PUCCINI'S La bohème PRESS KIT PRESENTS La bohème Opera in four acts Music by Giacomo Puccini Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa First performed February 1, 1896 at the Teatro Regio in Turin Italy. Sung in Italian with English supertitles. Supported, in part, by grants from the San José Office of Cultural Affairs and Applied Materials. Costume Sponsor Mary & Clinton Gilliland PRESS CONTACT Bryan Ferraro Communications Manager Office (408) 437-2229 Mobile (408) 316-2008 [email protected] operasj.org For additional information go to https://www.operasj.org/about-us/press-room/ CAST ARTISTIC TEAM IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE CONDUCTOR CHORUS MASTER Joseph Marcheso Andrew Whitfield RODOLFO Andrew Whitfield 4/28, 4/30 MUSIC STAFF Kirk Dougherty STAGE DIRECTOR Veronika Agranov-Dafoe MARCELLO Michael Shell Victoria Lington Matthew Hanscom SET DESIGN SUPERTITLE CUEING COLLINE Kim A. Tolman Victoria Lington Colin Ramsey COSTUME DESIGN SCHAUNARD Alina Bokovikova Brian James Myer COSTUME DIRECTOR BENOIT Alyssa Oania Carl King LIGHTING DESIGN MIMÌ Pamila Z. Gray Sylvia Lee 4/15, 4/20, 4/30 WIG AND MAKEUP DESIGN Julie Adams 4/16, 4/23, 4/28 Christina Martin PARPIGNOL PROPERTIES MASTER Yungbae Yang Lori Scheper-Kesel MUSETTA TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Vanessa Becerra John Draginoff ALCINDORO ASSISTANT STAGE DIRECTOR Vagarsh Martirosyan Hannah Hudgins PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER Allie Bailey 4 Opera San José La bohème Press Kit 5 ORCHESTRA 1ST VIOLIN ENGLISH HORN Cynthia Baehr, Concertmaster Pamela Hakl Alice Talbot, Asst. Concertmaster CLARINET Matthew Szemela Mark Brandenburg, Principal Valerie Tisdel Ann Lavin Chinh Le Virginia Smedberg BASS CLARINET Debra Fong Mara Plotkin Michael Grossman BASSOON 2ND VIOLIN Deborah Kramer, Principal Claudia Bloom, Principal Carolyn Lockhart Sally Dalke, Asst. Principal FRENCH HORN Susan Stein Deborah McCracken, Principal Sue-Mi Shin Meredith Brown Elizabeth Corner Eric Achen Sergi Goldman-Hull Caitlyn Smith VIOLA TRUMPET Chad Kaltinger, Principal William B. Harvey, Principal Janet Doughty, Asst. Principal John Freeman Melinda Rayne Owen Miyoshi Robert Seitz TROMBONE CELLO Kathryn Curran, Principal Lucinda Breed Lenicheck, Principal Bruce Chrisp Paul Hale, Asst. Principal Michael Graham BASS TROMBONE Janet Witharm Christian Behrens BASS TIMPANI Andrew Butler, Principal Mark Veregge, Principal William Everett, Asst. Principal PERCUSSION FLUTE James Kassis Isabelle Chapuis, Principal HARP Mary Hargrove Karen Thielen, Principal PICCOLO ORCHESTRA MANAGER Laurie Camphouse Mark Veregge OBOE Patricia Mitchell, Principal Michael Adduci 6 Opera San José La bohème Press Kit 7 SYNOPSIS Program Note Intermission (20 minutes) Though few in the audience ever notice it, Acts I and II of La bohème are set on Christmas Eve. Our production will be just a little different than usual, opening on the first Christmas after the Great War. Our old and dear friends are having their first Christmas together after the Act III armistice, and are reunited with their old friends at the Cafe Momus, MIDWINTER, AT ONE OF THE CITY’S GATES where they mingle with Nijinsky, Stravinsky, Coco Channel, Picasso and Marcello is now living with Musetta at an inn on the outskirts of Paris. others who made Paris between the wars one of the most glittering Mimì, sick and distraught, arrives looking for him. She tells him how and illuminating decades in history. Join our bohemians at the start of difficult life has become with Rodolfo’s jealousy. Aware that Rodolfo the most optimistic time in the 20th century, in one of the most fasci- is about to come outside, Mimì starts to leave but then hides when nating cities in the world. she hears his voice. She overhears him tell Marcello of his fear that her illness is fatal and he can’t afford to care for her. A sudden coughing fit Act I reveals Mimì’s presence. Musetta and Marcello begin to quarrel. Mimì CHRISTMAS, 1918 – PARIS and Rodolfo agree to remain together until spring. In their cold attic, two of the four bohemian inhabitants are trying to keep a fire going in their stove: Marcello, a painter, is prevented from burning a chair by Rodolfo, a poet, who instead sacrifices one of his manuscripts. They are joined by Colline, a philosopher. Their friend Intermission (15 minutes) Schaunard, a musician, arrives with food and drink. After foiling a visit by Benoit, their landlord, who demands payment of their overdue rent, all except Rodolfo leave for the Café Momus. Rodolfo answers a knock Act IV at the door to find a neighbor, Mimì, seeking a light for her candle. Be- THE ATTIC fore leaving, she is seized by a fit of coughing and begins to faint. Ro- dolfo revives her and she leaves, but returns a moment later for her lost Now separated from their sweethearts, Rodolfo and Marcello attempt key. As she and Rodolfo look for it, their hands touch. He tells her about to work while commiserating in their loneliness (O Mimi, tu piu non tor- himself and his dreams, and at his request she follows with a narration ni – Oh Mimi, will you not return?). Schaunard and Colline bring some of her own life and longings. They embrace, declaring their love as they food and drink, and for a while the four friends forget their hardships hear Rodolfo’s friends calling from the street. with a few moments of levity. Musetta arrives abruptly, and tells them that Mimi is outside, too weak from her illness to come upstairs. Ro- Act II dolfo hurries to help her, and the friends try to make her comfortable in the attic. Musetta, taking Marcello with her, hurries to sell her jewelry in SAME EVENING, CAFÉ MOMUS IN THE LATIN QUARTER order to buy a muff to warm Mimi’s hands. Colline offers to sell his only After Rodolfo buys Mimì a little bonnet as a present, they join their coat to buy some medicine (Vecchia zimarra – Old coat), and urges friends at the café, which is situated in a square filled with a holiday Schaunard to give the lovers some time together. Left alone, Rodolfo crowd. Marcello is angered when his former lover, Musetta, arrives and Mimi wistfully recall their first meeting and happy days together with her wealthy “protector” Alcindoro. She watches him and sings a (Sono andati? – Have they gone?). The friends return with medicine provocative song deliberately directed at Marcello; after sending Alcin- and the muff, but they are too late – Mimi dies peacefully, surrounded doro on an errand, she joins Marcello and his friends at their table. The by her friends and her beloved Rodolfo. bohemians depart, leaving Alcindoro with the bill. 8 Opera San José La bohème Press Kit 9 CAST BIOGRAPHY NOTES Julie Adams SOPRANO (CALIFORNIA) Mimì. A winner of the 2014 Metropolitan Op- era National Council Auditions, 2015 George London Award, 2015 Elizabeth Connell prize for aspiring dramatic sopranos, and recipient of a 2015 Sara Tucker Study Grant, soprano Julie Adams has been praised by the New York Times for possessing a voice that is “rich, full and slightly earthy in an expressive way.” In the 2016 – 2017 season Ms. Adams will return to San Francisco Opera as Mimi in La Bohème, conducted by Carlo Montan- aro, Kate Pinkerton in Madamda Butterfly, Kristina in Makropulos Case, and covering Princess Jia in the world premiere of Dream of the Red Chamber. Last season saw Ms. Adams return to San Francisco Opera as a second year Adler Fellow with roles including First Lady in the Jun Kanako production of Die Zauberflöte, and Cesira in the world premiere of Marco Tutino’s La Ciociara. She also covered both the role of Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and the title role in Jenufa. Orchestral engagements included Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with Contra Costa Wind Symphony, and a chamber concert with San Francisco Op- era musicians as part of SF Opera Lab’s Chamberworks Concerts, with repertoire including Morgen! by Strauss, Previn’s Vocalise, Eternamente by Ponchielli, and Chausson’s Chanson Perpetuelle. A native of Bur- bank, California, Ms. Adams holds both Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where she was awarded the Phyllis C. Wattis Memorial Scholarship. 10 Opera San José La bohème Press Kit 11 CAST BIOGRAPHY NOTES Vanessa Becerra SOPRANO (CALIFORNIA) Musetta. Vanessa Becerra makes her compa- ny debut during the 2016-17 season, per- forming the role of Musetta in Puccini’s La bohème. A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Ms. Becerra is a recent graduate of the acclaimed Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Pro- gram at LA Opera. Roles performed there recently include Papagena in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro, Annina in Verdi’s La traviata, Gossip 2 in Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles, and in concert with bass-baritone Erwin Schrott. The summer of 2016 brought her return to the Glimmerglass Festival as Musetta in La bohème, and she will return to the festival next summer as Laurey Williams in Oklahoma! In 2014, she made her professional debut with the Fort Worth Opera in the world premiere of With Blood, With Ink. Shortly following her debut, Ms. Becerra received her master’s degree from The Boston Conservatory where she performed Musetta in La bohème, Pamina in The Magic Flute and the title character in Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen. Ms. Becerra received her bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance at Texas Christian University where she was the recipient of the distin- guished Nordan Fine Arts Award and performed Adele in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus and Papagena in The Magic Flute. The 2016-2017 season holds debuts for Ms. Becerra with the San Anto- nio Symphony and North Carolina Opera. 12 Opera San José La bohème Press Kit 13 CAST BIOGRAPHY NOTES Kirk Dougherty TENOR (NEW YORK) Rodolfo.