As Prowling-Middle-Class-Mademoiselle #18

Tonight marks the opening of Puccini’s beloved La bohème at the Lyric Opera of Chicago!  I am so honored and thrilled to share the stage with some of the hottest names in opera right now: Anna Netrebko and Ana Maria Martinez as Mimi, Joseph Calleja and Dimitri Pittas as Rodolfo, Elizabeth Futral as Musetta, all conducted by Emmanuel Villaume and directed by Louisa Muller.

The Lyric sums up the magic of this classic production:

Whether it’s your first opera or you’ve seen it a hundred times before, Puccini’s magic never fails to cast its entrancing spell.

Golden melodies transport you to Paris’s Latin Quarter, where young artists struggle to make ends meet in icy cold garrets. But passions run hot because everyone’s in love.

Yearning, ecstasy, and despair—you hear it all in the music! The score so exquisitely conveys the essence of every character that you’ll feel like you know each of them personally. You’ll laugh as the saucy femme fatale Musetta drives her painter beau mad with jealousy. You’ll cheer when the fragile seamstress Mimì and her ardent poet Rodolfo find true bliss in each other’s arms. And you’ll cry when tragedy strikes and he loses her in the end.

Tickets are available online or by calling 312.332.2244.  Enjoy the show!

I will be gracing the stage as Gianetta in THE GONDOLIERS, Anna in THE KING AND I, and joining the ensembles of H.M.S. PINAFORE, THE GRAND DUCHESS OF GEROLSTEIN, SILK STOCKINGS, and LADY, BE GOOD!  And while I thought this summer couldn’t get any better, it did with the news that I will be sharing the stage with my husband, bass-baritone Edward Hanlon.  He will be performing as Don Alhambra in THE GONDOLIERS, Dick Dead Eye in H.M.S. PINAFORE, The Kralahome in THE KING AND I, a Russian dude in SILK STOCKINGS, and he joins the ensemble in THE GRAND DUCHESS OF GEROLSTEIN.  This will be our second summer together EVER after an amazing season with The Ash Lawn Opera Festival in 2010.

Tickets can be purchased online beginning January 9, 2013.  Hope to see you there!

As Angry Mobster #34

First up is the Verdi: starring dashing baritone Thomas Hampson (and yes, he is just as dreamy in real life) and dazzling Bulgarian soprano Krassimira Stoyanova, Simon Boccanegra tells a story of intense political and family warfare in 14th-century Genoa.  Although the plot is rather complex (in fact, there were so many plot problems with the original version in 1857 that revisions by the librettist, Arrigo Boito, weren’t incorporated and performed until 1881) and spans over a 25 year period, its tale of political unrest is remarkably contemporary, eerily paralleling the current state of American bipartisan politics.

The Lyric Opera of Chicago sums it up as follows:

“The intriguing plot unfolds in the incendiary atmosphere of 14^th-century Genoa. The music, both hair-raisingly dramatic and sublimely beautiful, illuminates explosive, primary-color emotions—love, jealousy, rage, remorse. At the center is the noble, passionate, desperately conflicted Boccanegra, Doge of Genoa; you’ll be riveted by his violent conflict with his enemy, the nobleman Fiesco (and their reconciliation will break your heart). We know you’ll agree with Lyric’s leading man, world-renowned Thomas Hampson, who considers Simon Boccanegra ”truly one of the greatest operas ever written.”

Check it out!  Tickets are available here or by calling the box office at 1.312.332.2244.

Orff’s CARMINA BURANA
October 3, 7:00 P.M. Carnegie Hall, New York.

Beethoven’s MISSA SOLEMNIS
October 25-27, 8:00 P.M. Orchestra Hall, Chicago.

Mahler’s SYMPHONY NO. 3
November 1 & 3, 8:00 P.M. Orchestra Hall, Chicago.
November 2, 1:30 P.M. Orchestra Hall, Chicago.

Holiday Concert WELCOME YULE
December 14 & 21, 7:00 P.M. Orchestra Hall, Chicago.
December 15 & 22, 3:00 P.M. Orchestra Hall, Chicago.
December 16 & 23, 1:30 P.M. and 5:30 P.M. Orchestra Hall, Chicago.

Bach’s MASS IN B MINOR
April 11-13, 8:00 P.M. Orchestra Hall, Chicago.

Mozart’s AVE VERUM, Vivaldi’s MAGINIFICAT and Verdi’s FOUR SACRED SONGS
June 20 & 22, 8:00 P.M. Orchestra Hall, Chicago.
June 21, 1:30 P.M. Orchestra Hall, Chicago.
June 23, 3:00 P.M. Orchestra Hall, Chicago.

Tickets are available at cso.org, by phone at 312-294-3000 or directly from the box office.

Scheduled performances include:

Concert d’ouverture
Arsenal de la Citadelle Vauban, Le Palais, à 20h15
20 Juillet 2012
Otello – G. Verdi
Arsenal de la Citadelle Vauban , Le Palais, à 20h15
24, 27 & 30 Juillet et 2, 7, 10 et 13 Août 2012
La Cenerentola – G. Rossini
Arsenal de la Citadelle Vauban , Le Palais, à 20h15
3, 6, 8, 12, 17 Août 2012
Messa di Gloria – G. Puccini
Église de Locmaria à 20h15 les 26 Juillet et 16 Août 2012
Église de Sauzon à 20h15 le 31 Juillet 2012
Église de Bangor à 20h15 le 5 Août 2012
Église de Le Palais à 20h15 le 9 Août 2012
Concerts Cocktails
29 Juillet à 19h00, Arsenal de la Citadelle Vauban, Le Palais
11 Août à 19h00, Arsenal de la Citadelle Vauban, Le Palais
14 Août à 19h00, Arsenal de la Citadelle Vauban, Le Palais
Concerts Pique Nique
3 Août , Salle Polyvalente à Bangor
6 août, Salle Arletty, Le Palais
9 août , Salle Sarah Bernhardt à Sauzon
Concert Ad Libitum
14 Août 2012 à 20h15, Salle Arletty, Le Palais
Répétitions publiques d’Orchestre
Salle Arletty, le Palais
Otello le mardi 17 Juillet (15h/18h)
La Cenerentola, le vendredi 27 Juillet (11h/14h)
Young Artist Master-classes
Citadelle Vauban, Le Palais
du 6 au 10 Août 2012, 14h/17h

June 11-29, 2012 | Blacksburg, VA

The International Vocal Arts Institute (IVAI) celebrates its third season in cooperation with the Vocal Arts & Music Festival at Virgnia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia, located in the heart of Southwest Virginia’s New River Valley.  The festival will include masterclasses, concerts, as well as performances with string quartets and guest instrumentalists.

Scheduled events include:

Thu. 6/14 | 7:30 P.M. – MASTERCLASS WITH JOAN DORNEMANN

Joan Dornemann, an Assistant Conductor at The Metropolitan Opera and co-founder of IVAI, leads an insightful masterclass with festival singers.  Squires Recital Salon, Free.

Fri. 6/15 | 7:30 P.M. – SNEAK PEEK COMPETITION

Festival patrons are treated to a preview of the great singing to come, and have a vote in this fun, high-spirited competition among many of this year’s singers.  Squires Recital Salon, Free.

Sat. 6/16 | 8:00 P.M. – FESTIVAL OPENING NIGHT

The opening night concert celebrates German composers and works, and features the festival singers and guest faculty musicians, including Michael Klotz, viola; Dmitry Kouzov, cello; and Peter Laul, piano.  Repertoire to include a dynamic range of German Lieder and Schumann’s “Piano Quintet”.  Squires Recital Salon, $20 General/$10 Student.

Sun. 6/17 | 3:00 P.M. – VOICES FROM THE VALLEYS

A tapestry of music from Schubert to Verdi, Vaughan Williams to Osvaldo Golijov, this concert celebrates festival chamber musicians, including David Ehrlich, violin; Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet; Michael Klotz, viola; Dmitry Kouzov, cello; Peter Laul, piano;  Mathias Tacke, violin; and Benjamin Wyatt, cello. Featured guest singers are Blacksburg-based Ariana Wyatt, soprano, and Opera Roanoke’s Scott Williamson, tenor, singing solo works and duets.  Squires Recital Salon, $20 General/$10 Student.

Mon. 6/18 | 7:30 P.M. – MASTERCLASS WITH SHERRILL MILNES

Legendary baritone Sherrill Milnes coaches the next generation of opera stars, sharing wisdom and wit gained throughout his extensive career.  Squires Recital Salon, $20 General/$10 Student.

Tues. 6/19 | 7:30 P.M. – MASTERCLASS WITH LEON MAJOR

Internationally acclaimed stage director Leon Major brings his unique insights to the festival vocalists, as he has in master classes around the globe, from Shanghai to Tel Aviv.  Squires Recital Salon, Free.

Wed. 6/20 | 8:00 P.M. – CHAMBER MUSIC CELEBRATION

Instrumentalists David Ehrlich, violin; Alex Fiterstein, clarinet; Michael Klotz, viola; Dmitry Kouzov, cello; Peter Laul, piano; Mathias Tacke, violin; and Benjamin Wyatt, cello, present a program that demonstrates both the virtuosic and the collaborative nature of chamber music, including Shostakovich’s piano quartet and C. M. von Weber’s clarinet quartet.  Squires Recital Salon, $20 General/$10 Student.

Thu. 6/21 | 8:00 P.M. – AN EVENING OF ITALIAN OPERA AND SONG

Music lovers of all stripes can bask in the beauty of this program, featuring some of opera’s best-loved works from Puccini, Rossini, Verdi, and perhaps a few surprise nuggets along the way.  Squires Recital Salon, $20 General/$10 Student.

Fri. 6/22 | 8:00 P.M. – SINGERS WITH STRINGS

David Ehrlich, violin; Michael Klotz, viola; Dmitry Kouzov, cello; Peter Laul, piano; Mathias Tacke, violin; Milana Strezeva, piano; and Benjamin Wyatt, cello, collaborate with the singers on Samuel Barber’s “Dover Beach,” Respighi’s “Il Tramonto,” and pieces by Richard Danielpour.  Squires Recital Salon, $20 General/$10 Student.

Sat. 6/23 | 7:00 P.M. – AN EVENING WITH RENATA SCOTTO

The evening begins with a film based on the life of Renata Scotto, followed by her master class with the festival singers. Considered one of the preeminent singers of her generation, Scotto has specialized in the bel canto repertoire, complimented with experiences in the verismo and Verdi repertoires. She performed around the world for more than 40 years, and continues to contribute to the field as a stage director and teacher.  Haymarket Theatre, $20 General/$10 Student.

Sun. 6/24 | 7:00 P.M. – THREE DECEMBERS

This 90-minute, one-act opera by Jake Heggie (composer of “Dead Man Walking” and “Moby Dick”), with a libretto by Gene Scheer, is one of the most performed new operas in America. The story centers on letters from a mother to her son and daughter across the decades, illuminating the love, hope, sadness, and compassion they share as they struggle with both personal and family identity. This staged production is sung in English and performed with piano accompaniment. Contains mature themes. Conducted by Paul Nadler and staged by Candace Evans, featuring singers Aidan Ferguson, Corrie Donovan, and Logan Walsh.  Haymarket Theatre, $20 General/$10 Student.

Mon. 6/25 | 7:30 P.M. – MASTERCLASS WITH DIANA SOVIERO

American opera great Diana Soviero returns to Virginia Tech and teaches young singers with the same passion that characterized her singing and acting career.  Squires Recital Salon, $20 General/$10 Student.

Tues. 6/26 | 8:00 P.M. – GREAT MOMENTS IN OPERA

Excerpts from the best-loved operas take center stage as the festival singers perform from masterworks across the centuries. This evening is conducted by Paul Nadler of the Metropolitan Opera.  Squires Recital Salon, $20 General/$10 Student.

Wed. 6/27 | 8:00 P.M. – AMERICAN MUSICAL SONGBOOK

A festival favorite, this evening features a wide range of Broadway and musical theater selections of the 20th century. This event is directed by Maria Zouves.  Squires Recital Salon, $20 General/$10 Student.

Thurs. 6/28 | 8:00 P.M. – THE MENDELSSOHN QUINTETS

Festival guest artists and string faculty Shmuel Ashkenasi, Mathias Tacke, and David Ehrlich on violin; Beth Guterman and Michael Klotz on viola; and Marc Johnson on cello, perform Felix Mendelssohn’s two string quintets, “No. 1 in A major, Opus 18” and “No. 2 in B-flat major, Opus 87.” These magnificent works, rarely performed together, demonstrate the elegance of one of the first of the great 19th century Romantic composers.  Squires Recital Salon, $20 General/$10 Student.

Fri. 6/29 | 8:00 P.M. – GRAND FINALE: RUSSIAN-FRENCH CONNECTIONS

The 2012 festival closes in grand style with a focus on international artistry from the perspective of both French and Russian composers, those who influenced one another across boundaries of place and nationality. This fascinating program draws on music from Borodin, Debussy, Fauré, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, and others. Instrumental faculty players are Shmuel Ashkenasi, Mathias Tacke, and David Ehrlich on violin; Beth Guterman and Michael Klotz on viola; Marc Johnson on cello; and Milana Stezeva on piano.  Haymarket Theatre, $20 General/$10 Student.

Tickets are available for purchase here.

Opera outreach performances are not easy: we are often required to perform 2 to 3 shows per day, 5 days a week, beginning as early at 8 A.M. (opera singers are not morning people), and we are responsible for loading costumes and set pieces in and out of venues.  The performances require a ton of energy and can be taxing on your voice if you do not pace yourself.  That said, I think opera outreach is a privilege and I wish that every opera singer could count themselves lucky enough to provide and witness a child’s first experience of opera.  We are all aware of the transformative power of opera and its ability to move people like few other art forms, but being able to witness it in an audience not hidden in darkness hundreds of feet away from you is very special.  It is not uncommon for us to watch students file into their auditoriums with attitude, opposition, and a liberal sprinkling of expletives.  But, within measures of beginning the show, they are transfixed.  At the end of the show, crossed arms are replaced with hugs, scowls with smiles, expletives with gratitude.  The best days are ones when I hear that following the performance the students rush to the library and look for opera clips on YouTube.  This is all about planting a seed to grow future audiences and pull any weeds of misconception deeming opera inaccessible or elitist.

In 1997, at the bequest of the Kansas City Lyric Opera’s Educational Director, composer John Davies wrote The Billy Goats Gruff using the music of Mozart, Donizetti and Rossini.  When a game of hide and seek is ruined for three billy goat friends because a big bully blocks a bridge, they are prevented from being able to go home. Two billy goats resolve to go home a different, longer way and share their difficulties with grownups. The littlest goat, however, not wanting to abandon the beloved doll that’s been snatched from her, tromps to the crest of the bridge and, confronting the bully, prevails by inadvertently pushing him into the creek below. Concerned for his well-being, she shows her would-be adversary kindness by asking if he’s OK. By the time the two other goats return with help, she’s able to introduce a soggy, forlorn ex-bully as their new friend.

The cast:

Tanya Roberts as Lucy (A young girl billy goat and best friend of Ernesto and Dandini)

Leah Dexter as Ernesto (A young boy billy goat and best friend of Lucy and Dandini)

Corey Roberts as Dandini (A young boy billy goat and best friend of Lucy and Ernesto)

Issac Droscha as Osmin (A big bully boy billy goat and best friend to no one)

If you are interested in bringing The Billy Goats Gruff to your school or community center in Michigan, please contact Mary Callaghan Lynch at 248.647.7976 or info@motorcityopera.org.  Thanks to generous support from Hungry Howie’s Pizza, we are able to offer the performances to you for free!

The Gondoliers; or, The King of Barataria is the 12th of 14 comic opera collaborations between the English composer Arthur Sullivan and librettist W.S. Gilbert.  Premiering in 1889 at the Savoy Theatre in London, England, The Gondoliers ran for 554 performances, making it the fifth longest-running musical theatre production in history at that time.  Fueled by Gilbert’s love of satirizing class distinctions, the story concerns the daughter of a Spanish Duchess and Duke who arrives in Venice to meet her husband, the future King of Barataria, to whom she was married at birth.  Of course, he cannot be identified, because as a baby he was entrusted to the care of a drunken gondolier who mixed up the prince with his own son.  The two young gondoliers must assume the monarchical position jointly, leaving behind the local girls they recently married, until the nurse of the prince can be brought forward to identify the rightful king.  All while trying to maintain their commitment to Republicanism.

Performances will take place at the University of Chicago’s Mandel Hall, 1131 East 57th Street, Chicago on Friday March 9th at 8:00 P.M., Saturday March 10th at 8:00 P.M., and Sunday March 11th at 2:00 P.M.  General admission is $20, and student admission is $5.  Tickets are available in advance by calling 773.702.9075.  Thank you for your support!

October 15-23

DETROIT, Michigan (September 15, 2011)… Michigan Opera Theatre opens its 41st fall season with an all-new production and company premiere of Carl Orff’s masterpiece Carmina Burana, for five performances from October 15-23, 2011, at the Detroit Opera House. The MOT chorus will combine with Rackham Symphony Choir and the MOT Children’s Chorus to form an ensemble of over 100, joined by soloists, aerial artists from Cirque du Soleil, and Eisenhower Dance Ensemble, creating a dazzling multi-sensory spectacle of the rarely-staged work. The production will be sung in Latin with English supertitles projected over the stage.

Composed in 1935-36 as a grand work for chorus, soloists and orchestra, Carmina Burana is set to sometimes-bawdy texts written by thirteenth-century monks, and begins and ends with the well-known and powerful “O Fortuna,” a complaint to the Roman goddess of fate. “O Fortuna” has become one of the most well-known pieces in classical music and can be heard in countless film scores, commercials, and television shows. After the premiere, Orff was so pleased that he said anything he had written before Carmina Burana could be destroyed.

In addition to the glorious music, stunning aerial feats will be performed by acrobats who have worked with Cirque de Soleil, along with choreography from Detroit’s own Eisenhower Dance Ensemble. The production will feature new sets and costumes designed by award-winning Detroit stage designer Monika Essen.

Carmina will be paired with Italian-American composer Gian Carlo Menotti’s one-act opera The Medium, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of his birth. Written in 1946, the dramatic thriller tells of a charlatan psychic who cheats her customers by holding fake séances, only to begin seeing ghosts herself. The opera, which has been seen on television and Broadway, was last produced by MOT in 1973. The Medium will be sung in English with English supertitles.

American mezzo-soprano Melissa Parks performs the title role in The Medium, joined by Canadian soprano Andriana Chuchman as Monica, after both most recently appeared together in the company’s fall 2010 production of The Mikado. Romanian bass-baritone Marian Pop returns as Mr. Gobineau, after last appearing with MOT in 2010?s La Bohème. MOT Young Artists Tanya Roberts and Sarah Nisbett also appear, along with actor Jason Vanden Heuvel as Toby.

Chuchman and Pop also perform as soloists in Carmina Burana, with Young Artist Jason Wickson as the tenor.

Director Robert Swedberg will stage the production with choreography by Bianca Sapetto of Cirque de Soleil, in their debuts with the company. The production will be under the baton of MOT Assistant Music Director Suzanne Acton, who last conducted A Little Night Music for the company in 2009.

A free opera talk begins one hour prior to each performance.

Ticket prices range from $29 to $121. Tickets may be purchased in person at the Detroit Opera House box office (1526 Broadway, Detroit), by calling 313-237-SING, or online at www.MichiganOpera.org. Tickets may also be purchased at  Ticketmaster.com, at any Ticketmaster outlet, or by calling 800-745-3000.

Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana
& Menotti’s The Medium

Saturday, October 15 at 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, October 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, October 21 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 22 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 23 at 2:30 p.m.