“The Elixir of Love” in Knoxville, Tennessee

Posted on January 15, 2014 by editoreusa

KNOXVILLE OPERA PRESENTS:

Website-Banners-Elixir1

Friday, February 14, 2014 at 8:00pm VALENTINE’S NIGHT!
Sunday, February 16, 2014 at 2:30pm
at The Magnificent Tennessee Theatre
Opera preview hosted by Maestro Salesky begins 45 minutes prior to each performance

Gaetano Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love is the perfect romantic comedy for your Valentine! Get ready for dazzling vocal fireworks and glorious melodies that will melt your heart as the desperate Nemorino pursues the feisty Adina. Although she is already engaged to a dashing sergeant, the determined Nemorino downs a love potion in hopes of stealing her away.

“Liquid courage” triumphs!

Highlights include:
◊ Nemorino’s “Una furtiva lagrima”
◊ the Nemorino – Belcore duet “Venti scudi”
◊ Adina’s show-stopping finale

Presented in memory of Luciano Pavarotti whose legendary performances in Elixir won the hearts of millions of fans, including those who heard him perform arias from the opera at his 1990 Knoxville concert.

Performed in Italian with projected English translations.

Meet the Director!

Brian-DeedrickBRIAN DEEDRICK (Stage Director)
Knoxville Opera is delighted to welcome back international stage director Brian Deedrick with this production of The Elixir of Love. As a freelance opera and theatre director, his work takes him all over Canada and the United States, with occasional forays as far afield as Casalmaggiore, Italy and Tel Aviv. During his years as Artistic Director of Edmonton Opera, some of his favorite productions there included Fidelio, Otello, Julius Caesar, Falstaff, Weill in Weimar, The Emperor of Atlantis, The Abduction from the Seraglio and South Pacific. Selected freelance opera credits have included Turandot and Aïda for Fort Worth Opera, Don Giovanni for Austin Lyric Opera, Otello and La Bohème for L’Opéra de Québec, Eugene Onegin and Tosca for Opera Carolina, The Flying Dutchman for Baltimore Opera, L’Elisir d’amore and The Pearl Fishers for Arizona Opera, The Merry Widow, Don Pasquale in Honolulu and Manon in Montreal. Immediately following the opening of Elixir here in Knoxville, Mr. Deedrick heads to Winnipeg, Manitoba for La Bohème. When not directing, the native of Canada works as a city tour guide in Berlin, Germany!

Meet the Cast!

Stefania-DovhanSTEFANIA DOVHAN (Adina)

Joshua-KohlJOSHUA KOHL (Nemorino)

Sean-AndersonSEAN ANDERSON (Belcore)

Rod-NelmanROD NELMAN (Dulcamara)

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“L’elisir d’amore” in San Diego

Posted on January 15, 2014 by editoreusa

San Diego Opera 

Presents

THE ELIXIR OF LOVE

by Gaetano Donizetti

FEBRUARY 15, 18, 21, 23, 2014

Is it truly a magic elixir or just a bottle of cheap Bordeaux? Perhaps it doesn’t matter if it works. Nemorino desperately wants to marry the wealthy Adina, who seems out of his league. When she attracts a handsome Sergeant as her suitor, he turns in desperation to Dr. Dulcamara’s “elixir of love” in hope of winning her, spends all his money, and has to enlist to get cash for more. When the quack Doctor Dulcamara tells the village girls that Nemorino is suddenly rich they all chase after him, so Nemorino knows the potion works! But it takes more than an elixir to win Adina.

This delightful comedy, from the composer of last season’s The Daughter of the Regiment, overflows with melody and famous arias including the heartbreaking “Una furtiva lagrima”, a favorite of tenors and audiences. With a lovesick peasant, a beautiful rich woman, a handsome Sergeant, and a quack Doctor you have the very definition of a romantic comedy, one that Hollywood could never rival and with far more satisfactory results!

Making their San Diego Opera debuts are Italian tenor Giuseppe Filianoti, a star at La Scala, Paris Opera and Moscow’s Bolshoi Opera, and Moldavian soprano, Tatiana Lisnic whose ‘Adina’ has delighted audiences at the Paris Opera, Vienna State Opera. They join favorites John Del Carlo and Malcolm MacKenzie, Conductor Karen Kamensek, Music Director of the Staatsoper Hannover in her San Diego Opera debut and Stephen Lawless directs this Los Angeles Opera production.

The running time is approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes including one intermission.
Sung in Italian with English translations displayed above the stage.

SYNOPSIS OF THE ELIXIR OF LOVE

ACT I

Adina, a wealthy beauty, her friend Gianetta, and a group of peasants are resting beneath a shade tree on her estate. From a distance, Nemorino, a young villager, watches the bucolic scene, lamenting that he has nothing to offer Adina but love. The peasants urge their mistress to read them a story of how Tristan won the heart of Isolde by drinking a magic love potion. No sooner has she done so than Sergeant Belcore swaggers in with his troop. The soldier’s conceit amuses Adina, but he is not dissuaded from asking her for her hand in marriage. Promising to think the offer over, she orders refreshments for his comrades. When Adina and Nemorino are left alone, she tells him that his time would be better spent looking after his ailing uncle than mooning over her, for she is as fickle as a breeze.

In the town square, villagers hail the arrival of Dr. Dulcamara. The foppish quack declares the potion he is selling capable of curing anything and, since it is expensive, the villagers buy eagerly. When they have gone, Nemorino asks Dulcamara if he sells the elixir of love described in Adina’s book. Showing the youth a bottle of Bordeaux, the charlatan convinces him this is the very draught. Though it costs him his last gold piece, Nemorino buys the wine and hastily drinks it. Adina enters to find him quite tipsy. Certain that he will win her love as did Tristan of Isolde in the storybook, he pretends indifference to her. To punish him, Adina flirts with Belcore who, informed that he must return to his garrison, persuades her to marry him at once. Horrified, Nemorino begs Adina to wait one more day, but she ignores him and invites the entire village to her wedding feast. As the peasants shout taunts, Nemorino rushes away, moaning that he has been ruined.

ACT II

At a local tavern, the pre-wedding supper is in progress. Dr. Dulcamara, self-appointed master of ceremonies, sits with the bridal couple. “What a pity Nemorino cannot see how happy we are,” thinks Adina. Her mind is distracted by the doctor, who suggests they blend their voices in a barcarole about a lady gondolier and her wealthy suitor. When the duet ends, the girl goes with Belcore to another room to sign the marriage contracts and the guests disperse. Remaining behind, Dulcamara is joined by Nemorino, who begs for another bottle of the elixir – his pleas are rejected because of his lack of funds. Belcore returns annoyed because Adina has postponed the wedding until nightfall and when he spies Nemorino, he asks why he is so sad. The youth explains his financial plight, whereupon the sergeant persuades him to join the army to receive a bonus awaiting all volunteers. Belcore leads the perplexed Nemorino off to sign the necessary documents.

Peasant girls gathered in the square learn from Gianetta that Nemorino’s uncle has died and willed him a fortune. When he reels in, still giddy from the wine, they besiege him with attention. Unaware of his new wealth, he believes the elixir has finally begun to take effect.

Adina and Dr. Dulcamara arrive in time to see him leave with a bevy of beauties and she, angry that he has sold his freedom to Belcore, grows doubly furious. Scenting a new sale, Duclamara explains that Nemorino’s popularity is due to the magic elixir. Adina replies that she will win him back and she leaves, followed by the doctor. Nemorino enters in a pensive mood. He takes heart because of a tear he has seen on Adina’s cheek but, when she returns, he feigns indifference. Undone, she confesses she has purchased his enlistment papers because she loves him. Back in the square, Belcore marches in to find Adina affianced to Nemorino and declaring that thousands of women await him, he accepts the situation. Attributing Nemorino’s happiness and inheritance to the elixir, Dulcamara quickly sells more bottles of the wine before making his escape to another town.

THE CAST

Please click an artist’s name to read more.

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“Roméo et Juliette” in Kentucky

Posted on January 14, 2014 by editoreusa

Kentucky Opera

PRESENTS: 

Roméo et Juliette 2013/14

 

Friday, February 14 – 8pm & Sunday, February 16 – 2pm

  • Romeo300x400

Roméo et Juliette
By Charles Gounod
Friday, February 14 – 8pm
Sunday, February 16 – 2pm

Star-crossed lovers meet at a family party only to be torn apart by feuding families and resolution comes at a high price. Shakespeare’s tragedy adapted into an opera by French composer Charles Gounod features Ava Pine as Juliette and Vale Rideout as Roméo.

The Cast

 

Ava Pine

Ava Pine* as Juliette

  

Vale Rideout

Vale Rideout* as Roméo

  

Gregory Rahming

Gregory Rahming* as Frère Laurent
 

Jesse Blumberg

Jesse Blumberg* as Mercutio

  

John Arnold

John Arnold+ as Count Capulet

  

Marco Cammarota

Marco Cammarota+ as Tybalt
 

Jill Phillips

Jill Phillips+ as Gertrude

  

Raqueil Fatiuk

Raquel Fatiuk+ as Stéphano

  

Ian Richardson

Ian Richardson+ as the Duke of Verona
 

Phillip Bullock

Phillip Bullock+ as Count Paris

  

Cesar Mendez-Silvagnoli

César Méndez-Silvagnoli + as Grégorio

  

Sergio GonzalezSergio González+ as Benvolio
     

Creative Team

Emmanuel Plasson, Conductor
Danny Pelzig,* Director
Scenery and Props courtesy of Lyric Opera of Kansas City
R. Keith Brumley, Scenery Design
Costumes supplied by Malabar Limited, Toronto
Kendall Smith,* Lighting Design
Lisa Hasson, Chorus Master

*Kentucky Opera debut
+Kentucky Opera Studio Artist

RomeoSet

SYNOPSIS

Setting:  Verona, Italy in the 14th century

PROLOGUE
The chorus tells of the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets and of their children, the star-crossed lovers Roméo and Juliette.

ACT I – the grand hall in the palace of the Capulets
The Capulets are holding a masked ball.  Count Capulet arrives with his daughter and greets the guests.  Juliette is excited to attend the party (Je veux vivre).  The rival Montagues, including a masked Roméo and his friends, also arrive at the party.  Roméo’s friend Mercutio launches into a song about Queen Mab trying to convince Roméo to stay focused on the task at hand. It is then that the two meet and their attraction is instantaneous.  Tybalt is suspicious of the young man attracting Juliette’s attention and realizes that Montagues are at the ball.  Roméo and his friends make a quick exit.  Count Capulet tells Tybalt to remain civil and continues the ball.

ACT II – the garden of the Capulets
Roméo and his page Stéphano are hiding just below Juliette’s apartment.  Roméo sings of Juliette’s beauty as the purest, brightest star (Ah! lève-toi soleil).  As Roméo hides, Juliette appears on the balcony and reveals her attraction to him, even though he is a Montague. Roméo reveals himself and they pledge their love only to be interrupted by Capulets searching the gardens and then Juliette’s nurse, Gertrude.  They bid each other good night.

ACT III
Part 1 – Friar Lawrence’s cell
Roméo, followed by Juliette and her nurse, arrives at Friar Lawrence’s cell.  The Friar hopes that the union of Roméo and Juliette will lead to peace between the two houses and agrees to marry the couple.

Part 2 – a street near the Capulet’s house
Stéphano provokes a fight with the Capulets (Que fais-tu, blanche tourterelle) as a distraction.  Grégorio rises to the challenge drawing more Capulets and Montagues in the brawl.  Mercutio and Tybalt fight and Mercutio is killed.  In a fit of rage, Roméo kills Tybalt and the Duke of Verona banishes Roméo from the city.

ACT IV – Juliet’s room at dawn
After a night of passion, Roméo bids Juliette farewell before he is exiled (Nuit d’hyménée, O douce nuit d’amour).  Gertrude warns Juliette that her father is approaching with Friar Lawrence.  Count Capulet tells Juliet to prepare for her marriage to Paris immediately.  The Friar gives Juliette a potion that will make it appear as if she is dead then promises when she awakens, Roméo will be with her and they will flee together.  Juliette drinks the potion and on the way to marry Paris, she faints and all think she is dead.

ACT V – the tomb of the Capulets
Roméo has broken into the tomb and mourns Juliette’s death.  In despair, Roméo drinks poison just as Juliette begins to awaken.  Unaware that Roméo is dying, they sing of a new life together but Roméo falters and tells Juliette what he has done.  Unwilling to live without him, Juliette stabs herself with a dagger.  As the lovers die, they pray for God’s forgiveness.

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“Roméo et Juliette” in Kentucky

Posted on January 14, 2014 by editoreusa

Kentucky Opera

PRESENTS:

Friday, February 14 – 8pm & Sunday, February 16 – 2pm

<!–>

Romeo300x400

Roméo et Juliette

Charles Gounod

Friday, February 14 – 8pm
Sunday, February 16 – 2pm

Star-crossed lovers meet at a family party only to be torn apart by feuding families and resolution comes at a high price. Shakespeare’s tragedy adapted into an opera by French composer Charles Gounod features Ava Pine as Juliette and Vale Rideout as Roméo.

The Cast

 

Ava Pine

Ava Pine* as Juliette

  

Vale Rideout

Vale Rideout* as Roméo

  

Gregory Rahming

Gregory Rahming* as Frère Laurent
 

Jesse Blumberg

Jesse Blumberg* as Mercutio

  

John Arnold

John Arnold+ as Count Capulet

  

Marco Cammarota

Marco Cammarota+ as Tybalt
 

Jill Phillips

Jill Phillips+ as Gertrude

  

Raqueil Fatiuk

Raquel Fatiuk+ as Stéphano

  

Ian Richardson

Ian Richardson+ as the Duke of Verona
 

Phillip Bullock

Phillip Bullock+ as Count Paris

  

Cesar Mendez-Silvagnoli

César Méndez-Silvagnoli + as Grégorio

  

Sergio GonzalezSergio González+ as Benvolio

RomeoSet

Setting:  Verona, Italy in the 14th century

PROLOGUE
The chorus tells of the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets and of their children, the star-crossed lovers Roméo and Juliette.

ACT I – the grand hall in the palace of the Capulets
The Capulets are holding a masked ball.  Count Capulet arrives with his daughter and greets the guests.  Juliette is excited to attend the party (Je veux vivre).  The rival Montagues, including a masked Roméo and his friends, also arrive at the party.  Roméo’s friend Mercutio launches into a song about Queen Mab trying to convince Roméo to stay focused on the task at hand. It is then that the two meet and their attraction is instantaneous.  Tybalt is suspicious of the young man attracting Juliette’s attention and realizes that Montagues are at the ball.  Roméo and his friends make a quick exit.  Count Capulet tells Tybalt to remain civil and continues the ball.

ACT II – the garden of the Capulets
Roméo and his page Stéphano are hiding just below Juliette’s apartment.  Roméo sings of Juliette’s beauty as the purest, brightest star (Ah! lève-toi soleil).  As Roméo hides, Juliette appears on the balcony and reveals her attraction to him, even though he is a Montague. Roméo reveals himself and they pledge their love only to be interrupted by Capulets searching the gardens and then Juliette’s nurse, Gertrude.  They bid each other good night.

ACT III
Part 1 – Friar Lawrence’s cell
Roméo, followed by Juliette and her nurse, arrives at Friar Lawrence’s cell.  The Friar hopes that the union of Roméo and Juliette will lead to peace between the two houses and agrees to marry the couple.

Part 2 – a street near the Capulet’s house
Stéphano provokes a fight with the Capulets (Que fais-tu, blanche tourterelle) as a distraction.  Grégorio rises to the challenge drawing more Capulets and Montagues in the brawl.  Mercutio and Tybalt fight and Mercutio is killed.  In a fit of rage, Roméo kills Tybalt and the Duke of Verona banishes Roméo from the city.

ACT IV – Juliet’s room at dawn
After a night of passion, Roméo bids Juliette farewell before he is exiled (Nuit d’hyménée, O douce nuit d’amour).  Gertrude warns Juliette that her father is approaching with Friar Lawrence.  Count Capulet tells Juliet to prepare for her marriage to Paris immediately.  The Friar gives Juliette a potion that will make it appear as if she is dead then promises when she awakens, Roméo will be with her and they will flee together.  Juliette drinks the potion and on the way to marry Paris, she faints and all think she is dead.

ACT V – the tomb of the Capulets
Roméo has broken into the tomb and mourns Juliette’s death.  In despair, Roméo drinks poison just as Juliette begins to awaken.  Unaware that Roméo is dying, they sing of a new life together but Roméo falters and tells Juliette what he has done.  Unwilling to live without him, Juliette stabs herself with a dagger.  As the lovers die, they pray for God’s forgiveness.

Charles_Gounod

Charles-François Gounod

Charles-François Gounod was born in Paris on June 17, 1818 to a Prix de Rome award winning painter François-Louis and his wife, a pianist.  He took piano lessons from his mother and eventually entered the Paris Conservatoire.  Gounod followed in his father’s footsteps by winning the Prix de Rome in 1839 for his cantata Fernand.  As part of the award, he stayed in Rome and studied sacred music.  Upon his return to Paris, Gounod became the music director of the Missions Etrangères church in 1843 and briefly considered joining the priesthood.  He decided instead to pursue composition, although would maintain an interest in sacred music until his death.  In 1854, he composed St. Cecilia’s Mass and the next year wrote two symphonies; his Symphony No. 1 in D Major would prove to be an inspiration for future student Georges Bizet’s Symphony in C.

Gounod revered Bach and used the C Major Prelude to set Ave Maria.   At the urging of mezzo-soprano Pauline Viardot, Gounod tackled the world of opera with Sapho for the Paris Opéra but it was not well received.  After several more attempts, Gounod finally found the right mix of librettists (Jules Barbier and Michel Carré), story (Goethe’s 17th century classic Faust), producer (Léon Carvalho) and musical inspiration for the operatic version of Faust in 1859.  It was an immediate hit and his publisher made sure that the new opera was marketed internationally—a genius move that cemented the opera’s status as one of the most popular in the repertory.

Four more operas followed on the heels of Faust; Philémon et Baucis (1860), La Colombe (1860), La reine de Saba (1862) and Mireille (1864) but none met with much success.  But Gounod continued to work with his team of librettists and had long considered the idea of turning Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet into an opera.  Gounod began work on the new opera in 1865 and his librettists decided to stick closely with the Shakespeare tragedy including some word for word translation into the French libretto.  Roméo et Juliette opened at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris on 27 April 1867 during the Exposition Universelle and, like Faust, was an immediate success.

Gounod was a prolific composer and wrote many other works including oratorios, ballets, masses, instrumental, motets and songs.  In 1870, Gounod moved his family to England to escape the possible fall-out from the Franco-Prussian War.  By 1874, the Gounods moved back to France.  In 1888, he was named Grand Officer in the Legion d’Honneure (Legion of Honor) and he continued to compose, favoring more sacred music than secular in his later years including a mass inspired by Joan of Arc.  On October 18, 1893, Gounod died from a stroke in Saint-Cloud, France.  His operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette remain some of the most popular in the operatic repertory.  And surprisingly, a small instrumental piece Funeral March for a Marionette (1873) introduced new audiences to Gounod as the theme of the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Kentucky Opera
323 West Broadway
Louisville, KY 40202

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“Agrippina” in Omaha

Posted on January 13, 2014 by editoreusa

OPERA OMAHA PRESENTS:

AGRIPPINA

George Frideric Handel

Friday February 14, 2014
Sunday February 16, 2014

Orpheum Theater

About the Production

Delve into the sordid private lives of some of history’s most notorious figures. Agrippina is the ambitious and seductive wife of Emperor Claudius, who through shocking, and often darkly comic, machinations places her volatile teenage son, Nero, on the throne. Jeweled with Handel’s glorious melodies, Agrippina is the composer at his most theatrically visceral and musically stunning.

This striking new Opera Omaha production premieres an original edition of the opera by early music specialist and conductor Stephen Stubbs, and stage director James Darrah. This progressive creative team leads a charismatic cast of singers, nearly all of whom will make their Opera Omaha debuts!

Approximate run time is 3 hours with one intermission.

CAST

Agrippina Artists

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The Dallas Opera presents “Death and Powers” by Tod Machover

Posted on January 12, 2014 by editoreusa

The Dallas Opera Presents:

Science fiction and poignant family drama combine in one of the most stunning, cutting-edge operas of the 21st century, with a libretto by former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, coming to the stage of the Winspear Opera House in a production directed by Diane Paulus, designed by Alex McDowell (Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report) and conducted by Nicole Paiement (TDO’s The Lighthouse).

This visually spectacular robot pageant by MIT Media Lab’s Tod Machover tells the story of a terminally ill billionaire, sung by Robert Orth, who downloads his consciousness into “the System” and proceeds to use all his powers to persuade his loved ones to join him there. Without bodies, without the possibility of touch, sex, suffering, and death — are we still genuinely human?

Explore these existential questions and much more in a piece Variety described as “playful, lyrical and…mesmerizing.” Also starring Joélle Harvey as Miranda, Patricia Risley as Evvy, and Hal Cazalet in his Dallas Opera debut as Nicholas.

Sung in English with English supertitles

 

Performances (2014)

  • Wed 2/12/14 7:30pm
     
  • Fri 2/14/14 7:30pm
     
  • Sat 2/15/14 7:30pm
     
  • Sun 2/16/14 2:00pm
     

Starring
Robert Orth
Joélle Harvey
Patricia Risley
Hal Cazelet

Conductor
Nicole Paiement

Director
Diane Paulus

Librettist
Robert Pinsky

Set design
Alex McDowell

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Richard Strauss’ ARIADNE AUF NAXOS in Victoria, Canada

Posted on January 12, 2014 by editoreusa

logo

PACIFIC OPERA VICTORIA Presents:

ARIADNE AUF NAXOS

Music by Richard Strauss
Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal
February 13, 15, 21, 2014, at 8 pm
Matinée February 23 at 2:30 pm
In German with English Surtitles

2013-14 season: Falstaff, Ariadne auf Naxos, The Marriage of Figaro

The richest man in Vienna is having a party. His guests will be treated to a new opera – the tragedy of the jilted Ariadne – followed by a burlesque farce, The Fickle Zerbinetta and Her Four Lovers. When dinner runs late, the patron orders that both works be staged simultaneously.

What follows is a musical class war as the players perform a quirky mashup of high-minded opera and earthy comedy. Strauss has a field day with melody, tossing off playful roulades and sizzling coloratura, unveiling a kaleidoscope of lush orchestral textures and colours.

A cockeyed take on art, love, and fidelity, Ariadne auf Naxos is at once divinely comic and profoundly enchanting.

CAST

Pacific Opera Victoria | 1815 Blanshard Street, Suite 500 | Victoria, BC V8T 5A4

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Massenet’s “Cinderella” in New Orleans

Posted on January 12, 2014 by editoreusa

nooa-logo1

Presents:

Massenet’s Cinderella (Cendrillon)

February 14, 2014 – 8:00 PM
February 16, 2014 – 2:30 PM
Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts

OperaSeasonHeaderCinderella-300x210

On Valentine’s Day your heart will be captured by this gorgeous operatic confection from the pen of Jules Massenet, composer of Manon and Thaïs. Cinderella is a sophisticated re-telling of the classic French fairy tale, an operatic jewel—complete with glass slippers and a Fairy Godmother—embracing pathos, conflict, hilarity, and the sheer magic of true love! Our glittering new production will be a company premiere and the perfect entertainment for audiences of all ages. SPEND VALENTINE’S DAY WITH THE NEW ORLEANS OPERA!

SYNOPSIS

ACT 1 A state room in Madame de la Haltière’s town house
Servants bustle to prepare for the ball. The henpecked Pandolfe wonders why he ever left his country estate to remarry an over-bearing countess with two daughters and pities the lot of his own child Lucette (Cinderella). He leaves as his wife enters to instruct her daughters on strategy and supervise a troupe of milliners, tailors and hairdressers. Pandolfe, late for departure, is not allowed to say goodnight to his child. Cinderella enters and sits by the fire to regret her lot before falling asleep. Her Fairy Godmother appears and orders her attendants to dress Cinderella for the ball. She warns her to leave before midnight, and tells her that the glass slippers are a talisman to prevent her being recognized by her family.

ACT 2 The royal palace
A gaggle of courtiers and an onstage band fail to alleviate the Prince’s melancholy. The King orders him to marry and eligible princesses arrive for the Prince’s scrutiny. The unknown beauty Cinderella appears to a concertato of general amazement, and the Prince launches a rapturous love-at-first-sight duet. Cinderella responds but as midnight strikes she hurries away.

ACT 3, Scene 1 A state room in Madame de la Haltière’s town house
Cinderella relives the glamour of the ball and the terror of her nocturnal flight. The family returns from the ball and Madame de la Haltière disputes Pandolfe’s account of the events. According to her, the Prince decisively rejected the bold intruder. Pandolfe notices that Cinderella is about to faint and orders the women from the room. In a duet of great tenderness he promises that he and Cinderella will return to his country seat. When he exits to prepare for the journey, Cinderella gives way to despair: rather than allow her father to share her pain, she decides to run away and die on her own.

ACT 3, Scene 2 A magic landscape around a great oak tree
Fairies and will-o’-the-wisps interrupt their dance as Cinderella and the Prince approach separately, and the Fairy Godmother conjures up a magic arbor so that they may hear but not see each other. After praying to be released from their misery, they recognize each other’s voices and reaffirm their love in a mystical ceremony. The Prince hangs his bleeding heart on the oak, and both fall into an enchanted sleep.

ACT 4, Scene 1 A terrace
Pandolfe watches over his sleeping daughter. Months have passed since she was found by a stream half dead with cold. In her delirium she has been singing about the ball, the mysterious oak, the bleeding heart and the missing slipper. None of this ever happened, her father assures her, and she resigns herself to having dreamed it all. Madame de la Haltière enters with the news of a grand international assembly of princesses to try on the missing slipper, and Cinderella joyfully realizes that her dream was true.

ACT 4, Scene 2 The palace
The princesses appear, but the Prince does not recognize any of them as his lost love. Cinderella steps forward and is reunited with the Prince. The opera ends amid general rejoicing.

Director: Jose Maria Condemi

Conductor: Robert Lyall

Cast

Click each cast name to see their picture, bio, and more information!

Cinderella – Judith Gauthier

Judith Gauthier - Cinderella - Cinderella1
Before starting her vocal studies with Maestro Gabriel Bacquier and Michèle Command , Judith Gauthier trained at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris, piano , accompaniment and vocal conducting. Judith Gauthier is the recipient of several prizes including the Adami Prize at the International Competition in Clermont-Ferrand (2005), the First Prize and the SACEM Prize for the most outstanding interpretation of contemporary works at the Concours International de la Mélodie Française de Toulouse (2003). Judith Gauthier made her début in Campra‘s Idoménée ( Jean-Claude Malgoire conducting) and was invited to participate in Mozart ‘s Bastien und Bastienne at the Paris‘s historic Théâtre du Châtelet. Since then she worked with world famous conductors including Marc Minkowski, Serge Baudo, Peter Eötvös, Gelgely Vajda, Jean- Christophe and Philippe Spinosi, Daniel Reuss, Hervé Niquet, Martin Gester, Chrisopher Franklin…and stage directors: Robert Carsen, Laurent Pelly, Emilio Sagi, Benjamin Lazar, Joachim Ratke, Thaddeus Strassberger …. She has performed in Lully’s Alceste (Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris), Arcas in Martin y Soler ‘s Ifigenia in Aulide (Madrid), Fiordiligi (Warsaw ), Frasquita in Carmen ( M.Minkowski, Bremen Music Festival ), Lisetta in La gazzetta (Rossini in Wildbad Opera Festival, recorded for Naxos). Judith Gauthier has been a soloist in Bach‘ s Mass in B minor (working both with M.Minkowski and H.Niquet ), in Mozart’s Mass in C and Brahms ‘ Ein deutsches Requiem ( B.Tétu, Lyon ), in Denoyé, Corrette and Charpentier ‘ s works ( M.Gester, Le Parlement de Musique, recorded for Harmonia Mundi ), in Haendel‘ s La Resurrezione (J.W DeVriend, Combattimento Consort Amsterdam ). Internationally Judith Gauthier is highly regarded for her interpretations of Early Music but also performs 20 th century works : world premiere of Philippe Fenelon‘ s Leçons de ténèbres, Daniel-Lesur ‘ s Andrea del Sarto, Frank Martin’ s Golgotha, Arvo Pärt‘ s Te Deum,Wissmer‘ s Le 4ème Mage, Paul Mefano‘ s Estampes japonaises, Peter Eötvös ‘ As I crossed a bridge of dreams, Gérard Pesson‘ s Pastorale, Strawinski‘ s Two poems and Three japanese lyrics among others.

Judith Gauthier has performed Oberto in Haendel‘ s Alcina (Paris National Opera, Wiener Konzerthaus and Aix-en Provence ), Donna Fiorilla in Rossini‘ s Il Turco in Italia (Basel-Riehen Festival, Switzerland), Hélène in Chabrier ‘ s Une éducation manquée (Caen Theatre), a recital at the Festival de Musique Baroque de Lyon, Monteverdi‘ s Vespro de la Beata Vergine and Drolla in Wagner‘ s Die Feen (both at the Paris’ Théâtre du Châtelet). More recently she has appeared as Astrée in G.Pesson ‘ s Pastorale (Théâtre du Châtelet), Amour and Clarine in Rameau’ s Platée (Paris National Opera), Mass in C minor (Salzburg’ s Mozarteum) and in two Vivaldi-Haendel‘s recitals (Ensemble Matheus, J.C Spinosi conducting). Upcoming engagements include concerts in Hamburg, Cuenca, Grenoble, Cracow and Paris’ Salle Pleyel ( Bach ‘ s Johannes Passion, M.Minkowski conducting ), Mélisande in Debussy’s Pelléas et Melisande (Paris’ Théâtre du Châtelet ), concerts in Rouen and Paris‘ Cité de la Musique, Oberto in Alcina (Santiago of Chile), Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Asteria in Haendel‘s Tamerlano (Theater Bonn), Bellezza in Haendel‘s Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (Stuttgart), the title-role of Massenet‘s Cendrillon (Paris’ Opéra Comique, Konzerthaus in Vienna , Saint-Etienne and Luxembourg), Melissa in Haendel‘s Amadigi (Göttingen) and Inès in Donizetti‘s La Favorite (Paris ‘ Théâtre des Champs-Elysées).  Selected recordings include Frank Martin‘s Golgotha, Denoyé and Corrette‘s works, Rossini‘s La gazzetta, Wissmer‘ s Le 4ème Mage and Andrea Gabrieli‘s Madrigals.
Prince Charming -Marie Lenormand
Fairy Godmother  – Katherine Lewek
Pandolfe – Francois Le Roux
Mme. De la Haltiere
Noemie – Angela Manino
Dorothee – Rebecca Ringle
The King – Jacob Penick
Master Ceremonies – Taylor Miller
Dean of Faculty – Juan Williams
First Minister – Jeremy Orgeron
Spirit #1 – Mirella Cavalcante-Lief
Spirit #2 – Aurora Foster
Spirit #3 – Elizabeth Ulloa Lowry
Spirit #4 – Amanda McCarthy
Spirit #5 – Anneka Olson
Spirit #6 – Michelle Johnston Richards

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“Il turco in Italia” at the Nationaltheater in Munich

Posted on January 11, 2014 by editoreusa

Bayerische Staatsoper  PRESENTS:

“Il turco in Italia”

Gioachino Rossini: Il turco in Italia Gioachino Rossini: Il turco in Italia Gioachino Rossini: Il turco in Italia. Simone Alaimo

Gioachino Rossini

Libretto by Felice Romani

A turbulent comedy by Gioachino Rossini, and as timely as tomorrow: a Turkish prince wants to familiarize himself with European customs. For example, in Naples – unlike back home – he cannot simply buy another man’s wife. But the confusion on a camping ground finally becomes just the right subject matter for writer Prosdocimo. He has been looking for material for his new book and then gets totally mixed up in the interpersonal entanglements… No reason not to give Turkey’s application to join the EC a second thought. Staged with enchanting wit beyond all folklore by Christof Loy: a romp set against a serious background. Multi-culti can be fun!

In Italian with German surtitles

Performances:
Thursday, 13 February 2014, 7.00 p.m.
Sunday, 16 February 2014, 6.00 p.m.
Wednesday, 19 February 2014, 7.00 p.m.
Friday, 21 February 2014, 7.00 p.m.
Monday, 24 February 2014, 7.00 p.m.

Nationaltheater

 

SYNOPSIS

Act One

The story is set in and around Naples

Prosdocimo, a poet, has been commissioned to write the libretto for a comic opera but is still searching for inspiration for an exciting piece. When he observes a group of gipsies arriving, he decides to open his opera with a gipsy chorus and discard his original idea to write a piece about his friend Don Geronio, his young, capricious wife Fiorilla and her lover Don Narciso.
As luck would have it, however, the aforementioned Don Geronio, in despair because of his wife’s flighty behaviour, comes to the gipsy camp to have his palm read. Zaida, a young gipsy girl, and her friends see through his story and mock the cuckolded husband.
The poet, who has been watching all the time, becomes increasingly interested in Zaida and learns from her that she was once the favourite of a Turkish prince. Her master, however, had sentenced her to death in a fit of jealousy, and since then she has been living among the gipsies, unrecognized, accompanied only by her faithful Albazar. The poet promises Zaida that she will return to her prince.

Meanwhile, Fiorilla is carefully observing the arrival of a wealthy Turk in Naples harbour; he wants to find out what life is like in Italy. The two very quickly make contact with each other.
Fiorilla’s husband and Narciso, in the guise of a family friend, discuss with the poet what can be done about the threat posed by the Turk. In the course of this conversation, the poet learns that Fiorilla’s latest acquaintance is one Selim Damelec – the selfsame former lover of Zaida. The poet now realizes that he has discovered the perfect theme for his comedy. Geronio and Narciso put up a fight against being exploited as characters in a comic opera.

Fiorilla has already invited the Turk to her house to prepare Italian coffee for him. Don Geronio, stirred into action by the equally jealous Don Narciso, appears on the scene, but is urged by his wife to behave politely and generously. Selim is amazed at the ways of Italian husbands and their wives. He uses the general confusion to make an assignation with Fiorilla for that night at the harbour. Fiorilla seems to have decided suddenly to run away with the Turk.

Alone with his wife again, Don Geronio tries to take her to task and forbids her to invite Turks and Italians to their home. But Fiorilla is quickly able to put her husband in a romantic mood and then reproaches him vehemently, claiming he has treated her unfairly. Don Geronio is helpless.

The poet, who has unfortunately missed the arrival of the Turk as well as the latter’s visit to Fiorilla, is still following Zaida. Fortunately for the poet, Selim, who is planning to elope with Fiorilla, meets Zaida at the harbour at night and recognizes her as his former lover. Old feelings are quickly revived. Fiorilla, however, prepared to elope to a new life far away from Europe, surprises the couple and feels betrayed. Both women insist that they have the right to Selim and a loud quarrel ensues, which all the gentlemen present are unable to stop. The poet is delighted. He could not wish for a better ending to the first act of a comic opera.

Act Two

Selim has made up his mind. He wants to take Fiorilla back to Turkey with him; why should her husband not follow Turkish custom and sell her to him. Don Geronio, actively supported by the poet, is horrified and challenges Selim to a duel.

The poet is worried that it is taking a long time to find a solution to the conflict. A second confrontation between the two women, initiated by Fiorilla, also fails to bring about a decision. Quite the contrary, bidden to choose between them, Selim again wavers, cannot make up his mind. Fiorilla and Selim, both already with very hurt feelings and disappointed in their expectations, are very tense but still fall into each other’s arms again to make plans for their elopement. The impending masked ball will provide a favourable setting for their plan.

The poet now arranges for Zaida and Don Geronio to appear at the ball in the same disguise as Fiorilla and Selim in order to hinder their plan to elope. Don Narciso, who has overhead the plans for the secret tryst, also decides to turn up at the ball dressed like the Turk. At the ball, Selim now mistakes Zaida for Fiorilla and Fiorilla, for her part, thinks Don Narciso is Selim. Don Geronio, also dressed as a Turk, does not know which couple to watch. All the people at the ball laugh at the desperate, jealous husband.
The confusion at the ball has finally resulted in a reconciliation between Zaida and Selim. The poet can now prepare for the final intrigue. Knowing that Selim is no longer a threat, he persuades Don Geronio to threaten his wife with divorce and all its consequences. Suddenly Fiorilla feels cheated and deserted by all men. Now the poet has achieved what he wanted: Fiorilla regrets what she has done and nothing more stands in the way of a moral ending. Don Geronio and Fiorilla are also reconciled, even the lover, Don Narciso, promises to remain nothing but a friend, and all concerned seem to have learned from experience and are determined to renounce any risky adventures that life might offer in future.

Christof Loy

© Bavarian State Opera

Conductor
Maurizio Benini
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Choreography
Jacqueline, Davenport
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Production
Christof Loy
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Set and Costumes
Herbert Murauer
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Lighting
Reinhard Traub
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Donna Fiorilla
Nino Machaidze
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Prosdocimo
Vito Priante
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“La clemenza di Tito” in Munich

Posted on January 10, 2014 by editoreusa

Bayerische Staatsoper  PRESENTS:

“La clemenza di Tito”

Stuckateure bei ihrer Arbeit während des Wiederaufbaus des Nationaltheaters

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto by Caterino Mazzolà after Pietro Metastasio

Opera seria in two acts
In 1791, the commission at short notice to compose a coronation opera forced Mozart, the free spirit, to fall back on material from an earlier time: Metastasio’s story about the Roman Emperor Titus, which had already been brought to the opera stage dozens of times, served both as the homage to a man of power and as the reminder of an ideal rule based on reason. Mozart draws a distinctive profile from the outmoded genre and once again, with his last opera, creates a study of the complicated interplay of human feelings: Titus is praised for being fair and merciful. However, within his own environment, this apparently impeccable ruler, who changes his wedding plans many times for the common good, generates a tangle of disappointed love, frustrated desires, jealousy and betrayal. When his close friend and confidant is persuaded by the woman that opposes him to attempt to kill the beloved ruler in an arson attack, everything is questioned: Who is actually honest here and what feelings can still be trusted? At the court of Titus, what is intimate is always illuminated by what is political and public. And so decent gestures of friendship are shot through with feigned feelings, reason leads to self-denial and love is polluted by calculation and manipulation.

In Italian with German surtitles

Performance Dates:
Monday, 10 February 2014, 7.00 p.m.
Wednesday, 12 February 2014, 7.30 p.m.
Saturday, 15 February 2014, 7.00 p.m.
Thursday, 20 February 2014, 7.00 p.m.
Sunday, 23 February 2014, 7.00 p.m.
Wednesday, 26 February 2014, 7.00 p.m.
Wednesday, 16 July 2014, 7.00 p.m.
Saturday, 19 July 2014, 7.00 p.m.

Conductor
Kirill Petrenko. © Wilfried Hösl
Kirill Petrenko
Kirill Petrenko was born in Omsk in 1972 and studied piano there at the Music Academy. At the age of eleven, he made his first public appearance as a pianist with the city’s symphony orchestra. In 1990, the family (his father was a violinist, his mother a musicologist) moved to the Austrian state of Vorarlberg, where his father obtained a job as an orchestral musician and music teacher. Petrenko initially continued his studies in Feldkirch and then studied conducting at the University of Music in Vienna, from which he graduated in June 1997. His first engagement, from autumn 1997, was as Assistant and rehearsal accompanist at the Volksoper in Vienna.

From 1999 to 2002, Kirill Petrenko served as General Music Director at the theatre in Meiningen, where he attracted international attention for the first time in 2001 with the Ring des Nibelungen in the production directed by Christine Mielitz and designed by Alfred Hrdlicka.

From 2002 to 2007, Kirill Petrenko was General Music Director at the Komische Oper in Berlin. The most important new productions, which Petrenko decisively influenced here included interpretations in collaboration with directors such as Peter Konwitschny, Calixto Bieito, Willi Decker or Andreas Homoki.

In parallel with his positions in Meiningen and Berlin, his international career also took off very quickly. Major débuts included the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in 2000; the Vienna State Opera and the Semperoper in Dresden in 2001; the Gran Teatre de Liceu, Opéra National de Paris, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Bavarian State Opera and Metropolitan Opera New York in 2003; the Frankfurt opera in 2005. From 2006 to 2008, he collaborated with Peter Stein on P.I. Tchaikovsky’s cycle of Pushkin operas in Lyon, which was then performed in its entirety in spring 2010.
Since leaving the Komische Oper in July 2007, Kirill Petrenko has worked as a guest conductor. In 2009, among other works, he conducted the new production of Leoš Janáček’s Jenůfa directed by Barbara Frey at the Bavarian State Opera and Hans Pfizner’s Palestrina directed by Harry Kupfer in Frankfurt. In 2011, Kirill Petrenko conducted the new production of Tosca in collaboration with Andreas Kriegenburg, again in Frankfurt, along with Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde (in collaboration with Willy Decker) in Lyon and at the Ruhr Triennale.

The most important orchestras that Kirill Petrenko has conducted to date include the Berlin Philharmonic, the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian State Orchestra, the Orchestra of WDR Cologne, the Hamburg Philharmonic and the Hamburg NDR Symphony Orchestra, the Frankfurt Museum Orchestra, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra Santa Cecilia, the Orchestra RAI Torino and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition, Kirill Petrenko has conducted concerts at the Salzburg and Bregenz Festivals.

Summer 2013 will see a new production of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival.

From 1 September 2013, Kirill Petrenko will assume the post of General Music Director at the Bavarian State Opera. New productions in the 2012/13 season: Richard Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito and Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten.
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Lighting
 
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Dramaturgy
 
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Tito Vespiano
Toby Spence. © Myr Muratet
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