Let the Seduction Begin
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2009-2010 SEASON 69 SINGLE TICKETS ON SALE NOW 1-800-741-1010 www.fgo.ORG TM TM TM LET THE SEDUCTION BEGIN Pagliacci & SUoR ANGELICA • LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • the BARBER OF SEVILLE • CARMEN JEALOUSY, BETRAYAL, MURDER, SUICIDE DID WE MENTION INSANE CLOWNS? DON’T MISS THE SPECTACLE OF SEASON 69 Pagliacci & PHOTO © TIM WILKERSON FOR THE ATLANTA OPERA 2009-2010 SEASON 69 four GRAND performances UNLIKE ANY OTHER SUoR ANGELICA • LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • the BARBER OF SEVILLE • CARMEN Set concept for Suor Angelica Set concept for The Barber of Seville André Barbe Set concept for Pagliacci Set concept for Lucia di Lammermoor Renaud Doucet With the wildly creative team of BARBE & DOUCET VIRTUALLY ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE For Florida Grand Opera’s 2009-2010 season, the creative team of Barbe and Doucet has been engaged to develop all new productions, incorporating contemporary technology into visually arresting and artistically insightful productions that will captivatingly illuminate each opera. “We conceived the 2009-2010 season as a dinner party menu where five favorites of the opera repertoire will be revisited through various fragrances and aromas. In the course of this musical journey we set the table for our guests and bring to our designs and direction a variety of flavoring through emotions and theatricality.” Barbe and Doucet have gained international recognition for their productions at L’Opéra National du Rhin, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, New York City Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Opéra de Montréal, Vienna Volksoper, Wexford Festival Opera, Arizona Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, and the Royal Swedish Opera. Of their May 2009 production of Massenet’s Manon for Scottish Opera, the Guardian wrote: “…director-and-designer team Renaud Doucet and André Barbe have captured perfectly the artifice that is a large part of Manon’s charm.” WORLD-CLASS THE STAGE IS SET, THE PERFORMERS ARE PHOTO © TIM WILKERSON FOR THE ATLANTA OPERA MISSING THIS SEASON WOULD BE TRAGIC Kendall Gladen Kendall Emperor First The houses. Coburn opera Sarah prestigious most world’s the of some in appeared has She season. 2009 FGO’s American soprano Seattle. and soprano American Francisco, San Houston, Angeles, Los in companies opera as well as Opera Metropolitan the Tenor FGO welcomes FGO back welcomes in Countess the as FGO with appeared recently Jay Hunter Morris Hunter Jay as Canio in in Canio as Jay Hunter Morris Hunter Jay returns as Rosina. She dazzled audiences in her 2007 role of Princess Yueyang in the world premiere production of Tan Dun’s Dun’s Tan of production premiere world the in Yueyang Princess of role 2007 her in audiences dazzled She Rosina. as returns makes her company debut as debut company her makes Pagliacci at the Metropolitan Opera. Metropolitan the at Kelly Kaduce Kelly Eglise Gutiérrez Eglise , singing Canio, last appeared with FGO in the 2000 production of of production 2000 the in FGO with appeared last Canio, singing , PHOTO © KEN HOwaRD FOR OPERA THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS sings both Nedda in in Nedda both sings as as as Lucia. Her acclaimed performances as in Violetta as performances Her Lucia. acclaimed Suor Angelica Suor Kelly Kaduce Kaduce Kelly Carmen The Marriage of Figaro of Marriage The , , following her acclaimed 2008 appearance in the same role with the Los Angeles Opera. Angeles Los the with role same the in appearance 2008 acclaimed her following SaVONLINNA OPERA FESTIVAL 2007 Pagliacci Lucia di Lammermoor di Lucia Eglise Gutiérrez as Gutiérrez Eglise and the title role in in role title the and . PHOTO © CAROL PRATT FOR WOLF TRAP OPERA COMPANY Suor Angelica Suor Sarah Coburn as Rosina Rosina as Coburn Sarah in in The Barber of Seville of Barber The La traviata La La traviata in all performances. Ms. Kaduce most most Kaduce Ms. performances. all in . He has been a leading artist with with artist leading a been has He . were important highlights of highlights were important PHOTO © ROBERT SHOMLER FOR FESTIVAL OPERA Kendall Gladen Gladen Kendall as Carmen Carmen as THIS SEASON FEATURES WORLD-CLASs CONDUCTORS who WILL LEAD US TO NEW HEIGHTS Florida Grand Opera Resident Conductor Andrew Bisantz will conduct the opening double-bill. He is currently Guest Music Director of Eugene Opera and will make his Boston Lyric Opera debut conducting a new production of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. Spanish conductor Ramón Tébar will conduct Lucia di Lammermoor. He has been the Assistant Conductor at Palm Beach Opera, and has conducted symphony orchestras throughout Europe and the United States. Gary Thor Wedow, who made his FGO debut in 2008, returns to conduct The Barber of Seville. This American conductor has a long association with New York City Opera, and has conducted for opera companies in San Francisco, Seattle, Tokyo, and Toronto. Former FGO Music Director and Artistic Director of Connecticut Opera, Willie Anthony Waters, returns to conduct Carmen. Maestro Waters conducts internationally and is a frequent guest on the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts intermission features. Andrew Bisantz Ramón Tébar Gary Thor Wedow Willie Anthony Waters Ruggero Leoncavallo’s pagliacci& SUOR ANGELICA by Giacomo Puccini Does life imitate art? Or is it the other way around? When a troupe of itinerant actors arrives in a dusty Italian town to put on a play, the villagers have no idea they are about to see a totally unexpected improvisation. Canio, the leader of the troupe, discovers that his wife Nedda is having an affair. Devastated, he sings the powerful and poignant “Vesti la giubba” (Put on the costume). Unfortunately, the play resembles real life. Nedda plays an unfaithful wife. Canio, insane with jealousy, confuses fantasy with reality and stabs his wife and her lover, declaring “la commedia è finita!” (the play is over). Scandal. Retribution. Suicide. Salvation. Poor Sister Angelica. She is young, beautiful, and wealthy. She is also banished to a convent near Siena by her noble family as punishment for giving birth to a son out of wedlock seven years earlier. Sister Angelica spends her days mourning her loss while singing some of Puccini’s most beautiful music. One day a visitor arrives - The Princess, who is Angelica’s aunt. The Princess insists that Angelica renounce her inheritance in favor of her sister, who is about to be married. The Princess tells her coldly that her son is dead. Poor Angelica collapses in tears. But she has a vision - her son is calling her from heaven. So she drinks poison and then remembers - too late - that suicide is a mortal sin. She prays to the Virgin Mary for mercy and miraculously the Virgin appears to her along with her son who races into her arms as she dies. This double bill features the outstanding American soprano Kelly Kaduce singing both Nedda in Pagliacci Miami and Sister Angelica in Puccini’s great opera. Joining Ms. Kaduce in Pagliacci will be tenor Jay Hunter Morris Adrienne Arsht Center for the and baritone Mark Rucker. Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County Sanford and Dolores Ziff Ballet Opera House ETC. Music from Pagliacci was used in the following movies: The Untouchables (Robert De Niro, Kevin Costner, November 14, 2009, at 7 p.m. – Opening Night Sean Connery), The Bonfire of the Vanities (Tom Hanks and Melanie Griffith), in a Seinfeld episode entitled November 18, 20, 24, 28, 2009, at 8 p.m. “The Opera,” and in an episode of The Simpsons entitled “The Italian Bob.” November 22, 2009, matinee at 2 p.m. Sung in Italian with English and Spanish projected titles. Fort Lauderdale Broward Center for the Performing Arts Au-Rene Theater Production sponsored by the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Foundation, and Stephen Keller and Lesleen Bolt December 3 & 5, 2009, at 8 p.m. in loving memory of Stephen. Kelly Kaduce Jay Hunter Morris “The high point of the evening was the Pagliacci prologue. Mark Rucker delivered Tonio with such a masterful blend of vocal power and delicacy of expression, his resonant baritone brimming with highly Mark Rucker Kyle Pfortmiller charged yet controlled emotion.” pagliacci & - Opera News SUOR ANGELICA “Kelly Kaduce was divine. her Angelica embodied the ‘dolce dolore’ without which Puccini does not exist.” - El Mercurio Mzia Nioradze “Jay Hunter Morris sang…with a fascinating Pagliacci mix of power and effort, strength and despair.” Canio Jay Hunter Morris Nedda Kelly Kaduce - The Oregonian Tonio Mark Rucker Silvio Kyle Pfortmiller Suor Angelica Suor Angelica Kelly Kaduce The Princess Mzia Nioradze Conductor Andrew Bisantz Director Sandra Pocceschi Producer Renaud Doucet Set Designer André Barbe Costume Designer André Barbe Lighting Designer Gordon W. Olson Chorus Master John Keene Production Florida Grand Opera LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR by Gaetano Donizetti Donizetti’s gripping tale of unrestrained passion, madness, murder, and suicide. The Ashton and Ravenswood families have always hated each other - except for Lucia and Edgardo. The Ashtons have seized the Ravenswood ancestral castle in Scotland, but Edgardo, the last surviving member of his family, sneaks back from his lonely exile to declare his love for Lucia. He wants to marry her. She says it’s impossible, but they exchange vows and rings anyway. Enrico, Lucia’s bully of a brother, has decided to force Lucia to marry a wealthy nobleman to save the Ashtons from financial ruin. He forges a letter to convince Lucia that Edgardo has forgotten her. The wedding proceeds, but things don’t go well. First, Edgardo crashes the wedding, cursing Lucia for her betrayal. Lucia goes mad and kills her new husband. Then she becomes totally delusional and, in one of the most famous mad scenes in all of opera, imagines herself happily married to Edgardo. Meanwhile, Enrico challenges Edgardo to a duel. But when Edgardo learns that Lucia has collapsed and died, he kills himself with a dagger so they can meet in heaven.