Minnesota Opera's Cinderella Program

Rossini

The 2010–2011 Season

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Rossini

October 30, November 2, 4, 6 and 7, 2010

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Minnesota Opera Staff and Volunteers Director’s Notes Cinderella Synopsis Background Notes Gioachino Rossini The Artists Minnesota Opera Orchestra and Chorus Become a Subscriber Education at the Opera Tempo Up Next: Mary Stuart Minnesota Opera Annual Fund Donor Spotlight

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Minnesota Opera Chair, Board of Directors | Chip Emery President & CEO | Kevin Smith Artistic Director | Dale Johnson 620 North First Street Minneapolis, MN 55401 612-333-2700 | mnopera.org

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minnesota opera staff President & CEO | Kevin Smith Artistic Director | Dale Johnson

In an unbeatable location close to the Lakes and Downtown, this handsome six bedroom, four bathroom brick family home is rich in historic detail.

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minnesota opera volunteers The following volunteers contribute their time and talent in support of key activities of Minnesota Opera. If you would like to learn more about volunteering for Minnesota Opera, please call 612-342-9592 or email kbeckey@mnopera.org Gerald Benson Debra Brooks Judith Duncan Jane Fuller Joan Gacki Merle Hanson Jeanie Johnston

Robin Keck Eleanore Kolar David Lightstone Jenny Lightstone Jerry Lillquist Joyce Lillquist Mary McDiarmid

Verne Melberg Barbara Moore Douglas Myra Candyce Osterkamp Dan Panshin Pat Panshin Sydney Phillips

John Sauer Wendi Sott Karen St. John Mary Weitz Therese Wietzel Barbara Willis Oliver Woodcock

director’s notes

BOARD OF DIRECTORS OFFICERS Chip Emery, Chair

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s a movement-based artist in the opera world, I begin my process of directing new projects in much the same way: discovering a movement vocabulary or style that defines the world we are exploring, and most particularly, examining the score that shapes the drama we are hearing.

In this regard, staging an opera is very similar to choreographing a dance. If it is done very well, movement ideas are wedded beautifully to the score and can be used to tell the story in much the same way a libretto does. Great choreography does this, through structure, form and energy. How bodies are arranged on stage and then ultimately moved through space can dramatically shift the emotional balance of a scene. When I choreograph, I always strive for a true visualization of the score. By following my instinctive responses to the music, I allow myself to create a movement scenario that imaginatively brings this aural world to life. If I’ve done my job well, all of the action should reveal the score in a more luminous way.

Coming from the contemporary dance world, I have always utilized movement that embraces how we naturally move in our daily lives – the gestures with which we talk, running to catch a bus or simply walking down the street. Heightened and then placed in tandem with a score like Rossini’s Cinderella, movement has the power to transform a static moment into something magical. Everything is musical, from the smallest handhold to the largest jump.

For this production of Cinderella, I have been smitten with a glorious sense of fairy tale. I’ve been in touch with my inner child in directing this terrific cast and in doing so, have remembered what it was like to be an innocent in the world, when the most important aspect of life was about imagination and wonder. Hopefully we’ve created an evening that surprises and delights and takes your memories back in time to less-complicated days.

Kevin Smith, President & CEO Rachelle D. Chase, Vice Chair Stephanie Prem, Secretary Heinz F. Hutter, Treasurer

DIRECTORS Martha Goldberg Aronson

Lynne E. Looney

Wendy Bennett

Leni Moore

Shari Boehnen

Diana E. Murphy

Susan S. Boren

Luis Pagan-Carlo

Kathleen Callahan

Jose Peris

Rachelle D. Chase

Bradford Pleimann

Jodi Dehli

Mary Ingebrand-Pohlad

Chip Emery

Stephanie J. Prem

Bianca Fine

Elizabeth Redleaf

Thomas J. Foley

Connie Remele

Steve Fox

Sergio Rial

Denver Gilliand

Mark Schwarzmann

Heinz F. Hutter

Peter Sipkins

Philip Isaacson

Barry Snyder

James Johnson

Simon Stevens

Patricia Johnson

Virginia Stringer

Christine Larsen

Sharon Winslow

Mary A. Lazarus

Margaret Wurtele

Robert Lee

EMERITI Karen Bachman John A. Blanchard, III Burton Cohen Julia W. Dayton Mary W. Vaughan

HONORARY DIRECTORS Dominick Argento Philip Brunelle Dolly Fiterman

Doug Varone, Cinderella stage director and choreographer

Charles C. Fullmer Norton M. Hintz

Patricia H. Sheppard

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

LEGAL COUNSEL James A. Rubenstein, Moss & Barnett

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Liz Kochiras

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ordway.org

OCT 30, NOV 2, 4, 6 (7:30PM); NOV 7 (2PM) Minnesota Opera Cinderella by Gioachino Rossini NOV 9 (8PM) The Schubert Club Alison Balsom, trumpet; Richard Bishop, piano NOV 12 (8PM); NOV 13 (8PM) The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Schubert’s Tragic Symphony NOV 19 (7:30PM) Target World Music and Dance Series CONTRA-TIEMPO NOV 20 (7:30PM) Target World Music and Dance Series Tiempo Libre DEC 7-JAN 2 Times Vary Ordway Theater Season Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor ® Dreamcoat JAN 7 (8PM); JAN 8 (8PM) The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Edo de Waart Conducts Mahler JAN 11 (8PM) The Schubert Club Yuja Wang, piano JAN 14 (10:30AM, 8PM); JAN 15 (8PM) The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Mozart, Strauss, and Adams JAN 21 (7:30PM) Target World Music and Dance Series Angélique Kidjo JAN 29 (7:30PM); FEB 1, 3 (7:30PM); FEB 5 (8PM); FEB 6 (2PM) Minnesota Opera Mary Stuart by Gaetano Donizetti FEB 11 (8PM); FEB 12 (8PM) The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Mahler’s 4th Symphony FEB 13 (7:30PM) Target World Music and Dance Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience FEB 17 (7:30PM); FEB 18 (8PM); FEB 19 (8PM) The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Upshaw sings Frank and de Falla FEB 19 (9:30AM, 11AM) The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra SPCO Family Concert FEB 25 (10:30AM, 8PM); FEB 26 (8PM) The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra German Baroque MAR 5 (7:30PM); MAR 6 (2PM); MAR 8-12 (7:30PM); MAR 13 (2PM) Minnesota Opera La traviata by Giacomo Puccini

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MAR 15 (8PM) The Schubert Club Leila Josefowicz, violin Tamara Stefanovich, piano

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MAR 17 (7:30PM); MAR 18 (10:30AM, 8PM); MAR 19 (8PM) The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony MAR 29-APR 3 Times Vary Ordway Theater Season STOMP

Target World Music and Dance Series is generously sponsored by

Music by Gioachino Rossini Libretto by Jacopo Ferretti Based on Charles Perrault’s tale Cendrillon (1697), Charles-Guillaume Étienne’s libretto Cendrillon (1810) and Francesco Fiorini’s libretto Agatina (1814) World premiere at the Teatro Valle, January 25, 1817 October 30, November 2, 4, 6 and 7, 2010 Ordway Sung in Italian with English translations Conductor | Christopher Franklin Stage Director and Choreographer | Doug Varone Set Designer | Erhard Rom Costume Designer | James Schuette Lighting Designer | Jane Cox Wig and Makeup Designers | Jason Allen and Ronell Oliveri Assistant Director | Octavio Cardenas Assistant Conductor | Clinton Smith Assistant Choreographer | Heidi Spesard-Noble Stage Manager | Alexander Farino

the cast Angelina (La Cenerentola), Don Magnifico’s stepdaughter | Roxana Constantinescu Don Ramiro, Prince of Salerno | John Tessier Dandini, his valet | Andrew Wilkowske Don Magnifico, Baron of Monte Fiascone | Donato DiStefano Clorinda, his daughter | Angela Mortellaro Tisbe, his daughter | Victoria Vargas Alidoro, tutor to Don Ramiro | Daniel Mobbs courtiers

Cinderella is presented by

By arrangement with Hendon Music, Inc., a Boosey & Hawkes company, Sole Agent in the United States, Canada and Mexico for Casa Ricordi/Universal Music Publishing Ricordi S.R.L., publisher and copyright owner.

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Scenery originally created for Kentucky Opera.

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The appearances of Angela Mortellaro and Andrew Wilkowske, regional 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 the Resident Artists are made possible, in part, by the Virginia L. Stringer Endowment Fund for the Minnesota Opera Resident Artist Program.

Performances of Cinderella are being recorded for delayed broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio, ksjn 99.5 in the Twin Cities.

The Minnesota Opera season is sponsored by The Private Client Reserve at U.S. Bank.

The appearances of the 2010–2011 season conductors are underwritten by SpencerStuart.

Camerata dinners are sponsored by Lowry Hill.

Opera Insights is sponsored by Comcast.

Champagne intermission receptions are sponsored by Piper Jaffray.

synopsis

act ii

In a hall of Don Magnifico’s castle, his vain and demanding daughters Clorinda and Tisbe are busy primping. Their stepsister, Angelina (known as Cenerentola), consoles herself with a song about a king who chose a kind-hearted bride rather than a rich one. A beggar (actually Prince Ramiro’s tutor Alidoro) comes in, and Angelina gives him some coffee and bread, angering the stepsisters. The prince’s courtiers enter, announcing the imminent arrival of the prince himself – that evening at a palace ball, he will choose the most beautiful woman among the guests as his wife.

The ensuing excitement generates great confusion. The knights leave and so does the “beggar,” foretelling that Angelina will be happy the next day.

Quarreling for the privilege of telling their father the good news, Clorinda and Tisbe accidentally awaken him.

Don Magnifico interprets a dream he was just having as a prediction of his fortune: the impoverished baron’s vision of himself as grandfather of kings is apparently confirmed by his daughters’ announcement.

Prince Ramiro, having decided to explore the situation incognito, has exchanged clothing with his servant, Dandini. Alidoro has advised him that kindness, truth and virtue can be found in this home. When the disguised prince enters the house, he and Angelina instantly fall in love.

Dandini arrives, awkwardly playing the prince, and Clorinda and Tisbe are

introduced to him. Angelina begs her stepfather to take her to the ball, but Magnifico orders her to stay at home.

Alidoro, with a list of the unmarried women in the city, asks Don Magnifico about a third daughter, but Magnifico quickly covers his tracks, stating that she is dead. After everyone has left, Alidoro returns and invites Angelina to the ball, alluding to a change in her fortunes. He supplies an elegant dress and jewelry so that she may be appropriately attired.

At the palace Dandini, still disguised as the prince, appoints Magnifico his wine steward if he can successfully taste all the wines in the cellar and still remain standing. Magnifico rises to the challenge and proclaims new drinking laws: wine shall no longer be mixed with water. Clorinda and Tisbe each vie for the prince’s attention – Clorinda is the eldest, therefore, more suitable for marriage, but Tisbe counters that she, as the younger one, shall not age as quickly. Ramiro confers with Dandini – Alidoro said that a daughter of Magnifico would be the one, yet both girls are equally repellent.

Dandini further tests them – he shall select one sister to be his queen, the other shall marry his valet (that is, Ramiro). Both Clorinda and Tisbe are disgusted by the mere suggestion of marrying beneath their station, should they not win the prince, and rebuke the offer. All are enchanted by the sudden arrival of a mysterious lady. They are struck by her uncanny resemblance to someone very familiar.

• intermission •

From a discreet distance the courtiers laugh at the sisters’ distress. Magnifico imagines himself in the privileged position as the prince’s father-inlaw, making money in exchange for granting favors. Angelina enters, with Dandini in an amorous pursuit.

Hiding nearby Ramiro overhears her refusal of the poseur’s attentions because she loves his valet. Overjoyed, Ramiro asks her to be his bride, but departing, she gives him one of her bracelets, stating that if he can find her wearing its twin, she will marry him. Ramiro reassumes his princely role, and gathering his courtiers, determines to look for Angelina at once. Dandini encourages Magnifico’s fantasies, and then reveals his real identity, much to the baron’s ire.

He blusters out of the room.

Returning home, the sisters find Angelina by the fire and berate her incessantly for looking like the beautiful lady at the ball. Alidoro arranges an accident for the prince’s carriage, which overturns in front of the house during rather serendipitously inclement weather. Angelina and Ramiro recognize one another, and he matches the bracelet to its mate, proclaiming her as his bride. Angelina goes to embrace her awestruck family, but is rejected. Angered, Ramiro whisks Angelina away, while Alidoro suggests that the sisters ask for forgiveness so as to avoid ruin. Tisbe is the first to accept the situation.

At the wedding banquet, Angelina intercedes with the prince for Magnifico and her stepsisters, offering as her revenge their pardon. She revels in her newly found happiness.

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act i

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background notes by David Sander

ioachino Rossini composed La Cenerentola, ossia La bontà in trionfo (Cinderella, or Goodness Triumphant) during an especially busy period that followed the premiere of Il barbiere di Siviglia in February 1816. He was still under contract at the Neapolitan Royal Theaters and had to return for the production of two further works, La gazzetta (September 26, 1816) and Otello (December 4, 1816). The Naples theater impresario, Domenico Barbaja, had the good sense to give

G

became a touchy issue with the especially prickly Roman censors. As the deadline was quickly approaching, Cartoni, Rossini and Ferretti sat up late one night brainstorming over hot toddies. After 20 various suggestions, Ferretti proposed Cenerentola, which seemed to pique Rossini’s interest. The librettist traded his cocktail for some black coffee and worked up a scenario that very night.

Of course, all parties knew of a Cenerentola that had premiered in Milan just two and a half years before – Rossini had two operas produced at the Teatro alla Scala during the same season and happened to be there in April 1814 when the work had its premiere.

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courtesy of Kentucky Opera

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Rossini some latitude in their agreement as the composer had (unwisely) made another commitment in Rome, this time to the rival Teatro Valle’s impresario, Pietro Cartoni, to start the Carnival season on December 26. As Otello had just opened earlier that month, Rossini was in a tight spot, since no libretto had been written, nor had a subject even been chosen.

At first he and librettist Jacopo Ferretti turned to Ninette à la cour, a French comedy inspired by the licentious behavior of infamous womanizer François i (who also would become the model for Giuseppe Verdi’s Duke of Mantua). And much like Rigoletto would later do, Ninette

The opera in question was Agatina, ovvero la virtù premiata by Stefano Pavesi, itself a copy of Nicolò Isouard’s Cendrillon, which had recently opened in Paris. All of this was commonplace, as copyright had yet to become a real legal issue – one only had to live with verbal charges of plagiarism and general discontent among the parties involved.

The enterprising Rossini would raid and eclipse Pavesi a total of five times during his career, in each instance producing a vastly superior work.

Time was of the essence. Cartoni managed to postpone the opening to the end of January, but the production was still a formidable undertaking, with both composition and rehearsals to

take place in just one month. Ferretti may have had an extant libretto from which to pillage, but Rossini also had a few shortcuts at his disposal.

Another composer, Luca Agolini, was brought in to compose the recitatives and to contribute two arias, Clorinda’s “Sventurata! mi credea” and Alidoro’s “Vasto teatro è il mondo” (revised

by Rossini in 1821 to become “Là del ciel nell’arcano profondo”), and the chorus “Ah! della bella incognita.”

Rossini also ravaged his other operas for material – from the failed La gazzetta (which likely wouldn’t be seen again) he borrowed the overture, and from Barbiere he assimilated the notoriously difficult (and often cut) Almaviva cabaletta from the end of Act ii, “Ah, il più lieto,” which he had composed for the celebrated tenor Manuel García.

Transposed and embellished further, the aria became the title character’s brilliant rondò finale “Non più mesta.”

The cast was quite tense on opening night – rehearsals had been fast and furious – and much like Il barbiere di Siviglia, La Cenerentola was greeted with hostility. The composer was hardly concerned, predicting that within a year, the new opera would be popular around the world. He wasn’t far off the mark, and in posterity La Cenerentola would become his second most popular opera after Barbiere, surpassing Guillaume Tell’s huge following in 19th-century France. Perhaps still smarting from the initial failure of these two comic works, Rossini’s interest in opera buffa began to wane – Adina (1818) is a mere one-act farce and Le Comte Ory (1829) is modeled after the French style. Even in Cenerentola we already begin to see seeds of change toward something a little more somber – the sentimental and serious young lovers in pursuit of one another, the doleful timbre of Angelina’s recurrent canzone by the fire, “Una volta c’era un re,” and the stoically wise and vaguely magical maneuverings of the sage filosofo Alidoro. All reach beyond the transparent playfulness of buffa style.

background notes

literary antecedents

“Pamela asks Sir Jacob Swinford’s blessing” from Illustrations to Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, no. 11 Joseph Highmore (1692–1780) Tate Gallery (London, Great Britain) photo credit: Tate, London/Art Resource, NY

opera buffa genre, is obliged by not one, but two arias given to Don Magnifico as well as a marvelous duet, where he faces off with his buffo adversary, Dandini. In spite of the rapid fire of Magnifico’s notes, the even dramatic pacing is another aspect of the work as being both real and human – there is no fretful stroke of midnight to bring the party to a sudden end. Angelina demands the prince play according to her terms – she coquettishly initiates the contest of the search to determine if his love is genuine.

Finally, there is the absence of the glass slipper, which some say might not have been glass at all. According to those sources, the French word for glass, verre, was mistranslated from its nearhomonym, vair, or “squirrel fur.” This theory has since been debunked by the latter’s utter lack of elegance (remember Perrault’s story was originally set during the era of Louis xiv), not to mention the fur’s elasticity, which could more easily adapt to a variety of foot sizes.

The inflexible, more petite glass slipper reinforces a stereotype of the feminine ideal – the smaller the foot, the more beautiful (and in some cultures, the

more submissive) the woman. The reason they decided to omit it? Roman decency forbade the exposure of a woman’s bare ankle in the drama’s penultimate scene. Ferretti and Rossini had to settle for two matching bracelets.

Isouard, Pavesi and Rossini’s operas turn the story away from fantasy and emphasize its virtue – virtù, which is, in fact, spotlighted in the title of the second work and bontà (goodness) in the third. By the mid-century, Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740) had become enormously popular throughout Europe and was tremendously influential on all the various art disciplines. Pamela is a servant in the house of b—, and it becomes quite clear early in the novel she is a person of exceptional character.

Unfortunately, she attracts the attention of her mistress’ son, who retains Pamela’s services after his mother’s death. Mr. b—’s inappropriate behavior creates discord in the household and puts the title character’s reputation to the test. After a series of awkward episodes, Pamela earns her master’s respect by way of her letters (which he secretly reads) and her steadfast ➤

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But where is the classic tale by Charles Perrault? What happened to the glass slipper, fairy godmother, pumpkin carriage and helpful rodents? As it turns out, by the first decade of the 19th century Perrault’s story had already undergone significant revision.

Influenced by the Enlightenment, Pavesi and Isouard’s operas replaced the ethereal godmother with Alidor/ Alidoro, the Prospero-like philosopher who guides the two lovers’ union and transformation by way of prudent advice. It’s true the magic elements exist only by the slightest implication in La Cenerentola, something that already had started to fade in Isouard and Pavesi’s works – their only supernatural effect is a subtle red rose that renders Cendrillon/Agatina unrecognizable.

By dispensing with that component completely, Ferretti and Rossini introduce the possibility that Angelina could be recognized by her family at the prince’s ball, adding a touch of veracity, tension, and later, abuse.

Though Angelina’s insistent song about a bygone king who finds his modest bride suggests a “tale-within-a-tale,” La Cenerentola becomes something more substantial, a comedy of manners with some real gravity – a commedia sentimentale rather than a simple conte de fées. Still, some humorous traditions had to be preserved. Hardly evil (though at times not very pleasant) Don Magnifico is a benign replacement as the bumbling and oft-drunken stepparent, coming straight out of the Italian commedia dell’arte. His control and squander of money (and Angelina’s fortune) draws an interesting parallel to Dr. Bartolo in Barbiere, though his task is much easier. He is able to snatch Cenerentola’s dowry by way of their sketchy familial relationship, rather than the more time-consuming (and in Bartolo’s case, fruitless) task of courtship. Dandini shares his more devious traits with the stock player Brighella, and his masquerade as well as the doubly disguised Angelina and Ramiro at the prince’s ball are further commedia tricks. Patter song, a requisite of the

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background notes

unwillingness to submit to his amorous advances. b— acquires a greater respect for his maid, and crossing all social barriers, the couple eventually marries.

As the foundations of the modern novel began to congeal, Richardson’s fiction ignited a great literary controversy, with “Pamelists” and “Antipamelists” in heated debate. As a retort, John Fielding wrote two parodies, Shamela (1741) which detailed the debauched activities of its title character, and Joseph Andrews (1742), spinning Pamela’s trials

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Cinderella. Illustration for the fable by Charles Perrault Joseph Bail (1862–1921) Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Paris, France) photo credit: Scala/White Images/Art Resource, NY

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and surname into a male sibling version of her moral integrity trapped within a burlesque and chaotic world. In part to settle this dispute, Richardson wrote a more tragic sequel, Clarissa (1748), which involves the detention, rape and death of its honorable heroine.

Among Pamela’s many stage and operatic adaptations is a libretto by buffa master (the “Italian Molière”) Carlo Goldoni, set to music by Niccolò Piccinni in 1760. First appearing as a play entitled Pamela, ossia la virtù premiata (an appellation later borrowed in part by Pavesi, who would become Piccinni’s student), the opera La buona

figliuola tells a similar story of a lowbred, orphaned girl, Cecchina. Her employer’s brother, the Marchese della Conchiglia, is fixated on the young maid, in spite of his sister’s misgivings.

For her part, the marchesa cannot marry her boyfriend, the Cavaliere Armidoro, if her brother marries outside his class.

Though Pamela (and Cenerentola) marry above their station, things turn out in a tidy fashion for Cecchina – she is identified as a long-lost descendant of a German baron (by a birthmark on her arm, yet another commedia dell’arte trick), and everyone lives happily ever after. Piccinni’s opera was immensely successful and was mounted all over Europe, becoming the most popular opera buffa of the century. La Cenerentola is thought to be a deliberate homage to the earlier work’s original title, La Cecchina.

To complete the circle, a similar tale, Griselda, was treated by both Giovanni Boccaccio and Perrault, and set as an opera by Piccinni in 1793. This story also involves the cruel testing of a young maiden, this time the patience and dedication of a shepherdess, by her princely husband. The original tale was adapted by Apostolo Zeno into a libretto, which was set by a number of composers, including Antonio Vivaldi (1735), in a version revised by a young Goldoni. It precedes Richardson’s novel and is believed to have provided some inspiration for the enlightened, reasonable, virginal and virtuous woman that so captivated the 18th-century imagination. cinderella through the ages It appears every culture and nearly every continent has its own Cinderella story, sources as diverse as tales from the Chinese T’sang dynasty, Native American legend, Zimbabwe folklore and Russian superstition. Each is identifiable by the following criteria: a family member in a miserable state, the intervention of a helper (usually supernatural), a glimpse at a better life, recognition by some object and improvement of the condition (usually a perfect union, such as marriage). The earliest Italian version of Cinderella

appears to be Giambattista Basile’s Pentamerone (1634–1636), which predates Perrault’s story and is strikingly similar – the French author may have had this collection in his mind when he crafted his Cendrillon.

A touch more graphic, Basile’s La gatta Cenerentola incorporated a murder into his tale – Zezolla/Cenerentola is encouraged by her loving governess to break her evil stepmother’s neck with the lid of a chest after drawing her into a trap. The rest of the story follows the expected pattern. With Zezolla’s assistance the governess becomes the new stepmother and brings to the household her previously undisclosed six daughters, who all mistreat their new stepsister. The conduit of magic is a fig tree her father brings back from Sardinia. By housing the Dove of the Fairies, the tree produces the necessary transport and clothing for a series of royal feasts. After meeting the king for a third time, Zezolla loses her slipper, and when the king summons all the women of the realm before him, the shoe magically finds its owner.

Charles Perrault came along later in the century, publishing his Les histoires ou Contes du temps passé in 1697. It is generally assumed that these are drawn from popular tradition, though Cendrillon and the other contes in the collection can be traced to earlier works by Basile and Boccaccio and to the Volsunga Saga and classical mythology. Every story ends with a moralité, a moral message. Cendrillon has two: (1) always value graciousness over beauty (2) there is advantage to good breeding and common sense (and always respect your godparents).

In addition to being didactic, the tales served as propaganda for the national language – the vulgar oral tradition of the illiterate was elevated to the more aristocratic written French of the nobility. A curious aspect of Perrault’s tales is that they were not necessarily conceived for children, but as divertissements, after dinner amusements for members of Louis xiv’s royal entourage.

Closer to Rossini’s day, folk tales would have a new revival. Brothers

background notes

courtesy of Kentucky Opera

a sticky substance, hoping to ensnare her as she flees. He only gets the slipper, which in this case is gold. The sisters’ self-mutilation happens to each in turn as the prince makes his rounds in search of the mystery woman, who turns out to be Aschenputtel.

Although it might be possible to connect the Italians Pavesi and Rossini and the Maltese-born, Italiantrained Isouard to Basile’s Pentamerone (Isouard suggests an Italian setting by using such names as Monte Fiascone and Dandini), Perrault’s Contes are generally assumed to be the antecedent of these staged works.

The first known operatic treatment was a one-act vaudeville by Jean-Louis Laruette (Paris, 1759). Later, both Jules Massenet (Cendrillon; 1899) and Sergei Prokofiev (his Zolushka ballet; 1945) went in that direction, as did Pauline García Viardot, daughter of Manuel and sister to Maria Malibran. Both daughters would become great interpreters of Rossini’s La Cenerentola, but when it came time to produce her own work on the same subject (Cendrillon; 1904), Viardot settled for a hybrid of the two traditions since she felt the need to incorporate the fairy godmother and glass slipper into a setting that more closely follows that of Rossini. The ballroom scene intrigued waltz king

and Die Fledermaus composer Johann Strauss, who had begun a Cinderella ballet (Aschenbrödel) but died before it was completed.

On the Grimm side, German opera would be most affected – a subgenre known as Märchenoper developed in the early 19th century in the works of Carl Maria von Weber and Heinrich Marschner, among others. A parallel also can be drawn to the works of Richard Wagner as many of his subjects relied on the folk tradition, and the composer specifically drew from the Grimms’ Märchen von einem, der auszog das Fürchten zu lernen for parts of Siegfried. A resurgence of Märchenoper occurred at the turn of the century, most notably in the works of Engelbert Humperdinck.

Hänsel und Gretel (1893) is the most famous example; others include Die sieben Geislein (1895) and Königskinder (1910). A general trend into the early 20th century also showed an interest in the fantastic world and a disregard of historical or contemporary subjects previously enjoyed by 19th-century audiences, evidenced by musical settings of Carlo Gozzi’s Turandot [set by both Ferruccio Busoni (1917) and Giacomo Puccini (1926)], and by Le rossignol (Igor Stravinsky; 1914) and Die Frau ohne Schatten (Richard Strauss; 1919), to name a few. ❚

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Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm assembled and published their Household and Nursery Tales at the beginning of the 19th century. Again, it seems as though Grimms’ Tales were not necessarily meant for a younger audience – in the brothers’ original edition, nearly every story includes either suggestions of sex and incest or overtly grotesque violence. The Grimms were scientific rather than fictitious in their mission to compile German folklore, a spoken ritual once spun out at the spinning wheel, in the fields or around the fire. At first Wilhelm and Jakob demanded literary fidelity, but perhaps envisioning a greater audience for the Tales, Wilhelm became more prudish in subsequent editions while retaining much of the brutality. For instance, the stepsisters of Aschenputtel (Cinderella) cut off their toes and shave their heels in order to cram their feet into the tiny slipper. Their deception is exposed on the way to the palace when the prince notices their feet bleeding. Later, after the royal wedding feast has taken place, two doves peck out their eyes, quite literally emphasizing the brothers’ recurrent theme of “an eye for an eye.” In other Grimm fantasies, the protagonist doesn’t always fare so well, but in the end compassion is usually rewarded while villainy is punished with a vengeance. The stories were intended to be cautionary and the lessons are typically harsh. It’s hardly a surprise the Tales found their way to the nursery, not as much for entertainment as for preparing 19th-century youngsters for the hard peasant life that awaited them. There is also the added benefit (if sometimes a vain one) that the diligently persistent moral messages may curb poor behavior – terrible things happen to rotten children.

The Grimms’ version of Cinderella replaces the fairy godmother with a magic hazel tree, which houses helpful (and later punitive) turtledoves. The ball occurs over a three-day period, and though Aschenputtel gets to dance with the prince each night, she dashes off before he can learn her name. On the third night, he coats the steps with

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gioachino rossini b Pesaro, February 29, 1792; d Passy, November 13, 1868

Ritratto di Gioachino Rossini (circa 1815) Vincenzo Camuccini (1771–1844) Museo teatrale della Scala (Milan, Italy)

| MINNESOTA OPERA mnopera.org

T

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he most prominent Italian composer of the first half of the 19th century, Gioachino Rossini transformed the form and content of Italian opera. Though best known for his comic works – and for music that is sensuous, brilliant and rhythmically vital – Rossini’s contribution to stage works of mixed genres is equally important, making him Verdi’s most significant forerunner.

Born into the closely knit community of Pesaro, Italy, at a time of war and political upheaval in Europe, Rossini was brought up by parents who were both working musicians. His father, a horn player and teacher at Bologna’s prestigious Accademia Filarmonica, was also an ardent and outspoken Republican who was imprisoned briefly by the Austrians. Rossini’s mother, despite her lack of musical training, was a reasonably successful soprano.

Rossini entered Bologna’s Liceo Musicale at the precocious age of 14 and began composing as early as 1802–03. Shortly after finishing his studies, he obtained a commission for a one-act farce, La cambiale di matrimonio, for the Venetian Teatro San Moisè. Further commissions from Venice yielded more successes, and by the time La pietra del paragone

had premiered in 1812, the 20-yearold Rossini was without a doubt the leading composer in Italy.

Rossini seemed equally confident in both serious and comic veins. Tancredi was a major landmark in opera seria and L’italiana in Algeri was the same for opera buffa – both were composed in 1813. In 1815 he had the good fortune to be secured by Domenico Barbaja, impresario for the Neapolitan theaters, and significantly developed his style and technique over the next seven years.

One of the Teatro San Carlo’s assets was Isabella Colbran, a soprano who specialized in opera seria; as a result Rossini wrote many works specifically for her voice. She was to become his mistress and later his first wife.

Rossini’s contract with Barbaja allowed him to accept commissions elsewhere on the Italian peninsula.

Two of his most popular comic works, Il barbiere di Siviglia and La Cenerentola, premiered in Rome. By 1822, however, the composer showed signs of his patience wearing thin; during the contract period he had written a total of 19 operas. The composer later quipped, “If he had been able to do so, Barbaja would have put me in charge of the kitchen as well.”

Rossini was released from his Neapolitan contract that year. The Viennese tour that followed proved enormously successful for the composer, whose works were now familiar all over Europe. Returning to Italy, Rossini signed another contract with La Fenice in Venice for what would become one of his greatest and grandest opera serias, Semiramide.

With Italy and Austria conquered, Rossini turned his attention to France and England.

A contract was signed in London, but it appears no opera was ever produced. In Paris Rossini accepted the directorship of the Théâtre Italien for two years (1824–26) and oversaw the remounting and revisions of a number of his works.

For the coronation of Charles x,

he composed a new opera, Il viaggio a Reims, and a year later he refashioned an earlier opera seria, Maometto ii, into Le siège de Corinthe for the Paris Opéra. He would present three more works at that theater: Moise et Pharaon (reworked from the earlier Mosè in Egitto), Le Comte Ory (incorporating music from Il viaggio a Reims) and Guillaume Tell. Cast in the newly evolving form of French grand opéra, Guillaume Tell is a lengthy four-act work complete with ballet. It proved to be exceedingly popular (the opera had over 500 performances during Rossini’s lifetime); it was also the composer’s last. He retired at age 37.

After a short return to Italy, Rossini found himself back in Paris pursuing a lifetime annuity granted

by Charles x but revoked by the new government of Louis-Philippe. What was to be a short stay turned into six years of litigation, and while his wife and father remained at Isabella’s estate in Italy, Rossini formed a new romantic attachment with Olympe Pélissier. When his estranged wife died in 1846, they married soon after.

The Rossinis eventually set up house in an apartment on the Rue de la Chaussée d’Antin and also built a villa in the Paris suburb of Passy. Their famous samedi soirs were initiated in 1858 – on Saturday evenings Rossini’s salon became a meeting place for composers, artists and friends. The evening would have a prearranged musical program, mostly of Rossini’s own compositions with the composer at the piano and many young singers making their debuts. The last occurred September 26, 1868; Rossini’s chronic ill health finally overcame him, and he died two months later. Rossini was buried in Paris’ Père Lachaise cemetery among the graves of his fellow composers Cherubini, Chopin and Bellini. In 1887 his remains were brought to the city of Florence – a procession of more than 6,000 mourners attended the re-interment in Santa Croce. ❚

the artists

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

Angelina (mezzo-soprano) Bucharest, Romania

Recently Zerlina, Don Giovanni; Rosina, Il barbiere d Siviglia; Siébel, Faust; Stéphano, Roméo et Juliette; Lola, Cavalleria rusticana; Nicklausse, Les contes d’Hoffmann; Dryade, Ariadne auf Naxos; Fyodor, Boris Godunov, Vienna State Opera

Upcoming Donna Elvira, Don Giovanni, Vienna State Opera Stéphano, Roméo et Juliette, Dallas Opera Dorabella, Così fan tutte; Fatima, Oberon, Toulouse

Donato DiStefano Don Magnifico (bass) Sora, Italy

Recently Bartolo, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Washington Opera Schicchi, Gianni Schicchi, Metropolitan Opera Pasquale, Don Pasquale, Dallas Opera Basilio, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Frankfurt Opera

Upcoming Bartolo, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Leipzig; Hamburg Sulpice, La fille du régiment, San Diego Opera Mustafa, L’italiana in Algeri, Opéra de Nancy Magnifico, La Cenerentola, Canadian Opera Co.

Jane Cox lighting designer Dublin, Ireland

2009 Faust 2007 Lakmé 2006 Joseph Merrick dit Elephant Man

Recently Chapters, Doug Varone and Dancers Don Giovanni, New York City Opera Come Back Little Sheba, Broadway Public Theatre; Brooklyn Academy of Music; Playwrights Horizons; nytw, (New York)

Upcoming Lucia, Houston Grand Opera; Opera Australia

Christopher Franklin conductor Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Recently Don Giovanni, Teatro Vittorio Emmanuele La vedova allegra, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli Sweeney Todd, Teatro Comunale di Bologna Une éducation manquée; La cambiale, Wexford Fest.

Attila, Lima (Peru) L’amour conjugale, Rossini Festival (Wildbad) Le Comte Ory, National Opera of Greece

Upcoming Il barbiere di Siviglia, Lima (Peru)

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Roxana Constantinescu

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the artists

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

Daniel Mobbs

Clorinda (soprano)

Louisville, Kentucky

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

2002 Enrico, Lucia di Lammermoor

Recently Oroveso, Norma, Caramoor Festival Dandini, La Cenerentola, Wash. Concert Opera

Upcoming Capulet, Capuleti; Geronte, Manon, Philadelphia Pédro, L’Africaine, Opera Orch. of New York Giorgio, I puritani, Knoxville Opera Figaro, Le nozze di Figaro, Portland Opera Guillaume Tell, Guillaume Tell, Caramoor Fest.

Erhard Rom set designer Seattle, Washington

2008 Rusalka; Roméo et Juliette

Recently Nixon in China, Vancouver Opera La bohème; Jane Eyre, Opera Theatre of St. Louis A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Il turco in Italia; Zaïde, Wolf Trap Opera Les contes d’Hoffmann; Don Giovanni; Susannah, Virginia Opera Lucia di Lammermoor, Opera Cleveland Shadowboxer, Clarice Smith Center

Recently Gretel, Hansel and Gretel, PORTOpera; Sarasota Opera Clorinda, La Cenerentola; Suor Genovieffa, Suor Angelica; Sally, Die Fledermaus, Orlando Opera Anna, The Consul; Edith, Pirates of Penzance, Chautauqua Opera

Upcoming Annina, La traviata, Minnesota Opera

James Schuette costume designer Manitowoc, Wisconsin

2010 Casanova’s Homecoming 2009 Faust 2007 Un ballo in maschera 2006 Joseph Merrick dit Elephant Man 1998 Transatlantic

Recently Julius Caesar, American Repertory Theatre Oedipus Complex, Goodman Theatre The Diary of Anne Frank, Steppenwolf Theatre The Unmentionables, Steppenwolf; Yale Repertory

John Tessier

Victoria Vargas Tisbe (mezzo-soprano)

2002 Laurie, Little Women

Recently Almaviva, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Th. de Genève Ottavio, Don Giovanni, Teatro Colón (Argentina) Narraboth, Salome, Verbier Festival Laëte, Hamlet, Washington National Opera Nemorino, L’elisir d’amore, English Nat’l Opera

Upcoming Tito, La clemenza di Tito, Vancouver Opera Tamino, Die Zauberflöte, Seattle Opera

| MINNESOTA OPERA mnopera.org

2010 Amore, Orpheus and Eurydice

Don Ramiro (tenor) Edmonton, Alberta (Canada)

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Angela Mortellaro

Alidoro (bass-baritone)

Doug Varone stage director and choreographer New York, New York

2009 Faust 2007 The Grapes of Wrath 2006 Joseph Merrick dit Elephant Man 1998 Transatlantic

Recently Orpheus and Euridice, Lincoln Center Theater Dense Terrain, Brooklyn Academy of Music Salome; Stravinsky; Les Troyens, Metropolitan Opera Il barbiere di Siviglia; Orphée et Eurydice, Opera Colorado

Brooklyn, New York

Recently Mamma Lucia (cover), Cavalleria rusticana, Sarasota Opera; Chautauqua Opera Marcellina, Le nozze di Figaro, Ashlawn Opera Euryclée, Pénélope; Mrs. Peachum; the Beggar, The Beggar’s Opera, Manhattan School of Music

Upcoming Apprentice Artist – Chautauqua Opera Anna, Mary Stuart; Flora, La traviata; Nelly, Wuthering Heights, Minnesota Opera

Andrew Wilkowske Dandini (baritone) Wilmar, Minnesota

2009 2008 2007 2007

Geppetto, The Adventures of Pinocchio Taddeo, L’italiana in Algeri Figaro, Le nozze di Figaro Noah, The Grapes of Wrath

Recently Noah, The Grapes of Wrath, Carnegie Hall Figaro, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Skylight Opera

Upcoming Overall, Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Boston Lyric soloist, Carmina burana, Minnesota Orchestra

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the artists

MINNESOTA OPERA ORCHESTRA VIOLIN I

CELLO

BASSOON

Laurie Petruconis concertmaster Julia Persitz David Mickens Judy Thon-Jones Angela Waterman Hanson Andrea Een Natalia Moiseeva Giselle Hillyer

Jim Jacobson Sally Dorer Rebecca Arons Thomas Austin

Coreen Nordling Laurie Hatcher Merz

VIOLIN II

Michele Frisch Amy Morris

Conor O’Brien Elizabeth Decker Stephan Orsak Melinda Marshall Margaret Humphrey Helen Foli

HORN Brian Vance Charles Hodgson

BASS John Michael Smith Constance Martin

TRUMPET

FLUTE

John G. Koopmann Christopher Volpe

TROMBONE Phillip Ostrander

OBOE Michal Rogalski Michael Dayton

HARPSICHORD Jeremy Reger

CLARINET Johnny Teyssier Nina Olsen

VIOLA Susan Janda Vivi Erickson Laurel Browne James Bartsch

MINNESOTA OPERA CHORUS

| MINNESOTA OPERA mnopera.org

Ben Crickenberger John deCausmeaker Benjamin Henry-Moreland Joshua Hinck Benjamin Hills Timothy James

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Ben Johnson Richard Joseph Jake LaSota Eric Mellum Jason McLaughlin Riley McNutt

Minnesota District Auditions November 20, 2010 at 10 a.m.

Ordway, St. Paul

Tim O’Brien Colyn Tvete Luke Wallrich Daniel Weinstein

Master Class with Kevin Murphy November 21, 2010 at 12:30 p.m.

Schubert Club Museum, Landmark Center, St. Paul

All Metropolitan Opera National Council Events are free and open to the public.

For more information visit moncuppermidwest.org or call Margaret Houlton at 952-939-6908

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der #&/&'*54 all season. Simply choose two oorr m more of '-&9*#*-*5: and insider these operas, and we’ll grandfather you in at the discounted subscrip subscription ptioon price (up to 20% o!): M ary Stuartt (Jan. 29 – Feb. 6, 2011) Mary A thrilling portrait of two of history’s most comma commanding anding women.

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education at the opera

Project Opera Winter Concert

Project Opera at the Mill City Farmers Market

January 16, 2011 4:00 p.m.

Augsburg Chapel 2211 Riverside Ave, Minneapolis 55454 Free and open to the public

It felt like November but in August young singers from Project Opera performed a selection of art songs and arias in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Center at the Mill City Farmers Market.

Experience the music of Project Opera in their Winter Concert featuring Vivaldi’s Gloria. Both Ragazzi and Giovani ensembles will perform seasonal favorites such as “Night of Silence” and “Climb to the Top of the Highest Mountain.”

▲ Kelley Lokensgard from Eagan sang “O del mio dolce ardor”

▲ From North Oaks, Lauren Eberwein performed “Che farò senza Euridice” from Orpheus and Eurydice

Teaching Artist Hits the Road

| MINNESOTA OPERA mnopera.org

Our teaching artist is once again traveling across the metro and the state to bring unique opera education programs to thousands of students! This month was highlighted by a return to Patrick Henry High School to visit Tim Buzza’s music class. The next week they broadened their exploration of the art form by taking a field trip to the Student Dress Rehearsal of Cinderella on October 28.

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In January Angie will be making a very special week-long trip to Alexandria, Minnesota to collaborate on a community concert of Carmen with the Central Lakes Symphony Orchestra. Students, teachers and adult musicians from the area will all join together with artists from Minnesota Opera to perform selections from Bizet’s most popular opera.

Artist residencies like this are part of the Opera’s coOPERAtion! program that is generously supported by Medtronic.

Keep up to date with the Opera’s education programs by following us at imagineopera.org and on the imagine opera facebook page.

Want to bring opera to your school?

Contact Angie at akeeton@mnopera.org!

education at the opera

Adult Education Class: Mary Stuart

Brenda Harris Master Class

Monday, January 10, 2011 7:00–9:00 p.m.

Minnesota Opera Center 620 North First Street

Monday, January 31, 2011 7:00–9:00 p.m.

Minnesota Opera Center 620 North First Street

Donizetti’s opera Mary Stuart, based upon Schiller’s play of the same name, proved to be so controversial that it was banned twice in Italy after censors learned that Mary calls Elizabeth i a “vile bastard” in their scene of confrontation.

One begins to sense why, in true life, Queen Elizabeth i refused to meet Mary Stuart, whom she nevertheless condemned to death. Minnesota Opera’s Head of Music Mary Dibbern will discuss the historical background of the conflict between two of history’s most commanding women, and the transformation of Schiller’s play into a superb operatic treasure.

Witness the incomparable soprano Brenda Harris pass the legacy of her vast experience and exceptional artistry to the emerging artists of Minnesota Opera’s Resident Artist Program in an intimate master class setting. Ms. Harris will provide insights for singers and audiences alike into the connection between the voice and text, as well as style and technique. A notto-be-missed opportunity!

Call 612-333-6669 for tickets.

Call 612-333-6669 for tickets.

Join us!

AS W E C E L E B R AT E O U R 20 T H A N N I V E R S A RY SE AS ON !

DR. CHRISTOPHER ASPAAS Music Director

A MINNESOTA CHRISTMAS Christmas Concerts

7:30 P.M. | DECEMBER 18, 2010 CHAPEL OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA

3:00 P.M. | DECEMBER 19, 2010

Transforming Audiences Through Artistry and Spirit FOR TICKETS: Call (612) 924-4111 or visit magnumchorum.org

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WAYZATA COMMUNITY CHURCH 125 WAYZATA BOULEVARD EAST WAYZATA, MINNESOTA

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Tempo is a membership program for both opera newbies and buffs ages 21–39. $40 membership includes these benefits: Steep ticket discounts (up to 76%!)

• Invitations to cast parties and special events • Access to exclusive Tempo Lounge at intermission • Preview events • Young Friends of Opera discounts to other companies • Big discounts on select Minnesota Opera events • and education classes Photo by Steve McHugh

Official home of Tempo Cast Parties for the 2010–2011 season

Opera Bootcamp: Basic Training

| MINNESOTA OPERA mnopera.org

Thursday, December 9, 2010 at Minnesota Opera Center New to Opera? Need to review the basics? Learn the ins and outs of opera and prepare to battle with the Masters during the rest of the 2010–11 season. Enlist at mnopera.org/tempo today.

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mnopera.org/tempo 612-333-6669

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It starts softly, but soon there are bursts of color and texture. New discoveries and vivid surprises fill the air. It’s classical music. It’s alive.

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it’s alive

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annual fund | individual giving It is with deep appreciation that 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 Minnesota Opera, please call the Director of the Annual Fund Dawn Loven at 612-342-9567, or email her at dloven@mnopera.org.

bel canto circle Platinum $20,000 and above Anonymous (1) Karen Bachman Mary and Gus Blanchard Jane M. and Ogden W. Confer Julia W. Dayton Sara and Jock Donaldson Vicki and Chip Emery Ruth and John Huss Sisi and Heinz Hutter Mr. and Mrs. Philip Isaacson

James E. Johnson Lucy Rosenberry Jones The Art and Martha Kaemmer Fund of HRK Foundation Nadine and Bill McGuire Dwight D. Opperman Ronning Family Foundation Elizabeth Redleaf Mary W. Vaughan Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation C. Angus and Margaret Wurtele

Gold $15,000–$19,999 Ellie and Tom Crosby, Jr. Cy and Paula Decosse Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Barbara McBurney Stephanie Simon and Craig Bentdahl

Silver $10,000–$14,999 Anonymous William Biermaier and David Hanson

Susan Boren Dr. and Mrs. Daniel D. Buss Dolly J. Fiterman Sharon and Bill Hawkins Mary and Barry Lazarus Jenny Lind Nilsson and Garrison Keillor Harvey T. McLain Mrs. Walter Meyers Diana and Joe Murphy Mary Ingebrand Pohlad Joseph Sammartino Bernt von Ohlen and Thomas Nichol

camerata circle Platinum $7,500–$9,999 Allegro Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation Shari and David Boehnen Kathleen and William Callahan Nicky B. Carpenter Rachelle Dockman Chase N. Bud and Beverly Grossman Foundation Erwin and Miriam Kelen Peter J. King Moore Family Fund for the Arts Albin and Susan Nelson Connie and Lew Remele Maggie Thurer and Simon Stevens Carolyn, Sharon and Clark Winslow

| MINNESOTA OPERA mnopera.org

Gold $5,000–$7,499

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Anonymous Tracy and Eric Aanenson Martha Goldberg Aronson and Daniel Aronson Martha and Bruce Atwater Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Nancy and Chuck Berg Darlene J. and Richard P. Carroll James and Gisela Corbett David and Vanessa Dayton Mary Lee Dayton

Connie Fladeland and Steve Fox Tom and Lori Foley Patricia R. Freeburg Mr. and Mrs. William Frels Denver and Nicole Gilliand Alfred and Ingrid Lenz Harrison Bill and Hella Mears Hueg Tina and Ken Hughes Patricia Johnson and Kai Bjerkness Debra and James Lakin Chris Larsen and Scott Peterson Robert L. Lee and Mary E. Schaffner Ilo and Peggy Leppik Lynne Looney Mr. and Mrs. Donald Lucker The Kendrick B. Melrose Family Foundation Bill and Barbara Pearce Jose Peris and Diana Gulden Stephanie Prem and Tom Owens Shawn and Brad Pleimann Sergio Rial Lois and John Rogers Chris and Mark Schwarzmann Drs. Joseph and Kristina Shaffer Peter and Bonnie Sipkins Susan and Barry Snyder Kevin and Lynn Smith Karen Sternal Virginia L. and Edward C. Stringer Mr. and Mrs. James Swartz Lori and Herbert Ward

Silver $2,500–$4,999

August J. Aquila and Emily Haliziw Nina and John Archabal Satoru and Sheila Asato Ruth and Dale Bachman Ann and Thomas Bagnoli Maria and Kent Bales

Mrs. Paul G. Boening Conley Brooks Family Joan and George Carlson Barb and Jeff Couture Mrs. Thomas M. Crosby, Sr. Fran Davis

Anonymous (5) Kim A. Anderson Annette Atkins and Tom Joyce Alexandra O. Bjorklund Dr. Lee Borah, Jr. Margee and Will Bracken Christopher J. Burns Elwood and Florence Caldwell Rusty and Burt Cohen Susan and Richard Crockett Jeff and Wendy Wenger Dankey Jodi Dehli Thomas and Mary Lou Detwiler Mona and Patrick Dewane Ralph D. Ebbott Sally J. Economon Nancy and Rolf Engh Bradley Fuller and Elizabeth Lincoln Christine and Jon Galloway Lois and Larry Gibson Meg and Wayne Gisslen Mrs. Myrtle Grette Dorothy Horns and James Richardson Dr. and Mrs. Arthur Horowitz Margaret and Andrew Houlton Cynthia and Jay Ihlenfeld James Jelinek and Marilyn Wall

Dale A. Johnson Jacqueline Nolte Jones Robert and Susan Josselson Stan and Jeanne Kagin Warren and Patricia Kelly Lyndel and Blaine King Robert Kriel and Linda Krach Helen L. Kuehn Benjamin Y. H. and Helen C. Liu Leland T. Lynch and Terry Saario Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation David MacMillan and Judy Krow Mary Bigelow McMillan Nancy and Richard Nicholson Ruth and Ahmad Orandi Marge and Dwight Peterson Mr. and Mrs. William Phillips Redleaf Family Foundation Mary and Paul Reyelts Nina and Ken Rothchild Kay Savik and Joe Tashjian Fred and Gloria Sewell Lynda and Frank Sharbrough Karen Sternal Carolyn and Andrew Thomas William Voedisch and Laurie Carlson Ellen M. Wells Nancy and Ted Weyerhaeuser

artist circle $1,000–$2,499 Anonymous Arlene and Tom Alm Lowell Anderson and Kathy Welte Jamie Andrews and Jane Kolp-Andrews

Judson Dayton Ruth and Bruce Dayton The Denny Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Margaret Diablasio Elise Donohue

annual fund | individual giving

artist circle (continued) Ann Fankhanel Ester and John Fesler Gail and Donald Fiskewold Salvatore Silvestri Franco Kris and Kristina Fredrick Christine and W. Michael Garner Mr. and Mrs. R. James Gesell Heidi and Howard Gilbert Stanley and Luella Goldberg Sima and Clark Griffith Bruce and Jean Grussing Mr. and Mrs. Roger Hale Hackensack Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation Don Helgeson and Sue Shepard Sharon and Cliff Hill Andrew Holly and Svea Forsberg-Holly John and Jean McGough Holten Bill and Hella Mears Hueg

Thomas Hunt and John Wheelihan Ekdahl Hutchinson Family Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Teresa and Chuck Jakway Markle Karlen Thomas A. Keller, iii E. Robert and Margaret V. Kinney Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Gerard Knight Mrs. James S. Kochiras Constance and Daniel Kunin Mark and Elaine Landergan Sy and Ginny Levy Family Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Jerry and Joyce Lillquist Bill Long Dawn M. Loven Roy and Dorothy Mayeske Helen and Charles McCrossan

Sheila McNally Judith and James Mellinger Velia R. Melrose David and LaVonne Middleton Victoria and Charles Mogilevsky Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Moore Sandy and Bob Morris Judy and David Myers Elizabeth B. Myers Joan and Richard Newmark Eric Norman Julia and Brian Palmer Derrill M. Pankow Paula Patineau Suzanne and William Payne Suzanne and Rick Pepin Mary and Robert Price Connie and Jim Pries Sara and Kevin Ramach George Reid

John and Sandra Roe Foundation Thomas D. and Nancy J. Rohde Gordon and Margaret Rosine Terry Saario and Lee Lynch Sampson Family Charitable Foundation Patty and Barney Saunders Dr. and Mrs. Richard J. Schindler Matthew Spanjers Julie and Bruce Steiner Dana and Stephen Strand Robert and Barbara Struyk Michael Symeonides and Mary Pierce Tempo Board Members Mr. and Mrs. Philip Von Blon James and Sharon Weinel Mr. and Mrs. Don White

Jo and Gordon Bailey Family Fund of the Catholic Community Foundation Barbara S. Belk Martin and Patricia Blumenreich Judith and Arnold Brier Dr. Hannelore Brucker Thomas and Joyce Bruckner Juliet Bryan and Jack Timm Joann Cierniak J.P. Collins Elisabeth Comeaux Roxanne and Joseph Cruz Norma Danielson Amos and Sue Deinard Mary Elise Dennis Jessica and Jonathan Doklovic Joyce and Hugh Edmondson Rondi Erickson and Sandy Lewis Herbert and Betty Fantle Mr. and Mrs. William Farley Joyce and Hal Field C.D.F. Foundation Pamela and Richard Flenniken Leslie and Alain Frecon Jane Fuller

Terence Fruth and Mary McEvoy Family Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Katy Gaynor David Gilberstadt Marjorie and Joseph Grinnell Jennifer Gross and Jerry LeFevre Susanne Haas and Ross Formell Roger L. Hale and Nor Hall Albert and Janice Hammond Frederick Hey, Jr. Diane and Paul Jacobson Margaret and Phillip Johnson Janet N. Jones Drs. Charles and Sally Jorgensen Jane and Jim Kaufman Kristen and Dean Lambert Jonathan and Lisa Lewis Ruth Lyons Tom and Marsha Mann Carolyn and Charles Mayo Anne W. Miller Mary Monson Jack and Jane Moran Lowell and Sonja Noteboom John Ohle

Ann and John O’Leary James A. Payne Barbara and Carroll Rasch Dan Rasmus and Kari Fedje Rasmus Dennis M. Ready Lawrence M. Redmond Liane A and Richard G Rosel Kim W. and Peter J. Rue David E. Sander Dr. Leon and Alma Satran Ralph Schneider Cherie and Bob Shreck Mrs. Donald Sell Clifford C. and Virginia G. Sorensen Charitable Trust of The Saint Paul Foundation Anthony Thein Norrie Thomas Emily Anne and Gedney Tuttle Stephanie C. Van D’Elden Jo and Howard Weiner Barbara and Carl White Helen and J. Kimball Whitney Barbara and James Willis S. B. Hadley Wilson Mr. John W. Windhorst Jr.

patron circle Gold $750–$999 Anonymous Gerald and Phyllis Benson Ruth E. Hanold Nancy and Donald Kapps Mahley Family Foundation Pat and Dan Panshin Ann M. Rock The Harriet and Edson Spencer Foundation Warren Stortroen Cindy and Steven Vilks Frank and Frances Wilkinson Lani Willis and Joel Spoonheim

Silver $500–$749 Anonymous (2) Charles Anderson Eric S. Anderson and Janalee R. Aurelia Dr. and Mrs. Orn Arnar

These lists are current as of October 1, 2010 and include donors who gave a gift of $500 or more during Minnesota Opera’s Annual Fund Campaign.

If your name is not listed appropriately, please accept our apologies and contact Dawn Loven, Director of the Annual Fund, at 612-342-9567.

In celebration of the second GiveMN day, Minnesota Opera has received a $5,000 challenge grant. Every new online gift through the GiveMN website will be matched dollar-for-dollar!

Please visit the website giveMN.org on November 16 to make your charitable gift and you will double your support!

| CINDERELLA

Give to the Max Day is Tuesday, November 16

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legacy circle | individual giving 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 Minnesota Opera. If you have already made such a provision, we encourage you to notify us that so we may appropriately recognize your generosity.

Anonymous (3) Valerie and Paul Ackerman Thomas O. Allen Mr. and Mrs. Rolf Andreassen Mary A. Andres Karen Bachman Mark and Pat Bauer Mrs. Harvey O. Beek (†) Barbara and Sandy Bemis (†) Joan and George Carlson Darlene J. and Richard P. Carroll Julia and Dan Cross Judy and Kenneth (†) Dayton Mrs. George Doty Rudolph Driscoll (†) Sally Economon

Ester and John Fesler Paul Froeschl Katy Gaynor Lois and Larry Gibson Robert and Ellen Green Ieva Grundmanis (†) Ruth Hanold Norton M. Hintz Jean McGough Holten Charles Hudgins Dale and Pat Johnson Drs. Sally and Charles Jorgensen Robert and Susan Josselson Charlotte (†) and 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 David Mayo Barbara and Thomas (†) McBurney Mary Bigelow McMillan Margaret L. and Walter S. (†) Meyers

John L. Michel and H. Berit Midelfort Susan Molder (†) Edith Mueller (†) Joan and Richard Newark Scott Pakudiatis Sydney and William Phillips Mrs. Berneen Rudolph Mary Savina Frank and Lynda Sharbrough Drew Stewart James and Susan Sullivan Gregory C. Swinehart Stephanie Van D’Elden Mary Vaughan Dale and Sandra Wick (†) Deceased

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

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

DONOR

SPOTLIGHT

Norton Hintz and Mary Abbe are avid and longtime patrons of opera. In fact, in the early 1960s Norton was chairman of the music committee of the Center Arts Council (a volunteer organization that worked with Walker Art Center to create programs). From the music committee emerged Center Opera, which ultimately became Minnesota Opera. It was Norton’s idea to use local musical artists, composers and singers. Staffed by a tireless group of volunteers, this fledgling new opera company supported local talent.

| MINNESOTA OPERA mnopera.org

Now nearly 50 years later, Norton reflects on how far Minnesota Opera has come since his dream so long ago. “Minnesota Opera has grown in national and international stature. Without the exceptional leadership of Kevin Smith, this company would not be where it is today. Kevin has taken the seed of the original cutting edge mission to make Minnesota Opera one of the most accessible and boldly innovative opera companies in the world.”

Minnesota Opera has truly blossomed over the years bringing artistry to the Ordway stage, as Norton remarks, “as good as you’ll see anywhere in the world.” In fact, Norton and Mary are so determined to ensure the next 50 years of great opera in Minnesota that they have decided to include Minnesota Opera in their estate plans. Believing in the mission is only part of why they financially support Minnesota Opera. “We want to make certain that everyone in our state and region can hear great opera.”

30 Mary Abbe, son Mark and Norton Hintz

annual fund | insitutional giving

minnesota opera sponsors Season Sponsor

Production Innovation System

The Private Client Reserve at U.S. Bank

General Mills

Production Sponsors

Resident Artist Program

Cinderella | Target

Wenger Foundation

Conductor Appearances

Tempo Cast Parties

SpencerStuart

Sakura

Camerata Dinners

Opera Insights

Lowry Hill

Comcast

Gala Sponsor

Champagne Intermission Receptions

U.S. Bank

Meet the Artists Official Caterer Macy’s Design Cuisine

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

Piper Jaffray

Broadcast Partner Minnesota Public Radio

corporations, foundations and government 3M Foundation Ameriprise Financial, Inc. General Mills Foundation The McKnight Foundation The Medtronic Foundation Minnesota State Arts Board National Endowment for the Arts Target The Private Client Reserve at U.S. Bank Travelers Foundation U.S. Bancorp Foundation UnitedHealth Group The Wallace Foundation

Deloitte Faegre & Benson Harlan Boss Foundation for the Arts R. C. Lilly Foundation Mayo Clinic Onan Family Foundation Pentair Foundation The Carl and Eloise Pohlad Family Foundation Rahr Foundation RBC Foundation – USA Schwegman, Lundberg & Woessner, p.a.

Securian Foundation Xcel Energy Foundation

Platinum $10,000–$24,999

Silver $2,500–$4,999

Fred C. and Katherine B. Andersen Foundation Cargill Foundation Comcast Dorsey & Whitney Foundation Ecolab Foundation Education Minnesota Foundation Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation Anna M. Heilmaier Charitable Foundation Lowry Hill The MAHADH Fund of HRK Foundation Piper Jaffray SpencerStuart Twin Cities Opera Guild Valspar Foundation Wells Fargo Foundation Minnesota Wenger Foundation

Dellwood Foundation Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation Hutter Family Foundation The Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation Ted and Dr. Roberta Mann Foundation Peravid Foundation The Elizabeth C. Quinlan Foundation Margaret Rivers Fund Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi Tennant Foundation

Gold $5,000–$9,999 ADC Telecommunications Allianz Life Insurance of North America Boss Foundation Briggs and Morgan, P.A. Cleveland Foundation

$25,000–$49,999

$10,000–$24,999

Bronze $1,000–$2,499 Arts & Custom Publishing Co., Inc. Athwin Bailey Nurseries, Inc. Burdick-Craddick Family Foundation Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation Hammel, Green and Abrahamson, Inc. McVay Foundation Lawrence M. O’Shaughnessy Charitable Annuity Trust in honor of Lawrence M. O’Shaughnessy Peregrine Capital Management Sewell Family Foundation Sit Investment Foundation The Regis Foundation Wells Fargo Insurance Services

For information on making a corporate or foundation contribution to Minnesota Opera, please contact the Institutional Gifts Manager Beth Comeaux at 612-342-9566 or email her at bcomeaux@mnopera.org.

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Sponsors $25,000+

$50,000–$99,999

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