HOUSTON GRAND PRESENTS

Vinkensportor The Finch Opera

A Chamber Opera Music by David T. Little Libretto by

Sung in English with English Titles

7:30 P.M. CT | OCTOBER 23, 2020 Available on demand through November 22 Vinkensport or The Finch Opera

“Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera is a bitter-sweet comedy in one act, which explores obsession, desire, and the need to win, through the frame of an obscure Flemish folk sport, ‘finch-sitting.’” — David T. Little

Background

Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera, a one-act comic opera by Farinelli’s Trainer reveals to the audience that Farinelli actually David T. Little and Royce Vavrek, premiered in 2010 at the Bard died years ago: she competes with a CD player in her box so College Conservatory of Music. Vinkensport, or “finch-sitting,” pits that she always wins. This time, however, the win goes to Hans contestants—called “chaffinches”—against one another to see who Sachs’s Trainer. Atticus Finch’s Trainer ends the opera with a has the most melodious bird. When a bird makes a proper call (a beautifully poignant aria, promising to let his finch fly free—right “susk-e-wiet”), its owner receives a tally mark. The competitor with before Elton John’s Trainer returns for a final bit of drunken the most points wins. The sport can be traced back to as early as misbehavior. the 1500s. Fun Fact The Story The Flemish people still compete at vinkensport, as they have Six chaffinches introduce the sport of finch-sitting. Hans Sachs’s done for centuries. Allegations of cheating are common and Trainer, we learn, is high on cocaine. St. Francis’s Trainer and include testosterone use. There was a real-life instance of a Atticus Finch’s Trainer live next door to one another: she (the competitor installing a CD player in his box—he aroused suspicion former) is enamored with him (the latter), though she is married after his finch sang 725 susk-e-wiets in three matches in a row. to a man named Wulf who unabashedly cheats on her. Atticus Finch’s Trainer is thoroughly annoyed by his neighbor, however, and can’t wait to install blinds in his windows to retain his privacy.

We learn that Prince Gabriel III’s Trainer died, so his son has taken over as chaffinch for the bird—even though he seems to hate both the sport and his father. Elton John’s Trainer is an alco- holic and nymphomaniac who habitually cheats on her husband. Vinkensport or The Finch Opera

Cast Credits

Holy St. Francis’s Trainer Alicia Gianni ‡ Molly Dill Producing Director Prince Gabriel III of Belgium’s Trainer’s Son Kelly Markgraf * Daniel James Producer Farinelli’s Trainer Elena Villalón † Tonya McKinny Producer Hans Sachs’s Trainer Ricardo Garcia *† David T. Little Producer Sir Elton John’s Trainer Nicole Heaston ‡ Royce Vavrek Producer Atticus Finch’s Trainer Ryan McKinny ‡ Dale Edwards Producer Butler Richard Bado ‡ Ben Doyle Director of Photography & Editing * Houston Grand Opera debut Kristen Burke Production Manager † Houston Grand Opera Studio artist Jeremy Johnson English Subtitles ‡ Former Houston Grand Opera Studio artist Dotti Staker Hair & Makeup Clair Hummel Costume Realizer

Creative Team The entire staff of HGO contributed to the success of this production. For a full listing of the company’s staff, please Conductor Timothy Myers visit HGO.org/about-us/people. Co-Directors E. Loren Meeker and Ryan McKinny ‡ Performing artists, stage directors, and choreographers Musical Preparation Peter Pasztor ‡ and are represented by the American Guild of Musical Artists, Alex Munger, Dr. Saúl and the union for opera professionals in the United States. Ursula Balagura and Trey Yates Fellow † Orchestral musicians are represented by the Houston Stage Managers Annie Wheeler and Professional Musicians Association, Local #65-699, Brian August American Federation of Musicians.

† Houston Grand Opera Studio artist Wardrobe personnel provided by Theatrical Wardrobe ‡ Former Houston Grand Opera Studio artist Union, Local #896.

Guarantor Streaming Partner

Produced in association with Video Production Austin Opera and Keep the Music Going Productions

Audio Production Ryan Edwards and Shannon Smith

By arrangement with Hendon Music, Inc., a Boosey & Hawkes company, publisher and copyright owner. Vinkensport or The Finch Opera

HGO

Patrick Summers CLARINET Artistic and Music Director Sean Krissman*, Principal Margaret Alkek Williams Chair Eric Chi†

VIOLIN BASSOON Denise Tarrant*, Concertmaster Amanda Swain†, Principal Chloe Kim†, Assistant Concertmaster Michael Allard† Natalie Gaynor†, Principal, Second Violin Carrie Kauk†, Assistant Principal Second Violin FRENCH HORN Hae-a Lee-Barnes† Sarah Cranston†, Principal Miriam Belyatsky† Kimberly Penrod Minson†, Second Horn Anabel Detrick† Spencer Park† Rasa Kalesnykaite† Chavdar Parashkevov† TRUMPET Mary Reed*, Acting Principal Second Violin Tetsuya Lawson†, Principal Erica Robinson† Randal Adams† Linda Sanders† Oleg Sulyga† TROMBONE Sylvia VerMeulen† Thomas Hulten†, Principal Melissa Williams† Mark Holley†

VIOLA BASS TROMBONE Eliseo Rene Salazar*, Principal Vacant Lorento Golofeev†, Assistant Principal Gayle Garcia-Shepard† TUBA Erika Lawson† Mark Barton†, Principal Suzanne LeFevre† Dawson White† HARP Joan Eidman†, Principal CELLO Barrett Sills*, Principal TIMPANI Erika Johnson†, Assistant Principal Alison Chang†, Principal Ariana Nelson† Wendy Smith-Butler† PERCUSSION Steven Wiggs† Richard Brown†, Principal

DOUBLE BASS PIANO Dennis Whittaker†, Principal Peter Pasztor Erik Gronfor*, Acting Principal Carla Clark† ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL MANAGER Richard Brown FLUTE Vacant, Principal Henry Williford*, Acting Principal * = Core Member OBOE † = Core Member on leave for this production Elizabeth Priestly Siffert†, Principal Mayu Isom† Vinkensport or The Finch Opera

Who’s Who

DAVID T. LITTLE both for Beth Morrison Projects and Trinity Wall Street; and a tour (United States) of the world premiere ballet Crypto, created with choreographer COMPOSER Guillaume Côté and composer Mikael Karlsson. Vavrek is co-ar- tistic director of The Coterie, an opera-theater company founded David T. Little is “one of the most imaginative with Tony-nominated , and is an alum of young ” on the scene (The New Concordia University (Montreal), NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Yorker), with “a knack for overturning musical Writing Program, and American Lyric Theater’s Composer/Librettist conventions” (). His Dog Days, JFK, and Development Program. Vinkensport (librettos by Royce Vavrek), and Soldier Songs have been widely acclaimed, “prov[ing] beyond any doubt that opera has both a relevant present and a bright future” (The New York TIMOTHY MYERS Times). Little’s music has been presented by the LA Philharmonic, (United States) Carnegie Hall, LA Opera, Park Avenue Armory, Lincoln Center CONDUCTOR Festival, Kennedy Center, Holland Festival, Opera de Montréal, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Little is currently composing a new Internationally acclaimed for his eloquence, monodrama for Grammy Award–winning Karim Sulayman and energy and command on the podium, Timothy Alarm Will Sound, based on Garth Greenwell’s celebrated novel What Myers is driven by a wide breadth of reper- Belongs to You, as well as a new solo cello work for virtuoso Matt toire and projects. Myers has a long relationship with HGO, where he Haimovitz; he is also developing a new work commissioned by the has most recently conducted West Side Story (2018), and the world / Lincoln Center Theater new work program. He premieres of O Columbia (2015) and A Coffin in Egypt (2014). He is published by Boosey & Hawkes. opened his 2019–20 season to rave reviews at Ireland’s Wexford Festival, conducting a new production of Massenet’s Don Quichotte. Artistic Advisor to Austin Opera since 2018, Myers recently also ROYCE VAVREK assumed the title of the Sarah and Ernest Butler Principal Conductor (Canada) and in spring of 2021 will lead two concerts and a production of LIBRETTIST Tosca. Other upcoming engagements include debuts at Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Theatre of St Louis, and returns to the North Carolina Royce Vavrek is a librettist and lyricist whose Symphony and Atlanta Opera. Highlights of Myers’s 2018–19 season opera Angel’s Bone with composer included his debut with conducting Bizet’s The Pearl was awarded the for Music. Fishers, the world premiere of The Fix (Joel Puckett/Eric Simonson) He made his HGO debut in 2015 with HGOco’s world premiere of for his debut at Minnesota Opera, and (/ O Columbia (composer Gregory Spears), followed by HGO world Mark Campbell) for his debut at Austin Opera. A protégé of Lorin premiere The House Without a Christmas Tree in 2017 (composer Maazel, Myers was the first associate conductor of the Castleton ). He is known for his diverse collaborations with Festival, where he led multiple symphonic and opera performances composers David T. Little (Dog Days, Am I Born, JFK, Vinkensport); over his tenure. His concert work has led him to work with Ricky Ian Gordon (27); (Song from the Uproar, internationally, including the American, Jerusalem, Beijing NCPA, Breaking the Waves, Proving Up); Joshua Schmidt (Midwestern North Carolina, Portland (ME), Toledo, and Chautauqua Symphonies, Gothic); Paola Prestini (The Hubble Cantata, Silent Light); Matt Marks as well as the Malaysian, Johannesburg, and Brooklyn Philharmonic (A Song for Wade [This is Not That Song], Strip Mall); Orchestras. In 2017, Myers concluded his tenure as the Artistic (Knoxville: Summer of 2015); and Luna Pearl Woolf (Jacqueline). and Music Director of North Carolina Opera where his repertoire Upcoming projects include The Listeners for the Norwegian National highlights included Wagner’s Das Rheingold, Act II of Tristan und Opera and Opera Philadelphia and Lincoln in the Bardo for The Isolde and Act I of Die Walküre, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, and Metropolitan Opera, both with Missy Mazzoli; Melancholia for the Dvorak’s Rusalka; most recently, he returned to conduct Act III of Royal Swedish Opera, So We Will Vanish for Anne Sofie von Otter Wagner’s Siegfried in November 2019. and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, and Fanny and Alexander for La Monnaie, all with Mikael Karlsson; Agnes with Daníel Bjarnason for the Icelandic Opera; a soon-to-be-announced project with composer David T. Little for the Met/LCT development program; Broadview Christ with Julian Wachner and Adoration with Mary Kouyoumdjian, Vinkensport or The Finch Opera

E. LOREN MEEKER with Plácido Domingo, and Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville); (United States) Santa Fe Opera (Oppenheimer in Doctor Atomic and Jokanaan in CO-DIRECTOR Salome); Washington National Opera; Staatstheater Wiesbaden; English National Opera; Semperoper Dresden; Hamburg State Opera; For the HGO Digital 2020–21 season, E. Deutsche Oper Berlin; Deutsche Oper am Rhein; Teatro Colón; and Loren Meeker also will direct The Impresario. many other companies. Meeker is a well-established stage director, having received critical acclaim for recent productions of Don Giovanni (Washington National Opera), Madama Butterfly (Florida NICOLE HEASTON Grand Opera and Portland Opera), Show Boat (Co-Director, The (United States) Glimmerglass Festival), The Cunning Little Vixen (The Glimmerglass SOPRANO—SIR ELTON JOHN’S TRAINER Festival), Daughter of the Regiment (The Atlanta Opera), Rigoletto and Die Fledermaus (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Carmen (Washington HGO Studio alumna Nicole Heaston also National Opera and Madison Opera), Die Fledermaus (San Francisco will appear in HGO Digital productions The Opera), La Pietra del Paragone (Wolf Trap Opera), La bohème (The Impresario and Giving Voice. Heaston has Glimmerglass Festival), Manon Lescaut (Singapore Lyric Opera), and performed with opera companies throughout the world, including the Manon (Teatro Colon). In addition to her career as a stage director, Metropolitan Opera, , Dallas Opera, Washington Meeker is also the newly appointed General & Artistic Director of National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Semperoper Dresden, Deutsche OPERA San Antonio. Her history with HGO includes directing The Oper am Rhein in Dusseldorf, and the Glyndebourne Festival in Pearl Fishers, associate directing Show Boat and Florencia en el England. Praised for her “warm supple soprano” (Houston Chronicle) Amazonas, choreographing Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni, and for her “radiant” and “handsomely resonant voice” (The New directing a site-specific Trial by Jury, and four world premieres York Times), Heaston regularly appears in her hometown, Houston. with HGOco: A Way Home, From My Mother’s Mother, Past the She was most recently seen at HGO in the first Giving Voice Checkpoints, and River of Light. (2020) recital, making her role debut as Mimì in La bohème (2018), and performing Adina in The Elixir of Love (2016). Other HGO roles include Pamina in The Magic Flute (2015, 1997); Gilda in perfor- RYAN MCKINNY mances of Rigoletto (2001); Zerlina in Don Giovanni (1999); Susanna (United States) in The Marriage of Figaro (1998); the title role in the world premiere of CO-DIRECTOR Jackie O (1997); Mrs. Hayes in Susannah and St. Settlement in Four Saints in Three Acts (1996); and performances of Juliet in Romeo HGO Studio alumnus Ryan McKinny also and Juliet (1995). Equally active as a concert and recital soloist, performs the role of Atticus Finch’s Trainer Heaston has performed with orchestras throughout the United States, in Vinkensport and will co-direct the HGO including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Digital production Bon Appétit! this season. His past performances Orchestra, and National Symphony Orchestra for the Kennedy for HGO include his role debut as Don Giovanni in Don Giovanni Center’s 11th annual gala. (2019); Gunther in Götterdämmerung (2017); and Donner in Das Rheingold, Escamillo in Carmen, and the title role in Rigoletto (all in 2014). The 2019–20 season saw McKinny make his role and ALICIA GIANNI house debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Joseph De Rocher in (United States) and Terrence McNally’s Dead Man Walking, featuring a SOPRANO—HOLY ST. FRANCIS’S TRAINER new production by Leonard Foglia, before performing at Washington National Opera and returning to the Lyric Opera of Chicago as the HGO Studio alumna Alicia Gianni, whose title role in Don Giovanni. He has appeared at the Metropolitan performances have been described as Opera (Biterolf in Tannhäuser, Speaker in The Magic Flute, Kothner “charming, impressive,” and “powerfully real,” in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Lieutenant Ratcliffe in Billy has enjoyed success on both the operatic and concert stages. Budd); Dutch National Opera (debut in Pierre Audi’s production of Recent engagements include the role of Rosalba in Florencia en el Parsifal); Los Angeles Opera (Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Amazonas and Giannetta in L’elisir d’amore with HGO, and Adina in Figaro, Stanley Kowalski to Renée Fleming’s Blanche DuBois in L’elisir d’amore with Opera Birmingham. Other roles with HGO have Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire, Leone in Handel’s Tamerlano included include Beryl in the world premiere of André Previn’s Brief Vinkensport or The Finch Opera

Encounter, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Rooster/Jay in The Cunning the HGO Digital 2020–21 season. He recently completed his master’s Little Vixen, Papagena in The Magic Flute, Musetta in La bohème, degree in voice at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) and Petra in A Little Night Music, among other roles. Her operatic and holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of the Pacific. He engagements include Despina in Così fan tutte and Fortuna and was a studio artist at Wolf Trap Opera, where he covered Roméo in Giunone in Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in patria with Wolf Trap Opera and the Roméo et Juliette and Giocondo in La pietra del paragone, and a title role in Suor Angelica at the summer festival in Torre del Lago. voice fellow with Music Academy of the West, where he sang Jenik Gianni’s appearances on the concert platform have included special in The Bartered Bride. Recent roles include Lamplighter/Drunkard in performances of HGO’s The Passenger Series, performing as the The Little Prince and Fenton in Falstaff. As a first-year apprentice at soprano soloist in Jake Heggie’s Farewell Auschwitz, and songs by Santa Fe Opera, he covered Parpignol in La bohème and sang Fenton/ Viktor Ullmann in From Terezín. Other concerts include Brahms’s Normanno in the Apprentice Scenes Night. Recently, Garcia won the Requiem and Mozart’s C Minor Mass with the Hickory, North Carolina San Francisco District of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Choral Society and Orchestra, and Mozart’s Requiem with the Palm Auditions and advanced to the region finals in Los Angeles. Beach Symphony, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, and Florida West Coast Symphony. KELLY MARKGRAF (United States) ELENA VILLALÓN BASS-—PRINCE GABRIEL III OF (United States) BELGIUM’S TRAINER’S SON Dian and Harlan Stai Fellow SOPRANO—FARINELLI’S TRAINER Kelly Markgraf has been hailed by the New York Times for his “heart-stirring” singing and A second-year HGO Studio artist, Elena “charismatic” stage presence. In the summer of 2017 he created Villalón also will perform the roles of Amy in the role of Paul Jobs in Mason Bates’s The (R)evolution of Steve The Snowy Day Project and Dew Fairy and Sandman in Hansel and Jobs at the Santa Fe Opera. He also created the role of Hannah- Gretel during the HGO Digital 2020–21 season. Last season, she Before in Laura Kaminsky’s transgender opera As One, one of the performed the roles of Page in Rigoletto; Woman in selected perfor- most frequently performed new operas in the United States today. mances of the world premiere of El Milagro del Recuerdo/The Miracle Markgraf was engaged to sing Dancaire in HGO’s production of of Remembering; and Inez in La favorite. Villalón was the Audience Carmen (canceled) and make his South American debut with the Saõ Choice Award winner in HGO’s 2019 Eleanor McCollum Competition Paulo Symphony in Mozart’s Requiem (canceled); he is engaged to Concert of Arias and a Grand Finals winner of the 2019 Metropolitan join the Tucson Symphony as the bass soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Opera National Council Auditions. She is a recent graduate of the Symphony. Markgraf has enjoyed collaboration with some of the University of Cincinnati College - Conservatory of Music (CCM), has world’s most esteemed conductors, including Gustavo Dudamel, been a vocal fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, and is an alumna Giancarlo Guerrero, Michael Tilson Thomas, and , of HGO’s 2018 Young Artist Vocal Academy. In summer 2019, she and has performed with the nation’s leading symphony orchestras, performed the role of Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro at Opera including the , Boston Symphony, and the Los Theatre of Saint Louis as a Gerdine Young Artist and returned to the Angeles Philharmonic. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut Tanglewood Music Center as a soprano fellow. In the summer of 2020, as Bernardo in a live concert recording of West Side Story, which was she was set to make her Santa Fe Opera debut as First Wood Sprite in later nominated for a Grammy Award. Rusalka, but this was canceled due to COVID-19.

RYAN MCKINNY RICARDO GARCIA (United States) (United States) BASS-BARITONE—ATTICUS FINCH’S TRAINER Michelle Beale and Dick Anderson/ Dr. Ellen R. Gritz and Mr. Milton D. Rosenau Jr. Fellow For information about Ryan McKinny, see above. TENOR—HANS SACHS’S TRAINER

A first-year HGO Studio artist, Ricardo Garcia also will appear in The Snowy Day Project and Suite Española during