LEON WILSON CLARK SERIES

SHEPHERD SCHOOL OPERA and the SHEPHERD SCHOOL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

present

Georg Friedrich Händel

Richard Bado, conductor Edward Berkeley, stage director

Wortham Opera Theatre March 15 and 19, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. March 17, 2013 at 2:00 p.m.

Music by Georg Friedrich Händel (1685 – 1759) based on a work by Antonio Salvi (1664 – 1724) Edited for the Hallische Händel Edition by Donald Burrows

CAST (in order of vocal appearance) Ginevra, daughter of the King ...... Julia Dawson Dalinda, court lady of Ginevra ...... Rebecca Sørensen Polinesso, Duke of Albany ...... Calvin Griffin Ariodante, the vassal of the King ...... Allegra De Vita King of Scotland ...... Nicholas Brownlee Odoardo, favorite of the King ...... Frederick Ballentine Lurcanio, Ariodante’s brother ...... Rafael Moras

CHORUS Abigail Dock Yekaterina Gruzglina Rachel Sigman Joseph Eletto Stephanie Jordan Katherine Smith Cory Gross Teresa Procter Samuel Waters

SHEPHERD SCHOOL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA Larry Rachleff, Music Director

Continuo Violin II Bassoon Richard Bado, Meghan Nenniger, Rebecca Landell, Thomas Morrison principal principal Horn Chauncey Aceret Joseph Li, Jacqueline Kitzmiller John Turman Scott McCreary harpsichord Rachel Shepard Emily Nagel Rebecca Landell, Ioana Ionita Double cello Janny Joo David Connor Trumpet (onstage) Violin I Viola David Sedgwick Flute Sarah Arnold, Aaron Conitz, Aaron Perdue Orchestra Manager concertmaster principal Patrick Tsuji and Librarian Geoffrey Herd Daniel Wang Kaaren Fleisher Emily Nebel Yvonne Smith Rebecca Reale Wosool Cho Wei Wang Rieho Yu (March 17 & 19) Michelle Pan Leah Kovach (March 15)

The performance is two hours and fifty minutes in length, including two intermissions. ARTISTIC STAFF Conductor ...... Richard Bado Stage Director ...... Edward Berkeley Set Designer ...... Laura Fine Hawkes Lighting Designer ...... Kirk Markley Wig and Makeup Designer ...... Philip Plowman Fight Director ...... Leraldo Anzaldua Costumes supplied by Malabar Limited, Toronto Costume Supervisor ...... Barbara Dolney Musical Preparation ...... Joseph Li, Grant Loehnig, and Rachel Chao Italian Diction Coach ...... Corradina Caporello Surtitles ...... Cynthia Johnson and Shane Gasbarra

PRODUCTION STAFF Interim Technical Director ...... Thomas Boyd Stage Manager ...... Susan Li Master Electrician ...... Chris Lee Surtitle Operator ...... Kelley Kimball Assistant Stage Managers . . . . Arielle Carrara, Bridget Casey, Evan Kardon Followspot Operators ...... Cristina Curzon and Abigail Lindig Shepherd School Production Staff ...... Mandy Billings (Manager) Francis Schmidt and Brian Figat

SHEPHERD SCHOOL OPERA DEPARTMENT AND VOICE DEPARTMENT Richard Bado, Professor of Opera Studies and Director of the Opera Studies Program Stephen King, Professor of Voice and Chair of the Voice Department Jeffrey Bean, Dramatic Instructor Edward Berkeley, Stage Director, Ariodante Thomas Boyd, Interim Technical Director Corradina Caporello, Italian Diction Coach, Ariodante Rachel Chao, Staff Pianist Pat Diamond, Stage Director, Advanced Opera Studies Class Scenes Program Debra Dickinson, Artist Teacher of Opera Studies for Acting and Movement Barbara Dolney, Costume Supervisor Sara Draper, Movement Instructor Mary Duncan, Dramatic Coach Susan Lorette Dunn, Artist Teacher of Voice Thomas Jaber, Professor of Music, Director of Choral Activities and Vocal Coach Kathleen Kaun, Professor of Voice Cindy Knight, Stage Manager Kathryn LaBouff, English Diction Coach, Volpone Thomas Lausmann, German Diction Master Class Instructor Joseph Li, Artist Teacher of Opera Studies Susan Li, Stage Manager Grant Loehnig, Artist Teacher of Opera Studies Karen Reeves, Opera Program Administrator Panos Sotiriades, Tax Preparation Instructor Patrick Summers, Händel Ornamentation Master Class Instructor Diane Zola, Audition Techniques Master Class ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Used by arrangement with European American Music Distributors LLC, sole U.S. and Canadian agent for Bärenreiter, publisher and copyright owner. The synopsis and the surtitle translation used in this production are owned by Houston Grand Opera, Patrick Summers, Artistic and Music Director and Perryn Leech, Managing Director. Mr. Roger W. Bollinger (in memory of Rita C. Handly Bollinger ’38) The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts Mr. Richard Evans and Ms. Portela The Humphreys Foundation

SYNOPSIS SETTING: Scotland, in the times of Chivalry Ariodante, a foreign knight in search of adventure, has fallen in love with Ginevra, only child of the King of Scotland, and she with him. Polinesso, Duke of Albany, is ambitious for the throne and was courting Ginevra before Ariodante’s arrival. ACT I Ginevra talks to her lady-in-waiting Dalinda about her love for Ariodante and rejects Polinesso’s advances. When Dalinda, who is infatuated with Polinesso, tells him he can no longer hope for Ginevra, he resolves to use Dalinda’s blind devotion to further his ambition. Ariodante and Ginevra pledge their love, and the King announces to the court that he intends to bless the marriage and acknowledge Ariodante as his heir. Polinesso promises Dalinda that he will try to love her now that he has lost Ginevra, and they make an assignation for that night; he persuades her to help him by dressing and behaving like Ginevra when she comes to meet him. Dalinda dismisses the love of Lurcanio, Ariodante’s brother. The court celebrates the forthcoming marriage. ACT II Polinesso pretends to Ariodante that he has an assignation with Ginevra, and Ariodante watches, horrified, as a woman whom he believes to be Ginevra takes Polinesso into her apartments. Lurcanio, who has observed everything, stops his brother from committing suicide and advises him instead to seek revenge. Ariodante leaves in despair. Dalinda declares her love for Polinesso, who is delighted with the success of his treachery. The King has summoned the Council to establish Ariodante as his successor. All are stunned to hear that Ariodante has drowned himself; Ginevra faints at the news. Lurcanio demands satisfaction for the murder of his brother, saying that he was driven to kill himself by Ginevra’s shameless behaviour. The King rejects his daughter as unchaste, and her senses slip into a turmoil of grief. ACT III The news of Ariodante’s suicide was premature, however, and he has survived to rescue Dalinda from assassins set upon her by Polinesso. She now reveals how the Duke deceived her as well as Ariodante and they return to court to avenge Ginevra. Polinesso offers to fight Lurcanio on Ginevra’s behalf. She bids her father a tender farewell but refuses to accept Polinesso as her champion; however, the King insists. Lurcanio defeats Polinesso, who is carried off, mortally wounded. A mysterious knight then appears as a second defender of Ginevra, and all are amazed that it is Ariodante. The confessions of Dalinda and Polinesso bring the truth to light, and the King orders Ginevra’s immediate release. Lurcanio renews his entreaties to Dalinda. Ginevra is joyfully reunited with her love, and the court celebrates the triumph of love and virtue.

BIOGRAPHIES

A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, RICHARD BADO (conductor) made his professional conducting debut in 1989 leading Houston Grand Opera’s acclaimed production of Show Boat at the newly restored Cairo Opera House in Egypt. Since then, Mr. Bado has conducted at Teatro alla Scala, Opéra National de Paris, Houston Grand Opera, New York City Opera, the Aspen Music Festival, the Tulsa Opera, the Russian National Orchestra, the Florida Philharmonic, the Mon- treal Symphony, Wolf Trap Opera, Houston Ballet, and has conducted the Robert Wilson production of Virgil Thomson’s Four Saints in Three Acts at the Edinburgh Festival. This season Mr. Bado appears in concert with Renée Fleming, Susan Graham and Frederica von Stade. He has also accompanied Cecilia Bartoli, Denyce Graves, Marcello Giordani, Ramon Vargas, Samuel Ramey and Nathan Gunn. Mr. Bado, who holds music degrees from the Eastman School of Music, where he received the 2000 Alumni Achievement Award and West Virginia University, has studied advanced choral conducting with Robert Shaw. This season marks Mr. Bado’s 25th anniversary season as Chorus Master for the Houston Grand Opera. Mr. Bado is the Director of the Opera Studies Program at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. He has appeared on A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. He has been on the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival and School, the International Vocal School in Moscow, and has served on the music staff of the Metropolitan Opera, Seattle Opera, the Bol- shoi Opera Young Artist Program, Opera Australia, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Chautauqua Opera and Wolf Trap Opera. Mr. Bado regularly judges for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and served as Houston Grand Opera’s Head of Music Staff for 14 seasons.

EDWARD BERKELEY (Stage Director) is Director of the Aspen Opera Theater Center, on the faculty of The Juilliard School (as Director of Undergraduate Opera Studies) and teaches Shakespeare at Circle in the Square Theater School. He is artistic director of New York’s Willow Cabin Theater Company where he directed the Tony Award and Drama Desk-nominated Wilder, Wilder, Wilder and productions for which he received numerous awards. Mr. Berkeley’s New York Shakespeare Festival productions include Pericles and best revival winner The Tempest. He has directed the New York premieres of plays by Tennes- see Williams, Derek Walcott and Israel Horovitz. He directed Beatrice and Benedict at the New York Philharmonic and John Adams’s El Niño with the Atlanta Symphony and at Ravinia. Mr. Berkeley has also directed at the Library of Congress, William- stown Theater Festival, and the Old Globe Theater. As director of the Aspen Opera Theater Center, he has directed classics and new by Bright Sheng, Augusta Read Thomas, Michael Torke, Mark-Anthony Turnage, and Bernard Rands. In New York, Mr. Berkeley directed the premiere of Ned Rorem’s Our Town, Thomas Adès’ Powder Her Face and The Kaiser from Atlantis (which he also directed in Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, Spoleto, and at Ravinia). Mr. Berkeley was an acting consultant for the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artists Program, a judge for the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions and a returning guest faculty at Princeton, Williams, and a Dayton-Hudson and Benedict Distinguished Professor at Carleton Col- lege. He directed his own adaptation of Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the New York Philharmonic and Two Faces of Romeo and Juliet and Madama Butterfly (conducted by Richard Bado) for Houston Grand Opera, John Adams’ The Death of Klinghoffer and Monteverdi’s Poppea at Juilliard. Last season he directed The Shepherd School’s Romance X 3 and most recently his heralded adaptation of Shakespeare’s Pericles for 9 actors.

With a background in live theatrical entertainment, LAURA FINE HAWKES’ (Set Designer) work broadly encompasses design for theatre and opera, theme parks, museum exhibits, and television. This marks Ms. Fine Hawkes’ second design for Rice University. She designed the sets for Così fan tutte last season. As a guest designer, she works with academic institu- tions and young artist training programs across the Southwest. Highlights include San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, the Opera Institute at Cal-State University Long Beach, Cal-State Los Angeles, UCLA Opera, and Santa Fe University of Art and Design. Ms. Fine Hawkes has designed sets for HGOco, Center Theater Group, The Joyce Theatre, The Fountain Theatre, The Geffen Playhouse, The Matrix Theater, Catastrophic Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre LA, Circle X Theatre, The Road Theatre, Latino Theatre Company Los Angeles, NoHo Arts Ensemble, and a short film within Cirque du Soleil’s Iris production at the Kodak Theatre, among many others. She designed the Air Force One Discovery Center, a 2009 THEA award winning exhibit permanently housed in The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. Ms. Fine Hawkes has participated in develop- ment of multiple live shows with Thinkwell Design and Production in Burbank, CA for large-scale theatrical and theme park venues. Television Art Direction credits include programming for NBC/Bravo, Comedy Central, PBS, and FUEL. With a 2008 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, a 2008 Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Award Nomination, and a Backstage 2011 Garland Award for Best Set Design, she holds an MFA in Scenic Design from UCLA. This spring Ms. Fine Hawkes is guest faculty in scenic design at Santa Fe University of Art and Design.

KIRK MARKLEY (Lighting Designer) is Managing Director of The Catastrophic Theatre and designer of over 130 local productions. At Stages, Mr. Markley has done scenic design for The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead, Oh, the Humanity and other exclamations, Man From Nebraska, Southern Rapture, Taking , Mr. Marmalade, The Unseen, I Am My Own Wife, An American Brat, Searching for Eden, Silence, Late: A Cowboy Song and Orange Flower Water. At The Catastrophic Theatre he has designed Tamarie Cooper’s Doomsday Revue, Bluefinger, The Designated Mourner and The Splasher. He designed the Shepherd School Opera productions of the Prologue from Ariadne auf Naxos/Viva La Mamma, Savitri/Gianni Schicchi, , L’elisir d’amore, Street Scene, La finta gardiniera, La Calisto, Hansel and Gretel and The Turn of the Screw. As a lighting designer for Stages, Mr. Markley has designed Language Archive, Next To Normal, The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead, Southern Rapture, Taking Flight, Mr. Marmalade, Searching for Eden and Late: A Cowboy Song. His lighting designs for The Catastrophic Theatre include Fleaven, American Falls, The United States of Tamarie, Paradise Hotel, Our Late Night, Journey to the Center of My Brain in 3D, The Strangerer, The Tamarie Cooper Show and The Splasher. Mr. Markley received his BA from Rice University.

PHILIP PLOWMAN (Wig and Makeup Designer) holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Texas Wesleyan University and received his cosmetology degree from Ogle School of Hair Design. A Fort Worth native, Mr. Plowman has worked with many different opera and theatre companies across the country including Fort Worth Opera, Dallas Opera, Opera Carolina, San Antonio Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Opera Reno and Houston Grand Opera. He previously designed wigs and makeup for the Shepherd School of Music’s production of A Little Night Music. Mr. Plowman has also designed wigs for many musicals for regional theatre houses including Casa Mañana Theatre and Dallas Theatre Centre, as well as a brief stint traveling with the Broadway tour of Phantom of the Opera.

LERALDO ANZALDUA (Fight Director) is a Houston based actor, director & fight director. He is a Certified Teacher of Stage Combat with the Society of American Fight Directors. Mr. Anzaldua is currently working as a Fight Director for A Few Good Men with the Alley Theatre, Mauritius with Rice University’s Visual and Dramatic Arts Department and Brokeology with the Ensemble Theatre. Previous companies include Houston Grand Opera, Alley Theatre, Houston Shakespeare Festival, Theatre Under the Stars, Stages, Mildred’s Umbrella and Catastrophic Theatre. He has done voice-over work for video games and anime films. Internationally, Mr. Anzaldua has worked in Japan on a Sony Pictures film and in Sweden as a Motion Cap- ture Fight Director for video games. Mr. Anzaldua is an Adjunct Professor of Movement at the University of Houston School of Theatre & Dance and Lecturer of Stage Combat at Rice University. He received his Master of Fine Arts Degree in Acting from the University of Houston.

Second year master’s student FREDERICK BALLENTINE (Odoardo) is a native of Norfolk, Virginia. A graduate of the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, he is a winner of the school’s prestigious Corbett Competition. He was a member of Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist Vocal Academy and was recently a semi-finalist of HGO’s Elea- nor McCollum Competition. His roles include Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, the Forester in The Cunning Little Vixen, Slim in Of Mice and Men, Simone in Gianni Schicchi and the abbreviated roles of Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus and Schaunard in La bohème as a part of Rice University’s Romance X 3. A member of Wolf Trap’s Opera Studio Artist Program, Mr. Bal- lentine recently covered the role of Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress. This summer he will cover Lukas in Smetana’s The Kiss with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis and will also participate in the Aspen Music Festival and School. Mr. Ballen- tine is a student of Dr. Stephen King.

NICHOLAS BROWNLEE (The King of Scotland) a native of Mobile, Alabama, is a first year graduate student at Rice University. Mr. Brownlee received his Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from The University of South Ala- bama. His operatic roles include the title role in Gianni Schicchi with South Alabama Opera Theater, Angelotti in Tosca and the Mandarin in Turandot with Mobile Opera, and Prince Gremin in Eugene Onegin with the International Vocal Arts Institute (Tel Aviv, Israel). Mr. Brownlee was part of the inaugural Young Artist Vocal Academy with Houston Grand Opera; he also spent summers studying with I Sing Beijing and The International Vocal Arts Institute. In March of 2011, Mr. Brownlee was selected as a National Semi-Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He has per- formed in master classes with Mr. Thomas Hampson, Mr. Sherrill Milnes and Ms. Diana Soviero. Mr. Brownlee will spend this summer as a studio artist with Wolf Trap Opera’s Studio Program.

JULIA DAWSON (Ginevra), has been praised by the Los Angeles Times for her “shimmering sound” and was most recently heard at the Aspen Opera Theater Center as Johanna in Sweeney Todd. Previous roles include Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Bianca in La Rondine and Zerlina in Don Giovanni with the Music Academy of the West, Sesto in La clemenza di Tito, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, and Virtù in L’incoronazione di Poppea with Oberlin Conservatory, as well as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro with Oberlin-in-Italy. On the concert platform, Ms. Dawson has been a soloist in Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem with the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra, Handel’s with Masterworks Chorus of Houston, Brahms’ Liebeslieder Walzes with the Music Academy of the West, Mozart’s Requiem and Coronation Mass and Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Oberlin Orchestra, Beethoven’s Mass in C with the Northumberland Orchestra and Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium with the Toronto Bach Consort. This summer she will return to Aspen as Drusilla in L’incoronazione di Poppea. Ms. Dawson is a second year graduate student in the studio of Kathleen Kaun.

A native of Trumbull, Connecticut, mezzo-soprano ALLEGRA DE VITA (Ariodante) is a second year graduate student studying with Dr. Stephen King. This past fall she performed the role of Erminella in the Shepherd School’s production of Volpone. Last summer she was seen as Jordan Baker in Aspen Opera Theater Center’s production of The Great Gatsby. She has sung the role of Dorabella in the Shepherd School’s production of Così fan tutte. Ms. De Vita was part of the 2011 Wolf Trap Opera Studio Artist Program where she was the cover for Nicklausse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann. At Opera Theater of Connecticut she was seen as Flora in La Traviata, Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana and the Monitor in Suor An- gelica. She performed the roles of Ruggiero in with Hillhouse Opera and Romeo in I Capuleti e I Montecchi with Manhattan Chamber Opera. Ms. De Vita participated in the 2011 Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artists Vocal Academy. She was a part of Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Young Dramatic Voices. This summer she will return to Aspen as Nerone in L’incoronazione di Poppea.

CALVIN GRIFFIN (Polinesso), a native of Columbus, Ohio, is a second year graduate student in the studio of Dr. Ste- phen King, working towards his Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance at Rice University. Mr. Griffin received his undergraduate degree from Ohio State University where he performed the roles of Superintendent Budd in Albert Herring, Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro, and Gustavo in Faramondo. This past summer Mr. Griffin covered the role of Leporello in Don Giovanni with the Des Moines Metro Opera Studio program. Mr. Griffin made his Shepherd School debut as Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte in the fall of 2011 and this fall sang the title role in John Musto’s Volpone. This coming summer he will be performing the title role in Gianni Schicchi with the Aspen Opera Theater Center. Next month Mr. Griffin will per- form with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as a part of The Conservatory Project. Next year Mr. Griffin will be a member of the Arizona Opera Resident Artist Program.

RAFAEL MORAS, (Lurcanio) originally from San Antonio, Texas, is a second year graduate student at Rice University, studying with Dr. Stephen King. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Mr. Moras is a National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts Young ARTS winner, United States Presidential Scholar in the Arts, winner of the 51st annual New York Metropolitan Opera National Council Southwest Region Auditions, and was a finalist in the 25th Annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers with Houston Grand Opera this past February. Mr. Moras was a featured singer in the NFAA-sponsored HBO documentary Masterclass with Plácido Domingo, and was part of Houston Grand Opera’s 2011 Young Artists Vocal Academy. He has performed the roles of Ferrando in Così fan tutte, Roméo and Rodolfo in the Romance X 3, and Bonario in Volpone with the Shepherd School of Music. Mr. Moras sang the role of Tom Buchanan in the Aspen Opera Theater Center’s 2012 production of The Great Gatsby and will return this summer to sing Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi.

A Chicago native, soprano REBECCA SØRENSEN (Dalinda) is a second year master’s student at the Shepherd School of Music. This past fall she appeared as in John Musto’s Volpone. Last spring she performed the abbreviated role of Mimì in La bohème as a part of the Romance X 3. She recently appeared as Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance with Opera for the Young. Ms. Sørensen graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from DePaul University where she was seen as Adele in Die Fledermaus, Minerva in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria, Yum-Yum in The Mikado and Ninfa in Monteverdi’s L’O r fe o. Ms. Sørensen made her European debut at the Intermezzo Music Festival in Bruges, Belgium in the role of Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro. Ms. Sørensen is a student of Ms. Kathleen Kaun. UPCOMNG VOICE AND OPERA EVENTS

April 5, 2013 The Aleko Endowed Master Class Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano 2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Duncan Recital Hall at the Shepherd School

April 11, 2013 Opera Workshop Class presents Opera Scenes Grant Loehnig, conductor Debra Dickinson, stage director Performance at 5:30 p.m. Wortham Opera Theatre at the Shepherd School