- Synopsis
- Cast+Creative Team
- Background
- Composer Bio
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Casanova's Homecomingby Dominick Argento
Nov. 14, 17, 19, 21, 22, 2009Casanova's bringing sexy back.After years in exile, the aging Casanova returns to Venice where old rivals trick him into seducing a castrato, who Casanova discovers is actually a woman in disguise. Together they hatch their own hilarious scheme to save his reputation and protect her identity. Inspired by Casanova's own memoirs, Minnesota composer Dominick Argento composed this warm-hearted comedy for the Ordway's opening season in 1985. Featuring The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.
Dates + Performancesat Ordway Center. Get directionsPre-Show Activities
Join us for Opera Insights, a free prologue one hour prior to each opera performance. These entertaining and informative half-hour sessions, hosted by Artistic Director Dale Johnson or other artistic staffers in Ordway Center's mezzanine lobby. They give an overview of the characters and music, provide historical and cultural context for the opera and highlight certain aspects to watch for during the show. Lecturer - Mary Dibbern-Head of Music-Minnesota Opera.
Project Opera Giovani performs in the mezzanine lobby on Thursday Nov. 19th - 7 P.M. Project Opera Ragazzi performs in the mezzanine lobby on Sunday Nov. 22nd - 1:30 P.M.
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ACT I
Scene one – The Piazza San Marco Street vendors and revelers mingle in the streets of Venice on the first day of the Carnival season. Among them walk Abbé Lorenzo and Giacomo Casanova, who has returned to Venice after an 18-year exile. Casanova spots a young thief stealing a woman’s purse. He intercedes, returning the purse to its owner and detaining the boy Marcantonio. Casanova warns the youngster of the consequences of larceny, and suggests deception is a better tool. He decides to make the boy his apprentice and sends him on some errands.
Two patricians, Businello and the Marquis de Lisle, recognize Casanova with contempt. The marquis urges Businello to arrest the legendary womanizer as he fears there is a plot to swindle his aunt, Madame d’Urfé. Unfortunately, nothing can be done before a crime has been committed. Businello suggests an embarrassment of some kind that will make the aging libertine the laughing stock of Venice, thus forcing him to leave town. Having overheard Casanova’s plans to attend the opera that evening, the marquis hatches a plan.
Meanwhile, Lorenzo and Casanova have been told seemingly implausible fortunes by a street-vending charlatan. They run into two women, one of whom turns out to be Giulietta, a former lover, and her daughter, Barbara, who also happens to be Casanova’s godchild. Casanova learns her father was banished from Venice years ago, leaving them penniless, and she is about to marry an equally impoverished poet. Giulietta hopes, for the sake of their former relationship, he might be able to provide a dowry. Casanova admits that his means are limited, and he must be careful about his doings in Venice, for he is being watched. He suddenly remembers his invitation to Madame d’Urfé’s house, set for tomorrow, and gets an idea. Casanova is introduced to Barbara’s fiancé, Gabrielle, and all look forward to a bright future.
Scene two – At the opera Lorenzo and Businello await their respective guests. The Marquis de Lisle arrives belatedly and confirms that everything is set. Tonight the featured castrato, Bellino, will appear as he sounds – in the role of a woman. Everyone remarks how beautiful and convincing he is. A disguised Casanova soon arrives and immediately finds attractive what he believes to be a woman. As part of the performance, Bellino writes a love note, and then regrets it, throwing the now crumpled letter in the direction of Casanova’s box. Its contents reveal an invitation to meet after the performance.
Scene three – The Ridotto The marquis announces to the party guests of the legendary womanizer’s return to Venice and his imminent arrival. An amorous surprise is in store for him and everyone must play along. When Casanova enters, he immediately notices a nervous Bellino, still costumed as a woman, and starts a conversation. As the seduction ensues, the castrato is clearly uncomfortable and remains in the room only after receiving a fierce look from the marquis. To keep him at bay, Bellino suggests a serenade and Casanova happily complies. The libertine suggests they find more private surroundings as his groping continues. A reluctant Bellino finally receives the sign from the marquis – he admits he is a castrato to everyone’s mocking laughter.
As the party guests leave the room, Casanova’s anger begins to subside. He is convinced he is not mistaken, and Bellino finally admits that she is Teresa, masquerading as a celebrated castrato in order to support her family. He agrees to keep her secret in exchange for one small favor – to accompany him to the house of Madame d’Urfé the following morning. Discovering she has never known the love of a man as a condition of her ongoing deception, Casanova resumes his game of seduction, this time with satisfying results.
ACT II
Scene one – Madame d’Urfé’s laboratory The Marquis de Lisle attempts to discredit Casanova with a recap of last night’s embarrassment as his aunt conducts her scientific experiments. She had been convinced Casanova would be able to help her with her “Great Work.” The mysterious process is intended to extend her life indefinitely by transferring her soul into a young boy. After her nephew leaves, Casanova arrives at the appointed hour. Though d’Urfé has testimonials from her wealthy friends of Casanova’s gift of alchemy, she now shares her doubts. She too was an eyewitness to the ruse at the opera. To show off his knowledge of the dark arts, he claims to have changed a castrato into a woman and offers Teresa as proof.
While d’Urfé takes a closer look in the next room, Casanova cautiously discovers exactly what the “Great Work” is. Madame d’Urfé returns, quite convinced, and Casanova indicates the transformation could begin that evening if he could get an advance to cover the expenses. The marquis returns as Casanova leaves and is angered that his aunt has been duped. She counters by exclaiming he has been disinherited for engineering last night’s deception – she will need all her money in her new life.
Scene two – Signora Giulietta Croce’s kitchen Marcantonio rushes in and announces that Barbara’s dowry is assured. Giulietta and Barbara ponder how this could happen so fast, noting that Casanova seemed to have lost his joie de vivre when they had met the previous day. Furthermore, all of Venice is gossiping about his humiliation at the opera. Lorenzo enters with packages and Casanova arrives moments later. He sends the engaged couple off to purchase the finest wedding attire they can find – there will be even more money by tomorrow. After they have left, Casanova explains the plan, which will involve Giulietta, Teresa, Lorenzo and Marcantonio. That evening they will disguise themselves and pose as “elemental spirits” in order to fool Madame d’Urfé in this “first step” of the transformation process. It will take place in a secluded lagoon in the cover of night, where Casanova will toss a strongbox of d’Urfé’s “precious metals” (since removed by Casanova and replaced by lead). With Teresa’s coaching, they practice the ritual together.
Scene three – The lagoon The four “spirits” await Casanova’s arrival. Giulietta relays to Teresa how she and Casanova met over 20 years ago when she and her husband had business with him. Giulietta intimates she and Casanova also had been romantically involved. They take their hiding places when Casanova approaches in a boat with Madame d’Urfé. While the ritual is being performed, a storm begins to brew. As a gale picks up, Casanova attempts to call off the incantation, but d’Urfé insists on continuing. At its conclusion, they throw the strongbox into the water, capsizing the boat and landing them both in the canal.
ACT III
Scene one – Casanova’s bedroom Casanova and his most recent conquests awake after an afternoon of passion as a gondolier sings outside. Lorenzo, now with a heavy cold, drops in for a visit. He fears the inquisitors may have gotten wind of their alleged “sorcery.” A funeral gondola passes by the window, and they learn it belongs to Madame d’Urfé – she has died of pneumonia as a result of the aborted Great Work.
Businello and policemen arrive and search Casanova’s apartments for the missing strongbox, presumably filled with d’Urfé’s precious metals, but without success. They place him under arrest.
Scene two – The State Inquisitors’ Chambers Three inquisitors discuss how Casanova is a danger to their wives and daughters. The Marquis de Lisle has drawn up charges of fraud against the libertine. Servants observed the disappearance of the strongbox, and Madame d’Urfé was seen getting into Casanova’s gondola. The storm supposedly prevented him from drowning her at sea and stealing half of her wealth. Nonetheless, her final words were in his praises as an accomplished master and wizard.
Casanova admits to having received some gold for services rendered, but if they wish to look further, they will find the strongbox filled with lead at the bottom of the shallow lagoon. He further divulges that he did escort d’Urfé onto his boat and performed a “Great Work,” the one act that could be expected by the legendary seducer. The three inquisitors snicker at what this could only mean. Casanova is released and the Marquis de Lisle is taken into custody for making false accusations.
Scene three – The Piazza San Marco Casanova enjoys his usual table as a troupe of actors reenact his latest public escapades, first mistaking a man for a woman, and then his lovemaking with an old woman. He takes it all in stride, secretly knowing that a little humiliation is worth the achievement of his ultimate goal – securing the dowry. Barbara and Gabrielle’s wedding party enters, surprised to find Casanova at liberty. He orders champagne for everyone while another happy surprise is revealed – Barbara is his daughter. Lorenzo realizes the church is not his calling and takes Teresa into his arms. All celebrate as fireworks explode over the square.
The Creative Team |
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| Conductor | Leonardo Vordoni |
| Stage Director | James Robinson |
| Choreographer | Seán Curran |
| Set Designer | Paul Steinberg |
| Costume Designer | James Schuette |
| Lighting Designer | Aaron Black |
The Cast |
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| Casanova | John Fanning |
| Lorenzo, a newly ordained abbé | John Michael Moore |
| Marquis de Lisle, nephew and heir to Madame d'Urfé | Dan Dressen |
| Gabrielle, a penniless poet and Barbara's fiancé | Brad Benoit |
| Businello, secretary to the Council of Ten | Matt Boehler |
| Bellino, an opera singer | Lauren McNeese |
| Madame d'Urfé, a wealthy widow | Jean Stilwell |
| Giuletta, the abandoned wife of a cardsharp | Jennifer Casey Cabot |
| Barbara, Giulietta's daughter and Casanova's godchild | Naomi Isabel Ruiz |
| Marcantonio, a street urchin | Isabella Dawis* |
| Caleb Sikorra** | |
| A vendor | Kathleen Humphrey |
| A charlatan | Richard Joseph |
| A montebank | Michael Nyby |
| Gianpaolo, the marquis' boyfriend | Angela Keeton |
| Dircea as performed by an opera singer | Vicki Fingalson |
| Demofoonte as performed by an opera singer |
Brian Kuhl |
| Timante as performed by an opera singer | Nicole Percifield |
| Chief of Police | Andrew Wilkowske |
| Three inquisitors | Ben Johnson, Jonathan Kimple, |
| Rodolfo Nieto | |
| Carnival revelers, party guests, servants, townspeople, | |
| police officers | |
The Setting |
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| Venice during the first week of Carnival, 1774 | |
| * performs 11/14, 11/19, 11/21 |
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| ** performs 11/17, 11/22 | |
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Brad Benoit (Gabrielle)
Tenor Brad Benoit joined the Minnesota Opera's Resident Artist Program last fall, after attending the prestigious Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Artist Program, where he covered the role of the Novice in Billy Budd. Other training programs to his credit include those at the Chicago Opera Theater and the Staunton Music Festival. Mr. Benoit is a graduate of Chicago College of the Performing Arts and has sung several roles there: Cecco in Il mondo della luna, the Lyric Tenor in Postcard from Morocco, the Prologue in The Turn of the Screw and La Théièry in L'enfant et les sortilèges. He has also performed the roles of Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi and Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia for Opera in the Ozarks and Roméo in Roméo et Juliette and Hadji in Lakmé at his undergraduate alma mater, Loyala University. This past summer he performed in The Tender Land with Sugar Creek Symphony & Song.
On the concert platform, Mr. Benoit has been a guest soloist in Bach's Magnificat for Music by the Lake, Bach's Cantata No. 140 for the Waukesha Symphony Orchestra and the Midsummer Night Benefit for the Young Musicians for Young Humanitarians in Calistoga, California. For The Minnesota Opera last season, Brad sang Ruiz in Il trovatore, Arlecchino and Lampwick in The Adventures of Pinocchio and Count Almaviva in the alternate cast of The Barber of Seville. For his second season in Minnesota, Brad will appear as Gabriele in Casanova's Homecoming, Lord Cecil in Roberto Devereux, Parpingol in La bohème and the Third Jew in Salome.
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Aaron Black (lighting designer)
Aaron Black's collection of work runs the gamut of disciplines from lighting design for dance, theater and opera to production design and art direction for film and television to thematic large-scale design for leading family amusement parks.
As a lighting designer, his New York credits including the Drama Desk Award winning revival of Black Nativity at the Duke on 42nd St (Audelco Award Nomination for Outstanding Lighting Design), King Lear (Audelco Award Nomination), Waiting for Godot, (Audelco Award Nomination) Funnyhouse of a Negro (Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lighting Design, Helen Hayes Award Nomination), Trojan Women, Mother Courage and Her Children and Dream on Monkey Mountain (Audelco Award for outstanding lighting design) for the Classical Theatre of Harlem, Hecuba for Friendly Fire Theatre at 45 Below, Bleecker Street theater; the world premiere of Almost Blue at the Flatiron Theatre; No Common Thread and Open Field at the Cunningham Studios; the United States premieres of Pink for the 2004 Summer Play Festival and Crooked for the 2005 Summer Play Festival at the new 42nd Street Theatres; Soar Like an Eagle at the new 42nd Street Theatres; the US premiere of Benedict Mason's Asko Paradiso, The Fifth Music: Resume with C.P.E. Bach for Alarm Will Sound; Alarm Will Sound at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall.
His worldwide opera credits include The Beggar's Opera for the Royal Opera House, La fanciulla del West for Opéra Montréal, A Flowering Tree, Orlando, Don Giovanni and The Return of Ulysses for Chicago Opera Theater, Phillip Glass' Orphée et Eurydice for Glimmerglass Opera, Ile de Merlin and Louise for the Spoleto Festival USA, The Abduction from the Seraglio for Opera Omaha, Aida for Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Der Frieshütz for Opera Boston, Madame Butterfly for Opera Bilbao, Spain, The Turn of the Screw for Pittsburgh Opera, Mirandolina and Risers to the Sea/A Dinner Engagement for the Manhattan School of Music, The Diary of One Who Vanished for the Bard Music Festival, Future Opera projects include Carmen and The Magic Flue for Canadian Opera Company, The Turn of the Screw for Boston Lyric Opera and Les Huguenots for Bard Summerscape.
Showing a great propensity for diversity Mr. Black's lighting design credits also include the tour for Princess Superstar, New York Magazine's Single White and Famous - the story of a Sicilian-Jewish rapper dance music diva, the United States premiere of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg for the Two River Theatre Company, ART Institute and the world premiere of The Puzzle Locker by the Obie Award winning playwright W. David Hancock at the International Theater Program at University of Rochester. He has designed productions for Second Stage, Theatre Row Studios, The Duke on 42nd Street, American Repertory Theatre, the Repertory Theater and many more. He is currently the Resident Lighting Designer for the Classical Theatre of Harlem, named by The Drama League as "one of the eight to Watch in America". His association with the company has been recognized with a Helen Hayes Design Excellence Nomination, two Drama Desk nominations, five Lucille Lortell Awards, five Drama Desk Awards, and thirteen Audelco Award for Excellence in Black Theater.
As a production designer and art director, featured projects include the MTV Video Music Awards for Viacom Networks, the Counttry Muisc Awards COUNTRY for CMT, From the Top on PBS, the New York 9/11 Commemorations for the Mayor's Office of New York City, VH-1 Storytellers: Buce Springsteen and the Fuse Fangoria Chainsaw Awards. Mr. Black has also worked extensively with NBC, redesigning their new WNBC Studio 7E Newsroom at Rockefeller Center and on various other NBC productions including The Today Show, Shainia Twain's Up-close and Personal and Faith Hill for Oxygen Network, varied music specials including The Wallflowers with Carole King and Trisha Yearwood, as well as CMT and Fuse Networks, MTV Special Events, ABC and various other industrial events. He is the founder and principle of Velocity Design Group, a design consortium that actively seeks to create new design solutions in architecture and event planning including events for Axe, Starbucks, Glade, Huggies, Men's Journal, Tumi, Estee Lauder, US Food Service and the premiere of The Express motion picture. Additionally close to Aaron's heart was his involvement in helping thousands of struggling children learn to read with the nationally distributed educational Fletcher's Place Television Show where he also served as live action director.
In architecture his designs have been observed by millions of people each year who have visited theme parks, wildlife parks, aquariums, toy stores, and museums in the United States and Europe. He has created the interior and exteriors for such projects as Akbar's Adventure Tours 4D Simulation Ride featuring Martin Short and Eugene Levy for Busch Gardens Tampa, Alpengeist Roller Coaster for Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Shipwreck Café for Sea World San Diego, Journey to Atlantis for Sea World Orlando and other projects for Sesame Place, Sea World San Antonio and Water Country USA. He has created the design for the Harry Potter and Muppet Whatnot Shop for FAO Schwartz's flagship store on Fifth Ave in New York City.
Mr. Black is a principal designer for Theater Strategies Group, a theater planning company specifically designed to create solutions for new and renovation theater projects. He is a member of the International Thespian Society and the Educational Theater Association, United Scenic Artist 829 and has been a guest lecturer at New York University's School of Education and Fordham University. His work has been featured in numerous publications and editorials including The New York Times, Entertainment Design Magazine, The New Yorker Magazine, Journal of Lighting Designers and Engineers Association of Japan, American Theatre Magazine, and numerous Roller Coaster / Amusement Park publications. He is a finalist in the OPERA America's Director-Designer Showcase as the lighting designer for Mourning Becomes Elektra with Andrew Eggert and Anka Lupes.
Mr. Black holds a Certificate from the Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts in California, a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Conservatory for Performing Arts at Webster University in Saint Louis and a Master of Fine Arts from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
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Matt Boehler (Businello)
Hailed by The Washington Post as "an extraordinarily charismatic performer," Mr. Boehler has been critically acclaimed for his dramatic ability and his "supple, clarion bass." With Wolf Trap Opera Company, Mr. Boehler garnered much praise in the title role of Sweeney Todd. The Washington Post raved, "There are times, in fact, when this young man with a huge crossover career ahead of him is standing in a crowd of actors, and you'd swear he was the only person onstage."
The 2009–2010 season brings Mr. Boehler many return engagements, including the Minnesota Opera for Argento's Casanova's Homecoming, Opera New Jersey for Don Giovanni and The Juilliard School's FOCUS! Festival for Copland's The Tender Land. He joins the Metropolitan Opera roster for their production of Shostakovich's The Nose, and he will also be heard in Handel's Messiah (Portland Baroque Orchestra), Mozart's Requiem and Pärt's Miserere (Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, NYC.) This past season, Mr. Boehler was seen in performances of Il barbiere di Siviglia (Minnesota Opera), Owen Wingrave (Chicago Opera Theater), The Mikado (Opera New Jersey), Elektra (New York Philharmonic), Bach's St. John Passion (Musica Sacra) and Bernstein's Mass (Baltimore Symphony Orchestra).
Other recent projects that have shown Mr. Boehler's versatility include Britten's Curlew River (Japan Society), the multimedia opera project Don Juan in Prague (Prague Estates Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music) and as an actor in Suzan-Lori Parks' 365 Days/365 Plays (The Public Theater). He appeared with New York Festival of Song and both the Caramoor and Moab Music Festivals in the world premieres of two critically lauded one-act operas, Bastianello and Lucrezia, by John Musto and William Bolcom. He has been also seen in principal roles with Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Hawaii Opera Theater, Opera Lyra Ottawa, Greenwich Music Festival and the Festival de Belle-Île. A Minnesota native, Mr. Boehler held a three-year tenure as a resident artist with the Minnesota Opera, appearing in productions of Die Zauberflöte, The Merry Widow, La bohème and Don Carlos. At Viterbo University, his first alma mater, he was featured in several opera, musical theater and straight theater roles while completing his B.A. in Theater Arts. He also holds an artist's diploma from The Juilliard School.
Frequently engaged on the concert platform, he has been heard in Bach's Magnificat (Orpheus Chamber Orchestra,) Charpentier's Te Deum (Oratorio Society of New York,) Stravinsky's Pulcinella (Camerata Notturna) and in Mozart's Mass in C-minor (National Chorale.) He has bowed with Minnesota Orchestra in their presentation of Amahl and the Night Visitors, and he has appeared in recital with both Five Boroughs Music Festival and New York Festival of Song. Mr. Boehler's discography includes Bernstein's Mass with Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony on the Naxos label, as well as a recording of songs of Stefan Wolpe with pianist Ursula Oppens and a recording of the operas Bastianello and Lucrezia, both on the Bridge Records label.
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Jennifer Casey Cabot (Giulietta)
In a stellar career which grows in magnitude with every role, soprano Jennifer Casey Cabot continues to garner rave reviews from both audiences and critics alike. Following recent performances as Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail The Washington Post writes, "Cabot's singing merged pathos and focus with a gleaming top range" and Opera News praised "her full, silky soprano," calling it "tender" and "startlingly defiant."
Jennifer Casey Cabot's 2009–2010 season currently includes singing Giulietta in Casanova's Homecoming with Minnesota Opera and as soloist in Messiah with the Nashville Symphony and the Verdi Requiem with the New Jersey Symphony. In 2008–2009 she returned to the Metropolitan Opera roster, and to San Diego Opera as Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes. She debuted with Minnesota Opera as Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and sang as soloist in Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass and Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. Recent career highlights included joining the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for their production of Le nozze di Figaro, a return to the National Symphony Orchestra as soloist in Messiah, appearing in recital for Yale University at Carnegie's Weill Hall, featuring music by Charles Ives, performances of Konstanze with Florida Grand Opera, Countess in Le nozze di Figaro at Boston Lyric Opera, and Violetta in La traviata in a return to Central City Opera. Other highlights include performances of well known Mozart, Puccini and Verdi heroines on leading stages throughout the country. Before returning to Boston Lyric Opera last season as the Countess, she appeared with the company as both Konstanze and as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte. She has performed the roles of Konstanze, Countess, Violetta and Don Giovanni's Donna Elvira at the Washington National Opera, and following her debut at New York City Opera as Donna Elvira, she returned to NYCO to perform Violetta and the role of Musetta in La bohème. She has also joined San Diego Opera to portray Fiordiligi, Donna Elvira and the role of Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, also performing the latter two roles with Arizona Opera. Other operatic credits include the roles of Mimì in La bohème and Leïla in Les pêcheurs de perles with Calgary Opera, the title roles in Manon with Piedmont Opera and Susannah with Kentucky Opera, Alma in Hoiby's Summer and Smoke with Central City Opera and the role of Margaret Elliot in the world premiere of Willa Cather's Eric Hermannson's Soul with Opera Omaha. She has performed the role of Violetta at the Opera Company of Philadelphia, the Opera Company of North Carolina and the Utah Festival Opera, and made her debut with Vancouver Opera in the role of Fiordiligi. Ms. Cabot's concert repertoire includes performances of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Mahler's Symphonies No. 4 and No. 8, and Mozart's Exsultate, Jubilate, among others. Recently, Ms. Cabot performed the role of Konstanze in a concert version of Die Entführung aus dem Serail with the National Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin. Ms. Cabot has performed in concert with the Megaron Orchestra at the Athens Concert Hall as First Lady in Die Zauberflöte under Sir Neville Marriner, the Masterwork Chorale in Mozart's Mass in C Minor, and has appeared in a New Years' Eve gala concert and an all-Mozart program with the Saint Louis Symphony. She has also sung Strauss' Four Last Songs and Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras, both with the Norwalk Symphony. Ms. Cabot is featured on the Naxos label's eight-volume collection of Charles Ives songs in the series "American Classics", released in 2008. In Europe, Ms. Cabot was a resident soloist at Deutsche Oper Berlin and Staatstheater Braunschweig, as well as a guest artist in Bern and at Dresden Semperoper. She recently returned to Germany for a concert of arias and duets with Plácido Domingo, the success of which led to a gala concert with Mr. Domingo in Japan. A New York native, Jennifer Casey Cabot studies with Doris Yarick-Cross. She holds both Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Arts degrees from Oberlin College, as well as a master's degree from the Yale School of Music.
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Seán Curran (choreographer)
Seán Curran began
his dance training with traditional Irish step dancing as a young boy in Boston, Massachusetts.
He went on to make his mark on the dance world as a leading dancer with the
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. He received a New York Dance and
Performance Bessie Award for his performance in Secret Pastures.
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Isabella Dawis (Marcantonio)- performs 11/14, 11/19, 11/21
Isabella Dawis, 17, is
delighted to return to the Minnesota Opera after appearing in the 2005
production of Carmen. As a vocal soloist, she has performed at the
Fitzgerald Theatre and with the Minneapolis Pops orchestra. Recently, she
advanced to the national round of the Classical Singer high school competition.
As a pianist, Isabella has
earned top awards from the Minnesota Orchestra Young People's Symphony Concert
Association (YPSCA), the LaCrosse Symphony Orchestra Rising Star Concerto
Competition, and MacPhail Center for Music's Concerto/Aria Competition, among
others.
Isabella attends the
University of Minnesota full-time as a Post-Secondary Enrollment Options high
school student. This fall, she was named a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist.
She also serves as Principal Intern at Prelude, a teen-singer actor performance
lab at MacPhail. Coincidentally, Isabella's voice teacher, Manon Gimlett, also
performed a "pants role" in the original production
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Dan Dressen (Marquis de Lisle)
It was twenty-five years ago that tenor Dan Dressen first sang in a
Minnesota Opera production. Since then he has performed many times with the Minnesota Opera, most recently the roles of Elcius in the American premiere of The Fortunes of King Croesus, Grampa in the world
premiere of The Grapes of Wrath, the Doctor in Poul Ruder's The Handmaid's Tale, Gastone in La traviata, Abraham Kaplan in Street Scene, Don Basilio in The Marriage of Figaro, Valzacchi in Der Rosenkavalier and Sellem in The Rake's Progress. Other opera engagements include performances with Washington Opera and its productions of Carmen and the world premiere of Dominick Argento's The Dream of Valentino and with The Lyric Opera of Cleveland in La bohème. Mr. Dressen is an original member of Nautilus Music Theater with which he performed the role of the Man in Snow Leopard by William Harper and the role of the Baker in Sondheim's Into The Woods.
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John Fanning (Casanova)
Recently invested as a Member of the Order of Canada, John Fanning's schedule of engagements is evidence of his pre-eminent position among today's baritones. A veteran of eight seasons at the Metropolitan Opera, recent roles there include John Plake in Sly, co-starring with Plácido Domingo, Mandryka in Arabella, The Father in Hänsel und Gretel and Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro. Further Met highlights include Mr. Astly in The Gambler conducted by Gergiev, Faninal in Der Rosenkavalier and the Four Villains in Les contes d'Hoffmann conducted by James Levine. At the San Francisco Opera he was conducted by Donald Runnicles in Louise, he toured the United States as soloist in Mozart's Requiem with Bernard Labadie and Les Violons du Roy and sang Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with Zukerman in Ottawa with the National Arts Centre Orchestra.
Mr. Fanning's 2009–2010 season is marked by a return to the Met where his assignments include Faninal in Der Rosenkavalier and Musiklehrer in Ariadne auf Naxos. He also looks forward to the title role in Casanova's Homecoming for Minnesota Opera and Kolenaty in The Makropulos Case in Nantes and Angers, France. Last season's Met duties included the roles of Tomsky in Pique Dame, Gunther in Götterdämmerung, the Wanderer in Siegried and Wotan in Das Rheingold. He made his role debut as Macbeth for l'Opéra de Montréal and also appears in concert for Orchestra London and the National Arts Centre Orchestra.
During the 2007–2008 season he added three significant roles to his repertoire: Tonio in Pagliacci for Vancouver Opera, Horace Tabor in The Ballad of Baby Doe for the Calgary Opera and the title role in Falstaff for Edmonton Opera. He returned to Opera de Québec for Iago in Otello, a role he has also sung for Opera Ontario and Manitoba Opera in Winnipeg. Also on his schedule were Walton's Belshazzar's Feast with Roberto Minczuk and the Calgary Philharmonic and Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex in Rio di Janiero again with Minczuk conducting.
Mr. Fanning's 2006–2007 season began auspiciously with the role of Wotan in the Canadian Opera Company's production of Wagner's Das Rheingold conducted by Richard Bradshaw. The opening night marked the official inauguration of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts and the beginning of the COC's much anticipated Ring tetralogy. He was also heard as Gunther in Die Götterdämmerung and was much praised for the power and commitment of both portrayals. Of special note was the premiere of Estacio's Frobisher with Fanning in the title role for Calgary Opera, later repeated at the Banff Centre and his recent Spoleto USA debut as Moneybags Bill in Weill's Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny.
Highlights for 2005–2006 included his eighth season at the Met, the Marquis de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites for Vancouver Opera, Gunther in Götterdämmerung for the Canadian Opera Company, and Germont in La traviata for Opera Ontario. A frequent guest at L'Opéra de Montréal, he has appeared as Balstrode in Peter Grimes, Lescaut in Manon Lescaut and Der Musiklehrer in Ariadne auf Naxos. He was Count Tomsky in the COC's production of Pique Dame, Jokanaan in Salome for the Arizona Opera and Kentucky Opera and von Faninal in Der Rosenkavalier for the Met and Vancouver Opera. Also in Vancouver, Mr. Fanning was heard as Jack Rance in La fanciulla del West and he starred as Sweeney Todd for Calgary Opera. He sang his first Iago in Otello for Opera Ontario and starred in the World Premiere of The Hobbit for the Canadian Children's Opera Chorus. Patrons of L'Opéra de Québec have heard him previously as the Four Villains in Les contes d'Hoffmann.
Mr. Fanning first sang Jack Rance for the Canadian Opera Company and was heard with the San Francisco Opera as William Jennings Bryan in The Ballad of Baby Doe. He was featured at the New York City Opera as Mozart's Count and the Four Villains in Les contes d'Hoffmann, roles he had earlier sung for Minnesota Opera. His wide-ranging repertoire also includes Harasta in Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen (Canadian Opera Company), the title role in Eugene Onegin (Pacific Opera Victoria), Kolenaty in The Makropulos Case (Vancouver Opera) and Escamillo in Carmen (New York City Opera). Mr. Fanning debuted at Carnegie Hall in Strauss' Daphne conducted by Sir Andrew Davis.
Elijah, Messiah, Five Mystical Songs of Vaughan Williams and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 are indicative of his concert repertoire with Canada's major symphonies including those of Vancouver, Montréal, Edmonton, Québec, Calgary, Nova Scotia and Toronto. Mr. Fanning was featured as Firmin in The Phantom of the Opera both on the national tour and at the Pantages Theatre in Toronto. The operatic voice of many commercials, he starred in an episode of CBC's Wind At My Back and was prominently featured in Norman Jewison's film, Moonstruck. Mr. Fanning is the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, including the George London Grant to Singers.
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Angela Keeton (Gianpaolo)
Angela Keeton currently serves as Teaching Artist for the Minnesota Opera. In addition to performing for students across Minnesota and Wisconsin, Ms. Keeton has previously performed with the Opera in the roles of Kate Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly and the Second Secretary in Nixon in China. She is a graduate of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music with both a Bachelor's Degree and Master's Degree in Vocal Music Performance. At the university she performed the roles of Meg in Little Women, Rosette in Manon, Marthe in Faust and La Diva in the American premiere of Jeppe by Sven David Sandström. For the Brevard Music Center's Janiec Opera Company she appeared as Lois Lane in Kiss Me Kate and for Bloomington Music Works she performed the Witch in Into the Woods. Her concert and oratorio experience includes performances of Handel's Messiah, Bach's Mass in B Minor, Mozart's Mass in C Major and Vivaldi's Magnificat.
Ms. Keeton was previously a member of the Indianapolis Opera's Education Ensemble, where she sang Mercédès in Carmen on the main stage, in addition to performing a children's opera for students across the state of Indiana. In 2006, she was an apprentice with Lake George Opera in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Ms. Keeton has received awards in the Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions, Palm Beach Vocal Competition and the Florida Grand Opera Vocal Competition. Once having served on the voice faculty at Luther College, she continues to offer private voice lessons as well as workshops and master classes to students in the Twin Cities and the upper Midwest.
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Lauren McNeese (Teresa)
"The creamy-toned McNeese sustained the driving line so essential to Strauss in ‘Sein wir wieder gut' from Ariadne auf Naxos. (If Covent Garden still needs a svelte Straussian, it should look no further.)" – Laura Emerick, Chicago Sun Times Mezzo-soprano Lauren McNeese is rapidly gaining attention charming audiences and critics alike, having a voice described as "creamy" and "with bright shimmer like ripples in clear water." Engagements for 2008 and beyond include performances with Los Angeles Opera as La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi conducted by James Conlon and directed by Woody Allen, the Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte and Wellgunde in Das Rheingold, both conducted by James Conlon. She will be making her Philadelphia Opera debut as L'enfant in L'enfant et les sortilèges and as La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi, conducted by Corrado Rovaris and directed by Robert B. Driver. In May 2009, Ms. McNeese appeared with James Conlon in the Cincinnati May Festival as the mezzo soloist in the Mozart Requiem. During the summer of 2009, Ms. McNeese traveled to Spoleto Italy to be a part of the Festival dei Due Mondi and reprises her role of La Ciesca from the critically acclaimed Woody Allen production of Gianni Schicchi. In the 2009–2010 season, Ms. McNeese looks forward to making her Arizona Opera debut as Dorabella in Così fan tutte and being a part of Los Angeles Opera's first Ring Cycle under the baton of James Conlon as Wellgunde in Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung. Engagements for the 2007–2008 season included Ms. McNeese's return to Los Angeles Opera for performances as Karolka in Jenufa, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Grethe in Der Zerbrochene Krug, and as the Zweite Zofe in Der Zwerg. She also made her company debut with San Francisco Opera as Wellgunde in Das Rheingold and returned to Maine as Stéphano in PORTopera's production of Roméo et Juliette. The 2006–2007 season held many exciting performances by Ms. McNeese as she made her Los Angeles Opera Debut as Tebaldo in Don Carlo conducted by James Conlon and appeared as Javotte in Manon conducted by Plácido Domingo. She made her Toronto Symphony Debut as the mezzo soloist in Mozart's C Minor Mass conducted by Helmuth Rilling, and she returned to Lyric Opera of Chicago as Dorabella in Così fan tutte under the baton of Sir Andrew Davis and directed by John Cox. Ms. McNeese also made her Michigan Opera Theatre debut as Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette, returned to Minnesota Opera for Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro and spent the summer performing in PORTopera's production of Il barbiere di Siviglia as Rosina. The 2005–2006 season opened with Ms. McNeese singing Mercédès along side Denyce Graves in Carmen at Lyric Opera of Chicago and also singing Angelina in the dress rehearsal of La Cenerentola, sharing the stage with Juan Diego Florez. Ms. McNeese also made her debut at Minnesota Opera singing Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. During the summer of 2006, she sang the role of Isolier in Le Comte Ory with Wolf Trap Opera, where she also was awarded a Shouse Education Career Grant. Ms. McNeese is a graduate of the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center of Lyric Opera of Chicago. While at Lyric Opera of Chicago she performed in a variety of productions in such roles as Cherubino, Siebel, the Second Lady, Wellgunde, Rossweisse, Lapak the dog, Flora, Edith and Myrtale. |
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John Michael Moore (Lorenzo)
John Michael Moore hails for Okoboji (Milford), Iowa. He is a recent graduate of the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program in New York City, where in 2008 he made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Fiorello in Il barbiere di Siviglia. At Minnesota Opera, he has been seen as Masetto in Don Giovanni and Sciarrone in Tosca. He has also appeared with Minnesota Orchestra as Sciarrone and as Schaunard in La bohème. Mr. Moore has performed the role of Figaro in Barbiere with the Welsh National Opera and also in the summer of 2009 with Des Moines Metro Opera. At Des Moines he has also performed Yamadori in Madame Butterfly, Henry Cuffe in Gloriana, and Papageno in The Magic Flute. John has spent the past two summers at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont. In 2010, Moore can be seen as Fiorello at the Metropolitan Opera, at Pensacola Opera as Silvio in Pagliacci, Donald in Billy Budd at Glyndebourne and a return to the Marlboro Festival.
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James Robinson (stage director)
The stage director James Robinson is regarded as one of America's most inventive and sought after directors. He has won wide acclaim for productions that range from the standard repertory to world premieres to seldom performed works, and he is considered the most widely performed director of opera in North America.
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Naomi Isabel Ruiz (Barbara)
Born in Bremerton, Washington, soprano Naomi Isabel Ruiz earned a Performer Diploma and a Master of Music in Voice Performance from Indiana University, where she studied with Patricia Wise. While a student at IU, Ms. Ruiz appeared with the Indiana University Opera Theatre as Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Antonia in A Wedding by Willam Bolcom. During her final year at IU, she taught voice class as an Associate Instructor. In 2007, she performed as a semifinalist in the Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition, was an IU Travel Grant Competition Award winner and won first place in the Indianapolis Matinee Musicale Competition. Through Mu Phi Epsilon, Ms. Ruiz was awarded a 2007 Summer Scholarship and a 2006 International Brena Hazzard Voice Scholarship.
In the summer
of 2007, Ms. Ruiz performed Mimì in La
bohème with the Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music
Center. The summer of
2005, she was seen as Ännchen in Der
Freischütz and Constance in Dialogues
des Carmélites in opera scene productions of the Bay Area Summer
Opera Theatre Institute (BASOTI). Ms. Ruiz participated in the master class of
Patricia Wise at the Mozarteum in Salzburg,
Austria in the
summer of 2004. During the summer of 2008, she was selected to participate in
Timothy Noble's Charlie Creek Vocal Workshop and this past summer she was a Des
Moines Metro Opera Young Artist where she sang opera scene performances of
Nedda in I pagliacci, Elvira in Don Giovanni, Blanche in Dialogues of the Carmelites and Lauretta
in the one act production of Gianni Schicchi.
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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 Caeser at the 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 (Opera Colorado; Minnesota Opera; Boston Lyric Opera); Nixon in China directed by James Robinson (Opera Theatre of St. Louis; Minnesota Opera); Intimations for Saxophone directed by Anne Bogart (Arena Stage); and Doug Varone's Deconstructing English. Other opera credits include Giulio 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, Minnesota Opera, New York City Opera and Santa Fe Opera.
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Caleb Sikorra (Marcantonio)- performs 11/17, 11/22
Thirteen-year-old Caleb Daniel Sikorra was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has an adult sister (Megan) and two adult brothers (Joe and Nick). He also has family in England. Caleb attends Roseville Area Middle School. He started his acting career in sixth grade with a lead in the school musical and has performed in all the subsequent musical productions. Caleb has been singing with the Minnesota Boychoir for four years and they have performed with the Minnesota Orchestra in Bernstein's Mass and the Scandinavian Christmas at Orchestra Hall as well as other professional and semi-professional performances. Caleb plays soccer and loves acting, singing and playing violin. He is excited to be in this opera with such amazing, talented people.
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Paul Steinberg (Set Designer)
A native New Yorker, Paul Steinberg studied theater design at the Central School of Art, London. Designs for New York City Opera include Harvey Milk, Paul Bunyan, Partenope (costumes), The Rape of Lucretia (sets and costumes) and Acis and Galatea. His frequent collaborations with Christopher Alden include L'Orfeo for Opera North, Oslo and Glimmerglass; Turandot, Welsh National Opera; Madama Butterfly, Cavalleria rusticana/Pagliacci, and La traviata, Tel Aviv; Il trovatore, Antwerp and Ghent; Idomeneo, Geneva; and I vespri siciliani and The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea, San Francisco. His productions with David Alden include Peter Grimes, English National Opera; Ercole Amante, Amsterdam; Il turco in Italia, Staatsoper Berlin; Rinaldo, L'incoronazione di Poppea, Rodelinda, Pique Dame, La Calisto and Orlando, Munich; and Salome, Vilnius. Other productions include Lulu, English National Opera and Frankfurt; Wozzeck, Komische Oper, Berlin and Welsh National Opera both directed by Richard Jones; Il trovatore, Bregenz Festival and Tannhäuser, Paris, Tokyo and Barcelona directed by Robert Carsen. Upcoming engagements include Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Welsh National Opera and La fanciulla del West at the Norwegian National Opera. Paul teaches graduate set design at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts. He is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome.
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Jean Stilwell (Madame d'Urfé)
Opera diva Jean Stilwell is best known for her role as a blisteringly seductive Carmen. She has built a career on the opera stage singing Bizet to Verdi, and in concert halls performing Mahler, Beethoven, Schumann and Strauss with orchestras around the world.
Her flare for high – and sometimes outrageous – fashion is hidden behind the microphone while performing her role as a morning co-host on Toronto's classical music station, 96.3FM. But, whether she is performing for thousands at the Hollywood Bowl in Eric Idle's Not The Messiah, or for a smaller audience singing cabaret songs by Kurt Weill and John Bucchino, Jean brings to the audience a special blend of vulnerability and strength; formidable range and vocal color, immediacy and timelessness, and always, a wicked sense of humor.
Jean is at the forefront of her generation's mezzo-sopranos. Since first assuming the role of Carmen in Vancouver, Bizet's fascinating gypsy has opened many doors for Ms. Stilwell and she has appeared with the Buxton Festival, New York City Opera, Welsh National Opera, English National Opera, Opera Zuid of Holland, Connecticut Opera, Pittsburgh Opera and all the opera companies of Canada.
Ms. Stilwell has welcomed the opportunities to expand her repertoire and she has appeared for Vancouver Opera as Amneris in Aida, Marie in Wozzeck for Pacific Opera Victoria and the premiere of Facing South with Tapestry New Opera Works. For the Festival of the Sound, she sang Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde and was Geneviève in Pelléas et Mélisande for Festival Vancouver. Recent seasons have also included Katisha in The Mikado (Arizona Opera), the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd (Calgary Opera), Jenny in The Threepenny Opera (Vancouver Opera) and Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana (Manitoba Opera).
She also appeared in the world premiere of Transit of Venus by Victor Davies for Manitoba Opera, and in 2008–2009, sang the role of Peronskaya in Prokofiev's War and Peace with the Canadian Opera Company. Her hit show Carmen Unzipped tours Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand in February 2010.
Ms. Stilwell appeared as Serena Joy in the Canadian Opera Company's production of The Handmaid's Tale and was at the Calgary Opera for Weill's Seven Deadly Sins. In concert, she was in Budapest for an International Gala Opera evening, in Halifax for Brahms' Alto Rhapsody with Symphony Nova Scotia and in Hamilton, Ontario for Opera Ontario's Popera. For Hawaii Opera, she debuted as Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance, and took on the dual roles of Mother and the Witch in Hänsel und Gretel and Jenny in The Threepenny Opera for Opera Columbus. Past credits include concerts in Winnipeg, recitals in Vancouver for Music in the Morning, Maddalena in Rigoletto for Pacific Opera Victoria and Orchestra London, Carmen la gitana with Rex Harrington, Brad Hampton's cabaret show in Montreal, Elizabeth's Concert of Hope for the Regina ALS Society, and a Festival of the Sound concert with Mary Lou Fallis. Further engagements included Symphony Nova Scotia's Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen, her debut with Toronto Operetta Theatre as The Old Lady in Bernstein's Candide and Tapestry New Opera Works' Three Divas with Teresa Tova and Patricia O'Callaghan. She lectured and performed for the Vancouver Opera Club and launched a new compact disc, Carmen Unzipped, with pianist Patti Loach, which became the basis for a popular touring cabaret.
Ms. Stilwell is internationally renowned for the variety of her repertoire with engagements ranging from Dialogue des Carmélites for Calgary Opera to Die Fledermaus for Kentucky Opera and Opera Saskatchewan. Selected career highlights include Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Toronto Symphony, Zigeunerbaron at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Dido in Dido and Aeneas with Opera Atelier in Singapore and the Berio Folk Songs at the Avanti Festival in Finland conducted by Jukka-Pekka Saraste. Ms. Stilwell has also performed Mahler's Symphony No. 8 in Edmonton and Vancouver and Schafer's Adieu, Robert Schumann for L'Orchestre Symphonique de Québec.
She has been engaged by the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York (Trevor Pinnock) and the symphonies of St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo. In Canada, her conductors have included Andrew Davis, Mario Bernardi, Bramwell Tovey, Gunther Herbig, Jukka Pekka Saraste and Sergiu Comissiona. In Japan Ms. Stilwell appeared for Sony Music Communications, and she was artist-in-residence at the Takefu Festival. She is frequently heard on CBC broadcasts and her discography includes the music of Berio, Weill, Poulenc, Somers and Spohr on the CBC and CMC labels.
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Leonardo Vordoni (conductor)
Born in Trieste, Italy, Leonardo Vordoni studied piano at the Conservatorio Tartini, composition at the Accademia Musicale in Portogruaro and earned a diploma in opera conducting at Bologna's Reale Accademia Filarmonica.
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Andrew Wilkowske (Chief of Police)
Whether singing a "virile, sturdy Marcello" or a "garrulous yet endearing Papageno" - Andrew Wilkowske displays an engaging combination of musical talent and masterful stage presence. The baritone, whose voice has been described as "nimble," with an "impressively open top," is one of the most versatile performers on the stage today.
Wilkowske returns to the Minnesota Opera, having recently been seen as Geppetto in Jonathan Dove's The Adventures of Pinocchio, Taddeo in L'Italiana in Algeri, Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, Noah in The Grapes of Wrath, Henry Kissinger in Nixon in China, and Papageno in The Magic Flute.
Engagements this season include a series of Figaros, singing the title role in Le nozze di Figaro with the Green Mountain Opera Festival, Ashlawn Opera and the Acadiana Symphony, and making his debut as Rossini's Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with the Skylight Opera Theatre. He returns to Skylight later this season tin Nozze as part of their Figaro cycle. His experiences are documented in his award winning ‘year of Figaro' blog.
Other upcoming engagements include reprising the role of Noah in The Grapes of Wrath with the Collegiate Chorale at Carnegie Hall. As a member of the original Minnesota Opera premiere cast, he was featured on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion radio show and is included on a complete recording of the opera, available on P.S. Classics.
Recent engagements include singing in the North American premiere of Howard Shore's The Fly at Los Angeles Opera, conducted by Plácido Domingo; Germont in La traviata with Skylight Opera Theatre; Papageno in The Magic Flute with Eugene Opera and Indianapolis Opera; concert performances of Rachmaninov's The Bells with the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Helena Symphony.
Also active on the musical theatre stage, Wilkowske's performance in Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris was called "chilling" and "deeply moving" by the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and his performance in the premiere of Sleeping Beauty with the Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati earned him a nomination for a Cincinnati Entertainment Award.
Wilkowske has participated in the Merola Opera Program, Glimmerglass Opera's Young American Artist Program and the Minnesota Opera Resident Artist Program. He is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) and The University of Minnesota Duluth. |
Casanova's Homecoming
Music and Libretto by Dominick Argento
after L’histoire de ma vie by Giacomo Casanova
World premiere at the Ordway Music Theatre, Saint Paul
April 12, 1985
November 14, 17, 19, 21 and 22, 2009
Ordway Center for the Performing Arts
Sung in English with English captions
As Leighton Kerner aptly noted in the Village Voice nearly 25 years ago, “Dominick Argento is probably the American closest to England’s Benjamin Britten in living out the idea and ideal of a composer functioning as a useful member of a community.” Indeed, in addition to commissions worldwide, Argento has written for every major Twin Cities musical organization – seven of his operas have been mounted by The Minnesota Opera, including one of its very first (then Center Opera), The Masque of Angels, in 1964. It is fitting to celebrate the quarter century anniversary of Casanova’s Homecoming, originally commissioned for the opening season of the Ordway Music Theatre, a major community event.
In writing his own libretto, Argento has drawn many of the actual events from Giacomo Casanova’s L’histoire de ma vie while taking liberties with a few others. Casanova did return to Venice after a lengthy exile for embarrassing a Venetian official (he was one of the few prisoners ever to escape the nearly impenetrable I Piombi, the most secure prison in Europe). Upon his return, he met the acquaintance of the Abbé Lorenzo, soon to become Mozart collaborator Lorenzo da Ponte. Both led similar and somewhat aimless existences, kicked out of various cities for sexual indiscretions or some sort of political mischief. One story from operatic lore is that the legendary womanizer put the finishing touches on Mozart’s Don Giovanni when Da Ponte was called back to Venice by the emperor – he was certainly in Prague at that time and may have attended an early performance.
Finely wrought, Casanova’s Homecoming involves a number of clever twists and turns, but there is probably none better than its “opera-within-an-opera” in Act I, scene two. For a bit of genuine historical backdrop, Argento turned to Niccolò Jommelli’s Demofoonte, a Metastasian opera seria that very well could have been playing in Venice at the time of this opera buffa’s setting. Castrati were still commonplace in Italy, even abundant in Rome, where women were forbidden to sing in public. Naturally, there is more to Bellino/Teresa’s back story than meets the eye. A castrato, Appiani, had once boarded with her family and encouraged her musical training. When the real Bellino unfortunately died, Teresa assumed his career. Appiani supplied her with a prosthetic so that she could pass humiliating examinations, for the Roman priests could not believe such a beautiful person was really a “man.” Though she put off Casanova’s advances for some time, Teresa eventually fell in love, though marriage with an opera singer was out of the question. As in the opera’s ending, she had begun living as a woman, though revealing her gender was no longer optional. After the two lovers parted ways, Teresa discovered she was pregnant on her way to Naples.
This was not the only one of his illegitimate children (there were at least five), leaving wake for the eventual discovery of Barbara’s true paternity at the opera’s conclusion. Another of the composer’s accidenti verissimi or “accidental truths” (though the events took place years earlier in France) is the portrayal of Jeanne Camus de Pontcarré de la Rochefoucauld de Lascaris, the Marquise d’Urfé, who married into one of the wealthiest French families. A widow in her fifties, she did indeed experiment with chemicals for the purposes of extending her life indefinitely, which she referred to as her opus alchemicum or Great Work. Apparently Casanova had just enough knowledge of the dark arts and was able to bilk the marquise out of her money for six years. Were they lovers? Casanova had hinted as much. To buy time, he convinced the marquise to become impregnated with her own child, which would then become the receptacle of her soul. The ruse had its inevitable disclosure, and Casanova had to add Paris to his list of places non gratas.
Though he would begin his adult life by taking minor clerical orders, Casanova basically learned to live by his wits. At one time he was an alchemist, secret agent, novelist, cicibeo and seducer. Throughout his career, he gained audiences with heads of state, casual conversation with the leading intelligentsia (including Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin) and the affections of wealthy women. He could be at ease in a palace, tavern or brothel. For him, sex and genuine love were closely linked, even though the libertine took virginities regardless of the consequences. He could be a hero or a villain and lived a rootless existence seizing any opportunity for personal gain until his very final days. On his deathbed, he had no friends or relatives at his side and yet harbored no regrets – “I’ve lived a philosopher, but die a Christian.” It is that positive quality we see in Argento’s operatic incarnation of the legendary amoroso, a champion of good works … especially for the fairer sex.
DOMINICK ARGENTO
b York, Pennsylvania, October 27, 1927
Dominick Argento is considered to be America's pre-eminent composer of lyric opera. At Peabody Conservatory, he earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees. Argento received his Ph.D. from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Alan Hovhaness and Howard Hanson. Fulbright and Guggenheim Fellowships allowed him to study in Italy with Luigi Dallapiccola and to complete his first opera, Colonel Jonathan the Saint. Following his Fulbright, Argento became music director of Hilltop Opera in Baltimore and taught theory and composition at the Eastman School. In 1958, he joined the faculty of the Regents School of Music at the University of Minnesota, where he taught until 1997. He now holds the rank of Professor Emeritus.
Although Argento's instrumental works have received consistent praise, the great majority of his music is vocal, whether in operatic, choral or solo context. This emphasis on the human voice is a facet of the powerful dramatic impulse that drives nearly all of his music, both instrumental and vocal. Wall Street Journal critic Heidi Waleson has described Argento's work as "richly melodic ... [his] pieces are built with wit and passion, and always with the dramatic shape and color that make them theater. They speak to the heart."
During his years at Eastman, Argento composed his opera The Boor (1957), which has remained in the repertoire. John Rockwell of The New York Times, writing of a 1985 production, stated that "[it] taps deep currents of sentiment and passion." Following his arrival in Minnesota, the composer accepted a number of commissions from significant organizations in his adopted state. Among these were The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, who commissioned his suite Royal Invitation (1964); and the Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis, who commissioned Variations for Orchestra [The Mask of Night] (1965). Argento's close association with Sir Tyrone Guthrie and Douglas Campbell, directors of the Minnesota Theatre Company led to his composing incidental music for several Guthrie productions, as well as a ballad opera, The Shoemaker's Holiday (1967).
The 1970s and 1980s saw the composer working increasingly in the song cycle form, while still writing operas and orchestral music. Among his major song cycles are: Letters from Composers (1968); To Be Sung Upon the Water (1973); From the Diary of Virginia Woolf (1975); the choral work I Hate and I Love (1982); The Andree Expedition (1983); and Casa Guidi (1983). His most recent song cycles are A Few Words About Chekhov (mezzo-soprano, baritone and piano), given its premiere by Frederica von Stade, Håkan Hagegård and accompanist Martin Katz at the Ordway Center in St. Paul; Walden Pond (mixed chorus, harp and three cellos), commissioned and premiered by the Dale Warland Singers; and Miss Manners on Music, to texts by the noted advice columnist. All three cycles were presented in 1996.
Since the early 1970s the composer's operas, which have always found success in the United States, have been heard with increasing frequency abroad. Nearly all of them, beginning with Postcard from Morocco (1971), have had at least one European production. Among these are The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe (1976), Miss Havisham's Wedding Night (1981) and Casanova's Homecoming (1985). Robert Jacobson of Opera News described the latter work as "a masterpiece." The Aspern Papers was given its premiere by Dallas Opera in November 1988 to great acclaim, was telecast on the PBS series Great Performances and was again presented, to critical success, by the Washington Opera in 1990. It since has been heard in Germany and in Sweden; June 1998 brought a performance to the Barbican Center in London.
Dominick Argento examined fame and the immigrant experience in his most recent opera, The Dream of Valentino, set in the early days of Hollywood. Washington Opera gave the work its premiere under the baton of Christopher Keene in January 1994, followed by its co-commissioning company, Dallas Opera, in 1995. The production featured special multi-media sets by John Conklin and costumes by the couturier Valentino. Writing of the premiere, Peter G. Davis of New York magazine stated, "What a pleasure to encounter a real opera composer, one who has studied and learned from his predecessors, loves the form, understands its conventions, has mastered them and then lets his imagination take wing." The Dream of Valentino received its European premiere in February 1999 in Kassel, Germany.
Recent new works include Four Seascapes for SATB chorus and orchestra (2004), commissioned by the Hanson Institute of American Music of University of Rochester, New York, and dedicated to the Silbey Music Library of Eastman School of Music for their 100th anniversary; Three Sonnets of Petrarch for baritone and piano (2007), commissioned by the Cheltenham Music Festival in the United Kingdom; Evensong: Of Love and Angels for solo treble voice, solo soprano, reader, mixed chorus and orchestra (2007), commissioned by the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. for the cathedral's 100th anniversary; and Cenotaph for chorus and orchestra, commissioned by the American Choral Directors Association for its 50th anniversary, premiered in March 2009 at its annual conference in Oklahoma. In addition to new music, a volume of Argento's collected writings about his works entitled Catalog Raisonné as Memoir was published by the University of Minnesota Press in 2005.
Among other honors and awards, Dominick Argento has received the Pulitzer Prize for Music, given in 1975 for his song cycle From the Diary of Virginia Woolf. He received the 2004 Grammy for “Best Classical Contemporary Composition,” awarded for Frederica von Stade’s recording of Casa Guidi on the Reference Records label. He also received the 2006 World of Songs Award from the Lotte Lehmann Foundation. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1979, and in 1997 was honored with the title of Composer Laureate to the Minnesota Orchestra, a lifetime appointment.
– posted by kind permission of Boosey & Hawkes
RECOMMENDED RECORDING
Wroblewski, Shircliffe, Padilla, Ogan, Monzón, Alvarado, Hansen, Smith, Padula,
Brown, Flores; Jacoby; the Singers and Orchestra of the Moores Opera Center
newport classic 85673/2
RECOMMENDED READING
Dominick Argento
Catalogue Raisonné as Memoir – A Composer’s Life
University of Minnesota Press
Dominick Argento: 1998 Distinguished Artist Award
McKnight Foundation
Giacomo Casanova
The Story of My Life
Marsilio Publishers
FOR MORE INFORMATION
A class devoted to Casanova’s Homecoming will be held on Tuesday, November 10, 2009, from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Call 612-333-6669 for registration information or visit mnopera.org/learn/classes.