CENTRAL OPERA SERVICE BULLETIN ~ MAY-JUNE, 1961 Sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera National Council Central Opera Service • Lincoln Center Plaza • Metropolitan Opera • New York, N.Y. 10023 • 799-3467 Sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera National Council Central Opara Sarvice • Lincoln C*Bf»r Plaza • Metropolitan Opera * New York, N.Y. iOOtl • 799-3467 CENTRAL OPERA SERVICE COMMITTEE R. L. B. TOBIN, National Chairman The National Council JULIUS RUDEL, Co-Chairman New York City Opera National Council Director! MRS. AUGUST BELMONT MRS. FRANK W. BOWMAN GEORGE HOWERTON E. H. CORRIGAN, JR. ELIHU M. HYNDMAN MRS. NORR1S DARRELL MRS. JOHN R. SAVAGE HOWARD J. HOOK, JR. JAMES SCHWABACHER. JR. Profeuional Committee MAURICE ABRAVANEL RICHARD KARP Salt Lake City Symphony Pittsburgh Opera KURT HERBERT ADLER PAUL KNOWLES San Francisco Opera University of Minnesota VICTOR ALESSANDRO GLADYS MATHEW San Antonio Symphony Community Opera ROBERT G. ANDERSON MRS. LOUDON MELLEN Tulsa Opera Opera Soc. of Wash., D.C. WILFRED C. BAIN ELEMER NAGY Indiana University Hartt College of Music ROBERT BAUST1AN MME. ROSE PALMAI-TENSER Santa Fe Opera Mobile Opera Guild MORITZ BOMHARD RUSSELL D. PATTERSON Kentucky Opera Kansas City Lyric Theatre JOHN BROWNLEE MRS. JOHN DEWITT PELTZ Manhattan School of Music Metropolitan Opera PAUL CALLAWAY GEORGE SCHICK Opera Soc. of Wash., D.C. Metropolitan Opera STANLEY CHAPPLE MARK SCHUBART University of Washington Lincoln Center EUGENE CONLEY MRS. L. S. STEMMONS No. Texas State Univ. Dallas Civic Opera WALTER DUCLOUX LEONARD TREASH University of S. California Eastman School of Music PETER PAUL FUCHS LUCAS UNDERWOOD Louisiana State University College of the Pacific ROBERT GAY GID WALDROP Northwestern University Juilliard School of Music BORIS GOLDOVSKY MRS. J. P. WALLACE Goldovsky Opera Theatre Shreveport Civic Opera WALTER HERBERT MRS. PAUL P. WILSON Houston Grand Opera Mid-South Reg. Director LUDW1O ZIRNER University of Illinois The Central Opera Service Bulletin is published bi-monthly for its members by Central Opera Service. Permission to quote is not necessary but kindly note source. We would appreciate receiving any information pertaining to opera and operatic production in your region; please address inquiries or material to: Mrs. Maria F. Rich Central Opera Service Bulletin Editor Lincoln Center Plaza Susanne M. Low Metropolitan Opera Single copies of this issue: $1.00 Ass't to the Editor New York, N.Y. 10023 CENTRAL OPERA SERVICE BULLETIN Volume 10, Number 5 May - June, 1968 NEW OPERAS AND PREMIERES AMERICAN OPERAS The Theatre of the Living Arts in Philadelphia was the scene of the premiere of Michael White's METAMORPHOSIS on May 3. The three-act opera is based on Franz Kafka's story of the same title, rewritten into a verse-play by Milton Goldberg who also is responsible for the opera libretto. The composer teaches at Philadelphia's M usic Academy. Henri Pousseur, professor of music at New York University in Buffalo, is the com- poser of VOTRE FAUST. The Belgian born composer collaborated with French novelist, Michel Butor, on the libretto which presents the Faust theme in a contem- porary setting. Audience participation in form of voting for one of four possible endings of the opera is one of its innovations. The work was performed on March 17 in a concert version by the Buffalo Philharmonic as part of Buffalo's Festival of the Arts. The team of Lutz Mayer, composer, and Edward Devanny, librettist, collaborated again on a new opera, THE PARANOID PARAKEET. The premiere is scheduled for the opening of the new Fine Arts Building at N.Y. State University-Cortland College and will be a joint production by the University's Drama and Music De- partments. A previous opera by Messrs. Mayer and Devanny is called Refuge. Matt Doran, composer of the The Committee, has written THE LITTLE HAND SO OBSTINA TE. Excerpts of this new opera with a libretto by Sonia Brown were performed recently by the Music Department of Mount St. Mary's College. The Opera Theatre of the University of Arizona in Tucson presented the first per- formance of Henry Johnson's THE MOUNTAIN on December 12, 1967. Two more performances followed. The libretto is by David Grozier. THE MAGIC LAND OF OPERA by Martin Kalmanoff is suggested as opera educa- tion for young audiences. Appearing to a child in a dream sequence, leading figures from twelve of the most famous grand operas discuss their parts and sing some of the best known melodies from their respective operas. Gladys Mathew, President of Community Opera in New York and member of the COS Professional Committee, wrote the libretto for MIDAS, "a poetic opera in three acts." The story is based on early Greek history and myths relating to the dynasty of Midas and Gordius in Lydia and Phrygia. The music is by the late Brit- ish composer Stanley Wilson, who completed the work with a two piano accompani- ment. Musical material has been chosen according to the text, i.e. Lydian and Phrygian modes have been adapted to modern composition. The opera requires a large cast, chorus and dancers. For further information please contact Mrs. Mathew, 160 West 73 St., New York, N. Y. Alberto Ginastera (Don Rodrigo and Bomarzo) is reported to be working on a new opera based on the life of Beatrice Cenci. THE EXCEPTION AND THE RULE by Bertolt Brecht will form the basis for a musical-in-new-format. It will mark the second collaboration of Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins and Stephen Sondheim, following the successful West Side Story. Playwright John Guare will assist in the adaptation of the original script. Besides the new Canadian operas mentioned in the 6/67 Bulletin, we learn through Opera Canada of three other works commissioned for the Centennial Year. They are: THE LAY OF THRYME by Jack Behrens, with a libretto by Keith Cockburn, premiered on Jan. 24, 1968 at the University of Saskatchewan; CASINO ("Creed') by Samuel Doblin with a libretto by Ronald Hambleton; and SCOTTISH LAND- ING by Trevor Jones with a libretto by Donald Wetmore, first performed in Halifax in November, 1967. AMERICAN PREMIERES Carl Orff s Bernauerin received it's first American performance at the University of Missourr-in Kansas City on March 21. The opera, under the title of THE BALLAD OF AGNES BERNAUER, was sung in an English translation by Fritz Kracht who was also in charge of stage directions. The story, which plays in 15th century Bavaria, is based on supposedly true events. The performance in Kansas City presented a collaborative effort of the University's Drama and Music Depart- ments with technical assistance from the University's radio station. The orchestra included a 16-piece percussion ensemble. Also on March 21 the Opera Workshop of Boston University gave the American premiere of Satie's GENEVIEVE OF BRABANT. This fall the San Francisco Opera will present two American "firsts" within one triple-bill. ROYAL PALACE by Kurt Weill will be produced in a pantomime ver- sion by Gunther Schuller scored for six solo voices and a women's chorus. It will also include a ballet. The premiere of the original version took place in Berlin in 1927. On the same program, the California company will present the American stage premiere of a one-act version of Darius Milhaud's Christopher Columbus under the title of DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. The third work on this evening of contemporary operas will be Schonberg's Erwartung. Also on the schedule of San Francisco's 1968 season are revivals of two rarely performed operas, Fra Diavolo and Les Troyens; Die Walkure will be presented in a new production. The American premiere of Hans Werner Henze's one-act opera, THE COUNTRY DOCTOR, will take place at Northwestern University, Evanston, 111., within an unusual frame of presentation. "The Artist as Myth-Maker" is the title of the evening and in addition to the premiere of the Henze opera which is utilizing a specially prepared film, two other films are scheduled on the program. They are recently produced American student films. The evening is part of Northwest- ern's Festival of the Arts, May 23-28. Jeunesses Musicales at Mt. Orford, Quebec, will give the first North American performance of OPERA DE POUSSIERE by the French composer, Marcel Lan- dowski. The first performance of this opera took place in Avignon in 1962. EUROPEAN PREMIERES New British operas include Cornelius Cardow's SCHOOLTIME COMPOSITIONS, a one-act work premiered by Focus Opera Group in London on March 11; also on the triple-bill of contemporary operas were Ligeti's Aventures et nou- velles aventures and Kagel's Sur scene. — On January 11 the All Saints Church in London was host to the Sacred Music-Drama Society and its productions of Inglis Guhdry's THE THREE WISE MEN and Geoffrey Bush's THE EQUA TION. The latter is based on a play by John Drinkwater. — First performances during British summer festivals are listed for June '68 at Aldeburgh: Birtwistle's PUNCH AND JUDY and Britten's THE PRODIGAL SON, and at Glyndebourne '69: Nich- olas Maw's THE RISING OF THE MOON. — The Scottish Opera Co. gave the first performance of Robin Orr's FULL CIRCLE in Perth on a double-bill together with Stravinsky's L'Histoire du soldal. — 2 — Di Lampedusa's famous novel, IL GATTOPARDO (The Leopard), forms the story for Angelo Musco's opera of the same title. Published by Ricordi, the opera was premiered in Palermo on December 19, 1967. — Radio Italiano (RAI) is respon- sible for two unusual revivals during the last season. The one is PIEDIGROTTA by Luigi Ricci (1805-59) first performed in Naples in 1852, revived in December 1967 under the baton of N.