13AMbili Contents Apr 2004 Homebody/Kabul 14 Tony Kushner's remarkable opus is more timely than ever By Ma rtha Hostetter
Bill Murray 18 BAMcinematek's April series co nfirms Murray has the best, last laugh Homebody/Kabul, Reed Birney & Maggie Gyllenhaal. By Matthew Buchholz Photo, Craig Schwartz
OanceAfrica 2004 30 Drum mi ng and da ncing from near and far mark the start of summer By Susan Yung
The It List 04 Dining Guide 08,35 Program I DanceAfrica, Bambara Ensemble A Brooklyn Guide insert To Home Furnishings A BROOKLYN GUIDE TO HOME FURNISHIN GS, INSERT COVER (top left, bottom left) image courtesy of Rico; (middle) image courtesy of Dyad; (top right, bottom right) Herman Miller and Eames· Molded Upcoming Events 32 Pl ywood Dining Chair are among the registered trademarks of Herman Miller, Inc. Image provided by David Allen Art & Design Gall ery, an author· BAMdirectory 33 ized retailer of Herman Miller for the Home. Cover Artist
Alex Katz was born in Brooklyn in 1927, raised in Sl. Albans, Queens, and stud ied at the Cooper Union (New York) and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (Maine). His career spans five decades. Katz's art has affinities with commercial adver tisements and fash ion photography, reflecting his early interest in graphic design. His work is not centered around icons of pop culture, but rather generic objects and his personal acquaintances. Alex Katz fuses his interest in Egyptian art, the art of Utamaro, Matisse, and in the contemporary world in a cool , detached style uniquely his own. Since his first show at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1974, his art has been the subject of monographs and catalogues,
Cover, Alex Katz, The Sailor Hat, 2003 and numerous museum exhibitions, including the Brooklyn Museum Li nocut on Iyo glazed paper of Art, the Carnegie Museum of Art (Pittsburgh), the Saatchi 12" x 10-1 /2" (image) Collection in London, and the Bonn Museum (Germany). He lives in For BAMart information , New York. 718.636.4101 / [email protected] April2004 2004 Spring Season
Alex Katz, The Sailor Hat, 2003
BAM Spring Alt . ENCORE Season sponsor: rIa Homebody/Kabul
Reed Birney & Maggie Gyllenhaal. Photo, Cra ig Schwartz Home Away From Home
By Martha Hostetter
Ours is a time of connection; the private, and we must accept this, and it's a hard thing to accept, the private is gone.
These words are strange to hear from a character known as Homebody, a London housewife who admits that she has little connection to her husband (she samples his anti-depressants to know how he's feeling) or her grown daughter. But after finding an out-of-date travel book, A Historical Guide to Kabul, the Homebody (played by Tony nominee Linda Emond) takes an imaginative leap-reaching out to The Other and to Afghanistan , a country she describes as "so at the heart of the world that the world has forgotten it."
Set in 1998 and 1999 and written well before 9/11 , Homebody/Kabul premiered in New York just months after the terrorist attacks made it clear that privacy is indeed a quaint and outdated notion, that what happens in distant lands affects us at home. Since the premiere, Kushner has made extensive revisions, but the political narrative is intact. When Homebody/Kabul appears at BAM's Harvey Theater from May 11 - 30, audiences who have heard pundits and politicians weigh in on 9/11 will have a chance to hear from a writer who's been thinking about the collisions between East and West for years.
"Part of my job as a playwright, and a political playwright, is to pay attention," Kushner says. (In an eerily prophetic line, an Afghan woman, furious over America 's support of the Taliban for the Homebody/Kabul sake of a gas pipeline, threatens a visiting Westerner: "You love the Taliban so much, bring them to New York! Well, don't worry, they're coming to New York!")
The play came to life as a monologue for the Homebody, which Kushner asked Emond to read for him as he was developing it. "I'd never seen anything like it," she recalls. "It took time just to figure out where the verb was in a sentence. The piece is like an opera-not just an aria, but the whole opera-with all different cadences and colors. I read it several times over a period of years. Somehow, in the process of having these strange sentences come out of my mouth, I began to feel that there was a particular person there demanding our attention, getting impatient to come out."
This magnificently capacious speech takes stylistic and intellectual detours more common to fiction than drama, and sprinkles clues about the mystery to come, when the Homebody disappears in Kabul and her husband and daughter travel there to find her. Was she killed by an angry mob? In the path of a cruise missile sent by President Clinton to Afghan terrorist training camps after attacks on U.S. embassies? Or has she donned a burqa and disappeared into the faceless crowd?
For the innocents abroad, Kabul is a land of confusion and paradox: Religious police prowl the streets with rubber hoses, a librarian loses her mind for lack of books, an actor pines for the music of Frank Sinatra ("Come fly with me, let's fly, let's flyaway ... "), and the remaining Westerners retreat into an opium haze.
Meanwhile, the Homebody's daughter, Priscilla (Maggie Gyllenhaal), searches for her mother with the help of a poet who writes in the "universal " language of Esperanto because, he says, it carries no history, and thus no history of oppression. Director Frank Galati says language, in all its forms, "The piece is like an opera-not just an aria, but the whole opera-with all different cadences and colors." is at the crux of the play. "Technical jargon, untranslatable idioms, erudite vocabulary- these kinds of speech separate us from one another," he says, pointing out that in one scene an Afghan woman needs five languages (Pashto, Dari , Arabic, French , and English) to describe what has happened to her country.
Afghanistan itself is the most unknowable figure in the play-exotic and desolate, at the crossroads of civilizations and fought over for centuries by the likes of Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan. Someday, Kushner says, he hopes to bring his play to Kabul, where the national theater has reopened (though its roof and walls are still pockmarked from bombs). He already has a translator -a onetime refugee who lived in Queens for 26 years and who helped Kushner with the play's Pashto and Dari speeches. The Afghani recently returned to his homeland and is eagerly awaiting the Kabul premiere.
"For me, theater is about establishing lines of communication between different experiences and cultures," Kushner says. "Just understanding each other is immensely difficult work. In the end, these characters have a long way to go, but they learn to be humble in the face of how hard it is." _
Martha Hostetter has written about culture and cultural policy for the Gotham Gazette, Village Voice, American Theatre, and other publications.
A BAMdialogue with Tony Kushner will be held May 16 at 5:30pm.
15 2004 Spring Season
Brooklyn Academy of Music Alan H. Fishman William I. Campbell Chairman of the Board Vice Chairman of the Board
Karen Brooks Hopkins Joseph V. Melillo President Executive Producer
presents Siroe Approximate BAM Harvey Theater running time: Apr 17, 20, 23 & 24, 2004 at 7 :30pm 3 hours and 20 minutes with two Music by George Frideric Handel intermissions Libretto by Pietro Metastasio & Nicola Haym Venice Baroque Orchestra Conducted by Andrea Marcon Directed by Jorge Lavelli
Scenic design by Alain Lagarde Costumes by Francesco Zito Lighting by Zeljko Sestak Assistant director Carlo Bellamio Musical assistant Massimiliano RaschieUi English titles by Chris Bergen Sound effects by Jean Marie Bourdat
Sung in Italian with English surtitles
An Apollonesque production Executive producer Julian Fifer
BAM 2004 Spring Season is sponsored by Altria Group, Inc.
Support for Siroe is provided by Francena T. Harrison Foundation Trust, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, and the Italian Cultural Institute of New York.
Leadership support for BAM Opera is provided by The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation and The Andrew W Mel/on Foundation with additional support from The Isak and Rose Weinman Foundation, Inc. and Eleanor Naylor Dana Charitable Trust.
Generous support for Siroe provided by International Friends of the Venice Music Festival. Siroe
Cast Cosroe, King of Persia Vito Priante (In order of Siroe, first-born son of Cos roe Liliana Rugiero appearance) Medarse, younger son of Cosroe Roberto Balconi Emira , princess of Cambaia, in disguise as Idapse Katerina Beranova Laodice, Cos roe's lover Simone Kermes Arasse, general of the Persian army Matthew Burns
Venice Baroque Andrea Marcon , Director Orchestra First Violin Double bass Luca Mares Alessandro Sbrogio Vania Pedronetto Giuseppe Cabrio Lute Teresa Ratcliff Ivana Zanenghi Evangelina Mascardi Second Violin Giorgio Baldan Bassoon Giulia Panzeri Carles Cristobal Ferran Margherita Zane Rossella Croce Flute Michele Favaro Viola Alessandra Di Vincenzo Oboe Meri Skejic Michele Favaro Nicola Favaro Cello Francesco Galligioni Harpsichord Daniele Cernuto Andrea Marcon Massimiliano Raschietti
Staff Production stage manager Caroline Dufresne Technical director Jeffery Duer Assistant to the costume designer Fabrizia Migliarotti Orchestra administrator Arianna Fuser Repetiteu rs I ri na Rees
Apollonesque Managing producer Brett Egan
Costumes provided courtesy of Fondazione Teatro La Fenice di Venezia .
Columbia Artists Management, LLC - exclusive North American Management of the representation of Venice Baroque Orchestra. Contact: Jean-Jacques Cesbron, CAMI, 165 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019, www.cami.com. Siroe
Synopsis
Act One-Temple of the Sun and Cosroe's chamber
Cosroe, King of Persia , has killed Asbite, King of Cambaia , in battle. Asbite's daughter, Emira , seeking revenge, has infiltrated Cosroe's court in the disguise of a man named Idapse. Only Siroe, Cos roe's eldest son- who loves Emira-knows of the disguise. Meanwhile, the King of Persia must choose his successor-his first-born Siroe or the younger Medarse. Siroe's good-nature coupled with Medarse's savvy politics give the latter an advantage. When Cos roe chooses Medarse, Siroe is enraged. Emira, sensing Siroe's anger, attempts to involve him in her plans for vengeance. He refuses. Furious, Emira rejects Siroe's love and tells Laodice, Cos roe's beloved- who loves Siroe that Siroe desires her. When Siroe spurns Laodice's advances , she tells Cos roe that Siroe is a traitor and has tried to seduce her. Having secretly entered the king's room to leave an anonymous message warning of danger, Siroe overhears Laodice and Medarse conspiring to convince Cosroe of Siroe's guilt.
Act Two-The Royal Garden and surrounding rooms
Siroe is torn . He forgives Laodice and wants her to forget her love for him , but is troubled by his conflicting passions as Em ira's lover and the king's son. In a moment of despair, Siroe draws his sword to kill himself. Cos roe enters and misinterprets the gesture as an attack on Idaspe's life. Siroe, who wants to die, seizes the opportunity to declare himself guilty and is taken to prison . An attempt by Emira on Cos roe's life is thwarted when Medarse enters; her drawn sword is interpreted , however, as a show of loyalty- Idapse will fight to protect the crown from its assailant. Duplicitously, Medarse convinces Cos roe to make Siroe king to protect Cos roe 's life. Cos roe calls Siroe from prison and, in vain, offers his pardon in exchange for the name of the true traitor.
Act Three-The Royal Garden, a prison, and a plaza
Cos roe orders the death of his son. Laodice, however, defends Siroe, declaring his innocence and her own guilt. Outside , an increasingly riotous mob rallies in Siroe's defense. Emira , disguised as Idaspe, convinces the king to repeal his sentence. However, Arasse, General of the Persian army and brother of Laodice, arrives, and announces that it is too late- Siroe is dead. Emira hurls herself against the king and reveals her true identity. Cos roe is revulsed by his error and orders Emira taken prisoner. In private, Arasse informs Emira that Siroe is still alive. She rushes to the prison to stop Medarse from killing his brother. Siroe, Emira , Arasse , and other followers save Cos roe from rebels. Siroe is proclaimed king, and he forgives Medarse and Laodi ce. Emira renounces her plans for revenge.
III Oi rector's note Siroe at BAM
We first staged Siroe in 2000 at the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista in Venice. There, the stage was surrounded on three sides by the audience, and our central task was to use this intimacy to our advantage by developing performances of great expressiveness and subtlety, while-despite the proximity of the audience preserving a certain theatrical mysteriousness.
Here at BAM, we are working with an entirely different set-up-in fact, quite the opposite of that in Venice. With a larger playing area and the orchestra on stage, we have encountered a remarkable new range of opportunities. This 'explosion' into space has allowed me to develop the story in great detail and to thoroughly investigate the consequences of King Cos roe's thoughtless-almost Lear-like- temper, which irreversibly alters the fate of his court.
Handel employs Metastasio's text with great craft, slowly engendering the suspicion, intrigue, and sense of tragic inevitability that gradually envelops each character. Power, however, dominates the plot: its characters' love, jealousy, and vengeance all operate within the story's larger framework of a coup. With his arias, Handel embodies the suffering and aspirations of each character with an inspired and powerful voice. And he brings the same strength and conviction to the recitatives, which underline the violence and complexity of human nature. However, Metastasio's vision-ideologically aligned with the counter-reformation-ultimately shuns the notion of the inevitable. By intro ducing the vox populi and forgiveness as means to overpower folly, he permits a world wherein man, through self-understanding and tolerance, is delivered from himself. Siroe is a strong, beautiful, and significant work, its sensibility as relevant today as when it was written. In any case, this is how I perceive it, and I've done my best to pass it on.
-Jorge Lavelli, April 2004 Who's Who
Venice Baroque Orchestra (Andrea recording of the great Venetian serenade Marcon, director), founded in 1997, is for five voices and orchestra, Andromeda recognized as one of Europe's premier Liberata, will be released this fall. The ensembles devoted to period instrument orchestra's concerts have been filmed by performance. Led by Baroque scholar and the BBC and NHK, and broadcast by harpsichordist Andrea Marcon, the RadioFrance, ORF, RaiDue , RadioTre, Orchestra has received wide critical BBC3, and National Public Radio. acclaim for its concerts and staged opera performances throughout North America, Andrea Marcon (director, VBO), conduc Europe, and Japan. During the 2001- tor, organist, harpsichordist, and scholar, 2002 season, the VBO performed in more is a leading speCialist and performer than 35 cities including New York, Tokyo, of early music. First-prize winner at Milan, Paris, Berlin , Frankfurt, Geneva, Innsbruck's organ competition in 1986 Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and London. In and at Bologna 's harpsichord competition 2002-2003, the Orchestra made a 20- in 1991 , Marcon is also an accomplished concert debut tour of the U.S., fo llowed recording artist whose solo recordings as by a European tour with mezzo-soprano organist have garnered the Deutschen Angelika Kirchschlager. The Orchestra also Schallplatten Kritik prize four times. In appeared in Vienna , Rotterdam, Brussels, 1997, Marcon founded the Venice Lisbon, Barcelona , Zurich, Munich, and Baroque Orchestra, and has since led it Tokyo with violinist Giuliano Carmignola. to recognition as one of Europe's finest Highlights of the current season include a period instrument ensembles . Committed return U.S. tour, featruing a concert for to the rediscovery of first-rate Baroque the inaugural season at Disney Hall , works, Marcon has conducted the concerts in Paris , Hamburg, and Lyon , modern-day premieres of Francesco and at the festiva ls of Lucerne, Ambronay, Cavalli's L'Orione and Benedetto Eisenach , and Istanbul. The Orchestra 's Marcello's /I trionfo della poesia e della 2004-2005 season commences with a musica. In Venice, he directed widely performance at the first annual Venice acclaimed performances of Siroe in 2000, Music Festival, and will be followed by and Cimarosa's L'Olimpiade in 2001. At performances at Jordan Hall in Boston the Venice Music Festival this October, and at Carnegie Hall. The Orchestra's Marcon will conduct the VBO in the recordings have been honored with the modern-day premiere of Andromeda Diaspason d'Or, Deutschen Schallplatten Liberata, recently discovered to be com Kritik, and Echo Awards. The VBO's posed, at least in part, by Antonio Vivaldi. discography on Sony Classical includes Equally interested in the development of The Four Seasons, two albums of previ new performers of Baroque repertoire, ously unrecorded Vivaldi concertos, and a Marcon for many years coached violinist collection of Bach arias featuring Angelika Giuliano Carmignola on Baroque interpre Kirchschlager. The VBO recently signed tation, leading to a series of award an exclusive contract with Deutsche winning recordings for Sony Classical. Grammophon; its first album, a premiere Last month, Marcon conducted the Who's Who
Frankfurt Opera in a new production of Bartok, Prokofiev, R. Strauss, Janacek, Handel's Ariodante. He is professor of von Einem, Arrigo , Sutermeister, Krauze , harpsichord , organ, and interpretation at Ohana, and Nono. Of the classics, he has the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, and staged Dardanus, Les Arts F/orissants, served as visiti ng professor at the Alcina, Fidelio, Faust (with which he Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam. made his American premiere at the He founded and served as artistic director Metropolitan Opera and the National of the International Organ Festival "Citta di Opera in Washington) , La Traviata , Treviso," facilitating the restoration of the Madame Butterfly, Norma, Idomeneo, city's historic organs. Born in Treviso, Marriage of Figaro , La Clemenza de Titus , Marcon received a diploma in Early Music Magic Flute, and Abduction from the from Basel's Schola Cantorum Basiliensis Seraglio. From 1987 to 1996, as first with Jean-Claude Zehnder. Other influen General Director of the Theatre national tial teachers included Luigi Ferdinando de la Colline in Paris, Lavelli directed Tagliavini, Hans van Nieuwkoop, Jesper Lorca's The Public, Copi's An Inopportune Christensen, Harald Vogel and Ton Visit, Bi ll etdoux's Wake up, Philadelphia l , Koopman. Noren's The Vigil, Berkoff's Greek, Kvetch , and Decadence, Cosa 's La Jorge Lavelli (director), born in Buenos Nonna, Bernhard's Heldenplatz , Valle Aires, became a French citizen in 1977. Incli'm's Barbarian Comedies, lonesco's Director of theater and opera, his work is Macbett, Tabori 's Mein Kampf, Bond 's known to audiences throughout Europe Oily's Prison, Schnitzler's The Journalists, and Latin America. His early work focused Mrozek's Love in Crimea, Kribus' Arloc , on experimental and contemporary the Friel's Molly S., and Kushner's Slaves. ater. He introduced French audiences to Since then, he has worked worldwide. the work of Gombrowicz, includ ing Most recently, he staged Montsa lvage's Marriage (1963), Yvonne, Princess of Babel 46 and Rave l's !'Enfant et les Burgundy (1965), and Operette (1971 Sortileges at the Teatro Real in Madrid, and 1989). Other credits included works Mr. Peter's Connections by Arthur Miller, by Arrabal , Copi, Obaldia, Handke, Ie Vaisseau Fantome at the Teatro San Fuentes , Pinter, Rezvani , Athayde , Carlo of Naples, Kushner's Homebody/Kabul Panizza , O'Neill , Bulatovic, and Bulgakov. for La Comedie Fran <;aise, and the world His work in the classics includes Seneca's premiere of Rolf Libermann 's Medea at Medea, Life is a Dream, Polyeucte, The the Paris Opera. Triumph of Sensibility, The Seagull, Claudel 's The Exchange, Lorca 's Dona Roberto Balconi (countertenor, Medarse) , Rosita, Much Ado About Nothing, born in Milan, has sung with some of the Winter's Tale, The Tempest , and world's most prestigious ensembles , Midsummer's Night Dream. In 1970, including the English Baroque Soloists, Lavelli began his work in opera. Here as Europa Galante, and the Venice Baroque well, he focused on contemporary work Orchestra. International festival appear by Ravel, Debussy, Bizet, Stravinsky, ances have included Flanders, Beaune, ~p- VI Who's Who
Brugge, Lyon, and Berkeley. His work in Music in Vienna. While in Rome she opera began in 1993 at Teatro La Fenice appeared as soloist at the Accademia di in Venice with Traetta's Buovo Dantona Santa Cecilia where she sang under W. (A. Curtis, dir.). He then performed Sawallisch, Ch. Thielemann , M. Spivakov, and recorded Nutrice in Monteverdi's A. Ceccato, and N. Balatsch. She per Incoronazione di Poppea conducted by formed Bach passions and cantatas, John Eliot Gardiner. Recent credits include Haydn's Creation and Seasons, Orff's Bach cantatas (New York and Boston, Carmina Burana, and Mozart's Requiem Gustav Leonhardt), Bach 's Tilge, Hochster, and Exultate Jubilate. This season she meine Sunden (A. Marcon), Stradella's /I sang Handel's Messiah at the Musikverein Barcheggio (Ensemble Pian & Forte), in Vienna. Siroe at Teatro La Fenice, Monteverdi's Incoronazione (Alessandrini), Stradella's Matthew Burns (bass-baritone, Arasse) , a San Giovanni Battista (Claudio Astronio), native of Richmond, VA, has sung with Vivaldi's Gloria and Magnificat (Alessan opera companies nationwide, including drini), and cantatas, arias, and duets the New York City Opera , Boston Lyric from Handel's operas with Fantazyas, an Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and ensemble he also conducts. He studied Wolf Trap Opera . Burns' recent repertoire under Evelyn Tubb, Margaret Hayward , includes Figaro, Colline, Don Basilio, and Paolo Vaglieri and has recorded Leporello, Don Alfonso, Rev. Olin Blitch, with labels including DG Archiv, Virgin and roles in a wide range of contemporary Classics, Harmonia Mundi France, Nuova works from Mice and Men to Dead Era, and Naxos. Man Walking. Burns recently made his Carnegie Hall debut as soloist in Handel's Katerina Beranova (soprano, Emira), Messiah and is featured on a new has performed in roles including recording of Kirke Meecham's cantata The Blumenmadchen in Parsifal (Bayreuth, King's Contest. Upcoming engagements under Sinopoli, Eschenbach , and include Shostakovitch's The Nose with the Thielemann), Sandrina in La Finta Bard Festival and a re-engagement with Giardiniera (Washington, D.C., under P. New York City Opera as Colline this fall. Domingo), Woglinde in Das Rheingold Burns is a recipient of the Richard F. Gold and Gotterdammerung, Waldvogel in career grant for singers from the Siegfried at the Teatro dell'Opera Roma, Shoshana Foundation. Dorinda in Orlando (Vienna Odeon) , Irene in Tamerlano (Odeon), and Salome in Li li ana Rugiero (mezzo-soprano, Siroe), Stradella's Giovanni Battista at the born in Buenos Aires, possesses a reper International Bruckner Festiva l Linz. Born toire extending from traditional symphonic in the Czech Republic, she studied at the works to lieder and contemporary music. conservatory of Brno where she graduated She studied at the Instituto Superior de cum laude. In Rome she studied with Arte del Teatro Col6n de Buenos Aires , Stefania Magnifico and earned her diploma where she won the Concurso Promociones for Lied and Oratory at the University of Musicales and the Concurso Teatro
VII Who's Who
Argentino de la Plata. She won a scholar performs operatic and sacred works of ship at the the Concurso Mozarteum Handel, Purcell, and Vivaldi. Kermes' Argentino which allowed her to move festival appearances have included to Italy to study at the Conservatorio Schwetzingen, Innsbruck, Ruhr Triennale, Gioacchino Rossini in Pesaro with Alberto Cologne, Feldkirch, Prague, and Zedda. A sophisticated interpreter of the Rheingau. She has performed with Baroque and the music of Rossini, she orchestras including the Gewandhaus, the has performed worldwide, including with Staatskapelle Dresden, and the Royal Teatro Argentino de La Plata, Teatro Flemish Philharmonic. She also worked Coliseo de Buenos Aires, Teatro Regio di under Raphael Fruhbeck de Burgos in Torino, Kongresshaus Zurich, Grosses Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, and Fespielhaus Salzburg, Yakult Zaal under Thierry Fischer in Britten's Les Amsterdam, and the Festivals of Chimay, Illuminations . Among Kermes' many Beaune, and Cuenca . She is also a soloist recordings are the award winning with Ensemble Elyma, conducted by albums of Haydn's Creation with Thomas G. Garrido. She has also appeared in Hengelbrock, and Handel's Deidamia with Capriccio Stravagante, Europa Galante, Alan Curtis and II Complesso Barocco. and II Complesso Barocco, and finalist in several international competitions, Vito Priante (bass-baritone, Cosroe), from including Belvedere (Austria), Alfredo Naples, took his diploma in German and Kraus (Spain), Vercelli (Italy) , and French literature in 2003. Recent credits S'Hertogenbosch (Holland). include roles in Bernstein's Chichester Psalms (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, D. Simone Kermes (soprano, Laodice), Oren, conductor), Britten's Death in born in Leipzig, studied with Helga Forner Venice (Musicale Fiorentino, B. Bartoletti, and in master classes with Elisabeth conductor), M. Panni's The Banquet Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fischer (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino), Schaunard Dieskau. In 1993 she won first prize in La Boheme (Teatro di Volterra), and in the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Conte in Cimarosa's /I matrimonio segreto Competition in Berlin, and in 1996 was (Teatro di Treviso) . He has also sung awarded second prize in the International Faure's Requiem, Handel's Messiah, and Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in the St. Matthew Passion (Naples Scholars Leipzig. Kermes' recent performances Chorale); Mayr's I Vespri del Corpus have included appearances in Vienna , Domini (Orchestra Milano Classica); La Florence, Gbttingen, and Ambronay with pastorella nobile (Cappella della Pieta dei II Complesso Barocco conducted by Alan Turchini, A. Florio); and sung and record Curtis, and performances in Paris , ed for Virgin Records Conti's David (II Hamburg, and Berkeley with the Venice Complesso Barocco, A. Curtis). In 2003 Baroque Orchestra. Her opera engage he won La Scala's Accademia Lirica ments have included the roles of Fiordiligi , Rotariana scholarship, and the Caruso Konstanze , Gilda , Lucia , Ann Truelove, Prize. He has studied lieder at Naples and Rosalinde, and she frequently Nuova Polifonia with Maestro E. Battaglia , ?-3M VIII Who's Who violin with A. Vitolo, and eighteenth Hautes Etudes Commerciales. Having century Neapolitan vocal music with E. recently relocated to New York, she will De Martino. He has also studied vo ice join the stage management department at with R. Kabaivanska, B.Manca di Nissa, New York City Opera this Fall. R. Panerai, and A. Corbelli. Alain Lagarde (scenic design) trained in Carlo Bellamio (assistant director) was set and costume design at the Th eatre assistant on more than ten productions at National in Strasbourg from 1983 to La Scala in Milan, including Don Carlos 1986. He first collaborated with Jorge (F. Zeffirelli, dir.), Falstaff (G. Strehler, Lavelli on Handel's Ariodante at the Opera dir.), La rondine (N. Joel, dir.), and La de Paris, Palais Garnier, in 2001. Other Boheme (F. Zeffirelli, dir.). Other credits credits include co llaborations with director include work as assistant at some of the Olivier Benezech; Platanov at La Comedie most prestigious opera houses throughout Fran<;aise (Matthew Jocelyn, dir.); Aspern Europe and the U.S., including Teatro Papers, after Henry James' novel dell'Opera in Rome , Opera Royal de (Jacques Lasal le, dir.); Michel del Wallon ie in Li ege (Belgium), Opera Castillo's Jour du Destin (J.M. Besset, Comique in Paris, Opera du Rhin in dir.); and Ernest Chausson's Le Roi Strasbourg (France), the Grossefest Arthus at the Theatre Royal de La spielhause in Sa lzburg (Austria), the Monnaie, Brussels (M. Jocelyn, dir.). Philadelphia Opera, and the Baltimore Future work includes Mozart's Idomeneo Opera. Bellamio also performed through and Boosmans' La Ronde at Opera de out Europe as a juggler and mime Nice. from 1978-1990. He first collaborated with Jorge Lavelli on the original produc Zeljko Sestak (lighting design), born in tion of Siroe in Venice. In 2003, he Croatia in 1955, has worked throughout worked with Lavelli on a new production Europe since 1986. He served as of The Flying Dutchman at the Teatro San designer for the Oper Bonn from 1991 to Carlo in Naples. 1996 and 1999 to 2003. Other credits include design for directors Hansguenter Caroline Dufresne (production stage man Heyme, Valentin Jaecker, Hans Hoffer, ager) for the last six years has served as Jacqueline Posing-Van Dyck, Pit Fischer, stage and company manager for Canadian Frank Steckel, Jossi Wieler, Hans Dietrich director Robert Lepage, with whom she Hilsdorf, Peter Eschberg, and Peter toured extensively throughout Europe, Palitsch. Recent work includes Racine's Asia, Oceania , and North and South Iphigenie (Hans Hollmann, dir.), Moliere's America. She also served as production Der Menschenfeind (Frank Steckel, dir.), stage manager at LOpera de Montreal on Koltes' Dans la solitude des champs de more than fifteen productions. Dufresne caton (Frank Hoffmann, dir.) and, graduated from the National Theater with Jorge Lavelli, Tony Kushner's School of Canada and holds a degree in Homebody/Kabul for La Comedie Business Aministration from LEcole des Franr;aise.
IX Who's Who
Francesco Zito (costume design) received harpsichordist, organist, and conductor a degree in Architecture from Florence Andrea Marcon; violinist Giuliano University and a British Council Carmignola; and coloratura soprano Scholarship at the Slade School of Art Simone Kermes, Apollonesque has intro (London University). He has designed sets duced American audiences-from Disney and costumes for the most prominent Hall to Lincoln Center-to some of the opera and theater houses throughout finest European musiciansh ip. In October, Europe. For La Fenice, his credits include 2004, Apollonesque will launch the Carolyn Carlson's Chalk Work, Holst's Venice Music Festival. In winter 2004, Savitri, Janaceck's Diary of One Who Apollonesque wi ll help launch tours in Disappeared, and Cimarosa's L'Olimpiade Europe and the U.S. of the modern-day (D. Poulange, dir.) His longstanding premiere of Andromeda Liberata , an relationship with Jorge Lavelli encompass Italian serenata recently discovered to be es sixteen years of design for opera and composed at least in part by Antonio theater, including Lorca's The Public, Vivald i. For more information regard ing Mozart's The Magic Flute and The Apollonesque, contact Managing Abduction from the Seraglio, Handel's Producer, Brett Egan, at: Ariodante, Lehar's The Merry Widow, b_ [email protected]. Wagner's The Flying Dutchman, and theater by Pi randel lo, Badinter, Berkhoff, Julian Fifer (Executive Producer, and Schn itzler. Other credits include Apol lonesque), a native New Yorker and design for Teatro Argentina in Rome, La graduate of the New York public school Scala, the festivals of Maggio Musicale in system (including the Bronx High School Florence, Aix-en -Provence, the Liceu in of Science), rece ived his BA in li bera l arts Barcelona, and the Paris Opera. from Co lumbia University. He began his cello studies at age six at the Manhattan Apollonesque , founded by Julian Fifer School of Music. Later, his formative in 1999, restores and produces rarely musical and instrumental mentor was performed operatic and orchestral master Claus Adam, cellist of the Ju illiard String pieces thoughout Europe and the U.S. In Quartet. For years, Fifer performed at the partnership with La Fenice in 2000, Aspen Music Festival and Chamber Music Apollonesque produced the modern-day Northwest, and also gave concerto and premiere of Siroe at the Scuola Grande di string quartet performances with artists San Giovanni Evangelista to sold-out including violinists Vladimir Spivakov and houses and widespread critical acclaim. Oscar Shumsky. In 1972, Fifer created It followed in 2001 with an equally the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and as celebrated production of Cimarosa's cellist and executive director he guided L'Olympiade, the first opera performed on the ensemble's growth from a countercul period instruments in Venice's Teatro ture startup to the top echelon of the Malibran in over a century. As general concert and recording businesses. In management for artists and ensembles 1999, Fifer left Orpheus to start two new including the Venice Baroque Orchestra; initiatives, Apollonesque-a company x Who's Who
devoted to new artists and rarely of A Midsummer Night's Dream on the performed repertoire-and PollyRhythm polar Summer Solstice. Recent credits Productions, a music education company. include work at New York Theater Co-founded with Bruce Adolphe, Workshop with Martha Clarke and Charles PollyRhythm produces original music, Mee, The Washington Ballet at the books, and scripts to inspire and challenge Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center Theater, the imaginations of children and adults The Santa Fe Opera, and the American alike by linking musical concepts to Repertory Theater. In October, 2004, science, art, and daily life. Egan will help launch the first annual Venice Music Festival. Brett Egan (Managing Producer, Apollonesque), producer of opera and theater, received the Princess Grace Extras Nile M. Broady, Rohn Luckett, Award for Direction and the Louis Sudler Sekou Luke , Rob M. Morgan, Ernest G. Prize for outstanding achievement in the Perry, Adrain Washington, Booker T. arts at Harvard University, where he took Washington, Damion H. West his degree in Cultural Theory. He has also written a travelogue of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, an audio installation based on Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel, and two plays. While stationed with the National Science Foundation at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica in 1999, he exhumed the Roya l Terror Theater for a production Photo: Lepera Friends INTERNATIONAL FRIENDS OF THE VENICE MUSIC FESTIVAL
International Friends of the Venice Music Festival is a not-for-profit organization based in New York that supports the production of music and opera in Italy, and will help underwrite the first annual Venice Music Festival this Fall. As a central element of its mission, the IFVMF fosters artistic cooperation between the Festival and the creative community in the United States.
We wish to thank the following individuals and foundations whose generosity has profoundly assisted the production of Siroe at BAM:
Andrea & Eric Colombel James Draper Marino & Paola Golinelli Yveta & Malcolm Graff Jane Kitselman Donna Leon Lauren ce D. Lovett Miles Morgan Carole & Dick Rifkind Frederic Sartor Annaliese Soros Robert Wilk Francena T. Harrison Foundation Trust The Isaacson Draper Foundation Orion Foundation Save Venice, Inc. Fondazione Teatro La Fenice di Venezia Norman and Rosita Winston Foundation DanceAfrica 2004
A Dancer's Path: Ancient Traditions, Modern Trends
DanceAfrica is all about passing along and updating traditions, so it's fitting that the DanceAfrica Festival-entering its 27th season-is BAM's longest-running annual event. Now a Brooklyn Memorial Day weekend institution, it has grown and grown over the years. It encompasses not only mainstage performances by leading African dance and drumming companies from around the world, but also films, live music, a sculpture garden, master classes, and the outdoor bazaar. DanceAfrica 2004-A Dancer's Path: Ancient Traditions, Modern Trends, will be performed in BAM 's Howard Gilman Opera House from May 28-30, including Saturday and Sunday matinees.
DanceAfrica is inseparable from Baba Chuck Davis, the festival's founding elder and artistic director. In fact, the Dance Heritage Coalition inducted the two as one entry into their prestigious "America's Irreplaceable Dance Treasures: The First 100." This April, Dance Magazine presents Chuck Davis with an Outstanding Achievement Award at its annual awards ceremony. Davis reflected on the honor. "You go along doing what you've been placed on this earth to do, and if somebody recognizes it and says it's worthy of this award, I say 'thank you.' But I still have to teach a class tomorrow. I'm a community person, and we need strong artists going into the community, letting people in the community know they are respected, appreciated. So, yes-I received word, called my mama, and told her 'Mama-we just won another award! '"
This year's guest companies come from near and far. Hailing from Ghana, Africa is the Kusun Ensemble under the direction of Nii Tettey Tetteh. They have developed a new brand of music and dance, "Nokoko," an eclectic mixture of traditional instruments, contemporary beats, and African jazz. "Th eir traditional dances are as authentic as can be, but they are presented in a modern fashion ," notes Davis. "In keeping with this year's theme, we're taking all of these traditions and showing how they're used in contemporary cu ltures and society, not losing sight of the authenticity or heritage. " Th e BAM/Restoration DanceAfrica Ensemble has become a crowd favorite in its eight years of existence. The young dancers, who attend professional level classes organized by the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation , will work with Kusun to learn and carryon tradition.
30 DanceAfrica 2004
Bambara Drum and Dance Ensemble, based in the Bronx, recently returned from Guinea. The techniques they learned while there will be fused into their modern interpretation, in keeping with the festival's 2004 theme. Remarkably, Davis notes that "the original members of the Chuck Davis Dance Company are helping to form the Bambara Ensemble; the children of several members are now there."
From Richmond, Virginia is Ezibu Muntu African Dance Company, whose high energy multi-gener ational drumming and dancing performances exude a contagiously positive aura. By participating and performing, the troupe's young people state to their elders that they can be relied upon-an acceptance of roles and duties. Remarks Davis, "In traditional African cultures we learn by age group. If you're a toddler running around, you're expected to be a toddler running around. Each age group is given more and more responsibilities.
"We are using these concepts to develop individuality, to develop a strong sense for learning, for being involved, to heighten the desire to read," Davis continues. "First you have to be responsible to yourself. Who are you? What is your role in this society? I don't care who you are, or what your ethnic group is ... all parents want the best for their kids, all parents want them to understand their history, and all parents want to be there as that strong shoulder to cry on if neces sary."
The festival has evolved over the years to fill just about every nook at BAM and every hour of the waking day. Students in the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation's art program will install their artworks in the African Sculpture Garden located in the garden, and Kusun will conduct master classes, to be held at the Mark Morris Dance Center across the street. Music from Haiti is the focus of May's live music evening programs at BAMcafe Live, and at BAMcinematek in the BAM Rose Cinemas, a selection of films on the African Diaspora will screen throughout the weekend. Outside is the DanceAfrica Bazaar, where vendors of crafts, food, and finery gather with their wares, to the public's delight. As is tradition , the Council of Elders will visit the African burial grounds, and conduct a libation pouring ceremony to kick off the festival's proceedings.
Even as Chuck Davis is in the throes of preparing for this year's festival, he is planning a summer trip to Senegal and Gambia, with possible visits to Nigeria and Uganda, to watch companies perform with future DanceAfricas in mind. After BAM , the festival caravans to Washington, DC, and later on , to Chicago. Future domestic venues are possible down the road. "Eventually, DanceAfrica is going international ," posits Davis. World- you are forewarned. ~
Please check www.bam.org for festival schedule details.
Susan Yung, BAM's publications manager, writes frequently about the arts.
31 U pcom i ng BAM Events
BAM, Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum , and Steppenwolf Theatre Company present Homebody/Kabul By Tony Kushner Directed by Frank Galati BAM Harvey Theater May 11 - 15, 18-22,25-29,2004 at 7:30pm May 15,16,22,23,29 & 30 at 1pm BAMtaik with Tony Kushner on May 16 at 5:30pm
DaneeAfriea 2004 Artistic Director, Chuck Davis BAM Howard Gilman Opera House May 28 & 29, 2004 at 7:30pm May 29 at 2pm; May 30 at 3pm A Dancer's Path: Ancient Traditions, Modern Trends Lighting Designer, William H. Grant III The Bambara Drum and Dance Ensemble (NYC); Ezibu Muntu African Dance Company (Virginia); il'" Nii Tettey Tetteh and the Kusun Ensemble (Ghana); "E 0:: Shaka Zulu , guest artist (Louisiana); and BAM/Restoration DanceAfrica Ensemble. Additional events include the DanceAfrica Bazaar, adjacent to BAM; African Sculpture Garden by students in Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation's art program; Master Classes taught by the Kusun Ensemble at Mark Morris Dance Center, and programs at BAMcafe Live and BAMcinematek. See below, and check www.bam.org for up-to-the-minute info.
BAM cafe Live-May features music from Haiti Additional events on May 1 9pm E.U. @ BAM Celebration May 7, 14, 15, 22 & 29 May 8 9pm Emeline Michel Check www.bam.org for details. May 21 9pm p.l.e. No cover ($10 food/drink minimum) BAMcinematek BAMcinematek at BAM Rose Cinemas features daily screenings of classic American and foreign films, documentaries, retrospectives, and festivals.
Apr 28-May 2 Fourth Annual Brooklyn Jewish Film Festival Featuring Q&As, live performances, and panel discussions. May 3-5 What About Bill Murray? May 6-9 The Magic World of Czech Animation May 10-25 Asking Questions: Jerzy Stuhr May 12 Winter Kills Cinemachat with Elliott Stein May 14-23 The Films of Wong Kar Wai May 27-31 DanceAfrica 2004 Check www.bam.org or the BAMcinematek calendar for details.
For weekly schedules, call 718.636.4100 x2 . For tickets call 718.777.FILM (order by "name of movie") or visit www.bam.org. Programs and showtimes subject to change. Check within three days of screenings to confirm.