Rigoletto the Abduction from the Seraglio Program Winter 2018 Contents New Year, New Website! 5 a Message from Alexander Neef

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Rigoletto the Abduction from the Seraglio Program Winter 2018 Contents New Year, New Website! 5 a Message from Alexander Neef RIGOLETTO THE ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO PROGRAM WINTER 2018 CONTENTS NEW YEAR, NEW WEBSITE! 5 A MESSAGE FROM ALEXANDER NEEF 8 WHAT’S PLAYING: RIGOLETTO coc.ca 20 RIGOLETTO AT A GLANCE 22 GET TO KNOW STEPHEN LORD Great opera 24 Q&A WITH ALEXANDER NEEF 26 WHAT’S PLAYING: THE ABDUCTION FROM lives here. THE SERAGLIO 38 JANE ARCHIBALD AND You can still find the same rich content and ABDUCTION media, but we’ve used your input to make some important changes: 42 BACKSTAGE AND BEYOND a contemporary look and feel w a responsive design 52 MANY THANKS TO accessible from any device OUR SUPPORTERS w find performances, Free Concert Series PATRON INFORMATION dates, Special Events, and Education events 62 all in one calendar AND POLICIES w learn.coc.ca — a dedicated online presence to explore the COC’s Education and Outreach programs, the COC Academy, and to learn more about the operatic art form! Correction: There was an error in our fall 2017 program. In the article about the Canadian Children’s We’re excited to share our new site with Opera Company (page 38), we stated that David Fallis you all, as we continue to make your online founded the Toronto Consort. The founder was in fact experience with the Canadian Opera Timothy McGee. Our apologies for the oversight. Company even better! Front cover: Inside a coaching studio at the COC COC Program is published three times a year by the Canadian Opera Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written GO SCENT FREE. consent is prohibited. Contents copyright Canadian We’re proud to be the In consideration of patrons Opera Company. with allergies, please avoid Program edited by Kristin McKinnon, Publicist and Canadian Opera Company’s using perfumed beauty Publications Co-ordinator; and, Gianna Wichelow, products and fragrances. Senior Manager, Creative and Publications. Layout by Gianna Wichelow. All information is correct at time of 2017/2018 Season Sponsor. printing. Photo credits are on page 61. CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY 2017/2018 3 17-1801 Canadian Opera Company Program Ad_Ev1.indd 1 2017-09-01 9:47 AM A MESSAGE FROM GENERAL DIRECTOR ALEXANDER NEEF Art that’s truly about something has a way of addressing us in the present tense, regardless of when it was composed. Rigoletto (1851)—based on a Victor Hugo play that had already been banned in its native France when Verdi selected it as his source material for an opera—was immediately seen as a problem by state authorities. As Singing. Verdi worked on the score, censors in Venice refused to grant the opera permission for performance and only allowed it to move Bidding. forward once the setting was changed from the royal court to a provincial duchy. By displacing the opera’s subject matter in this Cheers-ing. way—resituating Rigoletto’s searing critique from the very centre of power to a far-flung All in support of young province—censors sought to minimize the Canadian artists. incendiary nature of Verdi’s drama. hopeful voice, in so far as she gains what the $ But encountering the opera in 2018, in contemporary writer Rebecca Solnit identifies TICKETS 100 the era of #MeToo, invites us to approach in her book of essays, Men Explain Things Rigoletto on its own terms, those that elicited to Me, as a small but essential victory in coc.ca/Wine an allergic reaction from the powerful. By women’s ongoing struggle for equality: “The taking the opera seriously, in other words, one ability to tell your own story.” discovers at its centre a woman destroyed 6 p.m. not simply by a man, but by a world that Indeed, the brilliance of Wajdi Mouawad’s Cocktail Reception authorizes unchecked male privilege and production is in granting the opera’s female whitewashes it with laughter, or dismisses characters a new audibility and ownership & Silent Auction the worst examples of its predation as merely in the narrative: complex, fully human isolated phenomena. voices to share their perspectives on what 7:30 p.m. the ostensible culture clash of an East/West Ensemble Studio Verdi was far from what we would call a binary looks like from their lived experience Performance & Live Auction feminist, but with Rigoletto he reacted of it. strongly against this world of kings and jesters—a world with a contemporary iteration This deeply affecting production achieves in our own day, peopled with powerful CEOs an equilibrium of speech and music that lets and moguls. us enter into the profound ambivalence of Presenting Sponsor Mozart’s singspiel in a new way, to meet there If Gilda in 1850 can be easily imagined in a sense of urgency and wisdom that are as GRAYWOOD 2018 as one of Harvey Weinstein’s victims, undeniable as they are indispensable to our D E V E L O P M E N T S Konstanze in Mozart’s The Abduction from cultural moment, vexed as it is about who gets the Seraglio (1782) prefigures as a more to speak and who gets to be heard. Supporting Sponsor CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY 2017/2018 5 Date: Jan 10, 2018 Filename_ Version# COC171612_FWA_HousePrgrmAd_FNL.indd Client: COC Artist: JS Desc: House Progrm Ad Acct. Mgr: CC Trim: 6.5" x 9.25" COLORS 4/0 559 College Street, Suite 401 Bleed: +0.125" Toronto, ON M6G 1A9 Visible Open: -- process CMYK 416-323-3282 Safety/Live: -0.25" File Built at: 100% (1:1) DISCOVER OUR NEW SEASON OPERA TRANSFORMS HOW WE PERCEIVE THE WORLD EUGENE ONEGIN HADRIAN Tchaikovsky Rufus Wainwright In 2018/2019 we’re challenging ourselves to look at the fundamental human experience ELEKTRA COSÌ FAN TUTTE of love through an unexpected array of Richard Strauss Mozart works that have the capacity to reshape LA BOHÈME OTELLO our understanding of our hearts and minds. Puccini Verdi Date: Jan 10, 2018 Approvals: Date: Signature: Filename_ Version# Proofreader: COC171792_BTS_HousePrgrmAd_DPS_FNLr1 Acct Mngr: Client: COC Artist (build): Alexis Studio Mngr: Desc: Renewal Brochure Artist (edits): Josh Preflighter Supplier: Wellington Acct. Mgr: Caitlin Copywriter: Trim: 7.5" x 10" # Colours: 4/0 Art Director: 559 College Street, Suite 401 Toronto, ON M6G 1A9 Bleed: +0.25" 4 Col Process 416-323-3282 Safety/Live: -0.5" Client: File Built at: 100% (1:1) PMS PMS BY GIUSEPPE VERDI Melodrama in three acts w Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave First performance: Teatro La Fenice, Venice, Italy, March 11, 1851 RIGOLETTO COC PRODUCTION A co-production with English National Opera Last performed by the COC in 2011 Jan. 20, 27, Feb. 1, 4, 6, 9, 11, 17, 21, 23, 2018 Sung in Italian with English SURTITLES™ THE CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM (in order of vocal appearance) The Duke Sparafucile Stephen Costello Goderdzi JanelidzeD Conductor Joshua GuerreroD* Stephen Lord Gilda Borsa Anna Christy Director John Kriter Christopher Alden Giovanna Countess Ceprano Megan Latham Set and Costume Designer Lauren Eberwein† Michael Levine Page Rigoletto Simone McIntosh†D Lighting Designer Roland Wood Duane Schuler Usher Marullo Samuel Chan†D Price Family Chorus Master Bruno Roy† Sandra Horst^ Maddalena Count Ceprano Carolyn SprouleD Stage Manager Neil Craighead^ Jenifer Kowal Monterone SURTITLES™ Producer Robert Pomakov Gunta Dreifelds * Feb. 11, 17, 23 PRODUCTION ORIGINALLY MADE POSSIBLE IN PART BY TIM & FRANCES PRICE, JUDY & WILMOT MATTHEWS, AND GAIL & BOB FARQUHARSON Bruno Roy’s performance is generously sponsored by Catherine Fauquier Lauren Eberwein’s performance is generously sponsored by Brian Wilks, Marjorie & Roy Linden Samuel Chan’s performance is generously sponsored by June Shaw Simone McIntosh’s performance is generously sponsored by David & Kristin Ferguson Sandra Horst and the COC Chorus are generously underwritten by Tim & Frances Price D COC mainstage debut † Current member of the COC Ensemble Studio ^ Graduate of COC Ensemble Studio Program information is correct at time of printing. All casting is subject to change. Performance time is approximately two hours and 25 minutes, including one intermission. Ekaterina Sadovnikova was Gilda and Quinn Kelsey was Rigoletto when this COC production premiered in 2011. ACT I: 55 minutes INTERMISSION 25 minutes ACTS II and III: 65 minutes 8 CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY 2017/2018 CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY 2017/2018 9 NOTES Rigoletto is an incendiary work. Its dramatic he has climbed to the top of the ladder of dog Darwinian jungle. Gilda is an image of there. The trump card he holds over the source, Victor Hugo’s play Le roi s’amuse, power by dint of his malicious wit. Mocked Rigoletto’s soul, kept pure and uncorrupted, men of his court is that at any moment, in was banned after its first performance at the by others because of his physical deformity, far from the soulless marketplace. Rigoletto’s full view and fully within his feudal rights, Comédie Française and not performed again he has achieved success as a brilliant mistake is in thinking he can neatly he could seduce their women and humiliate for half a century. Although set in the mocker. In his private life, Rigoletto reveals divide himself into these two separate them in the process. Renaissance, it deals with the inequalities of a positively schizophrenic new personality, compartments. When the barriers between the social structure in Hugo’s and Verdi’s sweetly sentimental in his desire to keep them come crashing down, Rigoletto Hugo’s play offered Verdi the golden own time. Written in a heightened melodramatic his daughter pure and uncorrupted by the unwittingly kills the thing he loves. opportunity to move beyond the mode, it is pointedly accusatory regarding the outside world. conventional tenor/soprano/baritone clichés abuses of monarchy. It is a nightmare about an In this production, instead of moving from of the era.
Recommended publications
  • 01-11-2019 Porgy Eve.Indd
    THE GERSHWINS’ porgy and bess By George Gershwin, DuBose and Dorothy Heyward, and Ira Gershwin conductor Opera in two acts David Robertson Saturday, January 11, 2020 production 7:30–10:50 PM James Robinson set designer New Production Michael Yeargan costume designer Catherine Zuber lighting designer The production of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Donald Holder Bess was made possible by a generous gift from projection designer Luke Halls The Sybil B. Harrington Endowment Fund and Douglas Dockery Thomas choreographer Camille A. Brown fight director David Leong general manager Peter Gelb Co-production of the Metropolitan Opera; jeanette lerman-neubauer Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam; and music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin English National Opera 2019–20 SEASON The 63rd Metropolitan Opera performance of THE GERSHWINS’ porgy and bess conductor David Robertson in order of vocal appearance cl ar a a detective Janai Brugger Grant Neale mingo lily Errin Duane Brooks Tichina Vaughn* sportin’ life a policeman Frederick Ballentine Bobby Mittelstadt jake an undertaker Donovan Singletary* Damien Geter serena annie Latonia Moore Chanáe Curtis robbins “l aw yer” fr a zier Chauncey Packer Arthur Woodley jim nel son Norman Garrett Jonathan Tuzo peter str awberry woman Jamez McCorkle Aundi Marie Moore maria cr ab man Denyce Graves Chauncey Packer porgy a coroner Kevin Short Michael Lewis crown scipio Alfred Walker* Neo Randall bess Angel Blue Saturday, January 11, 2020, 7:30–10:50PM The worldwide copyrights in the works of George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin for this presentation are licensed by the Gershwin family. GERSHWIN is a registered trademark of Gershwin Enterprises. Porgy and Bess is a registered trademark of Porgy and Bess Enterprises.
    [Show full text]
  • The-Music-Of-Andrew-Lloyd-Webber Programme.Pdf
    Photograph: Yash Rao We’re thrilled to welcome you safely back to Curve for production, in particular Team Curve and Associate this very special Made at Curve concert production of Director Lee Proud, who has been instrumental in The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. bringing this show to life. Over the course of his astonishing career, Andrew It’s a joy to welcome Curve Youth and Community has brought to life countless incredible characters Company (CYCC) members back to our stage. Young and stories with his thrilling music, bringing the joy of people are the beating heart of Curve and after such MUSIC BY theatre to millions of people across the world. In the a long time away from the building, it’s wonderful to ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER last 15 months, Andrew has been at the forefront of have them back and part of this production. Guiding conversations surrounding the importance of theatre, our young ensemble with movement direction is our fighting for the survival of our industry and we are Curve Associate Mel Knott and we’re also thrilled CYCC LYRICS BY indebted to him for his tireless advocacy and also for alumna Alyshia Dhakk joins us to perform Pie Jesu, in TIM RICE, DON BLACK, CHARLES HART, CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON, this gift of a show, celebrating musical theatre, artists memory of all those we have lost to the pandemic. GLENN SLATER, DAVID ZIPPEL, RICHARD STILGOE AND JIM STEINMAN and our brilliant, resilient city. Known for its longstanding Through reopening our theatre we are not only able to appreciation of musicals, Leicester plays a key role make live work once more and employ 100s of freelance in this production through Andrew’s pre-recorded DIRECTED BY theatre workers, but we are also able to play an active scenes, filmed on-location in and around Curve by our role in helping our city begin to recover from the impact NIKOLAI FOSTER colleagues at Crosscut Media.
    [Show full text]
  • BIOGRAPHY of EMILY HAMPER "The Extremely Difficult Piano Part
    BIOGRAPHY OF EMILY HAMPER "The extremely difficult piano part was perfectly realized by Emily Hamper, a very authoritative accompanist throughout the concert." (Concertonet, Paris, January 2014) Emily Hamper has earned an excellent reputation for her exceptional skills as a vocal coach and accompanist. Singers from her coaching studio perform with major opera companies and symphony orchestras around the world. Within an international career spanning twenty years, she has worked as a rehearsal pianist, coach, and assistant conductor for many prominent opera companies and organizations. Highly sought-after as a collaborator for voice recitals, she has recently appeared in performance for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra’s “Virée Classique”, L'Opéra National de Paris, and Music Toronto. In January 2017 she partners baritone Phillip Addis in recital at the Canadian Opera Company. Other performances include recitals for the Queensland Music Festival (Australia), Calgary Opera, Festival Orford, Stratford Summer Music, and many other venues in Canada, the USA, and Europe. In 2011 she was awarded the Best Collaborative ​ Pianist Prize at the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition and accompanied thirteen ​ performances across Canada on the National Winner's Tour. Performances have been broadcast on CBC Radio, Radio-Canada, Classical 96.3 FM and Vermont Public Radio. Engaged as a répétiteur and official audition accompanist by Calgary Opera, l'Opéra de Montréal, Opera Atelier and Pacific Opera Victoria, Ms. Hamper was production director for a performance based on Manon at the Muskoka Opera Festival in 2013. Her genuine interest in ​ ​ new music has resulted in engagements with Soundstreams Canada and Tapestry Opera, the workshopping of a new opera with Manitoba Opera, and the commission of a cycle of four songs by composer Erik Ross and poet Zachariah Wells.
    [Show full text]
  • Shining the Spotlight on New Talent Independent Opera
    Independent Opera Shining the spotlight on new talent INDEPENDENT OPERA AT SADLER’S WELLS 2005–2020 Introduction Message from Wigmore Hall Thursday 15 October 2020, 7.30pm In this period of uncertainty, Independent Opera at Sadler’s It gives me great pleasure to welcome Independent Opera Wells is grateful to be able to present its annual Scholars’ to Wigmore Hall for its fourth showcase event. Now, more Independent Opera Recital at Wigmore Hall. For this final concert in Independent than ever, such opportunities are vital for young singers. Opera’s 15-year history, we are thrilled to bring together We are immensely grateful to Independent Opera for its four talented singers: tenor Glen Cunningham, soprano pioneering work and for its extraordinary commitment Scholars’ Recital Samantha Quillish, bass William Thomas, mezzo-soprano to young artists when they need it most. Tonight’s concert Lauren Young and renowned pianist Christopher Glynn. is a great example of the spirit of Independent Opera and all that it has represented over so many years. I hope Antonín Dvorˇák The four emerging artists you will hear tonight were Glen Cunningham tenor that you all enjoy this concert. Cigánské melodie, Op. 55 selected from Independent Opera’s partner conservatoires: Royal College of Music No. 1 Má písenˇ zas mi láskou zní Royal College of Music, Royal Academy of Music, Guildhall John Gilhooly Director No. 4 Když mne stará matka zpívat School of Music & Drama and Royal Conservatoire of Samantha Quillish soprano Moravian Duets, Op. 38 Scotland. The Independent Opera Voice Scholarships were Royal Academy of Music No.
    [Show full text]
  • Summer 2014 Boston Symphony Orchestra
    boston symphony orchestra summer 2014 Andris Nelsons, Ray and Maria Stata Music Director Designate Bernard Haitink, LaCroix Family Fund Conductor Emeritus, Endowed in Perpetuity Seiji Ozawa, Music Director Laureate 133rd season, 2013–2014 Trustees of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Inc. Edmund Kelly, Chair • William F. Achtmeyer, Vice-Chair • Carmine A. Martignetti, Vice-Chair • Stephen R. Weber, Vice-Chair • Theresa M. Stone, Treasurer David Altshuler • George D. Behrakis • Jan Brett • Paul Buttenwieser • Ronald G. Casty • Susan Bredhoff Cohen, ex-officio • Richard F. Connolly, Jr. • Diddy Cullinane • Cynthia Curme • Alan J. Dworsky • William R. Elfers • Thomas E. Faust, Jr. • Michael Gordon • Brent L. Henry • Charles W. Jack, ex-officio • Stephen B. Kay • Joyce Linde • John M. Loder • Nancy K. Lubin • Robert J. Mayer, M.D. • Robert P. O’Block • Susan W. Paine • Peter Palandjian, ex-officio • John Reed • Carol Reich • Arthur I. Segel • Roger T. Servison • Wendy Shattuck • Caroline Taylor • Roberta S. Weiner • Robert C. Winters Life Trustees Vernon R. Alden • Harlan E. Anderson • David B. Arnold, Jr. • J.P. Barger • Gabriella Beranek • Leo L. Beranek • Deborah Davis Berman • Peter A. Brooke • John F. Cogan, Jr. • Mrs. Edith L. Dabney • Nelson J. Darling, Jr. • Nina L. Doggett • Mrs. John H. Fitzpatrick† • Nancy J. Fitzpatrick • Thelma E. Goldberg • Charles H. Jenkins, Jr. • Mrs. Béla T. Kalman • George Krupp • Mrs. Henrietta N. Meyer • Richard P. Morse • David Mugar • Mary S. Newman • Vincent M. O’Reilly • William J. Poorvu • Peter C. Read • Edward I. Rudman • Richard A. Smith • Ray Stata • Thomas G. Stemberg • John Hoyt Stookey • Wilmer J. Thomas, Jr. • John L. Thorndike • Stephen R.
    [Show full text]
  • Soprano Ailyn Pérez to Portray Marguerite in Lyric's Faust March 3
    96 Lyric Opera Cast Announcement | Ailyn Pérez to portray Marguerite FROM: Lisa Middleton Vice President, Marketing and Communications MEDIA INQUIRIES: Lyric Opera of Chicago PHOTO:Rebecca Fay Holly H. Gilson [email protected] 312-827-5939 Soprano Ailyn Pérez to portray Marguerite in Lyric’s Faust Magda Krance March 3-18, replacing Erin Wall, [email protected] 312-827-5924 who has withdrawn for health reasons. Kamaria Morris Ana María Martínez to sing March 21 performance as scheduled. [email protected] 312-827-5928 CHICAGO (1/18/18) -- Canadian-American soprano Erin Wall has withdrawn from Faust at Lyric Opera of Chicago to undergo The Silverman Group, Inc. chemotherapy, Anthony Freud, Lyric’s general director, president & Elizabeth Neukirch [email protected] CEO, announced today. Freud added that “her doctors expect a full 312-932-9911 recovery within a few months, according to her manager. Everyone at Lyric wishes Erin all the best and looks forward to welcoming her back in future seasons.” An alumna of Lyric’s Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center program (2001-04) with a major international career, Wall has portrayed Marguerite/Faust, Donna Anna/Don Giovanni, Pamina/The Magic Flute, Fiordiligi/Così fan tutte, Helena/A Midsummer Night's Dream, Konstanze/Die Entführung auf dem Serail, and Antonia/Les Contes d'Hoffmann at Lyric. Internationally celebrated American soprano Ailyn Pérez will portray Marguerite in Lyric’s new production of Gounod’s popular opera. Said Freud, “Ailyn made a wonderful debut at Lyric in last season’s Celebrating Plácido concert, and we are delighted that she is able to join us for Faust when rehearsals begin in February.” Pérez will sing six performances March 3 - 18, with soprano Ana María Martínez singing the final performance as scheduled on March 21.
    [Show full text]
  • Avant Première Catalogue 2018 Lists UNITEL’S New Productions of 2017 Plus New Additions to the Catalogue
    CATALOGUE 2018 This Avant Première catalogue 2018 lists UNITEL’s new productions of 2017 plus new additions to the catalogue. For a complete list of more than 2.000 UNITEL productions and the Avant Première catalogues of 2015–2017 please visit www.unitel.de FOR CO-PRODUCTION & PRESALES INQUIRIES PLEASE CONTACT: Unitel GmbH & Co. KG Gruenwalder Weg 28D · 82041 Oberhaching/Munich, Germany Tel: +49.89.673469-613 · Fax: +49.89.673469-610 · [email protected] Ernst Buchrucker Dr. Thomas Hieber Dr. Magdalena Herbst Managing Director Head of Business and Legal Affairs Head of Production [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Tel: +49.89.673469-19 Tel: +49.89.673469-611 Tel: +49.89.673469-862 WORLD SALES C Major Entertainment GmbH Meerscheidtstr. 8 · 14057 Berlin, Germany Tel.: +49.30.303064-64 · [email protected] Elmar Kruse Niklas Arens Nishrin Schacherbauer Managing Director Sales Manager, Director Sales Sales Manager [email protected] & Marketing [email protected] [email protected] Nadja Joost Ira Rost Sales Manager, Director Live Events Sales Manager, Assistant to & Popular Music Managing Director [email protected] [email protected] CATALOGUE 2018 Unitel GmbH & Co. KG Gruenwalder Weg 28D 82041 Oberhaching/Munich, Germany CEO: Jan Mojto Editorial team: Franziska Pascher, Dr. Martina Kliem, Arthur Intelmann Layout: Manuel Messner/luebbeke.com All information is not contractual and subject to change without prior notice. All trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. Date of Print: February 2018 © UNITEL 2018 All rights reserved Front cover: Alicia Amatriain & Friedemann Vogel in John Cranko’s “Onegin” / Photo: Stuttgart Ballet ON THE OCCASION OF HIS 100TH BIRTHDAY UNITEL CELEBRATES LEONARD BERNSTEIN 1918 – 1990 Leonard Bernstein, a long-time exclusive artist of Unitel, was America’s ambassador to the world of music.
    [Show full text]
  • COC162145 365 Strategicplan
    A VISION FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS COC365 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY EXECUTIVE PLANNING COMMITTEE Alexander Neef General Director Rob Lamb Managing Director In October 2014, a project was initiated by General Director Alfred Caron Alexander Neef to develop a management-driven strategic plan Director, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts Lindy Cowan, CPA, CA Director of Finance and Administration to guide the Canadian Opera Company for the next five years. Christie Darville Chief Advancement Officer Steve Kelley Chief Communications Officer The COC’s executive leadership team, in governance oversight and input throughout Peter Lamb Director of Production collaboration with a management consultant, the process. Additionally, the process was Roberto Mauro Director of Music and Artistic Administration developed an overarching vision and mission informed by two Board retreats, individual for the company, as well as a basic plan for meetings with all senior managers, a The COC recognizes the invaluable input and contributions to the strategic planning process of implementation and accountability. The management retreat, as well as consultations its Board of Directors under the chairmanship of then-Chair Mr. Tony Arrell, the Canadian Opera 2014/2015 COC Board of Directors provided with a number of external COC stakeholders. Foundation Board of Directors, as well as all members of COC senior management. STAGES OF EXECUTION COC365 ABOUT US • The Canadian Opera Company is the largest • Created the COC Ensemble Studio in 1980, SHARING CONSULTATION REALIZATION producer of opera in Canada, and one of the one of the world’s premier training programs THE PLAN AND INTERNALLY AND INTERNALLY FEEDBACK EXTERNALLY five largest in North America.
    [Show full text]
  • Newsletter • Bulletin Summer 2002 Été
    NATIONAL CAPITAL OPERA SOCIETY • SOCIÉTÉ D'OPÉRA DE LA CAPITALE NATIONALE Newsletter • Bulletin Summer 2002 Été P.O. Box 8347, Main Terminal, Ottawa, Ontario K1G 3H8 • C.P. 8347, Succursale principale, Ottawa (Ontario) K1G 3H8 A new Canadian star!!! by Renate Chartrand Opernglas’ featured a six-page interview with her on the occasion of her Covent Garden debut as Donna Anna with Bryn Terfel as Don Giovanni. (Perhaps while I am writing this, ‘Opera Canada’ is doing the same?) For several years she was based in Vienna, singing lead roles at the State Opera. Elsewhere in Europe she has had great success as Elsa, Arabella, Tatiana, Desdemona and Alice Ford in Munich, Paris, Glyndebourne and Milan. Four years ago in Hamburg she had already caught my at- tention as a great Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes. As is the custom in Europe we joined the fans wait- ing for her at the stage door and asked her whether she is thinking of doing Tosca. Yes, next year in San Francisco. This year she will sing her first Elisabetta (Don Carlo) in Salzburg, Ariadne in Barcelona and her Met debut as Lisa (Pique Dame) is planned for 2004. For us Ottawans of greatest interest will be her first Sieglinde in Toronto’s (continued on page 3) Adrianne Pieczonka Kat’a Kabanova During my trip to Germany in April I had the pleasure of witnessingBrian a Canadian star being born. Soprano Adrianne Pieczonka made the front page of the ‘Hamburger Abendblatt’Law with the comment “A star was born” follow- ing the opening night of Kat’a Kabanova by Janacek at the Hamburg State Opera.
    [Show full text]
  • 12-04-2018 Traviata Eve.Indd
    GIUSEPPE VERDI la traviata conductor Opera in three acts Yannick Nézet-Séguin Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, production Michael Mayer based on the play La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas fils set designer Christine Jones Tuesday, December 4, 2018 costume designer 8:00–11:00 PM Susan Hilferty lighting designer New Production Premiere Kevin Adams choreographer Lorin Latarro DEBUT The production of La Traviata was made possible by a generous gift from The Paiko Foundation Major additional funding for this production was received from Mercedes T. Bass, Mr. and Mrs. Paul M. Montrone, and Rolex general manager Peter Gelb jeanette lerman-neubauer music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin 2018–19 SEASON The 1,012th Metropolitan Opera performance of GIUSEPPE VERDI’S la traviata conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin in order of vocal appearance violet ta valéry annina Diana Damrau Maria Zifchak flor a bervoix giuseppe Kirstin Chávez Marco Antonio Jordão the marquis d’obigny giorgio germont Jeongcheol Cha Quinn Kelsey baron douphol a messenger Dwayne Croft* Ross Benoliel dr. grenvil Kevin Short germont’s daughter Selin Sahbazoglu gastone solo dancers Scott Scully Garen Scribner This performance Martha Nichols is being broadcast live on Metropolitan alfredo germont Opera Radio on Juan Diego Flórez SiriusXM channel 75 and streamed at metopera.org. Tuesday, December 4, 2018, 8:00–11:00PM MARTY SOHL / MET OPERA Diana Damrau Chorus Master Donald Palumbo as Violetta and Musical Preparation John Keenan, Yelena Kurdina, Juan Diego Flórez Liora Maurer, and Jonathan
    [Show full text]
  • Spring 2008-Final
    Wagneriana Endloser Grimm! Ewiger Gram! Spring 2008 Der Traurigste bin ich von Allen! Volume 5, Number 2 —Die Walküre From the Editor ven though the much-awaited concert of the Wagner/Liszt piano transcriptions was canceled due to un- avoidable circumstances (the musicians were unable to obtain a visa), the winter and early spring months E brought several stimulating events. On January 19, Vice President Erika Reitshamer gave an audiovisual presentation on Wagner’s early opera Das Liebesverbot. This well-attended event was augmented by photocopies of extended excerpts from the libretto, with frequently amusing commentary by the presenter on Wagner’s influences and foreshadowings of his future operas. February 23 brought the excellent talk by Professor Hans Rudolf Vaget of Smith College. Professor Vaget spoke about Wagner’s English biographer Ernest Newman, whose seminal four-volume book The Life of Richard Wagner has never been surpassed in its thoroughness. In the early part of the twentieth century, the music critic Newman served as a counterbalance to his fellow countryman Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Wagner’s son-in-law and an ardent Nazi. The talk also included aspects of Thomas Mann’s fictional writings on Wagner, as well as the philoso- pher and musician Theodor Adorno and Wagner’s other son-in-law Franz Beidler. On April 19 we learned the extent of Buddhism’s influence on Wagner’s operas thanks to a lecture and book signing by Paul Schofield, author of The Redeemer Reborn: Parsifal as the Fifth Opera of Wagner’s Ring. The audience members were so interested in what Mr.
    [Show full text]
  • ASITHA TENNEKOON Tenor
    ASITHA TENNEKOON Tenor 2017 DORA AWARD – OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE, MALE, OPERA DIVISION – ROCKING HORSE WINNER (TAPESTRY/SCOTTISH OPERA) As John Peyton in Shanawdithit with Tapestry Opera – “Tennekoon’s savage depiction of vicious racist magistrate and merchant John Peyton is nothing less than harrowing. ” Ian Ritchie, Opera to Go As Luis Griffith in Champion – “Tenor Asitha Tennekoon gave a sympathetic, tender portrayal of Griffith’s adopted son Luis, skill­ fully negotiating his part’s unkind spread.” Natasha Gauthier, Opera Canada BIOGRAPHY SELECTED RESUME Sri Lankan tenor Asitha Tennekoon has quickly established OPERA himself as one of Canada’s most impressive and versatile singing artists. He drew critical acclaim as Paul in Tapestry Le Comte Ory (Understudy) | Edmonton Opera Opera/Scottish Opera’s Rocking Horse Winner, receiving Luis Champion | Opéra de Montréal the 2016 Dora Award for Best Male Performance. Of his performance, Richard Harris of the Globe and Mail wrote, Polidoro Erminia | Lafayette Opera “The surprise of the night was Asitha Tennekoon... his Gernando L’Isola Disabitata | Voicebox:Opera in Concert silky, emotional presence on stage – both vocally and dra­ Paul Rocking Horse Winner | Tapestry Opera matically – gave the show a powerful focus.” For his per­ formance in the 2019 world premiere of Shanawdithit Vincent Le Chanteur de Mexico | Opéra Bouffe du Québec (Nolan/Burry) with Tapestry Opera, Ian Ritchie of Opera Going Toronto wrote: “Tennekoon’s savage depiction of CONCERT vicious racist magistrate and merchant John Peyton is nothing less than harrowing.” Messiah Handel | Elmer Iseler Singers, Chorus Niagara Asitha’s operatic highlights include performances with Lord Nelson Mass Haydn | Toronto Mendelssohn Choir Opéra de Montréal, Tapestry Opera, Against the Grain St.
    [Show full text]