JUNE 15 | A VIRTUAL CELEBRATION FOR THE GOLDOVSKY & ORFEO SOCIETIES HOSTED BY MIMI HEWLETT AND RICHARD TRANT ESTHER NELSON, STANFORD CALDERWOOD GENERAL & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR | DAVID ANGUS, MUSIC DIRECTOR | JOHN CONKLIN, ARTISTIC ADVISOR A VIRTUAL CELEBRATION FOR THE GOLDOVSKY & ORFEO SOCIEITIESOCIETIES HOSTED BY MIMI HEWLETT AND RICHARD TRANT PROGRAM Program Selections.................................................... 1 Costume Renderings..................................................2 Artist Biographies.......................................................3 Acknowledgements....................................................7 STUDY GUIDE starts on page 12 of this PDF Giulio Cesare Synopsis...............................................4 G.F Handel................................................................14 Opera Seria...............................................................16 The Real Story of Cesare and Cleopatra......................20 Listen Up!..................................................................23 History of Opera........................................................28 Science and Art of Opera...........................................38 HANDEL GIULIO CESARE A Virtual Celebration for PROGRAM THE GOLDOVSKY & ORFEO SOCIETIES OF Svegliatevi nel core.....................................................Wallis Giunta BOSTON LYRIC OPERA Son nata a lagrimar............................Wallis Giunta & Renée Tatum HOSTED BY Va tacito...................................................................David Trudgen Mimi Hewlett and Richard Trant L’empio, sleale............................................................Siman Chung V’adoro, pupille...................................................Jacquelyn Stucker June 15, 2020 5:30 PM | Social Hour Se in fiorito.............................................................. David Trudgen 6 PM | Performance Da tempeste .......................................................Jacquelyn Stucker No ha più che temere.................................................Renée Tatum Ritorni ornai nel nostro core..................................... The Company A LOOK AT GIULIO CESARE COSTUMES Giulio Cesare, and his Roman compatriots, were designed The Egyptians were designed with a rich warm color in juxtaposition to the warm Egyptian color palette, created palette—decadent and divine, in direct contrast to Cesare in shades of black and grey punctuated with crimson and and all of our Romans with their austere and stately silver. His chest plate would have had the appearance of appearance. Cleopatra was to be revealed as though she being sculpted from white marble. For the finale he was to were bathed in the Nile with seafoam green silk, hammered be transformed and united with Cleopatra in rose gold and gold jewelery and studded with jewels. Later to be revealed bronze. as the living embodiment of Isis at Mount Parnasus in a gold lamé and silk chiffon fantasy. Giulio Cesare (left) Cleopatra (right). Notes and renderings on the Giulio Cesare costumes by designer Charles Neumann. PROGRAM | 2 ARTISTS DAVID TRUDGEN | RENÉE TATUM | Cornelia Giulio Cesare Noted for her “commanding and Hailed in the press as one of dramatic presence” (Opera News), his generation’s most important mezzo-soprano Renée Tatum is countertenors, David Trudgen rapidly gaining critical acclaim on has been featured in the title the most prestigious opera stages role of Handel's Giulio Cesare for Michigan Opera in the United States. Previously at Boston Lyric Opera, Theatre, as Medoro in Chicago Opera Theater’s she sang the role of Jenny in The Threepenny Opera. production of Handel’s Orlando, as Goffredo in Pacific Along with being scheduled to sing Cornelia in Giulio Opera Victoria’s Rinaldo, Bertarido in Rodelinda for Cesare for BLO, Ms. Tatum will return in the 2020/21 VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert, Armindo in Boston season for Champion: An Opera in Jazz. Baroque's Partenope and the workshop of Bound with Against the Grain Theatre. He previously appeared as Nero in BLO's Agrippina. WALLIS GIUNTA | Sesto Mezzo-soprano Wallis Giunta was the winner of the Young Singer JACQUELYN STUCKER | category at the 2018 International Cleopatra Opera Awards and Breakthrough American soprano Jacquelyn Artist in UK Opera in the 2017 Stucker has been hailed by The WhatsOnStage Awards. Highlights in the 2019/20 Boston Globe as “glowing,” season included Dodo in the European premiere of “incandescent,” and “a singing Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves, and house debuts actress to be reckoned with.” Highlights of the 2019/20 for Seattle Opera, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, and season included her Glyndebourne debut as Armida Boston Lyric Opera. in Robert Carsen’s production of Rinaldo, Alessandro in the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden’s Berenice, and her principal artist debut at Deutsche Oper Berlin SIMAN CHUNG | Tolomeo as Gretel in Hansel und Gretel. Countertenor Siman Chung is from Busan, South Korea. He has been a member of The Metropolitan Opera Company for three seasons and has sung leading roles in both Baroque and contemporary operas in North America and Asia. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2015. Mr. Chung is also a leading prize winner in many prestigious international vocal competitions. 3 | PROGRAM DAVID MCFERRIN | Achilla BRETT HODGDON | Piano Praised by The Miami Herald for Pianist Brett Hodgdon has served his “commanding stage presence on the music staff for over 20 and a voice of seductive beauty,” productions at BLO and is a Jane baritone David McFerrin has won and Steven Akin Emerging Artist critical acclaim in a wide variety of Alumnus. Mr. Hodgdon was repertoire. Mr. McFerrin is a mainstay of the Boston appointed Chorus Master for BLO in 2018. He has opera and concert scenes and has sung on many other taught on the opera faculties of the New England leading stages in the United States and Europe. He Conservatory, the University of Connecticut, and the last appeared as Senator Joseph McCarthy in BLO’s summer festival Si Parla, Si Canta in Arona, Italy. 2019/20 production of Fellow Travelers. ASAKO SHIBATA | Piano NICHOLAS LAGESSE | Curio Asako Shibata started her piano Baritone Nicholas LaGesse is a studies at age three. She attended first year Jane and Steven Akin New England Conservatory where Emerging Artist with Boston Lyric she received Bachelor’s and Master’s Opera. Career highlights with BLO degrees in piano performance. Ms. include covering Silvio in Pagliacci Shibata’s recent local chamber music and collaborative and preparing Curio in Giulio Cesare. Additionally, Mr. performances include appearances at the Longy School LaGesse is excited to be appearing in BLO’s production of Music, Rhode Island College, the St. Botolph Club, of Madama Butterfly next season. and the Boston Philharmonic gala concerts. GINA PERREGRINO | Nireno Praised by Opera News as a “standout,” young mezzo-soprano Gina Perregrino is already garnering attention on stages around the country. Original engagements during Ms. Perregrino’s 2019/20 season, which was shortened by COVID-19, included a debut with Boston Lyric Opera, a return to Atlanta Opera, and appearances with the Phoenix Symphony and the New York Festival of Song. PROGRAM | 4 ARTISTS MICHAEL BEATTIE | KEVIN OWEN | French Horn Harpsichord Kevin Owen has been a horn soloist Michael Beattie has received with many orchestras throughout international attention as a New England and serves as the conductor, keyboardist, and vocal Principal Horn in the Boston Lyric coach specializing in the music of Opera Orchestra. In addition to his the Baroque period. A highly regarded keyboard player, solo and chamber music experience, Mr. Owen also Mr. Beattie has performed with the Boston Symphony serves as the Principal Horn of the Boston Philharmonic, Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Boston Rhode Island Philharmonic, Odyssey Opera, Boston Baroque, the Handel and Haydn Society, Les Violons Landmarks Orchestra, and the Boston Pops Esplanade du Roy, and the Mark Morris Dance Group. He is a Orchestra. lecturer at Boston University and, as of 2019, Director of the Virginia Best Adams Masterclass at the Carmel Bach Festival. ANNIE RABBAT | Violin Annie Rabbat is Concertmaster of the BLO Orchestra. Ms. Rabbat has been a member of the orchestra since 2012 (her first BLO production was John Musto’s The Inspector), playing Principal Second Violin. She is also a founding member of Boston’s innovative, self-conducted string orchestra, A Far Cry. 5 | PROGRAM MATTHEW OZAWA | CHARLES NEUMANN | Stage Director Costume Designer American stage director Matthew Charles Neumann is a Boston- Ozawa has an international career based designer and illustrator and spanning all artistic disciplines, having has worked with organizations worked for prestigious companies including Edgewood Studios, worldwide including Canadian Opera Company, Lyric Central City Opera, MassOpera, among others. Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Mr. Neumann has been featured in Boston Fashion Opera, Opera Siam, Macau International Festival, and Week and has shown at charity events including Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Additionally, Mr. Ozawa Urban Nights, a fundraiser for homeless and at-risk is the Founder and Artistic Director of Mozawa, a youth sponsored by Urban Peak, and WE CAN with Chicago-based incubator advancing collaborative art Mondo Guerra, sponsored by AIDS Connecticut. and artists. Giulio Cesare was to have marked his BLO Mr. Neumann holds a degree in Fashion Design and debut. Production