Charlie Parker's YARDBIRD Music by Daniel Schnyder Libretto By

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Charlie Parker’s YARDBIRD Music by Daniel Schnyder Libretto by Bridgette A. Wimberly Performed in English with English supertitles NEW YORK PREMIERE A co-production of the Apollo Theater and Opera Philadelphia April 1 and 3, 2016 The Apollo Theater PHOTOGRAPHS BY SOFIA NEGRON IMAGE 1: Tenor Lawrence Brownlee stars as Charlie Parker in the New York premiere of Charlie Parker’s YARDBIRD. IMAGES 2-3: Lawrence Brownlee as Charlie Parker, with soprano Angela Brown as his mother, Addie. IMAGE 4: Tenor Lawrence Brownlee stars as Charlie Parker in the New York premiere of Charlie Parker’s YARDBIRD. IMAGE 5: Mezzo-soprano Chrystal E. Williams as Rebecca Parker, Charlie’s first wife, with Angela Brown as Addie Parker. IMAGE 6: Doris Parker (soprano Elena Perroni), Charlie’s second wife in the opera, visits Charlie (Lawrence Brownlee). IMAGES 7-8: Dizzy Gillespie (baritone Will Liverman) and Charlie (Lawrence Brownlee) reminisce about the bebop revolution that changed the world. IMAGES 9-10: Chan Parker (soprano Emily Pogorelc), Charlie’s third wife in the opera, meets Dizzy (baritone Will Liverman) and Charlie (tenor Lawrence Brownlee) at Birdland. IMAGE 11: Dizzy Gillespie (baritone Will Liverman). IMAGE 12: Charlie Parker (tenor Lawrence Brownlee) IMAGE 13: Addie Parker (soprano Angela Brown) sings “My Boy.” IMAGE 14: The opera dramatizes Charlie’s (tenor Lawrence Brownlee, center) stay in the Camarillo mental hospital in California. IMAGES 15-16: Charlie (tenor Lawrence Brownlee) sings of his one true love, his saxophone. IMAGE 17: Addie (soprano Angela Brown) insists she will bury Charlie in Kansas City, not New York. IMAGE 18: Baroness Pannonica “Nica” de Koenigswarter (mezzo Tamara Mumford), in whose apartment Charlie died on March 12, 1955. IMAGE 19: The opera takes place in a ghostly version of the Birdland jazz club. CONTACTS For Opera Philadelphia: Frank Luzi 215.893.5902 [email protected] For Apollo Theater: Nina Flowers 212.531.5334 [email protected] .

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Voice Types in Opera
Voice Types in Opera In many of Central City Opera’s educational programs, we spend some time explaining the different voice types – and therefore character types – in opera. Usually in opera, a voice type (soprano, mezzo soprano, tenor, baritone, or bass) has as much to do with the SOUND as with the CHARACTER that the singer portrays. Composers will assign different voice types to characters so that there is a wide variety of vocal colors onstage to give the audience more information about the characters in the story. SOPRANO: “Sopranos get to be the heroine or the princess or the opera star.” – Eureka Street* “Sopranos always get to play the smart, sophisticated, sweet and supreme characters!” – The Great Opera Mix-up* A soprano is a woman’s voice type. There are many different kinds of sopranos within the general category: coloratura, lyric, and spinto are a few. Coloratura soprano: Diana Damrau as The Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute (Mozart): https://youtu.be/dpVV9jShEzU Lyric soprano: Mirella Freni as Mimi in La bohème (Puccini): https://youtu.be/yTagFD_pkNo Spinto soprano: Leontyne Price as Aida in Aida (Verdi): https://youtu.be/IaV6sqFUTQ4?t=1m10s MEZZO SOPRANO: “There are also mezzos with a lower, more exciting woman’s voice…We get to be magical or mythical characters and sometimes… we get to be boys.” – Eureka Street “Mezzos play magnificent, magical, mysterious, and miffed characters.” – The Great Opera Mix-up A mezzo soprano is a woman’s voice type. Just like with sopranos, there are different kinds of mezzo sopranos: coloratura, lyric, and dramatic.
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Pretty Yende
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