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Home , Ainadamar, Appomattox (opera), Carlisle Floyd, David DiChiera, Eve Queler, Frank Corsaro

2011

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20506-0001

John Conklin • Speight Jenkins • Risë Stevens • John Conklin John Conklin Speight Jenkins Speight Jenkins Risë Stevens Risë Stevens

Robert Ward Robert Ward NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

2011 John Conklin’s set design sketch for ’s production of The Ring Cycle. Image courtesy of John Conklin ii 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Contents

1 Welcome from the NEA Chairman 2 Greetings from NEA Director of Music and Opera 3 Greetings from OPERA America President/CEO 4 Opera in America by Patrick J. Smith

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS RECIPIENTS 12 John Conklin Scenic and Costume Designer 16 Speight Jenkins General Director 20 Risë Stevens Mezzo- 24 Robert Ward Composer

PREVIOUS NEA OPERA HONORS RECIPIENTS 2010 30 Soprano 32 David DiChiera General Director 34 Composer 36 Eve Queler 2009 38 Composer 40 Stage Director/Librettist 42 Mezzo-soprano 44 Lotfi Mansouri General Director 46 Conductor 2008 48 Composer/Librettist 50 General Director 52 Music Director/Conductor 54 Soprano

56 NEA Support of Opera 59 Acknowledgments 60 Credits

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS iii iv 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Welcome from the NEA Chairman

ot long ago, opera was considered American opera exists thanks in no to reside within an ivory tower, the small part to this year’s honorees, each of mainstay of those with European whom has made the art form accessible to N tastes and a sizable bankroll. the nation. Risë Stevens brought opera to Through the last century, opera has mass audiences in movies like Going My become an increasingly American art form, Way and through . democratically available to all who wish to Robert Ward transformed one of the country’s enjoy it. defining moments in history and theater with Photo by Michael Eastman Whether it’s Opera Tampa bringing his score for . Speight Jenkins performances to retirement homes, or the has made the one of ’s live transmissions in the most transparent and welcoming artistic movie theaters, or free student performances centers in the country. And John Conklin’s set by the LA Opera or the Des Moines Metro designs are quintessentially American in their Opera, increasingly opera is seeping out of the boldness and innovation. concert hall and throughout the community. Each of these honorees is deserving of One of my favorite current trends is the our accolades, admiration, and appreciation. opera flash mob, which brings unannounced They are among our finest artists, and have performances to unexpected places like truly helped make art work in America. train stations, shopping centers, or in my case, the middle of a speech I was giving in Rocco Landesman Chautauqua, New York this past summer––it was the only time that I actually enjoyed being interrupted.

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 1 Greetings From NEA Director of Music and Opera

ince the Arts Endowment was Center. Since the inception of the initiative, we created in 1965, the agency has have been honored to have Supreme Court been a steadfast partner with opera Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg “call to order” the S companies to capture and disseminate NEA Opera Honors awards event. contemporary stories devoted to , The 2011 NEA Opera Honors, announced tragedy, challenges, and victories. Through by NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman in June the years the Arts Endowment has supported of this year, marks the fourth annual tribute of a wide range of opera projects ranging from this initiative. The remarkable individuals that Photo by Kevin Allen commissions and premieres to performances we salute in 2011––stage director John Conklin, and broadcasts in cities throughout the nation, general director Speight Jenkins, mezzo- including Great American Voices. This national soprano Risë Stevens, and composer Robert initiative, sponsored by The Boeing Company, Ward––join the ranks of the distinguished sent vocal ensembles from opera companies roster of previous recipients of the highest to perform memorable melodies for members honor for opera bestowed by our nation. of the military and their families at military In addition to recognizing individuals for installations nationwide. their extraordinary contributions to the opera Established by Congress in December 2007 art form, NEA Opera Honors also enhances and announced by then-NEA Chairman Dana public awareness of opera in America as a Gioia on January 9, 2008, the NEA Opera Honors reflection of our lives. Through these awards is a special initiative to recognize individuals and the resulting annual observance of OPERA who have made extraordinary contributions America’s National Opera Week, audiences to opera in America. Similar to the NEA’s other are able to experience the accessibility, lifetime achievement awards, the selection excitement, and contemporary relevance process is triggered by public nomination. of the world of opera. The NEA website The inaugural awards were presented arts.gov also offers oral histories and in 2008 in partnership with OPERA America, invaluable information on opera in America. the service organization for the opera field, The NEA Opera Honors initiative has and Washington National Opera under benefited from remarkable partnerships the leadership of General Director Plácido with OPERA America, Washington National Domingo. A memorable program took place at Opera, and many other opera companies and the Harman Center for the Arts in Washington, individual advocates throughout the nation. DC and resulted in a national radio broadcast Similarly, this initiative has benefited from the via WFMT in . The 2009 awards enthusiasm, skills, and dedication of the entire concert also took place at the Harman Center, NEA team. and was again broadcast on WFMT. In 2010 Brava to opera in America! the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts hosted the awards concert, and this year Wayne S. Brown we return to the original location at the Harman

2 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS From OPERA America President/CEO

he NEA Opera Honors are a wonderful Productions of by American celebration of opera’s essential place composers were almost unheard of in the in the American cultural landscape decades that encompassed World War II, T and are a well-deserved tribute to putting opera at risk of becoming a “ the tremendous contributions of exceptional art form.” But with a burgeoning arts artists and administrators who have advanced community after the war, including a number the art form in our country. of exceptionally talented composers, an The arrival of opera in most communities American opera repertoire was born. At the Photo by Dario Acosta in the is relatively recent. front of this wave of creativity was Robert Nearly three-quarters of the opera companies Ward, whose -winning opera, in existence today were founded since The Crucible, remains a pillar of the opera 1960; more than half since 1970. Over canon in this country. the intervening decades, the standard With the deeply appreciated support of excellence in production has steadily of the NEA, OPERA America is honored to improved and few people have contributed to organize National Opera Week each fall. this increased quality more than scenic and Yearly, more than 100 organizations in at least costume designer John Conklin. The Seattle 30 states offer admission-free activities that Opera, founded in 1964, is emblematic of the highlight the excitement and accessibility explosion in the formation of opera companies of opera in this country, bringing public that coincides with the establishment of attention to the art form and additional the NEA itself. It is under the leadership acknowledgement to the NEA Opera of its dynamic second general director, Honors recipients. Speight Jenkins, that the company has As we honor four individuals who have achieved international renown not only for its shaped the American opera tradition, OPERA spectacular stagings of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, America and our members prepare for but also for superb performances of works another celebration of the inventiveness and from across the opera repertoire. allure of opera. National Opera Week 2011 American opera singers have illuminated (October 28 through November 6) will build the stages of opera houses around the world on the critical success of prior years and for decades, but every significant innovation will further establish opera as a vital part of depends on the work of a pioneer, and Risë our nation’s cultural community. Indeed, all Stevens is just such a pioneer. An American of us who work today to strengthen the field superstar, she brought her musicianship, and advance the art form are building on the charisma, and grace to a broad public through dynamic leadership of the of the 2011 NEA radio, film, and television––and, yes, as a Opera Honorees. that most people remember as the greatest of them all. Marc A. Scorca

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 3 Opera in America

By Patrick J. Smith

n this, the fourth year since the 2008 institution of the National Endowment for the Arts Opera Honors, the honorees selected from the opera field join the 13 previous awardees to form a group that well- defines the myriad world that is opera in the United States. Among Ithe honoree ranks are four singers, four composers, three conductors, four general directors, one stage director and, this year, the first set and costume designer—all of whom represent the extraordinary diversity and influence that opera has manifested in the past 75 years. The growth and spread of the art form is especially well-evidenced in this superior collection of honorees.

It is a common misperception Gregg Baker as Robert Garner, (thankfully vanishing today) that opera is as , and as Cilla with members of the chorus in a closed artistic society, walled-off from Opera Theatre’s 2005 production of Margaret Garner, commissioned by David DiChiera. the other performing arts and somehow Photo by John Grigaitis illustrated by the caricature of a woman sporting cow horns and blond pigtails directly and indirectly spread the gospel while yodeling. The 17 members that of opera throughout the United States comprise the select NEA Opera Honorees, and abroad. Each has also ensured that however, are living proof of the inaccuracy whatever walls may have been constructed of this caricature, for all of them have around opera have been not only breached

4 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Opera in America

By Patrick J. Smith

are deserving of the accolades of the NEA. All past and present honorees of course have their base in opera, where they made their considerable reputations. But let us here look beyond their expertise at singing Aïda, at Le Nozze di Figaro or La Favorita, at composing Nixon in China, directing The Makropoulos Case, or commissioning Margaret Garner. Let us instead place in a larger context the ways in which these men and women have enriched opera by making it widely known. As demonstrated, a few recordings of opera arias would electrify the world––as Lotfi Mansouri showed, a string of lights and words above the proscenium would transform an entire art form. The first and most important area of development would be the expansion of but also eliminated, so that the art form the operatic repertory. And this means can and does flourish not only in this not only composing and presenting new country, but also worldwide. The 17 have operas through commissions, but reviving

accomplished this by a variety of means, earlier languished or forgotten works Program cover in a variety of ways, and in so doing have that are highly worthy of notice. For if the for Carlisle Floyd’s . encouraged and developed the current repertory stagnates, it dies. Photo courtesy of Fort Worth Opera popularity of opera, as well as its position The composers themselves are at as a premier American art form. All of them the center of this development, and the

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 5 Under the guidance of Richard Gaddes, the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis production of Stephen Paulus’ The Postman Always Rings Twice. Photo by Ken Howard, courtesy of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis

success of Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah be judged not from the score but from (1955), Douglas Moore’s The Ballad of the performances themselves. Baby Doe (1956), or Robert Ward’s The One should note, at this juncture, Crucible (1961) should have led the way the crucial importance of the success of to a growth in of similar, composer John Corigliano and librettist popular operas. It unfortunately did not, William M. Hoffman’s The Ghosts of and what was needed was a strong boost Versailles at the Metropolitan Opera, from elsewhere. This boost was provided which featured mezzo-soprano Marilyn by David DiChiera, who sponsored the Horne and was conducted by James program Opera for the 80s and Beyond, Levine. Its success in an opera house which effectively jumpstarted the entire notorious for world premiere failures was art form and has led, to date, to the significant in encouraging others to take a commissioning, writing, and production chance on new opera. of dozens of operas. Earlier American Philip Glass and John Adams works also have been revived, so that expanded the reach of American opera to our extensive operatic history can now Europe, where their works can often be

6 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS seen; this too was of crucial import. the Little Orchestra Society in reviving Yet it should not be forgotten that worthy yet long-forgotten operas with novelty can operate in several ways, top-notch vocal casts. As a result, many and Julius Rudel’s exploration of of these works subsequently have been other composers while he was head of performed by opera companies, thereby the Opera, as well as his ensuring their prominent place in the championing of American works, helped current operatic repertory, rather than open up the repertory and publicize it languishing forgotten as had been the case from the strong pulpit of . until Queler’s tenure. In Santa Fe and Saint Louis, Richard It was John Conklin who broadened Gaddes was similarly intent on showing the repertory in visual terms, breaking that opera was not bound by Mozart, apart (with other set designers) the Verdi, and Puccini (with Carmen and neutral—and often wobbly—painted flats Lucia thrown in). Here the yeoman efforts of the time-honored operatic set to create of Eve Queler must be spotlighted, for a number of conceptualized productions she continued the pioneering of Allen that enhanced, and at times commented Sven Oxenburg and the American Opera on, what was transpiring onstage. An Society, and of Thomas Scherman and example is his inspired Art Deco vision

Frank Corsaro directing Mozart’s at the . Photo courtesy of Houston Grand Opera

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 7 Marilyn Horne and Leontyne Price in a concert with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra conducted by James Levine, March 28, 1982. Photo by James Heffernan/Metropolitan Opera

for George Antheil’s Transatlantic in Auditions from 1980-1988. Robert Minneapolis, which was typical of his Ward was appointed as chancellor of myriad creative abilities. Conklin’s work the North Carolina School of the Arts over the years with the Glimmerglass (1967-74), and later as a professor at Duke Opera, where he was associate artistic University (1979-89), and was very active director, was an ongoing primer of in the promotion of opera on campuses how to approach design in opera, and and elsewhere. Horne’s diligence in his knowledge has been conveyed to encouraging and popularizing the generations of students in Cooperstown important areas of the vocal recital and and at the Tisch School of the Arts at New the often neglected song repertory York University. has developed a life of its own, which Which leads to teaching: in the has in turn led to dynamic growth in the ancillary world of pedagogy many of the number of performers and performances honorees contributed to the development of these works. of opera. DiChiera, Floyd, Frank The interdependence of music Corsaro, among others, passed along and spoken drama is equally evident in their knowledge to future generations. the honorees’ work. Glass’ imaginative Risë Stevens headed the Mannes School reconstruction of history is evidenced in from 1975-1978, co-directed the Met’s several of his works, notably , National Company in 1964, and was while Ward’s mining of plays has executive director of its National Council produced not only ’s The

8 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Crucible but also Leonid Andreyev’s He synonymous with the city. Jenkins’ Who Gets Slapped. eagerness to meet with audiences and It is quite significant that Corsaro discuss the productions has led opera to headed the prestigious Actor’s Studio, be known by countless individuals who for his work in both opera and theater probably had otherwise never visited an emphasized the closeness of the two opera house. In , DiChiera has forms. Indeed, many theater directors, achieved a similar status as a civic legend especially in Great Britain, work due both to his long tenure there, dating continuously in both mediums. Because back to 1962, and to his tireless efforts on of this fluidity, works have been written behalf of the cultural and operatic life of that overlap boundaries and cannot be the community. pigeonholed as opera, musical theater, And then there are the honorees who or experimental music theater; singers, have transcended the medium—who are so conductors, and directors move easily well-known that they exist on a separate from one discipline to another. This plane, above the world of opera and of attests to the health and the strength of the performing arts, such as soprano the expanded opera art form. Leontyne Price and conductor James There is indeed a civic-mindedness Levine. These artists are the glory of their that runs through the careers of most of art form, transcending it and broadening these honorees. Many of the honorees have opera beyond its own bounds. been devoted in their work on committees, The 17 chosen here, who are all fully boards, and advocacy groups, with Stevens deserving of this accolade, can only stand being one of the most diligent. Stevens surrogate for the many more, in opera also has made use of radio and then houses, theaters, and informal venues in television to carry the message of opera— cities, towns, and rural areas around the as did Martina Arroyo, both through United States, who are making opera, new performances and extensive interviews in and old, for an ever-growing public. They the public eye. clearly demonstrate the immense strides But the area where opera has truly opera has made in the last 75 years in this become a local phenomenon is Seattle, country, and they are exemplars of the where Speight Jenkins is probably more greater strides that are to come. recognizable than most politicians. He has Patrick J. Smith is a published author, freelance music put his singular imprint on the region’s critic, and editor whose works include The Tenth cultural map so that the opera—especially Muse: A Historical Study of the Opera . He served as NEA director of Opera and Musical Theater Wagner’s Ring Cycle—has become (1985-89), and was editor of OperaNews (1989-98).

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 9 10 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 2011 NEA Opera Honors Recipients

John Conklin Speight Jenkins Risë Stevens Robert Ward

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 11 John Conklin at a Glimmerglass Opera audience talk-back. Photo courtesy of John Conklin

12 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Scenic and John Conklin Costume Designer

Photo courtesy of Boston Lyric Opera

orn in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1966, he created the scenic designs on June 22, 1937, John for the premiere of Conklin is admired throughout Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites. Since the world for his work that time, he has moved easily between as a scenic and costume the two fields. designer. His style tends In the United States, Conklin has toward the conceptual and designed for the Metropolitan Opera, referential rather than the , Lyric Opera of Bliteral, and his open approach to a range Chicago, the Kennedy Center, Houston of theatrical possibilities has made him Grand Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint one of the principal figures in American Louis, Glimmerglass Opera, , stage design. His work has been seen in , Dallas Opera, houses, theaters, and on ballet Opera, and Washington National Opera, stages worldwide. among others. In Europe, he created sets He received his BA and MFA from for the , London; . He worked first in , Stockholm; Bastille Opera, theater, making his professional debut in Paris—where he created the costumes for 1958 at the Williamstown Theatre Festival Robert Wilson’s production of Mozart’s in Massachusetts, where he designed the Die Zauberflöte in 1991—and the opera sets for Time Remembered. Just five years companies of , Amsterdam, and later, he made his Broadway debut as Bologna. Conklin also has executed sets scenic and costume designer for Langston for regional theater companies, including Hughes’ gospel musical Tambourines to the American Repertory Theatre, the Glory. Expanding his repertoire to opera Goodman Theatre, the Long Wharf

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 13 Theatre, Hartford Stage, Arena Stage, the Guthrie Theatre, Center Stage in Baltimore, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. He has designed on Broadway, including several Circle in the Square productions, and won a Tony Award nomination in 1974 for set design of The Au Pair Man. In 2008, he received the Robert L.B. Tobin Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatrical Design from the Theatre Development Fund. Conklin has long and rich associations with a number of major American opera companies. His work at the Metropolitan Opera—where he made his debut in 1985 with costumes for Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina—includes sets and costumes for the world premiere of Corigliano’s Ghosts of Versailles, as well as sets for Bellini’s Il Pirata, the company premiere of Verdi’s I Lombardi,

Top: Conklin’s set for Agrippina at Boston Lyric Opera. Photo by Jeffrey Dunn/BLO

Bottom: A dress rehearsal for Boston Lyric Opera’s 2011 production of ’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Photo by Erik Jacobs/BLO

HIGHLIGHTS 1937 1963 1966 1969 1979 1985 Born in Broadway Opera debut as Santa Fe Opera Joined faculty of Set and Hartford, CT debut as scenic scenic designer debut as scenic Tisch School of costume and costume for New York designer for the Arts at New designer for designer for City Opera Così fan Tutte York University San Francisco Tambourines premiere of Opera’s Ring to Glory Dialogues des Cycle Carmélites

14 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Photo by Brett J. Banakis

for Donizetti’s , with a number of opera companies. In SELECTED CDs/DVDs and for Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande. 1996, he became director of productions CURRENTLY IN For Glimmerglass Opera, where he has at both the New York City Opera and CIRCULATION worked on more than 30 productions, Glimmerglass Opera. At the latter, he John Conklin was not directly involved with he designed sets for Puccini’s Fanciulla went on to serve as associate artistic these productions, but they represent some of his favorite del West and Massenet’s , and director before retiring in 2008. He is performances available on DVD. costumes for Bennett’s Mines of Sulfur, currently the artistic advisor for Boston Bizet: U-Carmen (Koch among others. Working with fellow 2011 Lyric Opera (BLO), where his recent work Lorber) Malefane, Tshoni, Blou, Kedama, Boqwana, NEA Opera Honors recipient Speight has included Bizet’s Carmen (2010) and directed by Dornford-May, production design by Smith. Jenkins at Seattle Opera, he designed sets Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream An adaptation of Bizet’s for Prokofiev’s War and Peace, Puccini’s opera, which also includes (2011). At BLO, he also works to develop traditional African music, La Bohème, and Verdi’s La Traviata, and supplemental performances, lecture set in Cape Town. both sets and costumes for Verdi’s Il series, and web content. In 1979, Conklin Handel: Theodora (Kultur) Upshaw, Hunt, Daniels, and Trovatore, Bellini’s , and Britten’s joined the faculty of the Tisch School of Christie, directed by Sellars , production design by The Turn of the Screw. Conklin has the the Arts at , where he Tsypin singular distinction of having designed teaches courses in design and dramaturgy Rossini: Il Barbiere di two productions of Wagner’s Der Ring des with a focus in opera. In his work there Siviglia (Unitel) Prey, Berganza, Alva, and Abbado, Nibelungen, one for San Francisco and on the stage, he continues direction and production design by Ponnelle Opera and the other for the Lyric to mentor both students Verdi: Aïda (Unitel) Serjan, Opera of Chicago. and artists alike. Tamar, Pelizzari, Short, In addition to working Patterson, and Rizzi, Conklin lives in New directed by Vick, production as a designer, Conklin has York City. design by Brown served in important posts Wagner: Die Walküre (Unitel) Jones, Altmeyer, Schwarz, Hofmann, Conklin with Glimmerglass Opera Salminen, McIntyre, and Boulez, directed by interns on a set he created. Chéreau, production design Photo courtesy of Glimmerglass Opera by Peduzzi 1988 1991 1995 1996 2003 2009 Set and costume Glimmerglass Sets and Named director Became Appointed designer for Festival debut as costume of productions associate artistic advisor world premiere set and costume designer for at New York artistic director for Boston Lyric of The Ghosts designer for Chicago Lyric City Opera and of Glimmerglass Opera of Versailles at Il Re Pastore Opera’s Glimmerglass Opera the Met Ring Cycle Opera

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 15 16 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Speight Jenkins General Director

Photo courtesy of Yuen Lui Studio

orn in Dallas, Texas, on following two years, he hosted the January 31, 1937, Speight Live From the Met broadcasts on Jenkins is nationally public television. recognized as a leading In the early 1980s, the Seattle Opera authority of opera and is invited Jenkins—who had written one of the most influential reviews and articles for a number of and accomplished general publications—to lecture on Wagner’s directors in the United States. . He made BAs a boy, Jenkins listened to opera such an impression that, despite his on the radio, and from the age of nine administrative inexperience, the company he attended performances by the invited him to become the new general Metropolitan Opera when it toured to director, beginning in 1983. In only a few Dallas. After receiving his BA from the years, he elevated the Seattle Opera’s University of Texas, he moved to New York artistic and financial profile, with new and earned his law degree from Columbia Ring productions and with ventures University. Following graduation, he such as Prokofiev’sWar and Peace and served for four years in the United States Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites in Army as a member of the Judge Advocate 1990. Using an eye and ear for talent that General’s Corps. The lure of opera, he had developed through the years, he however, outstripped that of the legal brought many young singers and directors profession, and he joined the staff of to Seattle, including Renée Fleming, Ben in 1967. From there he moved Heppner, , , to the , where he was a , Stephen Wadsworth, music critic from 1973 to 1981. For the Mariusz Kwiecien, and Francesco

Speight Jenkins during the 1991 radio broadcast of Beethoven’s . Photo by Greg Eastman 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 17 Zambello, all of whom operas, including two very different have gone on to important Ring productions by François Rochaix international careers. and Stephen Wadsworth. In 2006, Seattle Opera has also Jenkins held Seattle Opera’s first developed contemporary International Wagner Competition, Jenkins (right) works, including Daniel which was developed to discover and with Neil Low, a captain in the Seattle Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas (1998), promote outstanding young singers Police Department, a co-commission with the Houston who show promise of major careers in discussing crime in the opera Lucia di Grand Opera and the LA Opera, Marvin Wagner operas. Lammermoor during David Levy’s revised version of Mourning In 1998, Jenkins inaugurated the a Seattle Opera Fireside Chat. Becomes Electra (2003), and the world company’s Young Artists Program, which Photo by Alan Alabastro premiere of Daron Aric Hagen’s includes a broad-based curriculum and (2010). gives singers opportunities to appear Jenkins’ knowledge of opera is in small roles in regular productions and reflected in the Seattle Opera’s many to perform a complete role in a fully innovative productions, substantial staged opera. publications, and comprehensive Jenkins has received many honors. educational programs and services. The Seattle Times named him one of the A Wagner specialist, Jenkins has 150 most influential people who have strengthened and extended the company’s shaped the character of Seattle and King reputation as a Wagner center by County; ArtsFund presented him with producing all ten of the composer’s major its Outstanding Achievement in the Arts

HIGHLIGHTS 1937 1966 1973 1981 1983 1986 Born in Joined Opera Began eight- Became host Named general Francois Dallas, TX News as year stint as a of the PBS director of the Rochaix’s new assistant editor music critic series Live Seattle Opera production of for the New from the Met Wagner’s Ring York Post for Seattle Opera

18 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Photo by Rozarii Lynch

award; and Opera News cited Jenkins in Seattle. He also received a Mayor’s SELECTED CDs/DVDs as one of the 25 most powerful names in Arts Award in September 2009. He CURRENTLY IN CIRCULATION opera in America. For his “immeasurable has received honorary doctorates from Speight Jenkins is featured contributions to the city’s cultural arts Seattle University, the University of Puget in the first selection. The remaining selections are among Sound in Tacoma, and the New England and civic life,” the mayor proclaimed his favorite opera recordings. April 25, 2009, as Speight Jenkins Day Conservatory. In addition, he served on the Magic Fire, Broken Vows, NEA’s National Council on the Arts from and Passionate Love: Speight Jenkins’ Guide to Wagner’s 1996-2000. Ring (available through Seattle Opera) Jenkins continues to work outside the opera house as well. For more than three Puccini: (EMI Cassics) Callas, Di Stefano, Gobbi, decades, he has been an annual guest on and De Sabata the Metropolitan Opera Quiz, which is Verdi: La Traviata (EMI Classics) Callas, Di Stefano, heard live via radio broadcasts around the Bastianini, and Giulini

world. His CD lectures on Wagner’s Ring Wagner: Die Walküre, Act I have become a mainstay in opera libraries, (EMI) Lehmann, Melchior, List, and Walter and his opera previews of every Seattle Wagner: Opera production are broadcast on 98.1 () Nilsson, Ludwig, Classical KING FM. Windgassen, and Böhm

Jenkins is married to the former Wagner: Der Ring des Linda Sands. They have two children, Nibelungen Three recordings from the Bayreuth Linle Froeb and Speight Jenkins III, and Festival: (Decca) Nilsson, Wohlfahrt, Adam, and three grandchildren. Böhm; (Testament) Varnay, Windgassen, Hotter, and Keilberth; (Orfeo) Varnay, Lawrence Brownlee in Seattle Windgassen, Hotter, and Opera’s . Photo by Rozarii Lynch Krauss

1996 2001 2003 2006 2010 Presented Stephen Seattle Opera Seattle World premiere Daniel Catán’s Wadsworth’s moved to its new Opera’s first of Daron Aric Florencia en el new production , Marion International Hagen’s Amelia, Amazonas, a of Wagner’s Oliver McCaw Wagner a Seattle Opera co-commission Ring for Hall Competition commission with Houston Seattle Opera Grand Opera and LA Opera

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 19 20 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Risë Stevens Mezzo-soprano

Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera Guild

orn Risë Steenberg in the in Strauss’ , and Bronx, New York, on June the title roles of Bizet’s Carmen and 11, 1913, mezzo-soprano Thomas’ Mignon. Risë Stevens is known and Returning to the United States respected worldwide for in 1938, she made her debut with her vibrant career in opera, the Metropolitan Opera on tour in both as a performer and an Philadelphia as Octavian, followed by administrator. her Metropolitan Opera house debut as B As a girl, she was a member of the Mignon. Stevens virtually owned many cast of a weekly radio show, The Children’s of the great mezzo roles such as Orfeo Hour, hosted by Milton Cross, who would in Gluck’s and Dalila go on to serve for many years as the host of in Saint-Saëns’s et Dalila. She the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts. boasted a repertory that also included While a pupil of Anna Schoen-René at Laura in Ponchielli’s , the , Stevens made the Marina in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, bold step of turning down a contract and trouser roles such as Cherubino in offer from the Metropolitan Opera in the Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and Orlofsky mid-1930s to develop her artistry abroad, in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus. She performed primarily at the Neues Deutsches Theater Carmen an astonishing 124 times at the in Prague, but also in , Cairo, and Met, many of them in Tyrone Guthrie’s Buenos Aires. She performed in a varied legendary production; she was described repertoire in Prague, including Hänsel in the role as voluptuous, earthy, and in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, white-hot in her alternating moods of Amneris in Verdi’s Aïda, Octavian passion and anger.

Risë Stevens’ Metropolitan Opera debut as Mignon. Photo courtesy of Metropolitan Opera Archives 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 21 Millions of people outside the opera house became acquainted with Stevens through her frequent radio appearances and through the filmsThe Chocolate Soldier (1941) with and Going My Way (1944) with . She appeared often on early television programs such as The Voice of Firestone and The Ed Sullivan Show, where she sang both operatic and popular songs. In 1952, Stevens as Dalila in the Met production she also appeared on one of the first Met of Samson et Dalila. Photo courtesy of Metropolitan Opera Archives telecasts, singing Carmen opposite the great American as Don José. Often credited as saving the day at a performance of the Metropolitan Opera, she also saved an entire season there. After the company had canceled its 1961-62 schedule due to stalled labor negotiations, Stevens sent a telegram to President Kennedy. Persuaded to intervene, he ordered the Secretary of Labor to arbitrate

Stevens as Carmen for a television broadcast. Photo courtesy of Metropolitan Opera Archives

HIGHLIGHTS 1913 1924 1936 1938 1939 1941 Born in Joined the Graduated Metropolitan Glyndebourne Co-starred with Bronx, NY cast of the from Juilliard; Opera debut as Festival Opera Nelson Eddy radio show The European Octavian in Der debut as in the movie Children’s Hour debut at Rosenkavalier Cherubino in Le The Chocolate Prague’s Neues Nozze di Figaro Soldier Deutsches Theater in title role of Mignon

22 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Photo by Christian Steiner

the dispute. Just three weeks later, the on the opera stage. Stevens also served as SELECTED CDs/DVDs season was reinstated, on schedule. president of the Mannes College of Music CURRENTLY IN CIRCULATION Following an extraordinary 353 Met from 1975 to 1978, and rejoined the Met as Risë Stevens is a featured performances, in 1961 Stevens retired advisor on the Young Artist Development singer in all selections.

from her role as a Met performer. In Program and as executive director of its Bizet: Carmen (RCA Victor 1964, she inaugurated the Music Theater National Council Auditions from 1980 Gold Seal) with Albanese, Peerce, Merrill, and Reiner of Lincoln Center as Anna in a revival to 1988. For her numerous activities in Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice of The King and I, produced by Richard the discovery, training, and championing (RCA Victor Living Stereo) with Della Casa, Peters, and Rodgers. She went on to assume several of young American singers, Stevens was Monteux

important roles in developing the future honored by the National Opera Institute Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro of opera in the United States. In 1964, in 1982. She joined , (EMI Classics) with Jurinac, Sciutti, Sinclair, Cuénod, the Metropolitan Opera named her co- Katharine Hepburn, Jule Styne, and Billy Bruscantini, Calabrese, Wallace, and Gui director of their newly created National Wilder in receiving the 1990 Kennedy Saint-Saëns: Samson and Company, which was dedicated Center Honors. Through a fine Delilah (highlights on Cala) with Peerce, Merrill, and to taking opera on tour to recording legacy, she continues to Stokowski dozens of American cities inspire young artists today. Straus: The Chocolate Soldier where opera was not Stevens lives in New (RCA Victor Living Stereo) with Merrill and Engel available. For two York City. She was married Strauss: Die Fledermaus seasons, it provided for 63 years to Walter (RCA) with Leigh, Rothenberger, Wächter, many young singers Surovy, who died in London, Kónya, Kunz, and their first chance to 2001, and has a son, Danon perform professionally Nicolas Surovy.

Stevens as Anna in the Lincoln Center production of The King and I. Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center 1944 1952 1955 1964 1975 1980 Appeared Starred in Performed Appointed co- Became Named opposite Bing Tyrone Guthrie’s Orfeo in Orfeo director of the president of executive Crosby in the production of ed Euridice at Metropolitan Mannes College director of Oscar-winning Carmen at the the First Athens Opera National Metropolitan movie Going My Met Festival Company Opera National Way Council Auditions

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 23 Robert Ward conducting at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Photo courtesy of Robert Ward

24 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Robert Ward Composer

Photo courtesy of Robert Ward

orn in , , on No. 1 and also began what would become a September 13, 1917, Robert significant parallel career as an educator. Eugene Ward is respected In 1940 he undertook his first teaching and admired for his career assignment, in music appreciation, at as an American composer, Queens College, and soon became an conductor, administrator, assistant professor of music there. educator, and publishing Just months after Pearl Harbor, Ward executive. joined the United States Army and wrote BIn his youth, he sang in church songs for a military revue titled The Life , and studied theory, orchestration, of Riley, then entered the Bandmaster’s and . He began composing while program. He served in the Pacific theater he was still in high school, and his early of operations, conducting the Seventh musical influences included Debussy, Division Band and composing a number Ravel, Hindemith, Stravinsky, Hanson, of works. On his return home in 1946, and Copland. At the Eastman School of Ward earned his Artist Certificate from Music, where he was enrolled from 1935 Juilliard and began teaching there as well to 1939, he studied composition with as at . He remained and . at Juilliard until 1956, while also working His postgraduate study at the Juilliard as the director of the Third Street Music School from 1939 to 1941 included Settlement (1952-55). For the next ten composition with and years, Ward was executive vice-president conducting with Albert Stoessel and Edgar and managing editor of Galaxy Music Schenkman. During his student days at Corporation and Highgate Press, posts Juilliard, he completed his Symphony he held until his appointment as

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 25 chancellor of the North commission from the New York City Carolina School of the Opera. The powerful resulting work, Arts in 1967. Seven years The Crucible, is based on Arthur Miller’s later, Ward stepped down play about the Salem witch trials. It had its as chancellor to become a world premiere in 1961, won the Pulitzer Ward (right) professor, and from 1979 Prize and the New York Music Critics’ conducting the Seventh Division until his retirement in 1989, he was the Circle Citation Award, and has been Band during World Mary Duke Biddle professor of music at performed throughout the world. War II. Photo courtesy of Robert Ward . His operas include Lady Kate, which Throughout that long period, and is based on a story by Homer Croy and through to the present, Ward continued was premiered by the Central City Opera to compose at a steady pace. To date, in 1964; Claudia Legare, which is based his output includes eight operas, seven on ’s Hedda Gabler and symphonies, four concerti (piano, , was premiered by the Minnesota Opera tenor saxophone, and a triple ), in 1978; Abelard and Heloise, which numerous shorter works for orchestra, premiered at the Charlotte Opera in music for wind ensembles, compositions 1982; Minutes Till Midnight, based on for a variety of instrumental chamber an original libretto written by Dan Land groups, two cantatas, works for vocal and premiered by the Greater Miami ensembles, and songs for solo voice. He Opera in 1982; Roman Fever, based on an wrote his first opera,He Who Gets story, which received its Slapped, in 1955, which led to a first performance in 1993 by the Triangle

HIGHLIGHTS 1917 1941 1942 1956 1961 1962 Born in Completed first Joined the Premiere of first New York City Won the Pulitzer Cleveland, OH of his seven United States opera, He Who Opera world Prize for The symphonies Army and Gets Slapped premiere of The Crucible became a Crucible bandleader

26 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Photo courtesy of Robert Ward

Opera in Durham, North Carolina; and Fellowships and has made important SELECTED CDs/DVDs A Friend of Napoleon, which the Ohio contributions by serving on various arts CURRENTLY IN CIRCULATION Light Opera premiered in 2005. boards, including the Alice M. Ditson Robert Ward composed Ward’s compositional language in Annual Festival of Contemporary all selections.

opera derives largely from Verdi, Puccini, American Music at Columbia University, The Crucible (Albany) and the linguistic properties of the libretto the American Music Center, the Brooks, Bible, Alberts, Kelly, Ludgin, Ukena, and Buckley texts. Ward modifies this basic style to Composers Alliance/Recordings Inc., Earth Shall Be Fair incorporate references to appropriate local the League of American Orchestras, the (Gasparo) Ford, Belmont Chorale , and Kelly color, such as the imitations of 17th-century National Opera Institute, and the Martha Echoes of America: Chamber hymnody that appear in The Crucible. Baird Rockefeller Fund for Music. He Music of Robert Ward His operas, as well as many shorter vocal also has served on review panels of the (Albany) Larsen, Shipps, Aurora Musicalis, Aspen works, reflect a concern for the social and American Academy of Arts and Letters, Woodwind Quintet, and Amadeus Trio political issues of the times, as well as his the , OPERA Roman Fever interpretation of American idealism. America, and the National Endowment (Arsis - DVD) Taylor, Currier, Brown, Howell, Ward has received three Guggenheim for the Arts. Conant, and Portnoy Robert Ward resides in Durham, Scarlet and Blue (Albany) North Carolina, and was married for Johnson and Perret more than 60 years to the former Mary Symphonies Nos. 3 & 6 (Albany) Buketoff and Raymond Benedict. They have five the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, and Muti and The children—Melinda, Jonathan, Mark, Triangle Chamber Orchestra Johanna, and Tim—11 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Heather Johnson and Sean Anderson in Sarasota Opera’s 2011 production of Ward’s The Crucible. Photo by Patricia Horwell, courtesy of Sarasota Opera 1967 1979 1982 1993 2008 Became Appointed Mary Abelard and Triangle Opera World premiere president of the Duke Biddle Heloise world world premiere of In Praise North Carolina professor of premiere at the of Roman Fever of Science School of music at Duke Charlotte Opera at Syracuse the Arts University University

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 27 Martina Arroyo David DiChiera Philip Glass Eve Queler John Adams Frank Corsaro

28 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Previous NEA Opera Honors Recipients

Marilyn Horne Lotfi Mansouri Julius Rudel Carlisle Floyd Richard Gaddes James Levine Leontyne Price

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 29 2010 RECIPIENT Martina Arroyo Soprano

irst as a majestic singer, and then as a program. The same year, she made her teacher and mentor, Martina Arroyo debut in the American F has been an inspiration to generations premiere of Iledebrando Pizzetti’s of singers and opera lovers. Assassinio nella cattedrale. After Born in New York City in 1937 and performing minor roles at the Met, she raised in , Arroyo studied music went to Europe and took on major parts from an early age. Though her parents with a number of companies, burnishing Martin Arroyo as Cio-Cio San in the supported her desire for a performing and solidifying her reputation. In 1965, Metropolitan Opera production of arts career, they encouraged her to pursue back at the Met, she stepped in for an . a more financially stable profession. At ailing as Aïda and received Photo by Louis Mélançon, Metropolitan Opera , where she earned a BA in a standing ovation. From then on, she romance languages, she studied voice with was a leading lady at the Met, performing Joseph Turnau and participated in the the Verdi roles that were the core of her Opera Workshop. As a graduate student at repertoire, as well as heroines such as NYU, she taught Italian in a public school, Cio-Cio San, Donna Anna, and Elsa. She became a case worker in the city’s welfare starred at , , Teatro department, and continued vocal studies Colón in Buenos Aires, and Opéra National with Marinka Gurewich. in Paris, and has a rich legacy of recordings. Her professional life changed Arroyo currently serves on the completely in 1958, when she won the boards of a number of performing arts Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the organizations, and was a member of the Air and joined the company’s training NEA’s National Council on the Arts for

HIGHLIGHTS 1937 1956 1958 1959 1963 1965 Born in New At age 19, Debuted at Debuted at Performed Debuted in first York City earned BA Carnegie Hall Metropolitan in premiere starring role at in romance in the Opera as the of Barber’s the Metropolitan languages from American Celestial Voice Andromache’s Opera in Verdi’s Hunter College première in Verdi’s Don Farewell, Aïda of Pizzetti’s Carlo commissioned Assassinio nella for the New York cattedrale Philharmonic’s opening at Lincoln Center 30 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Photo by Marty Umans

SELECTED CDs/DVDs CURRENTLY IN CIRCULATION Martina Arroyo is a featured singer on all selections.

Barber: Andromache’s Farewell (Sony Classical Masterworks) with Schippers

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis (Sony Classical Essential Classics) with Forrester, Lewis, Siepi, and Ormandy

Mozart: (Deutsche Grammophon) with Nilsson, Grist, Schreier, Martina Arroyo in the production of Verdi’s Un Fischer-Dieskau, Flagello, and Böhm Ballo in Mashera. Photo by Robert C. Ragsdale, f.r.p.s. Verdi: Aïda (Opera d’Oro) with Cossotto, Domingo, six years. She has won numerous awards, complete operatic roles. Cappuccilli, Ghiaurov, and Abbado and continues to give master classes and Known as a consummate performer, lectures throughout the world. She is most Arroyo is for her quick wit and Verdi: La Forza del (EMI Classics) with Casoni, passionate, however, about the Martina her outgoing nature. Through countless Bergonzi, Cappuccilli, Raimondi, Evans, and Arroyo Foundation, which she founded interviews—including more than 20 Gardelli

in New York in 2003. It offers young, appearances on The Tonight Show—she Verdi: (EMI Classics) with Grist, emerging artists a structured curriculum, has helped to dispel opera’s reputation of Cossotto, Domingo, focusing on the study and preparation of inaccessibility. Cappuccilli, and Muti

1968 1972 1976 1986 1991 2003 Debuted at Debuted at Appointed by 199th (and final) Performed in Established Covent Garden La Scala in President Gerald performance at world premiere Martina Arroyo in Verdi’s Aïda Verdi’s Aïda Ford to the the Metropolitan of Leslie Adams’ Foundation to opposite Plácido National Council Opera in the title Blake assist young Domingo as on the Arts role of Verdi’s singers in Radames Aïda the mastery of character development

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 31 2010 RECIPIENT David DiChiera General Director

cholar, musician, educator, where he served as chairman. administrator, and community- His success in the Midwest led to a Sbuilder, David DiChiera has been a national platform. From 1979 to 1983, passionate advocate for opera on local, DiChiera was chairman of the board of state, and national levels for half a century. OPERA America. During his tenure, Born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, in two important programs were initiated. 1935, and raised in Los Angeles, DiChiera Opera for the ‘80s and Beyond created Photo courtesy of studied conducting with Lukas Foss at methods of encouraging and funding new UCLA, where he went on to earn a PhD American musical theater works, while in musicology. Shortly after moving to Opera for a New America supported Michigan to teach at , companies in their effort to reach DiChiera created Overture to Opera, previously underserved segments of the a program of staged opera scenes and population. While at OPERA America, one-act operas that he narrated and took DiChiera became artistic director of the to hundreds of schools and community centers. The die was cast. In 1971, he undertook an even more ambitious project when he established the state’s first professional opera company, Michigan Opera Theatre (MOT), in Detroit. At the same time, he spearheaded the campaign for the Music Hall for the Performing Arts, David DiChiera (center) with choreographer Eugene Loring (left) and composer . Photo courtesy of Michigan Opera Theatre

HIGHLIGHTS 1935 1956 1958 1962 1971 1973 Born in Earned MA in Awarded Earned PhD in Founder & Founder and McKeesport, PA composition Fulbright musicology from general director director of from UCLA scholarship for UCLA of Michigan Music Hall studies in Italy Opera Theatre Center for the (MOT) Performing Arts, Detroit, Michigan

32 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Photo courtesy of Michigan Opera Theatre

Dayton Opera Association. Five years and Nobel Prize-winner SELECTED CDs/DVDs later, he made history when he became to write Margaret Garner. In 2005, the CURRENTLY IN the founding director of Opera Pacific story of an African-American slave (which CIRCULATION David DiChiera was not involved in Orange County, California—the only also inspired Morrison’s novel Beloved), with these recordings, but he general director in the country to have became the first world premiere in MOT presented all of these works.

founded and led two opera companies. history, and has since been performed in Copland: The Tender Land (Sony) Clements, Cassilly, In the mid-1990s, he retired from those numerous cities. With this and many other Fredericks, Treigle, and Copland two posts to dedicate himself to acquiring accomplishments, DiChiera has displayed an immeasurable commitment to opera in Floyd: a home that MOT could call its own. (Albany) Hawkins, Griffey, In 1996, during the company’s silver America. Futral, Maddalena, and Summers anniversary, the —a Heggie: beautifully renovated building that was (Erato) Graham, von Stade, Packard, and Summers once a movie palace—opened. Joplin: DiChiera and MOT have long been (Deutsche Grammophon) recognized for reaching out to the Balthrop, Allen, Rayam, White, and Schuller community and for nurturing the Szymanowski: careers of leading African-American (Naxos) Zagórzanka , Malewicz-Madey, Ochman, artists. In one of his most important Grychnik, Hiolski, Mroz, Wit, and Stryja achievements, DiChiera, determined to present an opera that would resonate with the people of Detroit, commissioned a work from composer Richard Danielpour Marion Pop as Cyrano and José Luis Sola as Christian in Cyrano. Photo courtesy of Michigan Opera Theatre 1979 1981 1986 1996 2000 2005 2007 Named Appointed Founder and Championed the Awarded Bridge Commissioned Premiered his chairman of the artistic director general director efforts that led Builders honor and premiered opera, Cyrano, a board for of Dayton Opera of Opera Pacific to the opening by Partners Richard co-commission OPERA America (concurrent with (concurrent of the Detroit for Livable Danielpour and with MOT, Opera MOT) with MOT & Opera House Communities Toni Morrison’s Philadelphia, Dayton Opera) Margaret Garner and at MOT Grand Opera

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 33 2010 RECIPIENT Philip Glass Composer

orging his own inimitable style, Philip Paris. It was in Paris, too, that he worked Glass has become the first composer closely with sitarist and composer Ravi Fto win a wide, multigenerational Shankar. Returning to New York in 1967, audience in opera, concert, dance, film, he worked as a plumber and cab driver and popular music. to support himself as a composer, and Born in 1937 and raised in Baltimore, four years later, he established the Philip Maryland, he began the violin at six, Glass Ensemble—seven musicians who Photo courtesy of Houston Grand Opera picked up the flute at eight, studying at play keyboards and woodwinds, which the Peabody Conservatory, and by the are amplified and fed through a mixer—to age of 12 was composing. As a liberal arts perform his compositions. student at the University of Chicago, he Throughout the ‘60s and early ‘70s, studied under Marcus Rasking. To he was one of the pioneers in minimalism, underwrite his compositional studies with music that focused on the rhythmic William Bergsma and Vincent Persichetti process and explored small amounts of at Juilliard, he worked as a crane operator material used with extensive repetition. in the Bethlehem Steel Company. Glass himself, however, preferred to With two Juilliard degrees under call his work “music with repetitive his belt, he won a Ford Foundation grant structures,” and in the mid-1970s he to compose for city school became increasingly engaged with ensembles, followed by a Fulbright harmony, melody, and chordal structure. scholarship to study harmony and In the last 25 years, he has written two counterpoint with Nadia Boulanger in dozen operas, numerous symphonies,

The 1976 Metropolitan Opera production of Philip Glass’ . Photo by Babette Mangolte

HIGHLIGHTS 1937 1960 1964 1971 1976 1980 Born in While at Awarded Formed the Einstein on Premiered Baltimore, MD Juilliard, won Fulbright Philip Glass the Beach Satyagraha at BMI Student scholarship Ensemble presented at the the Netherlands Composer to study Metropolitan Opera Award, a composition with Opera prestigious international Nadia Boulanger prize for young in Paris, France composers

34 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Photo by Raymond Meier

, chamber pieces, and film (1984), (1990), SELECTED CDs/DVDs scores for productions as diverse as (1993), CURRENTLY IN CIRCULATION and The Hours. His many (2007), and (2009). Glass presents Philip Glass composed all collaborators range from pop artist Linda lectures, workshops, and solo keyboard selections.

Ronstadt to writer Allen Ginsburg. performances throughout the world, Akhnaten (CBS Numerous companies have mounted appears regularly with the Philip Glass Masterworks) Vargas, Liebermann, Esswood, his operas, which include Einstein on Ensemble, and continues to compose in Hannula, Holzapfel, Hauptmann, Warrilow, the Beach (1976), Satyagraha (1980), many idioms. and Davies

The CIVIL warS: Act 5, The Rome Section (Nonesuch) Radvanovsky, Graves, Sabbatini, Zhou, Morscheck, Wilson, Anderson, and Davies

Einstein on the Beach (Nonesuch) Schuman and Riesman

Hydrogen Jukebox (Nonesuch) Eaton, Hart, Futral, Fracker, Purnhagen, Watson, Ginsberg, and Goldray

Satyagraha (CBS Masterworks) Cummings, Woods, Liss, Perry, McFarland, Reeve, and Keene

The Voyage (Orange Mountain Music) Bormann, Lichter, Vasar, Robertson, Ratzenböch, Lettner, Veláquez Diaz, Lerche, Mason, and Davies

1984 1987 1990 2001 2005 2007 Premiered Autobiography Premiered The Premiered Premiered Premiered Akhnaten at the published: Voyage at the 20th opera, Waiting for the Appomattox Staatstheater Music by Metropolitan Galilei, Barbarians at at the San Stuttgart Philip Glass Opera at Goodman the Theater Francisco Opera Theatre Erfurt

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 35 2010 RECIPIENT Eve Queler Music Director

tenacious champion of opera, Eve Queler has tirelessly dedicated A herself to researching and unveiling the unknown riches of the genre. Her presentations of long-neglected and little-known works have inspired national companies to add many of those Photo courtesy of Opera Frankfurt works—Verdi’s I Lombardi, Donizetti’s La Favorita, Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini—to their permanent repertoire. Born in New York City in 1931, Queler began piano lessons at the age of five and attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art. After studying conducting at the Mannes College of Music, she made further studies with such Eve Queler conducting the Opera Orchestra of New York. Photo courtesy of Eve Queler conductors as , , and Herbert Blomstedt. 2009 NEA Opera Honoree Julius Rudel Early in her career, she worked as a at the New York City Opera. In 1968, she rehearsal accompanist and coach with the took what proved to be the most important Metropolitan Opera Studio, and from 1965- step in her career, when she created the 1970, served as assistant conductor under New York Opera Workshop, which became

HIGHLIGHTS 1931 1956 1966 1968 1971 1972 Born in New Enrolled at Conducting Founded New Opera Orchestra Tenor José York, NY the Mannes debut of York Opera of New York Carreras debuts College of Cavalleria Workshop moves to with OONY Music; studied Rusticana at an (would become Carnegie Hall, (at age 24) conducting with outdoor concert Opera Orchestra commencing under Maestro Carl Bamberger in Fairlawn, of New York) 40-year Queler’s baton New Jersey relationship

36 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Photo by Sedge LeBlang, Metropolitan Opera Archives

languages, among them Janácˇek’s Jenu˚ fa, SELECTED CDs/DVDs Dvorak’s , and Tchaikovsky’s The CURRENTLY IN CIRCULATION Maid of Orleans. Eve Queler is conductor Highly regarded for her ability to on all selections.

spot emerging talent, Queler has given Donizetti: La Favorita (Gala) important exposure to many singers early with Verrett, Kraus, Elvira, and Morris in their careers, including James Morris, Janácˇek: Jenu˚fa (Bis) with Renée Fleming, Dmitri Hvorstovsky, Benacková, Rysanek, Ochman, and Kazaras , and Stephanie Blythe. Massenet: Le Cid (Sony) In addition, she attracted established with Bumbry, Domingo, performers with uncommon vehicles and Plishka that showcased their talents. In 1974, for Puccini: Edgar (CBS Masterworks) with Scotto, example, Plácido Domingo appeared in Killebrew, Bergonzi, Sardinero, and Munkittrick Massenet’s Le Cid, and Montserrat Caballé Smetana: Dalibor (Ponto) performed in Donizetti’s Parisina d’Este. with Gedda, Monk, Foss, The winner of numerous awards, and Plishka including the French government’s Strauss: Guntram (Sony) with Tokody, Goldberg, the celebrated Opera Orchestra of New Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Sólyom-Nagy York. At Carnegie Hall, she has conducted for her commitment to French opera, more than 100 operas in concert form, Queler is honored most for her dedication including neglected bel canto works as well to and presentation of long-abandoned as Russian and Czech operas in their native works.

1974 1979 1988 1990 2008 Presented First American Soprano Renée American Celebrated her Massenet’s Le staging of Fleming debuts in premiere of the 100th Carnegie Cid with Plácido Janácˇek’s Kátya the OONY young Russian language Hall performance Domingo in the Kabanová artist program version of as Music Director starring role Tchaikovsky’s The of OONY Maid of Orleans

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 37 2009 RECIPIENT John Adams Composer

ohn Adams’ work has profoundly most frequently presented operas of our influenced opera. His unique time, and Doctor Atomic has already been J musical voice, rooted in minimalism, seen on five major international stages. skillfully confronts the complex realities Adams has written more than 20 of our world in ways that challenge and orchestra works, nearly ten chamber elevate audiences. works, film scores, piano solos and Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in duets, and numerous arrangements Photo by Margaretta Mitchell 1947, by age 13 he was an accomplished and orchestrations. His work On the clarinetist and was determined to be Transmigration of Souls (2002) won the a composer. After graduating from Pulitzer Prize. Harvard, Adams moved to California to A guest orchestra conductor, he has become part of the new-music scene. been an innovative force within many Initially, Adams was an instrumental musical organizations. He instituted the composer. When the Houston Grand renowned New and Unusual Music series Opera commissioned his first opera, at the , where Nixon in China (1987), Adams had never he was also composer-in-residence. He written for solo voice. Since then he has served as creative chair for the Saint written three more operas, The Death of Paul Chamber Orchestra; music director Klinghoffer (1991), Doctor Atomic (2005) of the Cabrillo Festival; and artist-in- and A Flowering Tree (2006), as well as a association with the BBC Symphony song cycle, a “songplay,” and an oratorio. Orchestra. While holding the Nixon in China has become one of the composer’s chair at Carnegie Hall, he

HIGHLIGHTS 1947 1980 1981 1987 1991 1995 Born in Created New San Francisco Houston Grand La Monnaie, University of Worcester, MA and Unusual Symphony Opera world Brussels, world California, Music series world premiere premiere of premiere of Berkeley, world for the San of Harmonium; Nixon in China The Death of premiere of the Francisco becomes first Klinghoffer songplay I Was Symphony SFS composer- Looking at the in-residence Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky

38 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Photo courtesy of Houston Grand Opera

SELECTED CDs/DVDs CURRENTLY IN CIRCULATION John Adams composed all selections.

The Death of Klinghoffer (Elektra/Nonesuch) with Maddalena, Perry, Young, Sylvan, Hammons, Felty, Friedman, Nadler; conducted by Nagano

Doctor Atomic (BBC/Opus Arte/DVD) with Finley, Rivera, Owens, Fink, Maddalena; conducted by Renes

A Flowering Tree (Nonesuch) with Owens, Rivera, Thomas; conducted by Adams

El Niño (Nonesuch) with Upshaw, Hunt Lieberson, Gerald Finley as J. Robert Oppenheimer in John Adams’ Doctor Atomic. Photo by Nick Heavican/Metropolitan Opera White; conducted by Nagano Nixon in China (Nonesuch) established the In Your Ear festival, and Adams made his literary debut with a with Maddalena, Sylvan, Hammons, Duykers, Page, conducted the first public concert at the volume of memoirs and commentary on Craney; conducted by de Waart new Zankel Hall. Currently, he serves American musical life, entitled The Wound-Dresser as creative chair for the Los Angeles Hallelujah Junction (Farrar, Straus, & (Nonesuch) with Sylvan; conducted by Adams Philharmonic. Giroux 2008).

2000 2003 2005 2006 Théâtre du Received commemorates San Francisco - Châtelet, Paris, Pulitzer Prize those lives lost Opera world Quartier, Vienna, world premiere for On the on September premiere of world premiere of El Niño, a Transmigration 11, 2001 Doctor Atomic of A Flowering Nativity oratorio of Souls, a Tree work that

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 39 2009 RECIPIENT Frank Corsaro Stage Director/Librettist

or more than half a century, Frank helped secure the company’s reputation Corsaro has brought his keen for artistic daring. He brought new life to Fdirector’s eye to countless opera traditional fare such as Verdi’s La Traviata productions, always displaying a rare and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, in part understanding for the balance of words, through his emphasis on realism. He music, and theater. worked similar magic with contemporary Born in New York City in 1924, or other-known works, including Hoiby’s Photo by Corsaro began his career as an actor but Summer and Smoke; Korngold’s Die Tote turned to directing because it better Stadt; Prokofiev’sThe Fiery Angel; and served his imagination. He became 2011 NEA Opera Honoree Robert Ward’s involved with the (which The Crucible. he went on to direct), and in 1955 he Corsaro has had two particularly directed Michael Gazzo’s powerful drama interesting creative partnerships. One is of a war veteran’s heroin addiction, with Carlisle Floyd, with whom he has A Hatful of Rain, which ran for two worked on many occasions. The other is years on Broadway. with the writer and illustrator Maurice Julius Rudel invited Corsaro to Sendak. Their imaginative productions direct Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah at include Prokofiev’sLove for Three the New York City Opera in 1958—the Oranges; Janácˇek’s The Cunning Little production’s success led to Corsaro’s Vixen; Humperdinck’s Hänsel und long, rich association with City Opera, Gretel; Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnole and where Corsaro’s legendary productions L’Enfant et Les Sortilèges; and Knussen’s

HIGHLIGHTS 1924 1955 1958 1961 1970 Born in New Directed Broadway Begins long Directed Broadway Directed world York, NY premiere of Michael association with premiere of premiere of Floyd’s Gazzo’s A Hatful the New York City Williams’ Of Mice and Men at of Rain Opera, directing The Night of the Seattle Opera Susannah Iguana

40 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Photo by Ellen Appel

Where the Wild Things Are. SELECTED CDs/DVDs Corsaro was the artistic director of the CURRENTLY IN CIRCULATION Juilliard Opera Center from 1988 to 2007. Although Frank Corsaro was In addition to teaching at Juilliard, he not directly involved in these recordings, each work is one directed a heady mix of operas throughout that he either helped introduce the United States and Europe. to the public or with which he has important associations. In a rich cross-fertilization, Corsaro Floyd: Susannah (VAI) with has always moved easily between theater Curtin, Treigle; conducted and opera. Impressively, he has also by Andersson enriched the art form as the librettist for Floyd: Of Mice and Men (Albany) with Griffey, such works as Heloise and Abelard by Hawkins, Futral, Maddalena; conducted by Summers Stephen Paulus and ’s Janácˇek: The Cunning Little Frau Margot and Before Breakfast. Vixen (Chandos) with Watson, Montague, Allen, Howell; conducted by Rattle

Joplin: Treemonisha (Deutsche Grammophon) with Balthrop, Allen, White; conducted by Schuller

Pasatieri: Frau Margot (Albany) with Flanagan, Risley, Smith; conducted The Fort Worth Opera’s production by Illick of Thomas Pasatieri’s Frau Margot, for which Frank Corsaro directed Ravel: L’Enfant et les Sortilèges and L’Heure and wrote the libretto. Photo by Ellen Appel Espagnole (Kultur/DVD) with Buchan, Steiger; conducted by Rattle and Edwards

1983 1984 1988 1988 2007 Directed world Made Metropolitan Named artistic Appointed artistic Directed world premiere of Delius’ Opera debut director of director of the premiere of Thomas Margot La Rouge directing , the Juilliard Actors Studio in Pasatieri’s Frau at Opera Theatre of the Met’s first Opera Center New York City Margot, for which Saint Louis Handel work Corsaro wrote the libretto, at Fort Worth Opera

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 41 2009 RECIPIENT Marilyn Horne Mezzo-soprano

arilyn Horne’s voice combines power, flexibility, and Mextraordinary musicianship and in both opera and recital, she set a new standard and expanded the repertoire for generations of mezzo- to come. Born in Bradford, Pennsylvania, in Photo by Marty Umans 1934, she sang nearly from birth. At 20, she made an enduring impression by dubbing Dorothy Dandridge’s singing voice in the movie Carmen Jones. In 1956, under the guidance of Robert Craft and , she appeared at the Venice Festival. She returned home to the United States in 1960 and made her San Francisco Opera debut as Marie in Berg’s Wozzeck;

a year later she made her Lyric Opera of Marilyn Horne in the Metropolitan Opera production of Chicago debut as Lora in the premiere of Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri. Photo courtesy of Metropolitan Opera Vittorio Giannini’s The Harvest. Horne quickly established herself as a Handel’s Rinaldo at the Houston Grand brilliant bel canto interpreter, particularly Opera in 1975, and performed it nine in operas by Handel and Rossini. She sang years later at the Metropolitan Opera. It the title role in the American premiere of was the first time the company had ever

HIGHLIGHTS 1934 1938 1954 1957 1960s Born in Made Dubbed voice Joined Debuted at as Agnese in Bradford, PA professional of Dorothy Germany’s San Francisco Beatrice di debut singing Dandridge in Gelsenkirchen Opera and at Tenda; La Scala “Believe Me, the filmCarmen Municipal Opera Covent Garden as Jocasta in If All Those Jones as Marie in Oedipus Rex Endearing Wozzeck; Young Charms” Carnegie Hall at political rally

42 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Photo by Henry Grossman

L’Italiana in Algeri; Adalgisa in Bellini’s SELECTED CDs/DVDs Norma; Arsace in Rossini’s Semiramide; CURRENTLY IN CIRCULATION and Samira in Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Marilyn Horne is a featured Versailles. Horne is equally celebrated singer on all selections.

and revered for her concert and recital Barber, Bernstein, Bolcom: singing and has graced virtually all of the I Will Breathe a Mountain (RCA Victor) Sixteen great stages of the world, including the American songs with and the Tokyo String Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Covent Quartet

Garden, and Carnegie Hall. Bellini: Norma (Decca) with Sutherland, Alexander; Through the Marilyn Horne conducted by Bonynge Foundation, young singers have received Bizet: Carmen (Deutsche important training and performance Grammophon) with McCracken, Maliponte, opportunities in the art of the recital. Krause; conducted by Bernstein Alumni of the program include some Bellini, Donizetti, Gluck, of the greatest vocalists on stage today: Handel, Rossini, Saint- Stephanie Blythe, David Daniels, Saëns and others: Just for the Record: The Golden Voice Michelle DeYoung, Lawrence Brownlee, (Decca) and . Horne is Rossini: L’Italiana in Algeri (Deutsche Grammophon/ the winner of innumerable awards, DVD) with Ahlstedt, Montsarlo; conducted by staged a Handel work, and it was directed including the National Medal of the Arts Levine by NEA Opera Honoree Frank Corsaro. (1992), (1995), Rossini: Semiramide Among the many other roles on which she and France’s Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts (Decca) with Sutherland, Clark, Rouleau, Serge; has left her stamp are Isabella in Rossini’s et des Lettres. conducted by Bonynge

1970 1975 1991 1994 1999 Metropolitan Sang title role Sang Samira in Established With a Opera debut as in American world premiere Marilyn Horne performance Adalgisa premiere of of Corigliano’s Foundation in Laramie, WY, in Norma Rinaldo at The Ghosts of to preserve and achieved goal of Houston Grand Versailles at support the art singing in all 50 Opera the Met of the vocal states recital

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 43 2009 RECIPIENT Lotfi MansouriGeneral Director

otfi Mansouri led, brilliantly, two of director at the Geneva Opera. He was a the most important opera companies constant presence at the Santa Fe Opera Lin North America, and has directed in the late ’60s and early ’70s, where he scores of productions throughout the directed a dozen works, from bel canto world. But with one act, Mansouri forever masterpieces to Verdi (, La changed how audiences experienced Traviata), Puccini (Tosca), Strauss (Der the art form: supertitles (translations of Rosenkavalier), and Berg (Wozzeck). Photo by Henry Grossman foreign language works that are projected In 1976, Mansouri became general above the stage). director of the Canadian Opera Company. Born in 1929 in Tehran, , He revolutionized opera by ushering Mansouri traveled to Los Angeles to study in supertitles at a 1983 performance of medicine at UCLA. After seeing Madama Strauss’ Elektra. To the enduring gratitude Butterfly at the Hollywood Bowl, he of audiences everywhere, opera companies realized his heart and his future were in throughout the world have adopted the opera. He began teaching and directing idea. opera at local colleges and in 1959 became During his tenure as general the assistant to director Herbert Graf at director of the San Francisco Opera the Music Academy of the West. (1988–2001), the company produced From 1960 to 1966, Mansouri its first commercial recordings. His perfected his craft as resident stage establishment of the Pacific Visions director of the Zürich Opera. For the program to commission new works and next decade, he served as the head stage to perform little-known works led to some

HIGHLIGHTS 1929 1960 1966 1971 1976 Born in Tehran, Iran Became resident Appointed head Named artistic Became general stage director of stage director at the adviser to Iran’s director, Canadian the Zürich Opera Geneva Opera Ministry Opera Company of Culture (COC)

44 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS NEA file photo

SELECTED CDs/DVDs CURRENTLY IN CIRCULATION Although Lotfi Mansouri was not directly involved in these recordings, each work is one that he helped introduce to the public or with which he has important associations.

Glass: Satyagraha (CBS Masterworks) with Perry, Cummings, Liss, Reeve; conducted by Keene

Heggie: Dead Man Walking (Erato) with Graham, von Stade, Packard; conducted by Summers

Massenet: Hérodiade (Sony) with Domingo, Fleming, Zajick, Pons; conducted by Gergiev San Francisco Opera’s production of Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire, during Lotfi Mansouri’s tenure as general director.Photo by Marty Sohl Previn: A Streetcar Named Desire (Deutsche Grammophon) with Fleming, Futral, Gilfry, of the most compelling operas of Heggie’s Dead Man Walking. Griffey; conducted by Previn

our time, including John Adams’ The Mansouri is a Chevalier of l’Ordre des Strauss: Elektra (Decca) with Nilsson, Resnik, Collier, Death of Klinghoffer, Conrad Susa’s The Arts et des Lettres, and his autobiography Krause; conducted by Solti Dangerous Liaisons, ’s A Lotfi Mansouri: An Operatic Journey was Wallace: Streetcar Named Desire, and Jake published in spring 2010. (Teldec) with Orth, Very, Bishop, Jacobs, Maddalena; conducted by Runnicles

1983 1988 1992 1994 2000 Introduced Became general Established SFO’s Commissioned Commissioned Jake supertitles with director of the San Pacific Visions Conrad Susa’s The Heggie’s Dead Man Elektra at COC Francisco Opera program to foster Dangerous Liaisons, Walking, world (SFO) new and unusual world premiere premiere at SFO repertoire at SFO

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 45 2009 RECIPIENT Julius Rudel Conductor

ulius Rudel took a shoestring Douglas Moore’s , company, the New York City Opera, Dominick Argento’s Miss Havisham’s J and made it a fearless international Fire, and Carlisle Floyd’s Jonathan Wade. contender, and in so doing, promoted and City Opera presented more than 50 encouraged American opera and American 20th-century operas, 19 world premieres, artists at a time when both were in and seven U.S. premieres. Among the desperate need of cheerleaders. many great singers and directors with Photo courtesy of Houston Grand Opera Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1921, whom he worked are , Plácido Rudel absorbed its musical traditions and Domingo, , , adroitly mixed them with American ones. , , Sherrill He arrived in New York City as a teenage Milnes, Frank Corsaro, Theodore Mann, refugee, and studied at the Mannes and . School of Music. In 1943, he joined the Many companies have benefited New York City Opera as a rehearsal from his guidance: Kennedy Center pianist and soon thereafter made his in Washington, DC (first artistic conducting debut with The Gypsy Baron. director); Virginia’s Wolf Trap Festival, During his 22-year tenure as general the May Festival, and the director/principal conductor of City Caramoor Festival in Katonah, New York Opera, imaginative programming, from (music director); Opera Company of the baroque to the brand new, was the Philadelphia (music advisor); National rule. Contemporary American operas Opera Institute (chairman); and the included Marc Blitzstein’s Regina, Buffalo Philharmonic (music director).

HIGHLIGHTS 1921 1938 1943 1957 1958 Born in Vienna, Immigrated to the Joined fledgling Named general Presided over Austria United States; company, New director/principal NYCO’s season of attended Greenwich York City Opera as conductor of NYCO ten contemporary House Music rehearsal pianist; American operas School conducting debut with The Gypsy Baron (1944)

46 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Photo by Winnie Klotz/ Metropolitan Opera

In a career that spans more than SELECTED CDs/DVDs need photo CURRENTLY IN six decades and has placed him on CIRCULATION podiums throughout the world, Rudel has Julius Rudel is conductor conducted more than 165 operas. He is on all selections. perhaps best appreciated for his efforts Boito: (EMI Classics) with Treigle, to revive ’s music, including Caballé, Domingo

Die Bürgschaft, Lost in the Stars, and Donizetti: (VAI/DVD) with Silverlake. Among Rudel’s many honors Sills, Marsee, Alexander, are the Opera News Award, France’s Fredricks Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, New Handel: Julius Caesar (RCA Victor) with Treigle, Sills, York City’s , and the Forrester, Wolff

Kurt Weill Foundation’s Distinguished Massenet: (Deutsche Grammophon) with Sills, Achievement Award. Gedda, Souzay, Bacquier

Various: Vienna, City of My Dreams (EMI Classics) with Domingo

Weill: Die Bürgschaft (EMI Classics) with Thompson, Daniecki, Travis

Matthew Polenzani as Tamino in the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, orchestra conducted by Julius Rudel. Photo by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

1966 1969 1978 1979 1999 Conducted Named music Conducted Became music Conducted Ginastera’s Don director of the Massenet’s Werther director of the American premiere Rodrigo on NYCO’s John F. Kennedy in debut at the Buffalo Philharmonic of Weill’s Die first night at Center for the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Bürgschaft at Lincoln Center Performing Arts Spoleto Festival USA

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 47 2008 RECIPIENT Carlisle Floyd Composer/Librettist

ne of the most admired opera Floyd’s operas are rooted in America, composers and librettists of the last both in subject and in style, and are widely O half-century, Carlisle Floyd speaks performed in the United States and in a uniquely American voice, capturing abroad. They include Susannah (1955), both the cadences and the mores of our The Passion of Jonathan Wade (1962; society. revised, 1990), Of Mice and Men (1970), Born in Latta, South Carolina, in 1926, Bilby’s Doll (1976), (1981), and Photo courtesy of Houston Grand Opera Floyd studied both composition and piano. (2000). A 2001 inductee He taught at from of the American Academy of Arts and 1947 to 1976 while actively composing, Letters, Floyd has received numerous and in 1976 became the M. D. Anderson honors, such as a Guggenheim Fellowship professor of music at the University and the National Opera Institute’s Award of Houston. In Houston, he and David for Service to American Opera. He was Gockley established the important the first chairman of the NEA’s Opera/ Houston Grand Opera Studio, which for Musical Theater Panel, which the agency more than three decades has helped train created in 1976. In 2004, the President of young artists in the full spectrum of opera. the United States awarded him a National (Graduates include Erie Mills, Denyce Medal of Arts. Graves, and Joyce DiDonato.)

HIGHLIGHTS 1926 1947 1955 1962 1976 Born in Latta, SC Began his teaching Florida State New York City Opera Became M.D. career at Florida University stages world premiere Anderson State University world premiere of of The Passion of professor of music Susannah Jonathan Wade at University of Houston

48 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Photo by Jim Caldwell

SELECTED CDs/DVDs CURRENTLY IN CIRCULATION Carlisle Floyd composed all selections.

Susannah (Virgin Classics) with Studer, Hadley, Ramey; conducted by Nagano

The Sojourner and Mollie Sinclair (VAI) with Neway, Treigle; conducted by Rudel

Markheim (VAI) with Crofoot, Schuh, Treigle; conducted by Andersson

Of Mice and Men (Albany) with Evans and others; conducted by Summers

Willie Stark (DVD: Newport Classic) Louisiana State University production

Cold Sassy Tree (Albany) with Racette and others; conducted by Summers

A scene from Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men. Photo by George Hixson, courtesy of Houston Grand Opera

1977 1981 1993 2000 Co-founded, with PBS’s Great World premiere of Cold Sassy Tree , the Performances A Time to Dance, had world premiere Houston Grand presented world a choral work, at Houston Grand Opera Studio premiere of at American Opera Willie Stark Choral Directors Association convention in San Antonio

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 49 2008 RECIPIENT Richard Gaddes General Director

ichard Gaddes has spent most of his professional life guiding and R raising the profile of two important regional American companies, the Santa Fe Opera, from which he retired as general director in 2008, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Photo by Ken Howard, courtesy of Santa Fe Opera Born in Wallsend, England, in 1942 and now a permanent United States resident, Gaddes studied at London’s Trinity College of Music. In the ‘60s, he launched a program of lunchtime concerts by young musicians at Wigmore Hall, an initiative that is emblematic of his work since: in both Santa Fe and Saint Louis, he has championed young singers. In 1969, at the invitation of Santa Fe Opera founder , he became the company’s artistic administrator. He founded the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in 1976 and ran it until 1985, but remained a Gaddes (right) with Jonathan Miller, director of Cosí fan tutte at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Photo by Ken Howard, courtesy of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis

HIGHLIGHTS 1942 1969 1976 1982 1985 Born in Wallsend, Named artistic Founded Opera World premiere Joruri, by Japanese England administrator of Theatre of Saint at OTSL of The composer Minoru Santa Fe Opera Louis (OTSL) Postman Always Miki, has world Rings Twice by premiere at OTSL Stephen Paulus

50 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Photo courtesy of Santa Fe Opera

consultant to Santa Fe. He returned there SELECTED CDs/DVDs full-time in 1994, and later succeeded CURRENTLY IN CIRCULATION John Crosby as general director. While Richard Gaddes is Throughout his tenure at both not associated with these recordings, the following companies, Gaddes made a reputation works represent those that for programming adventurous he has helped to introduce or bring to the attention of repertoire both old and new, American opera audiences.

imaginative casting and productions, Rameau: Pigmalion (Virgin building audiences, and spotting young Classics Veritas) with Fournié, Fouchécourt; stars before others did. A former vice- conducted by Niquet president of OPERA America, he has Bretón: La Verbena de la Paloma (DVD Decca) with served on many arts boards and is, Lopez, Suárez; conducted by Roa at present, a member of the board of directors of the Pulitzer Foundation for Britten: Albert Herring (Naxos) with Palmer, the Arts. His list of honors includes the Barstow, Lloyd, Finley; conducted by Bedford National Institute for Music Theatre Britten: Owen Wingrave Award and the Young Audiences’ (DVD Kultur Video) with Barstow, Finley; conducted Cultural Achievement Award. by Nagano

Janácˇek: (Decca) with Popp; conducted by Mackerras

Golijov: (DG) with Upshaw; conducted Gaddes (right) with Jonathan Miller, director of by Spano Cosí fan tutte at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Photo by Ken Howard, courtesy of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis

1994 2000 2003 2005 2006 Returned to Santa Became general Madame Mao, by ’s American premiere Fe Opera as director of Santa Fe Bright Sheng, had Ainadamar, with a of Thomas Adès’ associate director Opera world premiere in reworked libretto, The Tempest in Santa Fe presented in Santa Fe Santa Fe

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 51 2008 RECIPIENT James Levine Music Director/Conductor

ince he first took the podium at the operas. He is noted for his collaboration Metropolitan Opera in 1971, James with singers, but equally important is SLevine has conducted nearly 2,500 his work with the Met Orchestra, which performances there—a record number— he has fine-tuned into one of the world’s and his repertoire is equally staggering: 85 leading ensembles.

Photo by Peter Hastings, courtesy of the Archives

Stephen Portman, , Michael Charry, and Levine (left to right). Photo by Peter Hastings, courtesy of the Cleveland Orchestra Archives

HIGHLIGHTS 1943 1953 1964 1971 1976 Born in Cincinnati, Debuted as Invited by George Conducted Tosca in Appointed music OH piano soloist Szell to become Metropolitan director of the with Cincinnati assistant conductor Opera debut Metropolitan Opera Orchestra playing of the Cleveland Mendelssohn’s Orchestra No. 2

52 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Photo by Peter Hastings, courtesy of Cleveland Orchestra Archives Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1943, From 1973 to 1993, he was music director SELECTED CDs/DVDs Levine excelled as a pianist even in of the , the summer CURRENTLY IN childhood. Setting his course as a residence of the Chicago Symphony CIRCULATION conductor, he graduated from Juilliard in Orchestra, and from 1999 to 2004, he James Levine is conductor on all selections. 1964, and in that same year was invited was chief conductor of the Munich Wagner: Der Ring des by George Szell to join the Cleveland Philharmonic. In 2004, Levine became Nibelungen (CD and DVD; DG) with the Metropolitan Orchestra as the youngest assistant music director of the Boston Symphony Opera

conductor in its long history. Over the Orchestra, a post he held until September Strauss: Elektra (DVD; DG) next several years, he led many orchestras, 2011. With the BSO, he introduced new with Nilsson, Rysanek including the Metropolitan Opera’s, and works by such composers as Elliott Tchaikovsky: (DG) with Burchuladze, in 1975 became the company’s music Carter, , Milton Babbitt, Freni, von Otter, T. Allen

director. He has led Met premieres , and . Berlioz: (DVD; DG) with Norman, Troyanos, of works by numerous composers, Among the numerous awards Domingo including Mozart, Verdi, Stravinsky, Berg, Levine has received are the Gold Medal Corigliano: The Ghosts of Schoenberg, Rossini, Berlioz, and Weill, for Service to Humanity from the Versailles (DVD; DG) with Stratas, Fleming, Horne, as well as the world premieres of two National Institute of Social Sciences Clark, G. Quilico, Hagegard

American operas: John Corigliano’s The and the American Academy of Arts and Lieberson: Neruda Songs (Nonesuch) with Hunt Ghosts of Versailles and John Harbison’s Letters’ 2005 award for Distinguished Lieberson . Service to the Arts. In 1997, the President While maintaining his position at of the United States awarded him a the Met, Levine has continued to work as and, in 2003, an accompanist and chamber musician he was a recipient of the Kennedy and has led orchestras around the world. Center Honors.

1977 1980 1991 1999 2004 Inaugurated Founded the Met’s Conducted world Led first Met While remaining at Metropolitan Lindemann Young premiere of John performance of the Met, became Opera Presents Artist Development Corigliano’s The Schoenberg’s Boston Symphony on television, Program Ghosts of Versailles Orchestra music conducting at the Met director La Bohème

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 53 2008 RECIPIENT Leontyne Price Soprano

here are very few singers with of , she made her voices that are as instantly debut as Aïda in 1959). T recognizable, and revered, as the Price has made a long career in opera, rich, creamy lyric soprano of Leontyne concert, and recital. Though she is best Price. She continues to be a powerful known as a Verdi and Puccini singer, she advocate not only for the art she loves, but has always embraced the work of American for human rights. composers, particularly . Photo courtesy of Born in Laurel, , in 1927, She gave the premiere of his Price played the piano early on and soon at New York City’s Town Hall in 1954, with began to sing at church and school. When the composer at the piano, and Barber went she was nine years old, she heard Marian on to write many pieces for her. Anderson in concert; that, Price has said, In 1997, Price introduced children “was what you might call the original to one of opera’s greatest heroines in her kickoff” for her pursuit of what became book Aïda. Her scores of awards include an astonishing vocal career. Although the Presidential Medal of Freedom her 1961 debut as Leonora in Verdi’s Il (1964), the Kennedy Center Honors Trovatore at the Metropolitan Opera (1980), the National Medal of the Arts instantly made her a legend—and landed (1985), the National Association of her on the cover of Time magazine— Black Broadcasters Award (2002), she was already well-known to opera France’s L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, audiences in cities such as San Francisco the Italian Order of Merit, 19 Grammys, and Vienna (where, at the invitation and three Emmys.

HIGHLIGHTS 1927 1936 1955 1957 1958 Born in Laurel, MS Heard Marian Performed title San Francisco Vienna Staatsoper Anderson in role of Tosca for Opera debut as debut in title role Jackson, MS broadcast on a Madame Lidoine in of Aïda major television American premiere network, NBC of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites

54 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS Photo by Jack Mitchell, courtesy of Sony BMG Music

SELECTED CDs/DVDs CURRENTLY IN CIRCULATION Leontyne Price is a featured singer on all selections.

Puccini: Tosca (Decca) with Di Stefano; conducted by Karajan

Verdi: Aïda (RCA) with Bumbry, Domingo, Milnes; conducted by Leinsdorf

Puccini: Madama Butterfly (RCA) with Elias, Tucker; conducted by Leinsdorf

Verdi: (Decca) with Elias, Bjoerling, Tozzi; conducted by Reiner

Leontyne Price Sings Barber (RCA) Hermit Songs with Barber at the piano, Knoxville: Summer of 1915, among others; conducted by Schippers

Right as the Rain (RCA) with Previn as conductor and pianist; popular classic songs by Arlen, Rodgers, Previn, among others

Price in the title role of Aïda. Photo courtesy of Lyric Opera of Chicago

1961 1966 1973 1997 2001 Metropolitan Opera At the opening of Sang at the funeral Published Aïda, a Made a special debut as Leonora in the new Met, sang of former President book for children appearance to sing world premiere of Lyndon B. Johnson at Carnegie Hall Barber’s Antony memorial concert and for victims of 9/11

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 55 NEA Support of Opera

he National Endowment for number of opera companies in the United the Arts (NEA) was established States, from 46 companies in 1965 to more by Congress in 1965 as an than 200 companies in 2011. independent agency of the Key to the agency’s history of opera federal government. To date, the support was the New American Works NEA has awarded more than program, which from 1980 to 1995 $4 billion to support artistic awarded more than 600 grants totaling excellence, creativity, and $9.5 million to assist in the creation of new Tinnovation for the benefit of individuals works. Among the operas made possible and communities. The NEA extends its through this program are Anthony Davis’ work through partnerships with state Amistad, John Adams’ Nixon in China, arts agencies, local leaders, other federal William Bolcom’s A View from the Bridge, agencies, and the philanthropic . and Philip Glass’ Appomattox. The NEA has a long history of Through the support of the NEA, support for opera. Beginning in 1967, OPERA America launched the Opera only the second year of its grantmaking Fund, which, in its first three years, activities, the NEA awarded a $150,000 awarded 50 grants totaling nearly $1 grant to the Metropolitan Opera National million to provide for the creation and Company, a satellite of the Metropolitan production of new works. The NEA Opera, which enabled the company to continues to fund the creation of new present performances for labor groups works through its grant categories. and students throughout the nation. Through such programs as the Patrick Since then, the NEA has awarded more G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center than 4,500 grants totaling nearly $170 (Chicago), the Houston Grand Opera million to opera companies and other arts Studio, and the Merola Opera Program organizations in support of a wide variety (San Francisco), the NEA has provided of operatic activities. The catalytic effect grants for the professional development of of this support is reflected in the increased young emerging artists. Among the alumni

56 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS of these programs are , , and Denyce Graves. The NEA has been a longstanding funder of television and radio broadcasts of opera, including such lauded programs as The Metropolitan Opera Presents (formerly Live from the Met), Great Performances, and NPR’s World of Opera. In addition, the agency both develops and sustains large-scale projects with significant national reach. In 2005, the NEA created the national leadership initiative Great American Voices, which within one season featured 24 professional opera companies in performances for our military families at 39 military installations across the country. With the support of Congress and the President, the NEA Opera Honors, created in 2008, were the first new award in more than 25 years to be instituted by the Arts

Endowment recognizing individuals for The San Francisco Opera’s 2007 world their lifelong contributions to the arts. The premiere of composer Philip Glass’ Appomattox, libretto by Christopher centerpiece of the NEA Opera Honors is Hampton, supported by an NEA grant. Photo by Terrence McCarthy an annual admission-free awards event held in October in Washington, DC, which is also captured for audiences nationwide

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 57 The 2010 NEA Opera Honors recipients (front row, from left) Eve Queler, David DiChiera, Martina Arroyo, and Philip Glass with Associate Justices (back row, from left) Elena Kagan, Antonin Scalia, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Anthony M. Kennedy and NEA Senior Deputy Chairman Joan Shigekawa at the Supreme Court luncheon for the honorees in October 2010. Photo by Michael G. Stewart

through radio broadcasts and a range of composers, directors, and audiences. Their new media outlets, such as this year’s live talents have contributed in untold ways webcast of the event. Through the support to the landscape of opera in the United of the NEA, OPERA America created and States, a composite of American stories launched National Opera Week, allowing shared through this art form. The NEA the celebration of the art form to occur Opera Honors now stand as a milestone in at opera organizations across the U.S. the long line of NEA programs designed to Each of the individuals recognized as an foster the continuing growth of the opera NEA Opera Honoree has had a profound art form in the United States. influence on generations of singers,

58 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For their role in imagining, creating, and implementing the NEA Opera Honors and for their contributions to this commemorative publication, we extend our thanks to these individuals:

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

OPERA PROGRAM PUBLIC AFFAIRS Wayne S. Brown Director of Music and Opera Victoria Hutter Assistant Director – Press Georgianna D. Paul Opera Specialist Don Ball Assistant Director – Publications Jennifer Kareliusson Division Coordinator Paulette Beete Senior Writer/Editor Kathleen McGovern Division Specialist Rebecca Gross Writer/Editor David Low Web Manager OFFICE OF PROGRAM INNOVATION Josephine Reed Media Producer Bill O’Brien Senior Advisor for Program Innovation Michael Faubion Special Assistant

Additional thanks are extended to the Board INTERVIEW TRANSCRIBERS of Directors of OPERA America and to its staff José Alvarez, Katherine Baltrush, Holly Chou, for the creation and production of the video Ionida Costache, Lisa Flanigan, Jason M. tributes and of National Opera Week. Gerraughty, Olivia Giovetti, Amanda Lehr, Dillon Long, Lauren Werking, Megan Young Marc A. Scorca President & CEO

Anthony Freud Board Chairman INTERVIEWEES: Ernesto Alorda, Stephanie Blythe, Lawrence Brownlee, , VIDEO TEAM Dow Constantine, William Henry Curry, Cori Cara Consilvio Producer Ellison, Gregory Emetaz, Carlisle Floyd, , Denyce Graves, Sherri Greenawald, Greg Emetaz Video Director; Video Editor (John Paul Gruber, , Jeff Harris, Susan Conklin Tribute) Hilferty, Marilyn Horne, Monte Jacobson, Olivia Giovetti Research and Permissions Heather Johnson, Peter Kazaras, Paul Kellogg, Rachel Carey Video Editor (Speight Jenkins Robert Kolt, Mark Lamos, Lotfi Mansouri, Tribute) Richard Marshall, Allen Moyer, Esther Nelson, Abby Rodd, Kelley Rourke, Mary Duke Biddle Doug Johnson Sound Editor; Video Editor Trent Semans, Bruce Steinberg, Robert Tuggle, (Risë Stevens Tribute and Robert Ward Tribute) Stephen Wadsworth, Court Watson, Robert Wierzel, William Weyerhaeuser, Francesca Zambello, Ann Ziff

With special thanks to Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court of the United States.

SPECIAL THANKS: Albany Records, Brett J. Banakis, Boosey & Hawkes, Boston Lyric Opera, The Ed Sullivan Show, Glimmerglass Opera, G. Schirmer Inc., Bradley King, Barbara Cokorinos, Robert Kolt, The Metropolitan Opera, The Metropolitan Opera Guild, New York University, Opera d’Oro, Prenslauer Records, San Francisco Opera, Sarasota Opera, Seattle Opera, Nick Solyom, Universal Music Group, Francesca Zambello, and to Mary Lou Falcone and ML Falcone Public Relations for advice and consul associated with the NEA Opera Honors initiative.

2011 NEA OPERA HONORS 59 CREDITS

Published by the National Endowment for the Arts Office of Public Affairs Jamie Bennett, Director Don Ball, Editor

Thanks to Rebecca Gross and Georgianna Paul for writing and editorial assistance and to the OPERA America staff for obtaining the images for this publication.

Design by Fletcher Design, Inc./Washington, DC

FRONT COVER PHOTO CREDITS: Conklin: Photo courtesy of Boston Lyric Opera Jenkins: Photo by Yuen Lui Studio Stevens: Photo by Christian Steiner Ward: Photo by Robert Kolt

October 2011

Additional copies of this publication can be obtained free of charge at the NEA website: arts.gov.

For individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Voice/TTY: 202-682-5496

Individuals who do not use conventional print materials may contact the Arts Endowment’s Office for AccessAbility to obtain this publication in an alternate format. Telephone: 202-682-5733

60 2011 NEA OPERA HONORS John Conklin John Conklin Speight Jenkins Speight Jenkins Risë Stevens Risë Stevens

Robert Ward Robert Ward 2011

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20506-0001

John Conklin • Speight Jenkins • Risë Stevens • Robert Ward