Lucia Di Lammermoor Bios
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LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR PRODUCTION TEAM BIOGRAPHY NICOLA LUISOTTI, Conductor Nicola Luisotti has been music director of San Francisco Opera since September 2009 and he holds the Caroline H. Hume Endowed Chair. In the current season he has led Norma andUn Ballo in Maschera; he conducts the world premiere of Marco Tutinoʼs Two Women (La Ciociara) in summer 2015. Luisotti's other engagements during the current season includeMadama Butterfly with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; Nabucco in Valencia; Il Trovatorewith the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples; and a concert with Romeʼs Accademia di Santa Cecilia. Called “both an original thinker and a great respecter of tradition” by Opera News, which featured him on the cover of the July 2011 special issue on conductors, Luisotti made his Company debut in 2005 conducting La Forza del Destino and returned in November 2008 to conduct La Bohème. As the Companyʼs music director, he has led acclaimed performances of Il Trovatore, Salome, Otello, La Fanciulla del West, Aida, Le Nozze di Figaro, Madama Butterfly, Rigoletto, Lohengrin, Tosca, and Così fan tutte. Maestro Luisotti has garnered enthusiastic praise from both audiences and critics for his work at La Scala (Attila), the Royal Opera, Covent Garden (Aida, Turandot, Madama Butterfly, Il Trovatore, Nabucco); the Metropolitan Opera (La Bohème, Tosca, La Fanciulla del West); Paris Opera (La Traviata, Tosca); the Vienna State Opera (Simon Boccanegra); Genoaʼs Teatro Carlo Felice (Un Ballo in Maschera, La Fanciulla del West, La Traviata, Simon Boccanegra, Il Viaggio a Reims); Veniceʼs La Fenice (Madama Butterfly); Munichʼs Bavarian State Opera (Macbeth, Tosca); Frankfurt Opera (Il Trittico); Madridʼs Teatro Real (Il Trovatore, La Damnation de Faust, Mefistofele); Los Angeles Opera (Carmen, Pagliacci); Dresdenʼs Semperoper (Tosca, Die Zauberflöte); Torontoʼs Canadian Opera Company (Un Ballo in Maschera); Seattle Opera (Macbeth); Bolognaʼs Teatro Comunale (Salome); Valenciaʼs Palau de les Arts (Mefistofele); and in Tokyoʼs Suntory Hall (Turandot, Tosca, La Bohème, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte). Maestro Luisotti was awarded the 39th Premio Puccini Award in conjunction with the historic 100th anniversary of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West at the Metropolitan Opera. Equally at home on the concert stage, Luisotti served as principal guest conductor of the Tokyo Symphony from 2009 to 2012 and has also established growing relationships with the orchestras of London (Philharmonia Orchestra), Genoa, Budapest, Turin, Munich (Bavarian Radio Orchestra), Palermo, and Rome (Santa Cecilia Orchestra), as well as the Berlin Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, and the Atlanta Symphony. The conductorʼs discography includes a complete recording of Stiffelio (Dynamic) with the orchestra of Triesteʼs Teatro Verdi and the critically acclaimed Duets (Deutsche Grammophon), featuring Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón. He is also on the podium of a DVD recording of the Metʼs La Bohème, with Angela Gheorghiu and Ramón Vargas (EMI). SAN FRANCISCO OPERA Education Materials LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR PRODUCTION TEAM BIOGRAPHY MICHAEL CAVANAGH, Director Michael Cavanagh made his San Francisco Opera debut with Nixon in China in 2012, a production he also directed at Vancouver Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City and, most recently, in Dublin, Ireland. He returned to direct a new production of Susannah in 2014. Recent career highlights include a return to Minnesota Opera to direct Manon Lescaut,Tosca at Austin Lyric Opera, and LʼItaliana in Algeri with Calgary Opera. Former artistic director of Edmonton Opera, he has directed productions throughout his native Canada, including production at Vancouver Opera, Opera Lyra Ottawa, Montreal Opera, Manitoba Opera, Calgary Opera, and Opera Hamilton. He has also directed many productions in the United States, including new productions and return engagements at Opera Philadelphia, Boston Lyric Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Arizona Opera, Tulsa Opera, and many others. Cavanagh made his Covent Garden debut in 2006, directing a new chamber opera, The Midnight Court. He has developed and staged many new pieces, and is in high demand as a dramaturg. As a librettist, Cavanagh has enjoyed critical and popular success with seven of his own operas. Recent and upcoming highlights include a return to Lyric Opera of Kansas City for LʼItaliana in Algeri, a new production of Carmen at Minnesota Opera, and a debut at the Royal Swedish Opera with Nixon in China. SAN FRANCISCO OPERA Education Materials LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR PRODUCTION TEAM BIOGRAPHY ERHARD ROM, Scenic and Projection Designer Erhard Rom was named as a finalist in the Designer of the Year category of the 2015 International Opera Awards in London. He has designed settings for over 200 productions across the globe and his design work has been displayed in the Prague Quadrennial exhibition and at the National Opera Center in Manhattan. He teaches design at Montclair State University in the department of theatre and dance. His credits include: San Francisco Opera (Susannah and Nixon in China) Wexford Festival Opera, Seattle Opera, Vancouver Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Minnesota Opera, the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in Dublin, Fort Worth Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Opera Colorado, Opéra de Montréal, The Atlanta Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Boston and Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Syracuse Stage, Geva Theatre Center, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Merrimack Repertory Theatre and the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, D.C. In 2014 he designed the European premiere of Kevin Puts recent opera, Silent Night. The production was awarded two accolades at the 2015 Irish Times Theatre Awards Ceremony, including the audience choice award and best opera production of 2015. Future engagements include the world premiere of The Shining for Minnesota Opera and Nixon in China for the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm. SAN FRANCISCO OPERA Education Materials LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR PRODUCTION TEAM BIOGRAPHY MATTIE ULLRICH, Costume Designer Mattie Ullrich makes her San Francisco Opera debut with her costume designs for Lucia di Lammermoor. Recent career highlights include Satyagraha at Ekaterinburg Opera and Ballet; Don Giovanni for Norwegian Opera and Ballet; I Due Foscari the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Viennaʼs Theater an der Wien, Valenciaʼs Palau des Artes, and Los Angeles Opera; The Oresteia for the Bard SummerScape Festival; Le Roi Malgre Lui for the Wexford Festival; Nabucco with Washington National Opera, Florida Grand Opera, and Montreal Opera; Zaide for Wolftrap Opera; and Eliogabalo for New Yorkʼs The Box. Other career highlights include creating costumes for the theater in New York City, lie The Starry Messenger, The Pride, Wicked, Fault Lines, Things We Want, and Bad Dates. In 2010 she designed the costumes for a reworking of Stephen Shwartzʼs musical Working, performed in Chicago and New York City. Her film credits include Year of the Fish, Sovereignty, andShoplifting Chanel. She was awarded the European Opera Prize for her collaboration with director Thaddeus Strassberger for the La Cenerentola, performed in Ireland and Germany. A native of Southern California, she received her education from University of North Carolina School of the Arts where she studied costume design, draping, tailoring, hat-making, and dyeing. She now calls Peekskill, New York home where she, her husband, and her dog Drake own two restaurants. SAN FRANCISCO OPERA Education Materials LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR LIBRETTIST BIOGRAPHY SALVADORE CAMMARANO, Librettist Salvadore Cammarano (librettist), (March 19, 1801 — July 17, 1852) Salvadore Cammarano was a prolific Italian librettist and playwright perhaps best known for writing the text of Lucia di Lammermoor (1835) for Gaetano Donizetti. For Donizetti he also contributed the libretti for L'assedio di Calais (1836), Belisario (1836), Pia de' Tolomei (1837), Roberto Devereux (1837), Maria de Rudenz (1838), Poliuto (1838), and Maria di Rohan (1843). For the composer Giuseppe Verdi, he wrote Alzira (1845), La battaglia di Legnano (1849) and Luisa Miller (1849. After Cammaranoʼs death in July of 1852, Verdi worked with Leone Emanuele Bardare to complete the libretto for Il trovatore (1853). Cammarano also started work on libretto for a proposed adaptation of William Shakespeare's play King Lear, named Re Lear, but he died before completing it; a detailed scenario survives. — Adapted from Wikipedia.org SAN FRANCISCO OPERA Education Materials LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR PRODUCTION TEAM BIOGRAPHY GARY MARDER, Lighting Designer Gary Marder, resident lighting designer for San Francisco Opera, made his Company debut in 2013 and in the 2014–15 season his lighting designs were seen in Susannah, Un Ballo in Maschera, Tosca, La Cenerentola, and Le Nozze di Figaro. His work has been seen at venues across the globe, including The Magic Flute in Sydney; La Traviata at Turinʼs Teatro Regio as well as in Tokyo; The Makropulos Case and Samson et Dalila at Houston Grand Opera; Samson et Dalila, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Carmen, Peter Grimes, Un Ballo in Maschera, and Norma at San Diego Opera; Dialogues des Carmélites with Palm Beach Opera; La Clemenza di Tito in Toronto; Tosca with Opera New Jersey; Aida and Il Bariere di Siviglia at the Dallas Opera; and in Boston, Connecticut, Barcelona, and Baden Baden. Marder served