Faust

The aging Dr. Faust makes a deal with the devil to regain his youth and win the young Marguerite. Based on the Goethe classic, this tale of good and evil brims with Gounod's unforgettable melodies and opera's favorite villain. This new Doug Varone production is the first Minnesota Opera staging of Faust in a decade.

The run time for Faust is approximately 3 hours and 25 minutes, including two intermissions.

Dates + Performances

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Opera Insight

Arrive one hour early and enjoy a free, fun and informative presentation about the opera you are going to see. Dale Johnson hosts Faust Opera Insights along with Resident Artist Naomi Ruiz and Brian Boyce.

Opera Insights is held in the grand foyer on the second floor of Ordway Center for the Performing Arts.

Sunday Matinee Brunches

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ACT I

Alone at his desk, Faust looks deep within his soul. Bitter and disillusioned, he contemplates the vial of poison before him. Voices of happy villagers carry through the open window; he curses them and their maker and invokes the name of Satan. 

Much to Faust's surprise, Méphistophélès appears and offers him exactly what he wants – another chance at life – in exchange for his soul. The philosopher hesitates, but after seeing an image of the fair Marguerite, he heartily accepts the bargain. Drinking the vial, now an elixir of youth, Faust goes out into the village with Méphistophélès as his companion.

ACT II

At the county fair, villagers, soldiers and country folk amuse themselves with a drinking song. Valentin has a final moment with his friends, Wagner and Siébel, before going off to war. He laments having to leave his sister alone with no family. Siébel offers his services as protector, and Valentin solemnizes the oath with a prayer to God.

Méphistophélès joins in the villagers' revelries. He sings a song of his own – a tribute celebrating the biblical Golden Calf and the bacchanals that go along with it. Wagner offers a glass of wine, but Méphistophélès instead grabs the student's hand, noting a dark future present in its lines. For Siébel, the demon prophesizes that any flower the ardent young man shall touch will wither away; for Valentin, death, not in battle, but at the hand of someone known to him. Angered, Valentin provokes Méphistophélès into a fight, but Méphistophélès easily breaks the soldier's sword at its first stroke. Now realizing his opponent's true nature, Valentin uses the cruciform hilt of the weapon to fend off evil as he and his colleagues fall in retreat.

The community gathers for a dance. Faust is among them, hoping to encounter Marguerite. She arrives presently, just back from church. Siébel attempts to attract her attention but is prevented by Méphistophélès at every opportunity. Faust introduces himself and gallantly offers to escort Marguerite, but she modestly declines and returns home alone. 

ACT III

Siébel waits in Marguerite's garden. He hopes a gift of flowers will make her understand the depth of his affection. Although the posies wilt as soon as the young man touches them (as Méphistophélès predicted), Siébel finds a little holy water saves them, and he leaves the revived bouquet on Marguerite's doorstep. Faust and Méphistophélès lurk in the thicket, observing Siébel's actions. They present an offering of their own – a casket packed with jewels – and place it strategically next to Siébel's offering. Marguerite arrives, still distracted by the man who approached her in the square. She casually acknowledges the bouquet, but her attention is caught up in the treasure trove, and once clad in the jewels, she imagines herself transformed into a princess.

Marthe, an older neighbor, observes her gaiety. Hardly concerned by the mysterious nature of the gift, she advises Marguerite to keep the jewels, as they must be from an admirer. Méphistophélès returns with Faust and discloses that Marthe's missing husband is, in fact, dead. The widow experiences a moment of remorse but is easily comforted by the alluring stranger. As Faust makes overtures to Marguerite, Marthe and Méphistophélès explore their new feelings together.

Marguerite unveils her sad lot to Faust. With both mother and sister gone, and Valentin off to battle, she is completely alone in the wo rld. Faust offers his love and protection, but Marguerite is guarded. She puts her faith in a daisy and begins a childish game of plucking the petals. Only when the flower reveals the depth of Faust's passion does her resolve begin to crumble, and the scene ends with a rapturous love duet.

ACT IV

Scene one  In her room, Marguerite is taunted by the village girls outside. Faust has deserted her just as she is about to give birth to their child. She laments the consequences of her actions. Siébel, her only remaining friend, vows to kill Faust for his heartless behavior. She begs him to let it be – in spite of all that has happened, her love for Faust has not diminished.

Scene two  Marguerite prays for salvation at the local church, but Méphistophélès torments her with a hellish fate – God has turned his back in her hour of need. A mortal struggle between redemption and eternal damnation ensues as invisible voices from the depths of the earth offer Marguerite little comfort. 

Scene three  Valentin and the other soldiers return victorious from battle. He happens upon Siébel and immediately asks of his sister's welfare. Siébel hesitates, and as they approach Marguerite's home, he tries to prevent Valentin from going inside. The ploy is unsuccessful – Valentin enters and is shocked to find Marguerite has had Faust's child. Meanwhile, Méphistophélès and Faust have returned to the village, for the latter regrets abandoning Marguerite. Méphistophélès sings a serenade to lure Marguerite out of the house but Valentin appears instead, and enraged by their presence, challenges Faust to a duel. With Méphistophélès' unearthly assistance, Faust is the easy victor, and mortally wounded, Valentin places a curse upon his sister as she rushes to his side.

ACT V

Scene one  As a distraction, Méphistophélès invites Faust to celebrate the feast of Walpurgis Night, the evening before the first of May. In the darkness of the Harz Mountains, a witches' sabbath is in progress. Fearful at first, Faust eventually joins in toasting everlasting oblivion with the attending witches, demons and courtesans of antiquity, who dance an infernal ballet. In the drunken chaos, Faust sees another vision of Marguerite, this time on death row with a blood-red circle around her neck. With sudden sobriety, Faust vows to set her free.

Scene two  Marguerite has been imprisoned for the crime of infanticide. Faust gains entry to the prison cell and begs her to escape with him. Demented with guilt, Marguerite refuses his proposal and somberly awaits her march to the scaffold. Méphistophélès is troubled by Faust's insistence that she leave – with the execution, he believes another soul will be placed in his care. He demands that Faust leave at once, or be cast aside. Marguerite now sees the demon for who he really is and implores the celestial powers to save her. As she dies, Méphistophélès is vexed when Marguerite, judged and forgiven of her crimes, ascends to the heavens.    

The Cast

Young girls, laborers, students,

burghers, matrons, invisible

demons, church choir, witches,

queens and courtesans of 

antiquity, celestial voices

John David Boehr (Wagner)

Mr. Boehr has sung roles with the Palm Beach Opera, the Santa Fe Opera, The Tanglewood Music Festival, The Pittsburgh Opera and The Minnesota Opera. He will return to The Minnesota Opera in 2009 to sing the role of Figaro in their production of The Barber of Seville. In 2008, he performed Dandini in La Cenerentola with Austin Lyric Opera and also with Opera Fairbanks.

For the summer seasons of 2006 and 2007, Mr. Boehr sang with the Santa Fe Opera as a member of the prestigious Apprentice Artist program. Further to his association with The Santa Fe Opera, in the spring of 2007, he was chosen to sing the role of Carlo in the Santa Fe Opera's premiere of a new work by John Kennedy entitled Trinity. He has also performed on The Santa Fe Opera's Christmas concert series in 2006 which toured New Mexico and western Texas. Other opera roles from 2005 to 2007 have included the role of Osmano in the Pittsburgh Opera's production of L'Ormindo; Sciarrone in Tosca and the notary in Don Pasquale with the Palm Beach Opera; and the role of Masetto in the Tanglewood production of Don Giovanni, conducted by James Levine. Earlier roles have included Bob in The Old Maid and the Thief with Salado Opera, Papageno in The Magic Flute, Giovanni Beletti in Libby Larson's Barnum's Bird, Belcore in The Elixir of Love and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte with the Baylor Opera Theater.

Mr. Boehr received his Bachelor of Music degree from Baylor University, where he studied under Dr. Jon Van Cura. He has won numerous prizes at vocal competitions sponsored by the Dallas Opera Guild, Palm Beach Opera and the Metropolitan Opera Council Southwest Regional Auditions, among others.       

Octavio Cardenas (assistant director)

Octavio Cardenas joins The Minnesota Opera's Resident Artist Program after having served as assistant director for productions of Così fan tutte and La traviata for Chautauqua Opera and Die Fledermaus at Austin Lyric Opera. He has also directed productions of Plump Jack, The Impresario, The Elixir of Love and Street Scene and assisted on The Turn of the Screw and La chute de la maison Uscher for Butler Opera Center. Other directing credits include The Elixir of Love for Guadalajara Opera, Beyond Therapy for Los Angeles' Little Theater and Odd Couple for UCLA.

Mr. Cardenas is also a talented singer and actor, having performed in the films‘Til parole do us part, Bottom Feeders and Gemini Friday; in the plays Beaux Stratagem (Scrub), Fashion (Mr. Twinkle), Summertime (Edmund), Orestes 2.0 (Forensic/Phrygian), Dream Play (the Lawyer), 4 a.m. (Doc) and Butterfly Kiss(Ross Sloan); and having sung the roles of Strephon in Iolanthe for the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Shreveport, Sciarrone in Tosca for Shreveport Opera, Marquese d'Orbigny in La traviata and Cascada in The Merry Widow for Guadalajara Opera and Vuzzachio in L'infedelta fedele and Beto in Gianni Schicchifor USC Opera. Mr. Cardenas holds a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance from the Centenary College of Louisiana, a Master of Fine Arts in acting from UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and is the recent recipient of a DMA in opera directing from the University of Texas at Austin.

Andromache Chalfant (set designer)

Andromache Chalfant is a set designer for theater and opera. She is based in New York City. Andromache has collaborated with theater artists such as Mark Wing-Davey, Les Waters, Sarah Ruhl, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Her recent work includes: Opera: Handel's Semele (Boston Lyric Opera), Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio (Opera Omaha), Dominick Argento's Postcard From Morocco (The Curtis Institute), Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti and Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore (The Berkshire Opera Festival)  Theater: Samuel Beckett's Endgame (A.R.T. upcoming), Christina Anderson's Inked Baby (Playwrights Horizons upcoming), Jose Rivera's School of the Americas (Henry Hewes Nomination for Set Design), Stephen Adly Guirgus' The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (LAByrinth and The Public Theater), Anne Washburn's The Internationalist (The Vineyard Theater) Regional: John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation (Old Globe Theater, San Diego), Sarah Ruhl's The Clean House (Cleveland Playhouse), Clifford Odet's Awake and Sing! (Arena Stage), Morris Panych's VIGIL (Westport Country Playhouse), and Craig Wright's Lady (Asolo Repertory).

Andromache is a member of LAByrinth Theater Company. She has been a guest artist/lecturer at Sarah Lawrence and NYU. She received a BFA in Visual Art from Bennington College and a master's in Scenic Design from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.       

Jane Cox (lighting designer)

Jane Cox is a lighting designer based in New York City. Previous work with Doug Varone includes Joseph Merrick dit Elephant Man at The Minnesota Opera, Invisible Man for Aquila Theatre, and many designs for Doug Varone and Dancers (including Boats Leaving, for which she was awarded a Bessie in 2007). For The Minnesota Opera, Jane has also designed Lakmé. Broadway: Dame Edna and Come Back Little Sheba. Other New York theater includes designs for the Public Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music; Playwrights Horizons; Signature Theatre; NYTW. Jane also designed for the Guthrie, McCarter, Glimmerglass Opera and Juilliard Opera, among many others. She also teaches design for theater at Princeton University and lighting for dance at Sarah Lawrence College.

Paul Groves (Faust)

American tenor Paul Groves enjoys an important international career, performing on the stages of all the world's leading opera houses and concert halls.

Paul Groves begins the 2008-2009 season with a return to the Grand Théâtre de Genève for performances of one of his signature roles, the title role in Berlioz's La damnation de Faust. The tenor later portrays Goethe's tragic figure again – this time in a new production of Gounod's Faust with The Minnesota Opera. Other operatic highlights of this season include three role debuts – all in title roles – which begin with performances of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex in Japan under the direction of Charles Dutoit and are followed by Mozart's Idomeneo in his return to the Opéra de Paris and Massenet's Werther in a new production with Opéra National du Rhin, Strasbourg. He ends the season with a new production of Alceste for Santa Fe Opera. Paul Groves can be heard in extensively in concert this season, including performances of Beethoven's Missa solemnis with the Orchestre de Paris and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, a recital at New York's Carnegie Hall (Zankel), and performances of Berlioz's Requiem with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutoit.

Paul Groves began the 2007-2008 season with a return to the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, for appearances as Pylade in Iphigénie en Tauride. He then returned to his home in New Orleans, Louisiana for performances of the title role in Gounod's Faust before reprising the role of Pylade with the Metropolitan Opera. MET audiences saw the tenor again last season in performances of Jianli in Tan Dun's The First Emperor, a role Mr. Groves created at the MET in 2006. He returned to Houston Grand Opera for the role of Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail before traveling to Paris for performances of Julian in Charpentier's Louise with Opéra National de Paris. Highlights of Mr. Groves' work in concert this season included performances of L'enfance du Christ at the Tonhalle-Orchester, Zurich, the title role in La damnation de Faust for the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon and performances in New York with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society.

Judith Howarth (Marguerite)

Judith Howarth studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. After graduating, she was immediately engaged as a principal by the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. During nine seasons there she sang many roles including Oscar in Un ballo in maschera, Iris in Semele, Musetta in La bohème, Liù in Turandot, Gilda in Rigoletto, Morgana in Alcina, Norina in Don Pasquale, Cressida in Troilus and Cressida and Marguerite in Les Huguenots.

Subsequent engagements world-wide include Musetta in Cincinnati, Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes in Toulouse and Santiago de Chile, Christine in Intermezzo and Aithra in Die ägyptische Helena in Santa Fe, Nedda I pagliacci and all four soprano roles in Les contes d'Hoffmann for Florida Grand Opera, Olga in Fedora for the Washington National Opera, Violetta in La traviata for The Minnesota Opera, English National Opera and Glyndebourne, Marzelline in Fidelio, Stonatrilla in L'opera seria and Liù at the Staatsoper, Berlin, Dalila in Samson (Handel) for the Netherlands Opera, Marie in La fille du régiment in Geneva, Pamina in Strasbourg, and Leïla in The Pearl Fishers, Fiorilla in The Turk in Italy and Madame Mao in Nixon in China for ENO.

On the concert platform Judith has toured with Plácido Domingo to Seattle, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Brussels and Amsterdam. She sang Strauss's Four Last Songs in Vienna conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. Her festival appearances include Aix-en-Provence, The Proms, Tanglewood, Edinburgh and Salzburg. She has worked with many distinguished conductors including Georges Prêtre, Bernard Haitink, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Georg Solti, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Claudio Abbado, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Charles Mackerras and Seiji Ozawa.

Judith has appeared on television all over the world and has a discography of more than 30 recordings including Troilus and Cressida, conducted by Richard Hickox, which won Gramophone Magazine's Opera of the Year. Her latest recordings, released this year, are Il segreto di Susanna with the Oviedo Filarmonia under Friedrich Haider and the title role in Mercadante's Maria Stuarda, regina di Scozia for Opera Rara.

Recently she has sung Butterfly in a new production, staged for her by Colin Graham, at The Minnesota Opera, Gilda for ENO, Elvira in I puritani with Chelsea Opera Group, Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem in Florence under Stefan Anton Reck, a repeat of her critically acclaimed performance of Madame Mao in Nixon in China for the Greek National Opera, Catherine in La jolie fille de Perth with Chelsea Opera Group, Britten's War Requiem and Mahler's Symphony No. 8 at the Three Choirs Festival and, most recently, Parasha in Stravinsky's Mavra in Athens.  She has just sung the title role in Anthony Minghella's production of Madama Butterfly for ENO and plans include Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony in Gloucester Cathedral, The Creation in Dundee, Baroness Freimann in Der Wildschütz at this year's Buxton Festival, Marguerite in Faust for The Minnesota Opera and a revival of Madama Butterfly for ENO.

Kathleen Humphrey (Marthe)

Mezzo-soprano Kathleen Humphrey has performed extensively as a singer and an actress in many musical theater and concert venues. Recent highlights include the roles of Miss Bentson in Lakmé and Eva Lückes in Joseph Merrick dit Elephant Man and covering the role of Granma in The Minnesota Opera's world premiere of The Grapes of Wrath, singing Mozart's Requiem under Osmo Vanska with the Minnesota Orchestra, and portraying the roles of Mrs. Fred, Jane and Mrs. Dilber at the Guthrie Theater in their beloved annual presentation of A Christmas Carol. In 2003 she also made her Chanhassen Dinner Theatres debut singing The Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music where she was also recently seen performing the role of The Wardrobe in Beauty and the Beast.

Among her many other roles with The Minnesota Opera, she was recently seen as Suzuki in Madame Butterfly, Fosca's Mother in Passion, Offred's Mother in the North American premiere of A Handmaid's Tale, and Alma March in Little Women. Other favorite roles include Emma Jones in Street Scene, Marcellina in The Marriage of Figaro, Siébel in Faust, Tisbe in La Cenerentola, Mercédès in Carmen, First Lady in The Magic Flute and Nicklausse in The Tales of Hoffmann.

Some other favorite engagements are Woman No. 2 in The Grapes of Wrath for Utah Symphony & Opera, Mrs. Gibbs in Our Town with Skylark Opera, the title roles in La belle Hélène, The Italian Girl in Algiers, and The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein with North Star Opera, Marian Paroo in The Music Man with Dorian Opera, traveling with The Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis to Japan to perform Dr. Suess' beloved The 500 Hats of Bartolomew Cubbins and performing Zerlina in Don Juan Giovanni with Theatre de la Jeune Lune in Minneapolis and at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California.

Ms. Humphrey has also performed with Berkshire Opera (MA) with The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and with the Fargo-Moorhead, South Dakota and Cedar Rapids Symphonies, among others, and she is a soloist at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church in Minneapolis.

Kyle Ketelsen (Méphistopélès)

"Far and away the most commanding performance was that of bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen as Leporello. He has a naturally beautiful, superbly trained voice, rich and clear at the low end, smooth and flexible in the middle range and effortless at the top. Good as his sound was, his acting was better. Ketelsen fully realized the role. He was rewarded at the curtain-call by an uninhibited outburst of cheering and a standing ovation." 

– Jess Anderson, OPERA NEWS

American bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen is in regular demand by the world's leading opera companies and orchestras for his vibrant and handsome stage presence and his distinctive vocalism. Following his return to the Royal Opera, Covent Garden as Figaro under Sir Colin Davis, Kyle began the 2006-2007 season with the opening night of the Los Angeles Philharmonic singing de Falla's El Retablo del Maese Pedro under Esa-Pekka Salonen. He sang under Sir Colin again in his debut with the Orchestre National de France in Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette.

Following a tour of Europe under Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra in a Mozart anniversary year program, Kyle made his debut with the Cleveland Orchestra in Haydn's Harmoniemesse conducted by Franz Welser-Möst. Later in the season, he made his San Francisco Opera debut as Escamillo in Carmen and returned to the Royal Opera as Zoroastro in Handel's Orlando under Sir Charles Mackerras. Also in the 2006-2007 season, Kyle brought his renowned Figaro to Boston for his debut at Boston Lyric Opera under Stephen Lord, and made a return to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Leporello, with Ivor Bolton at the helm.

The 2007-2008 season brings debuts with Hamburg Staatsoper as the Four Villains in Les contes d'Hoffmann, and with Los Angeles Opera and Opera Liceu, Barcelona, as Leporello. In addition, Kyle will return to Covent Garden for Escamillo. In concert he will perform Stravinsky's Les noces with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under maestro Salonen.

Kyle's recordings include a live performance of Haydn's The Creation with the Music of the Baroque orchestra in Chicago, conducted by Jane Glover. This is released under the orchestra's own label.

Kyle Ketelsen has garnered great critical acclaim for his portrayals with the major American theaters. His Lyric Opera of Chicago debut was as Masetto in a new production of Don Giovanni conducted by Christoph Eschenbach and directed by Peter Stein with a cast including Bryn Terfel, Karita Mattila and Susan Graham. In recent seasons, he has sung Mozart's Figaro for his New York City Opera debut and at Opera Pacific, Leporello with Glimmerglass Opera and Michigan Opera Theatre, Escamillo in Carmen with Washington National Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Michigan Opera Theatre, the Teatro Real, Madrid and Orlando Opera and his debut performances of Gounod's Méphistophélès in Faust with Michigan Opera Theatre. Other roles in Washington include Oroveso in Norma , the Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte and the Villains in Les contes d'Hoffmann and Abimelech in Samson et Dalila. He has also sung Colline in La bohème with Opera Pacific, Michigan Opera Theatre and in St. Louis. Other repertoire includes Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Ferrando in Il trovatore.

In concert, Kyle has collaborated with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Berlioz's Lélio and Kaija Saariaho's Cinq reflets au l'amour de loin. Among others, he has performed with The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Pasadena Symphony, the Pacific Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony and numerous other organizations throughout the Midwest. He made his Carnegie Hall debut with Haydn's The Creation with the Oratorio Society of New York and repeated this work with Music of the Baroque in Chicago. His concert repertoire also includes the Verdi Requiem, Brahms Deutsches Requiem, Handel Messiah, Fauré Requiem, Dvorák Te Deum, the Bach St. Matthew and St. John Passions and the Mozart C-Minor Mass and Mahler's Symphony No. 8.

Kyle has won First Prize in several international vocal competitions, including the Metropolitan Opera National Council, the Richard Tucker Music Foundation (Career Grant), the George London Foundation, the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation, the Sullivan Foundation, Opera Index, the MacAllister Awards, Fort Worth Opera, National Opera Association, Connecticut Opera and the Liederkranz Foundation.

Kyle is a native of Clinton, Iowa. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Iowa where he studied with Albert Gammon and did his graduate studies at Indiana University where he studied with Giorgio Tozzi. He currently resides in Wisconsin with his wife and children.

Lucas Meachem (Valentin)

Lucas Meachem begins the 2008-2009 season with a return to San Francisco Opera as Fritz/Frank in Korngold's Die tote Stadt, conducted by Donald Runnicles. Additionally, Mr. Meachem will debut with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas, Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro with the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich and Valentin in Faust with The Minnesota Opera. Mr. Meachem will sing the title role in Don Giovanni for the first time with Santa Fe Opera and New Orleans Opera, appear as the baritone  soloist in Carmina burana with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, conducted by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and will take part in opera concerts at Toronto's Roy Thompson Hall and Chicago's Orchestra Hall, conducted by Giovanni Reggioli.  

In the 2007-2008 season, Lucas Meachem made his Metropolitan Opera debut in the role of General Rayevsky in Prokofiev's War and Peace. Additionally, for the Florida Grand Opera, he performed the role of Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles, as well as Valentin in Faust for New Orleans Opera. In concert, he appeared with the Florence Maggio Musicale in the Fauré Requiem under Seiji Ozawa, with the American Symphony Orchestra, in the U.S. premiere of Ferdinand Hiller's oratorio The Destruction of Jerusalem at Avery Fisher Hall, made his New York Philharmonic debut in Bach's St. Matthew Passion under Kurt Masur, Carmina burana with St. Louis Symphony and the Fauré Requiem with Pittsburgh Symphony. 

Other notable engagements include a debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Oreste in the new Robert Carson production of Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride opposite Susan Graham, Paul Groves and conducted by Louis Langrée, Wolfram in Tannhäuser with Seiji Ozawa's Saito Kinen Festival in Tokyo, and made his debut at Madrid's Teatro Real in the world premiere of El Viaje a Simorgh by José María Sánchez-Verdú. Additionally, he sang Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia in Portland, Maine, and Carmina burana with the Seattle Symphony.    

Mr. Meachem is a 2005 Adler Fellow with the San Francisco Opera and has appeared with that company in the title role ofEugene Onegin and Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute. Additional recent engagements included Papageno and Schaunard inLa bohème with Palm Beach Opera, as well as the role of Silvandre in the world premiere of Pastorale by Gerard Pesson at the Staatstheater Stuttgart. Meachem has been a winner in many competitions across the United States, including the 2001 Mario Lanza Competition, the 2002 Jessie Kneisel competition, the 2001 and 2002 West Palm Beach Opera Competitions, the 2001 Opera Index Competition, the 2002 West Palm Beach Opera Competitions, the 2001 Opera Index Competition, the 2002 George London Competition and the 2002 Bel Canto Competition. He has also been a winner in the Metropolitan National Council Competition in Charlotte, North Carolina, and in New Haven, Connecticut, in 2001 and 2002 and won an Encouragement award at the 2002 Regional Metropolitan National Competition in Atlanta, Georgia.

Jean-Yves Ossonce (conductor)

Jean-Yves Ossonce began his career in 1991 in Great Britain, where he was regularly invited to conduct BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and BBC National Orchestra of Wales. He further conducted major British opera companies such as Opera North (L'étoile, La bohème directed by Phyllida Lloyd), Welsh National Opera (Béatrice et Bénédict), English National Opera (Maria Stuarda) and the Edinburgh Festival (Briséis by Chabrier and Pénélope by Fauré).

During the same period, he was regularly invited to conduct in France: Die Fledermaus, Mireille, Manon (with L. Vaduva), Mignon (with B. Uria-Monzon), Carmen with L'Opéra d'Avignon; Mignon, Manon and Tosca with L'Opéra de Metz; Macbeth with L'Opéra de Nancy; Les contes d'Hoffmann and Madame Butterfly with L'Opéra de Caen; La vie parisienne with L'Opéra de Lyon; Un ballo in maschera, Les noces de Figaro and Briséis with L'Opéra de Rennes, Un ballo in maschera, La traviata, Così fan tutte, and Susannah (Floyd) with L'Opéra de Nantes; and Tosca, La traviata, Faust, Roméo et Juliette, La Cenerentola, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Don Pasquale (with G. Bacquier), Norma, Il tabarro, Gianni Schicchi, Turandot, La rondine, Pelléas et Mélisande, Mahagonny and Macbeth with L'Opéra de Tours.

In 1999, Mo. Ossonce was appointed Artistic Director of L'Opéra de Tours and L'Orchestre Symphonique Region Centre–Tours, where he conducted several opera productions and concerts while continuing his career as guest conductor on several major international stages.

Among the productions he conducted in L'Opéra de Tours are Pelléas et Mélisande, Der Freischütz, Werther (French premiere of the baritone version), Tristan and Isolde, Un ballo in maschera, Don Carlos, Falstaff, L'amour masqué (Messager/Guitry) created in 2005 and revived at the Edinburgh Festival and more recently Le Pays from Ropartz.

In his latest seasons, Jean-Yves conducted Hamlet directed by Nicolas Joel at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste, Les contes d'Hoffmann in Berlin Deutsche Oper, Die Zauberflote at the Welsh National Opera, L'amour masqué at the Edinburgh Festival, G. Strehler's productions of Così fan tutte at the Opéra de Lausanne, La bohème in Hamburg Staatsoper, a concert with Natalie Dessay at La Monnaie de Bruxelles, Mignon at the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse and with Opéra d'Avignon, Béatrice et Bénédict at the Opéra de Bordeaux and the Opera de Nancy, La bohème and a new production of Simon Boccanegra at the Opéra de Nantes-Angers, Norma at the Opéra de Montpellier, a concert at the Theatre Herode Atticus in Athens with June Anderson and Beatrice Uria Monzon, Roméo et Juliette with L'Opéra de Montréal; in June 2008 he conducted Lucia di Lammermoor with Natalie Dessay for his debut with the San Francisco Opera.

In concert, Jean-Yves Ossonce has conducted the Toulouse Orchestre du Capitole, L'Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Leipzig MDR Orchestra, Holland Symfonia, Varsovie National Philharmonic. Soloists he has worked with include Anne Gastinel, Xavier Phillips, Brigitte Engerer, Gerard Causse, Renaud Capucon, Tzimon Barto, Olivier Chablier, Frank Braley and Jean-Francois Heisser.

Among his upcoming projects are Tosca with L'Opéra de Nantes-Angers, Faust with The Minnesota Opera, the world premiere of Pastorale (an opera by Gerard Pesson) in the Théâtre du Chatelet Paris, L'étoile with Grand Théâtre de Genève, Madame Butterfly at L'Opéra de Lausanne, Cendrillon with L'Opéra de Montreal, Haydn's Armida, Ariadne auf Naxos and Mireille with L'Opéra de Tours.

Jean-Yves Ossonce has several recordings: the complete symphonies of Alberic Magnard (2 CD), Suites for Orchestra by Massenet, Reynaldo Hahn piano concertos and Le Pays, distinguished by Classica as one of the best recordings of 2002 and which received the Timbre de Platine of International Opera Magazine and the Deutschen Schallplaten Preis.

Nicole Percifield (Siébel)

Nicole Percifield is a recent graduate of New York's acclaimed Manhattan School of Music, where she performed a number of roles, including the Statue in Griffelkin, the title role in Araboolies of Liberty Street and Nancy Ford in The Village Singer. She has also been a Studio Artist at Central City Opera, singing the role of Esprit Cinq in Cendrillon and scenes from Werther (Charlotte) and Le Comte Ory (Isolier), at The Banff Centre and at the International Institute of Vocal Arts, singing the role of the Maestra delle Novizie in Suor Angelica and scenes from La Cenerentola (title role), Carmen (Mercédès), L'amico Fritz (Beppe) and Così fan tutte (Dorabella). At the New England Conservatory, Ms. Percifield performed the roles of Alma March in Little Women, La Principessa in Suor Angelica and the Sandman in Hansel and Gretel as well as scenes from The Ballad of Baby Doe (Augusta), Werther (Charlotte) and La Calisto (Diana). For The Minnesota Opera this season, Nicole will be seen as Siébel in Faust and the Beetle Doctor in The Adventures of Pinocchio. 

James Schuette (Costume Designer)

James Schuette's work includes set designs for Time to Burn, Space, Berlin Circle, The Royal Family (Jeff Award) and Homebody/Kabul, as well as costume designs for Mother Courage, After The Quake, Purple Heart and Time of Your Life (Steppenwolf); Julius Caesar (American Repertory Theatre); Of Thee I Sing directed by Tina Landau (Papermill Playhouse); Frank Galati's Oedipus Complex (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Un ballo in maschera directed by James Robinson (The Minnesota Opera; Opera Colorado; Boston Lyric Opera); Nixon in China directed by James Robinson (Opera Theatre of St. Louis; The Minnesota Opera); Intimations for Saxophone directed by Anne Bogart (Arena Stage); and Doug Varone's Deconstructing English. Other opera credits includeGiulio Cesare at Houston Grand Opera; La bohème, Drattell's Lillith and Weill's Seven Deadly Sins at New York City Opera; Rigoletto, The Marriage of Figaro, The Barber of Seville, Hansel and Gretel and Sweeney Todd at Opera Colorado; Carmen at Santa Fe Opera; La bohème at Glimmerglass Opera; and Joseph Merrick dit Elephant Man (The Minnesota Opera). His work has been seen at the Goodman Theatre, Old Globe Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Seattle Rep, A.C.T., Long Wharf, Yale Rep, Prince Music Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, New York Theatre Workshop, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, The Public Theatre, Glimmerglass Opera, Seattle Opera, Houston Grand Opera, The Minnesota Opera, New York City Opera and Santa Fe Opera. 

Doug Varone (stage director and choreographer)

An exceptionally fluent dancemaker. There's an emotional breadth sometimes missing from so many other greats in modern dance. Varone puts the beating heart at the center of the work.

– Washington Post 

Thrilling, mesmerizing work.

– Village Voice

Award-winning choreographer and director Doug Varone works in dance, theater, opera, film, television and fashion. By any measure, Varone's output is extraordinary for its emotional range, kinetic breadth, and the diversity of platforms on which he stages it. 

Works for Doug Varone and Dancers, founded in 1986, have recently been commissioned by University of Akron/EJ Thomas Hall (Alchemy), Bard Summerscape Festival (Victorious), The American Dance Festival (Boats Leaving – a multi-Bessie award winner) and premiered at Brooklyn Academy of Music (Dense Terrain), the Joyce Theater (Lux) and the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College (Castles). His Bottomland was the critic's pick for Dance in America's "Wolf Trap's Face of America," nationally broadcast on PBS in 2008.

Varone's direction and choreography of Ricky Ian Gordon's Orpheus and Euridice, originally produced by Lincoln Center (NYC), garnered him a 2006 Obie Award. For New York's Metropolitan Opera, Varone has choreographed new productions of Le sacre du printemps, Les Troyens, Salome and the world premiere of Tobias Picker's An American Tragedy. Other opera choreography includes Die Walküre (Washington Opera); II viaggio a Reims (New York City Opera); the American pre­mieres of George Antheil's Transatlantic and Ricky Ian Gordon's debut production of The Grapes of Wrath (The Minnesota Opera, Pittsburgh Opera). As a director and choreographer, he has staged Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice and Il barbiere di Siviglia for Opera Colorado, Laurent Petitgirard's Joseph Merrick dit Elephant Man and the 2009 production of Gounod's Faust for The Minnesota Opera.

Varone's theater credits include choreography for Broadway, at Baltimore's Center Stage, Yale Repertory Thea­tre, Walnut Street Theatre, Princeton's McCarter Theater, Music Theater Group, The Vineyard Theatre and Via Theater. He choreographed and di­rected the Aquila Theatre Company's The Invisible Man. He staged several seasons of designer Geoffrey Beene's couture runway shows in NYC. Film credits include choreography for the Patrick Swayze film, One Last Dance.

Varone has created works for the Limon Company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Rambert Dance Company (London), Dancemakers (Canada), Batsheva Dance Company (Israel), Bern Ballet (Switzerland), An Creative (Japan), Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Colorado Ballet, and Ailey II, among others. His dances have been staged on more than 30 college and university programs.

Born and raised in Syosset, NY, Varone received his BFA from Purchase College where he was awarded the Presi­dential Distinguished Alumni Award in 2007. Honors also include a Guggenheim Fellowship and two New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) for Sustained Achievement in Choreography, and for his 2006 Boats Leaving. His work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts since 1988.

Faust

Music by Charles-François Gounod

Libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré 

after Michel Carré’s Faust et Marguerite (1850) 

and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s play Faust, Part I (1808),

in the French translation by Gérard de Nerval (1828)

World premiere at Théâtre Lyrique, Paris

March 19, 1859

Faust's legendary deal with the Devil has intrigued the creative mind for centuries, perhaps reaching its zenith in the music, visual arts and literature of the Romantic period. The story can be traced back to early 16th-century Germany, an era of religious turmoil and upheaval, when it was commonly believed Satan was just around the corner. A certain Dr. Johann Faust was educated at the University of Heidelberg and studied divinity at Wittenberg, but was forced to flee under suspicion of dabbling in the black arts. (Faust made no bones about it – he boldly referred to the Devil as his "brother-in-law" and the spirit of Helen of Troy as his mistress). It is said that he met with a violent end, perhaps by a sleight of alchemy gone awry.

Such a colorful figure hardly could have gone unnoticed, and various treatments of the good doctor's life began to emerge almost immediately after his death. Festival puppet plays communicated the morality tale to those who couldn't read, and printed inexpensive chapbooks began to circulate at county fairs for those who could. Johann Spies' Historia von Doktor Johann Fausten (1587) emerged as a popular version (sensationally translated into English as The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Dr. John Faustus) and inspired a dramatic interpretation by Shakespeare's contemporary, Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593). Unlike Speis' moralizing fable, Marlowe crafted his play with a slightly lighter tone. In this case it is Faust who aggressively pursues a contract with the Devil, and with Mephistopheles as his guide, he makes his way through the courts of Europe, creating tricks and feats of magic for heads of state. Throughout he is tormented by two angels – one good and one bad –and repentance is always a viable option (at least until the very end). Oddly out of character, Faust chooses that particular moment to make a pathetic plea to God for salvation, but it is too late – the Devil takes his soul as per their agreement. A moral message concludes the drama.

Germany's first dramatist of note, Gotthold Lessing (1729-1781) left his Faust incomplete, but the fragments reveal the protagonist, in conjuring demons, as pursuing knowledge and truth in the spirit of Enlightenment. The ending is inconclusive; it seems Lessing may have intended Faust's spiritual journey and eventual damnation to be only a dream – a stern warning from Providence for desiring to know too much. 

Enter Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), a member of the Sturm und Drang movement, who bridged the gap between Enlightenment and Romanticism with his play Faust. The subject haunted him for most of his life, producing a drama in two stages (1808; 1832). Part I opens with a wager between God and Mephistopheles: Faust's clouded ways give the Lord much concern, and Mephistopheles bets he can sway Faust completely to the dark side. The learned philosopher is clearly disillusioned with his science and is tempted by youth and the possibility of adventure ("Too old for play; too young to be without love"). The tragedy devoted to Gretchen (a.k.a. Marguerite) is secondary and their meeting is almost accidental. Other elements – her unwanted pregnancy, abandonment and eventual salvation – occur similarly as in the plot of Gounod's opera, although in Goethe's story, Gretchen stands trial for her mother's murder as well. (Hoping to drug her mother so that she can meet Faust on the sly, Gretchen accidentally administers a lethal dosage.) Part II concerns itself with Faust's spiritual journey and infatuation with Helen of Troy. Some 12,000 lines later, he himself is redeemed, rescued from the moral consequences of his sinful acts.

French playwright Michel Carré transformed Goethe's epic drama into a boulevard drama for the Gymnase-Dramatique after a translation by Gérard de Nerval. He took several liberties to make the piece suit the palate of his bourgeois audience. Siébel, only one of several students in Goethe's story, assumes a more prominent role as Marguerite's suitor and Faust's rival. Valentin also is given more dialogue – an earlier entrance establishes him as Marguerite's guardian and protector, eliminating the unseen role of Marguerite's mother. Marguerite is not imprisoned for murder and is punished only for her adulterous affair with Faust. 

When Théâtre Lyrique director Léon Carvalho got hold of the play, he insisted on further changes. To keep in strict competition with his main rival, the Opéra, the drama had to have a more tragic and grandiose denouement. Thus, the Walpurgisnacht scene, which has little bearing on the action of the story, was reintroduced from Goethe to provide that extra element of spectacle. Marguerite is tormented for her crime of infanticide but is forgiven – the apotheosis of her ascension to the heavens being yet another scene right out of grand opéra. (It's hardly surprising that when Gounod's Faust plays in Germany, it is invariably titled Margarete, to remind the unwitting viewer that the opera has only a passing similarity to Goethe's treasured masterpiece.)    

Suggested Listening

Studer, Leech, Hampson, Van Dam, Plasson

Toulouse Capital Orchestra and Chorus

EMI Classics CDCC 54228

De los Angeles, Gedda, Blanc, Christoff, Cluytens

Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Angel CDMC 69983

Freni, Domingo, Allen, Ghiaurov, Prêtre

Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus

EMI Classics CDCC 47493

Gasdia, Hadley, Agache, Ramey, Rizzi

Welsh National Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Teldec 90872    

Suggested Reading

Steven Huebner

The Operas of Charles Gounod

Clarendon Press

James Harding

Gounod

Stein and Day

Mary Dibbern

Faust/Roméo et Juliette – A Performance Guide

Pendragon Press

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Faust

W. W. Norton and Company  

For More Information

A class devoted to Faust will be held on Monday, January 17, 2009.

Special guest speaker will be author and renowned French vocal coach Mary Dibbern.

Call 612-333-6669 for tickets.