557608-09bk Petit US 29/09/2004 02:42pm Page 12 2 CDs Also Available Laurent PETITGIRARD Joseph Merrick, The Elephant Man (Opera in 4 Acts 8.557224 8.557157 Libretto by Eric Nonn) Stutzmann • Rivenq • Breault Devellereau • Koch Nelson-Shafer • Courjal Monte-Carlo Philharmonic 8.555778 8.557043 Orchestra French Opera Chorus Laurent Petitgirard 8.557608-09 12 557608-09bk Petit US 29/09/2004 02:42pm Page 2 Laurent PETITGIRARD (b. 1950) Laurent Petitgirard Born in 1950, Laurent Petitgirard studied as a pianist, composer and conductor. A former composition student of Alain Kremski, he combines his career as a Joseph Merrick, conductor with writing for the concert hall and stage, and with a highly acclaimed career in film music. From 1989 to 1996 he was the music director of The Elephant Man the Orchestre Symphonique Français. Other orchestras that he has conducted include the Monte Carlo Philharmonic, Zurich Tonhalle, Suisse Romande Opera in Four Acts Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice, Orchestre National de France, Paris Opéra Orchestra, Spanish National Orchestra, the Libretto by Eric Nonn Bamberg Philharmonic, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic and KBS Orchestra. He has conducted many operas, including Die Elephant Man . Nathalie Stutzmann, Contralto Zauberflöte, Jeanne d’Arc, Der Freischütz, Werther, Die Fledermaus, and Die lustige Witwe. Laurent Petitgirard has made over thirty compact disc recordings Doctor Treves . Nicolas Rivenq, Baritone with the OSF and other orchestras, including recordings of his own Cello Tom Norman, showman . Robert Breault, Tenor Concerto and Violin Concerto and his first opera Joseph Merrick, The Elephant Mary, nurse . Marie Devellereau, Soprano Man, which has also been seen in Prague and in Nice. Since 2002 he has been a regular guest of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra at the Berlin Philharmonic. Eva Lükes, matron . Sophie Koch, Mezzo-Soprano Laurent Petitgirard received the SACD Prize for young composers (1987), the Carr Gomm, hospital manager . Nicolas Courjal, Bass SACEM Prize (1990), and in December 2000 was elected member of the French The Coloratura . Celena Nelson-Shafer, Coloratura Soprano Académie des Beaux-Arts. He received a diamond CD (over 1 million copies sold) for his recording of Mozart’s Requiem. In May 2000 he received the 2000 High School Award for Best Composer and in May 2001 was awarded Jimmy, showman’s assistant . Damien Grelier, Treble the SACD Music Prize for his opera Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man. In the same year he was elected President of the Board of Sacem, the French Composers Society, and in June 2001 started a two-year stint as composer-in- First Boy . Christophe Crapez, Tenor residence with the Orchestre de Rhin-Mulhouse and with the National Theatre ‘La Filature’. In 2003 he was Second Boy . Francis Dudziak, Baritone appointed Commander in the order of Arts and Letters. A Young girl . Liliana Faraon, Soprano Father . Yves Blanchard, Baritone Mother . Françoise Faidherbe, Mezzo-Soprano First Lady . Agnès Poly, Soprano Second Lady . Mari Laurila, Mezzo-Soprano Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra (Ronald Patterson, Violin solo) French Opera Chorus (Claire le Vacher, Chorus master) Naxos Radio Laurent Petitgirard Over 50 Channels of Classical Music • Jazz, Folk/World, Nostalgia Accessible Anywhere, Anytime • Near-CD Quality www.naxosradio.com 8.557608-09 2 11 8.557608-09 557608-09bk Petit US 29/09/2004 02:42pm Page 10 Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra CD 1 73:54 CD 2 75:25 The Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1856, holds an important place in the musical world having ACT I ACT II CONT. been led by guest conductors such as Arturo Toscanini, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Bruno Walter, Richard Strauss, Victor de Sabata, Sir Thomas Beecham, Kiril Kondrashin, Raphael Kubelik, Leopold Stokowski, Charles Munch, Sir John 1 Scene 1 (Tom Norman, Jimmy) 4:12 1 Scene 5 (Carr Gomm, Doctor Treves) 6:19 Barbirolli, and Eugene Jochum, and more recently by Leonard Bernstein, Eric Kleiber, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Zubin 2 Scene 2 (Tom Norman, Jimmy, Chorus) 8:43 2 Scene 6 (Elephant Man, Mary) 6:12 Mehta, Sir Georg Solti and Lorin Maazel. In January 1999 Marek Janowski was appointed Artistic Director and 3 Scene 3 (Tom Norman, Jimmy, 5:45 Music Director/Chief Conductor as of July 2000. Past Music Directors have included Louis Frémaux, Paul Paray, Two Boys, Young Girl, Chorus) ACT III Edouard van Remoortel, Igor Markevitch, Lovro von Matacic, Lawrence Foster, and James DePreist. In addition to 4 Scene 4 (Tom Norman, Jimmy, Chorus) 10:18 the concert season the Philharmonic Orchestra also regularly accompanies the Opera and the Ballets de Monte- 5 Scene 5 (Doctor Treves, Tom Norman, 13:34 3 Scene 1 Le serment d’Hippocrate 5:52 Carlo. Its rich history includes the premières of ballets of Sergey Dyagilev and operas by Berlioz, Puccini, Ravel Jimmy, Chorus) (Carr Gomm, Doctor Treves, Chorus) and Massenet, among others. The orchestra has always played a significant rôle in the creation of contemporary 4 Scene 2 (Eva Lükes, Mary, Elephant Man) 4:57 symphonic music, giving first performances of works by Henri Dutilleux, Marcel Lansowski, Arvo Pärt and ACT II 5 Scene 3 (Doctor Treves, Elephant Man) 9:17 Krysztof Penderecki, among others. Its rich list of recordings is testimony to its musical diversity. Many of the 6 Scene 4 (Doctor Treves, Carr Gomm, 6:00 orchestra’s recordings have won recognition with French and international awards. Under the presidency of H.R.H. 6 Prelude 4:55 The Committee) The Princess of Hanover and with the continued support of H.S.H. Prince Rainier III and the Government, the 7 Scene 1 (Doctor Treves, Eva Lükes) 6:28 7 Scene 5 (Elephant Man, Mary) 6:34 Philharmonic Orchestra looks forward to a rich and dynamic future. 8 Scene 2 (Mary, Elephant Man, Eva Lükes) 11:34 9 Scene 3 La prière des malades ACT IV (Elephant Man, Chorus) 4:06 0 Scene 4 (Doctor Treves, Six Patients 4:16 8 Prelude 3:29 Elephant Man) 9 Scene 1 L’air de la colorature 6:18 (La Colorature, Elephant Man, Doctor Treves, Chorus) 0 Scene 2 (Doctor Treves, Mary) 6:00 ! Scene 3 (Elephant Man, Doctor Treves) 7:43 @ Scene 4 La mort d’Elephant Man 6:40 (Elephant Man) 8.557608-09 10 3 8.557608-09 557608-09bk Petit US 29/09/2004 02:42pm Page 4 Laurent Petitgirard (b. 1950) Celena Nelson-Shafer Joseph Merrick, The Elephant Man Celena Nelson-Shafer is recognized as one of the leading singers of her generation following her internationally acclaimed performances of Ismene in I have always wanted to write an opera with a dual story of Joseph Merrick, which is quite different from Mozart’s Mitridate, re di Ponto with the Santa Fe Opera in 2001. In the 2003/04 personality at its centre. Eric Nonn suggested the story that portrayed in David Lynch’s film, based on the season she made her début at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam as Zerbinetta in of the Elephant Man to me. This deals not only with the memoirs of Dr Treves, who had a propensity for a concert performance of Ariadne auf Naxos, followed by a return to the Phoenix duality between Merrick’s inner self and his physical portraying himself in a good light. At first a “freak” Symphony for Bernstein’s Symphony No. 3 “Kaddish,” and later Handel’s appearance, but also with a theme new to opera as far as whom we discover through voyeurism, more or less, Messiah as well as a début with the Madison Symphony in a series of holiday I know, and extremely relevant today, that of exclusion. Joseph Merrick becomes a mirror in which we perceive concerts. The summer of 2004 brought a return to La fille du régiment for her This man was misunderstood, humiliated and used by our own fear of that which is different, and then a man Cincinnati Opera début and to the Santa Fe Opera as Hero in Béatrice et others. Indeed, being displayed naked without his with whom we can all identify as he wonders about Bénédict. She began the 2002/03 season with a highly acclaimed Lincoln Center consent in front of dozens of doctors and a photographer God’s mercy. début as the sorceress Aithra in a concert performance of Strauss’ Die ägyptische at the London Hospital may have been worse than being We began work on the opera in May 1995 and Helena, followed by her début with the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Johanna in a one of Tom Norman’s sideshow freaks, when he was at finished it in December 1998. It was recorded in Monte new production of Sweeney Todd, followed by a début with the Pittsburgh Opera least fully aware of what he was doing. Carlo in May–June 1999 with Nathalie Stutzmann in the as Tytania in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The remainder of the In planning this opera, I knew I had to choose a title rôle. season included a début in her home state with the Utah Opera as Adele in Die subject that could touch any one of us, and not fall into The opera had its first staging in Prague in February Fledermaus, a return to the Phoenix Symphony for Mendelssohn’s Elijah, the trap of setting a libretto of obscure meaning. I was 2002, and the production transferred to Nice the Brahms’s Deutsche Requiem with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, a début with also obsessed by the idea of intelligibility. Eric Nonn following November. Director Daniel Mesguich’s the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Blonde in The Abduction from the Seraglio, understood this and his libretto is full of lyricism as well incredible staging developed even further the theme of and a début with the San Francisco Symphony as the soprano soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana.