Today : world première of 'La Cucina' by Andrew Synnott in Wexford

Today, the Wexford Festival Opera presents the world première of La Cucina, a 'Divertissement' in one act composed by Andrew Synnott with a libretto in Italian by Rosetta Cucchi.

It is the composer's third opera after Breakdown (Dublin, January 20, 2015) and Dubliners (Wexford, October 20, 2017).

The opera tells the story of a chef's assistant, Bianca, who is baking a wedding cake. (reproduced from the Wexford Festival website)

The cast includes actor Luca Nucera (Alberto Famosissimo), tenor Manuel Amati (Tobia Aiuto del fornitor), baritone Sheldon Baxter (Zeno Fornitore), soprano Maire Flavin (Bianca) and baritone Emmanuel Franco (Camillo Aiuto cuoco). Michele Spotti conducts the soloists and orchestra. Rosetta Cucchi directs. 

La Cucina will be paired with Gioachino Rossini's Adina, following the interval.

The venue is the O'Reilly Theatre.

New programme books in my collection

I have recently acquired several programme books for contemporary operas :

- Jonas S. Bohlin, Tristessa, Stockholm, October 6, 2018
It is a 28 pages brochure. It contains :
- complete cast and crew with B & W headshots ;
- synopsis (in Swedish and English) ;
- Torbjörn Elensky : Angela Carter satte allt på spel (Angela Carter put everything at stake) ;
- Torbjörn Eriksson : interview with Katharina Thoma ;
- Katarina Aronsson : Operan är scenkonstens moder (Opera is the mother of the performing arts), interview with visual artist Ann-Sofi Sidén ;
- Jonas S. Bohlin : Känslan av att stå utanför är en erfarenhet som påverkat mitt liv (The feeling of standing outside is an experience that has affected my life) ;
- Tiina Rosenberg : Divor är trasiga tanter, excerpt of HBTQ spelar roll (LGBT plays a role) ;
- several color photos.
The brochure is entirely in Swedish, unless otherwise stated.

- Niklas Brommare, När då då, Stockholm, October 13, 2018
It is a 28 pages brochure. It contains :
- complete cast and crew with B & W headshots ;
- color photos of rehearsals and drawings (sketches of characters), with quotes of the libretto.
The brochure is entirely in Swedish.

- Christian Diendorfer, Die Wand, Linz, Septembre 16, 2018
It is a 32 pages brochure. It contains :
- complete cast and crew ;
- synopsis ;
- Ira Goldbecher : Marlen Haushofer, kurze biografische Einblicke ;
- Hermann Schneider : Zum Libretto ;
- Dialogue with Eva-Maria Melbye (director) and Marcus Olson (set designer) : Eine poetische Neufassung ;
- Composer's biography ;
- several color photos.
The brochure is entirely in German.

 - Adam Gorb, The Path to Heaven, Leeds, June 19, 2018
It is a 20 pages brochure. It contains :
- complete cast and crew ;
- synopsis ;
- biographies of artists with color headshots ;
- color photos of rehearsals ;
- complete libretto.
The brochure is entirely in English.

- Michael Jarrell, Bérénice, Paris, September 29, 2018
It is a 136 pages book. It contains :
- Complete cast ;
- In Brief (French and English) ;
- Synopsis and Characters (Franch and English) ;
- Timeline (French and English) ;
- Michael Jarrell : Faire chanter le français de Racine ;
- Philippe Albèra : Un portrait de Michael Jarrell ;
- Julia de Gasquet : L'instant et le moment : l'alexandrin métamorphosé ;
- Georges Forestier : Racine et le choix de Bérénice ;
- Christian-Georges Schwentzel : La reine "amie" et l'empereur ;
- Konrad Kuhn : Une pièce contemporaine ;
- Nathalie Azoulai : Tous les cahots de l'abandon (excerpt of Titus n'aimait pas Bérénice) ;
- complete libretto ;
- B & W photos of rehearsals ;
- biographies of the artists, with B& W headshots.
The book is entirely in French, unless otherwise stated.

- David Sawer, The Skating Rink, Wormsley (Garsington Opera), July 5, 2018
It is a 128 pages book that contains information on all four operas performed this year. There are actually 10 pages about The Skating Rink, not included the artists' biographies. It contains :
- complete cast and crew ;
- synopsis ;
- Creative Collaboration, David Sawer and Rory Mullarkey in conversation with Fiona Maddocks ;
- Chris Andrews : Roberto Bolaño and 'The Skating Rink' ;
- Enric's dream of skating, excerpt of Bolañ's The Skating Rink.
Biographies of artists with B & W headshots are included in the general roster for the Festival.

Other new programmes for past operas :

- Thomas Adès, Powder Her Face, Irish National Opera, Wexford, February 24, 2018. The opera was first performed in 1995. I also have the programme book for performances in Bologna (November 2010) ;
- Harrison Birtwistle, The Last Supper, Berlin (Staatsoper Unter den Linden), April 18, 2000 (world première). It contains a leaflet with complete cast and crew and another leaflet with biographies ot the artists ;
- Friedrich Cerha, Onkel Präsident, Munich (Gärtnerplatztheater im Prinzregententheater), June 1st, 2013 (world première) ;

- Silvia Colasanti, La metamorfosi, Firenze (Teatro Goldoni), March 9, 2014. The opera was first performed in the same theatre in May 2012 ;
- Nico Muhly, Two Boys, London (English National Opera), June 24, 2011 (world première) ;

- Hans Schanderl, Der Maschinist, Magdeburg, September 23, 2000. The opera was first performed on September 16, 2000 in Hannover. It contains a separate leaflet with the complete cast and crew ;
- Marco Tutino, Le Braci, Firenze, November 5, 2015. The opera was first performed in Budapest in October 2014.

I now have 599 programme books for contemporary operas. I have scanned all the covers and uploaded them to this flickr folder.

Today : world première of 'Dubliners' by Andrew Synnott in Wexford

Today, the Wexford Festival Opera presents the world première of Dubliners, two one-act operas composed by Andrew Synnott, with librettos by Arthur Riordan after James Joyce's Dubliners.

 

(c) Ros Kavanagh

It is the composer' second opera after Breakdown (Dublin, 2015). The two parts are Counterparts and The Boarding House.

In this dark tale, we follow the growing frustration of Farrington, a lumbering alcoholic copyist, over the course of one afternoon and evening. His mind-numbing work is made intolerable by an overbearing boss who demeans him in front of colleagues. Washing away his misery in several of Dublin’s pubs Farrington is humiliated once more when he physically tries to measure up to a visiting English acrobat. Worse still, an actress that Farrington eyes up is uninterested in him. Frustrated, he returns home where his mood worsens, and he violently takes out his anger on his son Tom.

Jack Mooney introduces The Boarding House, run by his mother. It caters both for clerks and visiting music-hall entertainers. The scheming proprietor, Mrs Mooney, allows her daughter Polly to spend time with the men who stay there. She knows that young men like it when a pretty girl is not too far away. A relationship blossoms between Polly and the successful clerk Bob Doran. Mrs Mooney carefully observes and tracks it until the most profitable moment. When she is sure the relationship has been observed by others, she knows that Mr Doran has no choice but to propose to Polly out of social propriety. (reproduced from the Wexford Festival Opera website)

The cast includes soprano Emma Nash (Polly / Mrs Delacour), mezzo Anna Jeffers (Mother / Weathers), tenor Andrew Gavin (Bob / Alleyne / O'Halloran), baritone David Howes (Jack / Flynn), tenor Peter O'Donohue (Higgins) and bass-baritone Cormac Lawlor (Farrington). They are accompanied by piano and a string quartet. The composer conducts. Annabelle Comyn directs.

The performance should last about 64 minutes, including a 6 minute pause.

New productions or revivals of recent operas (4)

During the 2014-2015, several recent operas will be performed with new productions or revived :

- Julian Anderson : Thebans, directed by Pierre Audi, Bonn, June 2015. It will be a revival of the original production first performed in London (ENO), in May 2014 ;
- Jake Heggie : Three Decembers, directed by Emma Griffin, Atlanta, May 2015. The opera was first performed in Houston in February 2008. Also performed in Berkeley and Fort Worth ;
- Hans Werner Henze : Phaedra, directed by Florian Lutz, in Halle, March 2015. The opera was first performed in Berlin in September 2007. Other performances followed in Brussels, Firenze, Copenhagen and Duisburg ;
- Toshio Hosokawa : Matsukaze, directed by Matthias von Stegmann, Kiel, May 2015. New production. The opera was first performed in Brussels in May 2011. Since then, it has also been performed in Berlin ;
- Kevin Puts : Silent Night, directed by Eric Simonson, Montréal, May 2015. Revival of the world première production in St. Paul (MN) in November 2011. Production also performed in Philadelphia (February 2013) and Cincinnati (July 2014). The second production, directed by Octavio Cardenas, already performed in Fort Worth last May will be revived in Kansas City in February 2015. A third production, directed by Tomer Zvulun, will happen in October 2014 in Wexford. It will be the European première.

Received in the mail last week

Last week, I received the following articles in the mail :

- Bonn, Theater : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Coburg, Landestheater : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Dessau, Anhaltisches Theater : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Giessen, Stadttheater : September 2014 leaflet ;
- Halle, Bühnen : 2014-2015 season program books ;
- Heidelberg, Theater und Orchester : September October 2014 leaflet ;
- Kiel, Theater : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Mannheim, Nationaltheater : September October 2014 leaflet ;
- Tel Aviv, Israeli Opera : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Vienna, Gesellscahft der Musikfreunde in Wien : September October 2014 magazine (issue 27/1) ;
- Wexford, Festival Opera : 63rd Festival (2014) program brochure.