New program books received recently from Montréal, St. Paul and Denver

I have recently received three program books published by North American opera theatres for new contemporary operas :

- Lori Laitman : The Scarlet Letter, Denver, May 7, 2016 ;
- Kevin March : Les Feluettes, Montréal, May 21, 2016 ;
- Paul Moravec : The Shining, St. Paul, May 7, 2016.

The covers of all program books I for contemporary I have can be seen in this flickr folder.

Today : world première of Paul Moravec's 'The Shining', in St. Paul

Today, the Minnesota Opera presents the world première performance of Paul Moravec's new opera, The Shining, with a libretto by Mark Campbell after Stephen King's novel.

It is the composer's second opera after The Letter (Santa Fe, 2009) based on the Somerset Maugham play.

As the Torrance family settles in at the infamous Overlook Hotel, Jack comes face to face with his own demons – real and imagined. Will he be able to protect his wife and son from the evil forces within the hotel ? (reproduced from the Minnesota Opera website)

The cast includes soprano Kelly Kaduce (Wendy Torrance), baritone Brian Mulligan (Jack Torrance), tenor Robb Asklof (Stuart Ullman, the hotel manager), Alejandro Vega (Danny Torrance), bass Arthur Woodley (Dick Hallorann, a cook) and tenor John Robert Lindsey (Lloyd, a bartender). Michael Chrisite conducts the Chorus and Orchestra of the Minnesota Opera. Eric Simonson directs.

The venue is the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St Paul, MN. The performance should last about 2 hours and 10 minutes, including a 20-minute intermission.

New in my collection : from the Santa Fe Opera Festival

I have recently acquired several items from the Santa Fe Opera Festival :

- Desirée Mays : Opera Unveiled 2009 (76 pages) , with an article on The Letter, new opera composed by Paul Moravec ;
- Desirée Mays : Opera Unveiled 2013 (80 pages) , with an article on Oscar, new opera composed by Theodore Morrison ;
- Desirée Mays : Opera Unveiled 2014 (80 pages), with an article on Dr. Sun Yat-sen, new opera composed by Huang Ruo ;
- Desirée Mays : Opera Unveiled 2015 (80 pages), with an article on Cold Mountain, new opera composed by Jennifer Higdon ;

- Gene Scheer : Cold Mountain, libretto for the opera composed by Jennifer Higdon (78 pages) ;
- programme book for the 2015 season at the Santa Fe Opera (168 pages)

It contains only 8 pages entirely dedicated to this opera with :

- complete cast and crew (with B&W headshots) ;
- synopsis ;
- Ascending Cold Mountain, by librettist Gene Scheer ;
- A Note from the Director, by Leonard Foglia.