THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS Thank You to Our Sponsors | 1 Message from NC Opera | 3 Carmen | 4 Synopsis | 6 North Carolina Opera Would Like to Thank | 7 Artist Biographies | 8 Thank You to Our Principal Supporters! | 14 Production Sponsorships | 19 Annual Gifts | 19 North Carolina Opera Orchestra | 24 North Carolina Opera Chorus | 25 Board of Directors | 27 NCO Board Presidents | 27 North Carolina Opera | 27 ADVERTISING OnStage Publications 937-424-0529 | 866-503-1966 e-mail: [email protected] www.onstagepublications.com This program is published in association with Onstage Publications, 1612 Prosser Avenue, Kettering, OH 45409. This program may not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. JBI Publishing is a division of Onstage Publications, Inc. Contents © 2019. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. NORTH CAROLINA OPERA 1 MESSAGE FROM NC OPERA Welcome to Carmen! Both first-time operagoers and lifelong fans will recognize all of today’s melodies. Carmen is unique among well-known operas in that every song is a hit—from the tempting “Habanera” to the seductive “Seguidille” to the rousing “Toreador Song.” Bizet’s beguiling score along with the hypnotic dancing and pulsating human drama all combine to make it one of the most popular operas in the repertory. The NCO Orchestra and our terrific cast are all conducted by Keitaro Harada, who returns for his first appearance here since his 2011 debut conducting Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. Carmen, however, did not start out as a hit. Its 1875 premiere at the Opéra-Comique in Paris was a legendary failure. Bizet died only three months later and never saw the success his opera would eventually enjoy. The premieres of many of today’s most popular operas–such as Madama Butterfly and La traviata–began under similar circumstances. Yet over time audiences have come to appreciate these works for the masterpieces that they are. I am sure you will enjoy today’s performance! Our season doesn’t end with Carmen. Soprano Leah Crocetto, who had a great success at NCO last fall singing the title role of Norma, returns on March 3 to present a vocal recital at the A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater. She will present a “recital for the ages” (WQXR-FM) featuring works by Respighi, Poulenc and Rachmaninoff, a new song cycle by American composer Gregory Peeples and classics from the Great American Song Book. The NCO 2018-19 season closes in April with Puccini’s Tosca, the opera that inngaurated our company in 2010. Tosca is Puccini at his finest, a tautly drawn political thriller and a love triangle involving an opera diva, her painter lover and an evil baron. Spoiler alert: not everyone makes it out alive! Joseph Rescigno, who conducted last season’s Rigoletto, returns to conduct the NCO Orchestra with a fantastic cast. And now, travel with us to Seville for Carmen! Eric Mitchko General Director NORTH CAROLINA OPERA 3 CARMEN Music by Georges Bizet Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy Based on the novella by Prosper Mérimée World Premiere: March 3, 1875 at the Opéra-Comique, Paris U.S. Premiere: October 23, 1878 at the Academy of Music, New York City These performances of Carmen are presented with generous support from: Ross Lampe, Jr. – Sitelink Software Conductor Keitaro Harada Director Fenlon Lamb Carmen Aleks Romano Don José Sean Panikkar Escamillo Richard Ollarsaba Micaëla Raquel González Zuniga Donald Hartmann El Dancaïro Takaoki Onishi El Remendado Timothy W. Sparks Moralès Takaoki Onishi Frasquita Sara Womble Mercédès Stephanie Foley Davis Lillas Pastia Michael Byrne Dancers Alicia Vilá-Geis, Maitri Acharya, and Yuko Cato are members of Durham-based Flamenco Carolina (FB: Flamenco Carolina and FlamencoArtsNC) Children’s Chorus Kidznotes prepared by Kidznotes Executive Director Nick Malinowski and Kidznotes Teaching Artist David Dowless Lighting Designer Nate Wheatley NORTH CAROLINA OPERA 4 FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 2019 7:30PM SUNDAY, JANUARY 27, 2019 2:00PM MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM DUKE ENERGY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA Chorus Master Scott MacLeod Production Manager Linda T. Carlson Fight Director Jeff A.R. Jones Properties Master Aline Johnson Properties Assistant Kiernan Bastien Costume Coordinator Denise Schumaker Assistant Conductor Vincent Povazsay Costume Assistant Chris Milner Makeup and Wigs Designed by Martha Ruskai Wig and Makeup Assistants Jillian Leonard, Mallory Evans Master Electrician Jennifer Sherrod Technical Director Matthew Strampe Sound Designer Sean Loepp Supertitle Operator Joanna Helms Production Intern Lucy Calaway Scenery originally designed by Franco Colavecchia for Chautauqua Opera Costumes designed by Glenn Avery Breed Costumes provided by Wardrobe Witchery English captions for Carmen written and owned by Jonathan Dean © 2019 Production Stage Manager Samantha Greene Assistant Stage Manager Lucy Coarsey Rehearsal pianists Sahar Nouri, Kent Lyman, Kathryn Lewis, Qiao Zheng Goh North Carolina Opera is funded in part by the City of Raleigh based on recommendations of the Raleigh Arts Commission. The performance will last three hours, including one intermission. NORTH CAROLINA OPERA 5 SYNOPSIS ACT 1 is unimpressed: if he really loved her, he would Spain. In Seville by a cigarette factory, soldiers desert the army and join her in a life of freedom comment on the townspeople. Among them is in the mountains. José refuses, and Carmen tells Micaëla, a peasant girl, who asks for a corporal him to leave. Zuniga bursts in, and in a jealous named Don José. Moralès, another corporal, tells rage José fights him. The smugglers return and her he will return with the changing of the guard. disarm Zuniga. José now has no choice but to The relief guard, headed by Lieutenant Zuniga, join them. soon arrives, and José learns from Moralès that Micaëla has been looking for him. When the factory bell rings, the men of Seville gather -INTERMISSION- to watch the female workers—especially their favorite, the gypsy Carmen. She tells her admirers that love is free and obeys no rules. Only one ACT III man pays no attention to her: Don José. Carmen Carmen and José quarrel in the smugglers’ throws a flower at him, and the girls go back to mountain hideaway. She admits that her love is work. José picks up the flower and hides it when fading and advises him to return to live with his Micaëla returns. She brings a letter from José’s mother. When Frasquita and Mercédès turn the mother, who lives in a village in the countryside. cards to tell their fortunes, they foresee love and As he begins to read the letter, Micaëla leaves. riches for themselves, but Carmen’s cards spell José is about to throw away the flower when a death—for her and for José. Micaëla appears, fight erupts inside the factory between Carmen frightened by the mountains and afraid to meet and another girl. Zuniga sends José to retrieve the woman who has turned José into a criminal. the gypsy. Carmen refuses to answer Zuniga’s She hides when a gunshot is heard. José has fired questions, and José is ordered to take her to at an intruder, who turns out to be Escamillo. prison. Left alone with him, she entices José He tells José that he has come to find Carmen, with suggestions of a rendezvous at Lillas Pastia’s and the two men fight. The smugglers separate tavern. Mesmerized, he agrees to let her get them, and Escamillo invites everyone, Carmen away. As they leave for prison, Carmen escapes. in particular, to his next bullfight. When he has Don José is arrested. left, Micaëla emerges and begs José to return home. He agrees when he learns that his mother ACT II is dying. Before leaving, he warns Carmen that Carmen and her friends Frasquita and Mercédès they will meet again. entertain the guests at the tavern. Zuniga tells Carmen that José has just been released. The ACT IV bullfighter Escamillo enters, boasting about Back in Seville, the crowd cheers the bullfighters the pleasures of his profession, and flirts with on their way to the arena. Carmen arrives on Carmen, who tells him that she is involved with Escamillo’s arm, and Frasquita and Mercédès someone else. After the tavern guests have left warn her that José is nearby. Unafraid, she waits with Escamillo, the smugglers Dancaïre and outside the entrance as the crowds enter the Remendado explain their latest scheme to the arena. José appears and begs Carmen to forget women. Frasquita and Mercédès are willing to the past and start a new life with him. She calmly help, but Carmen refuses because she is in love. tells him that their affair is over: she was born The smugglers withdraw as José approaches. free and free she will die. The crowd is heard Carmen arouses his jealousy by telling him how cheering Escamillo. José keeps trying to win she danced for Zuniga. She dances for him now, Carmen back. She takes off his ring and throws it but when a bugle call is heard he says he must at his feet before heading for the arena. José stabs return to the barracks. Carmen mocks him. To her to death. prove his love, José shows her the flower she threw at him and confesses how its scent made Synopsis adapted from and courtesy of Opera News him not lose hope during the weeks in prison. She NORTH CAROLINA OPERA 6 CHARTER SUBSCRIBERS Charter Subscribers–the following patrons have been season subscribers to North Carolina Opera for nine consecutive years, since our first performance in 2010. Thank you! Francis and Jane Acquaviva Ekaterina Korobkina and Ralph and Francine Roberson Yvonne Bryant Robert Golub Jim and Anna Romano Anne Prince Cuddy Thomas and Kathleen Lada William and Mary Louise Rustin Martha Dimes Ross Lampe, Sr.