LEON WILSON CLARK SERIES

SHEPHERD SCHOOL OPERA

and the

SHEPHERD SCHOOL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

present

HANSEL AND GRETEL

An opera in three acts by Engelbert Humperdinck Libretto by Adelheid Wette

Richard Bado, conductor Debra Dich son, stage director and choreographer

October 26, 28, 30 and November 1 7:30 p.m. Wortham Opera Theatre

Cel e b ratin . g1; 1975 -2005 1/7 Years THE SHEPHERD SCHOOL t ~ IC RICE UNIVERSITY CAST (in order of vocal appearance)

Wednesday, October 26; Friday, October 28; Sunday, October 30 Gretel. . Angela Mortellaro Hansel. . Kira Austin-Young Mother . . Valerie Rogotzke Father. . Colm Estridge Sandman . Audrey Walstrom Dew Fairy Hannah Nelson Witch . . James Hall

Tuesday, November 1 Gretel. . Hannah Nelson Hansel . Audrey Walstrom Mother . Valerie Rogotzke Father. . Raines Taylor Sandman. . Kelly Duerr Dew Fairy Amanda Conley Witch . . James Hall

Angels and Gingerbread children: Rebecca Henry, Andrea Leyton­ Mange, Catherine Ott-Holland, Quinn Shadko, Lauren Snouffer, Ryan Stickney, Meghan Tarkington, Emily Vacek Demons: Grace Field, Katina Mitchell, Keith Stonum, Dan Williamson

Members of the SHEPHERD SCHOOL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA Larry Rachleff, music director

Violin I Cello Trumpet Kristi Helberg, Madeleine Kabat John Williamson concertmaster Victoria Jonathan Brandt Rachelle Hunt Cristian Macelaru Double Bass Trombone Kristiana Matthes Jordan Scapinello, Colin Wise principal Pei-Ju Wu Harp Edward Botsford Kaoru Suzuki Earecka Tregenza Violin II Flute Timpani Steven Zander, Leslie Richmond Evy Pinto principal Oboe 'v Jessica Blackwell Percussion Annie Henneke Martin Dimitrov Brian Manchen Maria Dance Clarinet David West Melanie Yamada Viola Orchestra Manager Hsing-Hui Hsu Whitney Bullock, Martin Merritt principal Bassoon Orchestra Librarian Ellen Gartner Abigail Jones and Assistant Katherine Lewis Personnel Manager Andrea Hemmenway Horn Kaaren Fleisher Adam Koch Cello Assistant Stage Elizabeth Schellhase Stephanie Hunt, Manager principal Francis Schmidt HANSEL AND GRETEL An opera in three acts by Engelbert Humperdinck (1854-1921) Libretto by Adelheid Wette Based on Jakob and Wilhem Grimm's "Hansel und Gretel" Premiere on December 23, 1893 English translation. by arrangement with James Benner, Morgantown, West Virginia

ACT! The humble cottage ofa broommaker

ACT II The forest

INTERMISSION (15 minutes)

ACT III The forest, the next morning

ARTISTIC STAFF Conductor. . Richard Bado Stage Director and Choreographer. . Debra Dickinson Set Designer . . Kirk Markley Costume and Makeup Designer Freddy Reymundo Lighting Designer . . David Gipson Wig Designer . . Eunice Trevino Chorus Master. . Eric Esparza Musical Preparation Michael Franciosi English Diction Coach . Rick Piersall Rehearsal Pianist . Carol Rausch

PRODUCTION STAFF Technical Director . . Troy McLaughlin Stage Manager and Properties Master . . Alex Stutler Surtitles . . Debra Dickinson Surtitle Operator . . Barry Robinson Followspot Operators . Michael Accinno, Lindsay Boulware Running Crew . Calm Estridge, Raines Taylor Hair and Makeup Assistant . . Kelly Duerr

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Masks for the Demons are provided courtesy of the Pittsburgh Public Theater. Special thanks to Performing Arts Supply, Local 51 Stagehands Union, Cre 8 A Scene Productions, Stagelight, Backstage Presence, Greg Weber, Betty Dickinson, Marty Merritt, Ted Pappas, Andrea Trusty, and students of Opera Workshop Class. Assistance with set building provided by Mandy Billings, Tracy Frink, Emily Golden, Katie Jackson, Courtney McLaughlin, Lindsay van Amerogen, Adam van Wagoner, and Mariah Wittig. This production is made possible by a generous endowment from the late Dr. Leon Wilson Clark, and in part by financial support from The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts and The Humphreys Foundation. SYNOPSIS

Hansel and Gretel are the children of a poverty-stricken broommaker. To dis­ tract themselves from hunger while their father and stepmother are out peddling brooms, the children sing and dance. When the Stepmother returns home after an unsuccessful day, she upbraids the children for wasting their time in frivolous ac­ tivities, and while punishing them, she accidentally spills their very last bit offood, a jug of milk, on the floor. Furious, she sends the children oui to the enchanted forest, the Jlsenstein, to pick strawberries. As the Stepmother bemoans her unhap­ py life, her drunken husband returns home from enjoying himself at the tavern. It seems he has had a more successful day, selling his wares at a town fair, and he has brought home enough food for a feast. When he asks where the children are, the woman guiltily tells her husband that she has sent them out of the house to the Jlsenstein. Horrified, the Father recounts how the forest is haunted by a witch who catches children by luring them with food, then cooks them in her magic oven turn­ ing them into gingerbread, which she eats. The Stepmother,feeling remorse for her treacherous act committed in anger, runs off to find the children, followed by the Father. Hansel and Gretel, deep in the forest, pick berries and play, but before they realize what they are doing, they eat all of the berries. Terrified of returning home with an empty basket to show their stepmother, they decide to pick some more, but the forest is growing dark and frightening shapes begin looming in the shadows. Hansel realizes they are lost, and Gretel becomes hysterical with fear. As darkness descends, the Sandman approaches and sprinkles sand in their eyes, causing them to become drowsy. He promises that angels will protect them while they sleep, and true to his word, after the children say their evening prayers and fall asleep, the angels appear to ward off the demons that lurk in the forest. The Dew Fairy, harbinger of the morning, arrives to wake up the children. They recount their dreams, filled with angel wings, and suddenly a gingerbread house appears. Though the children know they should not eat it, they give in to their hunger and begin nibbling away at the delicious sugary structure. A hide­ ous woman appears and attempts to seduce them with talk of scrumptious food. When the children become suspicious and try to escape, she uses her magic wand to imprison Hansel in a cage and forces Gretel to bring food with which to fatten him up. The witch fans the flames in her magic oven and revels in her upcoming feast. Gretel, seizing an opportunity to beat the witch at her own game, steals the magic wand and frees Hansel from the cage. Gretel tricks the witch into putting her head in the oven, and the two children push the witch into her agonizing death. As they rejoice in their freedom, they notice that the ginger-bread chil­ dren on the house have come to life, or rather, are in a zombie-like state, unable to move. Gretel and Hansel break the spell that imprisons them, and the freed children break into extravagant praise and thanks for their liberators. Arriving too late to help, the Father and Stepmother arrive as the children pull the witch, now a giant cookie, from the magic oven. Everyone happily munches on the witch's body as the Father leads all the children in a hymn of thanksgiving.

DIRECTOR'S NOTES

Composer Engelbert Humperdinck's sister Adelheid Wette wrote a short play for her two daughters to perform based on the Grimm fairy tale Hansel und Gretel, and she asked her brother to set it to music. The result was the duet for the two children: Briiderchen, komm, tanz' mit mir (Brother, come and dance with me), which now occurs in the first act, and it so delighted the family that they convinced Humperdinck to expand it into a full-length opera. Humperdinck was a dedicated devotee of Richard Wagner, whom he assisted at the premiere of Parsifal in 1880. Though Humperdinck included many Wagnerian influences, such as the use of leitmotifs, in the score of Hansel und Gretel, he managed to retain the unpretentious charm of a children's story by the use of simple melodies and by incorporating authentic German folk music at the beginning of each act. The original tale was part of a compilation of German folk stories published by the Grimm brothers as Kinder und Hausmiirchen (Children and Household Tales) in 1812 during the German Romantic movement. The series offairy tales often focused on intra-family strife and the conflict between good and evil, with good always winning out over evil, which was violently punished. The Grimm ver­ sion ofHiinsel und Gretel is considerably darker than the opera;for example, the Stepmother convinces the Father to send the children out in the woods to die so -that there will be two fewer mouths to feed. Such evil is punished-in the end; when Hansel and Gretel finally manage to find their way home, they find that their Stepmother has died. As in the Disney movies of the Grimm fairy tales such as Cinderella (in the Grimm version, the Stepsisters hack off their toes or heels to try to fit into the glass slippers, and their eyes are plucked out by birds at the end of the story), the opera of Hansel und Gretel has sanitized the plot and char­ acters so that they may be more agreeable to the tender sensibilities of children. But today's children are exposed to the comically gruesome movies of Tim Burton (not to mention the horrors on the evening news), and modern audiences may find a scarier, Grand Guignol approach more interesting than the sugary sweet version of the opera that is sometimes presented. With that and the Hallow­ een season in mind, we hope our concept of this production will simultaneously entertain with its elements of enchantment and its beautiful music, and frighten with its focus on some of the darker issues at the core of this well-known chil­ dren's tale. BIOGRAPHIES

A native of Pittsburgh, Penmylvania, RICHARD BADO made his profession­ al conducting debut in 1989 leading 's acclaimed produc­ tion of Show Boat at the newly restored Cairo Opera House in Egypt. Since then, Mr. Bado has conducted at Teatro alla Scala, Opera National de Paris, Houston Grand Opera, , the , the Florida Philharmonic, the Montreal Symphony, Wolf Trap Opera, and Houston Ballet, and has conducted the Robert Wilson production of Virgil Thomson's Four Saints in Three Acts at the Edinburgh Festival. He appears regularly in recital with Renee Fleming and has also accompanied Cecilia Bartoli, Denyce Graves, , Marcello Giordani, Ramon Vargas, and Nathan Gunn. Mr. Bado, who holds music degrees from the Eastman School of Music, where he received the 2000 Alumni Achieve­ ment Award, and from West Virginia University, has studied advanced choral conducting with Robert Shaw. As Houston Grand Opera's Chorus Master, Mr. Bado has prepared choruses for seventeen seasons, including the chorus for the Decca video recording of with Cecilia Bartoli. In the fall of 2005 Mr. Bado joins the faculty at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music as Director of the Opera Studies Program. He has been on the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival and School for eleven summers and has served on the mu­ sic staff of the , Seattle Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Chautauqua Opera and Wolf Trap Opera. Mr. Bado has also served as Houston Grand Opera's Head of Music Stafffor fourteen seasons. This past season's highlights include conducting at the Houston Grand Opera, preparing the HGO Chorus for HGO's 50th Anniversary Gala Concert, and working on Wagner's Ring Cycle at the Seattle Opera. This season's highlights include a six-city recital tour with Renee Fleming and a recital debut with Frederica von Stade. DEBRA DICKINSON, stage director and choreographer, has directed pro­ ductions of The Turn of the Screw, Werther, Albert Herring, Cosi fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro, and A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Shepherd School of Music. Other opera directing credits include at Florida State University, Trouble in Tahiti for the apprentice program of the Connecticut Opera, and The Tender Land at the Monteux Opera Festival. Ms. Dickinson was the assistant director of Naughty Marietta and The Pajama Game at the New York City Opera under . Performing credits include Guenevere in Camelot opposite both Richard Burton and Richard Harris, and Jellylorum in Cats at Theater an der Wien in Vienna. Ms. Dickinson teaches the Opera Work­ shop classes at the Shepherd School of Music. KIRK MARKLEY, set designer, has designed over 100 local productions. Recent scenic designs include The Turn of the Screw, Werther, Albert Herring, Cosi fan tutte at the Shepherd School ofMusic; Late: A Cowboy Song; Orange Flower Water, and Dirty Story at Stages Repertory; Night Just Before the Forests and Jerry's World at Infernal Bridegroom Productions. Lighting design credits include Late: A Cowboy Song and Bright Ideas at Stages; and Night Just Before I the Forests, Medea, Symphony of Rats, and Jerry's World at Infernal Bridegroom Productions. Mr. Markley is the Production Manager at Stages Repertory Theatre. FREDDY REYMUNDO, costume designer, studied costume and theatrical de­ sign at the University of the Incarnate Word. In 1999 he was awarded the Alamo Theatre Art Council's award for Best Costume Design for a production of Terra Nova. Mr. Reymundo has been designing costumes for the Shepherd School of Music since 2001, including The Turn ofthe Screw, Werther, Albert Herring, Cosi fan tutte, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Le nozze di Figaro. Recently Mr. Reymundo has been a professional dresser for Broadway Across America's pro­ ductions of The Producers, Thoroughly Modern Millie, 42nd St., Cats, and Jesus Christ Superstar. DAVID GIPSON, lighting designer, has been designing for over twenty years and is a company member with Infernal Bridegroom Productions in Houston, Teatro Vista Theatre Company in Chicago, and is a Resident Artist at Unity Thea­ tre in Brenham, Texas. Houston credits include The Spitfire Grill; Orange Flower Water; Dirty Story; Always ... Patsy Cline; Recent Tragic Events at Stages Reper­ tory Theatre, and Arms and the Man; The Glass Menagerie; and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged at the Unity Theatre.

SHEPHERD SCHOOL VOICE DEPARTMENT AND OPERA STUDIES FACULTY Stephen King, Professor of Voice and Chair of the Voice Department Janet de Chambrier, Artist Teacher of Opera Studies Richard Bado, Professor of Opera Studies and Director of the Opera Studies Program Debra Dickinson, Artist Teacher of Opera Studies for Acting and Movement Susan Lorette Dunn, Lecturer in Voice Michael Franciosi, Artist Teacher of Opera Studies Thomas Jaber, Professor ofMusic , Director of Choral Activities, and Vocal Coach Kathleen Kaun, Professor of Voice Susanne Mentzer, Professor of Voice

UPCOMING OPERA EVENTS February 10, 11 and 12 Opera Scenes Recital featuring voice students of the Shepherd School. All three performances at 7:30 p.m. Wortham Opera Theatre at Alice Pratt Brown Hall Free admission. No tickets required. March 27, 29, 31 and April 2 Shepherd School Opera and the Shepherd School Chamber Orchestra present La Calisto by Francesco Cavalli. Wortham Opera Theatre at Alice Pratt Brown Hall. Admission (reserved seating): $10; students and senior citizens $8. For tickets call 713-348-8000. CAST

KIRA AUSTIN-YOUNG is in her junior year at the Shepherd School of Music. She comes from Dallas and attended high school for two years at the Interlachen Arts Academy in Michigan. A student of Kathleen Kaun, she has / been active for the past two years in the Rice Light Opera Society, where she pe,formed the roles of Edith in The Pirates of Penzance and Lady Jane in Patience. She will be peiforming a scene from Cosi fan tutte in the Opera Workshop scenes program this February.

Soprano AMANDA CONLEY, a native ofMurray, Kentucky, is currently a second-year Master ofMusic degree candidate, studying voice with Dr. Stephen King. Ms. Conley received her Bachelor ofMusic degree at the University of Kentucky, where she appeared in productions ofAmahl and the Night Visitors, , and Street Scene. She was a featured soloist in the University ofKentucky Opera Gala and A Grand Night for Singing. Most recently, Ms. Conley was seen as Susanna and Frasquita in the Shepherd School's opera scenes program. This spring she will appear at the Shepherd School as Destina in La Calisto by Francesco Cavalli.

KELLY DUERR, a mezzo-, is a senior pursuing her Bachelor of Music degree. Last summer she performed the roles of La Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica and Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro at the Operafestival di Roma. At the Shepherd School, she has peiformed scenes from Cosi fan tutte, The Rake's Progress, and Carmen. This February, she will sing Mrs. Page in a scene from Die lustigen Weiher von Windsor. Ms. Duerr is a student of Kathleen Kaun.

COLM ESTRIDGE was born in Sydney and holds a Bachelor ofMusic from the Australian National University, Canberra. While obtaining his degree, he peiformed the roles of Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte and Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro. At the Sydney Conservatorium he played Puck in the Opera Depart­ ment's season ofscenes, The Falling. Mr. Estridge has performed in numerous concerts in Australia and in 2001 sang the American National Anthem at the Australian government's memorial service for the victims ofSeptember 11.

JAMES HALL received his Master ofMusic degree from the Maryland Opera Studio at the University ofMaryland, and he is currently pursuing the Doctor ofMusical Arts degree at the Shepherd School. Mr. Hall has performed numerous leading operatic roles and has participated in several new opera composition projects with composers Kirke Mechem and Daniel Catan. Mr. Hall has appeared as a soloist with the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra, the Masterworks Chorus of Washington, D. C., and St. Matthew's Cathedral. He is a student ofKathleen Kaun.

ANGELA MORTELLARO, a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is in her sec­ ond year of the graduate voice program at the Shepherd School ofMusic. She appeared here last fall as the Governess in The Turn of the Screw and was a featured soloist in last spring's all-Mozart concert conducted by Hans Graf Ms. Mortellaro peiformed the role of Susanna in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Operafestival di Roma this past summer. She will be seen this coming March at the Shepherd School as Diana in La Calisto. KIRK MARKLEY. set desif!ner, has desif!ned over JOO local productions.

HANNAH NELSON, soprano, is a second-year graduate student at the / Shepherd School. She received her Bachelor ofMusic degree in Vocal Per­ formance at Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minnesota. She won the 2003 Minnesota District Metropolitan Opera Auditions and was a four-time win­ ner in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition. Ms. Nelson's operatic roles include Pamina in The Magic Flute, Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro, the Jester in Many Moons, and Lucy in The Telephone. She was a soloist in Vivaldi's Gloria and Bach's Jauchzet Gott in a/len Landen from Cantata 51 with the South Dakota Symphony, and in Handel's Psalm 112 with the South Dakota Symphony's Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Nelson, a student of Dr. Stephen King, will be singing the title role in La Calisto in the spring.

South Dakotan VALERIE ROGOTZKE is a mezzo-soprano currently in the second year of her Master's degree, studying with Kathleen Kaun. She received her Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance at the Peabody Conservatory of Music and has completed additional studies at the University of Oslo. Roles performed include Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, the Third Lady in Die Zauberjl.ote, Mrs. Herring in Albert Herring, and Grimgerde in Die Walkiire. Ms. Rogotzke has appeared in scenes as Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, as in , and as Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance. She will next appear as Natura in La Calisto at the Shepherd School.

RAINES TAYLOR 's operatic roles have included fl Conte Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Guglielmo in Cosifan tutte, Giuseppe in The Gon­ doliers, L'A rbre in L'Enfant et Les Sortileges, and Somarone in Beatrice et Benedict. Raines has performed and studied at the Studio Lirico Interna­ tional Opera Workshop in Anghiari, Italy; Chautauqua Institution School of Voice , and the Aspen Opera Theatre Center, where he recently was awarded the Maestro's Circle Scholarship. A graduate of the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University, Raines holds a Bachelor ofMusic degree in vocal performance and a minor in Italian studies. Originally from Thomasville, Georgia, he is currently pursuing a Master's degree in voice at the Shepherd School ofMusic as a student of Stephen King.

AUDREY WALSTROM, mezzo-soprano, grew up in Los Alamos, New Mexico and is a senior this year. While at the Shepherd School, Audrey has performed the partial roles of Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro and Merce­ des in Carmen. This summer she attended the Aspen Opera Theater Cen­ ter, where she covered the Forester's Wife in Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen and performed the partial roles of Third Lady in The Magic Flute and Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro. During the spring semester, Ms. Walstrom will sing Octavian in a scene from and the role of Endimione in Cavalli's La Calisto. Ms. Walstrom is a student of Kathleen Kaun.