I have recently received the following program books for recent performances of contemporary operas :
1) John Adams : Girls of the Golden West, San Francisco, November 21, 2017.
It is a 92 pages brochure. It contains :
- Richard Scheinin, Striking Gold ;
- synopsis ;
- cast and crew ;
- Alice Miller Cotter, Homeward ;
- Gary Kamiya, The Dark Side of the Gold Rush ;
- Marlene Smith-Baranzini, Louise Clappe and "Dame Shirley" in the Golden West ;
- JoAnn Levy, Inventing Lola ;
- artist profiles, with black and white headshots.
The brochure is entirely in English.
2) Jesse Broekman and Irene Galindo Quero : immer weiter, Hamburg, July 7, 2017.
It is a 24 pages booklet. It contains :
- Jana Beckmann : Bilanz im Voraus ;
- Jana Beckmann and Janina Zell : Dem Zuhören einen Freiraum schaffen, dialogue with composers Irene Galindo Quero and Jesse Broekman ;
- complete libretto ;
- complete cast and crew ;
- color photos of production.
It is entirely in German.
3) Laura Kaminsky : As One, New Orleans, June 2nd, 2017.
The opera was first performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York on September 4, 2014.
It is a 8 pages booklet. It contains :
- complete cast and crew ;
- synopsis ;
- biographies of artists with color headshots.
It is entirely in English.
4) Thomas Kürstner and Sebastian Vogel : Wahlverwandtschaften, Bremen, February 24, 2018.
It is a 64 pages booklet. It contains :
- complete cast and crew ;
- Isabelle Becker (dramaturge), Vor allem ungelöst, dialogue with director Stephan Kimmig and conductor Aki Schmitt ;
- Deborah Ziegler, Vom Aufbrechen, on Kürstner's and Vogel's theatrical works ;
- Erich Fromm : Egoismus zu zweit ;
- Robert Harrison : Paradies ;
- Gilles Clément : Sekundäre Natur ;
- Dort ist Freiheit (excerpt of Armin Petras' libretto) ;
- Simon Strauss : Planen und Träumen ;
- Hannah Fry : Mathematik der Liebe ;
- biographies of director Armin Petras and composers Thomas Kürstner and Sebastian Vogel ;
- color photos of production.
The booklet in entirely in German.
5) Ella Milch-Sheriff : Die Banalität der Liebe, Regensburg, January 27, 2018.
It is a 36 pages booklet. It contains :
- complete cast and crew ;
- synopsis ;
- Ruth Zapf (dramaturge), Ein Pakt mit dem Teufel, dialogue with composer Ella Milch-Sheriff and director Itay Tiran ;
- Martin Legros : Zwischen zwei Menschen entsteht eine Welt ;
- Catherine Newmark : Die Banalität des Bösen, dialogue with Susan Neiman ;
- Georges Bataille : Erotik und Gewalt ;
- Judith Butler : Unterwerfung des Subjekts ;
- biographies of composer Ella Milch-Sheriff, director Itay Tiran and set and costume designer Florian Etti, with color headshots ;
- color photos of production.
The booklet is entirely in German.
6) Samuel Penderbayne : I.th.Ak.A., Hamburg, April 6, 2018.
It is a 24 pages booklet. It contains :
- synopsis ;
- Johannes Blum : Nichts ist wahr, alles ist erlaubt (Nietzsche) ;
- Samuel Penderbayne : Beyoncé und Oper ;
- Es gibt keinen Raum, nur Richtungen : dialogue with director Paul-Georg Dittrich and dramaturge Johannes Blum ;
- biographies of composer Samuel Penderbayne and librettist Helmut Krausser ;
- complete cast and crew ;
- color photos of production.
It is entirely in German.
7) Salvatore Sciarrino : La porta della legge, Braunschweig, January 12, 2018.
The opera was first performed in Wuppertal on April 25, 2009. In Braunschweig it is the first part of a double bill performance, followed by Kurt Weill's Die sieben Todsünden.
It is a 32 pages booklet. It contains :
- complete cast and crew ;
- synopsis ;
- Sarah Grahneis (dramaturge) : dialogue with director Aniara Amos and conductors Alexis Agrafiotis and Ivan Lopez Reynoso ;
- Salvatore Sciarrino, Notizen zu "La Porta" ;
- storyboard zu "La porta della legge" ;
- Sarah Grahneis, Die Illusion von Freiheit ;
- biographies of artists ;
- color photos of the production.
The entire booklet is in German.
8) Michael Wertmüller : Weine nicht, singe, Hamburg, September 20, 2015.
It is a 24 pages booklet. It contains :
- synopsis ;
- Johannes Blum and Emilia Linda Heinrich : Den Splitter im Kopf, den Feind im Herzen - das bin ich nicht ;
- Alles muss in eine tobende Ordnung gebracht werden (Antonin Artaud), interview with conductor Titus Engel, director Jette Steckel, set designer Florian Lösche and costume designer Pauline Hüners ;
- complete cast and crew ;
- color photos of production.
It is entirely in German.
I now have 533 program books for contemporary operas. I have scanned all covers and uploaded them to this flickr folder.
