Minnesota Opera's Orpheus and Eurydice Program

The 2010–2011 Season

Gluck

The Schubert Club Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser Sanborn

International Artist Series

Alison Balsom, trumpet RenĂŠe Fleming, soprano Thursday, October 7, 2010 Alison Balsom, trumpet Tuesday, November 9, 2010 Yuja Wang, piano Tuesday, January 11, 2011 Leila Josefowicz, violin Tuesday, March 15, 2011 Genia KĂźhmeier, soprano Bernarda Fink, mezzo-soprano Michael Schade, tenor Thomas Quasthoff, bass-baritone Thursday, April 28, 2011

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Gluck

A voice so beautiful he can charm the gods.

contents sept.

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and

oct. 2010

Minnesota Opera Staff and Volunteers Director’s Notes Orpheus and Eurydice Synopsis Background Notes Christoph Willibald Gluck Hats Off to Kevin Smith The Artists 2010–2011 Season Subscriptions The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Tempo Education at the Opera Gala 2010 Up Next: Cinderella Minnesota Opera Annual Fund Donor Spotlight

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President & CEO | Kevin Smith Artistic Director | Dale Johnson Chair, Board of Directors | Chip Emery

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minnesota opera staff

CongratulatioȾs

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President & CEO | Kevin Smith Artistic Director | Dale Johnson

ARTISTIC

SCENERY

Artistic Administrator | Roxanne Stouffer Cruz Artist Relations and Planning Director Floyd Anderson Dramaturg | David Sander Artistic Associate | Bill Murray Head of Music | Mary Dibbern Resident Artists Brad Benoit, Octavio Cardenas, Cassandra Flowers, Jonathan Kimple, Eric McEnaney, Angela Mortellaro, Rodolfo Nieto, Michael Nyby, Jeremy Reger, Clinton Smith, Victoria Vargas Master Coach | Mary Jo Gothmann

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The Schubert Club

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Gerald Benson Debra Brooks Judith Duncan Jane Fuller Joan Gacki Merle Hanson Jeanie Johnston

Robin Keck Eleanore Kolar Jerry Lillquist Joyce Lillquist Mary McDiarmid Verne Melberg Barbara Moore

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

When the gods

BOARD OF DIRECTORS OFFICERS Kevin Smith, President & CEO Chip Emery, Chair

wish to punish us,

Rachelle D. Chase, Vice Chair Stephanie Prem, Secretary Heinz F. Hutter, Treasurer

they answer our prayers – Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband

Nowhere in art is this truer than in Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice, the task laid before Orpheus is nothing short of cruel. This has become one of the central premises of this production.

Finding a world in which the gods can play out their sport was the first challenge before the production team. When one seeks to find a physical representation of grief, the choices are endless, often leading to abstraction.

For this production we wanted to create a world which was unambiguous; a place in which the three acts of mourning, quest and escape could happen; a place a modern audience could recognize but also one which would be pertinent to Orpheus and his sense of self and identity.

In this production of Orpheus and Eurydice, theater itself becomes the metaphor for Orpheus’ journey into and out of the underworld. In setting the whole show in a Baroque theater we see the world through Orpheus’ eyes, the eyes of an artist, musician and poet. The masks of comedy and tragedy have fallen to the ground. It is as though the theater itself has been drained of life, and Amore’s quest sends him on a journey into the heart of this now-dead theater. We travel with him through the dark recesses of the back stage areas up into the full glaring light of the stage for the final act.

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

The choreography is visceral and explosive in parts, sensual in others.

Above all the choreography must serve the narrative. By retaining the often-cut final ballet, we take our first opportunity to view the entire story from a perspective different to Orpheus’ own.

Karen Bachman

The Orpheus myth has been reinvented and retold through the generations across cultures and in many different media. One such retelling of the myth has become our focus for the ballet, a poem by Carol Ann Duff y that questions Eurydice’s interest in being brought back from death.

Mary W. Vaughan

John A. Blanchard, III Burton Cohen Julia W. Dayton

HONORARY DIRECTORS Dominick Argento Philip Brunelle Dolly Fiterman Charles C. Fullmer Norton M. Hintz Liz Kochiras Patricia H. Sheppard

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LEGAL COUNSEL James A. Rubenstein, Moss & Barnett

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Lee Blakeley, Orpheus and Eurydice Stage Director

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Music by Christoph Willibald Gluck Libretto by Ranieri de’ Calzabigi World premiere at the Burgtheater, Vienna October 5, 1762 September 25, 28, 30, October 2 and 3, 2010 Ordway Center for the Performing Arts Sung in Italian with English translations Conductor | Harry Bicket Stage Director | Lee Blakeley Set and Costume Designer | Adrian Linford Choreographer | Arthur Pita Lighting Designer | Jenny Cane Wig and Makeup Designers | Jason Allen and Ronell Oliveri Assistant Director | Octavio Cardenas Assistant Conductor | Clinton Smith Stage Manager | Alexander Farino English Captions | Christopher Bergen

the cast Orpheus | David Daniels Eurydice, his wife | Susanna Phillips Amore, god of love | Angela Mortellaro Dancers | Zenon Dance Company mourners, Furies, spirits

Orfeo ed Euridice by Christoph Willibald Gluck; edited for the Gluck Complete Edition by Anna Amalie Abert and Ludwig Finscher; used by arrangement with European American Music, llc, sole u.s. and Canadian agent for Baerenreiter, publisher and copyright owner.

Flying by Foy The appearances of Susanna Phillips, winner, and Angela Mortellaro, regional finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, are made possible through a Minnesota Opera Endowment Fund established for Artist Enhancement by Barbara White Bemis.

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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 Orpheus and Eurydice are being recorded for delayed broadcast on Classical 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.

10 Champagne intermission receptions are sponsored by Piper Jaffray.

synopsis

act i

act ii

act iii

The tomb of Eurydice Orpheus and mourners lament the death of Eurydice. Orpheus pleads to the gods to either take his life or restore his love. He proclaims his intention to go to Hades to take her back. Amore appears and declares that Zeus has been moved by his tears and will allow him the journey under one condition – he must not look at Eurydice until they have returned to the mortal world. Orpheus is ecstatic – hope has returned.

Scene one – a dark cavern on the banks of Lethe At the river of forgetfulness, where the dead drink the waters to forget the past, Orpheus leads Eurydice (still obscured from view) and hears her voice once again. Eurydice rejoices in her impeding reincarnation while Orpheus coolly hurries her along.

She is confused by his icy efficiency and begs him to look at her. When Scene two – the Elysian Fields Orpheus Orpheus doesn’t, she hesitates, fearing marvels at the beauty of the Elysian he no longer loves her. Eurydice refuses Fields and gazes among the fallen to go further, preferring to remain dead heroes for the face of Eurydice. They and tormented. Tortured by his secret lead her forward out of his view and mission, Orpheus absentmindedly the two lovers are blindly reunited. turns to look at her, and Eurydice dies once again.

• intermission • Scene two – the same Orpheus laments his fate, and still wishing to join his soul mate, tries to kill himself.

Seeing his deep anguish, Amore returns and restores Eurydice to life.

Scene one – a terrifying cave beyond the Cocytus At the gates of Hades near the river of lamentation, Orpheus encounters incensed shades and furies, who denounce his brazen plan to seize a soul from their clutches. Orpheus soothes their anger with the sound of his beautiful voice, and they allow him to pass.

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Scene three – a magnificent temple dedicated to love The people celebrate the return of Eurydice. Orpheus exclaims the triumph of love over death, and Eurydice realizes the power of fidelity.

11 Costume design by Adrian Linford

background notes by David Sander

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he legend of Orpheus is inextricably linked to the birth of opera as we know it.

When members of the Florentine Camerata looked to recreate the music-drama rumored to have been employed by the ancient Greeks, they turned to mythology, and quite naturally, the most musical of the classical figures. Jacopo Peri presented

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Orfeo premiered in 1607 at the Mantuan court of the Gonzagas as a result of a sibling rivalry between brothers Francesco and Ferdinando.

These private experiments ended with the opening of the first public opera house, the Venetian Teatro San Cassiano, in 1637, and an Orfeo is believed to be the first opera commissioned in France when the art form was imported by Italian expatriates. In all, The New Grove Dictionary of Opera identifies over 60 operatic adaptations of the Orpheus legend, set by composers as diverse as Reinhard Keiser, Georg Philipp Telemann, Franz Joseph Haydn,

Orpheus and Eurydice by Maurice Denis (1910) Minneapolis Institute of Arts The Putnam Dana McMillan Fund © 2010 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

the first surviving opera with his Euridice in 1600 for the celebrations surrounding the marriage of French King Henri iv and Maria de’ Medici at Florence’s Pitti Palace. Giulio Caccini published his lyric version of the fable two years later set to the same libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini.

Claudio Monteverdi’s more familiar

Ferdinando Paer, Jacques Offenbach, Claude Debussy, Darius Milhaud, Ernest Krenek, Philip Glass and Ricky Ian Gordon.

The mythological tale predates the Homeric epoch, belonging to the Bronze Age of the second millennium bc, and has three significant events. The son of Apollo

and the muse Calliope, Orpheus reportedly accompanied the Argonauts on their Mediterranean odyssey to recover the Golden Fleece in Colchis. His role is both priestly and magical, multi-purposed to handle holy animal sacrifice and to ethereally strum his lyre with the rhythm of the oars. The beauty of his song is said to have calmed the Sirens and saved the ship from crashing on the rocks of the island of Aeaea. He later meets and marries Eurydice, but she dies soon after from the bite of a venomous adder while trying to escape the amorous intentions of the beekeeper Aristaeus. With the blessing of the gods, Orpheus is allowed to descend to Hades, charming its irascible residents with his music, only to impulsively look at his beloved too soon as he has been instructed not to do. With the second death of Eurydice, Orpheus forsakes all other women, angering the Bacchanalian Maenads, who in a drunken rage, rip and club his body apart with their thrysi and float his remains down the Hebrus River, some of which wash up on the island of Lesbos. His head is buried in the temple of Antissa, which becomes an oracle, while his lyre is placed in the temple of Apollo, another heraldic place of worship.

Evidence of the first and third parts of Orpheus’ life is well documented in Greek architectural metopes and vases. His trials are touched upon in plays by Aeschylus and Euripides as well as Plato’s Symposium. The middle portion involving the infamous bargain in hell became important chronologically after the arrival of the Romans and into the Augustan Age. Both Ovid, in Book x of Metamorphoses, and Virgil, in the fourth Georgic, unfold the myth in slightly differing manners. Virgil’s is the first surviving written account, and he tells the complete story, while Ovid streamlines the action, eliminating the pursuit of Eurydice by an admirer, thereby enhancing the tragedy of

background notes

leading to the operatic “reform” for which they would come to be known.

Italian heroic opera seria during the first half of the 18th century had become very conventional. Complex,

rather than embellishment and showmanship, while giving careful attention to the meaning of the text.

Appropriately, they chose source material not previously treated by

Orpheus and Euridice with Pluto and Proserpina

by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) Eric Lessing/Art Resource, NY

standardized libretti by Apostolo Zeno and Pietro Metastasio were set to music incessantly (sometimes more than once by a single composer). The solo singer was the star, and operas were typically constructed as a succession of highly ornamented arias preceded by lengthy orchestral introductions, or ritornelli. Large ensembles and dance movements were infrequent.

In collaboration with theater impresario Count Giacomo Durazzo, scenic designer Giulio Quaglio and choreographer Gasparo Angiolini, Calzabigi and Gluck sought the “noble simplicity” and “serene grandeur” of the proto-Neoclassical age, reducing the action to something more akin to Greek tragedy, with singers focused on the portrayal of emotional truth

Metastasio or Zeno, with minimal situations to which Orfeo would react.

Calzabigi’s recent stay in Paris and Gluck’s familiarity with French tragédie lyrique added a touch of dignity, with credible dramatic action and musical continuity. Durazzo was also in close contact with impresario Charles-Simon Favart and was aware of the current trends in France. Though the Italian language edition of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice was slow to gain popularity, the two theater producers jointly had the score published. The Parisian premiere of Orfeo was in Italian, but in 1774, Gluck translated and revised his opera extensively to better suit French tastes, expanding the musical numbers with additional dances. The vocal range of Orphée was changed

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her demise by causing it to be purely accidental rather than careless.

Moving through the centuries, Orpheus is present in early Christian art and transforms into a sort of seertheologian. His suffering is central to his being while Eurydice is mostly forgotten. Orpheus’ entry into this quasi-religious realm is due, in part, to his uniqueness among his peers. Greek heroic figures are almost singularly known for their bravery and savagery.

Orpheus’ integrity is composed of love and song – he is a lyre player, not a warrior, and teaches to refrain from bloodshed. His descent to hell, however unsuccessful, plays to themes of soul resurrection at the core of Christianity. Early catacomb wall paintings represent Christ the teacher as Orpheus charming the animals.

Orpheus became synonymous with the ideal of the Good Shepherd, the cross being viewed as the lyre of Christ.

From the Middle Ages, the legend passed through the writings of Plutarch, Dante and Boccaccio, and with the arrival of the Renaissance, the trials of Orpheus had become entrenched in music and the visual arts. It was a natural fit for the members of the Camerata who gathered and postulated at the home of the nobleman Giovanni de’ Bardi. It was their intent to restore the marriage of music and poetry believed to have been fused in antiquity. Greek drama was mired in tragedy, but as many of these early allegorical operas were composed for celebratory events, conflicts had to be resolved favorably. Baroque opera evolved with a penchant for the obligatory lieto fine, starting with Peri and Rinuccini who joyfully restored their Euridice to her husband.

This revision of Orpheus’ epic was strictly followed by Ranieri de’ Calzabigi and Christoph Willibald Gluck when, in 1762, they needed an occasional subject for the name day of Hapsburg Emperor Francis i. When writing Orfeo ed Euridice, they made some important stylistic changes,

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background notes

from an alto castrato to a haute-contre tenor. Dramatically inferior to the original, this French version was still greeted with enthusiasm, establishing Gluck’s reputation in Parisian cultural life. Never really falling out of style, by 1848, Orphée et Eurydice had been presented 297 times in that city alone.

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Thracian Girl Carrying the Head of Orpheus on His Lyre

by Gustave Moreau (1865)

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Around that time, critic and composer Hector Berlioz would be so captivated by the score that he decided to update the opera with new orchestration while still adhering to Gluck’s original vision of the piece.

He presented his rendering in 1859 at the avant-garde Théâtre Lyrique with legendary mezzo-soprano Pauline García Viardot singing the title role. No doubt the serious-minded Berlioz hoped to restore the opera’s dignity after having been scandalized by another reworking that had been presented just one year earlier – Offenbach’s hugely popular satire, the irreverent Orphée aux enfers. This

comic operetta had a plentiful run over 150 performances and toured around Europe to great acclaim. In contrast to Gluck and Berlioz’ gravity, Offenbach pulled out the stops, basing his burlesque fantasy on a longtime alternate theory of the myth – the superior minded Eurydice’s stay in hell is an escape from Orpheus, whom she finds to be weak and tiresome.

In this account, Aristaeus, her lover, knowingly sends her into a field of snakes, and once she is bitten, reveals himself to be Pluto, king of the underworld. Though appealing at first, Eurydice finds Hades boring, as she is kept under close watch by her jailer, John Styx. A mysterious insect with lecherous intentions ( Jupiter, as it turns out) zips through the keyhole and gains her release. Eurydice then attends a party on Olympus disguised as a Bacchante. All dance to a stately minuet, which soon turns into an infernal cancan as the operetta ends buoyantly. Not surprisingly, this wasn’t the first comedic adaptation of the Orpheus myth – among the many presented in 18th-century London, the renowned actor and producer David Garrick created his own farce, complete with a trio to be sung by the three-headed dog of Hades, Cerberus, in soprano-tenor-bass harmony.

More contemplative interpreters of the Orpheus lore in the 19th century looked beyond Eurydice’s role and focused on Orpheus’ reputation as poet, priest and martyr. The Symbolists were obsessed with the subject, viewing his severed head as a Delphic oracle of truth. Like their second-century Christian predecessors, these visual artists mingled pagan myth with biblical dogma. Gustave Moreau’s somnambulistic world often featured Orpheus as a shaman in haunting stages of distress, a signature abstraction of affect, unconsciousness and mysticism that defined the movement. With his signature use of disembodied heads, Odilon Redon obsessively portrayed Orpheus’ final

outcome again and again. Auguste Rodin also sculpted the subject repeatedly, viewing the death of Eurydice as the loss of Orpheus’ artistic muse. Symbolism is saturated with examples of the Orphic plight.

This fascination continued into the 20th century in the works of Expressionists Vasily Kandinsky, Oskar Kokoschka, Franz Marc and Max Beckmann; the Nabis-artist Maurice Denis and the stylistically varied Marc Chagall, among others.

The legend has been a touchstone for updated metaphoric readings in other media, most notably Jean Cocteau’s lifelong motion picture trilogy, Le sang d’un poete (1930), Orphée (1950) and Le testament d’Orphée (1960); the play Orpheus Descending (1957) by Tennessee Williams; and the film Orfeu Negro (1959) by Marcel Camus, to cite just a few examples. During the same era, Orpheus has been musically realized in many ways – a German Schauspiel, Orpheus und Eurydike (1923) by Ernst Krenek; the chamber operas Les malheurs d’Orphée (1924) by Darius Milhaud and La favola di Orfeo (1932) by Alfredo Casella; a cantata for soprano, violin and orchestra, Der neue Orpheus (1925), by Kurt Weill; a ballet, Orpheus (1948) by Igor Stravinsky to choreography by George Balanchine; and a non-linear narrative opera in three acts, The Mask of Orpheus, composed over an eleven-year period (1973–1984) by Sir Harrison Birtwistle.

Just three years ago, Glimmerglass Opera presented an anthology of operas solely devoted to the legend.

With the tagline “Don’t look back,” productions of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, Haydn’s rarely performed L’anima del filosofo, ossia Orfeo ed Euridice (1791), Offenbach’s Orphée aux enfers, Gluck/Berlioz’ Orphée et Eurydice and Glass’ Orphée (1993) were presented in repertory during a single summer, contemporaneous evidence that the spirit of Orpheus – the definitive Renaissance ideal who is at once poet, musician, adventurer, priest and deity – continues to thrive in the modern age. ❚

christoph willibald gluck

composer Christoph Willibald Gluck at the spinet (1776) by Joseph-Siffred Duplessis Eric Lessing/Art Resource, NY

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hristoph Willibald Gluck was a radical reformist whose contributions paved the way for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Like many of his 18th-century contemporaries, little is known about his childhood. Born to a forester, Gluck made the break from country life in his early teens, escaping to Prague, and appears to have been largely self-taught as a musician. In the employ of Prince Lobkowitz, he made his way to Vienna and fell under the influence of court composers Johann Joseph Fux and Antonio Caldera. A trip to Milan cemented the Italian influence in his music, yielding his first opera Artaserse in 1741, with Demetrio (1742) and Demofoonte (1743) to follow. A journey to London in 1745 put him in touch with George Frideric Handel, later to become a hero and role model.

For six years Gluck continued to exist as a wandering musician. He married the well-connected Maria Anna Bergin, who would be his faithful companion to the end of his life. He went into the service of the Prince of Saxe-Hildburghausen and one of his compositions, Le nozze d’Ercole e d’Ebe, attracted the attention of visiting Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, Austrian ambassador

to the Saxon court. As a result, time, Gluck had a chance to revise his Gluck was commissioned to write Orfeo ed Euridice in the French style.

La Semiramide riconosciuta for When it premiered in 1774, the opera the reopening of the Burgtheater was received with great enthusiasm in 1748, an event that stabilized and the new queen awarded him a the tenuous reign of Archduchess generous pension. Gluck returned to Maria Theresa, Austria’s first and Vienna, but still kept his eye on Paris only female Hapsburg ruler. As for future opportunities. her husband Francis i was from In due course, Gluck found he had Lorraine, a French theatrical troupe a rival composer in French capital, was at residence in the imperial city, Niccolò Piccinni, and soon two and Gluck was further engaged to factions evolved into “Gluckistes” write seven opéra comiques (as the and “Piccinnistes.” Gluck quickly more expensive Italian opera seria produced Armide to defend his had been suspended due to the new style, angering both the French Seven Years War), his most famous traditionalists and supporters of the to become La rencontre imprévue modern Italian style who had chosen (1764). The composer was also Piccinni as their champion (even hired to write ballets for Viennese though he had yet to produce his first theaters, the most important being work for Paris). At the height of this Le festin de pierre, ou Don Juan. The Querelle des Bouffons (Battle of the arrival of Italian expatriate Ranieri Jesters), the Académie went as far as to de’ Calzabigi from Paris brought a commission each composer to write further influx of the French style, but an opera on the same subject. Gluck’s his most significant contribution was Iphigénie en Tauride was the first to his collaboration as Gluck’s librettist be presented in 1779, with Piccinni’s for Orfeo ed Euridice (1762), Alceste version appearing two years later.

(1767) and Paride ed Elena (1770), a Gluck unfortunately experienced trio of works heralding the “reform” a series of strokes and ceased for which these artists would soon composing major works. Feted by be known. his fellow Viennese, he retired to Gluck began to study the operas of living in a gluttonous style. Gluck’s Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe music had long become a staple of Rameau in earnest. Upon a suggestion the Hapsburg court, and in 1781, his by the French ambassador in Vienna, career was celebrated during a state he embarked on his first tragédie visit by the Russian Tsar and Tsarina lyrique for the French stage, Iphigénie (delaying the premiere of Mozart’s The en Aulide. Gluck had a powerful ally Abduction from the Seraglio, though in Paris, his former singing student, the younger composer still held him Dauphine Marie-Antoinette (the in high regard). Four of his works daughter of Maria Theresa and were mounted by the Burgtheater ill-fated future queen of France).

– Orfeo, Alceste, Iphigenie auf Tauris Preparing for the boldness of Gluck’s (the Vienna premiere in German) and new style, the leaders of the Académie La rencontre imprévue. Settling into Royale de Musique requested that he the comfort of old age and venerated prepare five new works, as they feared by composers and royalty alike, Gluck the popularity of Iphigénie would would die six years later, drinking drive all other operas from the stage. alcohol in defiance of his doctor’s orders, thereby succumbing to his Their fears were well founded – final apoplectic stroke. ❚ Iphigénie en Aulide was a tremendous success, though its run was cut short with the death of King Louis xv and the closing of all theaters for a period of mourning. During that

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b Erasbach, Upper Palatinate, July 2, 1714; d Vienna, November 15, 1787

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HATS OFF TO

KEVIN SMITH Thank you for 30 years of leadership

K

evin Smith and Minnesota Opera have become one and the same! Throughout his long tenure at the company – most of which has been as its leader – he has built it from a wobbly base to one of artistic prestige in our community as well as one of the finest opera companies in North America. His personal style of consultation and collaboration have endowed the company with a vital sense of ownership, commitment and great freedom to strive for the best throughout the staff. As a result, not only do artistic professionals across the opera world seek out opportunities to perform here, but also Twin Cities audiences have learned to expect great performances at every show – and they get it!

It has been my personal good fortune to have worked closely with Kevin over the past 6 years and most recently as board chair. His passion for the company and the medium are only exceeded by the quality of the productions that he and his team have delivered to us.

Kevin, we salute you!

Chip Emery, Board Chair

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| MINNESOTA OPERA mnopera.org

“

aving served Minnesota Opera with Kevin Smith for the past 25 years, I realize what an extraordinary journey it has been. The growth of Minnesota Opera under Kevin has been a great lesson for any nonprofit organization. I am saddened that he is leaving us yet at the same time I am humbled to have been his partner through thick and thin, feast and famine, good and bad.

It has been quite a ride.

His passion for the company and the medium are only exceeded by the quality of the productions that he and his team have delivered to us.

– Chip Emery, Board Chair

”

My fondest memories of Kevin are from our many Tuesday night tech rehearsals at the Ordway. As we begin to see the production come to life, we always look at each other and ask the question: “Do we need to refresh our résumés?” Then we both laugh. I remember the first tech rehearsal for our famous production of Carmen with Denyce Graves. We both wondered what we had done! However, on opening night history was made. Kevin has been generous and supportive of my artistic vision. I think this community and the opera world at large will indeed miss this incredible visionary.

Have a good journey my friend!

Dale Johnson, Artistic Director

16 The Stetson hat Kevin is wearing in the photo belonged to his great grandfather, Jerome Jackson Smith. Photo by Cy DeCosee.

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the artists

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

Harry Bicket conductor Liverpool, England

2008 The Fortunes of King Croesus 2002 La clemenza di Tito

Recently Idomeneo, Canadian Opera Company Iphigénie en Tauride, Theater an der Wien L’arbore di Diana, Gran Teatre del Liceu Samson, bbc Proms (London)

Upcoming Hercules, Lyric Opera of Chicago Orfeo ed Euridice, Canadian Opera Company

Yorkshire, England

Recently Madame Butterfly, Santa Fe Opera A Little Night Music, Théâtre du Châtelet The Love for Three Oranges, Royal Scottish Academy A Night at the Chinese Opera, Scottish Opera Rusalka, Wexford Festival

Upcoming Bette and Joan, London West End Sweeney Todd, Théâtre du Châtelet

David Daniels

lighting designer

Orpheus (countertenor)

Negombo, Sri Lanka

Spartanburg, South Carolina

Die Fledermaus; A Night at the Chinese Opera, Scottish Opera Silk; Footsteps of Africa; The Sound of Music; Pirates of Penzance; Jolson, London Eugene Onegin; Der Rosenkavalier; Falstaff; Madame Butterfly; Peter Grimes, English National Opera The Turn of the Screw, Macedonian National Opera A Little Night Music, Théâtre du Châtelet The Magic Flute, Antwerp

Adrian Linford set and costume designer Cambridgeshire, England

Recently Die Fledermaus; Katya Kabanova, Scottish Opera Le nozze di Figaro, Opera Theatre Co. (Dublin) The Turn of the Screw, Macedonia Opera The Vanishing Bridegroom, Royal Scottish Acad.

Il trovatore, Opéra National de Paris – Bastille Les Troyens, Metropolitan Opera (associate designer) Così fan tutte; Assassins, Grange Park Opera Nabucco, Opera West (Scotland) Il Seraglio, English Touring Opera

| MINNESOTA OPERA mnopera.org

stage director

Jenny Cane Recently

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Lee Blakeley

Susanna Phillips Eurydice (soprano) Huntsville, Alabama

2008 Elmira, The Fortunes of King Croesus

Recently Donna Anna, Don Giovanni, Fort Worth Opera Adina, L’elisir d’amore, Lyric Opera of Chicago

Upcoming Pamina, Die Zauberflöte; Musetta, La bohème, Metropolitan Opera Lucia, Lucia di Lammermoor, Opera Birmingham Helena, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Boston Lyric Opera

Recently Arsamene, Serse, Houston Grand Opera Orfeo, Orfeo ed Euridice, Atlanta Opera Bertarido, Rodelinda, San Francisco Opera Radamisto, Radamisto, Theater an der Wien

Upcoming Lichas, Hercules; Oberon, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lyric Opera of Chicago Orfeo, Orfeo ed Euridice, Metropolitan Opera Roberto, Griselda, Santa Fe Opera

Angela Mortellaro Amore (soprano) Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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 Clorinda, Cinderella; Annina, La traviata; Offstage Voice, Wuthering Heights, Minnesota Opera

Arthur Pita choreographer Johannesburg, South Africa

Recently La bohème; Showboat, Royal Albert Hall Idomeneo, Los Angeles Opera Carmen, Royal Opera House West Side Story, Municipal Fest. of Larnaca/Cyprus Street Scene, The Opera Group; God’s Garden, Linbury Theater; Mischief, Sadlers Wells; Women Beware Women, National Theatre; Utopia, Birmingham Dance Festival; Romeu e Julieta, Dancando com a Diference; Snow White in Black, Phoenix Dance

Thank you for attending Orpheus and Eurydice!

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is proud to support the Minnesota Opera

WE ARE PLEASED TO PRESENT GUEST CONDUCTOR MAESTRO HARRY BICKET IN MINNESOTA OPERA’S PRODUCTION OF ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE.

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the artists

THE SAINT PAUL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA VIOLINS

BASSES

Steven Copes concertmaster John M. and Elizabeth W. Musser Chair Ruggero Allifranchini associate concertmaster John H. and Elizabeth B. Myers Chair Position Vacant principal second violin Bruce H. Coppock Chair Thomas Kornacker co-principal second violin Daria T. Adams Sunmi Chang Nina Tso-Ning Fan Brenda Manuel Mickens Elsa Nilsson Leslie Shank Michal Sobieski Yoonshin Song

Christopher Brown principal Fred Bretschger assistant principal HRK Family Chair

VIOLAS Sabina Thatcher principal Alfred and Ingrid Lenz Harrison Chair Evelina Chao assistant principal Tamás Strasser Maiya Papach acting co-principal for the 2010–2011 season Alice Preves Viola Chair

CELLOS Ronald Thomas principal * Bill and Hella Mears Hueg Chair Joshua Koestenbaum associate principal Ruth and John Huss Chair Sarah Lewis David Huckaby

FLUTES Julia Bogorad-Kogan principal Alicia McQuerrey

OBOES Kathryn Greenbank principal Sewell Family Chair Thomas Tempel

ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS VIOLINS Daniel Chong Karen Kim Allison Ostrander

VIOLAS David Auerbach Jessica Bodner

CELLOS Kee-Hyun Kim Kirsten Whitson

CLARINETS

TROMBONES

Timothy Paradise principal Philip H. and Katherine Nason Chair

Thomas Ashworth Christopher Davis Jeffrey Merriman

BASSOONS

HARP

Charles Ullery principal Carole Mason Smith

Min Kim

HORNS Position Vacant principal Paul Straka John and Karen Larsen Chair

TRUMPETS Gary Bordner principal Lynn Erickson

TIMPANI AND PERCUSSION Michael Israelievitch principal Hulings Chair

CHAIR OF THE BOARD Dobson West

PRESIDENT AND MANAGING DIRECTOR Sarah S. Lutman

THE SAINT PAUL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA ARTISTIC STAFF Jean Parish Director of Operations Jon Kjarum Technical Manager James Kortz Orchestra Librarian Kelly MacLennan Orchestra Personnel Manager Jason Piehl Production Manager *leave of absence 2010–2011 season

| MINNESOTA OPERA mnopera.org

ENSEMBLE

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MINNESOTA OPERA CHORUS Alex Barnett Lisa Butcher Ben Crickenberger Jennifer Eckes Michelle Hayes Kathleen Humphrey Ben Johnson Richard Joseph Patricia Kent Joe LaForte Michelle Liebl Maggie Lofboom Jason McLaughlin

Riley McNutt Rodolfo Nieto Michael Nyby Eryn Tvete Tricia Van Ee Rachel Vickers Luke Wallrich

DANCERS Mary Ann Bradley* Bryan Godbout* Patrick Jeffrey Scott Mettille Tamara Ober*

Leslie O'Niell* Eddie Oroyan* Stephen Schroeder* Laura Selle Virtucio* Greg Waletski* * Zenon Dance Company

SUPERNUMERARIES John Edel Joseph Johnson Andrew Northrop Steven Pomije

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education at the opera

SUMMER OPERA CAMP Twenty four singers and six instrumentalists spent a very intensive June week learning, staging and performing scenes from Susannah, The Magic Flute, Cendrillon, Der Freischütz and Falstaff. This is the sixth annual camp which included high school students from around Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin.

Check out videos and more pictures of the camp at imagineopera.org

▲ Summer Opera Camp 2010!

coOPERAtion! on the Range ▲ Ryan Kantor in the middle of an acting game.

ADULT EDUCATION CLASS: CINDERELLA

Last April Minnesota Opera’s Teaching Artist, Angie Keeton and Assistant Conductor and Chorus Master, Clinton Smith, spent a week-long residency in the Chisholm Public Schools.

The residency brought together the schools, volunteers from the East Range Choral Society and the Mesabi Community Orchestra for a once-in-a-lifetime concert event. After a week of rehearsals and preparation, scenes from Carmen were performed for an audience of over 600 community members.

Artist residencies like this are generously supported by The Medtronic Foundation.

| MINNESOTA OPERA mnopera.org

Monday, October 18, 2010 Minnesota Opera Center 620 North First Street 7:00–9:00 p.m.

Join guest speaker Daniel Freeman as he takes you through Rossini’s setting of the immortal fairy tale Cinderella. The combination of a story well known to audience members even before their arrival in the opera house and the music of a composer who offers nothing but pleasures to his listeners has clearly stood the test of time since the opera first appeared in 1817. There may be no glass slipper and no fairy godmother in this version, but the tale of a virtuous girl oppressed by family members who succeeds in marrying the man of her dreams is as satisfying in Rossini’s hands as in anyone else’s. Amusing comic incidents and characterizations freshly introduced for his setting fully compensate for elements missing from more familiar versions.

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Call 612-333-6669 for tickets.

▲ Angie Keeton signs an autograph for a young opera fan.

▲ Angie Keeton, Jon Olson, Kyle Albertson with the East Range Choral Society.

education at the opera

PROJECT OPERA

▲ Project Opera Apprentice Zoie Reams, (second from the left) with ladies from the chorus of Roberto Devereux.

Since the inception of the program, every one of the thirty-eight Apprentices has gone on to college and received scholarship money.

Colleges that our singers are attending include Harvard, Eastman School of Music, Juilliard, Indiana University, De Paul University, Northwestern University, the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and Lawrence University among many others.

▲ Project Opera Apprentice Jack Swanson poses for a picture backstage with James Valenti after a rehearsal of La bohème.

▲ Ben Dutcher, Project Opera Apprentice, staging Musetta’s Waltz with Karin Wolverton in La bohème.

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For the last seven years, Minnesota Opera has worked closely with a select group of high school singers. Called the Apprentices, these talented young singers work on the fundamental skills required of an opera singer. Vocal technique, diction, acting and audition techniques are all covered in weekly workshops held over the course of the year.

In addition, they gain professional real-world experience by singing in the chorus of a main stage production. Last year the Apprentices appeared in Roberto Devereux and La bohème.

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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

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

Silver $2,500–$4,999 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 Sally J. Economon 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 Cynthia and Jay Ihlenfeld 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 Tanrydoon Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation 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 Jessica and Jonathan Doklovic

annual fund | individual giving

artist circle (continued) Elise Donohue 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

Margaret and Andrew Houlton Bill and Hella Mears Hueg Thomas Hunt and John Wheelihan Ekdahl Hutchinson Family Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Teresa and Chuck Jakway James Jelinek and Marilyn Wall 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 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 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 Mr. John W. Windhorst Jr.

patron circle Anonymous Gerald and Phyllis Benson Ruth E. Hanold Nancy and Donald Kapps Mahley Family Foundation Judith and James Mellinger 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

L e ar n t bou more a e f it s n the be ing of be r a dono

Minnesota Opera greatly appreciates our generous donors!

We offer the following benefits to our contributors: • Donor Appreciation Concert/ Donor Tech Rehearsal • Invitations to special events

• Complementary parking • Opera News Magazine • And much more

Please contact Dawn Loven, Director of the Annual Fund, at 612-342-9567 or dloven@mnopera.org for information on donor levels and benefits.

Thank you so much for your support – you make great opera possible!

These lists are current as of August 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.

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Gold $750–$999

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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

| MINNESOTA OPERA mnopera.org

SPOTLIGHT

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“I got dibs on Bohème.”

“No fair! You already got Roberto Devereux!!”

So the dinnertime conversation sometimes goes among the operadevoted Lakin children. Deb and Jim Lakin are the proud parents of five 20-to-30-something children and four grandchildren. Thus, divvying up season tickets to Minnesota Opera among children and spouses can sometimes require the Wisdom of Solomon or the Resources of Midas.

“It’s been wondrous to see how passionately the kids have become involved in the art form over the years,” Jim observes. “I have been fascinated, my wife would say obsessed, with this magnificent creative form since I was a kid. Thus, it’s very gratifying that the Opera has become so much a family tradition. Even our youngest’s fiancé, an ardent Arkansas Razorback fan, has become a connoisseur of bel canto.

Our Row M seats have doubled and then been supplemented with others in ‘Highest Heaven’. Of course that has led to another family debate … who gets to sit with Mom and Dad?!”

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 Wells Fargo Foundation Minnesota

Platinum $10,000–$24,999 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 Wenger Foundation

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

$25,000–$49,999

Silver $2,500–$4,999 Dellwood Foundation Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation Hutter Family Foundation The Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation Peravid Foundation The Elizabeth C. Quinlan Foundation Ted and Dr. Roberta Mann Foundation Margaret Rivers Fund Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi Tennant Foundation

$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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