HGOCO PRESENTS Marian's Song A Chamber Opera Music by Damien Sneed Libretto by Deborah D.E.E.P Mouton Commissioned by Houston Grand Opera Premiered by Houston Grand Opera 7:30 p.m. April 30, 2021 Available on demand through May 30, 2021 Marian's Song “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 composer. Librettist Mouton, Houston’s first Black poet laureate and incredible life through a fusion of spoken-word poetry, opera, and the creator of Houston VIP Poetry Slam, used her talents as a spoken multimedia projections. To further HGOco’s educational outreach word artist and slam poet to write dialogue for Nevaeh. And just efforts, Mouton also has created high school residency curriculum like Nevaeh, composer Sneed is a graduate of the historically Black that pairs with the work in its entirety. school Howard University. 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 the HGO Digital season. Marian's Song Cast Creative Team Nevaeh Johnson Tina B Composer Damien Sneed Marian Anderson Zoie Reams ‡ Librettist Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton Billy King/Classmate Nicholas Newton, Conductor Benjamin Manis Nancy Haywood/Kathy Stage Director Dennis Whitehead Darling Moore and Steve Homer/Jill Assistant Stage Director Eboni Bell and Allyn Risley Fellow † Chorus Master/Principal Coach Kevin J. Miller Jane/Mrs. Roberts/ Cynthia Clayton Set Realizer Brian Ruggaber Eleanor Roosevelt Costume Designer Kristie C. Osi Shackelford Pastor/Promoter/Walter White Geoffrey Peterson Lighting & Projection Design Driscoll Otto Stage Manager Annie Wheeler † Houston Grand Opera Studio artist Assistant Stage Manager Meg Edwards ‡ Former Houston Grand Opera Studio artist Projected Titles Translation Jasminne Mendez – Spanish Projected Titles – English Jeremy Johnson Credits Director of Photography and Editor Ben Doyle The entire staff of HGO contributed to the success of this Producer Daniel James production. For a full listing of the company’s staff, please visit Producer Dale Edwards HGO.org/about-us/people. Assistant Producer Ciara Ayala Audio Producer Ryan Edwards Orchestral musicians are represented by the Houston Audio Producer Shannon Smith Professional Musicians Association, Local #65-699, American Lighting Supervisor Michael James Clark Federation of Musicians. Production Manager Kristen Burke Technical Director Joshua McIntosh Stage crew personnel provided by IATSE, Local #51. Hair & Makeup Dotti Staker Wardrobe Judy Malone-Stein Wardrobe personnel provided by Theatrical Wardrobe Union, Local #896. HGOCO TEAM Director Carleen Graham Guarantor THE Sr. Producing Manager Emily Wells ANDREW W. Sr. Education Manager Alisa Magallón MELLON Operations Manager Meredith Morse FOUNDATION Kathleen Brown Programs Coordinator Andy Horton Community Initiatives Grand Underwriter Coordinator National Endowment for the Arts Underwriter HGOco Chorus Beth and Gary Glynn Cody Ryan Arthur Marvin Henderson Sponsor Steve Buza Chairein Jackson Glen Rosenbaum Elizabeth Gautsche Cristino Perez Brian M. Gibbs Denise Ward Video Production Streaming Partner Jessica Suzanne Hahn Crystal White Aarianna Longino Marian's Song HGO Orchestra Benjamin Manis BASSOON Conductor Amanda Swain*, Principal Michael Allard† VIOLIN Denise Tarrant*, Concertmaster FRENCH HORN Chloe Kim†, Assistant Concertmaster Sarah Cranston†, Principal Natalie Gaynor*, Principal Second Violin Kimberly Penrod Minson† Carrie Kauk†, Assistant Principal Second Violin Spencer Park† Hae-a Lee-Barnes† Miriam Belyatsky† TRUMPET Anabel Detrick† Tetsuya Lawson†, Principal Rasa Kalesnykaite† Randal Adams† Chavdar Parashkevov† Mary Reed† TROMBONE Erica Robinson† Thomas Hulten†, Principal Linda Sanders† Mark Holley† Oleg Sulyga† Sylvia VerMeulen† TUBA Melissa Williams† Mark Barton†, Principal VIOLA HARP Eliseo Rene Salazar*, Principal Joan Eidman†, Principal Lorento Golofeev†, Assistant Principal Gayle Garcia-Shepard† TIMPANI Erika Lawson† Alison Chang†, Principal Suzanne LeFevre† Dawson White† PERCUSSION Richard Brown*, Principal CELLO Barrett Sills*, Principal PIANO Erika Johnson†, Assistant Principal Patrick Harvey Ariana Nelson† Wendy Smith-Butler† ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL MANAGER Steven Wiggs† Richard Brown* DOUBLE BASS * = Core Member Dennis Whittaker†, Principal † = Core Member on leave for this production Erik Gronfor†, Assistant Principal Carla Clark† FLUTE Henry Williford*, Acting Principal Flute OBOE Elizabeth Priestly Siffert*, Principal Mayu Isom† CLARINET Sean Krissman†, Principal Eric Chi*, Acting Principal Marian's Song Who’s Who DAMIEN SNEED set to be released in 2022 by Henry Holt & Co. She recently created COMPOSER a new Storybook Opera for HGOco, Lula, the Mighty Warrior, which reinterprets one of the stories from Black Chameleon and is set to As a multi-genre recording artist and instru- debut in early 2021. mentalist, Damien Sneed is a pianist, vocalist, organist, composer, conductor, arranger, BENJAMIN MANIS producer, and arts educator whose work CONDUCTOR spans multiple genres. The Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient has worked with jazz, classical, pop, and R&B legends, including the late Conductor Benjamin Manis joined Aretha Franklin and Jessye Norman, Wynton Marsalis, Stevie Wonder, HGO as Resident Conductor Diana Ross, J’Nai Bridges, Lawrence Brownlee, and many others. in September 2019. Recent performances Sneed is founder and artistic director of Chorale Le Chateau, which at HGO include Rigoletto, El Milagro del was featured on the 2016 recording of Wynton Marsalis’s Abyssinian Recuerdo, and the 2020 world premiere of Marian’s Song. In Mass with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. He is a featured May of 2019 Manis completed his Master of Music degree at producer and writer on the Dove Award–winning Clark Sisters project, Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he studied The Return, released in March 2020. Other recent work includes a with Larry Rachleff. Manis has served as cover conductor for the project for solo piano responding to the pandemic, commissioned St. Louis and Dallas Symphonies, working with conductors David by the Library of Congress, called “Sequestered Thoughts,” which Robertson and Stéphane Denève, and was a winner of the 2019 premiered online on June 2020. Sneed was commissioned by Alvin Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award. He returned to the Ailey Dance Theater to create an original score for the short film Aspen Music Festival for the third consecutive summer in 2019, Testament, which premiered in December 2020. He was commis- and will appear there again next summer as the winner of the Aspen sioned by the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis to compose The Tongue Conducting Prize. & The Lash, a chamber opera about James Baldwin’s 1965 debate with William Buckley. Other commissions premiering in spring 2021 DENNIS WHITEHEAD DARLING include the Tuskegee Airmen Symphonic Rhapsody in honor of the STAGE DIRECTOR Tuskegee Airmen, a new piece commissioned by Houston’s Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and a choral suite Dennis Whitehead Darling is an award-winning commissioned by the Trenton Children’s Chorus. Sneed is a faculty international stage director for theater and member of the Manhattan School of Music and an artist-in-residence opera based in Philadelphia. In 2018, Darling at Michigan State University. was selected by Opera Memphis as their Inaugural McCleave Fellow in Directing, a groundbreaking fellowship DEBORAH D.E.E.P. MOUTON dedicated to advancing the careers of directors/music directors of LIBRETTIST color. His recent directing credits include Marian’s Song (2020 HGO world premiere), The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (Red Mountain Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton is an internationally Theatre), Independence Eve (Opera Birmingham), Lady Day at known writer, educator, activist, performer, Emerson’s Bar and Grill (Hattiloo Theatre/Spazio