Today : world première of 'Hadrian' by Rufus Wainwright in Toronto

Today, the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto presents the world première of Hadrian, an opera in four acts composed by Rufus Wainwright, with a libretto in English and Latin by Daniel MacIvor.

It is the composer's second opera after Prima Donna (Manchester, 2009).

Emperor Hadrian is devastated after his lover Antinous drowns in the Nile River. While matters of state encroach on his grief, and advisors clamour for war against a radical new threat to the Empire, Hadrian slips out of time to re-encounter the vision and reality of Antinous—and learn the truth about what happened on the Nile. (reproduced from the COC website)

The cast includes baritone Thomas Hampson (Hadrian), soprano Karita Mattila (Plotina), tenor Isaiah Bell (Antinous), soprano Ambur Braid (Sabina), tenor Ben Heppner (Dinarchus) and bass David Leigh (Turbo). Johannes Debus conducts the COC Orchestra and Chorus. Peter Hinton directs.

The performance should last about 3 hours, including a 20 minutes interval. The venue is the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

Today : world première of Brian Current's 'Missing' in Vancouver

Today, the City Opera Vancouver presents the world première performance of Missing, a chamber opera composed by Brian Current with a libretto by Marie Clements.

It is the composer's third opera after Inventory (2006) and Airline Icarus (revised version, 2010).

Set in Vancouver and along the Highway of Tears, this music drama is being created to give voice to the story of Canada’s missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls, and to show that each and every one of these missing people is honored. (reproduced from the City Opera Vancouver website)

The cast includes soprano Melody Courage (Native Girl), oprano Caitlin Wood (Ava), mezzo Marion Newman (Dr. Wilson), mezzo Rose-Ellen Nichols (Native Mother), mezzo Heather Molloy (Jess) and tenor Kaden Forsberg (Devon). Timothy Long conducts and Peter Hinton directs.

The orchestra consists of 1 flute, 1 clarinet, 2 percussionists, 1 electric piano, violin, cello and electronics.

The performance takes place at the York Theater and should last about 90 minutes. Further performances will follow in Victoria (BC) at the Baumann Centre for Opera in the second half of November.

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 Kevin March's 'Les Feluettes' ('Lillies') in Montréal

Today, the Opéra de Montréal presents the world première of Les Feluettes (Lillies), composed by Australian composer Kevin March, with a libretto (in French) by Michel Marc Bouchard after his own play.

Kevin March has already composed three chambers operas : www.love : A 21st Century Romance (2001), Leading Lady (2004) and Razing Hypatia (2010).

In 1952 a group of ex-prisoners under the direction of Simon trap a bishop, Jean Bilodeau, and recreates a series of events for him that took place 40 years earlier when Simon and Bilodeau were at school in Roberval, a small town in Northern Quebec. Simon was in love with a young count, a ruined French aristocrat exiled with his mother (who had become mad while waiting for her husband's return and the fall of the Third Republic that would signal the return of the monarchy and the family's status). The ex-prisoners recount the troubled love story of the count and Simon and the attempts by Bilodeau to come between them. The actors are trying to get the bishop to admit to the real circumstances surrounding the death of the young count, a death for which Simon was unjustly condemned. (reproduced from the Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia)

The cast includes baritone Étienne Dupuis (Simon Doucet young), tenor Jean- Michel Richer (Le Comte Vallier de Tilly), baritone Gino Quilico (Simon Doucet old), tenor Gordon Gietz (Monseigneur Bilodeau), baritone Aaron St. Clair Nicholson (La Comtesse Marie-Laure de Tilly), coutertenor Daniel Cabena (MademoiselleLydie-Anne de Rozier), tenor James McLennan (Jean Bilodeau) and bass Claude Grenier (Timothée Doucet). Timothy Vernon conducts the Opéra de Montréal Orchestra and Chorus. Serge Denoncourt directs.

The opera is performed at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier and should last about 2 hours and 45 minutes, including one interval. As a coproduction between Opéra de Montréal and Pacific Opera Victoria, the opera will be performed at the Royal Theatre in Victoria (BC) in April 2017 with the same cast.

New in my collection : 4 program books from the USA and Canada

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.

Today : world première of 'Pyramus and Thisbe' by Barbara Monk Feldman in Toronto

Today, the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto presents the world première performance of Pyramus and Thisbe, composed by Barbara Monk Feldman, with a libretto based on Ovid's Metamorphosis and also including William Faulkner's The Long Summer, Dark Night of the Soul by St John of the Cross and Rainer Maria Rilke's Die Sonette an Orpheus.

The libretto is a new version of the well-known story of Pyramus and Thisbe. The synopsis is the following, according to the score available from the Canadian Music Centre website (facsimile of the manuscript) :

The opera does not follow the traditional arrow of time and there is no break between the three main sections. There is little or no drama : this opera is about the subtlety of the unconscious which substitutes for the wall in Ovid's original, uniting as it separates the two lovers.

The opera should last about 45 minutes and is the evening will continue with performances of Monteverdi's Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda and Lamento d'Arianna.

The orchestra is the following :

- 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarintes, 2 Bassoons, 2 French Horns ;
- 2 Trumpets, 2 Trombones, 1 Bass Trombone, 1 Tuba ;
- 3 Percussionists ;
- Harp, Mandolin ;
- Chorus, String Quartet, and String Orchestra.

Mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó and Tenor Phillip Addis are accompanied by the COC Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Johannes Debus, with Christopher Alden directing.

Today : world première of Neil Weisensel's opera 'Stickboy' in Vancouver

Today, the new opera in three acts, composed by Neil Weisensel, Stickboy, with a libretto by Shane Koyczan after his own book, will be performed in at the Playhouse in Vancouver.

(photo by Tim Matheson)

According to the Vancouver Opera website, the opera, about a bullied kid who becomes a bully,

confronts the uncomfortable reality of a society struggling with its own fear and insecurity, a society that seeks conformity and uniformity at the expense of those who are different.

The cast consists of Sunny Shams (Boy), Megan Latham (Grandmother), Willy Miles-Grenzberg (Old Man / Principal / Grandpa / Gym Teacher), Heather Pawsey (Secretary / Teacher / Principal) and Alan Macdonald (Janitor / Chris / Jeff / Dick). There is a small chorus. Leslie Dala conducts and Rachel Peake directs.

It is Weisensel's seventh opera, after Gisela in her Bathtub (1991), City Workers in Love (1992), The Bachelor Farmers of the Apocalypse (1993), Merry Christmas Stephen Leacock (1997), The Master's Stroke (2001) and Secret Service (2013).

The performance should last about 105 minutes including one intermission. The audience is advised that the production includes coarse language and the depiction of violence.

New productions or revivals of recent operas (5)

During the 2014-2015 season, several recent operas will be performed, sometimes with new productions.

- John Adams : A Flowering Tree, conducted by Joana Carneiro, directed by Nicola Raab, in Göteborg, in January 2015 (Scandinavian première). The opera was first performed in Vienna in 2006, and has been staged several times, in Cincinnati and in Paris, among others ;
- John Adams : I was looking at the ceiling and then I saw the sky, in Roma in September 2015, conducted by Alexander Briger and directed by Giorgio Barberio Corsetti. This is a revival of the original production from Paris, first performed in June 2013 ;
- Daniel Catan : Florencia en el Amazonas, conducted by Carolyn Kuan, directed by Francesca Zambello, in Washington (DC), in September 2014. This is the original production from 1996 in Houston. It has been performed several times in Los Angeles, Seattle, Cincinnati, Denver and Salt Lake City ;
- André Previn : A Streetcar Named Desire, conducted by Joseph Mechavich, directed by José Maria Condemi, in Louisville, KY, in February 2015. Since the world première in San Francisco in September 1998, this opera has become a classic, with a number a productions in North America, Europe and Asia ;
- Kevin Puts : Silent Night, conducted by Joseph Mechavich and directed by David Gately, in Calgary, in November 2014. This new production will mark the Canadian première of this work already performed in several American opera houses and in Wexford. Another production will be staged in Montréal in May 2015.

Received in the mail this Saturday morning

Today, I have received the following items in the mail :

- Calgary, Opera : 2014-2015 season leaflet ;
- Detmold, Landestheater : October 2014 leaflet ;
- Freiberg, Mittelsächsisches Theater : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Nürnberg, Staatstheater : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Parma, Teatro regio : Festival Verdi 2014 program book ;
- Portland, Opera : 2014-2015 season brochure ;
- Roma, Teatro dell'Opera : 2014-2015 program brochure.

Wanted ! 2014-2015 season programs of opera houses

To complete my collection, I am still expecting paper copies of the 2014-2015 season program for the following opera houses :

- Canada : Calgary, Victoria (BC) ;
- Croatia : Zagreb ;
- Finland : Helsinki ;
- France : Caen, Compiègne, Lille, Monte-Carlo, Montpellier, Reims ;
- Germany : Staatstheater Darmstad, Theater Erfurt, Mittelsächsisches Theater Freiberg, Theater Magdeburg, Staatstheater Nürnberg, Opernhaus Wuppertal ;
- Hungary : Budapest ;
- Italy : Bari, Bolzano, Cagliari, Catania, Firenze, Genova, Milano, Palermo, Parma, Roma, Trieste, Venezia ;
- Latvia : Riga ;
- Netherlands : Enschede, Maastricht ;
- Poland : Warsaw ;
- Portugal : Lisboa ;
- Slovenia : Ljubljana ;
- Switzerland, Bern : Konzert Theater ;
- USA : Anchorage, Central City, Charlotte (Opera Carolina), Dallas, Denver (Opera Colorado), Detroit (Michigan Opera Theatre), Honolulu (Hawaii Opera Theatre), Houston, Indianapolis, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Louisville (Kentucky Opera), Miami (Florida Grand Opera), Milwaukee (Florentine Opera Company), Minneapolis (Minnesota Opera), New Orleans, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, Sacramento, Saint Louis, San Diego, Sarasota, Washington (DC).

I hope I will receive them before the end of the year. I guess I will have to write to them again.

Recently received in the mail

I have recently received the following articles in the mail :

- Atlanta, Opera : 2014-2015 season brochure ;
- Avignon, Opéra : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Braunschweig : October 2014 leaflet ;
- Bremen, Theater : September 2014 leaflet and brochure :
- Chemnitz, Theater : September October 2014 leaflet ;
- Darmstadt, Staatstheater : September October 2014 leaflet ;
- Dresden, Semperoper : 2014-2015 Semper ! Magazin No. 1 ;
- Frankfurt, Oper : September October 2014 leaflet ;
- Göteborg, Operan : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Magdeburg, Theater : September 2014 leaflet ;
- Montréal, Opéra : 2014-2015 season brochure ;
- Vilnius, Lietuvos nacionalinis teatras : 2014-2015 leaflet.

Received in the mail this Monday morning

This Monday morning, I have received the following in the mail :

- Austin, Lyric Opera : 2014-2015 season leaflet ;
- Kassel, Staatstheater : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Krefeld Mönchengladbach : 2014-2015 season program book and August September 2014 leaflet ;
- Nashville, Opera : 2014-2015 season brochure ;
- Québec, Opéra : 2014-2015 season brochure and Festival 2014 brochure.

Received in the mail this Saturday morning

This Saturday morning, I have received the following in the mail :

- Bern, Konzert Theater : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Braunschweig, Staatstheater : August - September 2014 leaflet ;
- Macerata, Sferisterio : 50a stagione lirica, 2014 ;
- Maribor, Slovene National Theatre : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Oldenburg, Staatstheater : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Osnabrück, Theater : 2014-2015 season program book, and June July 2014 leaflet ;
- Phoenix, Arizona Opera : 2014-2015 season brochure ;
- Salt Lake City, Utah Opera : 2014-2015 season brochure (with Utah Symphony program) ;
- Winnipeg, Manitoba Opera : 2014-2015 season brochure ;
- Würzburg, Mainfranken Theater : 2014-2015 season program book.

World première of 'Pauline' by Tobin Stokes in Vancouver

Yesterday, Friday 23rd, was the first performance of the opera Pauline by composer Tobin Stokes on the first libretto ever by Margaret Atwood. It took place at the York Theatre.

The opera is about Pauline Johnson (1861-1913), child of a Mohawk chief and a Quaker Englishwoman; torn by loyalty and ambition. She lived her last years in Vancouver and died a terrible death of breast cancer, treated by crude surgery and morphine.

Pauline is set at Vancouver in March 1913. Haunted by failure, torn by her dual identity as both Mohawk and white, Pauline Johnson fights to confront her past before the end, as her doctor tries to control the pain and her sister tries to control the story that will be told.

It is the composer's fifth opera, after The Vinedressers (2001), Nootka (2010), Rattenbury (2012) and Fallujah (2014). He is already working on another lyrical work, Swollen Tongues, a LGBT comedy in the Restoration era.

The cast included Rose-Ellen Nichols, Sarah Vardy, Adam Fisher, John Minagro, Cathleen Gingrich, Edward Moran, Diane Speirs and Eleonora Higginson. It was directed by Norman Armour.