Maria Callas in Concert
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MARIA CALLAS IN CONCERT SEPTEMBER 7, 2019 LYRIC OPERA HOUSE A BASE Hologram Production Photo: Copyright © 2018 by BASE Hologram LLC MARIA CALLAS IN CONCERT WITH MEMBERS OF THE LYRIC OPERA ORCHESTRA EÍMEAR NOONE, Conductor STEPHEN WADSWORTH, Director Through cutting-edge technology and extraordinary Program theatrical stagecraft created by Base Hologram, this first-of-its- kind live concert brings the incomparable Maria Callas back Gioachino Rossini La gazza ladra, Overture 42 years following her death, through state-of-the-art digital and laser projection for a live full concert experience featuring Charles Gounod Romeo and Juliet , Act One, original recordings digitally remastered. Ariette: “Je veux vivre” Callas left a lasting impact on the opera world as the Giuseppe Verdi Macbeth, Act One, Letter Scene: definition of the diva. This tour, directed by The Juilliard “Vieni t’affretta…Or tutti sorgete” School’s Stephen Wadsworth – one of America’s most celebrated opera directors – will allow audiences to experience the Georges Bizet Carmen: legendary emotional force that is Maria Callas. Prelude “The event appeals to generations of audiences who never Act One, Habanera: experienced Callas and who may know little about her beyond “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle” her reputation, as well as to opera lovers who are very familiar Act Three, Card Scene: with her work, her recordings, and her complex life story,” said “En vain pour éviter” Wadsworth. “We’ve had the opportunity to curate one of the Giuseppe Verdi Macbeth, Act Four, greatest artists of the 20th century, and we’ve done that with Sleepwalking Scene: great care – from her fantastically diverse repertoire to her “Una macchia è qui tutt’ora” revealing gestural language and her complicated relationship with her audience. We are all in different ways close to Callas’s Alfredo Catalani La Wally, Act One, influence, because her work had a huge impact on every artist Aria: “Ebben, ne andrò lontana” working in music, opera, acting, stage design, and fashion.” Warner Classics, the label of Maria Callas’s recorded Ambroise Thomas Hamlet, Act Four, Mad Scene: “À vos jeux, mes amis” legacy, has provided the sound recordings of the diva’s voice for this experience. Its recently released Callas: Live (42 CDs) Amilcare Ponchielli La Gioconda, Act Four: and Callas Remastered (complete studio recordings, 69 CDs), Prelude all remastered with the latest technology, have been hailed Monologue: as revelatory. In addition, to tie in with the start of the tour, “Suicidio!...Ecco il velen di Laura” Warner Classics has released Callas in Concert, which features Approximate Running Time the program of the show. 85 minutes. There will be no intermission. The label also launched the first official Maria Callas website, maria-callas.com, which has been conceived both to A BASE Hologram Production reflect Callas’s enduring status as a figure of major cultural Marty Tudor, Executive Producer importance and to encourage discovery of her life and her art. MARIA CALLAS enjoyed a EÍMEAR NOONE is a unique association with Lyric California-based, award-winning Opera of Chicago. The company’s Irish composer and conductor. PHOTO: STEVE HUMPHREYS PHOTO: official inauguration, Norma in She has conducted renowned November 1954, was also Callas’s ensembles such as the Royal American debut in the title role, Philharmonic, Pittsburgh followed by her triumphant title Symphony, Philadelphia role performances in La traviata Orchestra, Dallas Symphony and Lucia di Lammermoor. Orchestra, National Symphony During the 1955 season Orchestra, and Sydney Symphony she starred in I puritani, Il Orchestra. Noone has worked trovatore, and (in her only staged on scores for distinguished film performances of the work) Madama Butterfly. directors Gus Van Sant and Joe Dante, orchestrating for Oscar Born in 1923 to Greek parents in New York, Maria Callas nominee Javier Navarrette. Noone also consults on Amazon’s (née Kalogeropoulou) lived there before moving with her Mozart in the Jungle as coach to female lead Lola Kirke. She mother and sister to Athens in 1936. After several years of vocal has performed sold-out shows at The Mann Center, Wolf Trap study with retired Italian soprano Elvira de Hidalgo, she began and Beijing’s Olympic Stadium. Noone also conducted the performing with the Greek National Opera, most prominently Los Angeles Ballet’s inaugural production of The Nutcracker. as Tosca and Leonore/Fidelio. One of the world’s premier conductors of game scores, in 2016 Callas returned to America in 1945 and was set to star she led her own program, Video Games Classic, with the RTÉ in a new opera company to be launched in Chicago, but the National Symphony Orchestra. Noone has conducted for artists organization collapsed. Fortunately, she was recommended to such as Gladys Knight and electronic dance music producer veteran Italian tenor Giovanni Zenatello, who presented her BT at Miami Music Week, and has shared the stage with Pierce Italian debut in the title role/La Gioconda in 1947 at the Verona Brosnan and Roma Downey in her own production, This Is Arena. Her success led to engagements for dramatic-soprano Ireland. As a primary conductor for Video Games Live, Guinness and dramatic-coloratura repertoire throughout Italy. In 1949, World Record s’ longest-running orchestral touring show, Noone while appearing at Venice’s Teatro La Fenice as Brünnhilde/ has conducted in China, Brazil, Canada, Qatar, Europe, Mexico, Die Walküre, she was asked to learn the light, florid role of and Malaysia. Elvira/I puritani in a week, taking over for an ill colleague. Her performances in the role were an immense personal triumph. STEPHEN WADSWORTH The Venice success launched Callas’s rise to international is The Juilliard School’s James prominence, including appearances in Mexico City and Buenos S. Marcus Faculty Fellow and Aires. In 1951 she made her official La Scala debut as Elena/ director of the Artist Diploma I vespri siciliani, subsequently starring with that company over in Opera Studies program. He is the next decade in a diverse repertoire. Two years after her Lyric head of dramatic studies for the debut, she debuted at the Metropolitan Opera as Norma, later Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann appearing there as Tosca, Violetta, and Lucia. Closely associated Young Artist Development with Dallas Civic Opera (now Dallas Opera) and London’s Program. Wadsworth has directed Covent Garden, she was also heard in Vienna, Berlin, Cologne, at the Met, La Scala, Covent and Edinburgh, as well as in concerts in prestigious American Garden, Vienna State Opera, and European venues. She documented her artistry extensively Netherlands Opera, Edinburgh on disc, including numerous aria recitals and complete Festival, San Francisco Opera, and many other companies, and performances of all her signature roles, as well as several operas plays on and off Broadway, in London’s West End, and in U. S. she never sang onstage. regional theater. He wrote A Quiet Place with Leonard Bernstein Callas sang in opera for the last time in London in 1965, as and is the author of Marivaux: Three Plays and the forthcoming Tosca. She then settled in Paris and essentially retired, although Molière/Wadsworth: Don Juan. He recently translated and she acted in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Medea film, made some aria directed the first two Beaumarchais Figaro plays, Le Barbier de recordings, co-directed I vespri siciliani in Turin, and taught Séville and Le Mariage de Figaro. He was named Chevalier de a series of master classes at Juilliard. In 1973 and 1974 she l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government and is toured internationally in recital with tenor Giuseppe di Stefano. Creative Advisor for the Sundance Institute Theatre Program. She died at age 53 in Paris in 1977. Violin I Oboe Orchestra Robert Hanford, Judith Kulb, Principal Concertmaster Anne Bach The Mrs. R. Robert Funderburg English Horn Endowed Chair Anne Bach Sharon Polifrone Alexander Belavsky Clarinet Kathleen Brauer Susan Warner, Principal Pauli Ewing Andrea DiOrio Laura Miller Heather Wittels Bassoon Bing Jing Yu Preman Tilson, Principal Lewis Kirk Violin II Yin Shen, Principal Horn John Macfarlane Jonathan Boen, Principal Teresa Kay Fream Neil Kimel Ann Palen Robert Johnson Irene Radetzky Samuel Hamzem David Volfe Trumpet Viola William Denson, Principal Carol Cook, Principal Channing Philbrick Frank W. Babbitt Patrick Brennan Trombone Karl Davies Jeremy Moeller, Principal Melissa Trier Kirk Reed Capshaw Aurelien Pederzoli-Fort Mark Fry Cello Tuba Paul Dwyer, Principal Joshua Wirt Mark Brandfonbrener William H. Cernota Timpani Walter Preucil Edward Harrison, Principal Sonia Mantell Percussion Bass Michael Green, Principal Collins R. Trier, Principal Eric Millstein Gregory Sarchet Joel Cohen Flute Harp Dionne Jackson, Principal Lauren Hayes, Principal Alyce Johnson Personnel Manager Piccolo Christine Janicki Alyce Johnson.