New programme books from Amsterdam and Brussels in my collection

Last week, I travelled to Amsterdam and Brussels to attend the following performances :

- John Adams, Girls of the Golden West, Amsterdam (Muziektheater, March 5 and March 7) ;
- Micha Hamel, Caruso a Cuba, Amsterdam (International Theater Amsterdam, formerly Stadsschouwburg, March 6) ;
- György Kurtag, Fin de partie, Amsterdam (Muziektheater, March 8) ;
- Donnacha Dennehy, The Second Violinist, Amsterdam (Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, March 9) ;
- Mark Grey, Frankenstein, Brussels (La Monnaie, March 10).

Therefore, I can add to my collection the 5 programme books.

- John Adams : Girls of the Golden West, Amterdam :
It is a 128 pages book. It is divided in 4 parts : Reis (Trip) ; Rush ; Strijd (Fight) and Vooruit (Forward). Some of the articles are Dutch translation of articles already published in the programme book for the world première in San Francisco.

It contains :

- complete cast ;
- contents ;
- Scène-overzicht ;
- AliceMiller Cotter : Huiswaarts ;
- John Adams : Wat doet een componist ? ;
- Richard Sheinin : Een gouden vondst ;
- Nancy J. Taniguchi : Vrouwen en de goldrush in Californië ;
- Peter Sellars : Probleem = Oplossing ;
- Josiah Royce : Geschiedenis van een mijnwerkerskamp ;
- Elisha Perkins : Goldrush-dagboek ;
- Gary Kamiya : De schaduwzijde van de goldrush ;
- Benjamin Madley : Genocide ;
- Frederick Douglass : De betekenis van de Fourth of July voor de 'negro' ;
- Peter Sellars : Synopsis ;
- complete libretto in English with Dutch translation ;
- several portraits from the 19th Century goldrush in California.

There is a separate 24 pages booklet with complete cast and crew, synopsis (in Dutch and English) and biographies of the cast members.

- Donnacha Dennehy : The Second Violinist, Amsterdam :
It is a 20 pages booklet, with complete cast and crew, A Dark Road by Enda Walsh, A Note on Gesualdo by Donnacha Dennehy and biographies of the artists.

- Mark Grey : Frankenstein, Brussels :
It is a 128 pages book. It contains :
- complete cast ;
- Antonio Cuenca Ruiz : Argument ;
- Alex Ollé : Un retour aux origines ;
- Mark Grey : Une histoire d'aveuglement ;
- Julia Canosa i Serra : Déconstruire et reconstruire 'Frankenstein' ;
- Susan J. Wolfson : 'Frankenstein', du roman au livret ;
- Andy Mousley : 'Frankenstein' et le post-humanisme ;
- Charles Shafaieh : Découvrir de nouveaux paysages sonores ;
- quotes from Thomas Hobbes, Alan Turing, Donna Haraway, Aldous Huxley, Rosi Braidotti, Francis Fukuyama, Friedrich Nietzsche, Hannah Arendt, Chris Marker and Aeschylus.

The book is entirely bilingual (Dutch and French).
A second volume of 104 pages contains the libretto in three languages : English, Dutch and French.
A separate 44 pages booklet contains the complete cast and crew and biographies of the artists.

- Micha Hamel : Caruso a Cuba, Amsterdam :
It is a 24 pages booklet, with complete cast and crew, synopsis (in Dutch and English), an article on the May 12, 1920 bombing at the Opera Theater in Havana, an article on Enrico Caruso and biographies of the artists.

- György Kurtag : Fin de partie, Amsterdam :
It is a 112 pages book. It is divided in two parts : 'Spel' ('Game') and 'Einde' ('End'). It contains :

- complete cast ;
- scène-overzicht ;
- 1st part ('Spel'), with quotes from : Samuel Beckett, György Kurtag, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Jean-Marie Le Clézio, Thomas Mann, Georg Büchner, E. M. Cioran, Blaise Pascal, William Shakespeare, John Milton, Tom Driver, Franz Kafka, Friedrich Nietzsche, Elmer Schönberger, Nathalie Léger and Clancy Sigal ;
- several color photos from the staging in Milan ;
- Cesare Fertonani : Fin de partie in het kort ;
- Axel Schalk : Theater waarin men niet meer is ;
- Cesare Fertonani : De muziek van Fin de partie ;
- Maurice Valency : Spel zonder toeschouwers ;
- Catherine Laws : Beckett en Kurtag, Kurtag en Beckett ;
- Pierre Audi : Kurtags Fin de partie ;
- the complete libretto in French, with a Dutch translation.

There is a separate 20 pages booklet with complete cast and crew, synopsis (in Dutch and English) and biographies of the cast members.

I now have 648 programme books for contemporary operas. I have scanned the covers and uploaded the images to this flickr folder.

New programme book in my collection : 'Fin de partie' by György Kurtag in Milano

This afternoon, I have finally received the programme book published by the Teatro alla Scala in Milano for the world première of György Kurtag's Fin de partie, on November 15, 2018.

It is a 156 pages book. It contains :

- the complete libretto, in French with Italian translation ;
- synopsis, in Italian, French, English, German, Japanese and Russian ;
- György Kurtag, by Luciana Galliano ;
- L'Opera in breve, by Cesare Fertonani ;
- La musica, by Cesare Fertonani ;
- Fine del racconto, by Ugo Volli ;
- Lampi di poesia in un'umanità alla deriva, by Gianluigi Mattietti ;
- 'Fin de partie' di Kurtag, by stage director Pierre Audi, translated from the English by Arianna Ghilardotti, in Italian and in English (Kurtag's 'Fin de partie') ;
- biographies of production team members and cast with headshots ;
- several colour photos of rehearsals, sketches for the costumes, pages of the score.

I now have 636 programme books for contemporary operas. I have scanned and uploaded all the covers to this flickr folder.

Today : world première of 'Fin de partie' by György Kurtag in Milan

Today, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan presents the world première of Fin de partie, an opera in one act composed by György Kurtag, with a libretto based on Samuel Beckett's play.

(c) Andrea Felvégi

It is the composer's first opera.

The setting is a bare, partially underground room, serving as shelter for the four characters: Hamm the master, Clov his servant, and Hamm's father and mother, Nagg and Nell (who live in garbage cans). Hamm is in a wheelchair and makes Clov move him around the room, fetch objects, and look out the window for signs of life. Outside all seems dead and nothing happens. Inside, the characters pass the time mortifying each other and toying with fears and illusions of a possible change, all along sensing the inevitability of their end. (reproduced from Dr. Fidel Fajardo-Acosta's website)

The cast includes bass baritone Frode Olsen (Hamm), baritone Leigh Melrose (Clov), contralto Hilary Summers (Nell) and tenor Leonardo Cortellazzi (Nagg). Markus Stenz conducts the Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala. Pierre Audi directs.

The first performance will be broadcast live by Rai Radio 3. The opera will later be performed in Amsterdam in March 2019, with exactly the same cast.

The score is published by Editio Musica Budapest.