New in my collection : two programme books from Cologne and Houston

I have recently received two programme books published by opera companies for two new operas :

- Carlisle Floyd : Prince of Players, Houston (Grand Opera), March 5, 2016 ;
- Liza Lim : Tree of Codes, Cologne (Oper), April 9, 2016.

The first one is a 24 pages brochure. It is entirely in English. It contains :

- A message from the artistic and music director Patrick Summers and the managing director Perryn Leech ;
- A Life for Art, by Patrick Summers, with colour photos of previous operas composed by Floyd ;
- the complete cast and crew ;
- an article by Michael Gieleta, the director ;
- the synopsis of the opera ;
- Who's Who with black and white headshots.

The second one is a 64 pages book. It is entirely in German. It contains :

- several colour photos of rehearsals ;
- the complete cast ;
- the synopsis of the opera ;
- Tree of Codes : Cut-Outs in Time, by the composer Liza Lim ;
- Field recordings als 'Ausschnitte aus der Wirklichkeit' in Tree of Codes, by Liza Lim ;
- Anmerkung zur Dramaturgie, by Claire de Ribaupierre ;
- Der Baum der Erkenntniswurzel aus Bruno Schulz, by Georg Kehren ;
- Massimo Furlan : ein Theater der Bilder, by Claire de Ribaupierre ;
- biography of the composer.

There is a separate 12 pages booklet with the biographies of the cast and crew.

I now have 409 programme books for contemporary operas. You can see the scanned covers there.

Today : world première of Carlisle Floyd's 'Prince of Players' in Houston (TX)

Today, Prince of Players, the new chamber opera composed by Carlisle Floyd with a libretto after Jeffrey Hatcher's Compleat Female Stage Beauty, will be performed by Houston Grand Opera at the Cullen Theater (Wortham Theater Center).

The production is part of the celebration of the composer's 90th birthday. His lyrical output include several landmarks of the American operatic history such as Susannah (1956), Of Mice and Men (1969) and Cold Sassy Tree (2000).

The androgynous Edward Kynaston has become an idol of London's Restoration-era theater for his finely honed and utterly convincing portrayals of female characters. But with the stroke of a pen, King Charles II not only allows women to appear onstage but also forbids men from performing as women. Only Kynaston's mastery of his craft keeps him from being swept away by the tides of change. (reproduced from the HGO's website).

The cast includes baritone Ben Edquist (Edward Kynaston), soprano Mane Galoyan (Margaret Hughes), tenor Chad Shelton (Charles II), tenor Joseph Evans (Sir Charles Sedley), tenor Scott Quinn (Villiers, Duke of Buckingham) and mezzo Megan Samarin (Lady Meresvale / Mistress Revels). Patrick Summers conducts the HGO Orchestra and Chorus. Michael Gieleta directs. The opera should last about 90 minutes, with one intermission.

The orchestra is the following (reproduced from the Boosey & Hawkes website) :

- 2 flutes (doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (doubling English Horn), 2 clarinets (doubling bass clarinet), 2 bassoons (doubling double bassoon) ;
- 2 horns, 2 trumpets ;
- timpani and percussion ;
- harp and strings.

New programmes from New York City in my collection

I have recently bought on ebay a set of almost 150 Playbill magazines from the Metropolitan Opera and the New York City Opera. 6 of them are dedicated to contemporary operas (including a double bill) :

- Mark Adamo : Little Women, City Opera, April 2, 2003 ;
- Jack Beeson : Lizzie Borden, City Opera, March 10, 1999 ;

- William Bolcom : A View From the Bridge, Met, December 9, 2002 ;

- Deborah Drattell : The Festival of Regrets, City Opera, November 16, 1999 ;

- Carlisle Floyd : Susannah, Met, April 13, 1999 ;

- Jake Heggie : Dead Man Walking, City Opera, October 2, 2002 ;

- Michael Torke : Strawberry Fields, City Opera, November 16, 1999.

The covers of the 391 program books for contemporary operas I have in my collection are available in this flickr folder.

Received in the mail this morning : 'Elmer Gantry' (Aldridge) and 'Wuthering Heights' (Floyd) from Milwaukee

This Wednesday morning, I have received two program books published by Florentine Opera in Milwaukee for the following operas :

- Robert Aldridge : Elmer Gantry, first performance on March 13th, 2015 ;
- Carlisle Floyd : Wuthering Heights, first performance on January 9th, 2015.

Program books are 50 and 38 pages brochures.

The first contains :

- Revival - Elmer Gantry returns ! by Leann Davis Alspaugh ;
- The Bully Pulpit - Sinclair Lewis' Elmer Gantry, by Leann Davis Alspaugh ;
- the complete cast ;
- the detailed synopsis ;
- detailed biographies of the composer, the librettist Herschel Garfein, the director Frank Kelley and the conductor Christopher Larkin ;
- biographies of the singers (all biographies with headshots).

This opera was already performed there in March 2010 and a recording has been released by Naxos in its American Opera Classics collection :

The second contains :

- the complete cast ;
- synopsis ;
- detailed biographies of the composer, the conductor Joseph Mechavich ;
- biographies of the singers (all biographies with headshots).

Scanned covers of all program books I have in my collection are in this flickr folder.

New program books for contemporary operas in my collection

I have recently acquired several program books (or brochures) for performances (world, national or local premières) of contemporary operas in New York. Here they are :

- Jack Beeson : Lizzie Borden, New York City Opera, March 6, 1999 ;
- Jack Beeson : Sorry, Wrong Number, Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse, May 25, 1999 (Elie Siegmeister's Angel Levine was also performed in a double bill) ;
- Richard Danielpour : Margaret Garner, New York City Opera, September 29, 2007 ;

- Carlisle Floyd : Of Mice and Men, New York City Opera, October 14, 2003 ;
- Philip Glass : The Juniper Tree, Alice Tully Hall, March 20, 2007 ;
- Elliot Goldenthal : Grendel, New York State Theater, July 11, 2006 ;

- Osvaldo Golijov : Ainadamar, Rose Theater, January 22, 2006 ;
- John Harbison : The Great Gatsby, Metropolitan Opera, May 7, 2002 ;
- Lowell Liebermann : Miss Lonelyhearts, Peter Jay Sharp Theater, April 26, 2006 ;

 
- Jost Meier : The Dreyfus Affair, New York City Opera, April 2, 1996 ;
- Stephen Paulus : Summer, Kaye Playhouse, June 19, 2002 ;
- Ned Rorem : Our Town, Peter Jay Sharp Theater, April 23, 2008 ;

- Tan Dun : The First Emperor, Metropolitan Opera, December 29, 2006.

I have added to the flickr folder containing scans of the covers several programs I already had, for operas by John Adams, Lera Auerbach, Harrison Birtwistle, Philippe Boesmans, Charles Chaynes, Pascal Dusapin, Peter Eötvös, Graciane Finzi, Carlisle Floyd, René Gerber, Philip Glass, Hans Werner Henze, Marcel Landowski, Marius Felix Lange, György Ligeti, Olivier Messiaen, Marc Monnet, Krzysztof Penderecki, Steve Reich, Aribert Reimann, Wolfgang Rihm, Aulis Sallinen, Elzbieta Sikora, Oscar Strasnoy, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Iannis Xenakis and Bernd Alois Zimmermann.

I now have 346 program books for contemporary operas.

My collection of scores of contemporary operas

Here are the scores of contemporary operas I have :

- John Adams : Doctor Atomic, full score, Boosey & Hawkes, 560 pp. ;
- Thomas Adès : The Tempest, vocal score, Faber Music, 247 pp. ;
- John Corigliano : The Ghosts of Versailles, vocal score, Schirmer, 369 pp. ;
- Tom Cunningham : The Okavango Macbeth, vocal score, Goodmusic, 168 pp. ;
- Carlisle Floyd : Susannah, full score, Boosey & Hawkes, 427 pp. ;
- Philip Glass : Akhnaten, full score, Dunvagen, 653 pp. ;
- Philip Glass : Satyagraha, full score, Dunvagen, 401 pp. ;
- Hans Werner Henze : The Bassarids, full score, Schott, 671 pp. ;
- Hans Werner Henze : Elegy for Young Lovers, full score, Schott, 532 pp. ;
- Hans Werner Henze : The English Cat, full score, Schott, 609 pp. ;
- Hans Werner Henze : We Come to the River, full score, Schott, 574 pp. ;
- Hans Werner Henze : Venus und Adonis, full score, Schott, 294 pp. ;
- Hans Werner Henze : Boulevard Solitude, full score, Schott, 260 pp. ;
- Hans Werner Henze : Das verratene Meer, full score, Schott, 492 pp. ;
- Hans Werner Henze : Der junge Lord, full score, Schott, 664 pp. ;
- Hans Werner Henze : Il Re cervo, full score, Schott, 511 pp. ;
- Hans Werner Henze : König Hirsch, vocal score, Schott, 725 pp. ;
- Hans Werner Henze : L'Upupa und der Triumph der Sohnesliebe, vocal score, Chester Music, 385 pp. ;
- Hans Werner Henze : L'Upupa und der Triumph der Sohnesliebe, full score, Chester Music, 362 pp. ;
- Hans Werner Henze : Das Ende einer Welt, full score, Schott, 73 pp. ;
- Hans Werner Henze : Ein Landarzt, full score, Schott, 73 pp. ;
- Hans Werner Henze : Das Wundertheater, full score, Schott, 156 pp. ;
- Hans Werner Henze : Der Prinz von Homburg, vocal score, Schott, 288 pp. ;
- Hans Werner Henze : La Cubana oder Ein Leben für die Kunst, vocal score, Schott, 280 pp. ;
- Hans Werner Henze : Pollicino, full score, Schott, 246 pp. ;
- Lee Hoiby : The Tempest, vocal score, Schirmer, 324 pp. ;
- Babette Koblenz : Hexenskat, full score, Kodasi, 181 pp. ;
- György Ligeti : Le Grand Macabre, full score, Schott, 302 pp. ;
- Peter Maxwell Davies : Kommilitonen !, full score, Chester Music, 230 pp. ;
- Stephen Oliver : Timon of Athens, vocal score, Novello, 361 pp. ;
- Krzysztof Penderecki : Die Teufel von Loudun, full score, Schott, 205 pp. ;
- Matthias Pintscher : Thomas Chatterton, full score, Bärenreiter, 336 pp. ;
- Aribert Reimann : Lear, full score, Schott, 460 pp. ;
- Aribert Reimann : Bernarda Albas Haus, full score, Schott, 292 pp. ;
- Aribert Reimann : Die Gespenstersonate, full score, Schott, 165 pp. ;
- Aribert Reimann : Medea, full score, Schott, 302 pp. ;
- Paolo Renosto : L'Ombra di Banquo, full score, Ricordi, 93 pp. ;
- Kaija Saariaho : L'Amour de loin, full score, Chester Music, 440 pp. ;
- Sergei Slonimsky : King Lear, vocal score, Kompozitor, 186 pp. ;
- Sergei Slonimsky : Hamlet, vocal score, Kompozitor, 399 pp. ;
- Michael Tippett : King Priam, full score, Schott, 282 pp. ;
- Michael Tippett : The Midsummer Marriage, full score, Eulenburg, 727 pp. ;
- Manfred Trojahn : Was ihr wollt, full score, Bärenreiter, 367 pp. ;
- Judith Weir : Blond Eckbert, full score, Chester Music, 152 pp. ;
- Bernd Alois Zimmermann : Die Soldaten, full score, Schott, 466 pp.

You can find details about the scores on my librarything webpage.

New Season 2014-2015 in San Francisco

During the 2014-2015 season, ten operas will be performed at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, including one world première and one 20th century work. 8 operas will be performed in Italien, 1 in French and 1 in English.

The world première is :

Marco Tutino : Two Women (La Ciociara), with a libretto by Marco Tutino and Fabio Ceresa after Alberto's Moravia's novel. Anna Caterina Antonacci will perform the leading part, with Nicola Luisotti conducting and Francesca Zambello directing.

The season also includes :

- Vincenzo Bellini : Norma, conducted by Nicola Luisotti, directed by Kevin Newbury (new production, to be later performed in Barcelona) ;
- Carlisle Floyd : Susannah, conducted by Karen Kamensek, directed by Michael Cavanagh (new production) ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : Un ballo in maschera, conducted by Nicola Luisotti, directed by Jose Maria Condemi (new production) ;
- Georg Friedrich Haendel : Partenope, conducted by Christian Curnyn, directed by Christopher Alden (first performed at English National Opera in London in October 2008) ;
- Giacomo Puccini : Tosca, conducted by Riccardo Frizza, directed by Jose Maria Condemi (revival, first performed in November 2012) ;
- Gioachino Rossini : La Cenerentola, conducted by Jesus Lopez-Cobos, directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle (this production is at least 20 years old) ;
- Giacomo Puccini : La Bohème, conducted by Giuseppe Finzi, directed by John Caird (first performed in Houston in October 2012) ;
- Hector Berlioz : Les Troyens, conducted by Donald Runnicles, directed by David McVicar (first performed at Covent Garden in London in June 2012) ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Le Nozze di Figaro, conducted by Patrick Summers, directed by Robin Guarino (new production).

The San Francisco regularly performs contemporary operas. During the last years, they have produced :

- André Previn : A Streetcar Named Desire, in Octobre 1998 ;
- Douglas Moore : The Ballad of Baby Doe, in September 2000 ;
- Jake Heggie : Dead Man Walking, in October 2000 ;
- Olivier Messiaen : Saint François d'Assise, in October 2002 ;
- György Ligeti : Le Grand Macabre, in October 2004 ;
- John Adams : Doctor Atomic, in October 2005 ;
- Philip Glass : Appomattox, in October 2007 ;
- Stewart Wallace : The Bonesetter's Daughter, in September 2008 ;
- Christopher Theofanidis : Heart of a Soldier, in September 2011 ;
- John Adams : Nixon in China, in June 2012 ;
- Jake Heggie : Moby-Dick, in October 2012 ;
- Mark Adamo : The Gospel of Mary Magdalene in June 2013 ;
- Tobias Picker : Dolores Claiborne, in September 2013.

Recently acquired recordings

I recently acquired the following recordings :

- John Adams : The Gospel According to the Other Mary, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, DG 479 2243 ;
- David Amram : The Final Ingredient, conducted by the composer, Premier Recordings PRCD 1056 ;
- Carlisle Floyd : Markheim, conducted by Knud Andersson, Vai, VAIA 1107 ;

- Philip Glass : Galileo Galilei, conducted by Anne Manson, OMM 0091 ;
- Howard Hanson : Merry Mount, conducted by Tullio Serafin, Naxos 8.110024-25 ;
- Ildebrando Pizzetti : Fedra, conducted by Enrique Mazzola, Accord,  4803437 ;

- Tan Dun : Tea - A Mirror of Soul, conducted by the composer, Deutsche Grammophon 00440 073 0999.