BASIL TWIST. 2021 Webbiodocx

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

BASIL TWIST. 2021 Webbiodocx BASIL TWIST Director, Scenographer, Puppetry A native of San Francisco, Basil Twist is a third-generation puppeteer. He is the sole American to graduate from the École Supérieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette in Charleville-Mezieres, France. Basil’s showmanship was spotlighted in New York by The Jim Henson International Festival of Puppetry with his award winning “The Araneidae Show.” This recognition coupled with the ground-breaking and multiple award-winning “Symphonie FantastiQue,” Twist was revealed as a singular artist of unlimited imagination. Highlights of subseQuent work have included “Petrushka” (commissioned by Lincoln Center) and “Dogugaeshi” (The Japan Society), "Behind the Lid" (Silver Whale Gallery) with the late Lee Nagrin and “Arias with a Twist,” co-created with nightlife icon Joey Arias. “Symphonie” and these productions have now toured throughout the world. In 2012 a cohort of Washington D.C. presenters hosted a retrospective of his work, featuring four productions and an exhibition. His site-specific commission "Seafoam Sleepwalk" for the WOW Festival at the La Jolla Playhouse was a festival favorite. "Rite of Spring" was commissioned by Carolina Performing Arts & made its world premiere at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2013, appearing also at Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival. “Sisters Follies” was created for Abrons Arts Center’s 100th Anniversary in 2015 Deeply musical in nature, Mr. Twist thrives in the world of Opera. He just created a new Titon et l’Aurore with Les Arts Florissants at the Opera ComiQue in Paris. He recently collaborated with Phelim McDermott on “Aida” at English National Opera, Geneva Opera House and Houston Grand Opera, with Dick Bird on “Otello” premiering at Vienna’s WIENER STAATSOPER. A new production of Ottorini Respighi’s “La Bella Dormente Nel Bosco” was created with the Gotham Chamber Opera for Lincoln Center Festival and Spoleto USA Festivals, Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel” for the Houston, Atlanta and Michigan Operas. De Falla’s "Master Peters Puppet Show" was commissioned by Eos Orchestra and performed with The Los Angeles Philharmonic. Twist is a freQuent collaborator with the late Lee Breuer/Mabou Mines. From “Peter and Wendy” to “Red Beads” to his debut at The Comedie Francaise as production designer and co-director with the Breuer for "A Streetcar named Desire." In dance most recently, he created the sets and puppetry for the world premiere of “Dorothy and The Prince of Oz” for The Tulsa Ballet and collaborated on a new “Nutcracker” with Christopher Wheeldon for The Joffrey Ballet. Previously with Mr. Wheeldon, Twist designed puppetry for "Cinderella" at the Dutch National Ballet & San Francisco Ballet, and "A Winter's Tale" for the Royal Ballet. He premiered “Darkness and Light” with Pilobolus and created the title role in “Wonderboy” with The Joe Goode Dance Company. He adapted his “Petrushka” to concert hall staging with full orchestra for the Fort Worth & Phoenix Symphony. This staging of “Petrushka” also made a spotlight appearance at City Center’s “Fall for Dance” Twist created the unforgettable siblings in Paula Vogel's play “The Long Christmas Ride Home” at Trinity Repertory, The Long Wharf and The Vineyard Theatre (including directing and designing the West Coast Premiere at The Magic Theatre), the play within the play for Oskar Eustis’ “Hamlet” at Shakespeare in the Park and Des Macunuff's "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" at the La Jolla Playhouse. Broadway credits include puppetry design for “Charlie and The Chocolate Factory”, “Oh, Hello!”, “The Addams Family”, and puppetry direction for the beloved "Pee-Wee Herman Show”. Teaching at leading Universities such as Princeton, Stanford, Duke, New York University Rhode Island School of Design and Brown has been a source of pride. Twist was as a guest lecturer for the U.S. State Dept traveling throughout Russia. His work has received an Obie, Drama Desk Awards, UNIMA Awards, Bessie Awards, a New York Innovative Theatre Award, and a Henry Hewes Award. He has been honored with a MacArthur, the “Rome Prize” from The American Academy in Rome, a Guggenheim Fellowship, USA Fellowship, a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award and his productions have received numerous grants from the Jim Henson Foundation. Twist guides the internationally recognized Dream Music Puppetry Program at HERE in NYC. .
Recommended publications
  • Ground-Breaking Opera for Babies Comes to Glasgow
    PRESS RELEASE 26 September 2017 GROUND-BREAKING OPERA FOR BABIES COMES TO GLASGOW This autumn audiences in Glasgow have the chance to see the Scottish Opera’s hugely successful BambinO, a pioneering and unique piece of music theatre for infants aged 6 to 18 months. Following its premiere at Manchester International Festival in July and a sell out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, BambinO comes to Scottish Opera’s Production Studios in October and November. Written by former Scottish Opera Composer in Residence Lliam Paterson and directed by Improbable’s critically-acclaimed Phelim McDermott, BambinO is a celebration of the possibilities of music and the power of the infant imagination. The show reinvents operatic language and traditions for children at an age when their minds are wide open to new sounds, images and experiences. Babies are free to explore during the performance, and to interact with the singers, musicians and each other. Director, Phelim McDermott, said: ‘It is inspiring to create a new opera for what is possibly the most discerning – and important – audience there is. We all know that babies respond to music and we want to nurture and stimulate that relationship through their very first opera.’ Composer Lliam Paterson, continued: ‘BambinO will bring an operatic experience to a little audience with ears open to discovering new sounds. It is so exciting to create a colourful and vibrant work that can engage both babies and adults fully, while conveying the drama and passion of opera. The opportunity for me to work with as imaginative a director as Phelim McDermott is fantastic and truly inspiring.
    [Show full text]
  • 11-15-2019 Akhnaten.Indd
    PHILIP GLASS akhnaten conductor Opera in three acts Karen Kamensek Libretto by Philip Glass in association with production Phelim McDermott Shalom Goldman, Robert Israel, Richard Riddell, and Jerome Robbins set and projection designer Tom Pye Vocal text drawn from original sources by costume designer Kevin Pollard Shalom Goldman lighting designer Friday, November 15, 2019 Bruno Poet 8:00–11:35 PM choreographer Sean Gandini New Production The production of Akhnaten was made possible by a generous gift from the Rosalie J. Coe Weir Endowment Fund and the Wyncote Foundation, as recommended by Frederick R. Haas and Rafael Gomez Additional funding of this production was provided by The H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang, Ph.D. and Oscar Tang Endowment Fund, Dominique Laffont, Andrew J. Martin-Weber, The Walter and Leonore Annenberg Endowment Fund, American Express, general manager and the National Endowment for the Arts Peter Gelb jeanette lerman-neubauer This production was originally created by English music director National Opera and LA Opera Yannick Nézet-Séguin In collaboration with Improbable 2019–20 SEASON The third Metropolitan Opera performance of PHILIP GLASS‘S akhnaten conductor Karen Kamensek in order of vocal appearance amenhotep iii ankhesenpaaten Zachary James Annie Rosen neferneferuaten aye, nefertiti’s father Olivia Vote Richard Bernstein sotopenre Suzanne Hendrix high priest of amon Aaron Blake a professor Zachary James gener al horemhab Will Liverman young tutankhamun akhnaten Oscar Rempe-Hiam Anthony Roth Costanzo queen t ye, skill s ensemble akhnaten’s mother Sean Gandini Dísella Lárusdóttir Kelsey Strauch Sean Blue nefertiti, akhnaten’s wife Doreen Grossmann J’Nai Bridges Liza van Brakel Iñaki Fernández Sastre akhnaten’s daughters Michael Karas bekhetaten Lindsay Ohse Kim Huynh Shane Miclon meretaten Karen Chia-Ling Ho Kati Ylä-Hokkala Christian Kloc maketaten Chrystal E.
    [Show full text]
  • Season Premiere of Tosca Glitters
    2019–20 Season Repertory and Casting Casting as of November 12, 2019 *Met debut The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess By George Gershwin, DuBose and Dorothy Heyward, and Ira Gershwin New Production Sep 23, 27, 30, Oct 5mat, 10, 13mat, 16, Jan 8, 11, 15, 18, 24, 28, Feb 1mat Conductor: David Robertson Bess: Angel Blue/Elizabeth Llewellyn* Clara: Golda Schultz/Janai Brugger Serena: Latonia Moore Maria: Denyce Graves Sportin’ Life: Frederick Ballentine* Porgy: Eric Owens/Kevin Short Crown: Alfred Walker Jake: Ryan Speedo Green/Donovan Singletary Production: James Robinson* Set Designer: Michael Yeargan Costume Designer: Catherine Zuber Lighting Designer: Donald Holder Projection Designer: Luke Halls The worldwide copyrights in the works of George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin for this presentation are licensed by the Gershwin family. GERSHWIN is a registered trademark of Gershwin Enterprises. Porgy and Bess is a registered trademark of Porgy and Bess Enterprises. A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera; Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam; and English National Opera Production a gift of The Sybil B. Harrington Endowment Fund Additional funding from Douglas Dockery Thomas Manon Jules Massenet Sep 24, 28mat, Oct 2, 5, 19, 22, 26mat ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ PRESS DEPARTMENT The Metropolitan Opera Press: 212.870.7457 [email protected] 30 Lincoln Center Plaza General: 212.799.3100 metopera.org New York, NY 10023 Fax: 212.870.7606 Conductor: Maurizio Benini Manon: Lisette Oropesa Chevalier des Grieux: Michael Fabiano Guillot de Morfontaine: Carlo Bosi Lescaut: Artur Ruciński de Brétigny: Brett Polegato* Comte des Grieux: Kwangchul Youn Production: Laurent Pelly Set Designer: Chantal Thomas Costume Designer: Laurent Pelly Lighting Designer: Joël Adam Choreographer: Lionel Hoche Associate Director: Christian Räth A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London; Teatro alla Scala, Milan; and Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse Production a gift of The Sybil B.
    [Show full text]
  • GULDEN-DISSERTATION-2021.Pdf (2.359Mb)
    A Stage Full of Trees and Sky: Analyzing Representations of Nature on the New York Stage, 1905 – 2012 by Leslie S. Gulden, M.F.A. A Dissertation In Fine Arts Major in Theatre, Minor in English Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved Dr. Dorothy Chansky Chair of Committee Dr. Sarah Johnson Andrea Bilkey Dr. Jorgelina Orfila Dr. Michael Borshuk Mark Sheridan Dean of the Graduate School May, 2021 Copyright 2021, Leslie S. Gulden Texas Tech University, Leslie S. Gulden, May 2021 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I owe a debt of gratitude to my Dissertation Committee Chair and mentor, Dr. Dorothy Chansky, whose encouragement, guidance, and support has been invaluable. I would also like to thank all my Dissertation Committee Members: Dr. Sarah Johnson, Andrea Bilkey, Dr. Jorgelina Orfila, and Dr. Michael Borshuk. This dissertation would not have been possible without the cheerleading and assistance of my colleague at York College of PA, Kim Fahle Peck, who served as an early draft reader and advisor. I wish to acknowledge the love and support of my partner, Wesley Hannon, who encouraged me at every step in the process. I would like to dedicate this dissertation in loving memory of my mother, Evelyn Novinger Gulden, whose last Christmas gift to me of a massive dictionary has been a constant reminder that she helped me start this journey and was my angel at every step along the way. Texas Tech University, Leslie S. Gulden, May 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………………ii ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………..………………...iv LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………..v I.
    [Show full text]
  • Spoleto Festival Usa Program History 2016 – 1977
    SPOLETO FESTIVAL USA PROGRAM HISTORY 2016 – 1977 Spoleto Festival USA Program History Page 2 2016 Opera Porgy and Bess; created by George Gershwin, DuBose and Dorothy Heyward, and Ira Gershwin; conductor, Stefan Asbury; director, David Herskovits; visual designer, Jonathan Green; lighting designer, Lenore Doxsee; wig and makeup designer, Ruth Mitchell; set designer, Carolyn Mraz; costume designer, Annie Simon; fight director, Brad Lemons; Cast: Alyson Cambridge, Lisa Daltirus, Eric Greene, Courtney Johnson, Lester Lynch, Sidney Outlaw, Victor Ryan Robertson, Indra Thomas; Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra, Johnson C. Smith University Concert Choir; Charleston Gaillard Center *La Double Coquette; music by Antoine Dauvergne with additions by Gérard Pesson; libretto by Charles-Simon Favart with additions by Pierre Alferi; director, Fanny de Chaillé; costume designer, Annette Messager; costume realization, Sonia de Sousa; lighting designer, Gilles Gentner; lighting realization, Cyrille Siffer; technical stage coordination, Francois Couderd; Cast: Robert Getchell, Isabelle Poulenard, Mailys de Villoutreys; Dock Street Theatre *The Little Match Girl; music and libretto by Helmut Lachenmann; conductor, John Kennedy; co-directors, Mark Down and Phelim McDermott; costume designer, Kate Fry; lighting designer, James F. Ingalls; set designer, Matt Saunders; puppet co-designers, Fiona Clift, Mark Down, Ruth Patton; Cast: Heather Buck, Yuko Kakuta, Adam Klein; Soloists: Chen Bo, Stephen Drury, Renate Rohlfing, Memminger Auditorium Dance Bill T. Jones/Arnie
    [Show full text]
  • Echoes of the Avant-Garde in American Minimalist Opera
    ECHOES OF THE AVANT-GARDE IN AMERICAN MINIMALIST OPERA Ryan Scott Ebright A dissertation submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Music. Chapel Hill 2014 Approved by: Mark Katz Tim Carter Brigid Cohen Annegret Fauser Philip Rupprecht © 2014 Ryan Scott Ebright ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Ryan Scott Ebright: Echoes of the Avant-garde in American Minimalist Opera (Under the direction of Mark Katz) The closing decades of the twentieth century witnessed a resurgence of American opera, led in large part by the popular and critical success of minimalism. Based on repetitive musical structures, minimalism emerged out of the fervid artistic intermingling of mid twentieth- century American avant-garde communities, where music, film, dance, theater, technology, and the visual arts converged. Within opera, minimalism has been transformational, bringing a new, accessible musical language and an avant-garde aesthetic of experimentation and politicization. Thus, minimalism’s influence invites a reappraisal of how opera has been and continues to be defined and experienced at the turn of the twenty-first century. “Echoes of the Avant-garde in American Minimalist Opera” offers a critical history of this subgenre through case studies of Philip Glass’s Satyagraha (1980), Steve Reich’s The Cave (1993), and John Adams’s Doctor Atomic (2005). This project employs oral history and archival research as well as musical, dramatic, and dramaturgical analyses to investigate three interconnected lines of inquiry. The first traces the roots of these operas to the aesthetics and practices of the American avant-garde communities with which these composers collaborated early in their careers.
    [Show full text]
  • ENO What's on 2017/18 Season
    What’s On in 2017/18 Family feuds, lascivious lovers, breathtaking betrayals, devastating deaths and flocks of frolicking fairies. 1 Welcome to English National Opera ENO’s 2017/18 Season embraces a bold mixture of the old and new. Our audiences will have the opportunity to enjoy a whole raft of extraordinary opera, from the masterpieces of Handel and Mozart to the contemporary works of Philip Glass and Nico Muhly. We open in September with the first of our two major Verdi highlights this season: a striking new interpretation of his masterpiece Aida . We are delighted to welcome back conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson and director Phelim McDermott, who will also return later in the season to revive his iconic production of Philip Glass’s Satyagraha . It is absolutely imperative that ENO continues to develop innovative new work, and so we are thrilled to give the world premiere of Marnie , Nico Muhly’s fresh take on Winston Graham’s modern classic. Directed by Tony Award-winner Michael Mayer, this production will be the first conducted by Martyn Brabbins since his appointment as ENO Music Director in 2016. Following the success of last season’s The Pirates of Penzance , Cal McCrystal’s new production of Iolanthe will further strengthen ENO’s reputation as the premier home for the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. Moving from the hilarious to the heartbreaking, our final new production of the 2017/18 Season is a sweepingly romantic, sumptuous interpretation of La traviata from Artistic Director Daniel Kramer. For decades, ENO has enjoyed a very special relationship with the music of both Handel and Britten, and we are therefore excited to welcome back both Richard Jones’s Olivier Award-winning Rodelinda , and Robert Carsen’s magical A Midsummer Night’s Dream , and to stage a new production of The Turn of the Screw in collaboration with Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.
    [Show full text]
  • Autumn 2015 Spring 2016 What's On
    WHAT’S ON AUTUMN 2015 SPRING 2016 WELCOME CONTENTS TO ENGLISH NATIONAL OPERA It’s a great pleasure to introduce ENO’s 2015/16 Season. 4 2015/16 Season From Mozart and Rossini, through Verdi and Puccini to Philip Glass – the eight productions of our Autumn 6 Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and Spring seasons offer a diverse range of operatic 8 The Barber of Seville repertoire. I truly hope there is something to offer everyone a memorable visit to the London Coliseum. 10 Meet Mark Wigglesworth, ENO’s New Music Director At its heart, ENO is a company of world-class musical storytellers, and we are delighted to welcome the distinguished British conductor Mark Wigglesworth as ENO’s new Music 12 La bohème Director in succession to Edward Gardner. Mark will be conducting many of the season’s 14 The Force of Destiny highlights, and you can read about his aspirations for the company on pages 10–11. 16 Theatre Tours and We have five new productions in this period, all collaborations with some of the world’s Pre-performance Talks most talented and in-demand directors. In the autumn we have Dmitri Tcherniakov’s powerful Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk; Benedict Andrews’s spectacular new staging of 18 The Mikado La bohème, and a major new collaboration with New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 20 The Magic Flute Calixto Bieito’s The Force of Destiny. In the spring we have a thrilling Norma directed by Christopher Alden, while Phelim McDermott continues his exploration of the operas of 22 ENO Friends Membership Philip Glass with a new production of the iconic Akhnaten.
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Report 2017–18
    Annual Report 2017–18 1 3 Introduction 5 Metropolitan Opera Board of Directors 7 Season Repertory and Events 13 Artist Roster 15 The Financial Results 48 Our Patrons 2 Introduction During the 2017–18 season, the Metropolitan Opera presented more than 200 exiting performances of some of the world’s greatest musical masterpieces, with financial results resulting in a very small deficit of less than 1% of expenses—the fourth year running in which the company’s finances were balanced or very nearly so. The season opened with the premiere of a new staging of Bellini’s Norma and also included four other new productions, as well as 19 revivals and a special series of concert presentations of Verdi’s Requiem. The Live in HD series of cinema transmissions brought opera to audiences around the world for the 12th year, with ten broadcasts reaching more than two million people. Combined earned revenue for the Met (box office and media) totaled $114.9 million. Total paid attendance for the season in the opera house was 75%. All five new productions in the 2017–18 season were the work of distinguished directors, three having had previous successes at the Met and one making an auspicious company debut. A veteran director with six prior Met productions to his credit, Sir David McVicar unveiled the season-opening new staging of Norma as well as a new production of Puccini’s Tosca, which premiered on New Year’s Eve. The second new staging of the season was also a North American premiere, with Tom Cairns making his Met debut directing Thomas Adès’s groundbreaking 2016 opera The Exterminating Angel.
    [Show full text]
  • Satyagraha M
    SATYAGRAHA M. K. GANDHI W AFRYCE POŁUDNIOWEJ PHILIP GLASS DYREKTOR NACZELNY FILHARMONII ŁÓDZKIEJ TOMASZ BĘBEN DYREKTOR ARTYSTYCZNY FILHARMONII ŁÓDZKIEJ LECH DZIERŻANOWSKI DYRYGENT I SZEF ORKIESTRY FILHARMONII ŁÓDZKIEJ DANIEL RAISKIN CHÓRMISTRZ I SZEF CHÓRU FILHARMONII ŁÓDZKIEJ DAWID BER DYREKTOR GENERALNY MET PETER GELB DYREKTOR MUZYCZNY MET JAMES LEVINE PHILIP GLASS (*1937) SATYAGRAHA M.K. GANDHI W AFRYCE POŁUDNIOWEJ (1893–1914) OPERA W TRZECH AKTACH, LIBRETTO: KOMPOZYTOR I CONSTANCE DeJONG TEKSTY ŚPIEWANE NA PODSTAWIE BHAGAWADGITY – CONSTANCE DeJONG OSOBY REALIZATORZY PANNA SCHLESEN SOPRAN REŻYSERIA PHELIM McDERMOTT sekretarka Gandhiego WSPÓŁPRACA REŻYSERSKA PANI NAIDOO SOPRAN I DEKORACJE JULIAN CROUCH hinduska współpracownica Gandhiego KOSTIUMY KEVIN POLLARD KASTURBA MEZZOSOPRAN REŻYSERIA ŚWIATŁA PAULE CONSTABLE żona Gandhiego M. K. GANDHI TENOR OBSADA PAN KALLENBACH BARYTON PANNA SCHLESEN RACHELLE DURKIN europejski współpracownik Gandhiego PANI NAIDOO MOLLY FILMORE PARSI RUSTOMJI BAS KASTURBA MARIA ZIFCHAK hinduski współpracownik Gandhiego M. K. GANDHI RICHARD CROFT PANI ALEXANDER ALT PAN KALLENBACH KIM JOSEPHSON europejska przyjaciółka Gandhiego PARSI RUSTOMJI ALFRED WALKER ARDŻUNA TENOR PANI ALEXANDER MARY PHILLIPS postać mityczna ARDŻUNA BRADLEY GARVIN KRISZNA BAS KRISZNA RICHARD BERNSTEIN postać mityczna oraz Role nieme Phil Eddolls, Charlie Folorunsho, Alex Harvey, Nick Haverson, HRABIA LEW TOŁSTOJ (akt pierwszy) Tina Koch, Vic Llewellyn, Charlie Llewellyn-Smith, Charlotte Mooney, RABINDRANATH TAGORE (akt drugi) Kumar Muniandy,
    [Show full text]
  • GROUND-BREAKING NEW OPERA for BABIES Scottish Opera Presents Bambino in Collaboration with Manchester International Festival and Improbable
    PRESS RELEASE 9 March 2017 GROUND-BREAKING NEW OPERA FOR BABIES Scottish Opera presents BambinO in collaboration with Manchester International Festival and Improbable The long-awaited follow up to Scottish Opera’s hugely successful BabyO performances, BambinO is a pioneering and unique piece of music theatre for infants aged 6 to 18 months. A new co-production with Manchester International Festival and Improbable, the show premieres at Manchester International Festival in July, before travelling to Edinburgh as part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe, then to Glasgow for performances in Scottish Opera’s Production Studios. Written by Scottish Opera’s Composer in Residence Lliam Paterson and directed by Improbable’s critically-acclaimed Phelim McDermott, BambinO will be a celebration of the possibilities of music and the power of the infant imagination. The show reinvents operatic language and traditions for children at an age when their minds are wide open to new sounds, images and experiences. Babies are free to explore during the performance, and to interact with the singers, musicians and each other. Director, Phelim McDermott, said: ‘It is inspiring to create a new opera for what is possibly the most discerning – and important – audience there is. We all know that babies respond to music and we want to nurture and stimulate that relationship through their very first opera.’ Scottish Opera’s Composer in Residence, Lliam Paterson, continued: ‘BambinO will bring an operatic experience to a little audience with ears open to discovering new sounds. It is so exciting to create a colourful and vibrant work that can engage both babies and adults fully, while conveying the drama and passion of opera.
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Report 2011–12 3 Introduction
    ANNUAL REPORT 2011–12 3 Introduction 5 Metropolitan Opera Board of Directors 7 2011–12 Season Repertory & Events 14 2011–12 Artist Roster 15 The Financial Results 38 Patrons Introduction The Metropolitan Opera’s 2011–12 season was marked by an impressive string of artistic successes, while the company continued to address a challenging financial situation in ways that wouldn’t affect the high quality of productions. The company presented seven new stagings during the 2011–12 season, including the final two installments of a new Ring cycle, the Metropolitan Opera premiere of Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, and the world premiere of a new Baroque pastiche, The Enchanted Island, conceived by the Met. All seven new produc- tions, along with four revivals, were presented in movie theaters around the world as part of the Met’s Live in HD series, which has enabled the Met to assume a global leadership position as a provider of special cinema content. The Live in HD series continued to be a money-maker for the Met, earning $27.1 million. Combined earned revenue for the Met (Live in HD and box office) totaled $121.5 million. The 2011–12 season once again brought together the finest singers, conductors, directors, designers, choreog- raphers, and video artists in the world. Such extraordinary directors as Robert Lepage, Phelim McDermott, David McVicar, and Laurent Pelly returned to create new productions, with Michael Grandage and Des McAnuff making directorial debuts with the company. The culmination of Lepage’s new Met Ring cycle was the talk of the opera world, and the new Baroque pastiche The Enchanted Island, devised and written by Jeremy Sams, represented a remarkable new creative endeavor.
    [Show full text]