Cal Performances & Present Program

Thursday, December 11, 2008, 7:30pm Friday, December 12, 2008, 8pm Sunday, December 14, 2008, 3pm Zellerbach Hall conductor * director & designer Three Decembers Cesar Galindo* costume designer (West Coast Premiere) Brian Nason* lighting designer Bryndon Hassman musical preparation Morgan Robinson assistant stage director Gina Hays* stage manager Tracy Davis manager Carrie Weick orchestra librarian

* debut

2

PROGRAM

The action takes place in San Francisco, Hartford, Barbados and New York.

Part One (1986)

INTERMISSION

Part Two (1996) An Opera in Two Acts Part Three (2006) Music by by The performance will last approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes. Based on Some Christmas Letters (and a Couple of Phone Calls), an original play by Terrence McNally. 2 (Sung in English with English supertitles)

Commissioned and co-produced by Houston , San Francisco Opera and Cal Performances.

First performance: Houston, February 29, 2008. San Francisco Opera Three Decembers is supported by a grant from The James Irvine Foundation. , General Director was developed with generous support from Cal Performances, Meet the Composer, Three Decembers , Music Director and Principal Conductor Betty Freeman and The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Nicola Luisotti, Music Director Designate These performances are made possible, in part, by Annette Campbell-White and Dr. R. Naumann-Etienne.

Wells Fargo Bank is the 2008–2009 Season Sponsor of Cal Performances and San Francisco Opera.

6 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 7 Cast A Message from the Composer

Three Decembers At last, to be identified! At last, the lamps upon thy side The rest of Life to see! CAST — (in order of appearance)

Charlie Keith Phares* hortly after the premiere of my opera and San Francisco Beatrice Kristin Clayton SDead Man Walking in 2000, Terrence McNally Opera generously offered to commission the op- Madeline Mitchell told me about a short play he had written for an era. Robert Cole at Cal Performances had been a AIDS benefit in December 1999. I am interested in staunch champion of the piece from the start and * San Francisco Opera debut anything and everything that Terrence writes, so I he wanted to see it through. Director Lenoard asked to see it. He gave me a copy and sent me on Foglia had joined the process in 2005 and was ea- ENSEMBLE my way, but of course I couldn’t wait. So I found ger to take it to the stage. Patrick Summers fell in a nearby pizza parlor, ordered a slice, sat in a win- love with the original play and was eager to see it piano Jake Heggie dow, and read. Instantly, this gem of a play worked come to life on the opera stage. Flicka told me she Patrick Summers its magic. It sang to me, and I started sketching was committed to creating the role of Madeline. violin Kay Stern, Concertmaster musical ideas in the margins. It felt so true, hon- Terrence gave us permission to base the opera on est and right. And I knew exactly who I wanted his original story, and, to everyone’s great good Laura Albers, Associate Concertmaster to write it for: Flicka. The great American mezzo- fortune, wonderful Gene Scheer agreed to write Heidi Wilcox, Assistant Concertmaster , Frederica von Stade. She read it and fell in a libretto. cello David Kadarauch love with it, too. In January 2007, Gene and I got started. He Joseph Lescher Titled Some Christmas Letters (and a Couple crafted his libretto the first few months of the year oboe, English horn Janet Archibald of Phone Calls), the play was produced one time and I started writing music in July. I completed a clarinet, bass clarinet Anthony Striplen only in 1999: at with the astonish- draft in early November. After some revisions, and soprano , alto saxophone, flute David Henderson ing cast of (Madeline), Cherry Jones then a workshop in December with further revi- percussion Patricia Niemi (Beatrice) and Victor Garber (Charlie), with mu- sions, I orchestrated the work. After seven years of sic performed by the Gay Men’s Chorus of New development, the opera was composed and orches- York. A brief but powerful 14 pages long, the play trated in six months. is about the stormy emotional lives of three people: The piece takes place in 1986, 1996 and 2006, the famous stage actress Madeline Mitchell and her with the first dramatic event of each part having two adult children, Bea and Charlie. Told through taken place in December. Part One (1986) be- letters and phone calls, it follows these three char- gins in December with Bea and Charlie reading Education & Community Event acters through three Decembers in three different their famous mother’s Christmas letter. Part Two decades of their lives. (1996) begins in February, but with Charlie re- Key Notes: Three Decembers It is a play about identity. Identity as a member flecting on a death in the December just passed. December 12, 2008, 5–6:30pm of the family one is born into and within the ones Part Three (2006) takes place in December at a Zellerbach Hall Lobby Mezzanine we create—the truth of who we are and who our Broadway theater. parents are. It is a very big theme in all our lives, The original title, Last Acts, was agreed upon Composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer talk about their and certainly one that inspires me deeply. It perme- before Gene and I had written anything. After new , presented in association with San Francisco ates every one of my stage works, songs or scenes. the workshop in December 2007, we decided, Opera and Houston Grand Opera. The piece needed to be a chamber opera that along with Terrence McNally, that a more fit- would focus entirely on the emotional lives of three ting title would be Three Decembers. A recording characters. I decided that the sense of a clear, spare from the original production will be released by identity would extend to the orchestra, with just Albany Records. eleven instrumentalists: two pianos (the conductor at one of them), percussion, five strings and three wind players: one doubling oboe and English horn, Jake Heggie one on clarinets, and one on flute and .

8 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 9 A Message from the Librettist Program Notes

ake heggie and i had done a number of line to both ring true and to inspire music, which A Life of Many Acts about quadruple Tony Award-winner Terrence Jprojects together when he approached me with in the end is where the greatest poetry in opera is McNally as librettist and and the idea of turning Terrence McNally’s play Some to be found. Conductor Patrick Summers looks into the Flicka as the stars. “What do I think? I think you Christmases (and a Couple of Phone Calls) into a When Jake mentioned that Madeline Mitchell music—and the mind—of Three Decembers need to realize that not everyone’s first opera is like chamber opera. I knew that Jake had been consid- was to be played by the great Frederica von Stade, composer Jake Heggie. this.” We laughed. Terrence produced a fascinating ering at various times and in various forms using I was truly overwhelmed with excitement. Keith list of potential projects. For Jake the choice was music to explore Terrence’s play. One of Jake’s great Phares and Kristin Clayton round out an excep- erdi, wagner, massenet and puccini quick: hit him immediately as gifts is his instinct for understanding what story or tional cast. All three of these extraordinary per- V wrote only opera, though they each made the right choice, the most precise moral tale, and play might be interestingly explored through mu- formers have dedicated themselves to breathing life brief forays into other forms—I classify Verdi’s he was drawn by the spiritual journey in this work. sic. I was not surprised, therefore, to discover that into this new opera. I am so grateful for their en- monumental as his finest work. The fo- After all, Dead Man Walking is not about the death when he sent me Terrence’s script, I shared his en- thusiasm and for the chance to benefit from their cus of Handel’s and Bach’s lives was vocal music. penalty any more than is about thusiasm for this beautiful play and for the musical profound talents. Mozart, the exception to every rule, was creatively suicide. It asks a simple moral question by never possibilities it presented. The writing of this piece has been a great joy. inspired by every musical genre and master of all of answers it: what does killing someone who kills The libretto is filled with many of Terrence’s Terrence’s original play, written for an AIDS ben- them, though he seemed to hold the most affection say about killing? Jake and Terrence unfolded the beautiful words. But of course an opera libretto efit in New York, is both touching and important. for stage works. But almost no one these days sets tale from every angle. The parents of the murdered is different from a play. As Jake and I expanded Jake’s score is inspired in the way in which it re- out to be a composer of . “Opera composer” children want “closure,” and through their grief the story, as arias, duets, and trios were written veals the soul’s pulse while it is having, as Robert is a vocation that must seek you and call you to it. they believe only the death of the murderer can to explore our notions of how this family’s story Frost put it, “a lover’s quarrel with the world.” Frederica von Stade (since childhood she’s bring it. The mother of the murderer can’t see how would emerge, the hope was always to find ways On a personal note, my dear cousin Helen been “Flicka” to all), for whom Jake Heggie has recreating the crime will change anything. Sister to allow music to amplify the human frailty and Radin passed away last December. As I was sitting composed Three Decembers (originally titled Last Helen, as the murderer’s spiritual adviser, simply hope of redemption that is at the core of Terrence’s at her funeral, I could not help but think of the Acts) has had as large an influence on his com- wants him to admit what he did in hopes of find- original work. words Terrence gave Madeline to say at the end of posing career as mezzo had over ing some peace with the God she loves; she has no The task of writing the libretto was greatly his play. Suffice it to say, those words, and the mu- Berlioz and Meyerbeer more than a century ago. delusions about saving his life. Most brilliantly, helped by the wise counsel of our director, Leonard sic that Jake imagined, bring me comfort. I expect Though Flicka, unlike Pauline, has yet to write an none of the characters is wrong; their feelings are Foglia. Jake, Lenny and I met in San Francisco many will feel the same way. The libretto is dedi- opera of her own, hope does spring eternal. (How their feelings, and their heartbreaking questions about a month before the workshop and went cated to Helen Radin, 1934–2007. about it, Flicka?) Jake was working in the public deserve contemplation—two important points in through the piece as carefully and as critically as relations department of San Francisco Opera when Jake’s work. Dead Man Walking premiered in 2000 we could. The agenda was always simple, even if Gene Scheer Flicka and I met him; remember, Berlioz was a at San Francisco Opera. the writing of the piece was not. We wanted each January 2008 professional librarian. Yes, Jake was writing press Jake has earned his right to question. The de- releases, though it wasn’t long before the press re- fining tragedy of his life, rarely discussed by im- leases were about him. Jake, driving me to a radio portant in understanding the focus of his artistry, interview in 1994, mentioned that he had written was the suicide of his father when Jake was ten. It some songs and asked if I would like to hear them. was a loss that created a lifetime of questions he has I was stunned by their depth and orchestral sweep. sought to answer as a composer. His second opera, Flicka, who also heard Jake’s songs around that The End of the Affair, based on Graham Greene’s time, became so enthused about them that I was brooding World War II novel and commissioned able to respond to , then the general by Houston Grand Opera, probed deep, spiritual director of San Francisco Opera, when he said to subjects of worthiness and loss, and the price of me in 1995, “Patrick, I need a new opera for the honesty and . year 2000. In 1999, we have writ- I’m often asked these days what Jake is like. ing Streetcar. In 2000, we should try a newcomer.” “Accessible” is not a dirty word to Jake, nor does I told Lotfi he had someone working in his press it adequately describe the deceptively intricate in- office who I thought was a born opera composer. telligence of his music. He is a melodist of sweep Naturally curious, Lotfi called Flicka and Renée and depth. Jake essentially writes music composed Fleming, among others, for advice. The engines for specific occasions for specific performers, as did were humming. Bach, Handel and Verdi. He writes for the ears of Shortly after Jake’s journey to write his first all, not just the studied. He would not be proud opera began, he called me to ask what I thought of eccentric isolation; he is urban, uncomfortable

10 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 11 Program Notes Program Notes without a population around him to observe and to compose. It always has. The alone time is terribly So, for and would rewrite, or I could fill in with my own words with whom to interact. Rather than composing important, but the creative interaction invigorates Earle Patriarco, I asked my friend John Hall in Los and he’d work on it later. It was to be a real ex- broad tonal pictures, he is at his best writing in- my imagination like nothing else. Angeles for new texts (Encountertenor and Thoughts change and collaboration. Terrence has a famous timate emotions, turning his own keen eye on the During the past 15 years, I have been fortunate Unspoken). For soprano Nicolle Foland, I went to passion for opera and a brilliant sense of how to set human situation in ingenious ways. The voice is his to collaborate not only with some of the great sing- Bay Area poet Gini Savage (Natural Selection). For things up to work on the stage. All I had to do was natural medium. ers of our time, but with inspirational conductors, soprano Kristin Clayton, it was Philip Littell (Eve- trust, listen, feel and write. That’s the music. What about the man? For all directors, instrumentalists, arts administrators, Song). For Frederica von Stade, she herself wrote After discussing the opera for about nine of his surface humor, he is, more than almost any- and most of all: wonderful writers. the words (Paper Wings, On the Road to Christmas, months, Terrence was ready to write the first act of one I’ve ever encountered, a deeply spiritual and just Collaborations with writers are especially im- and Winter Roses). For , it was the libretto. He wanted me to be with him, so in person. He is unnervingly empathetic. He views portant because, of course, without words there Gavin Dillard (Of Gods and ), and so on. I also March 1998 we flew to his house in Key West. On life not as a complex series of causes and effects, but could be no songs and no opera. I cannot fath- continued to set the classic poets, and it was a rich the cab ride to the airport, the main hymn “He will as a simple matrix of shared emotions, and he loves om why it is common practice in opera to leave time of learning and growing through lively ex- gather us around” came to me, so I knew it would tender, humanizing similarities. He has a unique the librettist’s name off the billing. Why is it change, challenge and comparison. This period of be a good trip. He wrote the first act libretto in four ability to determine an exact point of hypocrisy only Mozart’s Così fan tutte and not Mozart and exploration with writers led to a conversation that days and then read it to me. Six months later, in long before most people notice it. Shy, serious, yet Da Ponte’s? Yes, music makes it an opera. But if changed my life forever. December 1998, I played through Act I for him at personable, he views most of life through the prism the libretto isn’t strong, the opera will be flawed. In 1996, Lotfi Mansouri, who was then general his house in Bridgehampton, and he wrote the sec- of humor, yet he is deeply committed to justice; A composer may write fabulous music, but a weak director at San Francisco Opera, called me into his ond act libretto in four days. Less than a year later, hypocrisy is the only thing that utterly infuriates libretto can kill it as an opera. It is theater, and a office and said, “I want you to write a new opera we had the entire opera. Revisions after a workshop him. Were his life an opera, it would already have good libretto gives the composer the best chance to for the millennium. And I want to send you to in August 1999 were minimal and I had plenty of had several acts: one each for the pianist (he’s a vir- create a successful opera. New York to meet with Terrence McNally. I think time to orchestrate. Throughout, there was a con- tuoso), the student in , the man who married When I was a teenager, I set my own texts and you would make a great team.” Now remember, stant exchange of thoughts and ideas. and divorced young, the writer, the illustrator of wrote pop songs and musical theater ballads (I I was the PR guy at the time. The PR guy who I had found a generous collaborator with an children’s books, the partner to his dear Curt with was sure I’d be writing for and wrote songs. innate sense of how opera differs from straight the- whom he shares a quiet life in San Francisco. But Carly Simon. No dice.) But when I was 17, my first So how is a 35-year-old composer supposed ater, and what it does best. I had also found a great of all those acts, those facts of himself, the most composition teacher, the late , intro- to respond to that? A new work for San Francisco friend and mentor. That first major collaboration important to him is that of composer. He lives to duced me to poetry by Emily Dickenson and Walt Opera? With Terrence McNally? It seemed impos- has served as the standard and model for every col- write music, and he believes that the quality of a Whitman and after that, nothing was the same. sible, improbable, terrifying, and incredibly excit- laboration I have had since. It was my good fortune person cannot be separated from his or her art. Those poems leapt off the page and sang to me, ing. What young composer would turn it down? to start by working with the very best. and throughout my twenties I wrote songs based I met with Terrence in May 1996 when he was I learned several big lessons through that ex- This article originally appeared in Houston Grand on poetry by wonderful dead authors. A great and still working on the musical and preparing perience. Collaborators are creative partners who Opera’s magazine, Opera Cues. rewarding challenge, but very lonely. Rewrites are his play Love! Valour! Compassion! to be made into will often work together for many years. To make out, and there’s no way to call and ask what this or a movie. He was also moving to a new apartment it work, each has to respect the other and share a that meant to the writer. and sorting through his vast record collection. He common goal. They have to be able to depend upon In my late twenties, I suffered an injury to was a bit distracted. Lotfi had proposed a comedy each other. And they have to be flexible enough 2 my right hand (focal dystonia) that forced me to for the millennium. Terrence wasn’t interested. I to see other points of view and make changes, but stop playing piano, and as a result I stopped com- thought it was a no-go, and then I got a surprise also know when to defend a position. They can- posing too. In 1993, I moved from phone call in February 1997. Terrence wanted to not be afraid to speak their minds, but must do First, the Words: Jake Heggie on the to San Francisco and landed a job first at Cal meet and talk about the opera. We met in June. He so constructively—and always for the strength and Art of Collaboration Performances, and then at San Francisco Opera as said the words “Dead Man Walking” and life again benefit of the work. the staff writer. I was in the public relations and took a surprising turn. It was the last thing I’d ex- Working with Terrence inspired me to go on omposition can be a lonely business. marketing department and interacted with some pected to hear—but it was an inspired idea. to several other gratifying collaborations, includ- C You spend days or even months by yourself, of the world’s great singers on a daily basis. A few We talked about how we would work together ing original works with , Sister sometimes writing easily, sometimes smashing of them—first and foremost the amazing Frederica and Terrence told me up front that he is not a poet, and Charlene Baldridge, among your head on a table or a keyboard to get any notes von Stade—became very good friends and in- a novelist, or a librettist per se. He is a . others. I also collaborated with Terrence to create out at all. That is alternately enjoyable and frus- spired me to compose again. Thanks to watching And he told me he would write a play and set up a musical scene for soprano called At the Statue of trating. But a theater composer by nature has an rehearsals for Conrad Susa and Philip Littell’s The scenes and dialogue that he hoped would inspire Venus, and I set the final monologue from his play intense need to be connected with people. For me, , I became interested in collabo- music. If I felt the music taking me in a certain . These collaborations subsequently in- collaboration is what delivers the most inspiration rating with a writer. direction and the words were not going there, he formed my perspective on classic poems and texts,

12 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 13 Program Notes About the Artists and have actually given me a new freedom to ex- characters. Gene felt inspired by it, and agreed to Described by as “one of opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympic plore those with fresh eyes. create a libretto based on the play, and that is how America’s finest artists and singers,”Frederica von Games. Ms. von Stade was appointed as an officer In 2004, I finally had the opportunity to work Three Decembers came to be. My two primary writ- Stade (Madeline) of France’s L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1998, with the very gifted writer Gene Scheer. When we ing collaborators in the same project. Plus Patrick has enriched the and in 1983 she was honored with an award given met, I knew I’d found a collaborator for life. From Summers, Leonard Foglia, the phenomenal Flicka world of clas- at the by President Reagan. She holds day one, there was a natural ease and free flowing von Stade, Kristin Clayton and Keith Phares. It sical music for five honorary doctorates and an honorary chair at exchange of ideas. Gene works passionately and was a dream come true. nearly four de- the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. with infectious enthusiasm. We have great respect The freedom and adventure I find in fresh, cades. Following for each other’s work and we enjoy being together. lively collaborations has led me to work almost her 1971 San Former Adler Fellow We challenge each other, inspire each other, and exclusively with living writers now. Somehow, ev- Francisco Opera and Merola Opera feel free to comment on all aspects of our work erything about the work feels more vibrant, flexible debut as Sextus Program alumna together. My work is definitely better thanks to and theatrical this way. Maybe later I’ll get back (La Clemenza di Kristin Clayton working with him, and I know he feels the same to some of the dead guys and gals whose work I Tito) with Spring (Beatrice) made her about his own work. He’s quick and prolific and in adore. But for now, it is intensely rewarding to be Opera Theater San Francisco Opera a short time we’ve written several song cycles and able to look somebody in the eye and say, “So, I and her main stage debut in 1972 as Cherubino debut in 1994 creat- two stage works. have this idea....” (Le Nozze di Figaro), Ms. von Stade has ap- ing the role of Julie For seven years, I searched for the right cir- peared with the Company in more than a dozen in Conrad Susa’s cumstances to create a music theater piece based Jake Heggie roles, including Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande), The Dangerous on Terrence’s short play Some Christmas Letters. This article was originally published Octavian (), Rosina (Il Barbiere Liaisons. She has I wanted it to be a chamber opera for three by Houston Grand Opera. di Siviglia), and the title roles of , since returned to and . She also the Company in the roles of Wellgunde (Die created two roles in world premiere productions Walküre), Echo () and Nedda by San Francisco Opera: Marquise de Merteuil in (), among others. The soprano created the Susa’s and Mrs. Patrick de role of Beatrice in Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers Rocher in Heggie’s Dead Man Walking. Von Stade with Houston Grand Opera this past March. has appeared with every leading American opera Ms. Clayton’s recent engagements include the First company, and new European productions have Lady () with Houston Grand Opera been mounted for her at ; , and ; Greta Fiorentino (Street Covent Garden; the ; and Paris Scene) with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; and per- Opera. Known as a specialist, she is also formances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the beloved in the French repertoire, which includes Florida West Coast Symphony. Her other credits the title role of Offenbach’sLa Périchole. She is also include Magda (), Mimì (La Bohème) a favorite interpreter of the great “trouser” roles, and Violetta (La Traviata) with Chautauqua from Strauss’s Composer (Ariadne auf Naxos) and Opera; Donna Anna () and the Octavian to Mozart’s Sextus, Idamante () First Lady with Wolf Trap Opera; and Donna and Cherubino. The mezzo’s artistry has inspired Anna and Norina () with Festival the revival of neglected works such as Massenet’s Opera of Walnut Creek. On the concert stage, Chérubin, ’s , Rameau’s Ms. Clayton has performed with the Dardanus and Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in ; Verdi’s Requiem with Patria, and she has garnered critical and popular the Modesto Symphony; and concert performanc- acclaim in her vast French orchestral repertoire, es of La Bohème with the Marin Symphony. Her including Ravel’s Shéhérazade, Berlioz’s Les Nuits other collaborations with Jake Heggie include the d’Été and Canteloube’s Les Chants d’Auvergne. Her world premieres of Eve Song and At the Statue of 70 recordings have garnered numerous awards, Venus; she is also featured on a recording of songs including six Grammy Award nominations and by the composer, entitled The Faces of Love (RCA “Best of the Year” citations by Stereo Review and Red Seal). , and she appears regularly on national television, including in a concert celebrating the

14 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 15 About the Artists About the Artists

Keith Phares (Charlie) makes his San Francisco musical scene At projects with Tobias Importance. Recent credits include the Broadway Opera debut this season in a role he created for the Statue of Venus Picker: An American revivals of his plays The Ritz and Frankie and Houston Grand Opera (libretto: McNally) Tragedy, which re- Johnny in the Clair de Lune. Other plays include earlier this year. The and the theatri- ceived its premiere , Love! Valour! Compassion!, Master American baritone’s cal song cycle For at the Metropolitan Class, The Lisbon Traviata, A Perfect Ganesh, Lips recent engagements a Look or a Touch Opera in 2005, and Together, Teeth Apart, The Stendhal Syndrome and include Lubino in (libretto: Scheer). Thérèse Raquin, which Dedication or The Stuff of Dreams. For his work in Martín y Soler’s Una He has also com- had its premiere at the New York theater, he has received four Tony Cosa Rara with Opera posed more than the Opera in Awards. Mr. McNally also won an Emmy Award Theatre of Saint Louis; 250 songs, as well 2001 and was subse- for his television script for Andre’s Mother. Haly (L’Italiana as concerti, orches- quently performed in in Algeri) at the tral, choral and Montreal, Houston Grand Opera Music Director Patrick Opera Company of chamber music. and London. The live recording ofThérèse Raquin’s Summers (conductor, pianist) has led a vast rep- Philadelphia; Count Future operas in- premiere (Chandos) was cited by Opera News as ertory for San Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro) with Arizona clude Moby-Dick one of the 10 best of 2002. Mr. Scheer’s work has Francisco Opera in Opera; and the title role of Robert Aldridge’s Elmer (libretto: Scheer) featuring , been performed by such artists as Renée Fleming, his long association Gantry in a co-production by Nashville Opera and conductor Patrick Summers and director Leonard , Sylvia McNair, , with the Company, Montclair State University. A frequent guest art- Foglia for , San Francisco Opera, Jennifer Larmore and . Mr. Scheer’s including ; ist at Opera, Mr. Phares has per- the and ; and song “American Anthem” is sung by Norah Jones Samson et Dalila; formed the roles of Fritz (), the Pilot a project with playwright Richard Greenberg in The War, a seven-part film about World War II Iphigénie en Tauride; (The Little Prince), Schaunard (La Bohème) and for the in association with by , which was telecast on PBS in 2007. A Streetcar Named Moralès (), among others. His other cred- Theater. Mr. Heggie’s operas have Nathan Gunn recently performed Mr. Scheer’s Desire, which had its include his Metropolitan Opera debut, under been produced extensively throughout the United song cycle Voices from World War II with the Isis its world premiere the baton of , in the French triple- States as well as in Australia, Canada, Europe and Chamber Orchestra, having also sung the work’s at San Francisco bill ; Maurice Bendrix (Heggie’s The End of Ireland. Since its San Francisco Opera premiere in premiere at London’s . Mr. Scheer’s Opera in 1998; and the Affair) with Lyric Opera of Kansas City and 2000, Dead Man Walking has received more than recent commissions include collaborations with the world premiere Madison Opera; Harlequin (Ariadne auf Naxos) 120 performances internationally. Mr. Heggie’s Mr. Heggie, , and of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking in 2000. with the Dallas Opera; Chou-En Lai in Portland work is championed by such singers as Frederica David Shire. Mr. Summers has twice received Merola Opera Opera’s presentation of ’s Nixon in von Stade, Susan Graham, Audra McDonald, Kiri Program’s Otto Guth Award and was named its China; Danilo (The Merry Widow) with Lyric Te Kanawa, , Patti LuPone, Terrence McNally’s play Some Christmas Letters “Distinguished Alumnus” in 2001—an honor that Opera of Kansas City; Masetto (Don Giovanni) , Joyce DiDonato, and (and a Couple of Phone Calls) is the source material has also been bestowed upon , at the Spoleto Festival USA; and Sebastian in the . As a pianist, he has accompanied for Three Decembers. , and Deborah North American premiere of Thomas Adès’s The many of these singers on recordings and in recital. He wrote the li- Voigt. The maestro has conducted an array of Tempest with the . A graduate of the His discography includes Flesh & Stone (Americus/ bretto for Jake productions at the Metropolitan Opera, includ- Juilliard Opera Center, Mr. Phares was a national Classical Action), For a Look or a Touch (Naxos), Heggie’s first opera, ing La Traviata, , Così fan winner of the 1998 Metropolitan Opera National To Hell and Back (Magnatune),The Deepest Desire Dead Man Walking. tutte, and . Other highlights Council Auditions and a finalist in Houston Grand (Eloquentia), Dead Man Walking (Erato), The Faces Recent works in- include La Cenerentola at the Gran Teatre del Opera’s 1999 Eleanor McCollum Competition. He of Love (RCA), My Native Land (Teldec) and Holy clude Unusual Acts in and and also has been recognized with a the Firm: Essay for Cello and Orchestra (Oakland of Devotion, Deuce with . Mr. Summers’s recent pro- Grant from the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and East Bay Symphony with cellist Emil Miland). (starring Angela ductions at Houston Grand Opera include Billy the 2000 Richard F. Gold Career Grant from The Mr. Heggie lives in San Francisco. Lansbury and Budd, Un Ballo in Maschera, La Bohème, Idomeneo, . ) and Il Trovatore with , Falstaff with Lyricist, librettist and composer Gene Scheer Some Men, which Bryn Terfel, with David Daniels, and Jake Heggie (composer, pianist) is the composer of (librettist) has collaborated on a number of projects will be produced by Mr. Heggie’s The End of the Affair. The Indiana the operas Dead Man Walking (libretto: Terrence with Jake Heggie, including the 2006 one-act op- the New Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco University graduate was named Stolichnaya’s McNally), Three Decembers (libretto: Gene Scheer), era To Hell and Back, the song cycles of Statuesque this spring. He is also the author of the books “Artist of the Year” in 1998. Recent and upcom- The End of the Affair (libretto: Heather McDonald), and Rise and Fall, and a chamber work titled For for the musicals Ragtime, The Kiss of the Spider ing engagements include and To Hell and Back (libretto: Scheer), as well as the a Look or a Touch. He was the librettist for two Woman, , and A Man of No at the Met; the world premiere of Paul

16 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 17 About the Artists

Moravec’s at the Santa Fe Opera; and Pomodoro’s assistant designer. After developing A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the brand visibility for TSE cashmere during the ini- world premiere of André Previn’s Brief Encounter tial stages of its introduction to the , at Houston Grand Opera. Mr. Galindo began designing his own signature label, selling to upscale designer boutiques includ- American director Leonard Foglia (director, ing and Henri Bendel as well as large store designer) makes his San Francisco Opera debut this chains such as Bloomingdale’s. He works one-on- season. He made one with an extensive list of recording artists and his Houston Grand television and film personalities, and he is often Opera debut in called upon to develop, customize, and refine 2004 directing the a designer’s vision. He has worked for Dolce & world premiere of Gabbana and is also part of the creative develop- Jake Heggie’s The ment and design team at Calvin Klein Women’s End of the Affair, Collection. Beginning in 2003, Mr. Galindo be- which he later di- gan an ongoing collaboration with Seth Cohen, a rected for Seattle menswear and accessory designer. Together they Opera and Madison create cocktail and eveningwear collections that Opera. Other opera combine the technical skills and creative artistry of credits include Mr. Heggie’s Dead Man Walking Mr. Galindo and the color and silhouette direction for Opera Pacific, , and in of Mr. Cohen. Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Detroit, as well as the world premiere of Three Decembers at Houston American lighting designer Brian Nason makes Grand Opera. Mr. Foglia’s Broadway credits in- his San Francisco Opera debut with this produc- clude Terrence McNally’s Tony Award-winning tion. His opera and musical theater credits in- Master Class (also on national tour and in London’s clude Mr. Heggie’s Dead Man Walking for New West End); On Golden Pond (also at the Kennedy York City Opera, Opera Pacific, and the opera Center and on national tour); Wait Until Dark; companies of Cincinnati, Michigan, Pittsburgh, and Thurgood this past season. Off Broadway he di- Austin and ; at La Scala rected The Stendhal Syndrome, One Touch of Venus, and in Lebanon and Japan; Salome at New York If Memory Serves, By the Sea and Lonely Planet. City Opera and Opera Pacific; and Mr. Heggie’s Mr. Foglia’s other theater credits include Unusual The End of the Affair at Madison Opera. He has Acts of Devotion (Philadelphia Theater Company); designed lighting for numerous Broadway produc- Distracted (Mark Taper Forum); Things Being tions, including Ernest Thompson’s On Golden What They Are (Bay Street Theater); Paper Doll and Pond; Mike Poulton’s adaptation of Turgenev’s The Secret Letters of Jackie and Marilyn (Pittsburgh Fortune’s Fool; ’s Taller than a Dwarf; Public Theater); Thurgood (Westport Playhouse); Sherman Edward’s 1776; Kafka’s Metamorphosis The Subject Was Roses (Kennedy Center); and (Tony Award nomination); Turgenev’s A Month God’s Man in Texas (Globe Theatres). He is co- in the Country (Outer Critics Circle Award nomi- author, with David Richards, of the mystery nov- nation); the world premiere of ’s els 1 Ragged Ridge Road, Face Down in the Park Broken Glass; ; David Henry and El Sudario. La Sangre del Sudario, a sequel to Hwang’s M. Butterfly; and Ad Van Dijk’s Cyrano, El Sudario, will be published next year. the Musical. He has also designed lighting exten- sively for Off-Broadway productions, including Cesar Galindo (costume designer) makes his Richard II and Charlayne Woodard’s Neat, both San Francisco Opera debut this season. A native of which earned Audelco Award nominations, Houstonian, he began his career on New York’s and ’s Cantorial, which earned an Outer Seventh Avenue during the mid-1980s as Carmelo Critics Circle nomination.

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