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OPERA and MUSIC | SUMMER 2018 THE ROYAL OPERA REPERTORY PAGE JOYCE DIDONATO AND ANTONIO PAPPANO 2 RECITAL LOHENGRIN 3 MAMZER BASTARD 7 LA BOHÈME 10 CAVE 17 DON GIOVANNI 20 FALSTAFF 23 JETTE PARKER YOUNG ARTISTS SUMMER 27 PERFORMANCE 2018 L’ANGE DE NISIDA IN CONCERT 31 OTHER EVENTS 34 THE ROYAL OPERA PRESENTS: JOYCE DIDONATO AND ANTONIO PAPPANO RECITAL 4 June 2018 at 8pm American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato appears in recital on the Royal Opera House main stage, accompanied on the piano by The Royal Opera’s Music Director Antonio Pappano. The duo previously performed together in a recital at the opening of Wigmore Hall’s 2014/15 Season, the recording of which – Joyce and Tony: Live at Wigmore Hall – was named Best Classical Solo Vocal Album at the 2016 Grammy Awards. Joyce DiDonato made her Royal Opera debut in 2003 as Fox (The Cunning Little Vixen). She has since returned to sing Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni, including on tour with The Royal Opera to Japan), Cendrillon, Elena (La donna del lago), Maria Stuarda, Charlotte (Werther) and in Plácido Domingo’s 2012 Operalia concert. This Season she has sung Semiramide for the Company. Antonio Pappano is Music Director of The Royal Opera, a position he has held since 2002. During his tenure he has conducted an extensive repertory, including works by Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Puccini, Richard Strauss, Ravel, Berg, Shostakovich and Britten, as well as the world premieres of Birtwistle’s The Minotaur (2008) and Turnage’s Anna Nicole (2011), and works for The Royal Ballet. This Season he has conducted La bohème, Semiramide, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and a concert with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. Forthcoming engagements with The Royal Opera include Der Ring des Nibelungen and The Queen of Spades. CREDITS Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato Piano Antonio Pappano LOHENGRIN Richard Wagner 7, 13, 23 and 28 June 2018 at 6pm | 10 June and 1 July 2018 at 3pm | 17 June 2018 at 2.30pm Co-production with Opera Vlaanderen Generous philanthropic support from Ruth and Stuart Lipton, Maggie Copus, Peter and Fiona Espenhahn, Malcolm Herring, John G. Turner & Jerry G. Fischer, Mercedes T. Bass, Mrs Philip Kan, The Metherell Family, the Lohengrin Production Syndicate and The Wagner Circle David Alden directs a new production of Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin. This is The Royal Opera’s first new production of this opera since 1977. Written between Tannhäuser and the first operas of the Ring cycle, Lohengrin marks a turning point for the composer, as he moved from conventional operatic form to the music dramas of his mature style. The two forms combine in Lohengrin to create a work of fervent music imagination and great dramatic power. Elsa’s brother Gottfried has disappeared and she has been accused of his murder. Her prayers for a champion to defend her are answered by the appearance of the mysterious Swan Knight. But the malicious Telramund and his sorceress wife Ortrud convince Elsa to ask the knight’s name – a question that will force him to leave her. Alden’s vision for the production situates the opera in a bombed-out city: a dystopian world threatened from outside, where the people crave both a sense of purpose and a leader. Lohengrin features designs by Paul Steinberg, costume designs by Gideon Davey and lighting design by Adam Silverman. The movement director is Maxine Braham. American director David Alden made his Royal Opera debut in 2008 with La Calisto, and recently returned in the 2017/18 Season to direct Semiramide. Recent engagements elsewhere include new productions of Les Huguenots for Deutsche Oper Berlin, Semiramide for Bavarian State Opera and Loreley for the Stadttheater St Gallen, The Queen of Spades and Otello for ENO and revivals of Otello at the Teatro Real, Madrid, Billy Budd at the Bolshoi Theatre and Alcina for Santa Fe Opera. Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons conducts all performances. He made his Royal Opera debut in December 2009 with La bohème, and has since returned to conduct Madama Butterfly, Salome, Elektra, Der fliegende Holländer and Der Rosenkavalier. He is Music Director of Boston Symphony Orchestra and Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. He has previously conducted Lohengrin for the Bayreuth Festival. German tenor Klaus Florian Vogt sings the title role. He made his Royal Opera debut in 2009 as Alwa (Lulu) and has also sung Das Lied von der Erde with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and Antonio Pappano. He made his role debut as Lohengrin for Theater Erfurt in 2002 and has since sung Lohengrin for companies including the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Vienna State Opera, New National Theatre, Tokyo, Bavarian State Opera, Zürich Opera, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Liceu, Barcelona, and for the Bayreuth and Munich festivals. His other Wagner roles include Tannhäuser, Walther von Stolzing (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) and Parsifal. Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais sings the role of Elsa. She made her Royal Opera debut in 2011 as Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly) and has since returned to sing the title roles in Tosca and Manon Lescaut for the Company. Engagements elsewhere include Paulina (The Gambler) and Nedda (Pagliacci) for La Scala, Milan, Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito), Cio-Cio-San, Manon Lescaut, Tatyana, Rusalka, Margherita (Mefistofele) and Amelia Grimaldi (Simon Boccanegra) for Bavarian State Opera, Mimì for Vienna State Opera, Desdemona (Otello) for Hamburg State Opera, Jenůfa for Zürich Opera, Tosca and Mimì for Berlin State Opera and Rusalka, Cio-Cio-San, Magda (La rondine) and Mimì for the Metropolitan Opera, New York. American soprano Christine Goerke sings the role of Ortrud. She made her Royal Opera debut in 2002 as Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) and has since returned to sing Elektra and Turandot. Her recent appearances elsewhere include Brünnhilde (Der Ring des Nibelungen) for Houston Grand Opera and the Canadian Opera Company, Elektra for the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and for San Francisco Opera and Cassandre (Les Troyens) for Lyric Opera of Chicago. Next Season she sings Brünnhilde for the Metropolitan Opera, New York. German baritone Thomas J. Mayer makes his Royal Opera debut as Friedrich von Telramund. Mayer sings regularly for Bavarian State Opera in roles including Telramund, Wotan/Wanderer (Der Ring des Nibelungen) and Mandryka (Arabella), and for Deutsche Oper Berlin, where his roles have included Wotan (Die Walküre), Amfortas (Parsifal), Telramund, Scarpia (Tosca) and Macbeth. For Bayreuth Festival he has sung the Dutchman (Der fliegende Holländer), Wanderer (Siegfried) and Telramund. German bass Georg Zeppenfeld sings the role of King Heinrich. He made his Royal Opera debut in 2015 as Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte). He joined the ensemble of Semperoper Dresden in 2001. Recent appearances there include Fasolt (Das Rheingold) and Hunding (Die Walküre). Other recent engagements include Gurnemanz (Parsifal) and Hunding for Bayreuth Festival and Herrmann (Tannhäuser) for Bavarian State Opera. This summer he sings King Heinrich for Bayreuth Festival. Lithuanian bass-baritone Kostas Smoriginas sings the role of Herald. He was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme 2007–9, singing roles including Alidoro (La Cenerentola), Marquis d’Obigny (La traviata), Cesare Angelotti (Tosca), Bello (La fanciulla del West) and Schlemil (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) for The Royal Opera. He has since returned to sing Colline (La bohème), Don Alvaro (Il viaggio a Reims in the Jette Parker Young Artists Tenth Anniversary Concert), Escamillo (Carmen) and Andrei Shchelkalov (Boris Godunov) for the Company. This Season he has sung Escamillo (Carmen) for The Royal Opera. South Korean tenor and Jette Parker Young Artist Konu Kim sings the role of First Noble of Brabant. This Season he has sung Arturo Bucklaw (Lucia di Lammermoor), Mitrane (Semiramide), Fourth Jew (Salome), Voice (From the House of the Dead) and Malcolm (Macbeth) for The Royal Opera. New Zealand tenor and Jette Parker Young Artist Thomas Atkins sings the role of Second Noble of Brabant. In the 2016/17 Season he sang Pilade (Oreste), Faninal’s Major-Domo (Der Rosenkavalier), Poisson (Adriana Lecouvreur) and Roderigo (Otello) for The Royal Opera, and appeared in recital at the Théâtre du Châtelet. This Season he has sung First Man in Armour (Die Zauberflöte), Don José (La Tragédie de Carmen) and Teacher (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk) for The Royal Opera. Hungarian baritone and Jette Parker Young Artist Gyula Nagy sings the role of Third Noble of Brabant. In the 2016/17 Season he sang Fiorello (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Filotete (Oreste), Konrad Nachtigal (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Imperial Commissioner (Madama Butterfly), Flemish Deputy (Don Carlo) and Baron Douphol (La traviata) for The Royal Opera and in Les Enfants Terribles for The Royal Ballet. This Season he has sung Schaunard (La bohème), Escamillo (La Tragédie de Carmen) and Moralès (Carmen) for The Royal Opera. South African bass and Jette Parker Young Artist Simon Shibambu sings the role of Fourth Noble of Brabant. In the 2016/17 Season he sang Toante (Oreste), Quinault (Adriana Lecouvreur), Flemish Deputy (Don Carlo) and Montano (Otello) for The Royal Opera, and in recital at Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris. This Season he has sung Nino’s Ghost (Semiramide), Count Ceprano (Rigoletto), Cesare Angelotti (Tosca), Doctor (Macbeth) and Steward/Sentry (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk) for the Company. CREDITS Music Richard Wagner Conductor Andris Nelsons Director David