Wuthering Heights

April 16, 17, 19, 21 and 23, 2011

A gothic romance by a Hollywood legend.

Wuthering Heights is based on Emily Brontë's gothic romance. Unable to bridge the chasm of social class, Heathcliff and Catherine are consumed by a love that can never be, and its legacy haunts the windswept Yorkshire moors. The music of the opera, composed by Hollywood legend Bernard Herrmann, underscores the novel's passion, prejudice and mystery.

Bernard Herrmann was an Academy Award-winning American composer whose unforgettable collaborations include Psycho with Alfred Hitchcock, Citizen Kane with Orson Welles and Taxi Driver with Martin Scorsese. Minnesota Opera's new production of his only opera celebrates the centennial of the composer's birth and is the first major revival of this forgotten masterpiece since it was written in Minneapolis in 1951.

Sung in English with English translations projected above the stage.

Estimated run time, including intermission is 3 hours and 35 minutes.

Dates + Performances

*Section F is Partial View. Stage and/or surtitles may be partially obstructed from seats in this area.

+Student/Senior discount is available Tuesdays and Thursdays only. To order, call the Ticket Office at 612-333-6669 Mon.-Fri., 9am-6pm.

Prologue

Mr. Lockwood seeks shelter at Wuthering Heights, the ancestral home of the Earnshaw family, as a storm rages outside. Nelly, the housekeeper, warns him to be quiet as the current owner of the manor, Heathcliff, will be angered if he discovers there is a visitor. Alone in an unused bedroom, Lockwood discovers an old diary of Catherine Earnshaw, a deceased former resident of the house. Once asleep, he begins to have nightmares about Cathy, whose ghost he envisions outside his window. Lockwood cries out, disturbing Heathcliff, who enters the room. Greatly agitated, Heathcliff anxiously looks out the window, but sees no one and is utterly devastated.

Act One

Scene one – It is twenty years earlier. Cathy and Heathcliff enter Wuthering Heights after a walk in the moors. They are clearly in love and Cathy recalls the day he first came to their home after her father discovered him as a homeless boy in Liverpool and took him in. Cathy's alcoholic brother, Hindley, is now master of their home and treats Heathcliff poorly. He is upset to find them in an embrace and orders Heathcliff to work in the fields with Joseph, the farmhand. Joseph wishes to break for mass, but Hindley demands that he hold the ritual inside the house and keep an eye on Cathy and Heathcliff. As Joseph dozes off, the couple revels in the moonlight and escape through a window.

Scene two – The following Christmas Eve, the household awaits the arrival of their brother and sister neighbors, Edgar and Isabella, along with Cathy, who has been their guest for several weeks. Nelly plays with Hindley's young son Hareton while observing the forlorn Heathcliff. She offers to smarten his disheveled attire for the impending visit, but he will have none of it - Cathy will like him as he is. Rushing toward the door, he is cuffed by Hindley, who insists on greeting his guests rather than the "stable boy." Cathy remarks on his sulky demeanor while Heathcliff sizes up Edgar, a potential rival. Hoping to keep Heathcliff and Cathy apart, Hindley continues to bait him and the two scuffle, leaving the room. Carolers sing outside.

Act Two

The following spring, Cathy awaits another visit from Edgar. Heathcliff invites her for a walk, but she fears they will be discovered by Joseph. He berates her for spending so much time with the Lintons, and she rebukes him for being childish. Heathcliff rushes off as Edgar enters. Cathy asks Nelly to stop spying on them and leave the room as well. When she doesn't, Cathy slaps her. Edgar intercedes and she strikes him too. The spat passes, and as Cathy and Edgar make up, Nelly feels a dreadful foreboding for Heathcliff, knowing that he and the young girl will never be together.

Hareton enters the room, frightened of his drunken father. Hindley stumbles in and picks up a carving knife, intending to harm the child. Nelly has seen this behavior before and plays along, putting herself between father and son. Hindley snatches the child and threatens to throw him down the stairs until Heathcliff stops him. Cathy returns, and unaware Heathcliff is in the room, confides in Nelly her intention to marry Edgar, as it seems her abusive brother has broken the now-sullen Heathcliff's spirit, even though they appear to be soul mates. He rushes from the room, and mortified that she has been overheard, Cathy runs outside into a raging storm, crying out his name.

Act Three

It is three years later and Cathy is married to Edgar. She now resides in the Lintons' home at Thrushcross Grange, which is in view of Wuthering Heights. Their scene of domestic tranquility is interrupted when Nelly announces a visitor - Heathcliff has returned after a lengthy absence. He has become a fully grown, good-looking and perfectly groomed young man, with the face of experience. Cathy chides him for his silence, but Heathcliff counters that it has been a difficult period. Now flush with cash, he intends to buy Wuthering Heights from Hindley, who is financially mired with huge gambling debts. Cathy is once again enthralled by her childhood friend and Edgar can barely hide his jealousy. He asks for a moment alone with his wife.

Meanwhile, Isabella is also entranced by Heathcliff and confesses her attraction to his non-conforming ways back when they met at Christmastime. He hardly pays her much attention, even when she sings a song to him. Cathy returns, asking that they be left alone, but Isabel refuses, stating that she is now Heathcliff's friend. Cathy exposes all of his faults, claiming that he could never marry a Linton. Heathcliff sneers that if she could love a Linton, why couldn't he? He is not her husband and may do as he pleases. Upset, Cathy tries to leave the room and encounters Edgar. Seeing how distraught she has become, he orders Heathcliff to leave his house, and he does so while cursing them both. Now completely unhinged, Cathy admits she does not loves Edgar and recalls the simplicity of her childhood. She longs for the grave and is hardly comforted by Nelly's feeble efforts to calm her nerves.

Act Four

The following March, Isabel writes a letter revealing her unhappiness. Her impulsive marriage to Heathcliff has been a failure, and the walls of Wuthering Heights have become a prison. A drunken Hindley wields a pistol, bemoaning the streetwise vagrant who robbed him of his father's love and his birthright. Isabel is jealous of the apparent affair she thinks Heathcliff is having with Cathy, and is ready to watch him die, only to scream out at the last minute, saving Heathcliff's life. He wrestles the gun out of Hindley's hand and scorns his unloved wife, who leaves the room in a wild frenzy.

Cathy enters, showing the effects of a long illness. She only wishes for peace, and Heathcliff asks why she betrayed her heart by marrying Edgar, which ultimately has caused them both so much pain. After they forgive one another, Cathy vividly envisions the afterlife and dies. Unable to face her mortality, Heathcliff challenges her spirit to haunt him forever and drive him mad.

print synopsis

Wuthering Heights

Creative Team

The Cast

Hindley Earnshaw,

   Catherine's brother

Edgar Linton,

   the Earnshaws' neighbor

Setting

Jesse Blumberg (Mr. Lockwood)

Baritone Jesse Blumberg is an artist equally at home on opera, concert and recital stages. He recently created the role of Connie Rivers in Ricky Ian Gordon's world premiere opera The Grapes of Wrath at Minnesota Opera and Utah Symphony and Opera and reprised the role at Pittsburgh Opera during the 2008–2009 season. In June 2009, he made his Boston Early Music Festival debut, performing Adonis in Venus and Adonis and Mercurio in L'incoronazione di Poppea. Additional engagements for 2008–2009 included Silvio in Annapolis Opera's production of Pagliacci. In the 2009–2010 season he will be seen as Harlekin in Ariadne auf Naxos with Boston Lyric Opera as well as making concert appearances with the American Bach Soloists for Handel's Messiah and the Vaughan Williams Dona nobis pacem. Future seasons will see Mr. Blumberg will return to Minnesota Opera for Bernard Herrmann's Wuthering Heights. Other recent engagements include his debut with Opera Delaware as John Brooke in Little Women. For his 2007 performance in the title role of Monteverdi's Return of Ulysses with Opera Vivente, the Baltimore Sun raved, "Jesse Blumberg commanded the stage, physically and vocally … lighting up the hall with his every appearance." His other operatic roles performed include Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Papageno in The Magic Flute, Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas, Paquillo in La Perichole and Pish-Tush in The Mikado. 

On the concert stage, Mr. Blumberg has been a featured soloist with American Bach Soloists in the San Francisco Bay Area, with the Los Angeles Master Chorale at Walt Disney Concert Hall and at the Berkshire Choral Festival. He has given the world premiere of two important chamber works, Ricky Ian Gordon's Green Sneakers and Lisa Bielawa's The Lay of the Love and Death, the former at the Vail Valley Music Festival and the latter at Alice Tully Hall. He has also toured with the Waverly Consort and the Mark Morris Dance Group, and has been a guest artist with the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players. As a member of the roster of the Marilyn Horne Foundation, Mr. Blumberg performed an "On Wings of Song" recital with pianist Martin Katz, which has since been heard around the nation on various radio broadcasts. He performed Die schöne Müllerin at the Austrian Embassy as well as a recital of songs by Hugo Wolf, described by the Washington Post as "no less than revelatory." In addition to his operatic engagements, this season he returns to American Bach Soloists for Messiah and will make his Paris debut in a program of American song with the Mirror Visions Ensemble.

Mr. Blumberg has participated in young artist programs at The Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, the Ravinia Festival and Chicago Opera Theater. He has been recognized in several competitions, and most recently was awarded third prize at the 2008 International Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau, becoming its first American prizewinner in over thirty years. In 2007, he took first prizes in the International Hilde Zadek Singing Competition in Vienna and the National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artist Competition.

Mr. Blumberg received a Master of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and received undergraduate degrees in history and music from the University of Michigan. He is also the founder and artistic director of the Five Boroughs Music Festival, a new concert series in New York City.

Michael Christie (conductor)

Michael Christie became the Virginia G. Piper Music Director of the Phoenix Symphony in August 2005 and music director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic in September 2005. With his orchestras, he has embarked on a series of ambitious projects focusing on interdisciplinary collaborations with visual artists, dance companies and theater groups, as well as on contemporary composers such as Gorecki, Ligeti, Adams, Goijov and Tan Dun. He is also Music Director of the Colorado Music Festival, where he has been much praised for his innovative programming and where festival audiences are now at an all time high.

Christie made his New York Philharmonic debut in March 2007, stepping in for an ailing Riccardo Muti. In previous seasons, he has conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Houston Symphony, The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony and the Cincinnati Symphony, among many others. In the 2008-2009 season, Christie returned to the St. Louis Symphony and made his debut with the National Symphony Orchestra.

In Europe his career has been equally successful, with past engagements including the DSO Berlin, Orchestre National de Lille, Swedish Radio Symphony, the Netherlands Radio Symphony, the City of Birmingham Symphony, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, the NDR Hannover Orchestra and the Czech Philharmonic. His ties to orchestras in Scandanavia have been particularly strong with engagements in all five countries.

Christie enjoys a strong profile in Australia, where aside from his role as chief conductor of the Queensland Orchestra (which ended in December 2004), he has also conducted the Sydney Symphony, Tasmanian Symphony, Opera Queensland and the Western Australian Symphony in Perth.

Michael Christie has also established an excellent reputation as an opera conductor and he has regularly conducted both operas and ballet performances at the Opernhaus, Zurich. He has a very special relationship with the house in Zurich where, in the 1997-1998 season, he was assistant conductor to Franz Welser-Möst (a position especially created for him). That season he made his highly successful debut conducting performances of Roméo et Juliette and a new production of Hansel and Gretel. He has also worked with the Finnish National Opera, where he conducted Le nozze di Figaro in 1999-2000 and with the Queensland Opera where he made his debut conducting Così fan tutte the same season. In March 2004, he made his highly successful opera debut in The Netherlands conducting John Adams' The Death of Klinghoffer with the Rotterdam Philharmonic. In June 2009, Christie made his United States debut conducting staged opera with a new production of John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles at the Opera Theater of St. Louis.

Michael Christie first came to international attention in 1995 when he was awarded a special prize for "Outstanding Potential" at the First International Sibelius Conductor's Competition in Helsinki. Following the competition, Mr. Christie was invited to become an apprentice conductor with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and subsequently worked with Daniel Barenboim, both in Chicago and at the Berlin State Opera during the 1996-1997 season.

Michael Christie graduated from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music with a bachelor's degree in trumpet performance.

Kelly Kaduce (Catherine)

Kelly Kaduce is a soprano with a warm and rich voice, stunning beauty, and superb acting ability. For her creation of the title role in Anna Karenina, Opera News proclaimed her "an exceptional actress whose performance was as finely modulated dramatically as it was musically … and her dark, focused sound was lusty and lyrical one moment, tender and floating the next." For her Boston Lyric Opera debut in the title role of Thaïs, Opera News observed, "Kaduce sings with bell-like purity and silvery sweetness, and she suspends her legato with an effortless, sensual spin. A born actress, Kaduce is also a masterful illuminator of text."

In the 2009–2010 season Kelly Kaduce sings Mimì in La bohème with Portland Opera; Countess in Le nozze di Figaro with Eugene Opera; Nedda in I pagliacci with Opera Omaha and Florida Grand Opera; the title role in Suor Angelica, also with Florida Grand Opera; Princess Lan in Tan Dun's Tea with Opera Company of Philadelphia; Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Michigan Opera Theatre; and Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly with Santa Fe Opera. In 2008–2009, she made her Kentucky Opera debut as Desdemona in Verdi's Otello, returned to Malmö Opera as Violetta in La traviata, to Florida Grand Opera as Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in the title role in Salome, and sang in an evening of arias with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Her 2010–2011 season engagements currently include singing as Melisande in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

Recent season highlights include her debut with Opera Pacific as Mimì and her returns to Malmö Opera as Marguerite in Faust, to Minnesota Opera in the title role of Rusalka, and to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly. She performed the title role in Suor Angelica at Teatro Municipal de Santiago in Chile, appeared in recital with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, at St. Olaf College and (with baritone Lee Gregory) at Bates College; and sang the roles of Princess and Puppet in Tan Dun's Tea in a re-engagement with Santa Fe Opera. She has received high praise for her returns to Boston Lyric Opera to perform Cio-Cio-San and to Minnesota Opera to sing Rosasharn in the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon's The Grapes of Wrath.

She has appeared as Mimì with Opera Grand Rapids, Florida Grand Opera, Minnesota Opera and Opera Delaware, and in the Los Angeles production of Baz Luhrmann's La bohème. She returned to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in the title role of Michael Berkeley's Jane Eyre; performed the title role in Susannah with Orlando Opera; Marguerite in Faust with Nashville Opera, Florida Grand Opera and Austin Lyric Opera; Caroline in the world premiere of Margaret Garner with Michigan Opera Theatre, also with Opera Company of Philadelphia; Cio-Cio-San with Minnesota Opera; Micaëla in Carmen with Nashville Opera; Birdie Hubbard in Regina at Bard's SummerScape Festival; Juliette in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette with Lyric Opera of Kansas City; Donna Elvira with Florida Grand Opera; the title role in Suor Angelica with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with Atlanta Opera. For Glimmerglass Opera she created two roles in the trilogy Central Park. She made her Santa Fe Opera debut as The Chinese Actress and ZiZhen in the world premiere of Bright Sheng's Madame Mao, and her New York City Opera debut as Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, which she also sang with Opera Colorado.

Among her concert credits are Mahler's Symphony No. 2, Barber's Prayers of Kierkegaard, Berg's Seven Early Songs and Argento's Casa Guidi. She has also appeared with the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra as soloist in Beethoven's Egmont, and in Britten's War Requiem and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Boston University Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall.

Kelly Kaduce is a graduate of both St. Olaf College and Boston University, and was a winner of the 1999 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

Eric Margiore (Edgar)

Lyric tenor, Eric Margiore who was praised by Opera News for "ripping into his role with brilliance and style, brio and high-octane vocalism," is establishing himself as an international contender in the principal Italian bel canto and romantic tenor repertoire. The tenor is quickly becoming known for his uniquely Italianate timbre and his "American Idol looks," with a "real presence, intelligence, and level-10 intensity."

Future projects for the young tenor include his appearance as Edgar Linton in Bernard Herrmann's Wuthering Heights with Minnesota Opera, directed by Academy Award winner Eric Simonson; singing Alfredo in La traviata and the tenor soloist in Verdi's Reqiuem, with the Utah Festival Opera, as well as another La traviata, this time with Hawaii Opera Theatre. Eric will also perform as a soloist in concert with Marcello Giordani, for the Marcello and Friends encore series and sing as the featured soloist in a Holiday Pops Concert with the Stockton Symphony Orchestra.

The year 2009 had Mr. Margiore reprising the role of Il Duca di Mantova in Rigoletto with Opera Naples. He was then again commended by Opera News in his return to the Opera Theatre of St. Louis for his official company debut and role debut as Narraboth in Salome under the baton of Maestro Stephen Lord. He also sang gala concerts with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis as well as with Virginia Opera. Eric most recently made his debut in Asia with Opera Hong Kong in performances of Tamino in Die Zauberflöte in Hong Kong and Beijing, China, with Paul Curran directing and Jari Hamalainen conducting.

The 2008 season saw Eric Margiore making his stage debut with the role of Gérald in Lakmé at Tulsa Opera. He then made his role and house debut of Il Duca di Mantova in Rigoletto with the in Palm Beach Opera. Eric also made his role and house debut with the Sarasota Opera singing Conte Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia and had a further invitation to reprise this role with Baltimore Opera. Other notable appearances included his role debut of Alfredo in La traviata at the Shreveport Opera and Cassio in Otello with the Vero Beach Opera under the baton of Maestro Steven Crawford. Concert appearances included a musical revue at Radio City Music Hall, Mozart's Coronation Mass in his third appearance at Carnegie Hall, The World of Opera: Concert of Arias and Duets for the Vero Beach Opera, and a Sicilian-themed holiday concert with the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra in Louisiana.

During the 2007 season, Eric joined the New York City Opera to make his State Theater debut in a gala concert Opera for All led by principal conductor Maestro George Manahan. As well in his debut season, he was assigned to cover Le Prince Charmant in Massenet's Cendrillon. The year 2007 also saw Mr. Margiore's collaboration begin with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis where he covered both Arturo and Riccardo in the Malibran version of I puritani. While in residence, he was selected as a soloist for the Colin Graham Memorial Concert and had his unofficial debut with the company when he stepped in last minute to sing Arturo in two important performances of I puritani that were praised by Opera News. Mr. Margiore then joined the Charleston Symphony Orchestra for a concert performance of West Side Story in which he was praised for his singing of Tony. Eric then sang his role debut of Rodolfo in La bohème with the Opera Ischia Festival in Italy, while also performing several concerts in southern Italy. Further projects included a gala concert Tutti in Piazza in Stockton, California as well as a compact disc recording of Thomas Pasatieri's La Divina as the Young Conductor on Albany Records with the Opera Company of Brooklyn.

In 2006, after his transition from baritone, Eric sang Azael in Debussy's L'enfant prodigue for his debut with Opera Naples, a concert of Neapolitan songs and opera arias, Festa Italiana, with the Stockton Symphony Orchestra as well as Alfredo in La traviata, Rodolfo in La bohème, and Il Duca di Mantova in Rigoletto with the New Opera Festival di Roma, in Rome, Italy.

In addition to his performing, Eric has been recognized by many important vocal competitions and foundations. He was the winner of a grant from the William Matheus Sullivan Foundation, the Licia Albanese/Puccini Foundation and was an international quarterfinalist in Placido Domingo's Operalia in both 2007 and 2009. He was also a two-time winner in the Connecticut Opera Guild Competition, a finalist in the Lyric Opera of Chicago's Young Artist Auditions and a Metropolitan Opera National semifinalist.

Eric hails from Long Island, New York, and he is a proud Italian-American coming from a Sicilian and Neapolitan family heritage. Eric finished his professional training at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Glimmerglass Opera and Chautuaqua Opera's young artist programs and holds degrees from New York University and the Mannes College of Music.

Rodolfo Nieto (Joseph)

Bass-baritone Rodolfo Nieto most recently appeared as Don Alfonso for Cedar Rapids Opera Theater's production of Così fan tutte. Other roles for that company include the Imperial Commissioner in Madame Butterfly and Pooh-Bah in The Mikado. During the 2008 season he was a Opera Colorado Young Artist, where he sang the roles of Don Magnifico and Alidoro in Cinderella and Godofredo in La Curandera for its outreach program. In 2007, Mr. Nieto appeared as Gravitas in the world premiere of Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings at Theatre@Boston Court.

Mr. Nieto attended Northwestern University, where he performed as Prince Gremin in Eugene Onegin, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte and Simone in Gianni Schicchi. At Luther College, he has sung the title role in The Marriage of Figaro, the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte. As a resident artist for the Minnesota Opera last season, Mr. Nieto appeared as the Third Inquisitor and Spanish Captain in Casanova's Homecoming, the Friend of Nottingham in Roberto Devereux, Colline in La bohème and the First Guard in Salome. This season, he sings Dr. Grenvil in La traviata and Joseph in Wuthering Heights.

Lee Poulis (Heathcliff)

Recently named "Best Young Singer" for the second year in a row by Die Welt's annual survey of German music critics, young American baritone Lee Poulis has already established himself as a fast-rising talent in both North America and Europe. Recently, after Mr. Poulis stepped in at the last minute to perform the role of Renato in Un ballo in maschera at Teatro Municipal de Santiago, critics praised his "beautiful lyric baritone timbre" and "dark, robust voice" adding "with his promising future, it would be advisable to have him in other productions in Chile."

In the 2009–2010 season Lee Poulis returns to the ensemble at Theater Bonn in the roles of Wolfram in Tannhäuser, Father in Hänsel und Gretel, Belcore in L'elisir d'amore and Pantalone in Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges and performs the role of Robert Oppenheimer in Doctor Atomic with Saarländisches Staatstheater in Saarbrücken. Mr. Poulis' 2008–2009 season included the role of Valentin in Faust with Theater Chemnitz, appearing as soloist in Hanns Eissler's Deutsche Sinfonie with Beethovenfest Bonn in Germany, and several principal roles as a member of the ensemble at Theater Bonn, including Germont in La traviata, Yeletsky in Pique Dame, Renato in Un ballo in maschera, Michonnet in Adriana Lecouvreur and Papageno in Die Zauberflöte.

Mr. Poulis' frequent appearances at Washington National Opera have included Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Dandini in La Cenerentola, Senator Raitcliffe in the world premiere of Scott Wheeler's Democracy, Masetto in Don Giovanni and De Siriex in Fedora for the company's Trilogy Gala. As a member of San Francisco Opera's prestigious Merola Program he performed the roles of Charlot in Ibert's Angelique and Mr. Gobineau in The Medium, and added the roles of Count in Le nozze di Figaro and Germont in La traviata to his repertoire while at Los Angeles Opera. Mr. Poulis also performed four roles in Shostakovich's The Nose at the Bard Summerscape Festival and Marcello in La bohème in a concert performance with the Newton Symphony Orchestra.

Other international credits on the operatic stage include the roles of Marcello in La bohème with Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Starveling in A Midsummer Night's Dream with Teatro Real in Madrid, Masetto in Don Giovanni with both Opera Bilbao and Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin and sang as Wanderer in a scene with Erda from Siegfried for La Fura dels Baus at the British Museum.

Mr. Poulis' concert repertoire engagements include Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the American Youth Symphony, Mozart's Requiem with the Masterworks Chorale, Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem with the Waltham Philharmonic and the Masterworks Chorale, Haydn's Missa in Angustiis with the Reston Chorale, Lord Nelson Mass at the Beijing Concert Hall, Fauré's Requiem with both the Atlantic Union College and the Gemini Youth Orchestra and Handel's Messiah with Commonwealth Opera. Mr. Poulis has also appeared in recital recently with the Marilyn Horne Foundation at Carnegie's Weill Hall as well as in Washington D.C. with the Washington Vocal Arts Society.

Lee Poulis is the first prize winner in the 2008 Liederkranz Foundation Vocal Competition, top prize winner in the 2008 Francisco Viñas International Voice Competition and first prize winner in the 2007 Chester Ludgin International Verdi Baritone Competition, as well as an Encouragement Award recipient in the 2008 George London Foundation Awards competition. In addition to San Francisco Opera's Merola Program, he is an alumnus of Washington National Opera's Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program, as well as Music Academy of the West. Mr. Poulis is a graduate of Harvard University.

Eric Simonson (stage director and dramaturg)

Writer and Director Eric Simonson last directed Rusalka and The Grapes of Wrath for the Minnesota Opera. Also recently, he completed the documentary film A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin, which was nominated for an International Documentary Association Award and won an Academy Award in 2006. He wrote and directed Carter's Way for Kansas City Rep, and Ahab's Tale for Milwaukee Rep. That production was selected as one of the top ten productions of the year by Time magazine. He also directed and co-wrote (with Jeffrey Hatcher) Work Song at Milwaukee Rep, a production which subsequently toured to Missouri Rep, Arizona Theatre Company and City Theatre in Pittsburgh. Mr. Simonson is a company member of Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, where he directed Mother Courage, Slaughterhouse-Five (adaptation also), Nomathemba (co-author also) and The Song of Jacob Zulu (Tony nomination, Perth Arts Festival).

Other credits include: Hamlet, The Last Hurrah (adaptation also) and Bang the Drum Slowly (adaptation also) at The Huntington Theatre; Othello at Court Theatre; Orazi e Curiazi, The Handmaid's Tale, La bohème, Bok Choy Variations and The Magic Flute at the Minnesota Opera; as well as work at The Kennedy Center, Crossroads Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, LA Theatre Works and Angels in America at Milwaukee Rep. Mr. Simonson's first film, a documentary called Tiptoe: Gentle Steps to Freedom, received an Academy Award nomination, an Emmy nomination,and the 2001 IDA Distinguished Achievement Award. Other film credits include Hamlet (co-directed with Campbell Scott) for Hallmark Entertainment and Topa Topa Bluffs, an independent feature. As an actor, Mr. Simonson appeared in the Chicago, London and Broadway productions of The Grapes of Wrath, and on television on Seinfeld, The Untouchables and The Ben Stiller Show. He is the recipient of the Princess Grace Award, the NCCJ Media Arts Award and the Princess Grace Statue for sustained achievement.

Mr. Simonson recently directed Korczak's Children for Children's Theatre Company. He is currently writing a new play called When Pride Still Mattered for Madison Rep and a pilot television series for HBO called Homeland.

Victoria Vargas (Nelly)

Mezzo-soprano Victoria Vargas completes her master of music degree from Manhattan School of Music this May, where she appeared as Euryclée in Fauré's Pénélope, and the Beggar and Mrs. Peachum in The Beggar's Opera. Other credits include Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro for Ash Lawn Opera and Martina Arroyo's Prelude to Performance; the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, the title role in Carmen and Dorabella in Così fan tutte for Hillman Opera; Madame Armfeldt in A Little Night Music for Lyric Arts International; and Miss Todd in The Old Main and the Thief for Fredonia Opera Theater.

Ms. Vargas is currently a young artist at Sarasota Opera, where she is covering the role of Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria rusticana. She will cover the same role at Chautauqua Opera this summer. For her first season as a Minnesota Opera Resident Artist, Ms. Vargas will sing Tisbe in Cinderella, Anna in Maria Stuarda and Flora in La traviata.

Ben Wager (Hindley)

Ben Wager is a 2009 graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, where his roles included: Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Enrico in Anna Bolena, the title role in Mendelssohn's Elijah, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte and Padre Guardiano in La forza del destino.

For the 2009–2010 season, Mr. Wager will join the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he will perform a number of roles, including Zuniga in Carmen, Angelotti in Tosca and Sarastro in an abridged version of Die Zauberflöte. Additional engagements for 2009–2010 include Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Mozarteum of Salzburg under Ivor Bolton and Rossini's Stabat mater with the Oregon Symphony and his debut at Los Angeles Opera as Julian Pinelli in Schreker's Die Gezeichneten.

Future seasons will find him in his debuts at Opera Cleveland as Nourabad in Les pêcheurs de perles and at Dallas Opera for Masetto in Don Giovanni, as well as a return to Minnesota Opera as Hindley in Bernard Herrmann's Wuthering Heights.

During the 2008–2009 season, he concluded his residency at AVA with Enrico in Anna Bolena, Il Vescovo in La fiamma, and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, joined Minnesota Opera to sing the bass roles in the North American premiere of Jonathan Dove's The Adventures of Pinocchio and made his debut at Opera Company of Philadelphia as Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia.

Mr. Wager spent the summer of 2008 as a member of the prestigious Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera, where he sang the role of Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni. In February 2008, Mr. Wager sang Monterone in Rigoletto with Opera New Jersey, followed by Masetto in Don Giovanni for his debut at Chicago Opera Theatre under the baton of Jane Glover.

In 2007, Mr. Wager bowed as Der Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte with Opera New Jersey, Der Freischütz with and Kaspar in AVA Opera Theatre. The 2006 season found Mr. Wager performing at AVA Opera Theatre as Gremin and Zaretsky in Eugene Onegin, Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Sparafucile and Monterone in Rigoletto. Mr. Wager enjoys a strong relationship with Opera Delaware, where he has sung Monterone in Rigoletto, Spinelloccio and Il Notaro in Gianni Schicchi, Un mandarino in Turandot and Second Armored Man in Die Zauberflöte.

In concert, Mr. Wager has performed Handel's Messiah with Tindley Temple UMC, as well as Rossini's Stabat Mater and Mozart's Mass in C Minor at the Academy of Vocal Arts.

Ben Wager studies with world-renowned voice teacher Bill Schuman.

Adriana Zabala (Isabella Linton)

As the title character in the American Premiere of Dove's The Adventures of Pinocchio at the Minnesota Opera, Adriana Zabala was recently praised by The Wall Street Journal as showing "tremendous stamina and boy-like flair." The New York Times hailed her as "a vivid, fearless presence," and the L.A. Times as "extraordinary" for her portrayal of the Barbarian Girl in the American premiere of Philip Glass' Waiting for the Barbarians with the Austin Lyric Opera. Ms. Zabala enjoys a vibrant and unique career that includes opera, song repertoire, new works, concert, oratorio and cabaret. She performs extensively throughout the United States and internationally, and served for five years as Artistic Director of the Southeastern Festival of Song.

Within the last few seasons Ms. Zabala has been seen on the stages of Seattle Opera, Minnesota Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, the Wildwood Festival, Syracuse Opera, Arizona Opera, Lyric Opera of San Antonio, Opera Carolina, Lake George Opera, and Opera Pacific. She has also been a soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Jacksonville Symphony, the Spokane Symphony, the Syracuse Symphony, the Virginia Symphony, the Madison Symphony, the New York Festival of Song and at the Caramoor International Music Festival with the Orchestra of St. Luke's. She has appeared in recital in the Barns at Wolf Trap, the The Kennedy Center's Millenium Stage, The Dallas Museum of Art, Ventford Hall in Lenox, MA, and in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

Recent highlights include Ms. Zabala's European debut under Maestro Lorin Maazel as Mercédès in Carmen at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Spain, her Carnegie Hall debut on a concert with pianist and composer Gregg Kallor, premiering Exhilaration, Kallor's settings of nine Emily Dickinson poems, her critically acclaimed portrayal of the Barbarian Girl in the American premiere of Phillip Glass' Waiting for the Barbarians with the Austin Lyric Opera, and appearing as the alto solist with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with Bryn Terfel as Elijah.

She also made her Canadian debut with Opera Lyra Ottawa as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, sang the title role in La Cenerentola with the Atlanta Opera, returned to Opera Carolina as Rosina in The Barber of Seville and celebrated the release and critical success of the compact disc Exhilaration: Dickinson and Yeats Songs. Opera News Online raved "Kallor has found a wonderful exponent in Adriana Zabala, a gifted, agile mezzo-soprano. Kallor knows how to make these words sing, and Zabala gives perfect flight to them. Singing with uncommon clarity and natural beauty, she seems to be deep inside both the poems and Kallor's musical realizations."

Upcoming engagements include an appearance as featured soloist with the United Nations Association International Choir in the world premiere of Jan Gilbert's That The Dove May Rest, Cherubino with Vermont's Green Mountain Opera Company and Hansel in Hansel and Gretel with the Austin Lyric Opera.

Adriana Zabala was born Georgia and raised in Miami, Caracas, Venezuela and Lake Jackson, Texas. She received her undergraduate degree from Lousiana State University, was a Fulbright Scholar in Salzburg, Austria, studying German Lieder at the Mozarteum, and earned her masters degree at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Ms. Zabala was a Resident Artist for two seasons with Minnesota Opera, where she performed the roles of Cherubino, Annina and Rosina, among others. She spent the following season as a Young Artist with the Seattle Opera, singing the title role in La Cenerentola. Ms. Zabala is an alumna of the apprentice programs at the Berkshire Opera, the Santa Fe Opera, Operafestival di Roma and the Wolf Trap Opera Company.

Bernard Herrmann

b New York, June 28, 1911; d Los Angeles, December 24, 1975

Bernard Herrmann attended New York University and the Juilliard School, studying with Bernard Wagenaar, Philip James and Percy Grainger. At age 20, he formed the New Chamber Orchestra and then joined CBS Radio in 1934, eventually becoming the conductor and staff composer of the CBS Symphony Orchestra. Herrmann championed new works and debuted unfamiliar music by William Walton, Frederick Delius, Arnold Bax and Charles Ives. He is also renowned for his participation in the broadcast of Orson Welles' infamous War of the Worlds broadcast.

Herrmann is chiefly known for his cinematic scores, and the inventory of films for which he has composed is prestigious and daunting. Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Andersons, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit, North by Northwest, Psycho, Vertigo, The Bride Wore Black, and The Man Who Knew Too Much (in which he appeared in his own Hitchcockian cameo role as a conductor in Royal Albert Hall) are among the most famous in a pantheon of over 50. Though he raised the genre to a new level, Herrmann also had an irascible temperament and made few friends, ultimately leading to only one Academy Award and eventual banishment from Hollywood after the failure of Hitchcock's Torn Curtain.

He spent his final years in England recording and guest conducting. Several up-and-coming directors engaged him to write film scores again in the early 1970s. His final score was for the motion picture Taxi Driver – he died in his sleep immediately after completing the final editing session and Martin Scorsese dedicated the film to him. In 2011, we celebrate the centenary of his birth.

Wuthering Heights was completed in 1951, after eight years of toiling. Lucille Fletcher, his first wife and an accomplished Broadway writer (Sorry, Wrong Number is among her most notable works), wrote the libretto and the arduous project likely put an end to his first marriage. In fact, Herrmann took a trip to the Twin Cities to complete the score. Minneapolis Symphony conductor Dmitri Mitropolis was a good friend and Lucy Anderson (the future second Mrs. Herrmann) lived nearby. He was inspired by a trip to Manchester in 1946, when Herrmann was invited by Sir John Barbirolli to conduct the Hallé Orchestra.

The orchestra intended to premiere the work, but once he received the score, however, Barbiriolli got cold feet, and Herrmann then approached San Francisco Opera with Leopold Stokowski in mind as the conductor. When Stokowski's illness prevented this collaboration, he went next to New York City Opera. Again, Herrmann's feisty temper got in the way when Julius Rudel asked for some cuts (the opera ran over three hours) and the composer refused to omit a single note. Herrmann angrily encountered other obstacles and finally decided to record the opera in 1965 at his own expense. Following his death, Herrmann's daughter Dorothy pushed for a public performance, but the excessive length and huge orchestration was preventative for most opera companies. Wuthering Heights would not receive its world premiere until 1982 (with the necessary cuts and a new ending), an opera as described by Louise Fletcher as "closest to [Herrmann's] talent and heart."

print composer biography

Recommended Reading

Steven C. Smith

A Heart at Fire's Center: The Life and Music of Bernard Herrmann.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.

Emily Brontë

Wuthering Heights.
New York: Pearson Longman, © 2009.

Recommended Listening

Unicorn-Kachina

Beaton; Bell
Herrmann; Pro Arte Orchestra

Silver Screen Records

Bernard Herrmann – The Essential Film Music Collection
various artists

Milan Records

Bernard Herrmann: Film Scores from Citizen Kane to Taxi Driver
E. Bernstein; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

London

Renée Fleming – I Want Magic – American Opera Arias
(includes Cathy's aria "I have dreamt" from Wuthering Heights)

Recommended Viewing

Music For The Movies: Bernard Herrmann

a documentary directed by Joshua Waletzky

To Learn More …

A class devoted to Wuthering Heights will be held on Monday, April 4, 2011 from 7:00–9:00 p.m. at the Minnesota Opera Center. The discussion will be led by noted film expert Bruce Crawford.