Today : world première of 'Blue' by Jeanine Tesori in Cooperstown

Today, the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, NY, presents the world première of Blue, an opera composed by Jeanine Tesori with a libretto by Tazewell Thompson.

(c) Rodolfo Martinez

It is the composer's third opera after A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck (Copperstown, July 21, 2011) and The Lion, the Unicorn and Me (Wahsington, December 14, 2013).

An African American couple in Harlem anticipates the birth of their firstborn, a son, with both hope and fear. As the baby grows into a young man, the mother worries for his future, and the father tries to prepare his son for the realities of 21st century America, while wrestling with his own identity as a police officer, a "Black man in blue." When their deepest fears come true, the family is forced to navigate a devastating reality seeking answers and support from their church and community. (reproduced from the Lyric Opera of Chicago website)

The cast includes bass Kenneth Kellogg (The Father), mezzo Briana Hunter (The Mother), tenor Aaron Crouch (The Son) and baritone Gordon Hawkins (The Reverend). John DeMain conducts the orchestra. Tazewell Thompson directs.

The performance should last about 2 hours and 45 minutes. The opera will subsequently be performed in Washington, DC (Eisenhower Theater), starting on March 15, 2020 and in Chicago, starting on June 19, 2020.

Today : world première of 'Taking Up Serpents' by Kamala Sankaram in Washington

Today, the Washington National Opera and the American Opera Initiative Festival present the world première of Taking Up Serpents, a new hour-long opera composed by Kamala Sankaram with a libretto by Jerre Dye.

Kamala Sankaram already composed several operas, including Miranda (a steampunk murder-mystery chamber opera, Here Arts Center, New York, 2012) and Formidable (Memphis, 2018).

25-year-old Kayla is the estranged daughter of a fire-and-brimstone preacher who is dangerously bitten by one of his own snakes. Kayla’s journey home forces her to confront her troubled upbringing. (reproduced from the composer's website)

The cast includes soprano Alexandria Shiner (Kayla), mezzo Eliza Bonet (Nelda) and bass Timothy J. Bruno (Daddy). Lidiya Yankovskaya conducts. Alison Moritz directs.

The venue is the Terrace Theater in the Kennedy Center.

Today : world première of Missy Mazzoli's 'Proving Up' in Washington

Today, the Washington National Opera presents the world première of Missy Mazzoli's opera Proving Up, as part of the American Opera Initiative Festival. The libretto by Royce Vavrek is based on a coming-of-age short story by Karen Russell.

(c) Stephen S. Taylor

It is the composer's fifth opera. Her previous lyrical works include the chamber opera Song from the Uproar : The Lives and Deaths of Isabelle Eberhardt (New York, February 2012) and Breaking the Waves (Philadelphia, September 2016).

A group of Nebraska families struggles to claim their land under the Homestead Act. In order to satisfy the grant, or "prove up," their homes must each have at least one glass window. Unable to afford such a luxury, the families recruit young Miles to ferry a single window from one home to the next, each time the inspector arrives. How will Miles handle this enormous responsibility, knowing so many depend on his help to achieve the American Dream ? (reproduced from the Kennedy Center website)

The cast includes soprano Leah Hawkins (Mrs. Joohannes 'Ma' Zegner), soprano Madison Leonard (Zegner Sister 1), mezzo Allegra De Vita (Zegner Sister 2), tenor Arnold Livingston Geis (Miles Zegner) and baritone Christopher Kenney (Mr. Johannes 'Pa' Zegner). Chris Rountree conducts and Alison Moritz directs.

The required orchestra is the following (according to the full score) :

- flute (doubling piccolo and A maj harmonica), clarinet in Bb (doubling bass clarinet and A maj harmonica), bassoon (doubling contrabassoon and E min harmonica) ;
- horn in F, trumpet in C (doubling E min harmonica) ;
- percussion (1 player) : 7 acoustic guitars, hanging on the wall in open tunings, vibraphone, glockenspiel, chime, suspended cymbal, hi-hat, triangle, brake drum, bass drum, low tom-tom, snare drum, 4 temple blocks, sandpaper, whip, tambourine ;
- piano (doubling harpsichord), harp ;
- strings.

The performance should last about 1 hour. The full score published by G. Schirmer is available on the Music Sales Classical website.

Today : world première of 'The Dictator's Wife' by Mohammed Fairouz in Washington

Today, the Washington National Opera and American Opera Initiative present the world première performance of Mohammed Fairouz's new opera, The Dictator's Wife, with a libretto by Mohammed Hanif based on his own play.

It is the composer's second opera after Sumeida's Song, first performed in New York in 2013. A recording of this opera has been published by Bridge Records.

The glamorous yet tormented wife of a once-powerful dictator bemoans that she is now having to answer for all of the terrible atrocities committed by her husband, who has "taken to cowering in the bathroom" as the country falls apart. (reproduced from the Kennedy Center website)

The cast includes mezzo soprano Allegra De Vita (First Lady), soprano Ariana Wehr (Ms. Holy), baritone Hunter Enoch (ADC), mezzo soprano Leah Hawkins (I Will See My Children Mom), tenor Rexford Tester (Give-Me-Cheap-Petrol Protestor) and bass Timothy J. Bruno (Death Row Dad). The ensemble will be conducted by Nicole Paiement and directed by Ethan McSweeny.

The performance should last about 1 hour, with no intermission.

Today : world première of 'Better Gods' by Luna Pearl Woolf in Washington

Today, Better Gods, composed by Luna Pearl Woolf, with a libretto by Caitlin Vincent, will be performed in Washington, as part of Washington National Opera's American Opera Initiative.

It is the composer's second opera to be performed, after The Pillar, based on Bernie Madoff's scandal. This first opera is not yet complete, and excerpts will be performed next February by the Washington Chorus.

Queen Lili'uokalani, the last reigning monarch of Hawaii, refuses to renounce her faith and fights to preserve her people's native culture when the island is annexed to the U.S. at the end of the 19th century. (after the Kennedy Center website).

The cast includes mezzo soprano Daryl Freedman (Queen Lili'uokalani), tenor Rexford Tester (Lauren Thurston), baritone Hunter Enoch (James Miller), bass Timothy Bruno (Judge Albert Judd), bass Wei Wu (Robert Wilcox) and soprano Ariana Wehr (Kahua). Timothy Myers conducts the WNO Orchestra. Ethan McSweeny directs.

The performance will last 1 hour.

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 new version of 'Appomattox' by Philip Glass in Washington

Today, a new version of Appomattox, the opera by Philip Glass, with a libretto by Christopher Hampton, will be performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington (DC), by the Washington National Opera. The first version of the opera was premiered in San Francisco on October 5, 2007.

The opera explores the struggle to end racial inequality in America at two key crossroads a century apart: General Ulysses S. Grant's dramatic war-ending deliberations with General Robert E. Lee at a Virginia courthouse - and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s passionate debates with President Lyndon B. Johnson as civil rights protesters rallied in Alabama. (reproduced from the Kennedy Center website).

The cast includes baritone Tom Fox (Abraham Lincoln / Lyndon B. Johnson), bass Soloman Howard (Frederick Douglass / Martin Luther King Jr.), bass baritone David Pittsinger (Robert E. Lee / Edgar Ray Killen), baritone Richard Paul Fink (Ulysses S. Grant / Nicholas Katzenbach), tenor Robert Brubaker (Wilmer McLean / J. Edgar Hoover). Dante Anzolini conducts the Chorus and Orchestra of the Washington National Opera. Tazewell Thompson directs.

The two parts should last 80 minutes each. This world premiere commemorates 50 years since the Voting Rights Act and 150 years since the end of the Civil War.

New items in my collection

While I was in Salzburg, I received the following items in the mail :

- Dresden, Semperoper : August-October 2014 brochure :
- Freiburg, Theater : September-October 2014 leaflet ;
- Hamburg, Staatsoper : September 2014 leaflet ;
- Hannover, Staatstheater : September 2014 leaflet ;
- Louisville (KY), Kentucky Opera : 2014-2015 season leaflet ;
- Martina Franca, Festival della Valle d'Itria : 2014 Festival brochure ;
- Munich, Bayerische Staatsoper : September-December 2014 brochure ;
- Reims, Opéra : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Versailles, Opéra Royal : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Washington (DC), National Opera : 2014-2015 season brochure ;
- Wuppertal, Oper : 2014-2015 season brochures.

I also brought back the following from Salzburg :

- Salzburg, Landestheater : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Salzburg, Osterfestspiele : 2015 festival leaflet and brochure ;
- Salzburg, Pfingstfestspiele : 2015 festival brochure ;
- Salzburg, Stiftung Mozarteum : Mozart Woche 2015 season brochure ;
- Salzburg, Stiftung Mozarteum : 2014-2015 concert season brochure.

Today : World première of Huang Ruo's opera 'An American Soldier' in Washington, DC

Today, the American Opera Initiative program of the Washington National Opera continues with the world première performance of An American Soldier, composed by Huang Ruo, with a libretto by David Henry Hwang. This one hour-long opera will be performed at the Terrace Theater of the Kennedy Center.

Here is the storyline of the opera, as found on the Kennedy Center website :

On October 3, 2011, Chinese-American Army Pvt. Danny Chen was found dead in a guard tower at his base in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. The real circumstances behind his death, though, illustrate a darker undercurrent to life in the military. Based on a true story, and drawing from the ensuing courts-martial of Chen's fellow soldiers, An American Soldier explores what happens when the very people who are supposed to protect you in a combat zone become your enemy.

The cast is the following : Andrew Stenson (Pvt. Danny Chen), Guang Yang (Mother Chen), Trevor Scheunemann (Sgt. Aaron Marcum), Soloman Howard (Judge and Pvt. Manny Davis), Andrew McLaughlin, Michael Ventura and Jonathan Blalock. The singers will be accompanied by a chamber orchestra conducted by Steven Jarvi. David Paul directs.