Brooklyn Academy of Music 45th Season 1998-99 Bruce C. Ratner Chairman of the Board Robert C. Rosenberg Chairman of the Board Harvey Lichtenstein President and Executive Producer Craig G. Matthews, President

Robert Spano, Music Director Lukas Foss, Conductor Laureate present by Thomas Ades

Running time: BAM Majestic Theater approximately two December 8, 10 & 12, 1998 at 8pm hours and ten minutes. There will be one Libretto Philip Hensher intermission. Conductor Robert Spano Director Edward Berkeley Set and Costume Designer Anne C. Patterson Lighting Designer Lloyd Sobel Stage Manager Patrick Diamond Assistant Conductor Timothy Long

Cast Duchess Maire O'Brien Maid Heather Buck Electrician Trevor Smith Hotel Manager Allen Schrott

Baldwin is the official of the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

Photo: Alex Irvin Thomas Ades wrote the chamber opera Powder attain. Blatant assumptions of social, cultural and Her Face to a joint commission from the Almeida even genetic superiority set true blue-bloods apart, Opera in London and the Cheltenham Festival. and these attitudes make ignoble character or Completed in 1995, the work had its first produc­ unhappiness that much more appalling. Or is it tion at the Cheltenham Festival in July of that year, delicious? For all the shock and repugnance we with further performances in London. The work collectively express, misconduct among the received its American premiere in 1997 in a privileged elite seems to titillate us. It would be concert performance by the Berkeley Symphony dishonest not to admit a certain satisfaction in , followed by the American stage pre­ watching society's high fliers occasionally crash miere at the Aspen Music Festival. These perfor­ and burn. Such displays often take on the char­ mances bring the piece to New York for the first acter of fables, with clear and reassuring morals. time and feature the same cast, director and design In Powder Her Face, the sad fate of the Duchess­ team as the Aspen Opera Theater Center production. who ends up seeming a Blanche Dubois of her time, place and social class-ean be taken as a Ades' opera centers on a recent historical figure­ cautionary tale about how little luxury and hap­ Margaret, Duchess of Argyll-who achieved piness are related. But when the offenders' social notoriety through a sensational divorce case in the milieu is remote from our own and when the 1950s. Philip Hensher, who wrote the libretto, details of their misdemeanors are sufficiently sor­ describes her as "someone who was regarded by did, tales of degeneracy assume a surreal quality. her contemporaries as limitlessly wealthy; who devoted herself to things that wouldn't last an Surrealism certainly characterizes the actions and evening; and who in the end found that she had dialogue of Powder Her Face. The opera unfolds shed every worldly possession and died, as we all as a series of temporally disjunct scenes. Opening do, with nothing; and like all of us, left nothing in the year 1990, we find Duchess Margaret at beh ind except her memory." the end of her career, living in a hotel whose employees are somewhat less than awed by her. There is, of course, a peculiar fascination that The action then "flashes back" to the 1930s and attends the combination of blue-bloods and forward, scene by scene, finally returning to the decadence: wealth and social standing make time of the initial scene. The flashbacks are enact­ tawdry behavior particularly pungent. Such affairs ed by the three hotel workers, a maid, an electri­ enthrall us in the nominally democratic United cian and the manager, who appear as different States as much as in England, with its vestigial persons in the Duchess' life. In various guises they class of titled nobility. Claus von BUlow provided mock, flatter, condemn, make love to, gossip about the American public with a European-style scan­ and plot against the Duchess. The diversity of dal, a genuine aristocrat gone ever so bad. But dramatis personae these characters assume cre­ America ns have thei r own ki nd of aristocracy ates, at the very least, some ambiguity about their which often seems to be working overtime to keep identities. (Are their changing roles merely figments the tabloids and other media supplied with lurid of the Duchess' imagination?) At the most, it gives copy. Leona Helmsley, Ted Kennedy, Michael the proceedings the quality of a feverish nightmare. Jackson, John Dupont, O.J. Simpson, a long Throughout, the dialogue favors the poetic and parade of rock stars, Hollywood actors and now psychological over the realistic. politicians have taken turns showing us that self­ inflicted ignominy can be an integral part of the Ades' music reflects, and indeed underscores, lifestyles of the rich and famous. the surreal character of the libretto. Philip Hensher descri bes the com poser's work as "totteri ng, Sti II, there's no decadence like that of Old World extravagant inventions on the ruins of tonality," aristocracy. It's not just their wealth, which may but this only begins to convey its character. The not put them on a par with successful software music incorporates , late-modern com­ entrepreneurs or corporate raiders. It's their impe­ plexity, coloratura arias in the Italian tradition, riousness, a to-the-manor-born attitude that the near:'quotations of Richard Strauss and skewed most ambitious nouveau riche can never quite imitations of tea dances, tangos and popular songs from the 1930s. (If you've ever wondered Powder Her Face. Both operas, the composer what Cole Porter might have written while on noted, feature a "surface of rich harmonies and drugs, you need wait no longer than the second a kind of glitter, [but] underneath you have darker scene.) This broad range of stylistic references, currents and darker systematic forces that are together with Ades' readiness to use and juxtapose pushing it in other directions, so there's a terrible them at will, places the opera squarely in the tension under the surface. And this piece is exactly domain of post-modernism. about that very thing in somebody's life. There's a surface of fun and laughter-there's an awful lot The small orchestra consists of , saxo­ of laughter in the piece-but it's laughter in the phones, brass, strings, accordion and percussion, dark, in a sense, and a lot of it is directed at the an ensemble similar to the dance bands of yester­ central character." year. What it plays, however, could not be mistak­ en for anything by the Dorsey brothers. When not Ades establishes a sense of dark, somewhat resorting to obvious parody, much of the score has sinister mirth at the very outset of the opera with a dark, Expressionist sound that recalls the music a "Laughter-Prologue," a palpable irony undercut­ of . Ades makes no secret of his admi­ ting its ostensible gaiety. The eight scenes that ration of Berg's two operas, especially , and in follow are divided into two acts. Within each act, an interview with BBC radio he acknowledged an the scenes are linked by orchestral interludes. affinity between the music of that work and -Paul Schiavo (reprinted by courtesy of the author)

Scene One, 1990 In a hotel room, an electrician poses in the Duchess of Argyll's furs and high heels. He imitates their owner's grand manner as a maid watches and goads him on. This travesty is interrupted by the return of the Duchess. Things are not as she would like: in addition to the mockery she has just witnessed, the electrician has been unable to fix a broken tea kettle, her usual ma id has the day off, the mil k for her tea spi lis on her. The Duchess consoles herself by calling for her furs and perfumes. She anticipates the arrival of the Duke.

Scene Two, 1934 The maid, in the role of the Duchess' confidante, converses with the elec­ trician, now dressed as a 1930s lounge lizard. They gossip about the Duke and his former loves. The Duchess muses on the convenience of a Dukedom to help fill the empty hours of her life. As the Duke is heard approaching, her anticipation grows more and more excited until the hotel manager, seen as the Duke, makes a sudden entrance.

Scene Three, 1936 The Duke (hotel manager) and Duchess are married as a reception waitress (the maid) sings an elaborate aria musing on the lives of the wealthy.

Scene Four, 1953 Alone in a hotel room, the Duchess tries to call for room service. After reach­ ing several wrong numbers, she orders up food and wine. When a waiter (the electrician) arrives with these items, she seduces him.

Scene Five, 1953 Meanwhile, the Duke is engaged in a tryst with his mistress. Coyly at first, she intimates a knowledge of the Duchess' many sexual escapades. In the end, she provides proof of her accusation. Scene Six, 1955 Two spectators (the maid and electrician) stand outside the courtroom where the Argyll divorce trial is in progress, sharing rumors about the couple at the center of the proceeding. To the strains of a funeral cortege, the Duchess enters and seats herself. A judge (the hotel manager) expresses his shock and indignation over the entire affair and finds the Duchess.to blame. She responds to his verdict with proud disdain.

Scene Seven, 1970 A society journalist (the maid) interviews the Duchess. Their conversation touches trivial topics-the Duchess' skin care regime and aversion to exer­ cise-but a series of asides reveals an element of anachronism in the grand lady. She complains of the demise of elegance and style, the rise of vulgarity and a growing pile of bills about which she will not deign to trouble herself.

Scene Eight, 1990 The hotel manager informs the Duchess that she must leave his establish­ ment. It has been eight months since she has paid for her meals, lodging and other services, and her accounts are exhausted. The Duchess tries to assure him that she will render payment. When this fails, she pleads for a bit of time, but to no avail. Alone, she longs for the servants she once had but who have now vanished. She begins to put on lipstick but impulsively smashes her mirror. She tries to apply perfume, but the bottle is empty. She calls for servants or friends, but only the hotel manager appears, announcing that it is time for her departure. The Duchess begs him to show patience, pity, kindness. She asks him to hold her. He merely announces that her car is waiting and takes her trunk from the room.

The Duchess collapses in despair. After some time, she approaches a gramophone player. Unable to find a record to play, she puts the needle down on the revolving turntable, producing a cacophony of scratching, then exits. The maid and electrician emerge from beneath the bed. To the beat of a tango, they strip the sheets, striking exaggerated poses as they do so. This leads to sexual dalliance, complete with chasing and slapping, until the Maid makes a sudden exit.-PS Robert Spano Music Director Lukas Foss Conductor Laureate

Violin I Piano Laura Park, Joe Bongiorno* Wilmer Wise* Kenneth Bowen* Concertmaster Accordion /I Steven Hartman* Hugh Eddy* William Schimmel Robin Bushman Paul Garment Den nis Smylie Percussion Personnel Richard Fitz* Jonathan Taylor Janet Hill* Saxophone James Preiss* Dan Goble Librarian Paul Garment Harp Andrew S. Holmes Chris Finckel* Karen Lindquist* Francisco Donaruma *Principal

Board of Directors Executive Vice Directors Ex officio President Arthur C. Bennett Louis Bruno Chairman John Tamberlane Russell A. Campbell Henry Schuman Robert C. Rosenberg Emilie A. Cozzi Treasurer Timothy Gilles President Kevin Burke Harriet Goodman Craig G. Matthews James Kendrick Secretary William F. Kuntz, II Chairman Emeritus Paul Travis Gloria Messinger Stanley H. Kaplan Peter M. Meyer Vice Presidents Julie Ratner Honorary Chairman Jerry Jacobs Irving Redel I. Stanley Kriegel John M. Powers, Jr. Tazewell Smith Hon. Howard Golden Laura Walker Bruce Van Dusen A. Lorne Weil Wayne C. Winborne

Administration Production Finance Artistic Advisor Coordinator Peter Gee Maurice Edwards Executive Director Patrick Heydenburg Tonya Cobb Gregg Gustafson Administrative Marketing and Public Relations Assistant Director of Promotion Shirley Kirshbaum Melora Soodalter Development Tambra Dillon & Associates Joseph Chart Jeff Levine Acting Education Orchestra Manager Coordinator Lisa Takemoto Shoko Kashiyama Thomas Ades was born in 1971 in London and and Sir -who not only toured it was educated there and in Cambridge. His around the UK and Europe-but programmed it appointment in September 1993 as Composer again in Sir Simon's last concert as music director in Association to the Halle Orchestra resulted in of the CBSO. Future projects include an opera for The Origin of the Harp (the premiere of which he the Royal Opera, Covent Garden due in 2001. conducted), and subsequently, These Premises are Alarmed, which was premiered by Kent Maire O'Brien (Duchess) is originally from Dublin, Nagano at the opening in September 1996 of the Ireland and came to the US in 1994. In 1995 she new Bridgewater Concert Hall in Manchester. participated in the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado where she performed Ravel's Shezerazade and the But it was his work for ensemble, , concert aria Ch'lo Mi Scordi Di Te by Mozart, with which attracted worldwide interest. Commissioned the Aspen Concert and Chamber . Since by the London Sinfonietta, it was first given at the then, she has appeared in Aspen as Alice Ford in Barbican in 1994 conducted by Oliver Knussen, Falstaff, Violetta in La Traviata, the First Lady in and was later cited at the 1994 Paris Rostrum as Die Zauberf/ote and the lead role of the Duchess the best work by a com poser under th irty. Living in the American stage premiere of Powder Her Toys has si nce been performed at the Bath and Face. In May Ms. O'Brien sang Barena in Jenufa Aldeburgh festivals, Venice Biennale, in Madrid, at the Spoleto USA Festival. Ms. O'Brien was a Hanover, Helsinki, Paris, New York and Perth­ New York district winner in the Metropolitan Opera a total of over twenty performances in two years. National Council Auditions in 1996. She made her Weill Hall debut in September 1997 and has sung In 1995 Ades occupied the Composer Portrait with the National Symphony Orchestra in Nielsen's concert at the Aldeburgh Festival, and was also Third Symphony (recorded for the Naxos label) a featured composer and pianist at the Cheltenham and in Mendelssohn's Second Symphony. Festival. It was there that his chamber opera Powder Her Face, commissioned by Almeida Heather Buck (Maid) holds degrees in music Opera was premiered before being played in from both Yale University and Tufts University and London to real international attention and acclaim. a degree from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. She sang the role of the Maid in the premiere Recognition of the impact Ades has already made of Powder Her Face at the Aspen Music Festival. on British musical life was no doubt a factor in his Other operatic roles include Titania in A Midsum­ appointment in 1995 to Trinity College, Cambridge mer Night's Dream, Miss Woodsworth in Albert Fellow Commonership in the Creative Arts. His Herring, Despina in Cosi fan Tutte, Frasquita in international career and reputation was further Carmen, Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore, Phyllis in enhanced by the enthusiastic reception which Iolanthe, Leonora in The Long Christmas Dinner greeted the German premiere of Powder Her and Laurette in Le Docteur Miracle. She has per­ Face in Magdeburg. Powder Her Face received formed with the Aldeburgh Music Festival, the its American concert premiere in Berkeley under Aspen Music Festival, Connecticut Grand Opera, the baton of Kent Nagano in April 1997 and its the Westchester Philharmonic, the New York stage premiere in July at the 1997 Aspen Festival Gilbert and Sullivan Players, Central City Opera, under the baton of the compos.er. the Bronx Concert Singers, the Fairfield Chorale, the New Haven Symphony and Yale Opera. EMI records released the first commercial recording of his music. Life Story, in which the composer is Trevor Smith (Electrician) a native of Houston, aIso featu red as performer, in spri ng 1997, and a Texas received his Bachelor of Music from the second disc Living Toys, appeared last February. Eastman School of Music. He subsequently These discs, both highly acclaimed, were followed received his master's degree at the Cincinnati by the release of Powder Her Face in September. College Conservatory of Music. Mr. Smith has appeared in roles with Houston Grand Opera, Ades is in much demand for commissions. The Elder Gleaton in Susannah, First Slave in Magic Feeney Trust commissioned for the CBSO Flute, Nelson / Daddy Peter in Porgy & Bess, and has performed roles in The Consul, Street Scene, directed numerous standard works, along with Cask of Amontillado, Oedipus Rex, Postcard from Bright Sheng's The Song of Majnun, Augusta Read Morocco, Turn of the Screw and Cosi fan Tutte Thomas' Ugeia, Michael Torke's The King of Hearts, with the Eastman Opera Theatre, CCM Opera and Thomas Ades' Powder Her Face and Mark-Anthony Opera Theatre of Rochester. Mr. Smith has been Turnage's Greek. In the near future he will be an Aspen Music Festival Fellow, where he most directing Mother of Us All and L'etoile at Juilliard, recently performed the role of Sam in Susannah Derek Walcott's The Odyssey, the New York pre­ under the baton of James Conlon. In 1997, miere of recently discovered Thornton Wilder plays he appeared in the American stage premiere of for Willow Cabin, and the world premiere of Powder Her Face. Bernard Rands' opera, Belladonna, as well as Cosi fan Tutte and Ariadne auf Naxos in Aspen. Allen Schrott (Hotel Manager) received his Bachelor of Music from the College of Wooster Anne C. Patterson (Set and Costume Designer) and his Master of Music from University of designed the original production of Powder Her Michigan. Mr. Schrott expects to receive his Face for the Aspen Music Festival. Her sets and Doctorate from U.M. in the spring of 1999. In designs have been seen at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln recent years he has sung leading roles in Le Center, WPA, The Joyce Theater, New York Theater Nozze di Figaro, La Boheme, L'elisir d'amore, Workshop, Ensemble Studio Theater, Atlantic Cosi fan Tutte and A Midsummer Night's Dream, Theater Co. and many New York venues. She has and has appeared with Michigan Opera Theatre, designed at the Wilma Theater, Philadelphia, Pacific the Grand Rapids Symphony and the Illinois Northwest Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, The Kennedy Symphony. Mr. Schrott appeared in the American Center, Wolftrap and The Royal National Theatre stage prem iere of Powder Her Face at the Aspen in London. Ms. Patterson's production design work Music Festival and returned to the festival to per­ has been seen on PBS and the BBC. She has col­ form in Mark-Anthony Turnage's Greek. These laborated with many artists, including performer performances mark Mr. Schrott's New York debut. Michael Moschen, choreographers Gina Gibney and Lila York, directors Gerald Gutierrez and Chris Edward Berkeley (Director) is director of the Aspen Ashley, and playwrights Terrence McNally and Opera Theater Center, and co-founder and artistic Wendy Wasserstein. She teaches set design to at­ director of the Willow Cabin Theater Company, risk high school students in New York City through where he directed the Tony Award and Drama a program administered by Henry Street Settlement. Desk-nominated Wilder, Wilder, Wilder and widely Ms. Patterson has a bachelor's degree in architec­ praised productions of A Midsummer Night's ture from Yale and a master's degree in set and Dream, O'Neill's S.S.Glencairn-Four Plays of costume design from Slade School of Art, London. the Sea, Charlotte Delbo's haunting holocaust memoir Who Will Carry The Word? (for which he Lloyd Sobel (Lighting Designer) has been designing was named Dramalogue's Director of the Year), lighting extensively for the past several years both Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas in Wales, and nationally and abroad. This past year, in addition Norman Corwin's Anatomy of Sound, nominated to designing lighting for the Atlanta Ballet, Eugene for a Drama Desk award. He is a faculty member Ballet and Ballet Idaho companies, he returned to of The Juilliard School and Circle in the Square Tallinn Estonia for his third collaboration with Mia Professional Workshop, and guest faculty member Murdmaa and the Estonian Ballet Theatre at the at Princeton where he directed Stravinsky's Oedipus Tallinn Opera House. Mr. Sobel also designed for Rex. In New York, he has directed the premieres a new ballet choreographed by Peter Pucci for of plays by Israel Horovitz, Terence McNally, Pittsburgh Ballet titled River of Desire. Additional Leonard Melfi, Morris Panych, Louise Page and credits include productions for Pittsburgh Ballet, Tennessee Williams and productions for the New Washington Ballet and Miami City Ballet. Mr. Sobel York Shakespeare Festival (including Pericles designed the lighting for the off-Broadway pro­ which won Best Revival) and Circle in the Square. ductions of A Room of One's Own and St. Mark's At the Aspen Music Festival, Mr. Berkeley conducts Gospel and he continues as lighting designer for a unique opera scenes master class, and has the Aspen Music Festival's Opera program. Music director Robert An international leader in innovative programming, Spano is one of the the Brooklyn Philharmonic is recognized as one world's most prom inent of this country's finest regional orchestras. Under young conductors. "He the leadership of music director Robert Spano, seems the most com­ the orchestra has reached a new level of artistic prehensively gifted excellence and is hailed for its challenging reper­ American conductor to toire and superb musicianship. Since its inception, emerge since James the Brooklyn Philharmonic has received seventeen Levine, Michael Tilson ASCAP awards for Adventuresome and Creative Thomas and Leonard Programming and presented over 100 New York Slatkin."-The Boston premieres. The 1998-99 season continues to Globe. In 1990, Seiji Ozawa appointed him build upon the Brooklyn Philharmonic's tradition assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony of presenting uniquely designed programs of both Orchestra. Since that time, he has conducted classical and contemporary repertoire. The spring nearly every major North American orchestra. Last brings two monumental works: Shostakovich's season Mr. Spano debuted with the Houston epic Symphony No.7, Leningrad; and Mahler's Grand Opera and Santa Fe Opera, and conducted lush and romantic Symphony No.2, Resurrection. the world premiere of John Corigliano's Red Violin A concert for orchestra and chorus entitled Music Chaconne with Joshua Bell and the San Francisco and Religion will feature Stravinsky's Mass, Bach's Symphony. He has also conducted orchestra and Christ lag in Todesbanden and Steve Reich's opera companies throughout Europe and Asia. Tehillim. The Brooklyn Philharmonic was founded by conductor Siegfried Landau in 1954. He was Mr. Spano's 1998-99 guest appearances include succeeded by Lukas Foss in 1971 and Dennis his debut with the Chicago Lyric Opera in perfor­ Russell Davies in 1991. Robert Spano was mances of Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos, named music director in 1996. and engagements with the Atlanta Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Boston Symphony, Buenos Aires Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, Goteborg Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic and Toronto Symphony.

Robert Spano is committed to music education. In 1998, he began his tenure as head of the conducting fellowship program at the Tanglewood Music Center. He is on faGulty at the Oberlin Conservatory and this season will conduct in residence at Curtis Institute and The Juilliard School. He appears regularly at the Aspen and Round Top Music Festivals.

Born in Conneaut, Ohio and raised in Elkhart, Indiana, Mr. Spano grew up in a musical family playing flute, violin, and piano, and composing. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he studied conducting with Robert Baustian, and continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music with the late Max Rudolf. Mr. Spano makes his home in Brooklyn, New York.