I have recently received four new program books published by opera houses from the USA and Canada :
- Philip Glass : Appomattox, Washington (National Opera at the Kennedy Center), November 14, 2015 (world première of the new version). The 36 pages brochure contains : complete cast and crew, articles by composer Philip Glass, librettist Christopher Hampton, director Tazewell Thompson, a timeline of historical events of the opera, biographies of the artists ;
- Barbara Monk Feldman : Pyramus and Thisbe, Toronto (Canadian Opera Company at the Four Seasons Centre), October 20, 2015 (world première). The new opera was the third and last part of the evening also including performance of Claudio Monteverdi's Lamento d'Arianna and Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. The 48 pages brochure contains : Who's Who at the COC this Fall, Director's Notes and Synopses on Three Musical Tales by Christopher Alden ; Ovid Reconfigured by Amy Beal. It also contains information on Verdi's La Traviata, performed the same month.
- Tobias Picker : Emmeline, Saint Louis (Opera Theatre at the Loretto-Hilton Center), June 13, 2015 (new production). The 168 pages book contains (besides 58 pages of advertisement) all the articles on the complete 2015 season at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, also including Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Puccini's La Rondine and Haendel's Riccardo Primo. The part of it related to Emmeline includes : complete cast and crew, synopsis, a note from the stage director James Robinson, a note from the composer, a conversation with librettist J. D. McClatchy (9 pages altogether), artists' profiles ;
- Gregory Spears : O Columbia, Houston (Grand Opera at the Revention Music Center), September 23, 2015 (world première). The 16 pages brochure contains : complete cast and crew, synopsis, who's who, a conversation with the creative team.
Here is a link to a flickr folder with the covers of all 380 program books for contemporary operas I have in my collection.
