2016 BAM Winter/Spring #LesFetesVenitiennes Brooklyn Academy of Music Alan H. Fishman, Chairman of the Board William I. Campbell, Vice Chairman of the Board Adam E. Max, Vice Chairman of the Board Les Fêtes Katy Clark, President Joseph V. Melillo, Executive Producer Vénitiennes BAM Howard Gilman Opera House Apr 14 & 16 at 7:30pm; Apr 17 at 2pm Running time: approx. three hours including intermission By André Campra Les Arts Florissants Opéra Comique Conducted by William Christie Directed by Robert Carsen Scenic design by Radu Boruzescu Choregraphy by Ed Wubbe Costume design by Petra Reinhardt Lighting design by Robert Carsen and Peter van Praet English titles by Christopher Bergen Season Sponsor: In memory of Robert W. Wilson, with gratitude for his visionary and generous support of BAM. Major support provided by the Selz Foundation. Leadership support for opera at BAM provided by Aashish & Dinyar Devitre and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Additional support provided by Anne H. Bass; Norman S. Benzaquen; Michael E. & Mary Gellert; The Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation; Robert L. Turner; and Sam & Ellen Sporn. Endowment funding provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fund for Opera and Music-Theater. Support for the Signature Artist Series provided by the Howard Gilman Foundation. Major support for opera at BAM provided by The Francena T. Harrison Foundation Trust. Les Fêtes Vénitiennes CAST Magali Léger, Soprano La Raison, Lucile, Lucie Elodie Fonnard, Soprano Iphise, La Fortune Rachel Redmond, Soprano Irène, Léontine, Flore Emilie Renard, Mezzo Soprano La Folie, Isabelle Reinoud Van Mechelen, Tenor Thémir, Un Masque, Zéphyr Cyril Auvity, High tenor Maître de Danse, Suivant de la Fortune, Adolphe Sean Clayton, Tenor Démocrite Marcel Beekman, Tenor Maître de Musique, Maître de Chant Jonathan McGovern, Baritone Alamir, Damir, Borée François Lis, Bass Le Carnaval, Léandre, Rodolphe Geoffroy Buffière, Bass Héraclite WILLIAM CHRISTIE CYRIL AUVITY MARCEL BEEKMAN GEOFFROY BUFFIÈRE SEAN CLAYTON ELODIE FONNARD MAGALI LÉGER FRANÇOIS LIS JONATHAN MCGOVERN RACHEL REDMOND EMILIE RENARD REINOUD VAN MECHELEN ROBERT CARSEN RADU BORUZESCU ED WUBBE PETRA REINHARDT PETER VAN PRAET Les Fêtes Vénitiennes—Synopsis Les Fêtes Vénitiennes, an opéra-ballet by André Irène. From her window, she responds with Campra, with a prologue and three entrées—Le an Italian tune in which she calls him a fickle Bal, Les Sérénades, and L’Opéra—premiered at butterfly and spurns him. But Léandre,seeing a the Académie Royale de Musique in 1710. woman approach in the dark, believes that Irène came down to join him. He assures her that PROLOGUE neither Lucile nor Isabelle have ever charmed The Triumph of Folly over Reason during Carnival him. But it turns out that he actually spoke to Venice. Carnaval appears and invites the crowd the two girls who eventually reject him forever. to join him for the festivities. Folie joins him He comes to terms with it and rejoins a troupe with her retinue of Pleasures and supports his of gamblers who celebrate the power of Fortune: ambition to amuse and entertain. But a killjoy she exhibits the influence of her fickleness on arrives: Reason. Assisted by wise Democrite and gambling and love alike. Heraclite, she attempts to disenchant the crowd and warns everybody against the aberrations of THE OPERA Carnaval. In vain: she must leave Venice, letting In a theater where an opera is to be performed, Folie and Carnaval lead the festivities. a new actor enters—Borée, who hopes to approach Léontine, a singer he adores. Adolphe, THE BALL a singer himself and Damire’s friend, tries to Prince Alamir courts Iphise without revealing his divert the knight from his venture, to no avail. identity. To test her sincerity, he swaps clothes Damire is determined to abduct the woman with his servant Thémir. A music master and a performing the part of Flore that evening before dancing master, both French, have been asked to she is abducted by his rival Rodolphe, attending organize the sumptuous ball given by the prince the performance. It turns out that Léontine is in the evening. Each master endeavors to show really in love with Damire. Tired of pretending, he is the best and that his art prevails. Thémir, she wishes to be sincere despite the admonitions disguised as a prince, is to follow his efforts of her colleague Lucie who appreciates the while Alamir, dressed as a servant, puts Iphise duplicity of their situation. The singing master to the test by trying to convince her to accept the arrives to make Léontine rehearse her part. But love of “Prince” Thémir. Iphise is confused and he also loves her and shows his jealousy of her despair brings about the revelation: Alamir, Rodolphe, who is awaiting Léontine backstage. delighted to be loved for himself and not for his rank, proves to be the true patron of the festivity. The performance begins with Rodolphe in Charmed by the stratagem, Iphise reaffirms her attendance. It is a pastoral featuring shepherds love for Alamir. Both the prince and his new and shepherdesses with Zéphire and Flore, the princess can partake in the ball light-heartedly. latter played by Léontine. The entertainment is interrupted by the untimely arrival of the god of —INTERMISSION— wind Borée, who abducts Flore with the help of the north winds. While Zéphire mourns over SERENADES AND GAMBLERS Flore’s disappearance, Lucie declares that the One evening two anxious and jealous girls performance cannot go on since Léontine has meet in a Venetian square: Isabelle and Lucile truly been abducted, not by Borée but by he who have come to catch their unfaithful lover, each was portraying him: Damire! Rodolphe, furious one believing that her lover deceives her with of having been abused, can only leave the the other. It is indeed one and the same man, theater and run to the port as the two lovers are Léandre, but the two rivals find out that a about to leave Venice. third girl is involved. They hesitate to unite for revenge, each one thinking that the other wants EPILOGUE to keep Léandre. The gallant is coming with a The carnival ends and life is back to normal troupe of musicians and plays a serenade under again… or so it seems! the balcony of the one he hopes to conquer, Les Fêtes Vénitiennes DANCERS Alexandre Jolicoeur Reid Cuming Mara Hulspas Jean Gabriel Maury Bonnie Doets Maya Roest Kiyan Khoshoie Bryndis Brynjolfsdottir Debora Soto (ballet master) Mischa van Leeuwen Leslie Humbert CHORUS SOPRANOS HIGH TENORS TENORS BASSES Solange Añorga Camillo Angarita Edouard Hazebrouck Geoffroy Buffière Maud Gnidzaz Sean Clayton Thibaut Lenaerts Anicet Castel Eugénie Lefèbvre Bruno Renhold Nicolas Maire Laurent Collobert Virginie Thomas Marcio Soares Jean-Yves Ravoux Simon Dubois Violaine Lucas Holanda Michael-Loughlin Christophe Gautier Brigitte Pelote Jonathan Spicher Smith Geoffroy Heurard Juliette Perret Julien Neyer Isabelle Sauvageot ORCHESTRA VIOLINS CELLOS PERCUSSION Florence Malgoire (violin solo) Elena Andreyev Marie-Ange Petit Myriam Gevers Magali Boyer Liv Heym Ulrike Brütt MUSETTE Christophe Robert* Brigitte Crépin Maillard François Lazarevitch Catherine Girard Damien Launay Sophie Gevers-Demoures Cécile Verolles BASSO CONTINUO Michèle Sauvé Alix Verzier VIOLONCELLO Emmanuel Resche* David Simpson FLUTES VIOLAS I Serge Saitta* CONTRABASS Galina Zinchenko Charles Zebley* Jonathan Cable Simon Heyerick OBOES I THEORBO, LUTE VIOLAS II Pier Luigi Fabretti Thomas Dunford* Kayo Saito Yanina Yabubsohn Brian Feehan Deirdre Dowling OBOES II HARPSICHORD VIOLAS III Machiko Ueno Béatrice Martin Jean-Luc Thonnerieux Vincent Blanchard Samantha Montgomery *Musicians on stage BASSOONS Claude Wassmer Evolène Kiener Co-produced with the support of the SELZ Foundation, Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, Théâtre de Caen, and Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles Les Arts Florissants receives financial support from the Ministry of Culture and Communication. Since January 2015, the ensemble has been artist in residence at the Philharmonie de Paris. The American Friends of Les Arts Florissants support all its activities. Thanks to the support of The Danny Kaye and Sylvia Fine Kaye Foundation, the Baroque L1VE Xperience program of Les Arts Florissants allows a group of teenagers to discover the concert under the best conditions and to continue the experience on the Internet. Who’s Who WILLIAM CHRISTIE (conductor), a at the Festival d’Aix en Provence, including harpsichordist, conductor, musicologist, and Orlando (BAM, 1996 Spring), The Magic Flute, teacher, is the inspiration behind one of the and Semele. Carsen’s numerous works for most exciting musical adventures of the last drama theater include Brecht’s Mother Courage 30 years. Born in Buffalo, Christie studied at and Her Children for Piccolo Teatro di Milano, Harvard and Yale Universities and has lived Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan for Bristol in France since 1971. He founded Les Arts Old Vic Theatre, and Stoppard’s Rosencrantz Florissants in 1979 and received major public and Guildenstern Are Dead in New York. For recognition in 1987 with the production of Atys Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, Carsen has directed at the Opéra Comique in Paris (the production’s Ute Lemper’s show Nomade, Bernstein’s US debut was presented at BAM in 1989; its Candide, and Loewe’s musical My Fair Lady. much-anticipated revival was presented at BAM He staged Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Beautiful in September 2011). His pioneering work has Game (Cambridge Theatre, London) and Sunset led to a renewed appreciation of 17th- and 18th- Boulevard (Great Britain tour). century French repertoire. He is equally adept at other European repertoire and has given many RADU BORUZESCU (scenic design) worked acclaimed performances of works by Monteverdi, with his wife Miruna as a scenographer and Rossi, Scarlatti, Purcell, Handel, Haydn, and costume designer since the start of his career. Mozart. His extensive discography (more than They worked together on the production of 100 recordings, many of which have won Les Fêtes Vénitiennes until Miruna’s death awards in France and abroad) with Harmonia in April 2014.