HGOCO PRESENTS A Chamber Opera Commissioned by Houston Grand Opera Marian's Song Premiered by Houston Grand Opera 8:00 P.M. MAY 14 AND 15, 2021 Damien Sneed | Deborah D.E.E.P Mouton MILLER OUTDOOR THEATRE “Bringing Anderson’s story to the forefront of our minds was necessary for me. To see a singer of such grace and humility navigate the harsh world around her, gives hope, for our generation, that we too can be unstoppable and make change.” —Librettist Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, in the Houston Chronicle Background The Story Marian’s Song is a chamber opera by composer Damien Sneed and Marian’s Song takes place both in the present day and in the past, librettist Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, based on the life of celebrated during Anderson’s lifetime. When current-day Howard University contralto Marian Anderson (1897–1993), who broke racial bound- student Nevaeh, who admires the singer thanks to stories shared by aries throughout her career. her grandmother, learns the church where Anderson sang as a child is slated for demolition, she travels to Philadelphia to try to save it. It was in 1939 that Anderson stood on the steps of the Lincoln Nevaeh’s journey is woven together with Anderson’s life story—her Memorial in Washington, D.C. and gave a legendary performance of disappointments, her triumphs, and along the way, the works she “America” to a crowd 75,000 strong. The historic moment took place sang so transcendently, including spirituals and classical pieces. after Anderson was denied the chance to perform at Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution. And that wasn’t the only time the singer made history. Anderson also was the first Black Fun Fact American to sing at the Metropolitan Opera. Marian’s Song is a personal project for both its librettist and Commissioned by HGOco, Marian’s Song shares Anderson’s incred- composer. Librettist Mouton, Houston’s first Black poet laureate and ible life through a fusion of spoken-word poetry and opera. To further the creator of Houston VIP Poetry Slam, used her talents as a spoken HGOco’s educational outreach efforts, Mouton also has created high word artist and slam poet to write dialogue for Nevaeh. And just school residency curriculum that pairs with the work in its entirety. like Nevaeh, composer Sneed is a graduate of the historically Black school Howard University.7 Since Marian’s Song made its world premiere on the Wortham stage in March 2020, it has continued to attract wide interest from the community, making it a perfect choice for inclusion in both the HGO Digital season and this performance at Miller Outdoor Theatre. CAST & CREATIVE Cast HGOco Chorus Nevaeh Johnson Aris Kian * Cody Ryan Arthur Marian Anderson Zoie Reams ‡ Steve Buza Billy King/Classmate Nicholas Newton, Janine Dworin Nancy Haywood/Kathy Moore Elizabeth Gautsche and Steve Homer/Jill and Brian M. Gibbs Allyn Risley Fellow † Marvin Henderson Jane/Mrs. Roberts/ Cynthia Clayton Chairein Jackson Eleanor Roosevelt Aarianna B. Longino Pastor/Walter White Cory McGee, Cristino Perez Beth Madison Fellow † Denise Ward Promoter Cody Ryan Arthur Crystal White The entire staff of HGO contributed to the success of this production. For Creative Team a full listing of the company’s staff, please visit HGO.org/about-us/people. Composer Damien Sneed Orchestral musicians are represented by the Houston Professional Librettist Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton Musicians Association, Local #65-699, American Federation of Musicians. Conductor Benjamin Manis Original Stage Director Dennis Whitehead Darling Stage crew personnel provided by IATSE, Local #51. Stage Director Eboni Bell Chorus Master/Principal Coach Patrick Harvey Wardrobe personnel provided by Theatrical Wardrobe Union, Local #896. Set Realizer Brian Ruggaber Costume Designer Kristie C. Osi Shackelford Guarantor Original Lighting Design Driscoll Otto Stage Manager Meg Edwards Assistant Stage Manager Annie Wheeler Projected Titles – English Jeremy Johnson Grand Guarantor * HGO debut † Houston Grand Opera Studio artist City of Houston Through Miller Theatre Advisory Board ‡ Former Houston Grand Opera Studio artist Credits Underwriter Lighting Designer Michael James Clark Stage Manager Annie Wheeler Production Manager Kristen Burke Technical Director Joshua McIntosh Hair & Makeup Dotti Staker Wardrobe Judy Malone-Stein HGOco Team Director Carleen Graham Senior Producing Manager Emily Wells Senior Education Manager Alisa Magallón Operations Manager Meredith Morse Programs Coordinator Kathleen Brown Community Initiatives Coordinator Andy Horton HGO Orchestra VIOLIN FRENCH HORN Denise Tarrant*, Concertmaster Sarah Cranston†, Principal Chloe Kim†, Assistant Concertmaster Kimberly Penrod Minson† Natalie Gaynor*, Principal Second Violin Spencer Park† Carrie Kauk†, Assistant Principal Second Violin Hae-a Lee-Barnes† TRUMPET Miriam Belyatsky† Tetsuya Lawson†, Principal Anabel Detrick† Randal Adams† Rasa Kalesnykaite† Chavdar Parashkevov† TROMBONE Mary Reed† Thomas Hulten†, Principal Erica Robinson† Mark Holley† Linda Sanders† Oleg Sulyga† TUBA Sylvia VerMeulen† Mark Barton†, Principal Melissa Williams† HARP VIOLA Joan Eidman†, Principal Eliseo Rene Salazar*, Principal Lorento Golofeev†, Assistant Principal TIMPANI Gayle Garcia-Shepard† Alison Chang†, Principal Erika Lawson† Suzanne LeFevre† PERCUSSION Dawson White† Richard Brown*, Principal CELLO PIANO Barrett Sills†, Principal Patrick Harvey Erika Johnson*, Acting Principal Ariana Nelson† ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL MANAGER Wendy Smith-Butler† Richard Brown* Steven Wiggs† DOUBLE BASS Dennis Whittaker†, Principal * = Core Member Erik Gronfor†, Assistant Principal † = Core Member on leave for this production Carla Clark† FLUTE Henry Williford*, Acting Principal Flute OBOE Elizabeth Priestly Siffert*, Principal Mayu Isom† CLARINET Sean Krissman*, Principal Eric Chi† BASSOON Amanda Swain*, Principal Michael Allard† Who’s Who DAMIEN SNEED BENJAMIN MANIS COMPOSER CONDUCTOR As a multi-genre recording artist and Conductor Benjamin Manis joined HGO as instrumentalist, Damien Sneed is a pianist, Resident Conductor in September 2019. Recent vocalist, organist, composer, conductor, performances at HGO include Rigoletto, El arranger, producer, and arts educator whose Milagro del Recuerdo, the 2020 world premiere work spans multiple genres. The Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient of Marian’s Song, and the 2021 HGO Digital filmed version of the same has worked with jazz, classical, pop, and R&B legends, including the work. In May of 2019 Manis completed his Master of Music degree late Aretha Franklin and Jessye Norman, Wynton Marsalis, Stevie at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he studied with Wonder, Diana Ross, J’Nai Bridges, Lawrence Brownlee, and many Larry Rachleff. Manis has served as cover conductor for the St. Louis others. Sneed is founder and artistic director of Chorale Le Chateau, and Dallas Symphonies, working with conductors David Robertson and which was featured on the 2016 recording of Wynton Marsalis’s Stéphane Denève, and was a winner of the 2019 Solti Foundation U.S. Abyssinian Mass with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. He is Career Assistance Award. He returned to the Aspen Music Festival for a featured producer and writer on the Dove Award–winning Clark the third consecutive summer in 2019, and will appear there again next Sisters project, The Return, released in March 2020. Other recent summer as the winner of the Aspen Conducting Prize. work includes a project for solo piano responding to the pandemic, commissioned by the Library of Congress, called “Sequestered DENNIS WHITEHEAD DARLING Thoughts,” which premiered online on June 2020. Sneed was ORIGINAL STAGE DIRECTOR commissioned by Alvin Ailey Dance Theater to create an original score for the short film Testament, which premiered in December Dennis Whitehead Darling is an award-win- 2020. He was commissioned by the Opera Theatre of Saint ning international stage director for Louis to compose The Tongue & The Lash, a chamber opera theater and opera based in Philadelphia. about James Baldwin’s 1965 debate with William Buckley. Other In 2018, Darling was selected by Opera commissions premiering in spring 2021 include the Tuskegee Memphis as their Inaugural McCleave Fellow in Directing, a Airmen Symphonic Rhapsody in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen, a groundbreaking fellowship dedicated to advancing the careers new piece commissioned by Houston’s Kinder High School for the of directors/music directors of color. His recent directing credits Performing and Visual Arts, and a choral suite commissioned by include Marian’s Song (2020 HGO world premiere and 2021 the Trenton Children’s Chorus. Sneed is a faculty member of the HGO Digital film), The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (Red Mountain Manhattan School of Music and an artist-in-residence at Michigan Theatre), Independence Eve (Opera Birmingham), Lady Day at State University. Emerson’s Bar and Grill (Hattiloo Theatre/Spazio Teatro No’hma in Milan), Jelly’s Last Jam (Hattiloo Theatre), The Parchman Hour DEBORAH D.E.E.P. MOUTON (Hattiloo Theatre), Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Spazio Teatro No’hma in LIBRETTIST Milan), Intimate Apparel (University of Memphis), Movin’ Up in the World (Opera Memphis), Sunset Baby (Hattiloo Theatre), James and Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton is an internationally the Giant Peach (Circuit Playhouse), Blue Viola (Opera Memphis), Mr. known writer, educator, activist, performer, Rickey Calls a Meeting (Hattiloo Theatre), and Marcus; or the Secret and poet laureate emeritus of Houston. She of Sweet (Hattiloo