Minnesota Opera's The Abduction From The Seraglio Program

The Schubert Club MAUD MOON WEYERHAEUSER SANBORN

International Artist Series

DEBORAH VOIGT SOPRANO

Photo: Joanne Savio

January 6, 2009

Also

BEN HEPPNER TENOR

April 22, 2009

For tickets call The Schubert Club Box Office 651-292-3268 $22 $30 $37 $45

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Photo courtesy of Boston Lyric Opera; Michael Fein © 2008

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Contents The Minnesota Opera Staff and Volunteers ............................................6 Notes from the Leadership ................................................................. 7 The Abduction from the Seraglio ....................................................... 10 Background Notes ........................................................................ 10 Synopsis .....................................................................................13 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart .............................................................14 Out at the Opera..............................................................................15 The Artists .....................................................................................17 The Minnesota Opera Chorus and Orchestra ......................................... 20 Education at the Opera .................................................................... 22 Tempo (the new Young Professionals Group) ....................................... 24 Vote Yes........................................................................................ 25 Why Subscribers Have More Fun ....................................................... 26 The Minnesota Opera Annual Fund ..................................................... 28

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EO Employer

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

Kevin Smith Dale Johnson Jane M. Confer

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

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

November 2008

SPC Ballet K (A)

The Minnesota Opera Program

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

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

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is published by

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THE MINNESOTA OPERA

Staff

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

U.S. Bank is honored to sponsor the 2008– 2009 season. We are proud of our 25-year relationship with The Minnesota Opera and the spectacular Ordway Center in St. Paul.

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

Thank you for coming and enjoy the performance!

Michael Boardman, Central Region President, U. S. Bank Wealth Management

Jose Peris, Senior Vice President, U.S. Bank Wealth Management, Minnesota Opera Board Member

Artistic

Scenery

Artistic Administrator ..........Roxanne Stou∂er Cruz Artist Relations and Planning Director ....................... Floyd Anderson Dramaturg ......................................... David Sander Artistic Associate ...................................Bill Murray Associate Conductor-in-Residence ... Andrew Altenbach Chorus Preparation ........................... Clinton Smith Resident Artists....................................Brad Benoit, John David Boehr, Bryan Boyce, Octavio Cardenas, Jamison Livsey, Nicole Percifield, Naomi Ruiz, Clinton Smith Master Coach ............................ Mary Jo Gothmann

Technical Director ........................ Mike McQuiston Properties Master.................. Stanley D. Hawthorne Properties Assistant ................................Mike Long Lighting Coordinator....................Charles D. Craun Production Carpenter ................................ JC Amel Scene Shop Foreman .................................Rod Aird Master Carpenter .................................Steven Rovie Carpenter .............................................. Eric Veldey Projection Operator ..............................Marty Reitz

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

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

Institutional Advancement

Production

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

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

Director of the Annual Fund................ Dawn Loven Institutional Gifts Manager ..............Beth Comeaux Donor Events and Gala Manager ................................Emily Skoblik Individual Gifts Manager..................Morgan Walsh

Development

Costumes

Marketing/Communications

Costume Shop Manager ................... Erica M. Burds Assistant Costume Shop Manager .............Beth Sanders Wardrobe Supervisor ................... Emily Rosenmeier Drapers ................................................... Chris Bur, Yancey Thrift, Angela Yarbrough Dyer/Painter ..................................... Marliss Jenson Assistant Dyer/Painter.................. Kathleen Sullivan Costume Technicians: First Hands .................................Helen Ammann, Jennifer Dawson, Lindsey Strange Stitchers........................................Rebecca Ballas, Maria May, Rose Ryan Wig/Makeup Assistants .....Andrea Moriarity-Dahlberg

Marketing and Communications Director .... Lani Willis Marketing Manager ........................ Marsha Walker Communications Manager .........Griffin Woodworth Audience Development Associate ....... Jamie Nieman Ticket Office Manager ................ Katherine Castille Assistant Ticket Office Manager ............... Julie Behr Ticket Office Assistants...................... Kevin Beckey, Alexandrea Kouame, Jane Samsal

THE MINNESOTA OPERA

Volunteers

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

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Critical thinkers. Talented artists and athletes. Responsible citizens.

Come see why every Breck student succeeds, grows and cares.

Admissions Coffee Monday, November 10, 7:00 PM 763-381-8200 www.breckschool.org

Catherine Ahern Ann Albertson Gerald Benson Jim Brownback Jerry Cassidy Susan Cogger Caroline Coopersmith Jeanette Daun Judith Duncan Sally Economon Christopher Foster Hazel Francois Li-Jun Fu Jane Fuller Joan Gacki Christine A. Garner Mary E. Hagen

Merle J. Hanson Anne Hesselroth Heather Huber Stephen Jahn Nancy Johnson Steve Johnson Jeannie Johnston Kristen Johnston Robin Keck Dawn Klassen Eleanore Kolar Lucinda Lamont Shirley Larson Mathilda Lien Jerry Lillquist Joyce Lillquist Margery Martin

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

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

NOTES FROM THE FROM THE

Leadership

BOARD OF

Directors

Artistic Director Welcome to The Abduction from the Seraglio.

The James Robinson production you are about to see was called “a winner” by The Washington Post. It sets the action of Mozart’s comedy on the Orient Express, in a delightful re-imagining of a classic that I’m sure you’ll enjoy.

The Minnesota Opera, along with several other companies, co-produced this staging with Houston Grand Opera, which gave its premiere in 2002. We are thrilled to bring it to the Ordway stage for you this week.

The creative team took an opera composed in a period of history when

Europeans were fascinated by the exoticism of Turkey, and set it in another period of heightened interest in the Middle East – the 1920s.

By placing the action in the close quarters of moving train cars, this production creates an environment that magnifies the action and comedic situations of the plot. It also has an Art Deco glamour and slapstick humor reminiscent of silent movies of that period, which perfectly suits the youthful exuberance of Mozart’s sparkling score.

I hope you enjoy the show!

Officers Jane Confer, Chair Chip Emery, Vice Chair Debra Paterson, Secretary Denver Gilliand, Treasurer Kevin Smith, President & CEO

Directors Martha Goldberg Aronson Philip Isaacson Wendy Bennett Lynne E. Looney Charles Berg Diana E. Murphy Shari Boehnen Luis Pagan-Carlo Susan S. Boren Jose Peris Kathleen Callahan Jodi Peterson Nicky B. Carpenter Mary Ingebrand-Pohlad

Dale Johnson Artistic Director

Rachelle D. Chase Stephanie J. Prem Mary A. Dearing Elizabeth Redleaf Sara Donaldson Connie Remele Thomas J. Foley Stephanie Simon Steve Fox

President Welcome to today’s performance.

In the spirit of this month of Thanksgiving, I want to take a moment to thank you, our audience.

Many of you may be new to the Opera, and on behalf of the entire company, welcome! Whether this is your first time at the Opera or your hundredth, we are happy you’re here.

A recent audience research survey showed us that our audience is very happy with what it sees on our stage. Our subscribers are a very loyal audience indeed – more than

Peter Sipkins

93% of subscribers who have seen two or more seasons renew year after year. Thank you for your ongoing commitment to this art form we love.

Sharon Hawkins Simon Stevens

Thank you also to our many very generous donors. With ticket revenue just covering 48% of the costs of producing opera, we rely on charitable donations to help bring great opera to life on stage. So, please remember The Minnesota Opera in your holiday season charitable giving – your gift helps make great opera possible.

Emeriti

Honorary Directors

Thank you, and enjoy the performance.

Dominick Argento

Ruth S. Huss

Virginia Stringer

Heinz F. Hutter H. Bernt von Ohlen

Karen Bachman Burton Cohen Julia W. Dayton Thomas R. McBurney Mary W. Vaughan

Philip Brunelle Elizabeth Close Dolly Fiterman Charles C. Fullmer

Kevin Smith President and CEO

Norton M. Hintz Liz Kochiras Patricia H. Sheppard

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

James A. Rubenstein, Moss & Barnett

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FROM THE

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APPEARING ON

ORDWAY STAGES

November 11, 2008 The Schubert Club VADIM REPIN, violin; NIKOLAI LUGANSKY, piano November 12, 2008, 8pm planet Ordway® Target® World Music Series PONCHO SANCHEZ LATIN JAZZ BAND November 14-15, 2008 The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra LANDSCAPES OF THE AMERICAS November 28 - December 21, 2008 McKnight Theatre Theater Latté Da A CHRISTMAS CAROLE PETERSEN December 2, 2008 – January 3, 2009 Ordway Center Theater Season IRVING BERLIN’S WHITE CHRISTMAS

the season’s alive

January 6, 2009 The Schubert Club DEBORAH VOIGT, soprano January 8 - 10, 2009 The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra THE SPCO AND THE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA OF EUROPE January 9, 2009 The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra MOZART’S GRAN PARTITA January 10, 2009 The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra MOZART’S WHIMSICAL WINDS January 11, 2009, 7pm planet Ordway Target World Dance Series BALLET HISPANICO January 16, 2009 The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra BEETHOVEN’S EMPEROR CONCERTO January 16 - 17, 2009 The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra THE SPCO AND THE LONDON SINFONIETTA

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January 24 - February 1, 2009 The Minnesota Opera GOUNOD’S FAUST

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February 6, 2009, 7:30pm planet Ordway Target World Dance Series LULA WASHINGTON DANCE THEATRE February 7, 2009, 8pm planet Ordway Target World Music Series VUSI MAHLASELA

MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO

There’s a warmth in the heart, a sense of joy in the season. And classical music fills your spirit with wonder. It’s more than magic. It’s alive.

STREAM ONLINE AT MPR.ORG

ordway.org

ON STAGE

January 16 – February 8

DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE

By Jeffrey Hatcher Directed by David Mann

Renowned playwright Jeffrey Hatcher shatters the conventions of good vs. evil in a dark and sexy world where good men lack conviction and monsters yearn to love.

parksquaretheatre.org to make reservations

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Call 651.291.7005 or visit

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Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Libretto by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner (Belmont und Constanze) adapted and enlarged

by Johann Gottlieb Stephanie World premiere at the Burgtheater, Vienna July 16, 1782 November 1, 4, 6, 8 and 9, 2008 Ordway Center for the Performing Arts Sung in German with English translations Conductor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrew Altenbach Stage Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elise Sandell Set Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Allen Moyer Costume Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anna R. Oliver Lighting Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paul Palazzo Projections Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wendall K. Harrington Wig and Makeup Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jodi Stone Assistant Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Octavio Cardenas Production Stage Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Angie Spencer German Diction Coach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barbara Kierig

The Cast Konstanze, a Spanish lady. . . . . . . . . . . Jennifer Casey Cabot Belmonte, betrothed to Konstanze . . . . . . . . .Michael Colvin Osmin, an overseer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harold Wilson Pedrillo, Belmonte’s servant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeffrey Halili Blonde, Konstanze’s maid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Kathleen Kim Pasha Selim. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ben Johnson Townspeople, guards, train station employees Setting: the Orient Express in the 1920s The Abduction from the Seraglio is a coproduction of The Minnesota Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Colorado, Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Opera Pacific, originally directed by James Robinson

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The appearance of Jeffrey Halili, regional finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, is 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 The Abduction from the Seraglio are being taped for delayed broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio, ksjn 99.5 in the Twin Cities.

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

The appearances of the 2008–2009 season conductors are underwritten by SpencerStuart.

Opera Insights is sponsored by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.

BACKGROUND

Notes

by David Sander

O

n March 16, 1781, Mozart arrived in Vienna, his home base for the next ten years. It was not his first visit – years before, he had traveled to the Austrian capital as a wunderkind, dazzling its Hapsburg rulers with his amazing piano technique. Yet the royal family was skeptical of his abilities as a composer.

Empress Maria Theresa had privately communicated her doubts over Mozart’s ability as a potential kapellmeister to her son Archduke Ferdinand, then governor of Lombardy. One suspects she had the same conversation with her other son, Leopold, one-time Grand Duke of Tuscany, whom the young Wolfgang had once petitioned – unsuccessfully – for a job. Indeed, some members of the Austrian power structure were so biased against Germanic composers that Leopold’s wife, Maria Luisa, would later dismiss Mozart’s opera La clemenza di Tito as porcheria tedesca – German trash. The Hapsburgs, crucial to the development of 18th-century opera seria, had their hands deep within the peninsula and preferred their composers to be Italian.

But by the time of Mozart’s arrival, Maria Theresa was dead, leaving her first son Joseph in charge. The new emperor was interested in music and took a personal role in running the court theaters. The now-adult Wolfgang Amadeus thought he could easily expect a position in the Viennese musical scene, especially after his extremely successful premiere of Idomeneo earlier that year in Munich.

There was one problem: the composer was still in the service of Salzburg’s prince archbishop, Count Hieronymus Colloredo, and his whole reason for being in Vienna was to serve his master, who had temporarily transplanted the Salzburg court. After a lengthy excused absence (with pay) to produce Idomeneo, Mozart was expected to resume his duties in the Colloredo household, in a position slightly higher than the cooks, but below the valets. The archbishop relished trotting out his talented virtuoso to enhance his own reputation, but the composer burned at the indignity of having to wait in the antechamber until summoned to perform, a common practice of the day.

BACKGROUND

news from Vienna – he was, after all, still in charge of Wolfgang’s finances, issuing him an “allowance” as the need arose – and feared penury for both of them (or so he would say). Fueled by slanderous (and often incorrect) letters from his friends in Vienna, Papa Mozart fired off a series of deprecating missives, assailing his son’s character. With newly found maturity, the younger Mozart defended his actions, and in spite of his joblessness, still managed to send home a little money, though he made it clear this would not continue indefinitely. Responding to “the voice of nature” as much as genuine affection, he was about to take a wife. Constanze Weber was not his father’s first choice, as the Weber sisters had a somewhat tattered reputation and were accompanied by a conniving and disagreeable mother, Caecilia Weber (who, for example, demanded that Mozart sign a sort of pre-nuptial agreement with cash penalties should he back out of the marriage).

As Mozart had craved from the day he left Munich, the filial bonds between controlling parent and obedient son were finally broken when he married Constanze without his father’s consent (which arrived begrudgingly one day after the ceremony).

But where would the young composer find work?

Emperor Joseph’s permanent music staff was full circa 1781 (including the well-known composers Antonio Salieri and Christoph Willibald Gluck) with death or resignation the only ways that a job could open up (which didn’t occur until 1788). Still, it wasn’t as though Mozart ➤

| THE ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO

When not in Colloerdo’s service, Mozart made every attempt to attract the emperor’s ear, which was not an easy task. The twice-widowed Joseph rarely held social functions, and musical life in Vienna tended to play out in private homes, often with the emperor in attendance.

So Mozart hit the salon circuit in hopes of making a connection, which often conflicted with his paid duties (his contract forbade public performances). As Colloredo prepared to return to Salzburg, Mozart scrambled to find any excuse to extend his stay in Vienna (again, with pay), but one of the archbishop’s servants set a trap. A footman argued that instead of using the same old excuse (i.e. collecting outstanding lesson fees), Mozart could simply say that he was unable to secure a coach seat, at that time in high demand. When the lie was exposed, a highly irregular shouting match between the brash young man and his royal benefactor ensued. Mozart submitted his resignation, but the prince’s secretary, Count Arco, made every attempt to smooth over the situation out of loyalty to Mozart’s father, Leopold (who had himself served the Salzburg court for years, holding a variety of jobs). Nonetheless, Arco’s own rage exploded when he discovered a letter to the archbishop detailing Arco’s efforts on Mozart’s behalf, which were not entirely in line with courtly protocol. This led to Mozart’s now-notorious expulsion, punctuated by a parting kick-in-the-rear.

Back in Salzburg, Wolfgang’s domineering father could not have been pleased as he received this distressing

Notes

11 Photo courtesy of Boston Lyric Opera; Michael Fein © 2008

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BACKGROUND

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Notes

wife. As the premiere approached, however, the program had gone completely unnoticed. For several years, the began to change, to Mozart’s distress. Gluck’s health had emperor had been running a German opera company, both been waning, and it was decided to recognize his lifetime to generate national pride and to defray the expense of achievements by remounting three of his most popular Italian singers. This had been tried before, but without works. Mozart was instead engaged, as in the past, as a lasting success (as seen in the ill-fortune of Reinhard mere performer, providing sideshow entertainment for Keiser’s Hamburg Opera House circa King Croesus in the the assembled royalty. (In one notable incident, Mozart early 18th century). Italian opera seria simply had become was compelled to compete on the keyboard with Muzio too popular in Germany, and composers who wrote in the Italian style found plentiful work in the numerous German Clementi before the emperor and the Russian crown princess Maria Fedorovna.) The Abduction from the Seraglio principalities. Though German singspiel would develop (Die Entführung aus into a legitimate art form dem Serail), as the by the end of the century, opera was now titled its loose early principals to distance it from its often led to absurd predecessor (Bretzner and dramatically weak having accused Mozart plots, sometimes merely of plagiarism), was commedia dell’arte skits now programmed with musical interludes. later in the season. On Between the demise of the positive side, the the Hamburg Opera extra time gave the (1738) and the end of the composer a leisurely Seven Years War (1763), pace to craft his opera, opera sung in German and he and Stephanie produced only sporadic, made considerable unorganized experiments. changes to the libretto.

Unlike France and Bretzner’s four acts Italy, Germany lacked were reduced to three, a conservatory system Seraglio, Constantinople Pedrillo’s voice was that could yield a Narcisse-Virgile Diaz de la Peña switched to a tenor cohesive style for Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Gift of Mrs. Egil Boeckmann while Osmin became a both composition and performance. Thankfully, the quality of German literature bass, women were added to the chorus and the denouement was adjusted to emphasize Selim’s act of Christian mercy in the plays of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and the works by enhancing his Spanish-Catholic background (in the of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (also an opera librettist) original, the pasha countermands his execution order when gave rise to melodrama in the native language. Though he learns Belmonte is his own long-lost son). ruled by the spoken word, the hybrid genre of melodrama In the construction of Abduction, Mozart took full was nonetheless just a heartbeat away from true singspiel. advantage of the loose formal requirements of singspiel, Even after the National Theater was established in which was, in its day, more akin to a Broadway musical 1778, 33 out of the 48 operas performed during its short than a strict opera seria. Hoping to show off his abilities as five-year history were simply Italian and French works in a composer of the more distinguished art form, he employs German translation [although the august Salieri would a graver style for the story’s somber moments. Konstanze’s be called upon to contribute to the repertoire, producing lengthy aria “Traurigkeit ward mir zum Lose” is preceded the “Lustspiel” Der Rauchfangkehrer (The Chimney Sweep) by accompanied recitative, as is the duet Konstanze in 1781]. Johann Gottlieb Stephanie ran the theater, and and Belmonte sing when they face death together it may have been his past association with Mozart that (“Meinetwegen sollst du sterben!”) and Belmonte’s love paved the way for a commission. As was the custom, the song “O wie ängstlich.” Similarly, two others (Belmonte’s impresario appropriated an extant libretto, Belmont und devotional number “Ich baue ganz auf deine Stärke” and Konstanze, that had been written by Christoph Friedrich Konstanze’s testament to constancy “Martern aller Arten”) Bretzner and previously set to music by Johann André. are preceded by extensive introductory orchestral ritornelli, (This was not uncommon – Bretzner’s libretto would be almost taking the form of a concert aria. Mozart was clearly set again for a Stuttgart premiere with music by Christian trying to prove that German opera could be taken seriously.

Ludwig Dieter in 1784, among other adaptations.)

“Oriental” themes flourished throughout the 18th Mozart’s new opera was intended to be part of the celebrations surrounding a state visit by Russian crown century in Vienna, where its residents enjoyed their prince Paul Petrovich (son of Catherine the Great) and his croissant (literally “crescent,” a symbol of the Ottoman ➤ BACKGROUND NOTES CONTINUED ON PAGE 15

Synopsis act i

act ii

act iii

Konstanze, Blonde (her English maid) and Pedrillo, the valet of her fiancé Belmonte, have been taken captive by pirates and sold to Pasha Selim. After searching for months, Belmonte has learned they are being held captive inside the pasha’s private cars aboard the Orient Express, which is ready to depart for Paris. Belmonte finds Osmin, the overseer of the pasha’s seraglio, and inquires after Pedrillo.

Osmin becomes enraged, as Pedrillo is a rival for Blonde’s affections, and enjoys special treatment from the pasha. When Pedrillo approaches and tries to make peace, Osmin can barely disguise his contempt.

Though Selim has selected Konstanze as his favorite of the harem, Belmonte is reassured to learn that she is alive and still loves him. As they plan their escape, Pedrillo suggests that Belmonte pose as an architect (one of the pasha’s favorite interests) but urges caution as Selim’s watchdog, Osmin, is ever on the alert.

As the crowd at the train station cheers their ruler, Pasha Selim enters with Konstanze. Rather than force her love, he hopes she will come to him of her own free will, but Konstanze refuses to forget Belmonte. Selim finds her steadfast loyalty all the more alluring.

After Konstanze leaves, Pedrillo presents Belmonte as an architect, and Selim agrees to accept his services, though Osmin distrusts the foreigner.

Later that evening, Blonde scolds Osmin for his rude behavior as she contrasts the treatment of Turkish and European girls. Her independent streak both frustrates and attracts Osmin, but he is well aware of her already close relationship with Pedrillo. Osmin and Blonde spar until he angrily hurries out.

Konstanze is overcome by sadness.

Selim enters to woo her one more time, but with no luck. Though Konstanze has come to appreciate his finer qualities, she remains true to Belmonte even under the threat of torture.

To facilitate their escape, Pedrillo plans to drug Osmin that evening.

Though Osmin’s religion forbids liquor (and he naturally distrusts his rival), Pedrillo nonetheless convinces him to drink the (tainted) wine. The ruse works, and Osmin becomes incapacitated. Belmonte is joyfully reunited with Konstanze, and though both he and Pedrillo momentarily suspect their lovers may have been untrue, they are soon reassured of the women’s devotion.

All parties nervously prepare for their getaway. Pedrillo signals them with a song, but by the time Blonde and Konstanze belatedly arrive, Osmin has awakened. He sounds the alarm, and both couples are taken into custody. Osmin informs Selim of their treachery and delights in the prospect of punishing his adversaries, even when bribed by Belmonte for their release.

Afraid of what might happen, Belmonte and Konstanze agree to die together, should that be the pasha’s sentence. Likewise, Pedrillo and Blonde are afraid of Osmin’s wrath. The four are brought before Selim who discovers Belmonte’s true identity. To their surprise, Selim reveals that he was once the enemy of Belmonte’s father, who banished the pasha from Spain.

Yet rather than take revenge on his enemy by punishing Belmonte and company, Pasha Selim shows mercy, having realized that love cannot be coerced and frees them all, to Osmin’s outrage.

– intermission –

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– intermission –

13 Photo courtesy of Boston Lyric Opera; Michael Fein © 2008

WOLFGANG AMADEUS

Mozart

b Salzburg, January 27, 1756; d Vienna, December 5, 1791

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C

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Things came to a head in hild wonder, virtuoso performer 1781 immediately following the and prolific creative artist, successful premiere of Mozart’s Mozart is the first composer first mature work, Idomeneo. After whose operas have never been out several heated discussions, the of repertory. His prodigious talents composer was relieved of his Salzburg were apparent very early in his life; by the age of four he could reproduce duties. In Vienna, completely on his own for the first time, Mozart on the keyboard a melody played to embarked on several happy years. him, at five he could play the violin with perfect intonation, and at six he He married Constanze Weber, sister to his childhood sweetheart composed his first minuet.

Aloysia, and premiered a new A musician himself, Wolfgang’s father, Leopold, immediately saw the work, Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio), at potential of his son’s talents. With the Burgtheater. Mozart also gave the mixed motives of religious piety concerts around Vienna, presenting and making a tidy profit, Leopold a number of new piano concertos and embarked on a series of concert tours symphonies. His chief concern was showing off the child’s extraordinary to procure a position at the imperial talents. Often playing with his sister court. A small commission came his Maria Anna (“Nannerl”), herself way from the emperor for a one-act an accomplished musician, young comedy, Der Schauspieldirektor (The Wolfgang charmed the royal courts Impresario), given the same evening of Europe, from those of Austrian as Antonio Salieri’s Prima la musica Empress Maria Theresa, French king Louis xv and English king George iii, to the lesser principalities of Germany and Italy.

As Mozart grew older, his concert tours turned into a search for permanent employment, but this proved exceedingly difficult for a German musician in a market dominated by Italian composers. Although many of his early operas were commissioned by Milanese and Munich Johann Nepomuk della Croce nobles (Mitridate, Ascanio The Mozart family at the piano (1780–1781) Mozart House, Salzburg (Austria) in Alba, Lucio Silla, La Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY finta giardiniera), he e poi le parole (First the music, then the could not rise beyond Konzertmeister words), to celebrate the visit of the of the Salzburg archbishopric. emperor’s sister, Marie Christine, When the new prince archbishop, and her husband, joint rulers of the Count Hieronymus Colloredo, was Austrian Netherlands. appointed in 1771, Mozart also The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart’s found he was released for guest first true masterpiece for the Imperial engagements with less frequency. court, premiered at the Burgtheater Though his position improved and in 1786 and went on to Prague the a generous salary was offered, the following year where it was a huge composer felt the Salzburg musical success. Don Giovanni premiered in scene was stifling for a man of his Prague in 1787 to great acclaim, enormous talent and creativity.

but its Vienna premiere in 1788 was coolly received. By this time, Mozart had received a minor imperial posting, Kammermusicus, which required him to write dances for state functions. The position was hardly worthy of his skills and generated only a modest income, a weighty concern now that debts had begun to mount. Joseph ii commissioned another opera from Mozart, Così fan tutte, which premiered January 26, 1790. The emperor was too ill to attend the opening and died the following month. His brother, Leopold ii, assumed leadership, and Mozart hoped to be appointed Kapellmeister – instead he merely received a continuance of his previous position.

Crisis hit in 1791. Constanze’s medical treatments at Baden and the birth of a second child pushed their finances to a critical point.

Mozart’s friend and fellow Freemason, the impresario Emanuel Schikaneder, suggested he try his luck with the suburban audiences at his Theater auf der Wieden. Composition of The Magic Flute began early that summer but had to be halted when two generous commissions came his way: a requiem for an anonymous patron (who hoped to pass it off as his own composition), and an opera seria to celebrate the new emperor’s coronation as King of Bohemia. La clemenza di Tito premiered September 6, and The Magic Flute was completed in time to open September 30. The Requiem, however, remained incomplete, and as Mozart’s health began to fail, the composer feared he was writing his own death mass. In December Mozart died at the age of 35 and was given a simple funeral by his impoverished widow, then buried in an unmarked grave on the outskirts of Vienna.

BACKGROUND

Notes

Empire) with their Turkish coffee.

Several themes typify exotic opera of this era: the comic and the grotesque (embodied by the foreign characters), religious differences, liberty (the lack thereof) and sexual license. The seductive mystery of the harem, coupled with a violent military history that went back to the Crusades, led Europeans to believe the “infidels” were more amorous, indulgent and impulsive than themselves. Imagined exoticism drew a veil between the two cultures – setting our current production on the Orient Express, a “theater on wheels” running from Istanbul to Paris, provides an apt parallel to another era when European fascination with the “exotic” Orient ran high.

Mozart’s opera joined a myriad of Oriental-themed works, which had become even more popular with Viennese audiences as they approached the centenary of the famous siege in 1683 when the Turks bombarded the city gates.

Exotic settings and characters can be found throughout Europe as early as 1686 in Johann Wolfgang Franck’s Cara Mustapha (to a text by Croesus-librettist Lukas von Bostel) with Mahumeth (1696) by Keiser, Bajazet (1735) by Antonio Vivaldi, Tamerlano by George Frideric Handel and Solimano (1753) by Hasse to follow. Later in Vienna Gluck’s La rencontre imprévue (1763), Grétry’s Zémire et Azor (1771) and Giovanni Paisiello’s L’arabo cortese (1769) and La Dardané (1772) revisited the “Oriental” theme. Mozart’s first attempt at exotic singspiel, Zaide (Das Serail), followed this trend, and is the work he had brought to Vienna to show to Stephanie. Though Zaide was not produced, it shows Mozart’s interest in “Oriental” subjects. For instance, the figure of the “noble Turk” that Mozart used, instead of a stereotypical barbarian, was at that time becoming a familiar archetype in operas, a development linked to the Ottoman empire’s diminishing power. Mozart’s Abduction was

fashioned to the apex of public taste, complete with (European-born) Pasha Selim’s clement act of forgiveness, juxtaposed with Osmin’s comically unwavering lack of couth: the perfect expression of Emperor Joseph’s enlightened government.

Like some (but not all) composers of the day, Mozart was careful to include some türkische Musik as well.

Though the Eurocentric melodies are hardly authentic, Mozart used a number of techniques to evoke the exoticism of the “Oriental” setting: from the simple tunes of alternating thirds in Osmin’s ragefilled music, to Moorish tendencies in Pedrillo’s pizzicato troubadour romance “In Mohrenland,” to the quick pace, simple harmony and repeating accompaniment in the duet “Vivat Bacchus.” Most prominent is the Janissary percussion (cymbals, triangle and bass drum often accented by the piccolo) employed in the overture, Act i chorus and Act iii finale. Other aspects of the “Turkish” style include the use of grace notes, rapid contrasts between major and minor keys, distinctive chromatic intervals, duple meters and a lively tempo. These “exotic” elements remained an important part of Mozart’s style: in “Mozart in Turkey” (Cambridge Opera Journal, 12, 3, 219–235), Benjamin Perl identifies Turkish idioms in Lucio Silla (1773), the finale of the fifth violin concerto (1779), the alla turca movement in the piano sonata in a major (1783), Monostatos’ aria “Alles fühlt der Liebe Freuden” from Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute; 1791) and even makes a case for Don Giovanni’s aria “Fin ch’han dal vino” (1787), the Don’s licentiousness compared to that of a harem-keeping middleeastern with his underling, Leporello, guardian of its contents (symbolized by the catalogo of conquests).

Abduction’s libretto was developed out of many Orient-themed literary sources, from love and rescue motifs found in Boccaccio’s Il Decamerone to Jean-François Marmontel’s Contes ➤ BACKGROUND NOTES CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

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BACKGROUND NOTES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

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BACKGROUND

Notes

BACKGROUND NOTES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

| THE MINNESOTA OPERA www.mnopera.org

moraux (1761), Isaac Bickerstaff’s The Sultan, or A Peep into the Seraglio (1775) and Charles Dibdin’s The Captive (1769).

Marmontel’s tale focuses on Soliman ii, the mystery of the seraglio and its ruler’s eventual preference for the nez à la Roxelane, which belongs to an uppity young harem girl who eventually becomes sultana as she brings forth and softens his emotionalism. The details were adapted

by Frenchman Charles-Simon Favart into an opéra comique libretto in 1761 and into the opera Soliman den andra, eller De tre sultaninnorna (1789) by Joseph Martin Kraus.

Mozart’s student, Franz Xaver Süssmayr would come to write an opera on this subject in 1799. Bickerstaff’s play and subsequent opera features a tyrannical eunuch by the name of Osmyn and a blonde, British slave girl; and The Captive features a rescue motif (and was also set to music in the 1777 opera La schiava liberata). Another more recent discovery is the possible connection to an obscure French play Les époux esclaves ou Bastien et Bastienne à Alger (1755) that includes shipwrecked Spanish lovers, a plot to escape, a Muslim ruler and servant, and a magnanimous ending.

In spite of a convoluted literary heritage, an overwhelming number of arias and an overabundance of notes (at least, according to the motion picture Amadeus), The Abduction from the Seraglio was an instant

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success with the public, if not the emperor – it became the most frequently performed of Mozart’s operas during his lifetime, touring Germany and the rest of Europe to great acclaim. The fate of the National Theater was not so rosy, however, as intrigue festered inside the court.

With only three other lasting works to its credit (Ignaz Umlauf’s Die Bergknappen and Die pücefarbenen Schuhe and later Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf’s Der Apotheker und der Doktor), singspiel fell out of favor. The Italians were soon reinstated, thanks in part to the machinations of the nobility. Untested in the realm of opera buffa, Mozart now found himself in a precarious position, and his next commission for a full-length opera at the Burgtheater did not come for another four years. Yet Abduction would not be the composer’s last German opera – he went on to write the one-act Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario; again to text by Stephanie) in 1786 for a command performance (and another contest, this time with Salieri) at Schönbrunn Palace, and Die Zauberflöte for Emanuel Schikaneder’s suburban Theater auf der Wieden in the last year of the composer’s life. It is interesting to contemplate what Mozart might have contributed to the development of German grand opera, had he lived into the early decades of the 19th century. ❚

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

Konstanze Minnesota Opera Debut Recently La traviata, Central City Opera Le nozze di Figaro, Metropolitan Opera The Abduction from the Seraglio, Florida Grand Opera Le nozze di Figaro; The Abduction from the Seraglio; Così fan tutte, Boston Lyric Opera Don Giovanni; La traviata; La bohème, New York City Opera Don Giovanni, Washington National Opera Upcoming Peter Grimes, San Diego Opera

Jeffrey Halili Pedrillo Minnesota Opera Debut Recently Falstaff, New York City Opera La fanciulla del West, Florida Grand Opera; St. Bart’s Music Festival La traviata; Agrippina, Virginia Opera Rigoletto, Dubuque Symphony Upcoming The Abduction from the Seraglio, Hawaii Opera Theatre The Magic Flute, New York City Opera Madame Butterfly, Florida Grand Opera

Kathleen Kim Blonde Minnesota Opera Debut Recently Un ballo in maschera; Le nozze di Figaro, Metropolitan Opera The Magic Flute, Xalapa Symphony (Mexico) Die Fledermaus; Iphigénie en Tauride; Carmen; Der Rosenkavalier; Rigoletto, Lyric Opera of Chicago Nixon in China, Chicago Opera Theater The Magic Flute, Lyric Opera Center for American Artists Upcoming The Magic Flute; Rusalka, Metropolitan Opera La fille du régiment, Bilbao Opera (Spain)

Artists

Michael Colvin Belmonte Minnesota Opera Debut Recently Lucia di Lammermoor, English National Opera Don Giovanni; The Abduction from the Seraglio, Chicago Opera Theater La Cenerentola, Portland Opera La donna del lago, Garsington Opera Festival Così fan tutte; Rodelinda, Canadian Opera Company Upcoming Peter Grimes, English National Opera Idomeneo, Canadian Opera Company

Ben Johnson Selim Minnesota Opera Debut Otello, 1999 Recently Les Miserables; Joseph…Dreamcoat, Chanhassen Theatres Roméo et Juliette; The Grapes of Wrath; Orazi e Curiazi; Passion (roles); Rusalka; Croesus; Lakmé; La donna del lago; The Tales of Hoffmann; Don Giovanni; Tosca; The Elephant Man; Nixon in China; Maria Padilla (ensemble), The Minnesota Opera Messiah, Salem Covenant West Side Story; Into the Woods, Bay View Festival

Harold Wilson Osmin Minnesota Opera Debut Recently The Magic Flute, Bad Lauchstadt Eugene Onegin; Ariodante; Norma, Operntheater Halle Der Freischütz; Roméo et Juliette; Germania; Le nozze di Figaro; Il trittico; Pelléas et Mélisande, Deutsche Oper Berlin Lucia di Lammermoor, Lyric Opera of Kansas City Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Theater Basil Upcoming Salome, Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse La traviata; Don Giovanni, Santa Fe Opera

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Jennifer Casey Cabot

THE

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THE

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

Artists Andrew Altenbach

Conductor Minnesota Opera Debut Roméo et Juliette, 2008 Recently Radamisto; Falstaff; Billy Budd, Santa Fe Opera Così fan tutte; La tragédie de Carmen, Opera on the James Musical Offering, The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra guest conductor – Bloomington Symphony assistant conductor – San Francisco Opera (Merola) Upcoming The Barber of Seville, The Minnesota Opera guest conductor – St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra

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

Anna R. Oliver

| THE MINNESOTA OPERA www.mnopera.org

Costume Designer Minnesota Opera Debut Turandot, 1995 Recently Hansel and Gretel, L.A. Opera; New York City Opera Norma, San Francisco Opera; Canadian Opera Company Il viaggio a Reims, Canadian Opera Co.; N.Y. City Opera Orphée et Eurydice; Norma, Opera Colorado Rigoletto; The Postman Always Rings Twice, Boston Lyric Opera Upcoming The Devil’s Disciple, Aurora Theatre Co. The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Berkeley Repertory Theatre

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Octavio Cardenas Assistant Director Minnesota Opera Resident Artist Recently Il trovatore (AD), The Minnesota Opera Così fan tutte; La traviata (AD), Chautauqua Opera Die Fledermaus (AD), Austin Lyric Opera Plump Jack; The Impresario; The Turn of the Screw; La chute de la maison Uscher, Butler Opera Center L’elisir d’amore, Guadalajara Opera Beyond Therapy, Little Theater (Los Angeles); Odd Couple, UCLA Upcoming Faust (AD), The Minnesota Opera

Allen Moyer Set Designer Minnesota Opera Debut Norma, 1991 Recently Romeo and Juliet: On Motifs of Shakespeare, Mark Morris Il trovatore; Un ballo in maschera; Nixon in China, Minn. Opera Orfeo ed Euridice, Met. Opera; Daphne; Così, Santa Fe Op. Thurgood; Grey Gardens (Henry Hewes Award), Broadway Upcoming The Count of Monte Cristo, Theater St. Gallen The Ghosts of Versailles, Opera Theatre of St. Louis Il trittico, San Francisco Opera

Paul Palazzo Lighting Designer Minnesota Opera Debut Tosca, 1991 Recently Der Rosenkavalier, Seattle Opera La fanciulla del West, Utah Symphony & Opera Nabucco, Dallas Opera La bohème; L’elisir d’amore, Opera Colorado Don Pasquale, Houston Grand Opera Eugene Onegin; Rigoletto, Boston Lyric Opera Hansel and Gretel, Los Angeles Opera Nixon in China; Trovatore; Barber; Pagliacci/Carmina, Minn. Opera

THE

Artists

Elise Sandell Stage Director Minnesota Opera Debut Recently Curlew River; The Face on the Barroom Floor; Opera à la Carte Scenes, Central City Opera The Refuge, Houston Grand Opera Carmen; Stone Soup; The Elixir of Love, Tulsa Opera Un ballo in maschera; Simon Boccanegra; Manon Lescaut (associate director), Houston Grand Opera The Abduction from the Seraglio (AD), Houston Grand Opera; Boston Lyric Opera Cendrillon (AD), Central City Opera

National Council Auditions Minnesota District Auditions November 8, 2008 at 10AM Ordway Center for the Performing Arts

Master Class with Danielle Orlando

You can receive special deals, parking alerts and insider information from The Minnesota Opera via email. Visit www.mnopera.org and click on “Join Our E-Club.”

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

Visit our website for more information www.moncuppermidwest.org or call Margaret Houlton at 952.938.6908

WE ARE PLEASED TO PRESENT ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR-IN-RESIDENCE MAESTRO ANDREW ALTENBACH IN THE MINNESOTA OPERA’S PRODUCTION O; THE ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO#

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u Did yo know?

November 9, 2008 at 1PM Ferguson Hall, Room 225 The University of Minnesota School of Music

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THE MINNESOTA OPERA

Chorus

Brad Benoit Bryan Boyce Karen Bushby Vicki Fingalson Katherine Haugen Roland Hawkins Jeff Madison Jon Olson

Nicole Percifield Naomi Ruiz William Sales Jennifer Sylvester

Supernumeraries Jennifer Dawson John Edel

THE SAINT PAUL CHAMBER

Orchestra

Violins

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Steven Copes, concertmaster John M. and Elizabeth W. Musser Chair Ruggero Allifranchini, associate concertmaster John H. and Elizabeth B. Myers Chair Leslie Shank, assistant concertmaster Hulings Chair Elsa Nilsson Brenda Manuel Mickens Dale Barltrop, principal second violin Bruce H. Coppock Chair Thomas Kornacker, co-principal second violin Michal Sobieski Daria T. Adams Nina Tso-Ning Fan

Charles Ullery, principal Carole Mason Smith

Cellos Ronald Thomas, principal Bill and Hella Mears Hueg Chair Joshua Koestenbaum, associate principal Ruth and John Huss Chair Sarah Lewis

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Basses

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Horns Bernhard Scully, principal Paul Straka John and Karen Larsen Chair

Trumpets Gary Bordner, principal Lynn Erickson

Keyboard Layton James, principal Redleaf Family Chair

Timpani & Percussion Violas Sabina Thatcher, principal Alfred and Ingrid Lenz Harrison Chair Evelina Chao, assistant principal Tamás Strasser Maiya Papach Alice Preves Viola Chair

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Cellos

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Thomas Rosenberg Kirsten Whitson

Robert Adney Paul Hill David Victor

Flutes Barbara Leibundguth

Clarinets Marlene Pauley

Christopher Brown, principal Fred Bretschger, assistant principal

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Julia Bogorad-Kogan, principal Alicia McQuerrey

Oboes Kathryn Greenbank, principal Sewell Family Chair Thomas Tempel

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Timothy Paradise, principal Philip H. and Katherine Nason Chair

The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Artistic Staff John Mangum, VP of Artistic Planning Mary McColl, VP of Operations Jon Kjarum, Technical Manager James Kortz, Librarian Kelly MacLennan, Orchestra Personnel Manager

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Education AT THE OPERA Project Opera Project Opera is off to a great start this year with a record number of participants coming from as far away as St. Peter, Duluth and River Falls. Students are split into two ensembles: Ragazzi (grades 4–7) and Giovani (grades 8–12). These talented young singers rehearse Saturday mornings at the Opera Center, where they learn healthy vocal technique, acting, movement, foreign language skills and more. You can hear the choirs on selected dates at their Pre-Opera Performances in the lobby of Ordway Center.

Music Director Dale Kruse leads Ragazzi in some vocal warm-ups.

(L-R) Three of this year’s Apprentices – Garrett Obrycki, Erik Erlandson, and David Morgan.

This season we are proud to announce our seven Apprentices: Erik Erlandson, Nadia Fayad, David Morgan, Garrett Obrycki, Alexandra Razskazoff, Liv Redpath and Elizabeth Windnagel. These students, selected from an audition open to all Giovani members, demonstrated advanced vocal technique and a readiness for instruction not typically found in most high schools. In addition to performing with Project Opera, the Apprentices work on audition techniques and creating a singer’s resume, and will prepare a number of arias and small ensemble numbers for a spring showcase.

Upcoming performances: | THE MINNESOTA OPERA www.mnopera.org

December 14

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Holiday Concert featuring Respighi’s Laud to the Nativity.

Roseville Lutheran Church Free and open to the public

April 3-4 The Ritz Theater Call 612.342.9573 for ticket information.

May 9 Apprentice Showcase The Minnesota Opera Center Call 612.342.9573 for information.

(L-R) Kelsey Karlson, Isa Odin, Alyson Beveridge, Clare Odin learning their music.

Education AT THE OPERA coOPERAtion!

Adult Education

The Minnesota Opera continues to bring opera to students of all ages through the work of our Teaching Artist, Angie Keeton.

This fall, Angie visited schools across Minnesota, introducing students to opera and preparing them to see The Abduction from the Seraglio. Over the course of the school year, Angie will continue to work with students covering topics ranging from an introduction to opera, to advanced skills like audition preparation and singing in a foreign language.

This flexible program is tailored to fit the different needs of teachers and students of all ages and ability levels.

Faust

coOPERAtion! is generously supported by the Medtronic Foundation

Of the many operas and symphonic masterpieces based upon Goethe’s Faust, Mary Dibbern poses with a portrait the operatic adaptation by of Charles Gounod and his greatgreat-great-grandson François.

Charles Gounod was one of the most controversial.

Germans find it so far from Goethe’s original that it is called Margarete when performed in Germany, yet this opera has become a beloved mainstay of opera houses the world over. Coach Mary Dibbern, whose work with the Gounod family resulted in a book about both Faust and Roméo et Juliette, will discuss the history and controversy surrounding Gounod’s Faust, as well as give a behind-the-scenes look at The Minnesota Opera’s new production.

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If you would like Angie to visit your school, contact her at: akeeton@mnopera.org.

Dates are still available!

Monday, January 14, 2009 7:00-9:00 pm The Minnesota Opera Center

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Leontyne Price

James Levine

Carlisle Floyd

Richard Gaddes

Lyric Soprano Photo: Jack Mitchell / Sony BMG Music

Conductor Photo: Koichi Miura

Composer, Librettist Photo: Jim Caldwell

Impresario Photo: Ken Howard

| THE MINNESOTA OPERA www.mnopera.org

The Minnesota Opera congratulates the recipients of 2008’s National Endowment for the Arts Opera Honors award: lyric soprano Leontyne Price, conductor James Levine, composer Carlisle Floyd and impresario Richard Gaddes. Their work has enriched the field of opera immeasurably.

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The NEA Opera Honors, which celebrate lifetime achievement and individual excellence, were presented on October 31 at the Harman Center for the Arts in Washington, DC, with performances by the Washington National Opera and members of its Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists program (conducted by Placido Domingo).

According to NEA chairman Dana Gioia, this new award “recognizes that American opera has truly come of age with our singers, musicians, composers, directors, designers and opera companies who are second to none in the world.” OPERA America, the national nonprofit service organization, is the NEA partner in the Opera Honors program. In this inaugural year of the award, Washington National Opera is also a partner.

The NEA Opera Honors were given in four categories: singer, composer, advocate and conductor. Soprano Leontyne Price is known for her elegant musicianship, her generosity to young singers and her remarkable recording legacy.

Composer Carlisle Floyd has had a long and distinguished career; his many memorable operas include Susannah and Of Mice and Men. Advocate winner Richard Gaddes, the general director of the Santa Fe Opera and co-founder of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, is known for challenging, adventurous programming. James Levine, who has led the Metropolitan Opera premieres of work by composers from Mozart to Weill and the world premieres of American operas

by John Corigliano and John Harbison, has also fine-tuned the Met orchestra into one of the world’s leading ensembles.

For more information on the NEA Opera Honors Award and this year’s honorees, visit www.arts.gov/honors/opera

You Can Help the Arts!

On November 4, 2008 Minnesotans will have an historic opportunity to vote on a constitutional amendment that will create dedicated funding for conservation and culture.

It is called the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment and will appear at the bottom of your November 4 ballot. It has the potential to triple funding available for arts and culture activities in every Minnesota county. This amendment calls for a .375% sales tax increase that would create a dedicated funding stream for the arts (as well as land and water conservation) for the next 25 years.

With 1,600 arts and cultural organizations in the state, annual arts attendance of more than 14.5 million people, and an arts advocacy coalition of more than 42,000, it is clear that Minnesotans care about access to arts and culture. It is important not only to The Minnesota Opera, but to the entire state of Minnesota that this amendment passes on November 4th. If you are interested in learning more about it, please read on. You can also find more information at www.YesForMN.org.

Just like our lakes and great outdoors, Minnesota’s cultural resources are a vital part of our quality of life and tourism industry. Passage of the amendment means better access for our kids and all of us to cultural opportunities statewide. While the arts are a very tiny part of the state budget (less than 3/100ths of 1% of the state budget), they are slashed almost every time the state has a budget deficit. The arts need a stable, longterm and protected source of funding.

VOTE YES PROTECT THE MINNESOTA YOU LOVE

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Magnum Chorum introduces new music director, Dr. Christopher Aspaas

7:30 P.M. | OCTOBER 25, 2008 CHAPEL OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA

DR. CHRISTOPHER ASPAAS

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8:00 P.M. | DECEMBER 13, 2008

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Transforming Audiences Through Artistry and Spirit www.mag numchor um.org

TICKETS: CALL (612) 924-4111

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Lay a Garland

Christmas Concerts

..........................................

Fall Concert

Join us!

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A&C Ad Space (2nd ship)

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THE MINNESOTA OPERA

Annual Fund INDIVIDUAL GIVING

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

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

Bel Canto Circle Platinum $20,000 and above Anonymous (1) Karen Bachman Mary and Gus Blanchard Nicky B. Carpenter Jane M. and Ogden W. Confer Julia W. Dayton Sara and Jock Donaldson Vicki and Chip Emery Dolly J. Fiterman Ruth and John Huss Sisi and Heinz Hutter Mr. and Mrs. Philip Isaacson Lucy Rosenberry Jones

The Art and Martha Kaemmer Fund of HRK Foundation Patricia Lund Dusty and George Mairs Dwight D. Opperman Elizabeth Redleaf Lois and John Rogers Stephanie Simon and Craig Bentdahl Mary W. Vaughan Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation C. Angus and Margaret Wurtele

Gold $15,000–$19,999 Darlene J. and Richard P. Carroll Ellie and Tom Crosby, Jr.

Cy and Paula Decosse Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Sharon and Bill Hawkins Peter J. King Thomas and Barbara McBurney Bernt von Ohlen and Thomas Nichol

Silver $10,000–$14,999 Anonymous (5) Shari and David Boehnen Susan Boren Dr. and Mrs. Daniel D. Buss Mary Dearing and Barry Lazarus The Denny Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation

Warren and Patricia Kelly Mr. and Mrs. B. John Lindahl, Jr. Harvey T. McLain Mrs. Walter Meyers Diana and Joe Murphy Nelson Family Foundation Sandy and Bruce Nelson Mary Ingebrand Pohlad Karen Sternal

Camerata Circle Platinum $7,500–$9,999 Allegro Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation David Hanson and William Biermaier Kathleen and William Callahan Rachelle Dockman Chase N. Bud and Beverly Grossman Foundation Erwin and Miriam Kelen Albin and Susan Nelson Jenny Lind Nilsson and Garrison Keillor Debra Paterson and Mark Winters Stephanie Prem and Tom Owens Connie and Lew Remele Joseph Sammartino Drs. Joseph and Kristina Shaffer Maggie Thurer and Simon Stevens

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Gold $5,000–$7,499

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Tracy and Eric Aanenson James Andrus Martha Goldberg Aronson and Daniel Aronson Martha and Bruce Atwater Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Nancy and Chuck Berg Rusty and Burt Cohen James and Gisela Corbett Susan and Richard Crockett

David and Vanessa Dayton Mary Lee Dayton Tom and Lori Foley Connie Fladeland and Steve Fox Mr. and Mrs. William Frels Denver and Nicole Gilliand Alfred and Ingrid Lenz Harrison Bill and Hella Mears Hueg Robert & Susan Josselson Ilo and Peggy Leppik Lynne Looney Mr. and Mrs. Donald Lucker Ted and Roberta Mann Foundation Julia and Brian Palmer Bill and Barbara Pearce Jose Peris and Diana Gulden Jodi D. Peterson Edward Phares Chris and Mark Schwarzmann Fred and Gloria Sewell Peter and Bonnie Sipkins Kevin and Lynn Smith Mitchell and Kendall Stover Virginia L. and Edward C. Stringer Mr. and Mrs. James Swartz Catie Tobin and Brian Naas Charles Allen Ward Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation Ellen M. Wells

Silver $2,500–$4,999 Anonymous (5) Stuart and Ann Ackman Kim A. Anderson Kathy Welte and Lowell Anderson Satoru and Sheila Asato Alexandra O. Bjorklund Dr. Lee Borah, Jr. Margee and Will Bracken Christopher J. Burns Elwood and Florence Caldwell Stephen and Beth Cragle Thomas and Mary Lou Detwiler Mona and Patrick Dewane Sally J. Economon Rondi Erickson and Sandy Lewis Leslie and Alain Frecon Patricia R. Freeburg Bradley Fuller and Elizabeth Lincoln Christine and Jon Galloway Christine and W. Michael Garner Mr. and Mrs. R. James Gesell Lois and Larry Gibson Meg and Wayne Gisslen Mrs. Myrtle Grette Dorothy Horns and James Richardson Dr. and Mrs. Arthur Horowitz Tina and Ken Hughes Cynthia and Jay Ihlenfeld Dale A. Johnson

Jacqueline Nolte Jones Stan and Jeanne Kagin Michael F. and Gretchen G. Kelly and the Kelly Family Foundation Lyndel and Blaine King Helen L. Kuehn Constance and Daniel Kunin Debra and James Lakin John Warren Lassila Robert L. Lee and Mary E. Schaffner Lynn Levinson Benjamin Y. H. and Helen C. Liu David MacMillan and Judy Krow Mary Bigelow McMillan Elizabeth Musser Trust – Fir Tree Fund Nancy and Richard Nicholson Ruth and Ahmad Orandi Marge and Dwight Peterson Mr. and Mrs. William Phillips The Redleaf Family Foundation Mary and Paul Reyelts Nina and Ken Rothchild Kay Savik and Joe Tashjian Lynda and Frank Sharbrough Stanislaw and Krystyna Skrowaczewski Bruce and Julie Jackley Steiner Tanrydoon Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation William Voedisch and Laurie Carlson Nancy and Ted Weyerhaeuser

Sue A. Bennett Mrs. Paul G. Boening Judith and Arnold Brier Conley Brooks Family Joan and George Carlson Barb and Jeff Couture Mrs. Thomas M. Crosby, Sr. Jeff and Wendy Wenger Dankey Fran Davis Ruth and Bruce Dayton

Judson Dayton Claire and Jack Dempsey Margaret Diablasio William and Janice Dircks Joan Duddingston Joyce and Hugh Edmondson Susan Engel and Arthur Eisenberg Ann Fankhanel Ester and John Fesler Rihab and Roger FitzGerald

Salvatore Silvestri Franco Terence Fruth and Mary McEvoy Family Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Heidi and Howard Gilbert Stanley and Luella Goldberg Amy R. and Philip S. Goldman Foundation Michael and Elizabeth Gorman Mr. and Mrs. William Grandy

Artist Circle $1,000–$2,499 Anonymous Paula Anderson and Sheila Bray Genevive Antonello Nina and John Archabal August J. Aquila and Emily Haliziw Mr. and Mrs. Edmund P. Babcock Ruth and Dale Bachman Ann and Thomas Bagnoli Maria and Kent Bales

THE MINNESOTA OPERA

Annual Fund

INDIVIDUAL GIVING

Artist Circle (continued) Bruce and Jean Grussing Hackensack Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation Ruth E. Hanold Don Helgeson and Sue Shepard Rosmarie and John Helling Sharon and Cliff Hill Diane Hoey John and Jean McGough Holten Margaret and Andrew Houlton Ekdahl Hutchinson Family Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Teresa and Chuck Jakway James Jelinek and Marilyn Wall Markle Karlen Mr. Thomas A. Keller III E. Robert and Margaret V. Kinney Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Jolie and Steve Klapmeier Mr. and Mrs. William Kling

Gerard Knight Mrs. James S. Kochiras Robert Kriel and Linda Krach Mark and Elaine Landergan Sy and Ginny Levy Family Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Jerry and Joyce Lillquist Bill Long Dawn M. Loven Mahley Family Foundation Margery Martin Roy and Dorothy Mayeske Helen and Charles McCrossan Patricia and Samuel McCullough Sheila McNally James and Judith Mellinger The Kendrick B. Melrose Family Foundation Velia R. Melrose William Messerli Jane and Joseph Micallef

David and LaVonne Middleton Anne W. Miller Moore Family Fund for the Arts Sandy and Bob Morris Elizabeth B. Myers Joan and Richard Newmark Rebecca and Bradley Nuss Mr. and Mrs. E. Gerald O’Brien Pat and Dan Panshin Allegra W. Parker Paula Patineau Suzanne and William Payne Mary and Robert Price Connie and Jim Pries Sara and Kevin Ramach Barbara Redmond George Reid John and Sandra Roe Foundation Thomas D. and Nancy J. Rohde Gordon and Margaret Rosine

Leland T. Lynch and Terry Saario Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Sampson Family Charitable Foundation Patty and Barney Saunders Jim Scarpetta Janet and Dan Schalk James and Lynn Schell Dr. and Mrs. Richard J. Schindler The Harriet and Edson Spencer Foundation Leslie and Don Stiles Dana and Stephen Strand Robert and Barbara Struyk Susan and James Sullivan Michael Symeonides and Mary Pierce Carolyn and Andrew Thomas Lois and Lance Thorkelson Patricia Tilton Emily Anne and Gedney Tuttle Mr. and Mrs. Philip Von Blon James and Sharon Weinel

Donna Block Fred and Carolyn Bogott Thomas and Joyce Bruckner Caulkins Family Foundation Arnold Chu and I-ming Shih Wanda and David Cline J.P. Collins Elisabeth Comeaux Bill and Kate Cullen Norma Danielson Mr. Steven A. Diede Joe Dowling and Siobahn Cleary Herbert and Betty Fantle Sheila and Roland Faricy Charles and Anne Ferrell Susanne Haas and Ross Formell Kris and Kristina Fredrick Jane Fuller David Gerdes David Gilberstadt Katherine and Robert Goodale, Jr. Robert Goodell and Renee Brown Kathy and Hazen Graves Marjorie and Joseph Grinnell Roger L. Hale and Nor Hall Gregory Hoehn John and Marna Holman Liesl and Todd Hyde

Diane and Paul Jacobson Mrs. Owen Jenkins Margaret K. and Philip Johnson Dr. and Mrs. Charles R. Jorgensen Chad and Penny Kastner Jane and Jim Kaufman Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation Sid and Diane Levin Jonathan and Lisa Lewis Rebecca Lindholm Bruce and Susan Lueck Ruth W. Lyons Joanne MacNamara Donald and Rhoda Mains Tom and Marsha Mann Marian and Michael McCann Thomas and Joan Mears L. David Mech Charles and Victoria Mogilevsky Ann and John O’Leary Derrill M. Pankow Carroll and Barbara Rasch Dan and Kari Rasmus Dennis M. Ready Lawrence M. Redmond Red Wing Opera Study Group Joan K. Regal William and Sue Roberts

Ann M. Rock Liane A. and Richard G. Rosel Daniel Roth Fred Saleh Anne Salisbury David E. Sander Mahlon and Karen Schneider Paul L. Schroeder Mrs. Donald Sell Bill and Althea Sell Matthew Spanjers Daniel J. Spiegel Jon Y. Spoerri Roxanne Stouffer and Joseph Cruz Tempo Board Members Anthony Thein Greg Thompson Stephanie C. Van D’Elden Morgan Walsh David M. and Mary Ann Barrows Wark Barbara and Carl White Helen and J. Kimball Whitney Barbara and James Willis Mr. John W. Windhorst, Jr. Clark J. and Sharon L. Winslow

Patron Circle Gold $750–$999 Anonymous Gerald and Phyllis Benson Joann Cierniak Amos and Sue Deinard Jennifer Gross and Jerry LeFevre Stefan and Lonnie Helgeson Frederick J. Hey, Jr. Thomas Hunt and John Wheelihan Orpha McDiarmid Family Fund James and Andrea Rubenstein Dr. Leon and Alma Satran Warren Stortroen Frank and Frances Wilkinson Lani Willis and Joel Spoonheim James Wire

Silver $500–$749 Arlene Goodman Alm Jamie Andrews and Jane Kolp-Andrews Dr. and Mrs. Orn Arnar Jo and Gordon Bailey Family Fund of the Catholic Community Foundation James and Gail Bakkom Donald and Naren Bauer Barbara S. Belk Brian Benjamin

YOUR SUPPORT: SUSTAINABLE GIVING

The Minnesota Opera has recently introduced a Sustainable Giving option. Becoming a sustaining member is a wonderful way to increase your annual support while spreading your gift over time. It also strengthens the impact of your charitable dollar by cutting out the cost and environmental impact of mailing your contribution. With your sustained gift, you can take satisfaction in knowing that more of each dollar you give helps to create the world-class operas you’ve come to expect from The Minnesota Opera.

Please contact Morgan Walsh, Individual Gifts Manager, at 612-342-9569 or mwalsh@mnopera.org for information on sustainable giving.

Thank you for making great opera possible!

| THE ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO

These lists are current as of September 1, 2008 and include donors who gave a gift of $500 or more to The Minnesota Opera since July 1, 2007.

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

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THE MINNESOTA OPERA

Annual Fund INDIVIDUAL GIVING

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

Estate AND Planned Gifts Anonymous (2) Valerie and Paul Ackerman 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 Judy and Kenneth (†) Dayton Mrs. George Doty Rudolph Driscoll (†) Sally Economon

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

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

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

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

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

| THE MINNESOTA OPERA www.mnopera.org

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(†) Deceased

THE MINNESOTA OPERA

Annual Fund

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

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

$25,000 –$49,999

$50,000 –$99,999

$10,000 –$24,999

Minnesota Opera Sponsors Season Sponsor

Conductor Appearances

Meet the Artists Official Caterer

Resident Artist Program

FAF Advisors and U.S. Bank

SpencerStuart

Wildside Caterers

Wenger Foundation

Production Sponsors

Camerata Dinners

Opera Insights

Broadcast Partner

Il trovatore, FAF Advisors and U.S. Bank Faust, Ameriprise Financial The Adventures of Pinocchio, Target

Lowry Hill Private Asset Management

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation

Minnesota Public Radio

Gala Sponsors Target U.S. Bank

Production Innovation System General Mills

Corporations, Foundations and Government 3M Foundation Ameriprise Financial City of Saint Paul’s Cultural STAR Program FAF Advisors General Mills Foundation The MAHADH Fund of HRK Foundation The McKnight Foundation The Medtronic Foundation Minnesota State Arts Board National Endowment for the Arts OPERA America’s Opera Fund Target The Travelers Company, Inc. U.S. Bancorp Foundation U.S. Bank, Private Client Group UnitedHealth Group Wells Fargo Foundation Minnesota

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

Cargill Foundation Deloitte Deluxe Corporation Foundation Dorsey & Whitney Foundation Ecolab Foundation Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation Anna M. Heilmaier Charitable Foundation Lowry Hill Private Wealth Management RBC Dain Rauscher Foundation SpencerStuart Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation Twin Cities Opera Guild Valspar Foundation Wenger Foundation

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

MTS Corporation Onan Family Foundation Pentair Foundation PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi Rahr Foundation Schwegman, Lundberg & Woessner, P.A. SUPERVALU Foundation on behalf of SUPERVALU Inc. Xcel Energy Foundation

Silver $2,500–$4,999 Dellwood Foundation Fredrikson & Byron Foundation Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation Hutter Family Foundation Alice M. O’Brien Foundation Peravid Foundation The Elizabeth C. Quinlan Foundation Margaret Rivers Fund Securian Foundation Sit Investment Foundation Tennant Foundation Thyme to Entertain

Bronze $1,000–$2,499 The ADS Group Elmer L. and Eleanor J. Andersen Foundation Arts & Custom Publishing Co., Inc. Bailey Nurseries, Inc. Burdick-Craddick Family Foundation Hammel, Green and Abrahamson, Inc. Hardenbergh Foundation Hogan & Hartson Leonard, Street & Deinard McVay Foundation Lawrence M. O’Shaughnessy Charitable Annuity Trust in honor of Lawrence M. O’Shaughnessy Peregrine Capital Management The Regis Foundation The Southways Foundation Wells Fargo Insurance Services

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Sponsors $25,000+

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