17 minute read
Elektra
Elektra set design and drawing based on the death mask of agamemnon by r. Keith Brumley
giving Voice to revenge
des moines metro opera's principal conductor and music director david neely takes a break from the conductor’s score to discuss Elektra and why it is one of the most difficult operas in the repertory!
With the jarring full-force orchestral cry of “Agamemnon” begins one of the most intensely expressionistic operas of all time. In Elektra, Richard Strauss and his librettist Hugo Hofmannsthal create a portrait of twisted psychology within the framework of a bloody tale of justice and revenge. Daughter of the slain Trojan war hero Agamemnon, Elektra harbors extreme resentment toward her calculating mother klytämnestra, her mother's murderous lover Aegisth, and all in their household who support them. none are spared Elektra’s spiteful tongue, including her sister Chrysothemis, whom she viciously mocks for desiring to have a normal life. Elektra fixates on the day her brother Orest will return to exact revenge for their father’s murder.
Premiered in 1909, Elektra sees the then 45-year-old Strauss in full command of his extraordinary powers of musical and dramatic characterization. In Elektra (and Salome) the composer chose subjects that were fascinating character studies of disturbed individuals under duress that would challenge his compositional skills. The musical world of Elektra is dark and brooding, violent, cunning, and disturbed, with the music directly illustrating characters’ thoughts and hidden motivations. Freud is clearly in the air as Strauss weaves layers of complex psychology into his adventuresome score. Strauss’ command of tone painting was legendary. The unyielding nature of the title character is illustrated through stony harmonies. Jagged, slashing rhythms express the violence of Elektra’s tongue and the swing of the ax that killed her father and will, in turn, kill his murderers. Sickly, layered harmonies that mix dissonance and lush consonance suggest the decaying state of the household.
At the time of composition, the orchestra for Elektra was the largest seen in an opera pit—over 90 players. The large orchestra allows the composer to not only create full, thick sounds, but also a myriad of small instrumental combinations critical to telling the story in sound. Most modern productions use a composersanctioned reduction, as will DMMO. Some details of orchestration and text-painting are worth pointing out: the blood of Agamemnon running down the house’s walls (he was murdered in the bath) as envisioned by Elektra, dogs barking in the distance, and sickening stillness at the heart of klytämnestra’s sleepless guiltridden nights, where harmonies and tone colors shift like shadows upon her mother’s conscience.
But Strauss as a composer is still firmly rooted in the romantic era, and the heroic and romantic Strauss we know from his tone poems and later operas breaks through where the drama requires. For example, Elektra revels in a heavy waltz-like dance at her imagined, and, later, real revenge; the yearning and passion of youthful Chrysothemis’ desire to marry and have children is a bright C-major waltz; the epic nature of Orest’s secret return is expressed in solemn sustained brass chords.
Strauss stopped pushing forward after Elektra. As Western art music became increasingly dissonant, Strauss’ style grew more exclusively romantic, culminating in masterpieces such as Ariadne auf Naxos and Der Rosenkavalier. But his rebelliousness at the beginning of the 20th century left us one of the most fascinating and satisfying of music dramas. I am extremely excited about collaborating with the DMMO orchestra, stage director Dugg McDonough, and our cast of worldclass singers that includes Brenda Harris in the title role, Joyce Castle as klytämnestra, and Julie Makerov as Chrysothemis. Elektra at Des Moines Metro Opera promises to be a particularly exciting process for the artists and a rare theatrical experience for audiences. •
eLeKTra richard Strauss
June 29 | July 9 | July 12 7:30pm July 7 2:00pm
Joyce Castle Julie Makerov KLyTämneSTra chrySoThemiS
Klytämnestra costume sketch. costume designs by melanie Taylor Burgess
complete cast and production information at desmoinesmetroopera.org
one of america's finest sopranos, Brenda harris has appeared in leading roles with many of the world's most prominent opera companies and orchestras. praised for her “drop dead gorgeous singing," soaring voice and glowing warmth in lower registers, she has already scored successes this season with abagaille in Nabucco with minnesota opera and the title role of Turandot with Sarasota opera. She has performed with companies as wide ranging as The metropolitan opera; Teatro massimo in palermo, italy; washington national opera; new york city opera and opera du rhin in Strasbourg; among many more. des moines audiences have heard her Lady macbeth in Verdi’s Macbeth, agathe in Der Freischütz and donna elvira in Don Giovanni last season.
Brenda harriSSPOTLIgHT The role of elektra is one of supreme difficulty, perhaps the most taxing of all dramatic soprano roles. a cursory look at the score shows that elektra sings eight B-flats and four high-cs and she is on stage for most of the time during the duration of the opera, approximately 110 minutes. it is a role that is only taken on by the most confident of artists who have sufficient vocal resources. The performances this summer will be harris’s first appearance in the title role, after having previously sung chrysothemis, elektra’s fretful younger sister. harris will be one of the few elektras who will not sacrifice warmth and vocal beauty to the knife-edged singing demanded of every artist who runs this vocal marathon. a self-professed Strauss fanatic, she offered about her preparations: “TerriFying, thrilling, inspiring, brilliant, unspeakably hard to sing and learn and i cannot wait to do it! when i sang chrysothemis, i remember thinking, someday, i want to sing elektra!” well, that day has arrived and it is June 29, 2013, when des moines metro opera joins the small but elite group of opera companies around the world to have performed this work. Because sopranos approach the role with great caution, performances of Elektra are very rare. But when an artist of this stature agrees to assume the role, you can be sure you are in for a thrill! •
•S und cLipS
cherie ShrecK, longtime dmmo Board member and past president, is a recipient of opera america's 2013 national opera Trustee recognition award honoring outstanding trustees of u.S. opera companies for exemplary leadership, generosity and audience-building efforts. cherie chaired the first campaign for endowment in 1992, which exceeded its goal by 3 million dollars. The ceremony will be held in new york city on February 22.
paTTy and Jim cownie were presented with the Bravo award at Bravo greater des moines' awards gala on Saturday, February 2, at hy-Vee hall in downtown des moines. The Bravo award recognizes a company, individual, or family that has made a significant contribution to arts and culture in greater des moines. patty served on the dmmo Board of directors from 1986-2004, including two years as president.
audiences watched mimì and rodolfo's love story unfold onstage during our 2011 production of La Bohème, but behind the scenes, real-life romance was brewing between mimì (Jan corneLiuS, also Tatiana in last season's Eugene Onegin) and colline (Ben LecLair). happy news of their engagement came on christmas morning from oldenburg, germany, where Ben is on a year-long contract. another dmmo romance!
on January 2 dmmo welcomed greg Van den Berghe as the new development coordinator. Last season Kim udroVich, art director, celebrated her 10-year anniversary with dmmo, and orchestra manager and principal percussionist marK dorr celebrated his 20th season. earlier this year denniS hendricKSon, Box office manager, celebrated his 10-year anniversary, and chari KruSe, administrative assistant, celebrated her 15th! This summer michaeL egeL will complete his 20th consecutive season with the company.
Sarah haTTen has been dmmo’s resident wig and make-up designer for 5 seasons. Sarah is also the wigmaster at the Lyric opera of chicago, where her fine work was recently profiled in an impressive feature in the Lyric’s winter/Spring program. The Fort dodge native has also earned rave reviews from the Chicago Sun Times and the Chicago Tribune.
DAn REST/LyRIC OPERA OF CHICAgO
adam dingeman, dmmo’s 2005 title role in menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, was recently cast in a recurring role on FoX's hit TV series "glee." we wish the west des moines native and graduate of the american musical and dramatic academy in Los angeles the best as he continues his acting career!
Catching up with...
Joyce eL-Khoury (Magda, La Rondine, 2012) will sing Violetta in La Traviata for Palm Beach Opera, L’Opéra Théâtre de Saint-Etienne and De nederlandse Opera. This summer she sings her first Desdemona for the Castleton Festival.
michaeL mayeS (Don giovanni, Don Giovanni, 2012) will sing the role of Joseph De Rocher in Heggie’s Dead Man Walking with Eugene Opera and later the title role in Verdi’s Rigoletto for the first time with Boston Lyric Opera.
Sarah Jane mcmahon (Lisette, La Rondine, 2012) appears this season as Magnolia in Showboat with Central City Opera and with the Lyric Opera of kansas City as yum-yum in The Mikado. John moore (Onegin, Eugene Onegin, 2012) toured last fall with the glyndebourne Festival Opera, singing his first Count in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. The baritone returns to the Metropolitan Opera this spring for Giulio Cesare.
marJorie owenS (Donna Anna, Don Giovanni, 2012) is a resident artist with the Sächsische Staatsoper in Dresden, singing Senta in Der Fliegende Holländer, Elisabetta in Don Carlo and Amelia in A Masked Ball. She will return to the u.S. this April for the title role in Ariadne auf Naxos with the Fort Worth Opera.
maTThew pLenK (Don Ottavio, Don Giovanni, 2012) makes company debuts this season with Los Angeles Opera as Steuermann in Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer and with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as nanki-Poo in The Mikado.
TayLor STayTon (Ernesto, Don Pasquale, 2011) made a last-minute Metropolitan Opera debut as Percy in Anna Bolena. Summer 2012 he was with the glyndebourne Festival Opera for Ramiro in La Cenerentola and had a debut with the Bayerische Staatsoper in Mitridate.
the story of one Minnesota couple’s love of Des Moines Metro opera—and creating a legacyR The encore SocieTy
If you talk to Tom and Marsha Mann about opera, you’d think they were lifelong devotees. The couple are world travelers (Tom and Marsha are taking a hiking excursion off the coast of Western Africa in 2013) and are as comfortable discussing their hometown opera as they are talking about the Teatr Wielki Opera narodowa in Warsaw. However, if you’d met the couple just 15 years ago they would have told you they’d never seen an opera.
“We’ve always loved classical music,” Marsha explains. “We’d hear opera on the radio and it didn’t seem like something we would like,” Tom continues. “Several years ago we went to Rossini’s Semiramide in Minnesota and we were hooked.” That performance changed their view of opera. Later they noticed an ad for Des Moines Metro Opera and Tom recalls, “We decided to go down to Des Moines and we loved it!" The intimacy of the stage is one of their favorite aspects of DMMO. “We look forward to that hot July weekend every summer,” Marsha mentions.
And now they’ve made a decision that’s of lasting importance to them and Des Moines Metro Opera—Tom and Marsha are making a major planned gift to the company. “We discussed it for about a year,” Marsha remembers. “We talked about different organizations but we both agreed. It was Des Moines Metro Opera. The work of this company needs to keep going,” Tom explains. “There are plenty of people like us who lived most of their lives without realizing how wonderful opera is and by supporting it we ensure that it continues so others can discover it. We both decided that this was the organization where our money would make the greatest impact. We wanted to make sure the company that helped provide that enrichment has a solid future. The bottom line is we learned about opera at other companies but we learned to love it at Des Moines Metro Opera.”
If you are interested in supporting Des Moines Metro Opera in a similar way, we can offer you assistance to discover the best planning vehicle to fit your philanthropic goals. Contact DMMO Director of Development, Leslie garman, CFRE, at 515-961-6221 or lgarman@dmmo.org. DMMO recognizes its planned giving donors through The Encore Society, whose membership is published in the annual festival program. If you've already made a planned gift to DMMO, let us know by June 1, 2013, and you will be listed as a member of The Encore Society in the 2013 program. •
preSenTing SponSor
Once again the indefatigable members of the OPERA Iowa Educational Touring Troupe will take to the highways, byways, interstates and two-lane roads of Iowa and Missouri. The 2013 group consists of music director Tzu-Hwa Ho, sopranos Amedee Moore and Andrea Shokery, tenor Robert Lilly, baritone greg Jebaily, bass-baritone Brad Baron, and 2ndyear technical director Jessi Rechin. The group hit the road January 28 with Davies’ The Three Little Pigs for elementary performances (pictured) and Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love to be performed for communities in evening settings.
The OPERA Iowa van and truck will load up with sets, costumes, lights and singers for the 10-week adventure, stopping in Des Moines and all of its suburbs, Ames, Sioux City, Spencer, Carroll, Cherokee, Algona, Humboldt, Webster City, Bloomfield, Pella, Ottumwa, Oskaloosa, Muscatine, keokuk, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Dubuque, kansas City and others along the way!
now in its 27th year, the tour is DMMO’s gift to those who may not have an opportunity to attend performances during the summer season, in fact, for many of those attending OPERA Iowa productions it will represent their only performing arts experience in an entire calendar year! The complete tour schedule can be found at desmoinesmetroopera.org.
pLan your eXperience
In Des MOInes
deSmoineSarTcenTer
The des moines art center is a world-class museum in the heart of the midwest. with a focus on contemporary art, it has amassed an important collection. Free admission Tuesday through Sunday. desmoinesartcenter.org
deS moineS arTS FeSTiVaL June 28-30, 2013
winner of the grand pinnacle award from the international Festivals and events association, this festival features the best visual artists in the country along with interactive activities, live music, film, and performing arts. desmoinesartsfestival.org
iowa cuBS
The iowa cubs is a Triple-a minor league baseball team affiliated with the chicago cubs and plays in the pacific coast League. home games are played at principal park Stadium from april to September, with tickets ranging from $8 to $26 for single games. milb.com/index.jsp?sid=t451
John & mary pappaJohn ScuLpTure parK
Located at the pedestrian-friendly entrance to downtown des moines, the landscape design of this 4.4-acre park and artwork by 21 celebrated artists make it unlike any other sculpture park in the u.S. desmoinesartcenter.org/visit/ pappajohn-sculpture-park.aspx
At DMMO
opera preViewS
members of the music staff introduce the background and highlights of the evening’s opera in a free educational and informal presentation 45 minutes prior to each performance.
poST-opera inSighTS
Following selected opera performances, get in on the behind-the-scenes action as the production director and staff show how the evening’s production came to the stage, then how they ‘strike’ the set to prepare for the next day’s performance. Backstage tours included. admission is $20 and reservations are required.
pre-Show dining
gourmet dining at its finest returns this season! enjoy menus catered by the embassy club and gateway market and themed for each opera in the secluded air-conditioned comfort of the theatre lobby.
2013 sAve DAtes the
February 15 wine & Food ShowcaSe
des moines marriott, 5:30-8:30pm $50/person $35/person groups of 6+ (preorders only)
$100/patron (includes pre-event Vip Flight, general admission, and option to buy up to 10 discounted tickets at $25 each)
over forty of the finest restaurants, wineries, breweries and distributors offer up their most delectable for unlimited tasting at the downtown marriott. Browse and bid on silent auction gifts and take a chance on our Sweetheart raffle. attendees also enjoy exclusive, event-only access to single tickets for our upcoming summer season. Tickets can be ordered online, by phone or purchased at the door. May 3 opera BaLL The Temple for performing arts, 6:30pm $150/person, $200/Vip patron
Celebrate the season with us! Come for cocktails and dinner, bid in our popular Aria Auction featuring baritone John Moore, and round out the evening with dancing. Tickets are $150 each or $200 for VIP Patron (includes patron party). Event sponsorships begin at $2,500 and include event recognition and other benefits.
June 8 ThreadS & TriLLS coSTume Show and Luncheon embassy club west, 12:00 noon $40/person
get a sneak peek at the costumes from the festival season and be treated to an excellent meal while enjoying arias and duets sung by principal artists.
June 13 & 15 peanuT BuTTer & puccini Blank performing arts center, 11:00am $10/person
Our annual family opera adventure includes a kid-friendly opera, a peanut butter sack lunch and a backstage tour of the theatre.
June 29 opening nighT gaLa dinner hubbell hall, Simpson college campus, 6:00pm $100/person
Join us for the opening night, pre-performance gala dinner for Elektra and post-performance celebration. Opera tickets can be purchased separately. Black tie optional. Following the performance, the Max Wellman Jazz Trio will take the stage at the new Principal Financial group Black Box Theater.
July 10 STarS oF Tomorrow Sheslow auditorium, drake university, 7:00pm $25/adults, $10/students
Apprentice Artists and Festival Orchestra members present duets and ensembles. Tickets include a dessert reception following the concert.
Times and dates are subject to change. call 515-961-6221 or visit desmoinesmetroopera.org for more information or to order tickets.
FOr tIckets
purchase online at desmoinesmetroopera.org or call 515-961-6221 and use code: ViVace41
BLanK perForming arTS cenTer,
located on Simpson college campus, indianola, ia 2013 subscrIptIOn serIes a1 a B c
opening night 6/21 | 6/22 | 6/29 $245 $205 $175 $120 Friday 6/21 or 6/28 | 7/5 | 7/12 $240 $195 $170 $112 Saturday 6/22 or 7/13 | 6/29 | 7/6 $245 $205 $175 $120 Sunday 6/23 or 7/14 | 6/30 | 7/7 $245 $205 $175 $120 weekend 2 6/28 | 6/29 | 6/30 $220 $185 $160 $110 weeknight 7/2 | 7/9 | 7/11 $220 $185 $160 $110 weekend 3 7/5 | 7/6 | 7/7 $220 $185 $160 $110 weekend 4 7/12 | 7/13 | 7/14 $220 $185 $160 $110 Build-your-own $245 $205 $175 $120
sIngle tIckets (on sale Feb. 18 ) 6/21 | 6/22 | 6/23 | 7/2 | 7/9 | 7/11 $78 $66 $57 $42 6/28 | 7/5 | 7/12 $87 $73 $63 $47 6/29 | 6/30 | 7/6 | 7/7 | 7/13 | 7/14 $92 $77 $66 $49
Students (k-college, Tues & Thurs only) $39 $33 $29 $21
des moines metro opera, inc. 106 west Boston avenue indianola, ia 50125-1836
Visit: desmoinesmetroopera.org watch: youtube.com/user/desmoinesmetroopera Like: facebook.com/desmoinesmetroopera Follow: twitter.com/dmopera
Fe ST i V a L Sea S on For T y-Fir ST
gOunOD
romeo and Juliet
June 21 | June 28 | July 6 | July 11 7:30pm June 23 | July 14 2:00pm
BRITTEn
peter grimes
STRAuSS elektra
June 29 | July 9 | July 12 7:30pm July 7 2:00pm
