Silent Night PRESS KIT PRESENTS Silent Night
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
PUTS AND CAMPBELL'S Silent Night PRESS KIT PRESENTS Silent Night Opera in two acts Music by Kevin Puts Libretto by Mark Campbell First performed November 12, 2011 at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, St. Paul, Minnesota. Sung in English, German, French, Italian and Latin with English supertitles. Supported, in part, by grants from the San José Office of Cultural Affairs, the Carol Franc Buck Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc., and the Farrington Historical Foundation, Inc. PRESS CONTACT Bryan Ferraro Communications Manager Office (408) 437-2229 Mobile (408) 316-2008 [email protected] operasj.org For additional information go to https://www.operasj.org/about-us/press-room/ CAST ARTISTIC TEAM IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE CONDUCTOR ASSISTANT STAGE DIRECTOR Joseph Marcheso Jimmy Marcheso ANNA SØRENSEN Robert Mollicone 2/24, 2/26 PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER Julie Adams STAGE DIRECTOR Andrew G. Landis NIKOLAUS SPRINK Michael Shell CHORUS MASTER Kirk Dougherty FIGHT DIRECTOR Andrew Whitfield GERMAN OFFICER Kit Wilder MUSIC STAFF Kirk Eichelberger SET AND PROJECTION DESIGN Veronika Agranov-Dafoe JONATHAN DALE Steven Kemp Victoria Lington Mason Gates COSTUME DESIGN SUPERTITLE CUEING FATHER PALMER Melissa Nicole Torchia Victoria Lington Colin Ramsey COSTUME DIRECTOR WILLIAM DALE Alyssa Oania Branch Fields LIGHTING DESIGN MADELEINE AUDEBERT Pamila Z. Gray Ksenia Popova SOUND DESIGN LT. AUDEBERT Tom Johnson Ricardo Rivera WIG AND MAKEUP DESIGN PONCHEL Christina Martin Brian James Myer PROPERTIES MASTER LT. GORDON Lori Scheper-Kesel Matthew Hanscom TECHNICAL DIRECTOR LT. HORSTMAYER John Draginoff Kyle Albertson FRENCH GENERAL Nathan Stark KRONPRINZ Christopher Bengochea BRITISH MAJOR Vitali Rozynko 4 Opera San José Silent Night Press Kit 5 ORCHESTRA SYNOPSIS 1ST VIOLIN EB CLARINET/BASS CLARINET Prologue Cynthia Baehr, Concertmaster Mara Plotkin Alice Talbot, Asst. Concertmaster LATE SUMMER, 1914 BASSOON Matthew Szemela War is declared. At a Berlin opera house, the announcement disrupts Deborah Kramer, Principal Valerie Tisdel the careers and personal lives of international opera singers Anna Carolyn Lockhart Chinh Le Sørensen and Nikolaus Sprink. In a small church in Scotland, it inspires Virginia Smedberg CONTRABASSOON dreams of heroism in William who demands that his younger brother Debra Fong Carolyn Lockhart Jonathan enlist with him, as their priest, Father Palmer, looks helpless- Daniel Flanagan ly on. In the Audebert’s Paris apartment, Madeleine protests that her FRENCH HORN husband is leaving while she is pregnant with their first child. Amid the 2ND VIOLIN Meredith Brown, Principal fervor of nationalistic songs, men prepare to go to war. Claudia Bloom, Principal Alex Rosenfeld Sally Dalke, Asst. Principal Eric Achen Act I Sue-Mi Shin Caitlyn Smith SCENE I: DECEMBER 23, LATE AFTERNOON IN AND AROUND A BATTLEFIELD Elizabeth Corner TRUMPET IN BELGIUM, NEAR THE FRENCH BORDER Sergi Goldman-Hull William B. Harvey, Principal Battle is engaged between German, French, and Scottish forces. An Carol Kutsch John Freeman attempt to infiltrate the German bunker by French and Scottish soldiers VIOLA Owen Miyoshi fails miserably. In the heat of battle, Nikolaus stabs a man to death then Chad Kaltinger, Principal TROMBONE despairs at the growing violence. William is shot, and his brother Jona- Janet Doughty, Asst. Principal Donald Benham, Principal than is forced to leave him behind. Melinda Rayne Thomas Hornig SCENE II: DECEMBER 23, EVENING Robert Seitz BASS TROMBONE After the battle, Lieutenant Gordon assesses the Scottish casualties CELLO Christian Behrens and Father Palmer attempts to offer solace to Jonathan. In his make- Lucinda Breed Lenicheck, Principal shift office in the French bunker, Lieutenant Audebert discovers his Paul Hale, Asst. Principal TIMPANI father, a French general, waiting. He reprimands Aduebert for the re- Michael Graham Arthur Storch, Principal treat, and threatens him with a transfer. The general leaves and Aude- Nancy Kim PERCUSSION bert laments the loss of his wife’s photograph. When alone, Audebert BASS Mark Veregge, Principal counts the French casualties. Missing Madeleine and wanting to see Andrew Butler, Principal James Kassis their child, he sings of needing sleep, a sentiment echoed by all the William Everett, Asst. Principal Stan Muncy soldiers. As it starts to snow, the soldiers slowly fall asleep. Alone in the German bunker, Nikolaus reveals his despair over war to an imagined FLUTE/PICCOLO KEYBOARD Anna. Mary Hargrove, Principal Veronika Agranov-Dafoe Leslie Chin SCENE III: DECEMBER 24, MORNING BAGPIPE In the German bunker, crates of Christmas fare arrive along with little OBOE Lettie Smith Christmas trees from the Kronprinz. Lieutenant Horstmayer criticizes Patricia Mitchell, Principal HARMONICA the Kronprinz for not sending them more useful presents, like ammuni- Pamela Hakl Isaiah Musik-Ayala tion and reinforcements. He receives a directive from headquarters that ENGLISH HORN Nikolaus is ordered to sing for the Kronprinz at a nearby chalet, where ORCHESTRA MANAGER he will join another opera star, Anna Sørensen. Nikolaus departs for the Pamela Hakl Mark Veregge chalet. The French soldiers receive crates of wine, bread, and choco- CLARINET lates from the quartermaster, and open them jubilantly. Aide-de-camp Mark Brandenburg, Principal Mara Plotkin 6 Opera San José Silent Night Press Kit 7 SYNOPSIS Ponchel, a barber by trade, brings coffee to Audebert and sits him Act II down for a haircut. Ponchel recalls having coffee every morning with SCENE I: DECEMBER 25, DAWN his mother, who lives only an hour away by foot. He carries an alarm clock next to his heart (which shielded him from a bullet in the last bat- At sunrise, Jonathan tries to bury his brother, but the truce is over. Two tle) that rings at ten o’clock each morning to remind him of their daily German sentries believe he is planting mines, and prepare to shoot him. breakfast. In the Scottish bunker, crates of whiskey arrive from home Father Palmer and Lieutenant Gordon intervene. Horstmayer suggests and Jonathan writes a letter to his mother, not mentioning his brother’s that it might be best if they bury all of their dead. The three lieutenants death. meet and decide over coffee that the truce will be extended until after this is accomplished. SCENE IV: DECEMBER 24, EARLY EVENING SCENE II: DECEMBER 25, LATE MORNING, EARLY AFTERNOON At the chalet, Anna and Nikolaus perform for the Kronprinz. Follow- ing the performance, they steal a few moments alone together. Anna The soldiers gather their fallen and Father Palmer delivers last rites. A notices the cruel effect war has had on her lover. She has arranged for procession bears the bodies away. Anna looks on and vows that Nico- Nikolaus to spend the night with her and is angry when he tells her that laus will not suffer the same fate. he must return to his fellow soldiers. She vows to accompany him back SCENE III: DECEMBER 25, ALL DAY to the battlefield. News of this unofficial ceasefire has reached headquarters for all three SCENE V: DECEMBER 24, NIGHT armies. The British Major, the Kronprinz, and the French General all In the French bunker, Gueusselin volunteers to infiltrate the German react in anger and disbelief. They declare that these soldiers will be bunker, and with several grenades, begins his cross of no man’s land. punished for fraternizing with the enemy. The Scottish soldiers drink whiskey and play a bagpipe sent by anoth- SCENE IV: DECEMBER 25, EVENING er unit. Father Palmer sings a ballad about the nearness of home, and Lieutenant Horstmayer prepares to resume hostilities and Nikolaus be- when men in other bunkers hear it, they react with sadness, caution, rates him for his blind allegiance to the Fatherland and Horstmayer tells and annoyance. Nikolaus returns; his fellow soldiers greet him with him he is under arrest for insubordination. Anna takes Nikolaus firmly cheers and applause and gasp in amazement when they see Anna. by the hand and leads him across no man’s land and Horstmayer orders When the song in the Scottish bunker is finished, Nikolaus responds his men to shoot, but no one moves. Reaching the French bunker, Niko- with a rousing Christmas carol. When the bagpiper joins in, Nikolaus laus asks for asylum for himself and Anna. is emboldened to stand atop the bunker, raising a Christmas tree as a gesture of friendship. Nikolaus bravely walks into the center of no SCENE V: DECEMBER 25, LATE MORNING man’s land. Eventually, raising white flags, the three lieutenants meet The British Major reproaches the Scottish soldiers for participating and agree to an unofficial ceasefire, only for Christmas Eve. All the in an unofficial truce. They are to be transferred to areas on the front soldiers, slowly and cautiously, move from their trenches and meet in where fighting is fiercest. When the major sees a German soldier ap- no man’s land. They share their Christmas provisions, introduce them- proaching from the battlefield, he orders him shot. Jonathan complies. selves, and show one another photos. Anna appears and all the soldiers It is Ponchel, who is discovered by Audebert who runs to him. are awed by a woman at the front. Father Palmer sets up a makeshift Lieutenant Audebert returns to his small office where he finds his altar and celebrates mass, but Jonathan searches for his brother’s body father waiting. The General tells Audebert that his unit has been dis- and vows revenge. Father Palmer concludes mass and urges the men banded and he will be transferred to the fortress at Verdun. Audebert to “go in peace” as bombs explode in the distance. informs his father that he has an infant grandson, Henri. The Kronprinz informs the German soldiers that they are to be de- ployed to the Eastern Front. As the soldiers leave, they hum the Scot- Intermission (20 minutes) tish ballad that they heard in the bunker on Christmas Eve.