethan burck Assistant Stage Manager
seth tyler black Properties Designer and Manager
christian killada Projection Assistant
ke xu
Projection Content Creator
dwight bellisimo Projection Programmer
special thanks
Shawn Boyle
Mark Dionne
Robert Heltzel
Christopher Melillo
JJ Penna
Adriana Zabala
David Geffen School of Drama at Yale
