sign in sign up
<<
Home , Arthur Miller, Assassins (musical), A Little Night Music, Billy Elliot the Musical, Candide (operetta), David McVicar

SWEENEY TODD PRODUCTION TEAM BIOGRAPHY

RICK FISHER,

Rick Fisher (Lighting Designer) is an American lighting designer. Originally from , Mr. Fisher has spent most of his career in Great Britain where he has served as the Chairman of the British Association of Lighting Designers. He won the 2009 Tony Award for Best Lighting Design and Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design for : The Musical on , and he received the 2008 Helpmann Award for production of Billy Elliot. His Broadway credits also include Matthew Bourneʼs Swan Lake, Via Dolorosa, Some Americans Abroad, An Inspector Calls (Tony, Drama Desk awards) and Serious Money. Recent productions include A Heart of Darkness, Tsarina's Slippers, (); and (); (); (Washington, , Santa Fe); Betrothal in a Monastery (Glyndebourne, Valencia); , Albert Herring, The Last Savage, Wozzeck, , Radamisto, La Bohème, Daphne, Tea and Madame Mao (Santa Fe); The Fiery Angel and Turandot (Bolshoi); A Midsummer Nightʼs Dream (La Fenice); and La Bohème (); and The Little Prince (Houston, , San Francisco). Other awards include two Olivier Awards for Best Lighting.

SAN FRANCISCO OPERA Education Materials

SWEENEY TODD PRODUCTION TEAM BIOGRAPHY

JAMES LOWE, Conductor

James Lowe (Conductor) Making his debut in 2015, James Lowe conducts Sweeney Todd, which he recently led at . Other recent career highlights include Oklahoma! with Lyric Opera of ; Catanʼs and Floydʼs Of Mice and Men for Utah Opera; the world-premiere productions of Portmanʼs The Little Prince and Heggieʼs The End of the Affair at Houston Grand Opera, and , Le Nozze di Figaro, and Die Entführung aus dem Serail for that ; and Adamoʼs at Lyric Opera . Lowe received a Grammy nomination as director and conductor of , which received the 2011 Tony Award for “Best Revival of a Musical.” His other work as a and conductor on Broadway includes a new production of Les Misérables as well as starring Patti Lupone.

SAN FRANCISCO OPERA Education Materials SWEENEY TODD

SWEENEY TODD PRODUCTION TEAM BIOGRAPHY

LORENA RANDI, Choreographer

Lorena Randi (Choreographer) worked extensively as a dancer before establishing herself as a choreographer. After classical training, she graduated from the Contemporary School in contemporary dance and choreography. In her formative years she danced with the Michael Clark Company (1998-2006), with Mark Morris, Fabulous Beast Dance , Aletta Collins, Arthur Pita and Charles Linehan, as well as in many productions for theatre, opera, art, fashion and film. Her recent theatrical work includes the choreography for (2014), Sunday in the Park with George (2013) and Sweeney Todd (2011), all directed by at the Théâtre du Châtelet, , and for (2013) and The Importance of Being Earnest (2012) directed by Sam Brown for Opéra National de Lorraine.In 2009-10 she researched and developed a show with the artist, Martin Creed, Work no:1020 which was performed at the Edinburgh Festival, Sadlerʼs Wells, London and the Museum of , Chicago (2010-2012). Lorena began by choreographing music videos and collaborative ʻshortsʼ for Fashion and the Visual Arts. She then moved into choreography within the dance world, with two graduation pieces for London Contemporary Dance School (2007 and 2009). in a variety of , she collaborated in 2008 with photographer Nick Knight and Maison Margiela on a film for ʻshowstudioʼ. Lorena has also worked with the singer, Will Young, choreographing his live (TV and ) and his latest music video, and choreographed commercials for Addidas and EDF energy in 2012. Lorena often performs commissioned solo shows and ʻimprovised installationsʼ, most recently for ʻInternational Womenʼs Dayʼ at the Royal Academy of Art, London. Future Productions include: The Queen of Spades for English National Opera.

SAN FRANCISCO OPERA Education Materials SWEENEY TODD

SWEENEY TODD PRODUCTION TEAM BIOGRAPHY

IAN ROBERTSON, Chorus Director

Ian Robertson has been chorus director and conductor with San Francisco Opera since 1987, having prepared more than 300 productions for the Company. He was awarded the Olivier Messiaen Foundation Prize in 2003 for his artistic contribution to the preparation of the Companyʼs North American premiere of Saint François dʼAssise. Robertson made his San Francisco Opera debut with Lady of Mtsensk and has since led performances of , , , La Traviata, Don Carlo, Turandot, , and La Bohème. He has led the San Francisco Opera and Chorus in many concerts, including the Companyʼs recent Stern Grove appearance, and he has conducted Così fan tutte and La Périchole for San Francisco Opera Center and frequently led Merola Opera Programʼs Grand Finale concerts. Other North American opera credits include productions with Sarasota Opera, Edmonton Opera, and Philadelphiaʼs Curtis Opera Theatre. Before joining San Francisco Opera, Robertson was head of music and chorus director of , where he led numerous productions, including Il Barbiere di Siviglia, The Pearl Fishers, The Secret of Susanna, and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. The Scotland native trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and the University of ; he studied conducting under Sir Alexander Gibson. Robertson is currently the artistic director of the San Francisco Festival Chorale, which performed this summer at the Grand Teton Music Festival, and the San Francisco Boys Chorus. A 2009 trip with the San Francisco Boys Chorus took him to the inauguration of the President of the United States, and this summer he led performances with the Boys Chorus in St. Petersburg, and .

SAN FRANCISCO OPERA Education Materials SWEENEY TODD

SWEENEY TODD BIOGRAPHY , Composer/Lyricist

Stephen Sondheim (Composer and Lyricist), born March 22, 1930, is an American composer and lyricist known for more than a half-century of contributions to . Stephen Sondheim was born in 1930 and raised in . At of 10, he became friends with Jamie Hammerstein, son of lyricist and playwright Oscar Hammerstein II. Hammerstein became Sondheimʼs mentor, influencing him profoundly and developing his love of musical theatre. Sondheim graduated from in Williamstown, MA, where he began a lifetime of award winning, taking down the renowned Hutchinson Prize for Music Composition, following which he studied theory and composition with . Sondheim's creativity came into soon after departing from college when he wrote lyrics for such highly skilled as () and (Gypsy) within the two year span of 1957 to 1959. Soon thereafter, in 1962, came one of Sondheim's most notable successes, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, in which he created both the music and lyrics. Two years later, a virtually unending series of successful musicals featuring both music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, began their collective run extending well into the 1990s. Beginning in 1964 with , the list includes Company (1970), (1971, revised in London, 1987), (1973), (1974), Pacific (1976), Sweeney Todd (1979), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Into the Woods (1987), (1991), (1994) and (2008). Sondheim was also the lyricist for Do I Hear a Waltz (1965 with ) and wrote new lyrics for Candide (1974 with Leonard Bernstein). Broadway reviews featuring his include , Marry a Little, Youʼre Gonna Love Tomorrow and . In 1999, his first professional musical, (1954) finally had its New York premiere at Second Theatre. Sondheim also composed scores for the movies Stavisky and Reds and wrote songs for (1996) and (1990), one of which, "Sooner or Later" won the Academy Award in 1990 for Best . For television, he wrote songs for Evening , co- authored the film, and provided for the plays The Girls of Summer, Invitation to a March and Twigs. : Collected Lyrics (1954–1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes was published in 2010, a book authored by Sondheim containing lyrics, both published and unpublished, from his first musical Saturday Night (1954) to Merrily We Roll Along (1981). The companion book of lyrics, Look, I Made a Hat: Collected Lyrics (1981–2011) with Attendant Comments, Amplifications, Dogmas, Harangues, Digressions, Anecdotes and Miscellany, was published in 2011. Sondheim is the recipient of five (Best Score for a Musical) for Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Follies and Company. All these shows also won New York Drama Critics Circle Awards, as did and Sunday in the Park with George, the latter also receiving the for Drama in 1985, with music and lyrics by Sondheim and book by . Stephen Sondheim has served on the CounciI of the Dramatists Guild, the National Association of Playwrights, Composers and Lyricists, and served as its president from 1973 to 1981. In 1983, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and in 1990, he was appointed the first visiting professor of Contemporary Theater at Oxford University. In 1993, he was the recipient of the prestigious . To celebrate his 80th birthday, the former 's Theatre was renamed the Stephen on September 15, 2010.

Source: Wikipedia, ; http://www.songwritershalloffame.org

SAN FRANCISCO OPERA Education Materials SWEENEY TODD

SWEENEY TODD PRODUCTION TEAM BIOGRAPHY

PATRICK SUMMERS, Conductor

Patrick Summers (Conductor) Houston Grand Opera Artistic and Music Director and Principal Guest Conductor for San Francisco Opera, Patrick Summers has led a vast repertory for the Company, including ; Samson et Dalila; Iphigénie en Tauride; , Xerxes, Der Fliegende Holländer; the world premieres of André Previnʼs (1998), Jake Heggieʼs (2000), and Christopher Theofanidis and Donna Di Novelliʼs Heart of a Soldier (2011); the West Coast premiere of Heggieʼs Three Decembers (2008); and Heggieʼs Moby-Dick (2012). Summers has twice received Merola Opera Programʼs Otto Guth Award and was named its “Distinguished Alumnus” in 2001. The maestro has led an array of productions at the , including La Traviata, , Così fan tutte, , , Iphigénie en Tauride, as well as Madama Butterfly, Salome, and I Puritani, which were broadcast live in HD to movie theaters globally. Summers has also conducted at the worldʼs preeminent opera companies, including Barcelonaʼs Gran Teatre del , Opera, Bordeaux Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bregenz Festival, , Opera , , Los Angeles Opera, and the . Other world premieres include Previnʼs Brief Encounter at Houston Grand Opera and Paul Moravecʼs The Letter at the Santa Fe Opera. Summers has overseen many of Houston Grand Operaʼs important artistic advances, including the formation of the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra. During his tenure, he has supervised and conducted seven world premieres as well as many seminal opera works not previously mounted by the company. He conducts Le Nozze di Figaro in Summer 2015.

SAN FRANCISCO OPERA Education Materials SWEENEY TODD

SWEENEY TODD PRODUCTION TEAM BIOGRAPHY

LEE BLAKELY, Director

Lee Blakely (Director) was born in Yorkshire, and studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and at Glasgow University. He was awarded a 2007 Churchill Travelling Fellowship. Blakeley's highly acclaimed production of A Little Night Music, with , and , for the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, in 2010 was followed by the French première of Sweeney Todd (2011), Sunday in the Park with George (2013), Into the Woods andThe King and I (2014) all at the Châtelet. In Blakeley recently directed La Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein, The Pearl Fishers and Madama Butterfly at Santa Fe Opera; Orpheus and Euridice for ; in ; and Falstaff for Los Angeles Opera. Other credits include Il Turco en Italia for Angers Nantes Opera; Cosi fan Tutte at Londonʼs Royal College of Music; Into the Woods for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland; A Love for Three Oranges, A Night at the (nominated for the 2008 TMA “Achievement in Opera” Award) and for Scottish Opera; as well as in Wexford, Philadelphia, Antwerp and London. He also directed the musical Pat Kirkwood is Angry, which has been performed in the UK and The Brits off Broadway Festival in New York. Blakeley has been an associate director for , Covent Garden; Glyndebourne Festival Opera; and English National Opera; and has worked for Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Opera , the Royal Flemish Opera, Monte Carlo Opera, and in Lille, Trieste, and Tenerife. Future work includes Handel's at St Louis and Rigoletto for Santa Fe.

SAN FRANCISCO OPERA Education Materials SWEENEY TODD

SWEENEY TODD PRODUCTION TEAM BIOGRAPHY

TANYA MCCALLIN, Production Designer

Tanya McCallin (Production Designer) is a distinguished theatre and opera designer who works extensively in Europe, the USA and Australia. She has been associated with many important London theatre productions including premieres of works by , Pam Gems, , Chekhov, Sheridan and Shakespeare. After training at Central St Martins School in London, she became resident designer with a number of British regional repertory companies. This led to a close association with where her designs include Ancient Lights, Nancy Meckler´s production of Dusa, Fish, Stas and Vi, which was subsequently seen in the West End, Paris and New York, Abigail´s Party, also filmed for the BBC, and Dennis Potter´sSufficient Carbohydrate, which later transferred to the Albery Theatre. Since then her works have regularly been seen in the West End and include Bodies, Exchange, ´s translation ofUncle Vanya (directed by ) and Arthur Miller´s Ride Down Mount Morgan. She has designed many productions for the National Theatre, among them The Elephant Man, Who´s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and . She has also worked at the Royal Court (My Mother Said), Regent´s (, Richard III), The (Fool for Love) and Chichester Festival Theatre (The Recruiting Officer) with director James Kerr and Ancient Lights, directed by Ian Brown (Hampstead). ´s production of for the ENO was Tanya McCallin´s first major opera design, and is still in the repertoire; it has also been staged in . Recently she has collaborated with David McVicar, for whom she designed Le nozze di Figaro (Royal Opera, 2006), Macbeth for the (also seen in London, 2001, Washington DC, 2002, and the Metropolitan Opera, 2003), at the ENO (also Dallas, New Zealand and Houston Grand Opera), Les contes d´Hoffmann at the Salzburger Festspiele (and TV), the sets for at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, the for Così fan tutte (Opéra National du Rhin Strasbourg, Rigoletto at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden (also BBCTV and DVD), and at Scottish Opera (the last two productions have been revived).

SAN FRANCISCO OPERA Education Materials SWEENEY TODD