Advance Program Notes Giocomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly Saturday, June 27, 2015, 7:30 PM These Advance Program Notes are provided online for our patrons who like to read about performances ahead of time. Printed programs will be provided to patrons at the performances. Programs are subject to change. Giocomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly featuring Ash Lawn Young Artists Michelle Krisel, artistic director Kevin O’Halloran, executive director Raymond Zilberberg, stage director Shelby Rhoades, pianist Cio-Cio San Tamara Rusqué Lt. Pinkerton Adam Cromer Suzuki Rachael Braunstein Sharpless Anthony Eversole Goro Philip Morgan Yamadori Mitchell Hutchings Kate Olivia Douglas Bonze Stephen Maus Trouble Linus Malone Imperial Commissioner Jacob Kinderman Official Registrar Jacob Kinderman Yakuside Trevor Neale Conductor Joseph Hodge Stage Director Raymond Zilberberg Piano Shelby Rhoades Ensemble Danielle Beckvermit, Tabitha Burchett, André Chiang, Te Hu, Sandra Marante, Nicholas Szoeke, Julia Walsh, Julia Wolcott, and Olivia Yokers Program Notes Giacomo Puccini MADAMA BUTTERFLY Libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica Based on the play by David Belasco Act I Nagasaki, Japan, the spring of 1945 Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton of the U.S. Navy inspects a house overlooking Nagasaki harbor that he is leasing from Goro, a marriage broker. The house comes with three servants and a geisha wife named Cio-Cio-San, known as Madam Butterfly. The lease runs for 999 years, subject to monthly renewal. The American consul Sharpless arrives breathless from climbing the hill. Pinkerton describes his philosophy of the fearless Yankee roaming the world in search of experience and pleasure. He is not sure whether his feelings for the young girl are love or a whim, but he intends to go through with the marriage ceremony. Sharpless warns him that the girl may view the marriage differently, but Pinkerton brushes off such concerns and says someday he will take a real, American wife. He offers the consul whiskey and proposes a toast. Butterfly is heard climbing the hill with her friends for the ceremony. In casual conversation after the formal introduction, Butterfly admits her age, 15, and explains that her family was once prominent but lost its position, and she has had to earn her living as a geisha. Her relatives arrive and chatter about the marriage. Cio-Cio-San shows Pinkerton her very few possessions, and quietly tells him she has been to the Christian mission and will embrace her husband’s religion. The Imperial Commissioner reads the marriage agreement, and the relatives congratulate the couple. Suddenly, a threatening voice is heard from afar—it is the Bonze, Butterfly’s uncle, a priest. He curses the girl for going to the Christian mission and rejecting her ancestral religion. Pinkerton orders them to leave, and as they go, the Bonze and the shocked relatives denounce Cio-Cio-San. Pinkerton tries to console Butterfly with sweet words. She is helped by Suzuki into her wedding kimono, and joins Pinkerton in the garden, where they make love. INTERMISSION Act II, Part 1 Three years have passed, Nagasaki is in ruins and only beginning to rebuild. Cio-Cio-San awaits her husband’s return. Suzuki prays to the gods for help, but Butterfly berates her for believing in lazy Japanese gods rather than in Pinkerton’s promise to return one day. Sharpless appears with a letter from Pinkerton, but before he can read it to Butterfly, Goro arrives with the latest potential husband for Butterfly, the wealthy Prince Yamadori. Butterfly politely serves the guests tea but insists she is not available for marriage—her American husband has not deserted her. She dismisses Goro and Yamadori. Sharpless attempts to read Pinkerton’s letter and suggests that perhaps Butterfly should reconsider Yamadori’s offer. “And this?” asks the outraged Butterfly, showing the consul her small child. Sharpless is too upset to tell her more of the letter’s contents. He leaves, promising to tell Pinkerton of the child. A cannon shot is heard in the harbor announcing the arrival of a ship. Butterfly and Suzuki take a telescope to the terrace and read the name of Pinkerton’s ship. Overjoyed, Butterfly joins Suzuki in strewing the house with flower petals from the garden. Night falls, and Butterfly, Suzuki, and the child settle into a vigil watching over the harbor. Act II, Part 2 Dawn breaks, and Suzuki insists that Butterfly get some sleep. Butterfly carries the child into another room. Sharpless appears with Pinkerton and Kate, Pinkerton’s new wife. Suzuki realizes who the American woman is, and agrees to help break the news to Butterfly. Pinkerton is overcome with guilt and runs from the scene, pausing to remember his days in the little house. Cio-Cio-San rushes in, hoping to find Pinkerton, but sees Kate instead. Grasping the situation, she agrees to give up the child but insists Pinkerton return for him. Dismissing everyone, Butterfly takes out the dagger with which her father committed suicide, choosing to die with honor rather than live in shame. She is interrupted momentarily when the child comes in, but Butterfly says goodbye to him and blindfolds him. She stabs herself as Pinkerton calls her name. Based on a synopsis by the Metropolitan Opera, reprinted by permission. Biographies DANIELLE BECKVERMIT (ensemble) Danielle Beckvermit, soprano, recently graduated with a bachelor of music in voice performance from SUNY Fredonia and will be pursing a graduate degree at the Mannes School of Music in Manhattan this fall. She is a proud recipient of The Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions Encouragement Award for the Buffalo- Toronto District, awarded in January 2014. She earned a performer’s certificate at SUNY Fredonia and won the SUNY Fredonia Concerto Competition in 2013. Her opera scenes include the partial roles of Mimì (La Bohème), Papagena and First Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Marenka (The Bartered Bride), Adina (L’Elisir d’Amore), Rosalinda (Die Fledermaus), and Lady Billows (Albert Herring) at both SUNY Fredonia and the Chautauqua Institute. She has sung in master classes with Peter Kazaras, Dawn Upshaw, Brian Zeger, Marc Deaton, and Amy Burton. Beckvermit’s full operatic roles include the title role of Floyd’s Susannah, Suor Genovieffa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica with the Hillman Opera, and Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, as well as Magda Sorell in Menotti’s The Consul with the Western New York Chamber Orchestra. For the past two summers she has attended the Chautauqua Institute Summer Festival. Beckvermit is a proud student of Patricia Corron. RACHAEL BRAUNSTEIN (Suzuki) American mezzo-soprano Rachael Braunstein was most recently seen as the witch in Humperdink’s Hänsel und Gretel and Mrs. Ott in Floyd’s Susannah at Seagle Music Colony. Upcoming performances include Roscoe, which is a new opera workshop at Seagle Music Colony, and a New England recital tour in fall 2015. Braunstein recently completed a session of study with Dawn Upshaw at Bard College and holds a master’s degree from Manhattan School of Music. Previous credits include concert performances with Joan Tower’s Music Alive! series, Flora in La Traviata with New York Opera Exchange, Anna Hope in Virgil Thompson’s The Mother of Us All with Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater, covering Lucretia in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia with Ken Merrill’s Seminar at Manhattan School of Music, and concert performances with Orford Academy of the Arts in Québec. TABITHA BURCHETT (ensemble) Soprano Tabitha Burchett recently completed a master of music at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University (IU), where she studied with Heidi Grant Murphy and Kevin Murphy. At IU she appeared as Pamina in The Magic Flute and Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore. Other solo credits include Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s Paukenmesse, and Libby Larsen’s Sonnets from the Portuguese. In 2014, Burchett received an Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. A frequent collaborator with composers, she premiered American Composition Prize winner Dominick DiOrio’s Stravinsky Refracted with IU’s Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, NOTUS. Burchett earned a bachelor of music cum laude from the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music. During her undergraduate work, she performed a number of roles, including Gretel in Hänsel and Gretel, Lily in The Secret Garden, and Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance. Burchett is from Terre Haute, Indiana. ANDRÉ CHIANG (ensemble) “Vocally commanding” baritone André Chiang brings his lyrical voice to repertoire spanning from Handel to Glass. This season Chiang’s engagements include Anthony Hope in Sweeney Todd and Barone Douphol in La Traviata, both with Virginia Opera, as well as his return to Portland Opera as Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus. Previous credits include Young Galileo (Galileo Galilei), Argante (Rinaldo), and Ford (Falstaff), all with Portland Opera; Masetto (Don Giovanni) and El Gallo (The Fantasticks), both with Shreveport Opera; Lancelot in the Young Artist Matinee of Camelot at the Glimmerglass Festival; and Vaughan-Williams’ The Songs of Travel, under the baton of George Manahan. Competition honors include regional finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, finalist in the Liederkranz Art Song/Lieder competition, and winner of the Grand Concours de Chant for French song. Biographies, continued ADAM CROMER (Pinkerton) A native of Nashville, Tennessee, tenor Adam Cromer has performed across the U.S. and internationally in opera, concert, and recital. He is thrilled to be making his first appearance with Ash Lawn Opera as Pinkerton in their Young Artists performances, a role he recently performed with the Natchez Festival of Music. Cromer’s 2014-15 season also includes performances with Mississippi Opera, Sarasota Opera, Opera Lancaster, and the Hudson Opera Orchestra. In the 2013-14 season, Cromer performed the role of Cavaradossi in Tosca with the Natchez Festival of Music, as well as making his role debuts as Pollione in Norma with Taconic Opera and Don José in Carmen with Pacific Opera Project.