Minnesota Opera's Rusalka Program

Ba c kya r d Re s or t s

SM

THE PERFECT GETAWAY WITHOUT THE DRIVE.

Dining Entertaining Swimming

Dream. Create.

Live. Escape.

Relaxation Contemplation Sanctuary

Design. Build. Maintain. www.outdoor-environments.com ( 9 5 2 ) 4 9 6 - 1 0 0 0

LEADERS PURSUE

SUCCESS

BY GIVING THEIR BEST

EVERY DAY.

FAF Advisors strives to be the best in the business. Performance is our currency – in everything we do.

Proud Supporters of The Minnesota Opera

FAF Advisors, Inc., is a registered investment advisor and subsidiary of U.S. Bank National Association.

9/2007 0089-07

Contents The Minnesota Opera Staff and Volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Notes from the Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Rusalka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Background Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Synopsis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Antonín Dvorˇák . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Out at the Opera. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 The Artists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 The Minnesota Opera Chorus and Orchestra and ARENA Dances . . . . . . . . 20 General/Chorus Auditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Why Subscribers Have More Fun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Education at the Opera. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Tempo (the new Young Professionals Group) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 The 2008-2009 Season . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Opera at the Ordway Initiative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 The Minnesota Opera Annual Fund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

The Minnesota Opera President & CEO Artistic Director Chair, Board of Directors

Kevin Smith Dale Johnson Jane M. Confer

The Minnesota Opera, 620 North First Street Minneapolis, MN 55401 612-333-2700 www.mnopera.org The Minnesota Opera is a member of OPERA America.

This activity is made possible in part by a grant provided by the Minnesota State Arts Board through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature. This project is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

April 2008

The Minnesota Opera Program

Corporate Administrator/Publisher Assoc. Publisher/Director of Production Advertising Account Executives Creative Designer Graphic Designer

Todd Hyde Marsha Kitchel Liesl Hyde, Amy Newton Susan Schwegman Sue Sentyrz Klapmeier

Large-print and Braille programs are available at the Patron Services Office

| RUSALKA

is published by

5

MINNESOTA OPERA

Staff

President & CEO Kevin Smith Artistic Director Dale Johnson Welcome to today’s production of Rusalka. For more than four decades, The Minnesota Opera has enriched the cultural life of our community by producing outstanding and innovative operas that inspire and entertain.

U.S. Bank is honored to sponsor the 2007 – 2008 season. We are proud of our 20+ year relationship with The Minnesota Opera and the spectacular Ordway Center in St. Paul.

At U.S. Bank, we support great dreams, great art and great arts organizations. They enrich the community with vibrancy, creativity and excellence. As the sixth largest bank in America today, U.S. Bank is the only major bank headquartered in Minnesota, and we’re deeply committed to giving back to this community.

Thank you for coming and enjoy the performance!

Artistic

Scenery

Artistic Administrator . . . .Roxanne Stou∂er Cruz Artist Relations and Planning Director . . . . . Floyd Anderson Dramaturg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David Sander Principal Conductor-in-Residence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Robert Wood Associate Conductor-in-Residence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Andrew Altenbach Resident Artists . . . . . . . . . .Kyle Albertson, Alison Bates, John David Boehr, Andrea Coleman, Christin-Marie Hill, Christopher Job, Bryan Lemke, Jamison Livsey, Bill Murray, Christian Reinert RAP Faculty . . . .Nancy Boler, Dorothy Byrne Carlotta Dradi-Bower, Mary Dibbern, Barbara Kierig, Doug Schulz-Carlson Master Coach . . . . . . . . . .Mary Jo Gothmann

Technical Director . . . . . . Mike McQuiston Properties Master . . . . Stanley D. Hawthorne Properties Assistant . . . . . . . . . . Mike Long Lighting Coordinator . . . . Charles D. Craun Production Carpenter . . . . . . . . . . JC Amel Scene Shop Foreman. . . . . . . . . . . Rod Aird Master Carpenter . . . . . . . . . . .Steven Rovie Carpenters. . . . Eric Veldey, Nate Kulenkamp, Jim DePaulis, Jeff Borowiak Charge Painter . . . . . . . . . Kevin Noteboom Projection Programmer . . . . . Ruppert Bohle

Education Community Education Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jamie Andrews Teaching Artist . . . . . . . . . . .Vicki Fingalson Project Opera Music Director . . . . Dale Kruse Project Opera Accompanist . . . .Kathy Kraulik

Jose Peris, Senior Vice President, Private Banking Regional Manager, U.S. Bank Private Client Group

86 9 e1 c Sin 4300 West River Pkwy. S. Minneapolis, MN 55406 www.becketwood.com

A cooperative community of active, independent owners 55 and over.

Production Production Director . . . . . . . Kevin Ramach Production Stage Manager . . . . . Alex Farino Assistant Stage Managers . . . . .Casey Martin, Angie Spencer Production Administrative Assistant. . . . . . . . . . . . . Katherine Cattrysse

Administration Finance Director . . . . . . . . . . . . Je∂ Couture Operations/Systems Manager . . . . . . . . . . . Steve Mittelholtz HR/Accounting Manager . . . . Jennifer Thill Executive Assistant . . . . . . . . Theresa Murray Finance Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Libby Jones IT Applications Specialist . . . . . .Jessica Wright

Institutional Advancement Vice President of Institutional Advancement . . . . . . . . . . . .Patrick Dewane Institutional Advancement Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Kelly Clemens

Development Annual Fund Director . . . . . . .Dawn Loven Grants Manager . . . . . . . . . .Beth Comeaux Donor Events and Gala Manager . . . . . . . . . .Emily Skoblik Individual Gifts Manager . . . .Morgan Walsh

Costumes Costume Shop Manager . . . . .Erica M. Burds Assistant Costume Shop Manager . . .Beth Sanders Wardrobe Supervisor . . . . . . Emily Rosenmeier Drapers . . . . . .Chris Bur, Emily Rosenmeier, Yancey Thrift, Angela Yarbrough Dyer/Painter . . . . . . . . . . . . .Marliss Jenson Assistant Dyer/Painter . . . .Kathleen Sullivan Costume Technicians . . . . .Helen Ammann, Jennifer Dawson, Mary Farrell, Rose Ryan, Lindsey Strange Wig/Makeup Assistants . . . .Andrea Moriarity-Dahlberg, Jodi Stone

MINNESOTA OPERA

Marketing/Communications Marketing and Communications Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lani Willis Marketing Operations Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marsha Walker Audience Development Associate . . . Jamie Nieman Ticket O∑ce Manager . . . . Katherine Castille Ticketing and Communications Associate . . . . . . . . . . Robert C. Schmidt Ticket O∑ce Assistants . . . . . .Kristen Bond, Kevin Beckey, Alexandrea Kouame, Jane Samsal Marketing Intern . . . . . . . . . . . .Julie Behr

Volunteers

| THE MINNESOTA OPERA www.mnopera.org

The following volunteers contribute their time and talent in support of key activities of The Minnesota Opera. If you would like to learn more about volunteering for The Minnesota Opera, please contact Jamie Nieman by phone at 612-342-9550 or via email at jnieman@mnopera.org.

6

Located on 12 beautiful wooded acres along the bluffs of the Mississippi River, Becketwood is the ideal place for active, independent people who enjoy the best of the Twin Cities.

Here you are within 15 minutes of both downtowns and the International Airport, with easy access to prime venues in St. Paul or Minneapolis.

Call 612-722-4077

Catherine Ahern Ann Albertson Gerald Benson Jim Brownback Jerry Cassidy Diane Choih Joann Cierniak Susan Cogger Caroline Coopersmith Beverly Dailey Denis Dailey Jeanette Daun Judith Duncan Sally Economon Christopher Foster Hazel Francois Li-Jun Fu Jane Fuller Joan Gacki

Christine A. Garner Mary E. Hagen Merle J. Hanson Anne Hesselroth Heather Huber Karen Johnson Nancy Johnson Steve Johnson Jeannie Johnston Kristen Johnston Robin Keck Dawn Klassen Eleanore Kolar Lucinda Lamont Shirley Larson Mathilda Lien Jerry Lillquist Joyce Lillquist Margery Martin

Joan Masuck Yasuko Matsumoto Mary McDiarmid Beth McGuire Verne Melberg Jeanette Middleton Barbara Moore Doug Myhra Pam Nielsen Candyce Osterkamp Dan Panshin Pat Panshin Megan Pelka Bill Phillips Sydney Phillips Julia Porter Carol Purvis Kathleen Riley Enrique Rotstein

John Sauer Lynette Saucier Michael Silhavy Wendy Silhavy Angie Solomon Wendi Sott Naomi St. Gregory Karen St. John Harry Swepston Dave Terwilliger Emily Thompson Doris Unger Stacey Vonderhear Carolyn Wahtera Sandy Walker Mary Weitz Barbara Willis

NOTES FROM THE

Directors

Artistic Director

Welcome to today’s performance of Dvorˇák’s poignantly lyrical masterpiece, Rusalka! Our leading lady is Minnesota’s own Kelly Kaduce (who can forget her Rosasharn in last year’s The Grapes of Wrath?). Her prince is played by the stunning tenor Brandon Jovanovich, last seen here in our 2001 production of Street Scene. Academy Award-winning director Eric Simonson, set designer Erhard Rom and costume designer Kärin Kopischke have created a beautiful setting for the clash of nature and the human world. Visit mnopera.org for a video presentation by Eric on the production’s designs.

You will only need to wait a few short months for the 2008-2009 opera season, which begins on September 20 FROM THE

BOARD OF

with Verdi’s dramatic thriller, Il trovatore (The troubadour). The rest of the lineup of world-class opera experiences includes Mozart’s comedy, The Abduction from the Seraglio, set on the Orient Express; a new production of Gounod’s Faust, directed by Doug Varone; the American premiere of The Adventures of Pinocchio, an opera for the whole family by Jonathan Dove; and Rossini’s boisterous Bel Canto comedy, The Barber of Seville.

You won’t want to miss any of them, so please visit the ticket office during the first intermission and purchase your season tickets today! Thank you for being here today, and I hope you enjoy Rusalka.

Dale Johnson Artistic Director

President

We’re glad you’re here to see Rusalka.

Many of you may be new to the Opera, and I’d like to give you a special welcome!

Whether this is your first time at the Opera or your hundredth, we invite you to subscribe to the exciting 2008-2009 season Dale describes above. It’s not as hard as you might think …

tickets for any other show during the season. We hope we have removed any barriers you had to subscribing, and if we have not, we hope you let us know what barriers remain.

Many newcomers to opera believe that the art form is too expensive, but we lowered our prices and now offer a $20 ticket. We also have 3and 4-opera season ticket packages that start at just $50. And subscribers have greater flexibility than single ticket buyers with new exchange policies allowing them to trade in

Enjoy the performance.

A national study by OPERA America indicates that people come to the opera most often when invited by others. If you enjoy your experience today at the Opera, please introduce us to your friends and invite them to join you next season as a subscriber.

Kevin Smith President and CEO

The Minnesota Opera is proud to be a member of The Arts Partnership with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, The Schubert Club and Ordway Center for the Performing Arts.

Officers Jane M. Confer, Chair Chip Emery, Vice Chair Debra Paterson, Secretary Denver Gilliand, Treasurer Kevin Smith, President & CEO Directors Martha Goldberg Aronson Wendy Bennett Charles E. Berg J. A. Blanchard III Shari Boehnen Susan S. Boren Kathleen Callahan Nicky B. Carpenter Richard P. Carroll Rachelle D. Chase Mary A. Dearing Sara Donaldson Steve Fox Sharon Hawkins Ruth S. Huss Philip Isaacson

Lucy Rosenberry Jones B. John Lindahl Diana E. Murphy Brian E. Palmer Jodi D. Peterson Mary Ingebrand Pohlad Stephanie J. Prem Elizabeth Redleaf Connie Remele Stephanie Simon Peter W. Sipkins Simon Stevens Mitchell Stover Virginia Stringer H. Bernt von Ohlen

Emeriti Karen Bachman Burton Cohen Julia W. Dayton Thomas R. McBurney Mary W. Vaughan Honorary Directors Dominick Argento Philip Brunelle Elizabeth Close Dolly Fiterman Charles C. Fullmer Norton M. Hintz Liz Kochiras Patricia H. Sheppard Legal Counsel James A. Rubenstein, Moss & Barnett

| RUSALKA

FROM THE

Leadership

7

Northern Trust Banks are members FDIC. ©2008 Northern Trust Corporation.

THE ARTS ALLOW US TO DISCOVER WHO WE CAN BE Imagine the world without music and dance, or literature and art. Life is incomplete without ways to express ourselves, and to discover who we are and what we can be. That’s why Northern Trust proudly supports the arts in its many diverse forms.

Northern Trust has been helping clients meet their financial needs for more than 118 years.

Tom Smith, President & CEO – Minnesota • 612-336-7020 1600 IDS Center • Minneapolis northerntrust.com

APPEARING ON

ORDWAY STAGES

APRIL 12, 15, 17, 19, & 20 The Minnesota Opera presents Rusalka

by Antonín Dvorák WED, APRIL 23, 8PM The Schubert Club presents

International Artist Series Bryn Terfel, bass baritone APRIL 24, 26, 8PM The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra presents

Dawn Upshaw Sings Schubert Douglas Boyd, conductor Dawn Upshaw, soprano

NOW – MAY 18 McKNIGHT THEATRE Ordway Center Theater Season presents #-6&4 */ 5)& /*()5 Starring JAMECIA BENNETT, DEBBIE DUNCAN, REGINA MARIE WILLIAMS, JULIUS C. COLLINS III

MAY 2 – MAY 18 Ordway Center Theater Season presents CABAR ET Behind the doors of the notorious Kit Kat Klub, painted ladies (and painted gentlemen) sing and dance as though life were an endless party.

FRI, MAY 23, 10:30AM; MAY 23-24, 8PM The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra presents

Beethoven’s Triple Concerto Pierre-Laurent Aimard, conductor and piano Ruggero Allifranchini, violin Ronald Thomas, cello SAT, MAY 31 – SUN, JUNE 1 Ordway Center presents Flint Hills

International Children’s Festival

Ordway Center comes alive with the best of international performance, families creating art, international cuisine, singing and dancing, and much more.

ordway.org

| RUSALKA

JUNE 10 - 15, 5PM planet Ordway® Target® Season presents STOMP An irresistible movement of bodies, objects, sounds, and ideas.

9

Music by Antonín Dvorˇák Libretto by Jaroslav Kvapil after Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué World premiere at the National Theater, Prague March 31, 1901 April 12, 15, 17, 19 and 20, 2008 Ordway Center for the Performing Arts Sung in Czech with English translations Conductor................................................Robert Wood Stage Director.........................................Eric Simonson Choreograper ...................................Mathew Janczewski Set Designer..............................................Erhard Rom Costume Designer .................................Kärin Kopischke Lighting Designer ...................................Robert Wierzel Projections Designer......................Wendall K. Harrington Wig and Makeup Design ........Jason Allen and Ronell Oliveri Assistant Director ........................................Bill Murray Chorus Preparation .............................Andrew Altenbach Production Stage Manager .....................Alexander Farino Czech Diction Coach ...................................Milan Mader

THE CAST Rusalka, a water nymph .............................Kelly Kaduce The Prince ......................................Brandon Jovanovich Vodnik, a water gnome ..........................Robert Pomakov Jeˇzibaba, a witch....................................Dorothy Byrne* Christin-Marie Hill** A foreign princess ......................................Alison Bates A hunter ............................................John David Boehr Three dryads ................Karin Wolverton, Andrea Coleman, Katherine Haugen Dancers ................................................ARENA Dances Wood nymphs, water sprites, hunters, guests at the castle, servants Setting: A meadow by a lake and the grounds of a castle *

performs April 12, 15, 17, 19 ** performs April 20

Rusalka is a coproduction between The Minnesota Opera and Boston Lyric Opera.

| THE MINNESOTA OPERA www.mnopera.org

By arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., agent in the USA for DILIA Theatrical Agency, Czech Republic, publisher.

10

The appearances of Kelly Kaduce, winner; Alison Bates, national semifinalist; Kyle Albertson, regional finalist; and John David Boehr and Brandon Jovanovich, district finalists of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, are made possible through a Minnesota Opera Endowment Fund established for Artist Enhancement by Barbara White Bemis.

The appearances of Kyle Albertson, Alison Bates, John David Boehr, Andrea Coleman, Christin-Marie Hill, Christopher Job and Christian Reinert are made possible by the Virginia L. Stringer Endowment Fund for The Minnesota Opera Resident Artist Program.

Performances of Rusalka are being taped for delayed broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio, KSJN 99.5 in the Twin Cities.

The Minnesota Opera season is sponsored by FAF Advisors and U.S. Bank.

The appearances of the 2007–2008 season conductors are underwritten by SpencerStuart.

Opera Insights is sponsored by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.

BACKGROUND

Notes

by David Sander

F

antasy and folklore have always tweaked the operatic imagination and remain an integral part of the art form’s dramaturgy to this day. Spawning out of the ennui of dilatory French aristocrats, fairy tales were realized on the musical stage as early as the 18th century, with André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry’s Zémire et Azor (1771; based on Beauty and the Beast) and Nicholas Isouard’s Cendrillon [1810; more famously to become Rossini’s La Cenerentola (Cinderella; 1817)] all the way into the early 21st century, with the American premiere of Jonathan Dove’s The Adventures of Pinocchio by The Minnesota Opera in 2009.

Frenchman Charles Perrault was a master raconteur, but by the early 19th century, his flights of fancy faced some very stiff competition, albeit with a more sinister tone, where “happily ever after” often remains inconclusive. The German Romantics, most notably Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm and E.T.A. Hoffmann, began to mix superstition with fact, and soon witches, ghosts and wizards [as seen in Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth (1847); Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel (1893); Richard Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer (1843) and Parsifal (1882); Ambroise Thomas’ Hamlet (1868); Jacques Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann (1881); Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw (1954)], vampires [Nicolas Brazier’s Les trois vampires (1820); Heinrich Marschner’s Der Vampyr (1828); Peter Joseph von Lindpaintner’s Der Vampyr (1828)] and even the devil began to make their presence known [among the countless examples include Louis Spohr’s Faust (1816); Carl Maria von Weber’s Der Freischütz (1821); Daniel Auber’s Robert le diable (1831); Charles Gounod’s Faust (1859); Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele (1868); Ferruccio Busoni’s Doktor Faust (1925)]. The creative mind of the Romantic period was obsessed with the cruel, violent and macabre side of nature

BACKGROUND

Notes

women in league with some greater pernicious force – the and asserted the merits of imagination and peculiarity of Greek nymphs and sirens, the Scottish banshee, the phantasm. Though the traditional tales would survive in German lorelei and Rheinnixen (immortalized by Jacques the repertoire [examples here include Weber’s Oberon Offenbach and Richard Wagner), France’s Celtic Mélusine (1828); Marschner’s Han Heiling (1833); Wagner’s Die and Eastern Europe’s rusalki. Whether jilted lovers, Feen (1883); Jules Massenet’s Cendrillon (1899) and victims of suicide, unbaptized souls or the unclean dead, Griséldis (1901), Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov’s Le coq d’or all of these menacing incarnations seemed to have the same (The Golden Cockerel; 1909), both Busoni and Giacomo modus operandi – to lure Puccini’s Turandot (1917 unsuspecting victims and 1926); William into the woods (always Shakespeare’s fairy-based a perilous locale) for the dramas A Midsummer principal purpose of Night’s Dream and drowning them [in The Tempest in several contrast to their landinterpretations; Igor based cousins, the Stravinsky’s Le rossignol vilis, immortalized by (1914); Richard Strauss’ Heinrich Heine and Die Frau ohne Schatten brought to life in (1919), to name a few], Puccini’s Le villi now frightful and (1884) and Adolphe fantastic stories of lore Adam’s ballet Giselle were fair game.

(1841), who cause their Symbolist literature ex-paramours to dance followed suit, with poetry The Naiad, 1893 (Hylas with a nymph) by John William Waterhouse (1849-1917) until they collapse dead

by Maurice Maeterlinck © Roy Miles Fine Paintings/The Bridgeman Art Library from exhaustion – did I (to be set by Claude Nationality/copyright status: English/out of copyright mention the forest was Debussy as Pélleas et a scary place?]. The Slavic and Russian vodyanoi covered all Mélisande (1902) and Paul Dukas as Ariane et Barbe-Bleu water-borne creatures – one legend purported that, should (Ariane and Bluebeard; 1918) as well as hauntingly a maiden drown, she became a rusalka and thereby was beautiful paintings by artists Gustave Moreau and Odilon destined to reside in the waters where she perished. Others Redon (though they would revert to ancient Greek claim rusalki actually had been murdered by their lovers folklore, better known as “mythology,” and oral traditions and sought eternal revenge. Much like the Greek sirens, handed down many generations that would eventually the lorelei are Rhenish mermaids who sweetly sing on the comprise the Old Testament) and the English Pre-Raphaelites edge of waterways, enticing sailors ever closer until they John William Waterhouse and Edward Burne-Jones crash their boats on the rocks. Similarly, the Rheinnixen (the Victorians had an especially curious interest in the lure men into their watery embrace and ultimately to supernatural and the occult). their victims’ demise, while the tradition of Mélusine Water mythology was of special interest, particularly in involves a nymph who marries a man who can’t keep his the struggle between the real and spiritual worlds. Every promise and eventually discovers her secret identity, culture had its parasitic and life-draining, yet sexy and causing her to flee and never return. ® emasculating, femme fatales, a sorority of beautiful young

Listen! Listen! It is me, Ondine, who brushes waterdrops against your resonant window panes, illuminated by the moonlight’s gloom; and here, in her shimmering gown, stands the lady of the castle on the balcony, contemplating the beautiful star-lit night and the quiet lake below.

Each wave is a water nymph swimming in the current, and every current is a path winding to my palace, and my palace is fluid, at the bottom of the lake enclosed by the trinity formed by fire, earth and air.

Listen! Listen! My father strikes the restless water with a green branch, and my sisters caress with their

foamy arms cool islands of grasses, water lilies and gladiolas … or do they mock the lazy willow tree whose limbs bend like fishing lines?

With murmuring song, she implores me to receive her ring on my finger, to be the husband of a water nymph, and visit her palace to become king of the lakes.

And when I told her I was in love with a mortal woman, she was sullen and spiteful. She shed a few tears, then broke into laughter, vanishing into a sudden shower of white drops that streaked my windows’ blue glass.

– Gaspard de la nuit, Aloysius Bertrand (1842)

| RUSALKA

BACKGROUND NOTES CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

11

| THE MINNESOTA OPERA www.mnopera.org

BACKGROUND

12

Notes

it would be set by numerous 18th-century opera seria Though the story of malevolent water nymphs would be set as a Singspiel early in 1798 as Das Donauweibchen (Women composers, namely George Frideric Handel (as Rinaldo; of the Danube) by Ferdinand Kauer (at Vienna’s Theater in 1711), Carl Heinrich Graun (1751), Tommaso Traetta der Leopoldstadt, one of Magic Flute librettist Emanuel (1761), Antonio Salieri (1771), Christoph Willibald Schkineder’s main rivals), the sprightly Undine, defined Gluck (1777), Franz Joseph Haydn (1784), and later, simply as a “water nymph,” would soon capture the German

by Rossini in 1817]. psyche, most notably in a novel by Friedrich de la Motte A young librettist yet to prove himself, Jaroslav Kvapil Fouqué, first published in 1811 (both Edgar Allen Poe and must have been delighted when Dvorˇ ák accepted his text Sir Walter Scott would become his admirers – Scott, in for Rusalka after three other composers had turned him particular, loved to include frightful down. On its face, the narrative appears subplots in his writings). A slew of to be the classic by Andersen (albeit staged works followed, including those of a much darker vein) where the

by Hoffmann (1816), Cesare Pugni (1844) temporarily fishtailed heroine saves, and Albert Lortzing (1845). Traveling falls in love with and then is abandoned Danish author Hans Christian Andersen by a nameless prince. Not quite latched on to the craze and wrote Den lille Disney, Andersen’s version incorporates Havfrue (The Little Mermaid; 1836) upon some gruesome details à la Brothers Motte Fouqué’s inspiration. Farther east, Grimm – the mermaid’s tongue is cut the Russians would also plunder these out as payment for her transformation; legends. Based on texts by Alexander the conversion from webbing to legs Pushkin (Rusalka; 1832) and Nikolai is hardly painless; and the new young Gogol [Mayskaya noch’ (May Night; 1831)], woman must endure the equivalent of Alexander Dargomïzhsky (Rusalka; 1856), “walking on knives so sharp your blood Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky (Undina; 1870) must flow.” The price of returning to and Rimsky-Korsakov (Mayskaya noch’; her former self is the Prince’s blood, 1880) composed operas on the subject. drawn after she plunges a dagger into Undine/Ondine continued to fascinate his heart. Andersen’s mermaid is an artists well into the 20th century, giving estranged outsider, vainly hoping for acceptance within civilized society, and impetus to a piano piece by Maurice Ravel her plight emphasizes the impossibility (part of Gaspard de la nuit; 1908), a ballet of a melding between the natural and

by Hans Werner Henze (1958) and a play the otherworldly – as a result, she opts

by Jean Giraudoux (1939; to be set as an for self-sacrifice rather than murder. opera by Daniel Lesur in 1982).

Kvapil credits another menacing tale, So a definite trend had been in place by Gerhart Hauptmann’s Die versunkene the time Antonín Dvorˇák came about to Glocke (The Sunken Bell), which also writing his penultimate opera. He was no employs a witch, a gnome and an stranger to the spectral world. Drawn from ill-fated romance ending with the the folk ballads of Karel Jaromír Erben, death of a male protagonist (treated the symphonic poems dating from this operatically by Ottorino Respighi period carry eerily evocative titles such as in 1927).

The Noon Witch, The Water Goblin, The Wild Sir Edward Burne-Jones Motte Fouqué’s work draws a closer Dove and The Golden Spinning Wheel, and The Depths of the Sea (1887) parallel to Dvorˇák’s opera, yet there are detail ghastly acts of dismemberment and Watercolor and gouache on wove paper significant differences between the two massacre. His most recent opera to date, mounted on panel; other; primary support (primary support): renderings. Having lost their daughter Cˇert a Kácˇa (The Devil and Kate; 1899), a 194.5 x 746 cm (76 9/16 x 293 11/16 in.) when she was swept out to sea, an old loose adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew 197 x 76 cm (77 9/16 x 29 15/16 in.)

Harvard University Art Museums, fisherman and his wife accept the (whose female title character shares a Fogg Art Museum, Bequest of responsibility of a mysterious young common name with Shakespeare’s spitfire Grenville L. Winthrop, 1943.462 Photo: Katya Kallsen © President and girl (Undine) who unexpectedly shows leading lady) has his calamitous harpy Fellows of Harvard College up – damp – on their doorstep. She spend some time with Lucifer down in grows up to become a headstrong young temptress, hell. Dvorˇ ák’s final opera Armida (1904) also involves accepting the affections of a brave knight, Huldbrand. magical forces at play [somewhat predating the fairy tale He brings her back to court with the intention of marrying vogue, the subject was derived from Torquato Tasso’s her. Undine befriends Bertalda, the supposed offspring of 16th-century epic poem Orlando furioso and worked into a the duke and duchess, who was tentatively pursuing a ® libretto by Jean-Baptiste Lully-librettist Philippe Quinault; BACKGROUND NOTES CONTINUED ON PAGE 15

Synopsis ACT I

A glade at the edge of a lake deep within the forest Three dryads playfully tease Vodnik as he tries to catch one of them. His daughter Rusalka tells of her sadness – she wishes to be mortal in order to pursue her love for a princely young man who swims in the lake. Vodnik tries to dissuade her, for he only sees doom in the world of humans, but she will not be deterred. She prays to the moon, hoping the Prince may return her affection.

Rusalka visits Jezˇibaba, an old sorceress who is willing to help.

The witch has the necessary potion, but it has one side-effect – once transformed, Rusalka will no longer be able to speak. If she should not find lasting love in the corporeal world, she will be forced to walk through life accursed. Rusalka bravely drinks the magic philter.

As dawn breaks, a hunting party is in pursuit of game. The unsuccessful predators retire, but the Prince remains behind, magically drawn to the lake. Meeting Rusalka for the first time, he immediately falls in love.

– INTERMISSION – ACT II

The castle grounds As a celebration takes place inside the manor, Rusalka enters with the Prince who is puzzled by her continued silence and her sad disposition. Still enthralled, he vows to better understand his future bride once they are wed. One of the guests, an alluring foreign Princess, reproaches the Prince for ignoring the festivities. The Princess lightly mocks Rusalka’s speechlessness, quietly enraging the former nymph, as she shamelessly escorts the Prince to the party inside. Vodnik consoles his pitiful daughter as she watches the Princess successfully entice the Prince with her beauty.

– INTERMISSION – ACT III

| RUSALKA

A glade at the edge of the lake Tearfully, Rusalka has returned to the forest, ready to forsake humankind. Jezˇibaba agrees to switch Rusalka back to her original state, but as a result, her lover may never return, lest he die from her embrace. The witch even offers a knife so that she may kill the Prince and cleanse herself of his mortal stain, but Rusalka refuses and returns to the lake.

The dryads again try to play with Vodnik, but he sadly admits that their carefree world has been marred by the taint of mankind.

The Prince feverishly searches the woods for his lost love, and in a dreamlike state, Rusalka hauntingly appears before him. She scorns his renewed affection and cautions that his fate will be sealed with just one touch. Ignoring her warning, the Prince kisses Rusalka, then dies in her arms.

Costume sketches by Kärin Kopischke

13

ANTONÍN Dvorˇák b Nelahozeves (Bohemia), September 8, 1841; d Prague, May 1, 1904

| THE MINNESOTA OPERA www.mnopera.org

M

14

ostly known for his symphonies, concerti and chamber works, Antonín Dvorˇ ák composed 10 operas, an art form he once declared to be his preferred genre. Born to humble peasant stock, Dvorˇ ák barely escaped oblivion when he was sent to live with his aunt and uncle at the age of 12. There he fostered an interest in music, becoming adept on a number of instruments and graduating from Prague’s School of Organ in 1859. He joined a band of local players, which eventually became the pit orchestra of the city’s new Provisional Theater three years later. In 1863, he had the opportunity to play a concert of Wagner’s music, with the great composer himself conducting, and was influenced as a result. A violist for almost a decade, Dvorˇ ák would be exposed to a wide variety of operatic styles during this period, including works by Gioachino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Charles Gounod, Jacques Offenbach and Carl Maria von Weber.

At that time, the notion of opera in Czech was in its infancy (as the transitory word “provisional” in the theater’s title would seem to indicate). Then part of the Austrian Empire, Bohemia was required to use German as its official language.

Only by the middle of the century were major works being performed in Czech. The leader of the movement was the theater’s director, Bedrˇich Smetana, whose operas began to define a national style. Other composers of note included Karel Sˇ ebor, Karel Bendl, Richard Rozksˇny´, Voiteˇch Hrˇimaly´, Zdendeˇk Fibich, Karel Kovarˇovic, Otakar Ostrcˇil, Víteˇzslav Novak, Josef Bohuslav Foerster, and most notably, Leosˇ Janácˇek.

Not willing to succumb to this patriotic fervor, Dvorˇák was strangely out-of-pace with his contemporaries, often choosing subjects and locales far

from his native lands. His first opera, Alfred (1870/1938; set to German text) tells the struggle between England’s Alfred the Great and the invading Danes. Vanda (1876), written in the style of French Grand Opera, is set among Polish royalty,

Antonín Dvorˇák, circa 1900 Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz/Art Resource, NY

and the equally epic Dimitrij (1882) plays out in the Russian court, a sort of sequel to Boris Godunov. Jakobin (1889), though taking place in Bohemia, has its undercurrents in the rhetoric of the French Revolution and the tried-and-true theme of Armida (1904) is set during the Medieval Crusades. Even Rusalka’s wispy milieu is indeterminate.

Coupled with charges of excessive Wagnerism, Dvorˇ ák was one to step to his own tune.

Written by a composer with a rich musical palette underlying problematic texts (unfortunately, he was not a strong dramatist), Dvorˇák’s operas were met with mixed reviews and are seldom produced

beyond the Czech border. His fame chiefly rests on his orchestral works, which after a few false starts, he began to tour around Europe. In 1891, he was invited by Jeanette Thurber (founder of the ill-fated American Opera Company, a brief rival to the newly opened Metropolitan Opera) to become the director of the National Conservatory of Music, a three-year commitment with generous summer breaks.

Rather than returning to Prague, Dvorˇ ák spent his first vacation in Czech-populated Spillville, Iowa.

A great lover of trains, the composer took many short trips around the Upper Midwest, including one to Minneapolis for a visit to Minnehaha Falls while considering a setting of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Song of Hiawatha. From this period comes one of his most popular works, the Symphony No. 9 “From the New World,” as well as several other regionally-inspired pieces such as the two string quartets (in F and E-flat), both titled the “American,” and the famous Cello Concerto in B minor.

Toward the end of his life, Dvorˇ ák turned away from “abstract” music to more programmatic works. Rusalka dates from this period as does Armida, his final opera. Sadly, the composer died within months of its controversial premiere, unable to defend its merits or revise accordingly.

So long as the Lord gives me health, I wish to devote my powers to the writing of opera. Not for a desire for personal glory, but because I believe it to be the best art form for our nation.

— Antonín Dvor˘ák

Notes

BACKGROUND NOTES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

love affair with Huldbrand before he left. Bertalda manages to ensnare her man, but not before being exposed – she is really of peasant stock, the longtime missing daughter of the fisherman.

A malicious water sprite and a hermit priest add grotesque touches to the story as does the final scene – at the wedding ceremony, Undine’s unearthly powers are revealed when she mysteriously appears, kisses Huldbrand to death and vanishes into the waters.

Kvapil draws freely from all these stories, adding depth to the witch Jezˇibaba (her character only slightly more pleasant than her Andersen counterpart) and improving the disposition of the water gnome, who becomes a wise and loving father to Rusalka and a solemn commentator on humanity’s destructive nature.

Keeping in line with an abstraction akin to the fairy tale, no one has a proper name (Rusalka, Vodnik and Jezˇibaba all being types of creatures in Czech folklore). The inclusion of the Turnspit and Gamekeeper (cut in this production) give comic relief, grounding the opera with rustic charm, and in traditional stagings, sharply distinguish the normal and fantastical dominions. The addition of the ballet in the party scene, while a requisite of Czech opera at the time, further stresses Rusalka’s alienation from the mortal world.

Hugely popular in Czechoslovakia since the day of its premiere, Rusalka was slow to catch on elsewhere, waiting nine years before a foreign staging could take place in Vienna. Even today, it is infrequently produced in the

United States, having appeared at only a handful of major companies over the past two decades. With its luscious orchestration, shimmering and heartfelt melodies, throughcomposed urgency, leitmotif character portrayals and harmony reminiscent of Wagner, the opera accentuates the lyricism of silence through its wistful title character. Rusalka’s deathblow caress becomes as romantic as a kiss when she learns too late the tragic consequences of that classic adage – be careful for what you wish. T

‌ as she threw back her veil, her dear face met his view, smiling with celestial beauty. Trembling with love and the awe of approaching death, the knight stooped to give and receive the embrace. She kissed him with the holy kiss of Heaven; but she relaxed not her hold, pressing him more passionately in her arms, and weeping as if she would weep away her soul. Tears rushed into the knight’s eyes. A thrill both of bliss and agony shot through his heart, until he at last expired, sinking softly back from her fair arms, and resting upon the pillow of his couch, a corpse. “I have wept him to death!â€? said she to some domestics, who met her in the anti-chamber; and passing through the terrified group, she went slowly out and disappeared in the fountain. — Undine, Friedrich de la Motte FouquĂŠ (1811)

8IFO XBT UIF MBTU UJNF ZPV DBNF

0VU!5IF 0QFSB 5IF .JOOFTPUB 0QFSB JT MBVODIJOH B OFX TPDJBM HSPVQ GPS PVS GSJFOET JO UIF (BZ -FTCJBO #JTFYVBM 5SBOTHFOEFSFE BOE "MMJFT DPNNVOJUZ +PJO NFNCFST PG UIF 0QFSBÂľT TUBGG BOE 3FTJEFOU "SUJTU 1SPHSBN GPS GVO BOE JOGPSNBUJWF FWFOJOHT XJUI CFIJOE UIF TDFOFT BDDFTT UP FBDI PG UIJT TFBTPOÂľT TIPXT :PV OFWFS LOPX XIP NJHIU TIPX VQ PS XIBU EJSU UIFZ NJHIU EJTI .BLF TVSF UP WJTJU NOPQFSB PSH HFUJOWPMWFE BOE TJHO VQ UP SFDFJWF JOGPSNBUJPO GPS UIF TFBTPO "MM FWFOUT UBLF QMBDF BU 5IF .JOOFTPUB 0QFSB $FOUFS / 'JSTU 4U .JOOFBQPMJT

| RUSALKA

Act I – set design by Erhard Rom

5IF *UBMJBO (JSM JO "MHJFST QIPUP CZ .JDIBM %BOJFM

BACKGROUND

15

THE

Artists

For more biographical information about these artists, visit our website at www.mnopera.org Alison Bates

John David Boehr

Foreign Princess Minnesota Opera Resident Artist Recently Gianni Schicchi; The Gondoliers; Tosca, Chautauqua Opera Romeo and Juliet; The Italian Girl in Algiers; Lakmé; The Tales of Hoffmann; La donna del lago; Don Giovanni; Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man, Minnesota Opera A View from the Bridge; Abduction from the Seraglio; Little Women; Giulio Cesare, Indiana Univ. Opera Theater Symphony No. 2; Israel in Egypt, Columbus Indiana Phil.

Gianni Schicchi, MasterWorks Festival (Young Artist)

Hunter Minnesota Opera Resident Artist Recently A Masked Ball; Romeo and Juliet; King Croesus, Minn. Opera Trinity, Santa Fe Opera L’Ormindo, Pittsburgh Opera Center Tosca; Don Pasquale; La Cenerentola, Palm Beach Opera Die Zauberflöte; Barnum’s Bird; L’elisir d’amore; Così fan tutte, Baylor Opera Theater Don Giovanni, Tanglewood Music Festival Upcoming Pinocchio; The Barber of Seville, The Minnesota Opera

Dorothy Byrne

Andrea Coleman

Jezˇibaba Minnesota Opera Debut Little Women, 2002 Recently Roméo et Juliette; Il barbiere di Siviglia, Hawaii Opera Theatre Le nozze di Figaro, Houston Grand Opera Anna Karenina, Florida Grand; Opera Theatre of St. Louis The Greater Good, Glimmerglass; Sweeney Todd, Shreveport Op. Upcoming The Mines of Sulphur, Wexford Festival Lakmé; Le nozze di Figaro, Florida Grand Opera The Ghosts of Versailles, Opera Theatre of St. Louis

Second Dryad Minnesota Opera Resident Artist Recently The Italian Girl in Algiers; The Marriage of Figaro; The Fortunes of King Croesus; Lakmé; The Tales of Hoffmann, The Minnesota Opera Glimmerglass Opera Young American Artist Così fan tutte; Little Women; Cendrillon; The Turn of the Screw; The Magic Flute, New England Conservatory The Gondoliers, Harvard-Radcliffe G & S Players Magic Flute; Mikado; Pirates of Penzance, Univ. of Kansas

Katherine Haugen

Christin-Marie Hill

Third Dryad Minnesota Opera Debut The Marriage of Figaro, 2007 Recently The Fortunes of King Croesus; Romeo and Juliet; Lakmé; The Grapes of Wrath; The Tales of Hoffmann; Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man; Orazi e Curiazi; Tosca; Nixon in China; Maria Padilla; Madame Butterfly; The Handmaid’s Tale; La traviata; The Flying Dutchman; Norma; The Merry Widow; Don Carlos; La bohème; La clemenza di Tito; Lucia di Lammermoor; Pagliacci/Carmina burana (ensemble), Minnesota Opera

R THE

Jezˇibaba Minnesota Opera Resident Artist Recently A Masked Ball; Romeo and Juliet, The Minnesota Opera A Whitman Tryptich, Tanglewood Festival Dido and Aeneas, Mark Morris Dance Co.; Kansas Opera Thtr.

Samson et Dalila (excerpts), Merola Opera Theater La Cenerentola; Roméo et Juliette, Lyric Opera of Kansas City The Crucible, Des Moines Metro Opera Upcoming Les Troyens, Boston Symphony Mahagonny, Tanglewood Festival

T ENOUGH ART IN OUR SCH OOLS E’S NO

.

N O

W O N D E R

| THE MINNESOTA OPERA www.mnopera.org

“GESUNDHEIT”

16

P E O P L E WHEN

S AY

YOU

S AY

“TCHAIKOVSKY.” For more information about the importance of arts education, please contact www.AmericansForTheArts.org.

For more biographical information about these artists, visit our website at www.mnopera.org

The Prince Minnesota Opera Debut Street Scene, 2001 Recently Tosca, Seattle Opera; Bregenezer Festspiele Madame Butterfly, San Francisco Opera Cavalleria rusticana, New York City Opera Macbeth, Dallas Opera Anna Karenina, Florida Grand; Opera Theatre of St. Louis Jenufa, Angers Nantes Opéra Upcoming Carmen, Glyndebourne Festival

Robert Pomakov Vodnik Minnesota Opera Debut Recently From the House of the Dead; Tosca; Das Rheingold; Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Canadian Opera Company Salome, Lyric Opera of Chicago; Opéra de Montpellier Fidelio, Opéra de Bordeaux; Opéra de Marseille Boris Godunov, Madrid; Houston; Brussels Eugene Onegin, Fest. de Lanaudières; Don Giovanni, Wash. Opera Upcoming Tosca, Los Angeles Opera; Don Giovanni; War and Peace; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Canadian Opera Company

Wendall K. Harrington Projections Designer Minnesota Opera Debut Transatlantic, 1997 Recently The Grapes of Wrath, The Minnesota Opera The Who’s Tommy; Grey Gardens; The Good Body; others, Broadway The Chris Rock Tour The Turn of the Screw, Royal Danish Opera The Nutcracker, San Francisco Ballet Nixon in China, Minn. Opera; Opera Theatre of St. Louis Anna Karenina, Royal Danish Ballet

Artists

Kelly Kaduce Rusalka Minnesota Opera Debut La bohème, 2002 Recently Faust, Malmö Opera och Musikteater La bohème, Opera Pacific; The Grapes of Wrath, Minn. Opera Tea: A Mirror of Soul, Santa Fe Opera Anna Karenina, Florida Grand; Opera Theatre of St. Louis Upcoming Madame Butterfly, Opera Theatre of St. Louis Otello, Kentucky Opera Suor Angelica, Teatro Municipal (Chile)

Karin Wolverton First Dryad Minnesota Opera Debut Lucia di Lammermoor, 2001 Recently Carmen; The Rake’s Progress; The Tales of Hoffmann; Gloriana; Salome, Des Moines Metro Opera Grapes of Wrath; Tales of Hoffmann; Don Giovanni; Carmen; Maria Padilla; Magic Flute; others, Minnesota Opera The Tales of Hoffmann; The Student Prince, Central City Opera Upcoming The Grapes of Wrath, Pittsburgh Opera; Opera Pacific The Crucible, Orlando Opera

Mathew Janczewski Choreographer Minnesota Opera Debut Recently Bankrupt City Ballad, Theater Latté Da Ugly, ARENA Dances (artistic director) choreographer – Repertory Project (Cleveland); St. Paul Conservatory; St. Olaf; Gustavus; Macalester; Hamline; U of M; Walker Art Ctr.; Zenon; State Univ. of New York 2005 McKnight Fellowship for choreography Upcoming waterBRIDGE, ARENA Dances ETHEL String Quartet at the Southern Theater

| RUSALKA

Brandon Jovanovich

THE

17

THE

Artists

For more biographical information about these artists, visit our website at www.mnopera.org Kärin Kopischke

Costume Designer Minnesota Opera Debut La bohème, 1996 Recently The Grapes of Wrath; Orazi e Curiazi, Minnesota Opera Steppenwolf; American Conservatory Theatre; Goodman; Huntington; Chicago Shakespeare Theatre; Long Wharf Theatre; Milwaukee Repertory Theatre; Victory Gardens; Kennedy Center; Crossroads Theatre; San Francisco Shakespeare Festival; California Shakespeare Festival; Cincinnati Playhouse; Skylight Opera Theatre

Erhard Rom Set Designer Minnesota Opera Debut Recently Romeo and Juliet, The Minnesota Opera Jane Eyre, Opera Theatre of St. Louis Volpone; L’étoile; Sweeney Todd, Wolf Trap Opera The Tales of Hoffmann; Susanna, Virginia Opera Eugene Onegin, Cleveland Opera Vanessa, Chautauqua Opera Upcoming Alcina, Wolf Trap Opera La bohème, Opera Theatre of St. Louis

Robert Wierzel

| THE MINNESOTA OPERA www.mnopera.org

Lighting Designer Minnesota Opera Debut Snow Leopard, 1989 Recently The Grapes of Wrath, The Minnesota Opera Don Giovanni, Seattle Opera Jenufa, Glimmerglass Opera Happy End, American Conservatory Macbeth, Vancouver Opera; Agrippina, Virginia Opera Orpheus and Euridice (Gordon), Lincoln Center Theater Upcoming Giulio Cesare, Seattle Opera

18

Bill Murray

photo not available

Assistant Director Minnesota Opera Resident Artist Recently Romeo and Juliet (AD); Rigoletto; Carmen (roles); La donna del lago; Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man; Orazi e Curiazi; others (ensemble), Minnesota Opera Ariadne auf Naxos; The Merry Wives of Windsor, University of Minnesota Opera Theatre Le nozze di Figaro, La Musica Lyrica 2002 La Musica Lirica Festival (Urbania, Italy) 1998 Tanglewood Music Festival

Eric Simonson Stage Director Minnesota Opera Debut The Magic Flute (tour), 1991 Recently The Grapes of Wrath; La bohème; The Handmaid’s Tale; Orazi e Curiazi, The Minnesota Opera A Note of Triumph – Academy Award (short documentary) When Pride Still Mattered, Madison Repertory Theatre Carter’s Way, Kansas City Repertory Homeland; Five Points; On Tiptoe, HBO Television Korczak’s Children, Children’s Theatre Company Ahab’s Tale; Work Song, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre

Robert Wood Conductor Minnesota Opera Debut La donna del lago, 2006 Recently The Italian Girl in Algiers, Vancouver Opera; Minnesota Opera The Nutcracker, San Francisco Ballet The Magic Flute; Le Comte Ory, Wolf Trap Opera Co. L’italiana in Algeri; La traviata, San Francisco Opera Tosca; Faust; Manon; Carmen; Elisir; others, Opera San José Upcoming La Cenerentola, New Jersey Opera The Love for Three Oranges, Indiana University

THE

Artists

Project Opera performers in Rusalka

Back row (left to right) Erik Erlandson, Nick Sanches, Sam Thompson, Garrett Obrycki Front row (left to right) Liv Redpath, Joia Byrnes, Erin Hodgson Not pictured: Alexandra Razskazoff

Joining The Minnesota Opera Chorus for Rusalka are the winners of this year’s Project Opera aria competition.

The eight students – members of Project Opera’s Giovani ensemble – were chosen from among twenty-five contestants in this spring’s competition, where each student performed an aria or art song before a panel of judges. The annual competition is open to all members of Giovani and is held as a way to encourage the development of the solo voice, a major emphasis of Project Opera. Please give a warm welcome to these hometown performers from Mora, Woodbury, West St. Paul, Ham Lake, New Brighton, Edina and Champlin.

See page 22 for more on The Minnesota Opera’s Education programs.

One-of-a-kind reverse hand-painted lighting creations Offered exclusively by

The Collection on 5

| RUSALKA

A Distinctive Lighting & Design Gallery International Market Square 612-746-0444

19

THE MINNESOTA OPERA

GREAT HOMES, GREAT CHOICES Elegant choices in terrific neighborhoods. Look forward to a great Minneapolis summer walking to the Lakes, downtown Linden Hills or along the Mississippi River from your new home.

LAKE OF THE ISLES

Chorus AND Orchestra

Chorus

Orchestra

Kyle Albertson John David Boehr Nathan Brian Karen Bushby Joia Byrnes Erik Erlandson Carole Finneran Peter Frenz Gretchen Gamm Roland Hawkins Michelle Hayes Robin Helgen Erin Hodgson Christopher Job Ben Johnson Roy Kallemeyn Hye Won Kim Mark Larson Jeffrey Madison Mary Monson Garrett Obrycki Jon Olson Alexandra Razskazoff Liv Redpath Christian Reinert Ana Romero Joy Scheib Robert Schmidt Sandra Schoenecker Sam Thompson

Violin I

Oboe

Kristen Christensen concertmaster Julia Persitz David Mickens Judy Thon-Jones Angela Hanson Andrea Een Conor O’Brien Lydia Miller Giselle Hillyer Troy Gardner

Marilyn Ford Tina James

| THE MINNESOTA OPERA www.mnopera.org

LINDEN HILLS

20

Call Your City Specialists

Fran & Barb

Davis

612-925-8408

Gabriel Anderson Sarah Baumert Mary Davies Robert Haarman Heather Klopchin Stephanie Laager Christopher LaPlante Julie McBride Luke Meshla Steve Moses

Clarinet Sandra Powers Nina Olsen

Bass Clarinet Karin Meffert-Nelson

Laurie Petruconis Elizabeth Decker Stephan R. Orsak Melinda Marshall Huldah Niles Lindsay Erickson Alastair Brown

Viola Vivi Erickson Laurel Browne Jenny Lind Nilsson Susan Janda Jim Bartsch Coca Bochonko

Bassoon Coreen Nordling Laurie Hatcher Merz

Horn Charles Hodgson Gina Monge Neal Bolter Lawrence Barnhart

Trumpet John G. Koopmann Christopher Volpe Craig Hara

Trombone John Eadie Rebecca Arons Thomas Austin Sally Gibson Dorer Karl Knapp

ARENA Dances

Michael Dayton

Violin II

Cello

MILL DISTRICT

English Horn

Phillip Ostrander Sue Roberts David Stevens

Tuba Ralph Hepola

Bass

Timpani

John Michael Smith Constance Martin Jason C. Hagelie Michael Watson

Kory Andry

Percussion Matthew Barber Paul Hill

Flute Michele Frisch Amy Morris

Harp

Piccolo

Personnel Manager

Casey Kovacic

Steve Lund

Min J. Kim

2008-2009 Minnesota Opera

GENERAL/CHORUS AUDITIONS Audition dates: April 23, 24, 25 and 26, 2008 Location: The Minnesota Opera Center

Auditio n Dates: April 23 ,

and 26 24, 25 , 2008

Please go to www.mnopera.org/about for scheduling information and audition requirements.

4VCTDSJCFST IBWF NPSF GVO )FSF BSF UISFF SFBTPOT XIZ

3PNFP BOE +VMJFU QIPUP CZ .JDIBM %BOJFM

:PV TBWF NPOFZ

$SFBUF ZPVS PXO BOE PQFSB QBDLBHFT BOE

SFDFJWF VQ UP PGG SFHVMBS UJDLFU QSJDFT

:PV HFU ¿FYJCJMJUZ

8IFO ZPVS QMBOT DIBOHF KVTU FYDIBOHF ZPVS

UJDLFUT 4VCTDSJCFST DBO FYDIBOHF UJDLFUT XJUIPVU GFF GPS BOZ QFSGPSNBODF

EVSJOH UIF TFBTPO &YDIBOHFT BSF CBTFE PO BWBJMBCJMJUZ VQ UP POF IPVS

QSJPS UP UIF QFSGPSNBODF

:PVS GSJFOET XJMM MPWF ZPVS TVCTDSJCFS EJTDPVOU

/FFE UP QVSDIBTF BEEJUJPOBM UJDLFUT

6TF ZPVS PS EJTDPVOU

GPS QVSDIBTJOH TJOHMF UJDLFUT UP BOZ TIPX TVCKFDU UP BWBJMBCJMJUZ

²* MPWF UIBU * DBO XFBS

FWFSZUIJOH GSPN KFBOT UP B DPDLUBJM

ESFTT BOE * BMXBZT GFFM DPNGPSUBCMF ³ ° )PMMZ $BSQFOUFS

+PJO PVS FNBJM MJTU

4JHO VQ UP SFDFJWF JOWJUBUJPOT UP QSJWBUF TBMFT

BEWBODF TBMFT GPS *M USPWBUPSF DPNJOH TPPO FOUFS

DPOUFTUT MFBSO BCPVU VQDPNJOH FWFOUT BOE NPSF

².Z IVTCBOE

BOE * BSF OFX TVCTDSJCFST BOE XF BCTPMVUFMZ MPWF JU *UµT PVS

GBWPSJUF FWFOJOH PVU ³

° 4BOEZ 8BMLFS

SB PSH NOP Q F

4JHO VQ BU UIF CPY PG¾DF UIF MPCCZ UBCMF PS WJTJU NOPQFSB PSH

Baccarat Lighting Offered exclusively by

The Collection on 5

| RUSALKA

A Distinctive Lighting & Design Gallery International Market Square 612-746-0444

21

Education AT THE OPERA

Full cast of The Nightingale.

Project Opera This winter Project Opera has again been very busy. Made up of talented students who come from everywhere – St. Peter to Hudson – participants in Project Opera join the year-long vocal training program (led by Music Director Dale Kruse) to experience the world of opera.

Giovani Choir In March, Giovani, the 55-member high school ensemble, presented a fully-staged production of Imant Raminsh’s The Nightingale at Augsburg College.

Ragazzi Choir Ragazzi (made up of vocalists in grades 4-7) visited In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater for their winter retreat.

| THE MINNESOTA OPERA www.mnopera.org

The mechanical nightingale (Hannah Sicora) breaks in front of the Emperor (Nick Sanches) and his court.

22

Join the excitement!

Ragazzi at In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater.

Auditions for Project Opera 2008-2009 will be held in August!

Project Opera is for boys and girls in grades 4-12.

Call Community Education Director Jamie Andrews at 612-342-9573 or see www.mnopera.org/learn for details.

Education AT THE OPERA coOPERAtion!

From East Grand Forks to Eau Claire, Spring Lake to Little Falls, Minnesota Opera Teaching Artist Vicki Fingalson continues to bring the excitement of opera to students K-12. Bring Vicki to your school!

Find out how to schedule a visit at mnopera.org/learn.

A special thanks goes to Medtronic for their continued support of coOPERAtion!

Little Falls High School Choir poses with Vicki.

Vicki helped the St. Louis Park choir with music from Carmen.

| RUSALKA

Vicki works with Nicole Twito during a Day at the Opera.

23

24

| THE MINNESOTA OPERA www.mnopera.org

Introducing the 2008-2009 season—

Sept. 20 – 28, 2008 Destinies and quests for revenge collide in Verdi’s thrilling drama.

Nov. 1 – 9, 2008 Hilarious hijinx abound aboard the Orient Express. Featuring The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

Jan. 24 – Feb. 1, 2009

Feb. 28 – Mar. 8, 2009

Dr. Faust makes a deadly deal with opera’s favorite devil.

The American premiere of an opera for the whole family.

FEIN STRINGED INSTRUMENTS Dealers, Repairers and Makers of Violins,Violas, Cellos, Basses and Bows

Andrew Fein

GREAT INSTRUMENTS

| THE MINNESOTA OPERA www.mnopera.org

BEAUTIFUL WOOD MUSIC STANDS Quality Cases • Wonderful Values ON-LINE & ON GRAND AVENUE

26

www.FineViolins.com 1850 Grand Ave. / St. Paul, MN 55105 651.228.0783 / 800.347.9172

See the “most spectacular show in town!” (Mpls.St.Paul Magazine) You won’t want to miss a moment of The Minnesota Opera’s stunning 2008-2009 season. And with English translations projected above the stage you’ll understand every word. Our flexible packages, surprising discounts and incredible benefits make it easy to subscribe to “the most daring programming in America….” (Opera News)

mnopera.org Apr. 11 – 19, 2009 Pure joy and silliness abound in this riotous Rossini romp.

order online, or call 612-333-6669

See 3 operas as little for as $50!

2008-200 Subscrip 9 tio on sale n ns ow!

The 2008-2009 season is sponsored by:

WORLD

POPULATION 6.6 BILLION HEADED TOWARD

9 BILLION BY 2050!

YET SUSTAINABLE POPULATION IS 3 BILLION OR LESS! (At an average European standard of living)

WorldPopulationBalance.org 612.869.1640 A MINNESOTA NON-PROFIT

| RUSALKA

Support Population Stabilization at

27

The Schubert Club

Saint Paul Summer Song Festival June 9–14, 2008

Six Days and Nights of Song!

For information & tickets: 651-292-3268 or www.schubert.org/songfest

MAUD MOON WEYERHAEUSER SANBORN

International Artist Series 2008-2009 Season

Voigt

Including soprano Deborah Voigt on January 9, 2009 & tenor Ben Heppner on April 22, 2009 at Ordway Center For subscription information, call The Schubert Club Box Office: 651-292-3268 www.schubert.org

THE MINNESOTA OPERA

Annual Fund INDIVIDUAL GIVING

It is with deep appreciation that The Minnesota Opera recognizes and thanks all of the individual donors whose annual support helps bring great opera to life. It is our pleasure to give special recognition to the following individuals whose leadership support provides the financial foundation which makes the Opera’s artistic excellence possible.

For information on making a contribution to The Minnesota Opera, please call Annual Fund Director Dawn Loven at 612-342-9567, or email her at dloven@mnopera.org.

Bel Canto Circle Platinum $20,000 and above Anonymous Mary and Gus Blanchard Ellie and Tom Crosby, Jr. Julia W. Dayton Sara and Jock Donaldson Dolly J. Fiterman John and Ruth Huss Heinz and Sisi Hutter Lucy Rosenberry Jones Patricia Lund Mr. and Mrs. George Mairs

Dwight D. Opperman Elizabeth Redleaf Stephanie Simon and Craig Bentdahl Mary W. Vaughan Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation C. Angus and Margaret Wurtele

Mr. and Mrs. Philip Isaacson The Art and Martha Kaemmer Fund of HRK Foundation Peter J. King Bernt von Ohlen and Thomas Nichol

Silver $10,000–$14,999 Gold $15,000–$19,999 Karen Bachman Nicky B. Carpenter Darlene J. and Richard P. Carroll N. Bud and Beverly Grossman Foundation

Anonymous (4) Shari and David Boehnen Susan Boren Daniel and Christine Buss Jane M. and Ogden W. Confer Mary Dearing and Barry Lazarus

Cy and Paula Decosse Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Sharon and Bill Hawkins Warren and Patricia Kelly Mr. and Mrs. B. John Lindahl, Jr. Thomas and Barbara McBurney Harvey T. McLain Mrs. Walter Meyers Diana and Joe Murphy Bruce and Sandy Nelson Rebecca Rand Karen Sternal

Camerata Circle Platinum $7,500–$9,999 Anonymous Rusty and Burt Cohen David Hanson and William Biermaier Rachelle Dockman Chase Vicki and Chip Emery Jenny Lind Nilsson and Garrison Keillor Nelson Family Foundation Timothy and Gayle Ober Connie and Lew Remele Virginia L. and Edward C. Stringer

Gold $5,000–$7,499 Anonymous (2) Eric and Tracy Aanenson James Andrus Martha Goldberg Aronson and Daniel Aronson Martha and Bruce Atwater Jeff Bakken and Linda Shaw Nancy and Chuck Berg Kathleen and William Callahan Cleveland Foundation Dr. James E. and Gisela Corbett Susan and Richard Crockett David and Vanessa Dayton Mary Lee Dayton The Denny Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Connie Fladeland and Steve Fox Denver and Nicole Gilliand

Anonymous (2) Ann and Stuart Ackman Kim A. Anderson Lowell Anderson and Kathy Welte Satoru and Sheila Asato

Alexandra O. Bjorklund Dr. Lee Borah, Jr. Margee and Will Bracken Christopher J. Burns Elwood F. and Florence A. Caldwell Dr. Stephen and Beth Cragle Thomas and Mary Lou Detwiler Mona Bergman Dewane and Patrick Dewane Sally J. Economon Susan Engel and Arthur Eisenberg Rolf and Nancy Engh Rondi Erickson and Sandy Lewis Leslie and Alain Frecon Patricia R. Freeburg Bradley A. Fuller and Elizabeth Lincoln Christine and Jon Galloway Christine and W. Michael Garner Mr. and Mrs. R. James Gesell Larry and Lois Gibson Mrs. Myrtle Grette Karen and John Himle Dorothy J. Horns, M.D., and James P. Richardson Dr. and Mrs. Arthur Horowitz Ken and Tina Hughes Jay and Cynthia Ihlenfeld Dale A. Johnson Jacqueline Nolte Jones Robert and Susan Josselson Stan and Jeanne Kagin Paul and Sarah Karon

Michael F. and Gretchen G. Kelly and the Kelly Family Foundation Lyndel and Blaine King Helen L. Kuehn Constance and Daniel Kunin David MacMillan and Judy Krow Debra and James Lakin Robert L. Lee and Mary E. Schaffner Lynn Levinson Helen and Benjamin Liu Ms. Becky Malkerson Mary Bigelow McMillan Elizabeth Musser Trust – Fir Tree Fund Richard and Nancy Nicholson Dr. and Mrs. Ahmad Orandi Julie and Brian Palmer Marge and Dwight Peterson Mr. and Mrs. William Phillips Redleaf Family Foundation Mary and Paul Reyelts Lois and John Rogers Ken and Nina Rothchild Kay Savik and Joe Tashjian Frank and Lynda Sharbrough Stanislaw and Krystyna Skrowaczewski Julie and Bruce Steiner Greg Swinehart and Mitra Walter Michael Symeonides and Mary Pierce Tanrydoon Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation William Voedisch and Laurie Carlson Ellen Wells Nancy and Ted Weyerhaeuser

Jeff and Wendy Wenger Dankey Fran Davis Ruth and Bruce Dayton Judson Dayton Margaret Diblasio Joe Dowling and Siobahn Cleary Joan Duddingston Joyce and Hugh Edmondson Ann Fankhanel Ester and John Fesler Rihab and Roger FitzGerald Tom and Lori Foley Mr. and Mrs. John Forsythe Salvatore Silvestri Franco William and Bonita Frels Terence Fruth and Mary McEvoy Family Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Howard and Heidi Gilbert Dr. Stanley M. and Luella G. Goldberg

Amy R. and Philip S. Goldman Foundation Michael and Elizabeth Gorman Bill and Jeanne Grandy Jean and Bruce Grussing James and Sharon Hale Rosalie Heffelfinger Hall Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Don Helgeson John and Rosemarie Helling Sharon and Cliff Hill Diane Hoey John and Jean McGough Holten Andrew and Margaret Houlton Bill and Hella Mears Hueg Ekdahl Hutchinson Family Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Horace H. Irvine II Teresa and Chuck Jakway James Jelinek and Marilyn Wall

Mrs. Owen Jenkins Bryce and Paula Johnson Markle Karlen E. Robert and Margaret V. Kinney Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Steve and Jolie Klapmeier Hugh Klein and Judy Lebedoff Mr. and Mrs. William Kling Gerard Knight Mrs. James S. Kochiras The Hackensack Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation Robert Kriel and Linda Krach Mark and Elaine Landergan Sy and Ginny Levy Family Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Jerry and Joyce Lillquist Bill Long Dawn M. Loven Mahley Family Foundation

Meg and Wayne Gisslen Alfred and Ingrid Lenz Harrison Erwin and Miriam Kelen Ilo and Peggy Leppik Lynne Looney Mr. and Mrs. Donald Lucker Ted and Roberta Mann Foundation Albin and Susan Nelson Debra J. Paterson William and Barbara Pearce Jose Peris and Diana Gulden Jodi D. Peterson Mary Ingebrand Pohlad Stephanie Prem and Tom Owens Joseph Sammartino Mark Schwarzmann Fred and Gloria Sewell Drs. Joseph and Kristina Shaffer Bonnie and Peter Sipkins Kevin and Lynn Smith The Staryk Family Foundation Mitchell and Kendall Stover Mr. and Mrs. James Swartz Catie Tobin and Brian Nass Charles Allen Ward Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation

Silver $2,500–$4,999

Artist Circle

| THE MINNESOTA OPERA www.mnopera.org

$1,000–$2,499

30

Anonymous (4) Paula Anderson and Sheila Bray August J. Aquila and Emily Haliziw Nina and John Archabal Mr. and Mrs. Edmund P. Babcock Ruth and Dale Bachman Dr. Thomas and Ann Bagnoli James Baldwin and Mary Atmore Kent and Maria Bales Dr. Ford and Amy Bell Sue A. Bennett Donna Block Mrs. Paul G. Boening Judith and Arnold Brier Conley Brooks Family Joan and George Carlson Jeff and Barb Couture Mrs. Thomas M. Crosby, Sr. Bill and Kate Cullen

THE MINNESOTA OPERA

Annual Fund

INDIVIDUAL GIVING

Artist Circle (continued) Margery Martin Roy and Dorothy Ann Mayeske Charles and Helen McCrossan Sheila McNally James and Judith Mellinger Velia R. Melrose William Messerli Joseph Micallef David and LaVonne Middleton Anne W. Miller Charles and Victoria Mogilevsky

Sandy and Bob Morris Elizabeth B. Myers Joan and Richard Newmark Dan and Pat Panshin Allegra W. Parker Paula Patineau William and Suzanne Payne Robert and Mary Price Jim and Connie Pries Kevin and Sara Ramach Barbara Redmond

Frances and George Reid John and Sandra Roe Thomas D. and Nancy J. Rohde Gordon and Margaret Rosine Mr. and Mrs. Steven Rothschild Leland T. Lynch and Terry Saario Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Sampson Family Charitable Foundation Patty and Barney Saunders Jim Scarpetta Dr. and Mrs. Richard J. Schindler

Jeff and Helene Slocum Keith and Catherine Stevenson Don and Leslie Stiles Robert and Barbara Struyk James and Susan Sullivan Lois and Lance Thorkelson Patricia Tilton Emily Anne and Gedney Tuttle Mr. and Mrs. Philip Von Blon James and Sharon Weinel

Steven and Mindy Benton Fred and Carolyn Bogott Jan and Ellen Breyer David and Irma Brink Thomas and Joyce Bruckner Emilie and Henry Buchwald Caulkins Family Foundation Arnold Chu Joann Cierniak Wanda and David Cline Bobby and Elliot Cohen J.P. Collins Elisabeth Comeaux Burt and Jeanne Corwin Norma Danielson Amos and Sue Deinard Mr. Steven A. Diede Keith and Linda Donaldson Mr. Carl B. Drake, Jr. Brad and Diane England Herbert and Betty Fantle Catherine C. Finch Richard Fishel Kris and Kristina Fredrick David Gilberstadt Robert Goodell and Renee Brown Paul and Margot Grangaard Deanne and John Greco Marjorie and Joseph Grinnell Bruce and Jean Grussing Susanne Haas and Ross Formell

Fred and Alice Hahn Roger L. Hale and Nor Hall Ruth E. Hanold Frederick J. Hey, Jr. Gregory Hoehn Andrew Holey and Gary Whitford Liesl and Todd Hyde Diane and Paul Jacobson Janet N. Jones Dr. and Mrs. Charles R. Jorgensen Jane and Jim Kaufman Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Mary H. Keithahn Charlie and Sally Lannin John Warren Lassila and Dr. John Heefner Alice Lesney Sid and Diane Levin Jonathan and Lisa Lewis Rebecca Lindholm Ruth Lyons Joan E. Madden John Magdsick Donald and Rhoda Mains Becky Malkerson Tom and Marsha Mann Lowell and Sonja Noteboom Dennis R. Olson Derrill M. Pankow James A. Payne Marcos and Barbara Pinto

Carroll and Barbara Rasch Dan and Kari Rasmus Lawrence M. Redmond Christine Roberts and Ric Larson William and Sue Roberts Anne Salisbury David E. Sander Janet and Bill Schaeder Mahlon and Karen Schneider Marcia and Stephen Schultz Bill and Althea Sell Donald and Estelle Sell Clifford C. and Virginia G. Sorensen Charitable Trust of The St. Paul Foundation Matthew Spanjers Daniel J. Spiegel Colin Stevenson Warren Stortroen Roxanne Stouffer and Joseph Cruz Anthony Thein Dr. Andrew J. and Mrs. Carolyn P. Thomas Cindy Vilks Will and Li Volk David M. and Mary Ann Barrows Wark Barbara and Carl White Barbara and James Willis Lani Willis and Joel Spoonheim Clark J. and Sharon L. Winslow

Richard and Marsha Gould Jill Greene Lee Gremillion Margaret Gunther Albert and Janice Hammond Douglas and Doris Happe Patricia S. Hart Stefan and Lonnie Helgeson Patricia Hildebrandt Jacqueline J. Hill and Donald J. Christensen Reverend and Mrs. Henry H. Hoover Karin A. Jacobs and Kent A. Williams Ray Jacobsen Kim and Tom Jenson Annette Atkins and Tom Joyce Erika and Herb Kahler Nancy and Donald Kapps Denver and Sharol Kaufman Carole and Joseph Killpatrick John C. Kim Robert and Venetia Kudrle John and Carole Kyllo Ms. Doris S. Larson Wynn and Anne Lee

Erik Limbeck Bruce and Susan Lueck Steve Lund Thomas Kleinschmit and Liana Magee Christopher and Cheryl McHugh L. David Mech Leo and Fern Melzer James Meunier and Debra K. Brooks Steven J. Mittelholtz Brad Momsen and Rick Buchholz David and Leni Moore Paul C. Muzio Merritt Nequette and Pauline Lambert James and Carolyn Nestingen Lucia Newell Georgia O’Connor Richard Pietz and Brian Jorgensen Nicole and Charles Prescott Dennis M. Ready Ms. Joan K. Regal Scott Rile Mr. and Mrs. Winthrop Rockwell Bill Rohde Michael and Tamara Root Liane A and Richard G Rosel

Patron Circle Gold $750–$999 Dr. Hannelore Brucker Cheryl Kreofsky and Michael Fitzgerald Thomas Hunt and John Wheelihan Orpha McDiarmid Family Fund Mr. John Murphy Bradley Nuss Ann M. Rock James and Andrea Rubenstein The Harriet and Edson Spencer Foundation Dana and Stephen Strand Stephanie C. Van D’Elden Frank and Frances Wilkinson

Silver $500–$749 Anonymous (2) Quentin and Mary Anderson Jaime Andrews and Jane Kolp-Andrews Genevive Antonello Dr. and Mrs. Orn Arnar Mrs. Gordon J. Bailey James and Gail Bakkom Donald and Naren Bauer Mrs. Harvey O. Beek Barbara S. Belk Brian Benjamin Gerald and Phyllis Benson

$250-499 Anonymous (4) Arlene Goodman Alm Fred Amram and Sandra Brick Charles Anderson Bill and Anne Beer Dennis Breining Mr. John Clemedtson Sandy and Doug Coleman Sage and John Cowles, Jr. Robert and Marilyn Davidson Ms. Linda Donaldson Ms. Belinda Dorau Ms. Jane Dudley Christopher and Deena Ebbert Mr. and Mrs. Roland Faricy Barbara J. Felt Hal and Joyce Field, Jr. Charles and June Fitch C.D.F. Foundation Niki Flavin Richard and Pamela Flenniken Jane Fuller Valdemar Garibay Greta and Paul Garmers Katherine and Robert Goodale, Jr.

Daniel Roth Enrique and Clara Rotstein Karen A. Schaffer Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Schattenberg Paul L. Schroeder Janet and Irving Shapiro Jean and James Sharer William K. Sheffield Mr. and Mrs. Morris Sherman Cherie and Bob Shreck Jon Y. Spoerri Joanne Strakosch and William Umscheid Mr. Joseph and Ms. Pamela Strauss Sarah Suemnig Delroy and Doris Thomas Curt and Kay Thorpe Barbara and Mark Ungs James Wall David Ward Lana K. Wareham Terese Weitzel Helen and J. Kimball Whitney Wendy Wildung Mr. John W. Windhorst, Jr. Dr. James Wire

These lists are current as of March 1, 2008, and include donors who gave gifts of $250 or more to The Minnesota Opera Fund since July 1, 2007.

If your name is not listed appropriately, please accept our apologies, and call Morgan Walsh, Individual Gifts Manager, at 612-342-9569.

| RUSALKA

Associate Level

31

THE MINNESOTA OPERA

Annual Fund INDIVIDUAL GIVING

The Minnesota Opera thanks the following donors who, through their foresight and generosity, have included the Opera in their wills or estate plans. We invite you to join other opera-lovers by leaving a legacy gift to The Minnesota Opera. If you have already made such a provision, we encourage you to notify us that so we may appropriately recognize your generosity.

Estate AND Planned Gifts Anonymous (2) Valerie and Paul Ackerman Mr. and Mrs. Rolf Andreassen Mary A. Andres Karen Bachman Mark and Pat Bauer Barbara and Sandy Bemis (†) Joan and George Carlson Darlene J. and Richard P. Carroll Judy and Kenneth (†) Dayton Mrs. George Doty Rudolph Driscoll (†) Sally Economon Ester and John Fesler

Paul Froeschl Robert and Ellen Green Ieva Grundmanis (†) Norton M. Hintz Jean McGough Holten Charles Hudgins Dale and Pat Johnson Robert and Susan Josselson Mrs. Markle Karlen (†) Mary Keithahn Steve Keller Patty and Warren Kelly Margaret Kilroe Trust (†) Blaine and Lyndel King

Gretchen Klein (†) Bill and Sally Kling Gisela Knoblauch (†) Mr. and Mrs. James Krezowski Robert Kriel and Linda Krach Venetia and Robert Kudrle Robert Lawser, Jr. Jean Lemberg (†) Gerald and Joyce Lillquist Barbara and Thomas McBurney Mary Bigelow McMillan Margaret L. and Walter S. (†) Meyers Susan Molder (†) Edith Mueller (†)

Scott Pakudiatis Sydney and William Phillips Mrs. Berneen Rudolph Mary Savina Frank and Lynda Sharbrough Andrew H. Stewart, Jr. Barbara and Robert Struyk James and Susan Sullivan Gregory C. Swinehart Stephanie Van D’Elden Mary Vaughan Dale and Sandra Wick

(†) Deceased

| THE MINNESOTA OPERA www.mnopera.org

For more information on possible gift arrangements, please contact Annual Fund Director Dawn Loven at 612-342-9567.

Your attorney or financial advisor can then help determine which methods are most appropriate for you.

32

THE MINNESOTA OPERA

Annual Fund

INSTITUTIONAL GIVING For information on making a corporate or foundation contribution to The Minnesota Opera, please contact Grants Manager Elisabeth Comeaux at 612-342-9566, or email her at bcomeaux@mnopera.org.

The Minnesota Opera gratefully acknowledges its major institutional supporters: $100,000+

$25,000–$49,999

$50,000–$99,999

$10,000–$24,999

Minnesota Opera Sponsors Season Sponsor

Conductor Appearances

Intermission Receptions

Promotional Support

FAF Advisors and U.S. Bank

SpencerStuart

Piper Jaffray

Minnesota Monthly

Production Sponsors

Camerata Dinners

Meet the Artists Official Caterer

Resident Artist Program

A Masked Ball, FAF Advisors and U.S. Bank The Italian Girl in Algiers, Target Romeo and Juliet, Ameriprise Financial The Fortunes of King Croesus, National Endowment for the Arts

Lowry Hill Private Asset Management

Wildside Caterers

Wenger Foundation

Gala Sponsors

Opera Insights

Medtronic Target U.S. Bank

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation

YPG Opera Nights Out Official Venue Matty B’s Supper Club

Production Innovation System

Broadcast Partner

General Mills

Minnesota Public Radio

Carl and Eloise Pohlad Foundation Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi Rahr Foundation Schwegman, Lundberg & Woessner, P.A. SUPERVALU Foundation on behalf of SUPERVALU Inc. U. S. Trust Bank of America Private Wealth Management Xcel Energy Foundation

Bronze $1,000-$2,499

Sponsors $25,000+ 3M Ameriprise Financial The Bush Foundation City of Saint Paul’s Cultural STAR Program FAF Advisors General Mills Foundation The MAHADH Fund of HRK Foundation The McKnight Foundation The Medtronic Foundation Minnesota State Arts Board National Endowment for the Arts Target The Travelers Company, Inc. U.S. Bancorp Foundation U.S. Bank, Private Client Group Wells Fargo Foundation Minnesota

Platinum $10,000-$24,999 Allianz Life Insurance of North America Fred C. and Katherine B. Andersen Foundation Best Buy Children’s Foundation Cargill Foundation Deloitte Deluxe Corporation Foundation

Dorsey & Whitney Foundation Ecolab Foundation Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation Anna M. Heilmaier Charitable Foundation Lowry Hill Private Wealth Management MTS Corporation OPERA America’s Opera Fund Piper Ja∂ray RBC Dain Rauscher Foundation SpencerStuart Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation Twin Cities Opera Guild Valspar Foundation Wenger Foundation

Gold $5,000-$9,999 ADC Telecommunications Bemis Company Foundation Boss Foundation Caldrea Company Cleveland Foundation Education Minnesota Foundation Faegre & Benson R. C. Lilly Foundation Mayo Clinic Onan Family Foundation Pentair Foundation

The ADS Group Elmer L. and Eleanor J. Andersen Foundation Arts & Custom Publishing Co., Inc. Bailey Nurseries, Inc. Burdick-Craddick Family Foundation Hammel, Green and Abrahamson, Inc. Hardenbergh Foundation The Hays Companies Hogan & Hartson Silver $2,500-$4,999 Leonard, Street & Deinard Dellwood Foundation Mains’l Services Inc. Fredrikson & Byron Foundation Maslon, Edelman, Borman & Brand Mary Livingston Griggs and McVay Foundation Mary Griggs Burke Foundation Lawrence M. O’Shaughnessy Hutter Family Foundation Charitable Annuity Trust in honor M&I Bank of Lawrence M. O’Shaughnessy Alice M. O’Brien Foundation Peregrine Capital Management Parsinen, Kaplan, Rosberg & Gotlieb PA Rathmann Family Foundation Peravid Foundation The Regis Foundation PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP The Southways Foundation The Elizabeth C. Quinlan Foundation Wells Fargo Insurance Services Margaret Rivers Fund The Wood-Rill Foundation Securian Foundation Sewell Family Foundation Sit Investment Foundation Tennant Foundation Thyme to Entertain

| RUSALKA

Corporations, Foundations and Government

33

| THE MINNESOTA OPERA www.mnopera.org

it’s alive

34

Listen closely. There’s a change in the air.

It’s fresh and clear and bursting with melody.

A flutter of notes invigorates your soul.

It’s classical music. It’s alive.

STREAM ONLINE AT MPR.ORG

MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO

Some of our best investments have nothing to do with wealth management.

We get our greatest rewards when we give in our community. That’s why we help to enrich our community by sponsoring a variety of cultural organizations. From the Minnesota Orchestra to The Minnesota Opera, supporting our community’s treasures says a lot about who we value most...you.

Proud sponsor of the 2007-2008 Minnesota Opera season.

Member FDIC.