Leporello

Contemporary Newsletter

Nr. 18 March 2013

World Première Performances

In March 2013, 9 new , in English, French and German, will be staged for the first time. Benoît Mernier has already composed one opera : Frühling’s Erwachen (2006). Helmut Oehring has composed several stage works after Garcia Lorca, Shakespeare and Heine. Claire Renard has composed one lyrical drama, about 20 years ago. Das große Heft is Sidney Corbett’s fifth opera, after X und Y , Noach and Ubu , among others. Gerald Barry’s catalogue contains 3 operas, including The Intelligence Park and The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant . The Firework Maker’s Daughter is David Bruce’s longest opera. Nolan Gasser, Michel Fourgon and Thierry Escaich join them as lyrical composers for the first time.

Nolan Gasser : The Secret Garden Benoît Mernier : La Dispute

Opera for the whole family (120 minutes) Comedy in one act (whole evening) : Carey Harrison, after Frances Hodgson Libretto : Ursel Herrmann and Joël Lauwers, afer Burnett Pierre Carlet de Marivaux’s play San Francisco, Opera (Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley) Brussels, La Monnaie March 1, 2013 March 5, 2013

with Stéphane Degout, Stéphanie d’Oustrac, Julie with Sarah Shafer, Michael Kepler Meo, Philippe Sly, Mathevet, Albane Carrière, Cyrille Dubois. Scott Joiner, Laura Krumm, Erin Johnson. Conducted by Patrick Davin. Conducted by Sara Jobin. Directed by Karl-Ernst and Ursel Herrmann. Directed by Jose Maria Condemi. The inconsistencies of love, do they stem from man or A pampered young girl born to privilege finds herself woman? To finally resolve this burning philosophical alone in a bleak and unfamiliar land, until she issue, a diabolical experiment brings together four discovers the hidden wonder of an abandoned secret youngsters raised in isolation from the world and, garden. before our eyes, they discover love and first betrayal.

more on p. 2

DVD

Jean-Luc Trulès : Chin , Théâtre Vollard with Heng Shi, Anne-Marguerite Werster, Jean-Philippe Courtis, Holy Razafindrazaka. First performed in La Réunion, the opera deals with the unknown post-war movement of decolonization that gave birth to temptations of independence and autonomy. Conducted by the composer. Directed by Emmanuel Genvrin. Recorded in Vitry-sur-Seine in October 2011. more on p. 2

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World Première Performances

Helmut Oehring : SehnSuchtMEER Michel Fourgon : Lolo Ferrari oder Vom fliegenden Holländer Opera in 12 scenes (90 minutes) Opera (180 minutes) Libretto : Frédéric Roels Libretto : Stefanie Wördermann, after Heinrich Heine, Rouen, Théâtre des Arts (Opéra de Rouen Haute Richard Wagner, Mathilde Wesendonck, Hans Normandie) Christian Andersen March 8, 2013 Düsseldorf, Opernhaus (Deutsche Oper am Rhein) March 8, 2013

with Chantal Santon, Thomas Dolié, Xin Wang, Tatyana Ilyin, Muriel Legrand, Renaud Delaigue. with David Moss, Rudolf Kowalski, Jutta Wachowiak, Conducted by Luciano Acocella. Simon Neal, Matthias Bauer, Manuela Uhl. Directed by Michaël Delaunoy. Conducted by Axel Kober. Directed by Claus Guth. The opera tells the story of the French singer and actress who died at 37 after undergoing 25 plastic The skein of motives surrounding the flying Dutchman surgery operations to get the largest bust in the world. are cogged together as a composite source of yearning and recharged with sung, recited and gestured forms of expression.

Claire Renard : Orimita Sidney Corbett : Das große Heft

Multimedia Lyric Show (80 minutes) Musical Theatre in 5 parts Libretto : after Janine Matillon’s novel Libretto : Sidney Corbett and Rald Waldschmidt after Reims, Opera Ágota Kristóf March 8, 2013 Osnabrück, Theater March 16, 2013

with Delphine Rudasigwa and Marie-George Monet. Directed by Gustavo Frigerio. with Marie-Christine Haase, Susann Vent, Eva Gilhofer, Almerija Delic, Genadijus Bergorulko. The work unfolds a tragedy dealing with the Conducted by Andreas Hotz relationship between culture and barbarism. Directed by Alexander May. Emblematic figure of the suffering of civilians and torture of women crushed by a war of ethnic cleansing, The libretto deals with people’s fate in times of war. At Orimita will sink into the drama by yielding to the the outbreak of war, two twin brothers are commended violence. to their grandmother. The old woman is considered a witch by her neighbors. In an unprecedented act of moral self-mutilation the twins ignore the ethic of life that kept them alive until then.

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Gerald Barry : The Importance of David Bruce : The Firework Maker’s Being Earnest Daughter

Comic Opera in three acts (90 minutes) Chamber Opera in 2 acts, for 5 singers and 9 players Libretto : Gerald Barry after Oscar Wilde (95 minutes) Nancy, Opéra national de Lorraine Libretto : Glyn Maxwell, after Philip Pullman March 17, 2013 Hull, Truck Theatre March 23, 2013

with Chad Shelton, Phillip Addis, Ida Falk Winland, Wendy Dawn Thompson, Diana Montague. with The Opera Group. Conducted by Tito Muñoz Conducted by Geoffrey Paterson Directed by Sam Brown. Directed by John Fulljames

First performed in concert in April 2011 in Los Angeles. Lila desperately wants to be a Firework-Maker like her Working within the social conventions of late Victorian father. But when he refuses to teach her, Lila runs London, the major themes of this farcical comedy in away from home to discover the three gifts of firework which the protagonists maintain fictitious personæ in making for herself. With the help of her friends, Chulak order to escape burdensome social obligations, are the and Hamlet, the love-sick elephant, Lila faces pirates, triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as tigers and the terrifying Fire-Fiend on her perilous marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian ways. quest.

Thierry Escaich : Claude with Jean-Sébastien Bou, Jean-Philippe Lafont, Rodrigo Ferreira, Laurent Alvaro, Rémi Mathieu. Conducted by Jérémie Rhorer Directed by Olivier Py.

Considered an early example of "true crime" fiction, the short story contains Hugo's early thoughts on societal injustice which thirty years later he would flesh out in his novel Les Misérables .

Opera (90 minutes) Libretto : Robert Badinter, after Victor Hugo’s Claude Gueux Lyon, Opera March 27, 2013

In my collection

Below are listed parts of my collection. There will be more in the next issues.

1) Program books : - Richard Gill : Sleeping Beauty , Melbourne, January 17, 2013 - Philip Glass : The Perfect American , Madrid, January 22, 2013 - Oscar Strasnoy : Slutchaï , Bordeaux, November 26, 2012

2) Full scores : - , , Mainz : Schott Musik, 2000, 73 p. - Hans Werner Henze, The English Cat , Mainz : Schott Music, 2000, 609 p.

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3) DVD :

Jean-Luc Trulès : Maraina , Théâtre Vollard with Aurore Ugolin, Steeve Heimanu Mai, Landy Andriamboavonjy, Karim Bouzra. First performed in La Réunion in 2005, the opera explores the myth of the first Franco- Malagasy inhabitants of Fort Dauphin (Madagascar) in the seventeenth century. Conducted by the composer. Directed by Emmanuel Genvrin. Recorded in in June 2009.

4) Books : - Hans-Klaus Jungheinrich (ed.), Der Atem des Wanderers: Der Komponist Helmut Lachenmann , Mainz : Schott Music, 2006, 188 p. - Hans-Klaus Jungheinrich (ed.), Identitäten: Der Komponist und Dirigent Peter Eötvös , Mainz : Schott Music International, 2005, 84 p.

5) CD :

Mohammed Fairouz : Sumeida’s Song , Bridge, 9385 with Jo Ellen Miller, Rachel Calloway, Robert Mack, Mischa Bouvier. First performed in New York in January 2013, it follows the return of a young man from Cairo to his village. He defies his family's expectations that he will fulfill an age-old blood feud. Recorded in Purchase in April 2012. Conducted by Scott Dunn. Beat Furrer : Narcissus , MGB, CD 6143 with Johannes Chum, Hannes Hellmann, Monika Bair-Ivenz. First performed in Graz in 1994. Based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses , the opera tells the story and the cruel end of Narcissus’ life. Recorded in Luzern in 1996. Conducted by the composer. Daron Aric Hagen : Shinig Brow , Naxos, 8.669020-21 with Robert Orth, Brenda Harris, Robert Frankenberry, Matthew Curran. First performed in Madison (WI) in 1993. The libretto is based on the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the 1914 events in the home he built for himself. Recorded in Buffalo (NY) in 2006. Conducted by JoAnn Falletta. Per Nørgård : Der göttliche Tivoli , dacapo, 6.220572-73 with Bernd Gebhardt, Fabienne Jost, Stefen Kubach, Jianeng Lu, Tadashiro Masujima. First performed in Århus in 1983. Based on the work of schizophrenic Adolf Wölfli, whose hallucinatory paintings and writings were a major influence on Nørgård's music. Recorded in Bern in 2008. Conducted by Dorian Keilhack. Aribert Reimann : Medea , Oehms Classics, OC 955 with Claudia Barainsky, Tanja Ariane Baumgartner, Michael Nagy, Michael Baba. First performed in Vienna in 2010. Reimann tells the story of Medea, Jason and King Creon, following Grillparzer’s The Golden Fleece , rather than the traditional sources. Recorded live in Frankfurt in 2010. Conducted by Erik Nielsen.

Allen Shawn : The Music Teacher , Bridge, 9248. With Sarah Wolfson, Jeffrey Picón, Jason Forbach, Rebecca Robbins. First performed in New York in 2006. It is the story of creation and sexual obsession in which a teacher and his female student conceive and perform a new opera. Recorded in New York in 2007. Conducted by Timothy Long.

COWARC holds a collection of more than 6,500 documents published by opera companies since 1989 with information about more than 142,000 performances. A great amount of information has also been gathered on Shakespearean operas from all times and all countries.

Leporello is published by COWARC - Contemporary Opera Worldwide Archive and Research Center 29, rue de la Clef, F-75005 Paris Directeur de la publication : Mathias LEHN - Rédacteur en chef : Mathias LEHN contact : [email protected]

© COWARC, 2013

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