Today : world première of 'Denis & Katya' by Philip Venables in Philadelphia

Today, the Opera Philadelphia presents the world première of Denis & Katya, an opera composed by Philip Venables with a libretto by Ted Huffman.

It is the composer's third opera after The Schmürz (chamber opera after Boris Vian (London Contemporary Opera, 2012) and 4.48 Psychosis (London, May 24, 2016).

They could have been your teenage children, best friends, or classmates. Two beautiful 15-year-olds who lived every moment − including their last − online. What led to their violent deaths ? Why did they choose to broadcast their final moments on social media ? And what does it say about the voyeuristic society who watched, liked, and objectified them, transforming two kids into clickbait ? (reproduced from the Opera Philadelphia website)

The cast includes baritone Theo Hoffman and mezzo Siena Licht Miller. Emily Senturia conducts the orchestra. Ted Huffman directs.

The performance should alst about 70 minutes, with no intermission. It is part of the Festival O19. The venue is the Suzanne Roberts Theatre.

The work is published by Ricordi.

Further performances by Music Theatre Wales across Wales and England in February and March 2020 and in Montpellier.

Today : world première of the 2 acts version of 'An American Soldier' by Huang Ruo in Saint Louis

Today, the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis presents the world première of the new version of An American Soldier, an opera in 2 acts composed by Huang Ruo with a libretto by David Henry Hwang.

The first version was performed in Washington on June 13, 2014.

Danny Chen is the son of Chinese immigrants, and a proud American. He enlists in the US Army in 2011, eager to serve his country. In boot camp, Danny is welcomed by his band of brothers. But in Afghanistan, his own base becomes enemy territory as military hazing turns deadly. (reproduced from the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis website)

The cast includes tenor Andrew Stenson (Danny Chen), bass baritone Wayne Tigges (Sergent Aaron Marcum), mezzo Mika Shigematsu (Mother Chen) and soprano Kahtleen Kim (Josephine Young). Michael Christie conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Matthew Ozawa directs.

The score is published by Ricordi. According to the publisher, the required chamber orchestra (35 musicians) is the following :

- 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons ;
- 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones ;
- 2 percussions ;
- strings.

The performance should last about 2 hours, including one intermission.

Today : world première of Jan Dvorak's 'Frankenstein' in Hamburg

Today, the Staatsoper Hamburg presents the world première of Jan Dvorak's opera Frankenstein, with a libretto in German based on Mary Shelley's novel.

(c) Julia Kneuse

It is the composer's second opera, after 20.000 Meilen unter dem Merr (Eisenach, May 28, 2011, after Jules Verne's novel).

Frankenstein, a young scientist thirsting for knowledge creates a humanoid being which drives him and itself into death. (reproduced from the Staatsoper Hamburg website).

The cast includes actress Catrin Striebeck (Das Monster), baritone Viktor Rud (Viktor Frankenstein), soprano Andromahi Raptis (Elisabeth Delacey), tenor Sascha Emanuel Kramer (Ernst Frankenstein), baritone Alin Anca (Vater Delacay) and bass baritone Stefan Sevenich (Alois Frankenstein). Johannes Harneit conducts the chorus and orchestra of the Staatsoper Hamburg. Philipp Stölzl directs.

The required orchestra is the following :

- 1 clarinet (doubling bass clarinet in B) ; 2 horns in F ;
- 1 piano (doubling Celesta and toy piano) ;
- 1 electric guitar ;
- 2 percussionists ;
- strings : 5.4.3.3.1.

The full score published by Ricordi Berlin is available online for perusal.

The performance should last about 2 hours and 30 minutes. The venue is Kampnagel. Another opera with the same title, composed by Mark Grey, will have its first performance in Brussels on March 8, 2019.

Today : world première of Marco Tutino's 'Miseria e nobilta' in Genova

Today, the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova presents the world première of Marco Tutino's new opera, Miseria e nobilta, with a libretto in 2 acts by Luca Rossi and Fabio Cesera, loosely based on Eduardo Scarpetta's homonymous play.

Tutino has already composer a dozen of stage works, including Pinocchio (1983), La Lupa (1990), Le Braci (2011) and La Ciociara (2015) and Le Braci (2015).

The version of Miseria e nobiltà created by Rossi, Ceresa and Tutino makes no claim to be entirely faithful to the original. The events are imagined at a much later date, in the days of the 1946 referendum in Italy, which ousted the monarchy and ushered in the republic. We’ve limited the characters, Scarpetta’s lowly crew is made up of the Sciosciammocca family, and that’s it. As for the plot, we weren’t exactly into settling for 19th-century gags that seem to follow one another in a kind of domino effect, where situations give rise to other situations, oftentimes with no end in sight. Things begin to unfold following a series of more complex events. The characters’ motivation is more connected to a story that delves even further into the psychological context, as well as social and cultural influences. (reproduced from the Ricordi website)

The cast includes soprano Valentina Mastrangelo (Bettina), mezzo Francesca Sartorato (Peppiniello), mezzo Martina Belli (Gemma), tenor Fabrizio Paesano (Eugenio), baritone Alessandro Luongo (Felice Sciosciammocca) and bass baritone Alfonso Antoniozzi (Don Gaetano). Francesco Cilluffo conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Carlo Felice. Rosetta Cucchi directs.

According to the publisher Ricordi's website, the required orchestra is the following :

- 2 flutes (II. doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (II. doubling English horn), 2 clarinets, 1 bass clarinet, 2 bassoons ;
- 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones ;
- timpani, percussion, harp ;
- strings.

The full score is available online on the publisher's website.

Today : world première of Giorgio Battistelli's 'Lot' in Hannover

Today, the Staatsoper Hannover presents the world première of Giorgio Battistelli's new opera, Lot, with a libretto by Jenny Erpenbeck.

Giorgio Battistelli has composed several operas including Prova d'Orchestra (Strasbourg, 1995), Richard III (Antwerpen, 2005), Divorzio all'italiana (Nancy, 2008) and Il Medico dei pazzi (Nancy, 2014).

God wants to destroy the city of Sodom because of its moral depravity, but Abraham worries about his nephew, Lot, who is a god-fearing man. Abraham haggles with God about the minimum number of innocents that Sodom must have in order that the city be spared. But the angels of God find only one, Lot, whose family they want to save before the city is razed to the ground. For a single "righteous" is not enough for divine power to prevent the massacre of others. The salvation proves to Lot as a curse. His way leads to uncertainty, where his wife can only hesitantly follow him and is therefore also destroyed. Alone left by his God, he escaped with his two daughters to the mountains, where he lived in social isolation with them like a wild beast, and bears children with them. (freely adapted from the Staatsoper Hannover website)

The cast includes baritone Brian Davis (Lot), soprano Dorothea Maria Marx (1st Daughter), mezzo Stella Motina (2nd Daughter), contralto Khatuna Mikaberidze (Woman), bass Franz Mazura (Abraham) and mezzo Renate Behle (Sara). Mark Rohde conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Staatsoper Hannover and Frank Hilbrich directs.

According to the publisher's website (Ricordi Milano), the required orchestra is the following :

- piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons ;
- 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, 2 tubas ;
- timpani, percussion (3 players), piano, harp ;
- strings.

The performance should last about 90 minutes. The first performance will be broadcast live by NDR Kultur.

Today : world première of Luca Francesconi's 'Trompe-la-mort' in Paris - and programme book

Today, the Opéra national de Paris presents the world première performance of Luca Francesconi's new opera, Trompe-la-mort with a libretto in French by the composer after Honoré de Balzac.

 (c) G. Zucchiatti

Luca Francesconi has already composed several operas, including Ballata (Brussels, 2002), Gesualdo considered as a murderer (Amsterdam, 2004) and Quartett (Milano, 2011)

Fathers and sons. The Revolution committed a double parricide by decapitating two symbolic patriarchal figures : the King and God. Devoid of its substance, post-revolutionary society saw Paris under assault from ambitious, self-serving characters from the provinces in search of success and recognition. Some of them, like Lucien de Rubempré, would fail, while others, like Eugène de Rastignac, would succeed. They both embody two faces of a young generation eager to conquer the future but which had no other choice than to pledge allegiance to the financial order. It was the father's retribution : in the end, the young generation was used, bled dry and finally sacrificed on the altar of power and money. (reproduced from the programme book)

The cast includes baritone Laurent Naouri (Jacques Collin / Carlos Herrera / Trompe-la-mort), soprano Julie Fuchs (Esther), tenor Cyrille Dubois (Lucien de Rubempré), bass Marc Labonnette (Le baron de Nucingen), contralto Ildiko Komlosi (Asie), tenor Philippe Talbot (Eugène de Rastignac) and mezzo Béatrice Uria-Monzon (La comtesse de Sérizy). Susanna Mälkki conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra national de Paris. Guy Cassiers directs.

The performance should last about 2 hours, with no intermission. It will take place at the Palais Garnier. the opera will be recorded by France Musique for later broadcast.

The score is published by Ricordi. According to the publisher's website, the required orchestra is the following :

- 2 piccolos, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 English horns, 1 clarinet piccolo, 2 clarinets, 1 bass clarinet, 1 saxophone, 2 bassoons, 2 contrabassoons ;
- 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba ;
- percussion, glockenspiel, vibraphone, xylophone, marimba ;
- accordion, celesta, piano, electronic keyboard ;
- strings.

I have received the programme book yesterday.

It is a 156 pages book. It contains :

- the complete cast ;
- in brief ;
- synopsis and characters ;
- timeline ;
- Balzac visionnaire, by composer Luca Francesconi ;
- "Dites, qu'avez-vous vu ?", by Sarah Barbedette ;
- Ce qu'il en coûte de désirer, by Alexandre Péraud ;
- Le Capital du XXIe siècle ou la revanche de Vautrin, excerpt from an interview with Thomas Piketty (2014) ;
- Le passé dévore l'avenir, by Erwin Jans ;
- complete libretto ;
- black and white photos of rehearsals ;
- biographies of the artists with blach and white headshots.

The programme is in French, with English translations of 'in brief', 'synopsis and characters' and 'timeline'.
It is my 450th programme book. All scanned covers are there.

My collection of catalogues of works by contemporary composers

In the 1990s, I visited regularly the Musicora music fair in Paris. Every year, I collected all composer's catalogue of works I could find there, from publishers or Music information centers. I also wrote to several companies to receive more by mail.
Unfortunately, since the internet has appeared, it is more difficult to receive these catalogues in a paper version. Most of them can be downloaded.

I now have about 835 different catalogues of 650 different composers. I have scanned their covers and uploaded them to a flickr folder :
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22297671@N03/sets/72157648887120567/

The last four digits of the file name gives the date of publication of the catalogue. If the number is 0000, it means no date is available.

Among the publishers are : Alphonse Leduc, Bärenreiter, Boosey & Hawkes, Breitkopf and Härtel, Durand, Edition Peters, Edizioni Suvini Zerboni (ESZ), G. Schirmer, Gérard Billaudot, Ricordi, Salabert, Schott Mainz, Sikorski, Universal Edition, Wilhelm Hansen, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish Music Information Centers.