sign in sign up
<<
Home , Camille Zamora, Claque, Farsa, Fierrabras (opera), Francesco Benucci, Grand opera

ON SITE PRESENTS

JUNE 14-16, 2016 632 ON HUDSON

TABLE OF CONTENTS: CAST, PRODUCTION TEAM & ORCHESTRA | PROGRAM NOTE

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES | ABOUT ON SITE OPERA | UPCOMING PRODUCTIONS

SUPPORT ON SITE OPERA | ON SITE OPERA DONORS | SPECIAL THANKS

@ONSITEOPERA

WWW.OSOPERA.ORG

Jesse Blumberg as Figaro at 632 on Hudson. Photo by Rebecca Fay.

The North American Premiere of MARCOS PORTUGAL’s (1762-1830) LA PAZZA GIORNATA O SIA IL MATRIMONIO DI FIGARO (THE CRAZY DAY OR ), 1799 by based on the play by BEAUMARCHAIS

Sung in an English translation by GILLY FRENCH and JEREMY GRAY, with dialogue translated and adapted by JOAN HOLDEN

Presented in partnership with The New School’s Mannes College of Music and The Portuguese Consulate in New York.

CAST (in order of vocal appearance) FIGARO Jesse Blumberg, SUSANNA Jeni Houser,

MARCELLINA Margaret Lattimore, mezzo-soprano

DON BARTOLO David Langan, -baritone

CHERUBINO Melissa Wimbish, soprano

COUNT ALMAVIVA David Blalock,

DON BASILIO Ryan Kuster, bass-baritone

COUNTESS Camille Zamora, soprano

ANTONIO/GUSMANO Antoine Hodge, bass baritone

CECCHINA Ginny Weant, soprano PRODUCTION TEAM

MUSIC DIRECTOR Geoffrey McDonald

STAGE DIRECTOR Eric Einhorn

SPACE CONSULTANT & PROP DESIGNER Cameron Anderson

COSTUME DESIGNER Haley Lieberman

LIGHTING DESIGNER Shawn Kaufman

HAIR & MAKEUP DESIGNER Gabrielle Vincent

PRODUCER Jessica Kiger

PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER Melissa Bondar

ASST. CONDUCTOR/PIANIST Dmitry Glivinskiy

ASST. COSTUME DESIGNER Matthew Pederson

ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER Kailie White

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Olivia Schechtman

LOGO DESIGNER Derek Bishop

ORCHESTRA VIOLIN Victoria Paterson

CLARINET Nick Gallas

OBOE Keve Wilson

CELLO Ali Jones

ACCORDION Will Holshouser

CLASSICAL GUITAR Meliset Abreu

PORTUGUESE GUITAR José Luis Iglésias

Orchestration by José Luis Iglésias and Geoffrey McDonald Critical edition prepared by members of the Marcos Portugal Project, under the supervision of David Cranmer, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal. PROGRAM NOTES

A NOTE ON THE ORCHESTRATION By Geoffrey McDonald

An intimate, site-specific production such as On Site Opera’s The Marriage of Figaro one necessitates a lean and limber instrumental ensemble. We were, therefore, faced with the challenge of rendering the grand strokes and bold gestures of a bona fide 18th- century musical comedy with reduced forces. Rather than simply miniaturize Marcos Portugal's original orchestra, we opted, instead, to re-arrange the work for a band comprised of orchestral instruments (violin, cello, oboe, and clarinet) alongside instruments found in a traditional Portuguese “fado” ensemble (accordion, guitar, and the distinctive, mordant-toned Portuguese guitarra). We sought to honor the composer's elegance of musical phrase and crisp comic timing while, at the same time, evoking his heritage and imbuing this new orchestral “character” with its own distinctive personality. The result is an unconventional and unique orchestration that is tailor-made for this production and this space.

Jeni Houser as Susanna at 632 on Hudson. Photo by Pavel Antonov. LA PAZZA GIORNATA O SIA IL MATRIMONIO DI FIGARO By David Cranmer

Introduction In the 21st century we are accustomed to the notion of a repertoire of operatic works drawn from the past, of recognised interest and merit, that have come to constitute a ‘canon’. Were we to go back to 18th-century Italy, we would find a very different picture. There was no repertoire or canon as such. were composed and performed, one after another. Some would be successes. This would mean that they would then be copied (by hand) and performed in other theatres in other Italian cities and possibly in other European cities that had Italian theatres, such as , , Madrid, , Munich, , Prague, St. Petersburg, and so on. Others were fiascos and never heard again. More rarely a work would be heard in just a few theatres before being consigned to oblivion. Success or failure depended on many factors beside the actual quality of the work. Much depended on the singers, their capabilities and how far they themselves believed in and championed the works they performed. Equally often, however, it depended on that great unforeseeable: the whim of the audience and claques, paid or not to cheer or make a commotion. But even successful operas would, as a rule, have only a relatively brief period of popularity, lasting ten or perhaps twenty years (rarely more) before disappearing to make way for new waves of popular works. PROGRAM NOTES CONTINUED It is also a characteristic of the ‘canon’ repertoire that we have gradually grown used to over the past two hundred years that it does not admit within its midst more than one opera on the same theme. Thus operas that were popular at one time have had to give way to others, as in the case of Paisiello’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, replaced in public affection by Rossini’s, and Rossini’s by Verdi’s. Similarly, despite the recognised qualities and success of Leoncavallo’s La bohème, it gradually lost ground to Puccini’s.

Sadly, the ‘other’ Barber, or Otello or Bohème are too often seen now as curiosities rather than the works of considerable dramatic and musical merit that they are in their own right. And yet it would be quite wrong to criticise this curiosity, since it is precisely this that leads to revivals of neglected operas, hidden by the shadows of the great pillars of the ‘canon’: by way of example, the many operas, of which ’s once popular version, in particular, has received justified attention, and the Fidelio operas – Mayr’s L’amor conjugale and Paer’s Leonora, which have both been revived in recent decades. It is in this spirit of allowing the ‘other’ to speak that we may now enjoy the Marriage of Figaro by the Portuguese composer Marcos Portugal, first performed in on Boxing Day, 1799.

The original play and its first operatic adaptation The career of the dramatist, musician, pamphleteer, spy, arms dealer – and profound believer in true justice – Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-99) was by any standards remarkable. Having achieved considerable success with his comedy Le barbier de Séville, premiered in Paris in February 1775, he rapidly conceived a sequel, as we know from the partial outRE: of the plot that he included in the first official printed edition of Le barbier. This sequel, La folle journée ou Le mariage de Figaro (The follies of a day or The Marriage of Figaro, as the title was first translated into English) was probably finished as early as 1778 and was already accepted for staging at the Comédie Française in Paris in 1781. However, owing to its ‘political’ content, it took six applications as well as lobbying from court sources for it finally to receive approval from the censors and King Louis XVI.

The fact that it had for so long been banned guaranteed that when the play did eventually come to be premiered, on 27 April 1784, a succès de scandale was guaranteed. The success it had, however, went far beyond this, for in the weeks that followed it had an uninterrupted run of 68 performances. It was quickly printed in pirated editions and quickly spread abroad. It was performed in English in London at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, on 21 February 1785, less than a year after the original production. A production was also planned in Vienna that same month, but, once again because of the ‘political’ content, the Emperor Joseph II refused to authorise its staging without substantial cuts and the project was abandoned. Curiously, he allowed it to be printed without alteration later the same year.

What then, was this dangerous content that so worried the French and Austrian monarchs? Indeed, it is not difficult to understand. Even reading the play in a 21st-century democracy, we are impressed by its daring in relation to injustices and immorality of various kinds. Its virulent satire with regard to the functioning of the courts, for example, which occupies much of Act III, reminds us of the corruption and caprice that were endemic in the judiciary of the playwright’s time, something from which he had personally suffered. However, it must certainly have been some of the speeches of Figaro (the author’s mouthpiece) that caused greatest concern. At one point, for example, he makes a scathing attack on the hypocrisy of politicians – it makes us laugh still today, because politicians have not changed.

Coming but a few years before the , as it did, we, looking back with the wisdom of hindsight, cannot but be struck by Figaro’s long soliloquy in the final act, particularly what he has to say about the Count’s attempts to seduce Susanna: […] No, Count, you shan’t have her…, no, you shan’t. Since you are a great lord, you think you’re a great genius! … nobility, fortune, position; all this makes you proud. What did you do to earn so much? Put yourself to the trouble of being born, and nothing more! Otherwise, a man just like any other. It is not that Beaumarchais wished to change the world order – if we can accept what he tells us in his extensive preface to the first edition. He simply wished to be critical of abuses wherever they might be. The players of this drama do not seek to deceive the Count as such; they are forced to use this as a strategy to put an end to his own deceit. And although he has, necessarily, to be humbled, there is no hint of any contempt for him, only a gladness that morality and justice have prevailed. PROGRAM NOTES CONTINUED The idea of turning Beaumarchais’ play into an opera seems to have come from the then Viennese court poet, the Abbé Lorenzo da Ponte (1749-1838). His choice of subject matter and source would have been motivated not only by Beaumarchais’ play in itself, whose literary and dramatic qualities are exceptional and whose notoriety gave it further advantages, but also by the recent success of Il barbiere di Siviglia, in the version by Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816). This opera, composed for the Russian court at St. Petersburg in 1782, had received its Viennese premiere under the composer’s direction the following year. It was one of the most successful operas of its time continuing to receive performances throughout Europe till at least the second decade of the 19th century (when it was eclipsed by Rossini’s opera) and in Vienna it had been greeted with the same enthusiasm as elsewhere.

Da Ponte tells us in his Memoirs of how he gained the Emperor’s authorisation to adapt the text, the condition being, unsurprisingly, that he expurgate it of its ‘dangerous’ tendencies. This he did, primarily by reducing Act III (the court scene) to the minimum necessary for the sense of the plot and by cutting all of Figaro’s more controversial statements. The composer, (1756-91), is also believed to have had a considerable hand in certain aspects of the libretto (as he usually did), in particular the tendency to introduce characters in relation to one another, through duets and bigger ensembles rather than through solo and . Librettist and composer were also a particularly well-suited partnership (though neither apparently recognised this) in their preference for concision and intensity of feeling.

Le nozze di Figaro was first performed on 1st May 1786. It survived the attempts by a claque of Paisiello supporters to create uproar and by the third performance, its success was guaranteed. Nevertheless, it only received nine performances and it only returned to the Viennese stage in 1789, when the composer made a number of revisions. Although the opera spread to other cities in the German-speaking world, it remained virtually unknown outside until after 1810. In particular, it was, to all intents and purposes, unknown in Italy.

The composer Marcos Portugal Like a number of other composers, Marcos Portugal (1762-1830) was a far more successful composer in his own lifetime than Mozart was. Indeed, his international fame during the last decade of the eighteenth century and first of the nineteenth was greater than that of any Portuguese composer before or since. He had received his training (as singer, organist and composer) from the age of nine at the Patriarchal Seminary in Lisbon, like virtually all musicians in the Portuguese capital. By the time he was twenty he had already come to royal attention, in particular to that of Prince João, who, in due course, owing to the death of his elder brother, was to become Prince Regent and later King João VI of Portugal. The composer was to remain in the latter’s service for some 40 years. At some point in the mid 1780s, Marcos Portugal was appointed music director of the new Teatro do Salitre. It was here that he began his career as a composer of dramatic music, providing musical numbers for the one-act spoken comic entremezes (intermezzi) and writing three full-length Portuguese operas.

In September 1792, under royal patronage, the composer set sail for Italy. During the following eight years (apart from a brief visit to Lisbon in 1795), he rapidly gained acclaim as an opera composer in various Italian cities. His first success, in the Spring of 1793, was Le confusioni della somiglianza, o siano I due gobbi, an opera buffapremiered at the Teatro Pallacorda, . Although two of his serious operas, Il ritorno di Serse (Florence, Teatro Pallacorda, 1797) and Fernando nel Messico (Venice, Teatro San Benedetto, 1798), were well received, it was above all at the Teatro San Moisè, Venice, in the comic genres, that he scored his greatest triumphs: Lo spazzacamino principe (, 1794), La donna di genio volubile (, 1796), Le donne cambiate (farsa, 1797) and La maschera fortunata (farsa, 1798).

In 1800 Marcos Portugal returned to Lisbon, where he was immediately appointed of the Teatro de São Carlos. Here, up to Carnival 1807, he wrote 12 opere serie, mostly for Angelica Catalani as , and the , L’oro non compra amore, for Elisabetta Gafforini. By 1807 he was also increasingly in demand for sacred works, to which he thereafter largely devoted himself. In November that year the French invaded Portugal, occupying Lisbon for just over 9 months. The royal family, prepared for such an eventuality, had left for Brazil a matter of hours before their arrival, transferring the Portuguese capital to . Marcos Portugal PROGRAM NOTES CONTINUED was in due course summoned, reaching Rio in June 1811. Here he took up the posts of teacher to the royal princes and princesses, and official royal composer. Although the royal family returned to Portugal in 1821, he remained in Brazil, becoming a Brazilian citizen following independence the next year. He died in Rio de Janeiro in 1830.

The opera La pazza giornata o sia il matrimonio di Figaro We have no information on the genesis of this other Marriage of Figaro apart from what we can surmise from the surviving manuscript scores and the printed libretto edition for the premiere. The latter informs us, among other things, that the librettist was Gaetano Rossi, based on Beaumarchais’ play, that the composer was Marcos Portugal and that it was first performed at the Teatro San Benedetto, Venice, in the Carnival season of 1800, though the edition was printed in 1799. This last point means that the opening night must been at the very beginning of the season, since the Carnival season normally began on 26th December, going on to Shrove Tuesday of the following year.

Gaetano Rossi (1774-1855) was a young poet, who had been writing opera libretti for just a few years, mostly for Venetian theatres, and particularly for the Bavarian composer Johann Simon Mayr (1763-1845). In the course of his long career he was to write more than 120 libretti, including Tancredi (Venice, 1813) and Semiramide (Venice, 1823) for Rossini, Il crociato in Egitto (Venice, 1824) for Meyerbeer, Il giuramento ( 1837) for Mercadante and Linda di Chamonix (Vienna, 1842) for Donizetti. He was competent, without being exceptional, more experimental than conservative, though working firmly within the conventions of his time.

Rossi’s libretto has much in common with Da Ponte’s, to which he must have had access. This is altogether unsurprising. It was entirely usual for libretti to circulate independently of the corresponding music. Since they were normally printed, there were many copies and they would be obtained by other theatres, precisely to provide their own librettists with a point of departure for versions of their own. This was not plagiarism as we understand it, but simply part of the normal process and practice of the time. Although Rossi’s wording follows Da Ponte’s quite closely in some places, his chief debt is in the way he by and large follows Da Ponte’s decisions as to what to cut of Beaumarchais’ play, differing substantially only by reinstating certain scenes towards the end of the opera. Thus many of the arias that are familiar to us from Da Ponte and Mozart have their equivalents for the same character in the same place in Rossi’s text. This is perhaps most striking in the case of the great sextet in which Susanna learns that Marcellina and Bartolo are Figaro’s mother and father. We also find that the Countess has a “Dove siete, o bei momenti”, not in the position of “Dove sono i bei momenti” in Mozart’s opera, something Da Ponte had added to Beaumarchais’ text, but brought forward to the position of “Porgi amor”, another addition by Da Ponte. Rossi could only have done this if he had had Da Ponte’s libretto available as a model.

However, there are important changes too to the libretto. The reinstatement of certain sections of Beaumarchais’ original has already been mentioned. More immediately noticeable, however, is the difference in the number of acts. The Da Ponte/Mozart version is in four acts, almost certainly out of homage to Paisiello’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, which also, most exceptionally, had four. The norm in Italy at this time had been shifting. Up to about 1780 for full-length comic operas three acts were usual, but the third act had been shrinking to the point that increasingly it was cut altogether. Thus, by the early 1780s a two-act model was rapidly becoming usual. Rossi, unsurprisingly, did not hesitate to recast Da Ponte’s four-act text in two acts, with Da Ponte’s Act II finale serving as the basis for his own Act I finale. In general terms, Rossi created a ‘smoother’, less terse and less intense text, creating the verbal structure that would enable the composer to write music that would appeal to an Italian, rather than Viennese audience.

La pazza giornata o sia il matrimonio di Figaro was the last comic opera that Marcos Portugal composed in Italy. While on the one hand, it follows the usual conventions of the opera buffa of its time – the generally rigid division of and (or duet or other ensemble) and the careful tailoring of the vocal parts to suit the voices of the available singers – it also demonstrates how his own style had developed in the few years he was in Italy. There are a number of features which have moved far away from the models of Paisiello and Cimarosa (1749-1801) that he had inherited and which we would nowadays associate more with Rossini, whose operatic career began only ten years later. PROGRAM NOTES CONTINUED The stupefaction ensemble in the Act II finale, as one by one the characters reveal themselves, between modulations that can only be described as magical, is by no means unique among Marcos Portugal’s output. Yet these ensembles occur almost two decades before those in Rossini’s Barbiere and La Cenerentola.

There are also certain musical points that have to be made in relation to the comparison we must inevitably make with Mozart’s opera. First and most important, if we except features that are attributable to a libretto taking Da Ponte’s text as a starting point and conventional types of setting that Mozart followed just like any other composer, Marcos Portugal’s treatment is rather different. Given, as we have seen, that Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro was, to all intents and purposes, unknown in Italy, it would be most surprising if Portugal had had access to the score. Even if he had, it would not have provided a good model for the expectations of an Italian audience. Mozart’s arias are too concise and are limited in the opportunities they provide singers to show off their voices. Mozart’s accompaniments are far too ‘busy’ – there is far too much counterpoint. As the Emperor Joseph is reported to have said, there were too many notes. Portugal’s approach is altogether lighter. For him, the principal aim of the accompaniment was to create an ambience and to provide a support for the voices. It was above all the voices that had to convey sentiment. It was also the voices available to him that would have determined many of his compositional choices.

When Mozart composed Le nozze di Figaro, he had two first class , and Luisa Laschi, available to him and this would have weighed heavily in the relative importance given to the roles of Susanna and the Countess, respectively (and explains why Da Ponte added aria texts for the Countess that were not drawn from Beaumarchais). Marcos Portugal, on the other hand, had one particularly good soprano in Teresa Strinasacchi, for whom he wrote the role of Susanna, and only a weaker singer (though competent for secondary roles), Rosa Canzoni, for the Countess. Thus in his opera Susanna’s part makes demands of the singer on a completely different scale from those of the other female roles, coming to a peak in the sextet and her Act II aria. As for the men, whereas Mozart had two fine in Stefano Mandini and Francesco Benucci, as the Count and Figaro, respectively, but no outstanding tenor (the Irishman was fine for the secondary roles, Basilio and Don Curzio, but not of the same calibre as the baritones), Marcos Portugal was blessed with one of the leading of his generation, Domenico Mombelli, who was cast as the Count. The composer already knew Mombelli’s voice from Fernando nel Messico – the title role was written for him – and they were to work together for several years in Lisbon, following Portugal’s return to his homeland. With his tenor used up as the Count, Basilio (and Don Gusmano, the equivalent of Don Curzio) thus became a baritone (Giovanni Battista Brocchi). Portugal’s Figaro was Luigi Raffanelli and his Cherubino Giulia Ronchetti. The smaller roles, with no solo arias, were played by Lucia Poleti (Marcellina), Carlo Giura (Bartolo), Domenico de Angelis (Antonio) and Maria Marcolini (Cecchina = Barbarina).

We do not know the details of how La pazza giornata was received, but we do know that it had 7 performances. This means that it was certainly not a flop, even if it was not an overwhelming triumph. On the other hand, there were no known revivals until it was taken up by the Bampton Classical Opera in England, in 2010, and successfully repeated by the same group at the Buxton Festival in 2012. And yet the music, as we would expect of a successful composer, is never less than competent and is often inspired. Its neglect is probably due to the combination of various circumstances: the need for three outstanding principals (Figaro, Susanna and the Count), the fact that Marcos Portugal left Italy little over a year later, and, of course, at a later stage (from the 2nd decade of the 19th century), the triumph of Mozart’s canonical opera.

The sources and the present edition La pazza giornata o sia il matrimonio di Figaro survives in two manuscript scores, both of them copies (the autograph original is lost), one belonging to the Paris Conservatoire, now preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the other at the Conservatorio , Florence. Substantial excerpts are also to be found at the Austrian National Library, Vienna. There are at least two surviving copies of the printed libretto: at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia, Rome (in the Carvalhaes collection) and at the library of the Conservatorio , Bologna.

PROGRAM NOTES CONTINUED The critical edition used for the present production took as its principal musical source the copy at Florence, for the simple reason that, apart from one recitative in Act II, it is complete. It is, however, a problematic source in that it contains many errors. On the basis of internal evidence, this score was copied by a German speaker, probably Austrian – Venice was under Austrian occupation at this time. He was also either less experienced or simply somewhat careless. The Paris copy, on the other hand, is much more accurate and was clearly copied by an Italian, but it is incomplete. It lacks the overture, comes to an abrupt halt near the end of the Act I finale and resumes only at the recitative preceding Figaro’s Act II aria. It has been used, therefore, for the clarification of doubtful readings in the Florence copy and the correction of errors. It is fortunate too that it resumes where it does in Act II, since the recitative preceding Figaro’s Act II aria is missing at Florence. It has therefore been supplied from the Paris copy. The printed libretto has been used to clarify readings of the word text and to supply all the stage directions, which, as was the custom, are not to be found in the scores.

The opera was transcribed by a group of young Portuguese and Brazilian musicians and musicologists, coordinated by the present writer, working to the editing norms of the Marcos Portugal project. This is one of the projects of the Centro de Estudos da Sociologia e Estética Musical (CESEM) at the Universidade Nova, Lisbon, Portugal, and was funded by the Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT).

-David Cranmer

David Cranmer is an English musicologist resident in Portugal since 1981 who teaches at the Musicology Department of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa. His principal research interests involve opera and theatre music in Portugal and Brazil in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Among others, he has directed research projects on the Teatro de São Carlos, Lisbon, and on the Portuguese composer Marcos Portugal. He is researcher responsible for Caravelas – Study group for the history of Luso-Brazilian music, which currently has about 100 members from Brazil, Portugal, Spain, the UK, Switzerland, Italy and the USA. As well as publishing books of his own and in co-authorship, he is editor of Mozart, Marcos Portugal e o seu tempo (Lisboa: Edições Colibri/CESEM, 2010) and Marcos Portugal: uma reavaliação (Lisboa: Edições Colibri/CESEM, 2012).

CAST BIOGRAPHIES

American tenor David Blalock (Count Almaviva) is is becoming widely known for his beautiful lyric voice and widely ranging repertoire. He begins the 2015-2016 season as Ricky in the world premiere of Jeremy Howard Beck’s The Long Walk at Opera . Other current engagements include Handel’s Messiah and Pong (Turandot) with the Pacific Symphony, a Viennese concert with the Richmond Symphony, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy at UN Assembly Hall with the Shanghai Symphony, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well in Paris with Performance Santa Fe, a return to Virginia Opera as the Steersman in The Flying Dutchman, and Toby in Sweeney Todd at Mill City Summer Opera. In the 2014- 2015 season, Mr. Blalock sang Jaquino in Beethoven’s Fidelio with Madison Opera, Don Ottavio in North Carolina Opera’s production ofDon Giovanni, Jonathan Dale in Silent Night with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Toby in Sweeney Todd at Virginia Opera, Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Paisiello) with On Site Opera, and debuted as Rodolfo in La Bohème with Greenville Lyric Opera. As a Virginia Opera Emerging Artist during the 2013-2014 season, David Blalock was seen as First Priest in The Magic Flute, Brighella in Ariadne auf Naxos and Le Remendado in . In the spring of 2013, David made his Fort Worth Opera debut as Young Thompson in Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied. David has also recently completed his second summer as an apprentice with The , Bertram in Rossini’s La Donna del Lago, and Infirmary Patient in the world premiere of Theodore Morrison’s Oscar. www.davidblalocktenor.com

Baritone Jesse Blumberg (Figaro) is equally at home on opera, concert, and recital stages, performing repertoire from the Renaissance and Baroque to the 20th and 21st centuries. His performances have included the world premiere of The Grapes of Wrath at Minnesota Opera, Bernstein’s MASS at London’s Royal Festival Hall, various productions with Early Music Festival, and featured roles with Atlanta Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Utah Opera, and Boston Lyric Opera. Recital highlights include appearances with the Marilyn Horne Foundation, New York Festival of Song, and Mirror Visions Ensemble. He has performed major concert works with American Bach Soloists, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Boston Baroque, Oratorio Society of New York, Apollo’s Fire, Charlotte Symphony, and on Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series. Jesse has been featured on over a dozen commercial recordings, including the 2015 Grammy-winning Charpentier Chamber Operas with Boston Early Music Festival. He has been recognized in several competitions, and was awarded Third Prize at the 2008 International Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau, becoming its first American prizewinner in over thirty years. Jesse holds degrees from the University of Michigan and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and is also the founder of Five Boroughs Music Festival, which brings chamber music of many genres to every corner of . www.jesseblumberg.com

Bass-baritone Antoine Hodge (Antonio/Gusmano) is quickly gaining widespread attention across the country for his versatility, commanding stage presence, and strong bass voice. Praised by Opera News as a “dramatically compelling” artist with a “sonorous and vocally secure” instrument, the 2015‐2016 season will bring more company premieres and operatic role debuts, including Antonio/Gusmano in Portugal’s The Marriage of Figaro with On Site Opera, Dr. Grenvil in La Traviata with Ash Lawn Opera, Ferrando in with Winter Opera St Louis, and as the bass soloist in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with Litha Symphony Orchestra. The 2014‐2015 season, showcased Antoine in a return to a favorite in his repertoire as King Balthazar in Amahl and the Night Visitors with Central City Opera. He also made his debut as bass soloist in Gerald Finzi’s In terra pax with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic and a New York City premiere as Sam in and Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Opera Company. www.couretwerner.com/antoine-hodge

Jeni Houser’s (Susanna) “extraordinary soprano” (The Capital Times) has been praised by Opera News as “commanding and duplicitous, yet also vulnerable. She has a bright future above the staff.” As a member of Minnesota Opera’s Resident Artist Program in 2015-2016, she performed Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, The Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, and Mrs. Grady in the world premiere of Paul Moravec’s The Shining. In 2016, Ms. Houser also returned to Madison Opera to perform Amy in Adamo’s Little Women and Olympia in Les contes d’Hoffmann. She has also recently appeared with the Glimmerglass Festival, Fort Worth Opera, Virginia Opera, and Opera Saratoga. In future seasons, Ms. Houser joins the roster of the Lyric Opera of Chicago for Die Zauberflöte and performs a leading role for her debut with Austin Opera. www.jenihouser.com BIOGRAPHIES CONTINUED

Bass-baritone Ryan Kuster (Don Basilio) is gaining national recognition for his recent critically acclaimed appearances as Escamillo in Carmen at opera companies across the country. Colorado’s Daily Camera wrote, “Baritone Ryan Kuster possesses a swaggering virility in the role of Escamillo…. The character has the most famous of all the opera’s many great tunes, and Kuster’s delivery does not disappoint.” This season’s engagements include Angelotti in Tosca with Dallas Opera, Masetto in Don Giovanni at Arizona Opera, Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro with On Site Opera, and Escamillo in Carmenwith Arizona Opera. In recent seasons, Mr. Kuster made his symphonic début with the Los Angeles Philharmonic singing the role of Masetto in their highly acclaimed production of Don Giovanni, directed by Christopher Alden, with costumes by Rodarte, and led by Mo. Dudamel. Additionally, Ryan sang Alidoro in La Cenerentola for Nashville Opera and Opera Saratoga; Masetto in Don Giovanni with Cincinnati Opera; appeared in Dallas Opera’s production ofTurandot; performed Angelotti in Tosca with Orlando Philharmonic, Madison Opera and Pacific Symphony; Colline inLa bohème with Arizona Opera; was Bass Soloist in Händel’s Messiah with the Milwaukee Symphony; and Brutamonte in Schubert’s hidden gem Fierrabras for the Bard Music Festival. He also returned to Wolf Trap Opera to début the title role of Don Giovanni and made his National Symphony début performing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. www.uzanartists.com/portfolio/ryan-kuster/

David Langan’s (Don Bartolo) vast professional operatic repertoire spans many of the major bass-baritone roles, among them Mephistopheles in , Sarastro & Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte, Colline in La Bohème, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Don Alfonso Cosi Fan Tutte, Seneca in L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, CountWalter in , and Lord Gualtiero Walton in I puritani. He has appeared as a principal singer in close to 800 performances with opera companies throughout North and Central America, as well as Europe. San Francisco Opera, Houston , , Washington National Opera, Vancouver Opera, Theater Hansestadt Lübeck, Osnabrück Stadttheater, Wolf Trap, , Opera Colorado, as well as the opera companies of Guatemala City, Dallas, Atlanta, Austin, Chautauqua and New Orleans, among others, have all been beneficiaries of Mr. Langan’s work. He also appeared as the King in Verdi’s on the PBS Great Performance series opposite Plaçido Domingo. He has shared the stage as principal singer with many of today’s finest performers including Renee Fleming, Stephanie Blythe, Joyce DiDonato, Eric Owens, Mirella Freni, and Lawrence Brownlee. Among his faculty appointments were posts at Westminster Choir College, Indiana University and Shenandoah Conservatory. Mr. Langan grew up in Middletown, NJ, has vocal performance degrees from Rowan University (BA) and Indiana University (MM), and currently resides in Ridgewood, NJ. He is married to Cristobel Langan, who is employed as a stage manager at The , and is the father of seven year old twins, Jamie & Sophie.

Grammy-nominated mezzo-soprano Margaret Lattimore (Marcellina) has been praised for her “glorious instrument” and dubbed an “undisputed star…who has it all – looks, intelligence, musicianship, personality, technique, and a voice of bewitching amber color,” by The Boston Globe. While she began her career singing the florid works of Händel, Rossini, and Mozart, Ms. Lattimore recently expanded her repertoire to include the works of Mahler, Verdi and Wagner making her one of the most versatile mezzo-sopranos performing today. This season, Lattimore sings Mrs. Patrick DeRocher in Dead Man Walking at New Orleans Opera, Marcellina in Marcos Portugal’s The Marriage of Figaro with On-Site Opera, Bach’s B-minor Mass with Soli Deo Gloria under Maestro John Nelson, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Costa Rica and Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, Johnstown Symphony’s annual Opera Gala, and Verdi’s with Opera Grand Rapids and Bozeman Symphony Orchestra. In future seasons, Ms. Lattimore will return to the Metropolitan Opera for several productions. After winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions at the age of 24, Margaret Lattimore became a member of the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. She made her Metropolitan Opera début as Dorotea in with Plácido Domingo and later appeared in the PBS Great Performances broadcasts of Stiffelio and Madama Butterfly. She would go on to sing many roles at the esteemed house including Meg Page in Falstaff and Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby (both under the baton of the James Levine). www.margaretlattimore.net BIOGRAPHIES CONTINUED

Soprano, Ginny Weant (Cecchina) is from Salisbury, North Carolina and is in her second year Masters at Mannes School of Music. Recent opera credits include, The Shepherd Boy with Apotheosis Opera’s Tannhäuser, and “Opera Scenes: from Handel to Heggie” with Mannes Opera. Equally at home on the musical theater stage, Ginny recently performed her off-off broadway debut as Fiona with St. Jean’s Player’s production of Brigadoon. Other credits include Hairspray, Godspell, Antigone, , and Kiss Me Kate. Ginny has also performed with regional opera companies, Martha Cordona Theatre, and Vocal Productions NYC. This upcoming spring, she will be joining fellow Mannes and Juilliard students as Despina in Cosi fan tutte, and will be performing her Master’s Recital in April. Ginny holds a Bachelor of Music from Kentucky Wesleyan College and will complete her Masters with Mannes in Spring of 2016.

Soprano Melissa Wimbish (Cherubino) was the recent Grand Prize Winner of the 2014 NATSAA Competition along with the Franco-American Award for best interpretation of French repertoire. Praised by The New York Times for her “stylish singing” and by The Boulder Daily Camera as “simply incredible…the highlight of the entire evening,” she is consistently recognized for her artistry, technical prowess, and captivating stage presence. Recently appearing as Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro with Lyric Opera Baltimore, the young soprano did not go unnoticed with Opera News noting her “promising soprano” while The Baltimore Sun praised her “bright voice” and “knack for animating phrases.” During the 2015/16 season, Ms. Wimbish will perform Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre with Concert Artists of Baltimore followed by her portrayal of Josephine Baker in Tom Cipullo’s new, one-woman opera Josephine which was named one of Anne Midgette’s (Washington Post) top picks to see this spring. At the Kennedy Center, she will make her debut with Washington Ballet as the soprano soloist in Carmina Burana. After performing the title role in their inaugural production, The Tale of the Silly Baby Mouse, Ms. Wimbish is pleased to return to On Site Opera as Cherubino in the North American premiere of Marcos Portugal’s The Marriage of Figaro this summer. Her Carnegie Hall recital debut in October 2016 will present works by living composers Tom Cipullo, Jake Heggie, Jessica Meyer, and Gregory Spears. Melissa fronts the indie chamber rock band Outcalls and lives in Baltimore with her blind dog, Scarlett and her mute cat, Billy. www.melissawimbish.com

In repertoire ranging from Mozart to tango, and in collaboration with artists ranging from Plácido Domingo to Sting, soprano Camille Zamora (Countess) has been heralded for her “dignity and glowing sound” (The New York Times) in “luminous, transcendently lyrical” performances (Opera News) that “combine gentility and emotional fire” (Houston Chronicle). Highlights of Camille’s current season include performances at the US Capitol with Yo-Yo Ma; concerts of classic tangos with Fort Worth Symphony and Florida Orchestra; and five new operatic productions, including a tour de force double-bill of La Voix Humaine and I Pagliacci with Opera Columbus, and the principal soprano in Hindemith’s The Long Christmas Dinner with American Symphony Orchestra, the live recording of which was named one of Opera News‘ Best Albums of 2015. Other highlights include Twin Spirits: Clara & Robert Schumann with Sting at Lincoln Center; Mozart heroines with Boston Lyric Opera, Anchorage Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, and Virginia Opera; La Voix Humaine with Auckland Opera, Opera Columbus, Phoenicia Festival, and Bay Chamber; performances with Orchestra of St. Luke’s, London Symphony Orchestra, and Guadalajara Symphony; and live recital broadcasts on NPR, BBC Radio, Deutsche Radio, and Sirius XM. Hailed by NBC Latino and Congressional Hispanic Caucus as a leading interpreter of Spanish repertoire, she has performed and recorded principal roles in La Verbena de la Paloma, La Revoltosa, La Tabernera del Puerto, and Luisa Fernanda. The Co- Founder of the arts non-profit Sing for Hope and a regular contributor to The Huffington Post, Camille is a graduate of The . www.camillezamora.com PRODUCTION TEAM BIOGRAPHIES

Cameron Anderson (Space Consultant/Prop Designer) designs for opera and theater in NYC, across the US, and abroad. She recently designed West Side Story for Norway’s Kilden Performing Arts Center and The Vancouver Opera, and for Argentina’s Teatro Colon. Selected opera credits include: The Glimmerglass Opera, Central City Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Wolf Trap Opera, USC Thornton School of Music, Seattle Opera, Manhattan School of Music, Gotham , Opera Boston, Pittsburgh Opera, and the San Francisco Opera. Theater credits: Huntington Theatre Company, The Roundabout Theatre Company, Playwrights Horizons, Naked Angels, New Georges, LAByrinth Theater Company, Two River Theater Company, David Dorfman Dance at BAM, Ars Nova, South Coast Repertory, Les Freres Corbusier, and Shakespeare & Company. Upcoming engagements include the world premiere of Happy Birthday Wanda June (directed by Eric Einhorn), with libretto by Kurt Vonnegut at Indianapolis Opera, and Eugene Onegin at Florida Grand Opera, directed by Jeffrey Buchman.

Melissa Bondar (Stage Manager) is a NY/NJ based stage manager. Previous work experience includes Ziegfeld’s Midnight Frolic, Dinosaur Train Live, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey present Built to Amaze!, and several years at sea with Holland America Line. Melissa has a B.A. from Stockton University and an M.A. from the University of Sheffield in Theater & Performance Studies. Thanks for all the support Mom, Dad & Tyler!

Eric Einhorn (Director, The Marriage of Figaro; Co-founder and General & Artistic Director, On Site Opera) has been praised by The Austin Chronicle as “a rising star in the opera world” and by Opera News for his “keen eye for detail and character insight.” He is the co-founder of On Site Opera, a company dedicated to immersive, site- specific productions. Mr. Einhorn has directed productions for Chicago Lyric Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Ft. Worth Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Florentine Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, Utah Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, the Pacific Symphony, and Gotham Chamber Opera. He has been a member of the stage directing staff at the Metropolitan Opera since 2005. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette named Mr. Einhorn’s production of Dialogues des Carmeliteś for Pittsburgh Opera one of the top ten performances of 2011. He originally created the production for Austin Lyric Opera in 2009 and was awarded “Best Opera” at the Austin Critics’ Table Awards in addition to garnering him a nomination for “Best Director.” During summer of 2014, he directed Rameau’s Pygmalion at Madame Tussauds New York and the Lifestyle-Trimco mannequin showroom. This production featured the world’s first implementation of supertitles for Google Glass. Upcoming engagements include the world premiere of Happy Birthday, Wanda June with Indianapolis Opera and a new staging of The Flying Dutchman for Austin Opera.

Dmitry Glivinskiy (Asst. Conductor/Pianist) is a Ukrainian pianist and conductor. He has participated in many festivals and performed in venues such as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Ukrainian Institute among others around Europe and in China. He has performed with several orchestras in NY, including Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, Centre Symphony and South Shore Symphony. He is a graduate from Mannes College of Music and of the Peabody Institute where, among his teachers, were Genya Paley, Pavlina Dokovska, Boris Slutsky and Scott Jackson Wiley. Dmitry has worked with numerous opera companies as a répétiteur, coach and conductor. Last summer, he conducted “Carmen” with Secret Opera and “Nozze di Figaro” with OperaRox and recently, “Lucia di Lammermoor” with Regina Opera and served as associate music director of the New York revival of “¡Figaro! (90210)”.

Shawn Kaufman (Lighting Designer) is the Director of Lighting Design at CS Lighting, a firm specializing in providing lighting design and lighting resources for theatre, film, television, special events and fashion. Shawn created this new division for CS Global in 2010 after working for the last 15 years in the industry. Selected clients include Celine, Givenchy, Chloe, Armani Exchange, Vogue Magazine, Estee Lauder, Kohl’s, St. John, Bombardier, Target, GQ, Hermes, Y3, The Elder Statesman, Microsoft, Tom Ford, Hugo Boss and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Recent theatrical work includes Carmen at Portland Opera, Dialogues of the Carmelites at Austin Lyric Opera and Pittsburgh Opera, BIOGRAPHIES CONTINUED Orpheus in the Underworld at Glimmerglass Opera, I Pagliacci and Xerxes at Pittsburgh Opera. Television: QVC Red Carpet Style, The Face Finale, CNBC studio relight, The Big Gay Sketch Show (Logo Channel), Wendy Williams (Fox Network), episodes of The Apprentice Martha Stewart and Donald Trump, Associate for Martha Live and Rachael Ray Live.

Jessica Kiger (Producer, The Marriage of Figaro; Co-Founder and Executive Director/Producer, On Site Opera) is a New York-based opera and theater producer. Ms. Kiger brings to projects a wealth of knowledge from years as a consultant in publicity, marketing, project management, performance in non-traditional venues, development, and event coordination. Ms. Kiger is co-founder and of On Site Opera and Score Consultant and Production Associate for the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD broadcasts. During the 2013-14 season, Ms. Kiger served as the production assistant for WQXR’s Operavore where she was the lead producer on two radio shows. In recent years, she has also worked for cellist Inbal Segev, Christina Jensen PR, CU Opera, as well as The Boulder International Fringe Festival, of which she is a founding member. Ms. Kiger’s background includes formal training in classical voice and extensive language studies. She received a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Colorado, Boulder with additional studies at the Goethe-Institut Berlin; TOP Opera in Maurach, Austria; The University of Miami Frost School of Music at Salzburg in Austria; and La Musica Lirica in Novafeltria, Italy.

Haley Lieberman (Costume Designer) began her career in the costume department of The Metropolitan Opera, where she worked for several years. Haley’s credits in opera include Dido and Aeneas for the Juilliard Opera Center, I Capuleti e I Montecchi for Opera Boston, Noye’s Fludde for The Lighthouse Institute, for The Mid-Atlantic Opera and Carmen, La Boheme, and Hansel und Gretel for the Crested Butte Music Festival. Additional credits include Children (The Becket Theater), Once in a Lifetime (N.Y.U.), Burn This (The Walker Theater), King Lear, These Seven Sicknesses, Lesser Mercies (Exit, Pursued by a Bear), Baby with the Bathwater (Boston Institute of Contemporary Art) and The Memory of Salt (Boston Center for the Arts). Haley has designed multiple feature and short films, and also designs costumes for national commercials (clients include Johnson & Johnson, Pepsi Co., and Nestle). Haley was a recipient the Robert L. Tobin Director-Designer Showcase award through Opera America and holds her M.F.A. in Costume Design from The Tisch School of the Arts and NYU.

Hailed by The Philadelphia Inquirer as a “promising and confident” member of the new generation of American conductors, Geoffrey McDonald (Conductor) commands a broad repertoire with extensive experience in operatic, symphonic, and choral works. He is steadily gaining recognition for his versatility – “an agile conductor…whose pacing is sure in both reflective and restless passages” (The New York Times) – and for his “original and flexible musical imagination” (The New York Observer). Geoffrey’s passion for promoting new or neglected pieces and his enthusiasm for fresh, innovative presentation combine in his work as Music Director of On Site Opera, whose immersive production of Paisiello’sBarbiere di Siviglia in the summer of 2015 earned wide critical acclaim. Opera News wrote: “[McDonald] led with brio and admirable ensemble,” while The New York Times noted, “the conductor, Geoffrey McDonald, drew stylish, nimble playing”. This success followed recent productions of Handel operas, Orlando and Alcina, for which he partnered with director R.B. Schlather to create inventive art-installation-opera: “Conductor Geoffrey McDonald repeated the miracle of nuanced coordination [in On Site Opera’s production of Paisiello’s Barber of Seville] between orchestra and singers he recently accomplished with Orlando downtown” (The New York Observer). He has acted as Assistant Conductor for Opera Philadelphia, the American Symphony Orchestra, and Gotham Opera. A dedicated educator, he has served on the faculties of Bard College and the Longy School of Music, and was Music Director of the Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra and the Columbia University Bach Society. He is an active composer, and an original member (cellist/songwriter) of indie rock band Miracles of Modern Science. He earned his Masters in Conducting at Mannes College, and his Bachelors in Music at Princeton University. www.geoffreymcdonaldmusic.com BIOGRAPHIES CONTINUED

Gabrielle Vincent (Hair & Make-Up Designer) is a New York based designer with extensive credits in wigs and makeup for opera, Broadway, film, and television. She began her opera career as a wig and makeup artist for Washington National Opera, and has since worked with The Santa Fe Opera, Central City Opera, Gotham Chamber Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, and Sarasota Opera, to name a few. She has recently been a part of the hair departments for Broadway productions ofAllegiance, On The Town, Motown: The Musical, Bring It On, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, has designed hair and makeup for several feature length films including Dark and Lyric Suite: A Musical Love Story, and is currently the Associate Designer for The Sandbox, Drowning, and Funnyhouse of a Negro at Signature Theatre. Gabbie has her BFA from the University of Miami, and a Certificate of Cosmetology from the Aveda Institute, NY.

Kailie White (Assistant Stage Manager) Regional credits include Legally Blonde (Summer Theatre of New Canaan), Charlotte's Web (Summer Theatre of New Canaan), Cinderella (Summer Theatre of New Canaan), The Miser (Brave New World Rep), Rhinoceros (Inwood Shakespeare Festival), The Wizard of Oz Jr. (Hellen Hayes Youth Theatre), Beauty and the Beast Jr. (Hellen Hayes Youth Theatre), The Little Mermaid Jr. (Hellen Hayes Youth Theatre).

ORCHESTRA BIOGRAPHIES

Meliset Abreu (classical guitar) performs extensively as a soloist and chamber musician and is active as a performer of both traditional and new music. In addition to classical music, Meliset performs Portuguese Fado with Portuguese guitarist and Jose-Luis Iglesias and singer Fatima Santos. Appearances include performances of Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez with the Hunterdon Symphony and Bronx Symphony, chamber and solo performances at the Loon Lake Live! and Friends & Enemies of New Music festivals, the Aranjuez solo guitar series at Weill Recital Hall, the Performer’s Showcase at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, and a tour of Kauai with the trio Stretto, among other engagements. She has given masterclasses at colleges and conservatories throughout the U.S. Her performances have been broadcast on WNCY’s Around New York and Soundcheck. A graduate of Mannes College of Music, Meliset currently teaches privately.

Nicholas Gallas (clarinet) has performed as a guest with a diverse range of artists and ensembles, including the orchestra for "The King and I" (Broadway), "Fiddler on the Roof" (Broadway), "Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812" (Off-Broadway), the American Symphony Orchestra, the Princeton Symphony, the Harrisburg Symphony, the Stamford Symphony, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Symphony in C, Chamber Orchestra of New York, the Westfield Symphony, Imani Winds, NOW Ensemble, the Metropolis Ensemble, Decoda, and Ensemble Signal. He is currently a member of the American Modern Ensemble. Gallas received his Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School and his Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Will Holshouser (accordion) began playing accordion in the 1980s when a friend gave him an old squeezebox as a surprise. He has since performed around the world as an accordionist, improviser and composer. Highlights have included touring and recording with violinist Regina Carter, clarinetist David Krakauer, pop visionaries Antony and the Johnsons, improvisers Han Bennink & Michael Moore, and his own groups. Will collaborates with guitarist Matt Munisteri and tuba player Marcus Rojas in Musette Explosion, a trio whose debut recording was featured on NPR’s Fresh Air. He has recorded three CDs of his own compositions for the Portuguese label Clean Feed with a trio featuring trumpeter Ron Horton and bassist Dave Phillips, and has written music for film, theater, and dance. He has also played with Martha Wainwright, Andy Statman, Uri Caine, NYC Ballet, NYC Opera, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Mark Morris Dance Group, and others.

Alexandra Jones (Cello) is a chamber musician, orchestral player, and educator living in New York City. She is a member of ensemble mise- en, a contemporary chamber ensemble focused new aesthetics and exposing repertoire of challenging new sounds to diverse audiences. Most recently, Alexandra performed in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s masterclass series and was awarded a fellowship position in the Atlantic Music Festival’s contemporary ensemble. She has performed with the American Symphony Orchestra, the Metro Chamber Orchestra, East Coast Symphonic Ensemble, the Empire Chamber Orchestra, Manhattan Camerata, Tenth Intervention, and the World Peace Sinfonietta. An avid supporter of music education, Alexandra began learning the cello through the community music program in her hometown of Brainerd, BIOGRAPHIES CONTINUED

Minnesota. The grassroots nature of the program showed her the importance of string education in smaller communities, and gave her the opportunity to begin teaching by at 14. She has completed four books of Suzuki Pedagogy, taught by Pamela Devenport at School for Strings in NYC and teaches at Rubato Music School and Clinton Hill Music School along with an active private studio in NYC.

Victoria Paterson (Violin) is a violinist in great demand for her musicality and diversity. Equally comfortable with classical and popular music, she performs everywhere from Carnegie Hall, Birdland and Madison Square Garden to Late Night with David Letterman and The Today Show. She played for Chelsea Clinton's wedding and performs for luminaries ranging from Michelle Obama, Diane Sawyer and Nancy Pelosi to Sean Combs and Jennifer Lopez. She is the founder of the Lumiere String Quartet which performs regularly, and her recordings boast top selling classical sales on Amazon and iTunes. Executive Director of the American Modern Ensemble, Victoria is passionate about celebrating American music, and also she contracts many operas and chamber ensembles in the city. Film & television credits include Smash, The Wiz, The Social Network, The Celebrity Apprentice, The Loft, BIOGRAPHIES CONTINUED: Nurse Jackie, VH1, Royal Pains, and So You Think You Can Dance. Victoria's Broadway credits are Chicago, Phantom of the Opera, The Addams Family (Concertmaster), West Side Story, On the Town, Cinderella, Cabaret, Beauty & the Beast, South Pacific, Wicked, and Porgy & Bess. Off-Broadway shows include Heathers, Giant, The Thing about Men, and I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. Her favorite tours and bands she has worked with: Barbra Streisand, A Great Big World, Pink Martini, Joss Stone, Fiddler on the Roof, Ragtime, Titanic, Sunset Boulevard, and My Fair Lady. Victoria regularly gives masterclasses and lectures about her life in music, including The Juilliard School, the Eastman School of Music, Broadway Backstage, and Chamber Music America. Paterson studied at the Eastman School of Music and Indiana University. She resides in New York City with her award-winning husband & composer, Robert Paterson, and their beautiful boy, Dylan.

Hailed by the NY Times for her “magnificently sweet tone,” Keve Wilson (oboe) released her solo album Pure Imagination on Composers Concordance Records/NAXOS. A past winner of Concert Artists Guild, Keve has been invited to participate in the 2016 Artists at Albatross Reach, a residency in Northern California to perform new works by young composers. She was oboist in the Tony winning Broadway show, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder and inspires high school bands and orchestras from around the country with her original show Believe NYC---from the Band Room to Broadway. Keve graduated from Eastman School of Music where studied with Richard Killmer. She lives with her husband and Portuguese water dogs. ABOUT 632 ON HUDSON Beginning shortly after its inception as an Events Venue in 2000, when MTV rented 632onHudson for its 10th Season of the Real World, the Venue has enjoyed a myriad of diverse activities: as a location for fashion, film, and video shoots, lodging for celebrities while doing film or theater work in New York, product launches, culinary and branding events, private cocktail parties, corporate meetings, banquet-style dinners, chef demonstrations, weddings and rehearsal dinners, even intimate musical and theatrical performances.

Karen Lashinsky, the owner and designer of 632onHudson, comes from a background of 20 years of performing in the theater as well as touring all over the world; first as a ballet dancer, then a modern dancer, then actor, and finally as an Associate member of The Wooster Group with whom she worked for twelve years. Her years spent in the theater also inspired a great passion for creating what she calls “living sets”; magical worlds or vignettes in which she can picture “perfect imaginary lives might be lived”.

Lashinsky’s passions and interest also extend to a range of not-for-profit organizations benefiting both the planet and its inhabitants (both human and non-human). 632onHudson has been the location for a variety of benefits including Doctors-Without-Borders, Girls Write Now, T.E.A.L., World Wildlife Fund, among many others. Working in corporate partnership with Population Services (PSI), Karen supports a groundbreaking philanthropic and advocacy initiative aimed at catalyzing the next wave of philanthropists, setting out to improve the health and rights of girls and women worldwide.

With the arts being Lashinsky's first love, she looks forward to collaborating with On Site Opera and to initiate more partnerships with not-for-profit organizations in the Arts. 632onhudson.com ABOUT ON SITE OPERA In its fifth season of producing immersive site-specific opera, On Site Opera (OSO) has established itself as one of New York City’s most imaginative, nimble opera companies by doing more than simply staging musically and dramatically rich works outside of the . OSO’s team of General & Artistic Director, Eric Einhorn, Music Director, Geoffrey McDonald, and Executive Director & Producer, Jessica Kiger have pushed the boundaries of operatic storytelling, producing operas in locations that allow singers and audiences alike to immerse themselves in the narrative. Reviewing the first chapter of The Figaro Project, in which OSO is staging lesser-known operatic adaptations of French playwright Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais’ (1732-1799) famed trilogy of Figaro plays, Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times wrote, “This visionary company could be on to something big.” He also noted that the “space proved ideal for the intrigues of the opera.”

OSO has presented Shostakovich at The Bronx Zoo, Gershwin at Harlem’s legendary Cotton Club, Rameau at Madame Tussauds New York and the Lifestyle-Trimco mannequin showroom, Paisiello at Fabbri Mansion, as well as a site-specific workshop of Clarimonde, a new work by Frederic Chaslin and P.H. Fisher. Committed to exploring new technology in opera, OSO implemented the first-ever Google Glass supertitles during its 2014 run of Rameau’s Pygmalion, of which The Verge reported “Few things seem like obvious fits for Google Glass so far, but this is one of them.”

Founded in 2012, On Site Opera is dedicated to producing site-specific opera in non-traditional venues throughout New York. OSO molds its productions to specific locations using physical space to create an environment in which the concept, storytelling, music, and performers unite to form an immersive, cohesive, and meaningful whole. OSO, a registered 501(c)(3), is a member of Opera America and the New York Opera Alliance.

@ONSITEOPERA

WWW.OSOPERA.ORG

NEW YORK OPERA FEST On Site Opera's production of Marcos Portugal's The Marriage of Figaro is proud to be a part of the inaugural New York Opera Fest! Presented by the New York Opera Alliance, the two-month long festival showcases the incredible diversity of opera in NYC! OFFICIAL EVENT Check out the remaining performances, workshops and more: NYOperaFest.com UPCOMING PRODUCTIONS

A DOUBLE BILL OF Thursday, September 29 at 7pm, Benefit Performance & Dinner Friday, September 30 at 7:30pm Grand Ballroom, The Harmonie Club An evening of powerful monodramas including Dominick Argento's Miss Havisham's Wedding Night and 's The Death of Cleopatra. A collaboration with the string quintet SYBARITE5, the Double Bill features soprano Leah Partridge as Miss Havisham and mezzo- soprano Blythe Gaissert as Cleopatra. For more information, visit: osopera.org/doublebill

MOZART'S THE SECRET GARDENER May 2017 In partnership with The Atlanta Opera’s Discoveries Series, On Site Opera brings Mozart’s The Secret Gardener (La finta giardiniera) to life in a new site-specific co-production. Performances, which will take place in May of 2017, mark a bi-city first for both companies. Written by an 18- year-old Mozart, The Secret Gardener is a story of love, madness, and redemption that unfolds in the lush setting of a beautiful garden. For more information, visit: osopera.org/secretgardener

THE FIGARO PROJECT

In June 2015, On Site Opera embarked on its most ambitious undertaking to date: The Figaro Project, in which On Site Opera will present lesser-known operatic adaptations of French playwright ’ (1732-1799) famed trilogy of Figaro plays: (1775), The Marriage of Figaro (1784) and The Guilty Mother (1792). The Figaro Project will reacquaint audiences with their favorite Beaumarchais’ characters in unexpected and new ways in non-traditional venues across New York City. On Site Opera’s three-year journey through Beaumarchais’ Figaro Trilogy consists of adaptations that, in the company’s view, adhere more faithfully to the original plays. The Figaro Project began in June 2015 with Paisiello’s The Barber of Seville. The cycle continues this week with the North American premiere of Marcos Portugal’s The Marriage of Figaro, followed by the U.S. premiere of Darius Milhaud’s The Guilty Mother (June 2017), in celebration of Milhaud’s 125th Birthday. ON SITE OPERA STAFF Eric Einhorn, Co-founder & General & Artistic Director Geoffrey McDonald, Music Director Jessica Kiger, Co-founder & Executive Director/Producer Dunch Arts, LLC, Development Consultants Blake Zidell & Associates, Publicity Teresa Bayer, Assistant Producer Olivia Schechtman, Intern

From left to right: Jessica Kiger, Eric Einhorn, & Geoffrey McDonald. Photo by Rebecca Fay

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Jane A. Gross, President Marie Golda, Treasurer Miriam Sondag, Secretary Stacey Anderson Eric Einhorn Shelley Einhorn Michael Katz SUPPORT ON SITE OPERA As a patron of On Site Opera, you’ve experienced the thrill of our immersive site-specific productions. Get even closer by donating today and help us produce opera of the highest quality as well as provide engagement programs to the New York community. As a donor, you’ll receive a range of VIP benefits including early access to ticket purchases and opportunities for exclusive behind-the- scenes experiences! Add your name to the list below and be a part of creating exciting site-specific opera! Make your tax-deductible contribution at www.osopera.org/support.

ON SITE OPERA DONORS On Site Opera is extremely grateful to our donors for their philanthropic commitment to our mission! (Current as of June 1, 2016)

Encore: $10,000+ The Darius Milhaud Society (in memory of Katharine M. Warne) Dunch Arts, LLC The Einhorn Family Foundation

Grand Finale: $7,500 – $9,999 Jane A. Gross*

Quartet: $5,000 – $7,499 Michael Katz*

Trio: $1,000 – $4,999 Lynn Cohen Barbra Heller Nomi Ghez Foundation Susan & Graham McDonald Robert Ritch, M.D. The Spallanzani Family

Duet: $500 – $999 Alan Agle Alexandra Atkin Alice Hall Marie Golda* Nancy Golden Alan Muraoka Marc Waldor

Aria: $250 – $499 Fay & Norman Burger Jason Canavan David Curtis DONORS CONTINUED Aria: $250 – $499, continued Christopher Dlutowski & Peter Occolowitz Luc & Daisy Dowling Mickey & Jeannie Kiger Karen McLaughlin & Mark Schubin David Mellon Goldman Sachs Miriam Sondag* Jamie Checkett McLaughlin Sarah Wilson

Overture: $100 – $249 Jack Beck Jesse Blumberg Louisa Brill Janet & Ivan Brown Chris Creatura Louise M. Golda John B. Haney Deirdre Howley Meche Kroop Harold Krouse Arthur Leonard Patricia Luca Andrew Moravcsik and Anne-Marie Slaughter Salvatore Pecoraro John Percy Laurie & Michael Pollock Charlotte Schuerman

* Denotes a member of On Site Opera’s board of directors .

SPECIAL THANKS

CS Lighting is pleased to be an official corporate sponsor of On Site Opera. With our broad experience in design and special events in NY and throughout the world, we are excited to contribute to the exciting and ongoing work that On Site Opera presents. It is alliances like these that allow for the arts to thrive in new and exciting ways. CS Lighting is a division of CS Global. Shawn Kaufman, Lighting Designer

2016 marks the continuation of a growing partnership between On Site Opera and The New School’s Mannes College of Music. As part of the partnership, OSO was in residence at Mannes during rehearsals for Portugal’s The Marriage of Figaro. Opportunities are created for Mannes students are created within OSO productions on and offstage. William Gustafson, Associate Dean Academic Affairs Erik Bestmann, Director of Concert Operations

Consulate General of Portugal in New York Dra. Manuela Bairos, Consul-General Tomás Vaz Pato Andrews, Attaché

632 on Hudson Karen Lashinsky, Owner/Designer Frank Richardone Suzzy Roche

David Cranmer Rebecca Fay Anne Ford-Coates Rachel Selan

On Site Opera is a proud member of