New programme books from Amsterdam and Brussels in my collection

Last week, I travelled to Amsterdam and Brussels to attend the following performances :

- John Adams, Girls of the Golden West, Amsterdam (Muziektheater, March 5 and March 7) ;
- Micha Hamel, Caruso a Cuba, Amsterdam (International Theater Amsterdam, formerly Stadsschouwburg, March 6) ;
- György Kurtag, Fin de partie, Amsterdam (Muziektheater, March 8) ;
- Donnacha Dennehy, The Second Violinist, Amsterdam (Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, March 9) ;
- Mark Grey, Frankenstein, Brussels (La Monnaie, March 10).

Therefore, I can add to my collection the 5 programme books.

- John Adams : Girls of the Golden West, Amterdam :
It is a 128 pages book. It is divided in 4 parts : Reis (Trip) ; Rush ; Strijd (Fight) and Vooruit (Forward). Some of the articles are Dutch translation of articles already published in the programme book for the world première in San Francisco.

It contains :

- complete cast ;
- contents ;
- Scène-overzicht ;
- AliceMiller Cotter : Huiswaarts ;
- John Adams : Wat doet een componist ? ;
- Richard Sheinin : Een gouden vondst ;
- Nancy J. Taniguchi : Vrouwen en de goldrush in Californië ;
- Peter Sellars : Probleem = Oplossing ;
- Josiah Royce : Geschiedenis van een mijnwerkerskamp ;
- Elisha Perkins : Goldrush-dagboek ;
- Gary Kamiya : De schaduwzijde van de goldrush ;
- Benjamin Madley : Genocide ;
- Frederick Douglass : De betekenis van de Fourth of July voor de 'negro' ;
- Peter Sellars : Synopsis ;
- complete libretto in English with Dutch translation ;
- several portraits from the 19th Century goldrush in California.

There is a separate 24 pages booklet with complete cast and crew, synopsis (in Dutch and English) and biographies of the cast members.

- Donnacha Dennehy : The Second Violinist, Amsterdam :
It is a 20 pages booklet, with complete cast and crew, A Dark Road by Enda Walsh, A Note on Gesualdo by Donnacha Dennehy and biographies of the artists.

- Mark Grey : Frankenstein, Brussels :
It is a 128 pages book. It contains :
- complete cast ;
- Antonio Cuenca Ruiz : Argument ;
- Alex Ollé : Un retour aux origines ;
- Mark Grey : Une histoire d'aveuglement ;
- Julia Canosa i Serra : Déconstruire et reconstruire 'Frankenstein' ;
- Susan J. Wolfson : 'Frankenstein', du roman au livret ;
- Andy Mousley : 'Frankenstein' et le post-humanisme ;
- Charles Shafaieh : Découvrir de nouveaux paysages sonores ;
- quotes from Thomas Hobbes, Alan Turing, Donna Haraway, Aldous Huxley, Rosi Braidotti, Francis Fukuyama, Friedrich Nietzsche, Hannah Arendt, Chris Marker and Aeschylus.

The book is entirely bilingual (Dutch and French).
A second volume of 104 pages contains the libretto in three languages : English, Dutch and French.
A separate 44 pages booklet contains the complete cast and crew and biographies of the artists.

- Micha Hamel : Caruso a Cuba, Amsterdam :
It is a 24 pages booklet, with complete cast and crew, synopsis (in Dutch and English), an article on the May 12, 1920 bombing at the Opera Theater in Havana, an article on Enrico Caruso and biographies of the artists.

- György Kurtag : Fin de partie, Amsterdam :
It is a 112 pages book. It is divided in two parts : 'Spel' ('Game') and 'Einde' ('End'). It contains :

- complete cast ;
- scène-overzicht ;
- 1st part ('Spel'), with quotes from : Samuel Beckett, György Kurtag, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Jean-Marie Le Clézio, Thomas Mann, Georg Büchner, E. M. Cioran, Blaise Pascal, William Shakespeare, John Milton, Tom Driver, Franz Kafka, Friedrich Nietzsche, Elmer Schönberger, Nathalie Léger and Clancy Sigal ;
- several color photos from the staging in Milan ;
- Cesare Fertonani : Fin de partie in het kort ;
- Axel Schalk : Theater waarin men niet meer is ;
- Cesare Fertonani : De muziek van Fin de partie ;
- Maurice Valency : Spel zonder toeschouwers ;
- Catherine Laws : Beckett en Kurtag, Kurtag en Beckett ;
- Pierre Audi : Kurtags Fin de partie ;
- the complete libretto in French, with a Dutch translation.

There is a separate 20 pages booklet with complete cast and crew, synopsis (in Dutch and English) and biographies of the cast members.

I now have 648 programme books for contemporary operas. I have scanned the covers and uploaded the images to this flickr folder.

Received in the mail : program book for Dennehy's 'The Last Hotel' in Edinburgh

This Wednesday morning, I have received in the mail the program book published by the Edinburgh International Festival for Donnacha Dennehy's opera The Last Hotel, which happened on Saturday 8 August at the Royal Lyceum Theatre.

It is a 64 pages brochure. It contains :

- complete cast and crew ;
- synopsis, by librettist Enda Walsh ;
- the poem Elm 'for Ruth Fainlight', by Sylvia Plath ;
- Holes in Reality, by John Fallas ;
- A Pure Theatre Animal, by Michael Billington on Enda Walsh (edited version of an article published by The Guardian last year) :
- biographies (with B & W headshots) : composer, librettist and director, conductor, singers, main crew members ;
- articles on the Crash Ensemble, the coproducers Landmark Productions and Wide Open Opera, The Lyceum.

The opera will be on tour in Dublin (September and October 2015), London (October 2015) and New York (January 2016).

August 8th : world première of Donnacha Dennehy's 'The Last Hotel' in Edinburgh

Today, Donnacha Dennehy's first chamber opera, The Last Hotel, with a libretto by Enda Walsh, will be performed for the first time in Edinburgh at the Royal Lyceum Theatre.

Though there has been a 'preview performance' yesterday, the world première is announced for today on the Edinburgh International Festival website.

As the opera begins, a man silently mops the floor – the water bloody. The hotel room he’s supposed to be preparing is not ready yet. A woman is meeting a man and his wife in the hotel’s car park. All three are nervous. Tonight there’ll be a death. (reproduced from the Festival website)

The cast includes Robin Adams, Claudia Boyle, Katherine Manley and the actor Mikel Murfi. André de Ridder conducts the Crash Ensemble. The opera should last about 80 minutes (no interval).

The opera will be performed at the Linbury Studio Theatre (Royal Opera House) in London next October.