Così fan tutte (Programme)

MOZART

COSÌ FAN TUTTE

COSÌ FAN TUTTE OPERA IN TWO ACTS BY WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART. Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte.

First performed at the Burgtheater, Vienna on 26 January, 1790.

Running time approx. 3 hours (including interval).

The edition of Così fan tutte used in these performances is published by Bärenreiter-Edition Kassel, edited by Faye Ferguson and Wolfgang Rehm.

Performed by arrangement with Faber Music Ltd, London.

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Chairman’s Welcome On behalf of Northern Ireland Opera I am delighted to welcome you to Mozart’s Così fan tutte.

This will be our third Mozart production, following the great successes of The Magic Flute and Don Giovanni, and we are delighted that this will be our first opera to be performed in the original Italian language. We are thrilled to have assembled an outstanding cast and creative team for this show - we welcome director Adele Thomas to Belfast for her opera debut on Così fan tutte, working alongside long-standing Northern Ireland Opera collaborator Nicholas Chalmers, renewing his musical partnership with the Ulster Orchestra. We also welcome back Aoife Miskelly, John Molloy and Sam Furness to the stage, and give company debuts to Kiandra Howarth, Heather Lowe and Samuel Dale Johnson.

2017 has been a landmark year for the company, with highlights including our acclaimed productions of Adès’ Powder Her Face and Handel’s Radamisto, two concert performances of La bohème in partnership with the Ulster Orchestra and Belfast Philharmonic Choir, and our seventh annual Festival of Voice in Glenarm.

In September we welcomed five young Irish singers into the Northern Ireland Opera Studio - Dawn Burns, Maria Hughes, Cormac Lawlor, Kevin Neville and Lauren Scully. Their year as Studio artists began with a recital with Newry Chamber Music and David Quigley, and they continue to take advantage of a busy programme of recitals, masterclasses, and more. Our outreach work continues to bring opera into the lives of both young and old, with recent events including Little Lullabies on Culture Night, and Our Grand Voices! as part of Belfast City Council’s Positive Ageing Month.

Looking forward to 2018, the year kicks off with a co-production of The Threepenny Opera with the Lyric Theatre, which will mark Artistic Director Walter Sutcliffe’s directorial debut with the company.

This marks the beginning of a very exciting calendar of events for the year, so can I encourage you to sign up to the mailing list on our website in order to be the first to hear the latest news and announcements from Northern Ireland Opera.

All the fantastic work this company does would not be possible were it not for the continued and generous support of our principal funder, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, and I would like to reiterate my sincere thanks to the Arts Council for this support.

To conclude, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, our audience, for supporting Northern Ireland Opera through your attendance this evening, and I hope you enjoy the performance.

Roy Bailie Chairman Northern Ireland Opera

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Director's Notes “The more trouble you get a man into the more comedy you get out of him” Harold Lloyd

My grandfather had been a film projectionist in the 1930s and I grew up plonked down in front of his favourite genre: silent comedy. My formative years were spent in awe of those pioneers of film comedy: Buster Keaton, Clara Bow, Harold Lloyd and of course his favourite, Charlie Chaplin.

It took me a long time to find a way in to Mozart’s tricky late opera, Così fan tutte, but eventually it was the charm, the innocence, the heightened style and the pure silliness of those silent comedy masters that finally cracked the opera open for me.

Così’s reputation in the canon is undoubtedly muddied by the accusation of misogyny levelled against it. I saw in the levelling world of silent comedy an opportunity to challenge that reputation: if the joke is on everyone, then no one gender need be the punching bag. It was vital for me that the girls were as gawky as the boys and that the boys were equally the victims of Don Alfonso’s machinations as the girls.

The more time I spend with this opera the more I feel its central thesis is in pitching innocence against experience. In particular, it pitches the conservative values of the young against the understanding of life’s complexities that comes with age. This might sound like a reverse of what we expect, but Don Alfonso is old enough to know that love and life are far more compromising and uncompromising than our childish romantic notions might initially promise. This is echoed in the no-nonsense voice of Despina (here, his maid) who understands that love is a war that women will always be on the losing side of. It’s a harsh lesson, but as Harold Lloyd suggests in the quote above, comedy is the twin sister of tragedy and life involves surviving a large dollop of both.

So the world we are recreating is not a real America but an America recognisable in silent cinema of the 1920s. Forward marching, high-rise spouting, the future never looked brighter. America is rebuilding itself higher, ever higher. Out of the rubble of the Great War, America is becoming the world’s youngest, most unpredictable Global Powerhouse: the brave new world of the 20th Century.

Its economy is growing all the time and of course there’s absolutely no chance that it might all come crashing down. No way.

Our lovers are the inheritors of a glorious upper middle-class moment. The girls – small town ingénues moving to a big city – have found two college boys with bright futures. The war is a dim shadow for these young adults and there’s no way that that’s ever going to happen again. In fact, the corsets have come off and it’s the duty of the young to make a commitment to hedonism as a moral choice. Have fun now: you owe it to those who went before and never came back.

If only it were that simple. The older generation – having come from another century and through untold horror – know that the only thing you can be sure of in life, it’s the inconstancy of other people.

Adele Thomas Director

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Conductor's Notes Along with many musicians, I find the music of Così fan tutte to be amongst some of the most sublime, warm, emotionally charged and energetic music ever written for the stage. With this in mind, I have always been fascinated by the criticism the work has received since its composition to the present day. Beethoven disapproved of the plot and Wagner considered it ‘not possible for Mozart to invent music for Così fan tutte like that of Figaro’.

Why did this third and final collaboration with the librettist, Da Ponte, fail in so many ‘enlightened’ opinions in the nineteenth century? To dismiss the plot (as many did) as outrageous, improbable, immoral, and frivolous, may be a symptom of nineteenth-century attitudes to morality. These sentiments have steadily been dismissed as audiences have begun to acknowledge the humanity and frailty of the human condition which underpins the work.

Da Ponte’s libretto in the hands of other composers, perhaps Rossini or Salieri, might have resulted in music which could have given credence to the charges of superficiality. The charge against Così fan tutte, appears to be that Mozart created music which was far too strong and superior to support a plot of such artificial frivolity. But like all great art, Così forces the observer to question their own feelings, attitudes and perceptions of what forms and sustains human relationships.

The point in Act 2 when the music of Ferrando finally breaks the resolve of the stubborn Fiordiligi is surely one of the most seductive and persuasive moments in any Mozart opera: the love key of A major and Ferrando’s melismatic, larghetto line ‘Volgi a me pietoso il ciglio’ (turn your eyes to me with compassion). The conductor, Ivan Fischer, reflecting on this moment and the opera in general says ‘we are all seduceable, don’t take it so seriously'.

Così fan tutte has fewer arias than other Mozart operas and this serves to increase their importance.

Don Alfonso has no full-length aria; the sisters and Guglielmo have two each; Ferrando has three.

As with Zerlina in Don Giovanni, the arias of Despina (another ‘lower class’ character) appear in a pejorative, lilting 6/8 metre. The highest compositional style is saved for the aria of Fiordiligi, where Mozart makes use of the instrument development available to him in the last year and half of his life.

He employs clarinets more widely and with the arrival of the trumpet in Bb, he replaces many of the harmonic functions traditionally reserved for the horn.

Only in the twentieth century did Così finally come into its own. Thomas Beecham was responsible for its resurgence in Britain and the opera rivals Figaro as a tour de force of comic invention.

However, the opera disturbs people more than any of Mozart’s others. He took Da Ponte’s libretto and it became an empathetic, bittersweet commentary of the human condition, expressed with the most sumptuous music he ever wrote.

Nicholas Chalmers Conductor

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Synopsis Act I In the house of their old Professor, Don Alfonso, Ferrando and Guglielmo are at a party with their respective fiancées, Dorabella and Fiordiligi.

Don Alfonso sets the boys a challenge: he claims that there is no such thing as a faithful woman. He places a wager that if the men can give him until the following day, he can prove to them that all women are fickle. The two impulsive young men are certain that the women will remain faithful to them always and happily accept the wager. They agree, as part of Don Alfonso’s plan, to pretend they have been called off to war.

Meanwhile, blissfully unaware of this bet, sisters Dorabella and Fiordiligi happily compare photos of their fiancés and praise them. Don Alfonso arrives to inform the ladies of the news that their men must go to war. The officers arrive, broken hearted to bid the sisters farewell. As the officers sail away, Don Alfonso and the sisters wish them safe travels. Alone, Don Alfonso is delighted to see his plan begin to come to fruition and predicts that like all women, the sisters will prove unfaithful.

Later, Don Alfonso’s maid Despina tries to comfort the sisters in their sorrow. She advises them to forget their fiancés and to take new lovers while they are away. As the sisters leave, Don Alfonso arrives. Fearing that Despina will see through the officers' disguises, Don Alfonso convinces Despina to help him win his wager. She agrees to assist, and introduces the disguised officers to the sisters as visiting Albanians. The men claim they have been led to the sisters by love, yet Dorabella and Fiordiligi show no interest, as the latter vows to remain faithful despite the Albanians' attempts.

Ferrando is left alone, and praises his love for staying true to him, before Don Alfonso reminds the officers that there is a whole day remaining and the bet is far from over.

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The sisters, still pining for their loves, are sitting alone. Don Alfonso brings the Albanians back to the ladies. The men exclaim that they shall poison themselves if they are not given the opportunity to woo the women. As Don Alfonso attempts to calm the Albanians, they drink the “poison”. The sisters call for Despina to help, who tells the ladies to watch over the Albanians as she fetches a doctor. Moments later, Despina reappears, disguised as the doctor.

After performing magnet therapy, the “doctor” manages to revive the Albanians, who pretend to hallucinate and ask Dorabella and Fiordiligi for a kiss. Although they are beginning to warm to the Albanians, the sisters refuse them once again, despite encouragement from Don Alfonso and the doctor.

Act II That evening, Despina encourages the sisters to give in to the Albanians' advances and to choose their favourite of the two men. Left alone, the sisters admit to each other that they are tempted and agree that a small flirtation will cause no harm and help them to pass the time until their fiancés return home.

The Albanians return and serenade the ladies, while Despina and Don Alfonso give them lessons in courtship.

Having swapped partners, Dorabella and the disguised Guglielmo pair off together, as do Fiordiligi and Ferrando. Although the first couple seems compatible, Fiordiligi and Ferrando do not appear to share the same chemistry. Dorabella exchanges her medallion, containing a portrait of Ferrando, for a heart shaped locket from Guglielmo.

Later, the officers exchange notes, and Ferrando is upset that his fiancée has been so easily swayed. Guglielmo sympathises with his friend but also gloats and celebrates that Fiordiligi has remained faithful to him.

At the wedding, Despina has disguised herself as the marriage notary and presents the contract to the couples. No sooner has the contract been signed, than military music begins, signaling the return of the officers. The Albanians scatter off to hide- in reality, they are changing out of their costumes. The men return as their true selves, and Don Alfonso shows them the marriage contract. Both men leave in anger and return moments later, half disguised as the Albanians and half as officers.

Despina is revealed as the notary and the sisters learn of Don Alfonso’s wager. In the end, in this new complicated adult world, the lovers are left in confusion.

Alone in their bedroom, Dorabella admits to her sister that she has fallen for the Albanian.

Fiordiligi, upset by this development, decides to go to the army to retrieve their betrothed.

However, before she is able to leave, she is intercepted by the still disguised Ferrando.

After attempting to woo Fiordiligi once again, she finally succumbs and falls into Ferrando’s arms. When he learns of Fiordiligi’s infidelity, Guglielmo is distraught, as Ferrando takes his turn to gloat. Don Alfonso has won his bet and encourages the men to forgive their fiancées. After all: Così fan tutte—"All women are like that". Don Alfonso now plans for a double wedding.

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Born on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his sister Maria Anna (Nannerl) were the only two to survive of Leopold and Anna Maria Pertl Mozart’s seven children. Leopold, a successful composer, violinist and musicologist in his own right, encouraged the musical development of his children from a young age. While his older sister began her keyboard tuition at the age of seven, young Wolfgang, at only three years of age, began to show a remarkable understanding of pitch and tonality. By mimicking Nannerl’s playing, Wolfgang began to pick out chords on the harpsichord, learning to play short pieces soon after, and by the age of five, was composing his own short pieces. Many years later, after the death of her brother, Nannerl recalled:

He often spent much time at the clavier, picking out thirds, which he was ever striking, and his pleasure showed that it sounded good.... In the fourth year of his age his father, for a game as it were, began to teach him a few minuets and pieces at the clavier.... He could play it faultlessly and with the greatest delicacy, and keeping exactly in time.... At the age of five, he was already composing little pieces, which he played to his father who wrote them down.

Mozart’s earliest pieces were recorded by Leopold and published in Nannerl Notenbuch, a book containing short songs composed by Leopold for his daughter to play. As Mozart’s musical abilities continued to flourish and he began to demonstrate his compositional proficiency, it soon became apparent that Wolfgang had excelled beyond the capabilities of his father’s teachings. Keen to continue to learn, he exhibited a desire to learn to play the violin, like his father. He would later go on to play the piano, organ and viola, in addition to the harpsichord and violin.

While the children were young, Leopold often brought them on trips to Europe where they performed as child prodigies to great acclaim.

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In 1762, the Mozart siblings embarked upon a long and gruelling period of touring. The first of these European tours began at the court of Bavaria in Munich, from where they would continue to travel to the courts at Mannheim, Paris, London, The Hague, again to Paris, and back home via Zurich, Donaueschingen, and Munich. While travelling, Wolfgang formed relationships with other musicians and composers. One of these contacts was Johann Christian Bach, son of J.S. Bach, whom he first met when the Mozart family visited London in the mid-1760s.

In December 1769, Leopold and Wolfgang set off for Italy, leaving Anna Maria and Nannerl behind. This was the longest touring period to date for Wolfgang and his father, lasting until 1771. Leopold felt it important to showcase his son’s musical abilities to the Italian court while on this tour. It was during this period that Mozart composed the opera Mitridate, re di Ponto (1770). The success of this opera led to the commission of two other operas, which were composed and premiered in Milan - Ascanio in Alba (1771) and Lucio Silla (1772).

Leopold had hoped that these visits to Italy would secure a professional appointment for his son; however this was not to be. After returning to Salzburg in 1773, Mozart was appointed assistant concertmaster and he began a period of prolific compositional output, producing symphonies, sonatas, string quartets, masses, serenades, and a few minor operas. By 1775, Mozart had developed a keen interest in composing violin concertos. He composed a series of five concertos which are now regarded as staples in the violin repertoire. Although his compositional style developed significantly throughout this period, Mozart’s discontent with the musical environment in Salzburg was growing. Frustrated with his low salary and lack of opportunities to compose operas, Mozart resigned from his position in August 1777.

While searching for employment, Mozart was commissioned to write an opera for the Mannheim Orchestra. In 1781, Idomeneo premiered to “considerable success” in Munich.

Mozart married Constanze Weber the following year. Of the couple’s six children, only two survived past infancy. The family settled in Vienna, where Mozart had no shortage of work as a performer, composer and tutor.

With the great success of Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782), Mozart’s reputation as a composer spread throughout Europe. In the years that followed, Mozart and Constanze enjoyed a fairly lavish lifestyle, as a result of his concert and publishing successes. The couple kept a household staff for their fashionable apartment, had their son Karl Thomas educated at a prestigious boarding school and were regulars on the Viennese social scene. During this period, Mozart and Constanze spent some time visiting his family in Salzburg. This time spent in Mozart’s hometown inspired him to complete one of his greatest works, the Mass in C Minor. Mozart also met, and became great friends with Joseph Haydn in Vienna around 1784. They often played together in an impromptu string quartet, and Mozart also dedicated six of his own string quartets to Haydn between 1782 and 1785.

Between 1790 and 1791, Mozart experienced a period of great musical productivity. Despite suffering from depression due to his financial situation, he produced some of his most respected works, including Die Zauberflöte, the final piano concerto in B flat, the Clarinet Concerto in A major and the unfinished Requiem over the course of this year.

Unfortunately, during this period, Mozart’s physical health began to decline. He took ill while in Prague for the premiere of La clemenza di Tito in September 1791, and although he recovered in time to conduct the premiere of Die Zauberflöte in Prague, he deteriorated soon after and was consigned to bed, cared for by his sister. Although extremely anxious to complete his Requiem, Mozart died before its completion on December 5, 1791, aged 35.

In spite of his success as a pianist and composer, Mozart had serious financial worries, as a result of his and his family’s extravagant lifestyles. He hoped an appointment at court would help to ease his financial burdens, but he was also aware that the influence of the Italian musical style at court was significant and growing. Mozart became acquainted with Lorenzo Da Ponte in late 1785. A talented poet and librettist in court theatre, Da Ponte and Mozart soon collaborated on the extremely successful Le nozze di Figaro which premiered to great acclaim in 1786. The success of this first collaboration led to a second opera, Don Giovanni, which also was extremely successful upon its premiere in Prague in 1787.

To mitigate some of their financial problems, the Mozart family moved from central Vienna to the suburbs in 1788. During this time, Mozart composed his final three symphonies and his final collaboration with Da Ponte, Così fan tutte which premiered in 1790.

Posthumous painting by Barbara Krafft (1819)

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Cast

Creative Team

Fiordiligi Kiandra Howarth

Conductor Nicholas Chalmers

Dorabella Heather Lowe

Director Adele Thomas

Guglielmo Samuel Dale Johnson

Set & Costume Designer Hannah Clark

Ferrando Sam Furness

Despina Aoife Miskelly

Don Alfonso John Molloy

Movement Director Emma Woods Lighting Designer Kevin Treacy RĂŠpĂŠtiteur / Assistant Conductor Tim Anderson Assistant Director Danielle Urbas Fight Director Kev McCurdy

Artwork: AndrĂŠe Sikorska

Chorus & Understudies Soprano Naomi Cantley Catherine Donnelly Mary McCabe Elaine McDaid

Fiordiligi Maria Hughes*

Mezzo-Soprano Helenna Howie Niamh St. John

Guglielmo Aaron O’Hare

Tenor Peter Harris Shane McCormick Josh Spink Baritone Rory Dunne Ryan Garnham Aaron O’Hare

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Dorabella Dawn Burns*

Ferrando Peter Harris Despina Lauren Scully* Don Alfonso Kevin Neville* *Northern Ireland Opera Studio Artist 2017/18

Production Team Production Manager Patrick McLaughlin Stage Manager Ray Bingle Deputy Stage Manager David Putman Props Supervisor Laura Nelson Costume Supervisor Laura Rushton Wardrobe Manager Jeanette Tumelty Dressers Margaret Tumelty Linda Tumelty Costume Makers Katie Aldous Joanna Close Wendy Knowles Sally Spratley Elspbeth Threadgold Debbie Watson Milliner Karen Shannon Wigs and Make-up Supervisor Carole Dunne Wigs and Make-up Assistant Stephanie Metzner Technical Managers Sean Wright Nic RĂŠe Stage Carpenter Pete Boyle Stage Technician Steve Anderson

Lighting Programmer Gary Maguire Production Electrician Danny Cunningham Set Construction Scenedock Scenic Artist Liz Barker Transport Phillip Goss GTM Relocations Surtitles Operator Elizabeth Drwal

Acknowledgements Aiden Scanlon Arts & Business NI Arts Council of Northern Ireland Bag of Bees Design Belfast City Council Cathryn Kinghan Conleth Stanley Damien Kennedy Faber Music Ltd Grand Opera House, Belfast Kate Guelke James Henry Laoise Carney Laurence Roberts from City Resorts Liz Torrans Lyric Theatre, Belfast Millennium Forum, Derry-Londonderry Opera Theatre Company Patrick Redmond Professor Ian Woodfield Queen's University Belfast Richard McBride Ross McConaghy Simon Hutchinson Stagecrew Stag’s Head Ulster Orchestra

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Ulster Orchestra Violin 1 Tamรกs Kocsis Ioana Petcu-Colan Beverley Scott Thomas Jackson Jonathan Griffin Claire Thatcher Zuzanna Pyrฤ Alys Jackson Violin 2 Nicholas Rippon Michael Alexander Helen Wakelam Kevin Harrell Nigel Ireland Niamh McGowan Viola William Goodwin Chris Beckett Stephen Begley Richard Hadwen Ralph Tartaglia Cello James Barralet Morag Stewart Sarah Shephard David Edmonds Rosalie Curlett

Double Bass William Cole Michele Strong Helen Glynn Flute Colin Fleming Jennifer Sturgeon Oboe Chris Blake Colin Stark Clarinet Francesco Paolo Scola Ciaran McQuaid Bassoon Vahan Khourdoian Greg Topping Horn Jesse Durkan Martin Wall Trumpet David Collins Pamela Stainer Timpani/Percussion Mark McDonald Fortepiano Tim Anderson

ion rs a ve str en rche e cr O -s ve Big th li wi

THE SNOWMAN FAMILY CONCERT Sat 2 December 2017, 2.00pm, 4.30pm A timeless Christmas favourite and family tradition!

HANDEL’S MESSIAH Fri 8 December 2017, 7.30pm Sat 9 December 2017, 7.30pm Hallelujah! One of the best-loved choral masterpieces ever written.

THE MAGIC OF CHRISTMAS

CELEBRATE NEW YEAR IN VIENNA!

Thurs 21 December 2017, 7.45pm

Fri 5 January 2018, 7.45pm Sat 6 January 2018, 7.45pm

This new, spectacular show, featuring West End star Anna-Jane Casey, will certainly get you in the Christmas mood!

Box Office: 028 9033 4455 ulsterorchestra.org.uk Special Discounts available PRINCIPAL FUNDING PARTNERS

Waltz into the New Year with this glittering tribute to Vienna and Strauss!

Biographies TIM ANDERSON

NICHOLAS CHALMERS

Répétiteur / Assistant Conductor

Conductor

Tim Anderson studied at New College, Oxford, where he held scholarships both as a conductor and pianist. After graduating in 2013, Tim joined the music staff of the Teatro Real, Madrid by invitation of the late Gérard Mortier.

Credits include conducting a production of Harsányi’s L’Histoire du petit tailleur, working as répétiteur on Tristan und Isolde, Alceste, and Lohengrin, and concerts of Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder and Charles Wuorinen’s Heart Shadow. In 2014, Tim joined English National Opera as a trainee répétiteur, working on Otello, Le nozze di Figaro, La fanciulla del West and John Adams’s The Gospel According to the Other Mary. Since then, after working with Ivor Bolton on Handel’s Saul, Tim has become a regular member of music staff at Glyndebourne for both Festival and Tour: Tim assisted Pablo González on Don Giovanni, and as a répétiteur / coach and orchestral pianist, productions include Luke Styles’s Macbeth and Brett Dean’s new Hamlet. Beyond Glyndebourne, Tim has assisted David Parry at Garsington Opera on L’italiana in Algeri, Nicholas Chalmers on Thomas Adès’s Powder Her Face with Northern Ireland Opera, and Till Drömann on Rusalka in Stuttgart. In 2017, Tim also worked as musical assistant on Zesses Seglias’s To the Lighthouse at the Bregenzer Festspiele. Future engagements include assisting Vladimir Jurowski on Das Rheingold with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, assisting Nicholas Carter on Brett Dean’s Hamlet at the Adelaide Festival, and returning to Glyndebourne for Madama Butterfly with Omer Meir Wellber.

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Conductor Nicholas Chalmers is widely recognised as having established some of the most exciting and highly successful artistic projects in the UK in recent years.

Nicholas is the artistic director of the awardwinning Nevill Holt Opera (Best Festival 2016), conductor with Northern Ireland Opera and a founding artistic director of Second Movement.

With Nevill Holt Opera, Nicholas has conducted; The Magic Flute, La Bohème, The Turn of the Screw, Carmen, Rigoletto and The Elixir of Love.

For Second Movement he has conducted Mozart and Salieri, Trouble in Tahiti, The Medium and Impresario, Les Deux Aveugles, Rothschild’s Violin and The Knife’s Tears.

Conducting engagements with Northern Ireland Opera include The Medium, Tosca (Best Opera - Irish Times Theatre Awards), The Turn of the Screw, Noye's Fludde (Belfast Zoo, Beijing and Shanghai), The Flying Dutchman, The Bear, Macbeth, The Magic Flute, Salome, Don Giovanni and Powder Her Face.

Nicholas studied music at Oxford University, conducting at the Piacenza and Milan Conservatoires and was on the music staff at English National Opera from 2008 to 2011. In 2012, Nicholas was the first person to conduct a Benjamin Britten opera in China with Noye’s Fludde in Beijing. Recent engagements include; Messiah Opéra National de Lyon, The Turn of the Screw Zurich Opera, Noye's Fludde China Philharmonic, The Royal Northern Sinfonia and The BBC Singers.

HANNAH CLARK

SAMUEL DALE JOHNSON

Set & Costume Designer

Guiglielmo

Hannah trained at Central School of Speech and Drama and was a winner of the 2005 Linbury Prize for stage design.

Her designs include: Suor Angelica and The Coronation of Poppea (Opera North); costumes for L’enfant et les sortilèges, Trouble in Tahiti, Osud (Opera North); 4.48 Psychosis (Royal Opera House); Idomeneo (Garsington Opera); Queen Anne (Royal Shakespeare Company and Theatre Royal Haymarket); DeadClub™, Motor Show and costumes for The Roof (Requardt & Rosenberg / Fuel); Thomas Tallis and The Knight of the Burning Pestle (Shakespeare’s Globe Sam Wanamaker Playhouse); Mothers, Episode, Pequenas Delicias, Roadkill Café, and Jammy Dodgers (Frauke Requardt & Company); Bank On It (Theatre Rites / Barbican); The Oresteia, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, The God of Soho, As You Like It and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare’s Globe); Forever House (Plymouth Drum); And No More Shall We Part (Hampstead / Traverse Theatre); Pericles (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); London and House of Agnes (Paines Plough); The Talented Mr. Ripley and Under Milk Wood (Theatre Royal, Northampton); Billy Wonderful and Proper Clever (Liverpool Everyman / Playhouse); Wit, The Cracks in My Skin and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

(Manchester Royal Exchange).

Australian baritone Samuel Dale Johnson joined the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in September 2014.

During his first season, he sang Dormont La scala di seta in Meet the Young Artists Week and made his Main House debut as Silvano Un ballo in maschera, followed by Imperial Commissioner Madama Butterfly, Baron Duphol La traviata, Leuthold Guillaume Tell and featured as a soloist in The Royal Opera Gala performance alongside Bryn Terfel and Sonya Yoncheva.

Other roles at Covent Garden include Wigmaker Ariadne auf Naxos, Moralès Carmen, Zalzal L’étoile and Thésée Oedipe, Silvio Pagliacci and Albert Werther, as well as covering Conte Le nozze di Figaro, Belcore L’elisir d’amore and Papageno Die Zauberflöte. Samuel made his debut with the London Symphony Orchestra in Thomas Adès’ orchestral work Brahms, conducted by the composer.

Last season, Samuel made his Scottish Opera debut as Conte Le nozze di Figaro, before joining the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper Berlin where his roles have included the Imperial Commissioner Madama Butterfly, Clerk Death in Venice, Matthieu Andrea Chénier, the Bosun Billy Budd, Ping Turandot, Border Guard Boris Gudonov and the Flemish Deputy Don Carlo.

This season, Samuel will sing Silvio Pagliacci for his return to the Royal Opera House and the title role Eugene Onegin for Scottish Opera.

Samuel is a graduate of the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University.

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Biographies SAM FURNESS

KIANDRA HOWARTH

Ferrando

Fiordiligi

Described as having “all the makings of a star” in the Guardian, young tenor Sam Furness has sung major roles for Scottish Opera and in Florence, Santiago and Toulouse, always earning praise for his compelling acting and innate musicality.

London based Australian lyric soprano Kiandra Howarth graduated with a Bachelor of Music from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in 2010 and went on to be a company artist at Opera Australia.

Engagements in the 2017-18 season include role debuts as Don José Carmen (Jyväskylä Opera) and Flamand Capriccio (Garsington Opera); returns to Northern Ireland Opera (Ferrando Così fan tutte) and the Teatro Real, Madrid (Gloriana) and the role of Gaspar in Garsington Opera’s new commission The Skating Rink.

She was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden from 2013-15. Whilst on the programme Kiandra performed and understudied many roles, including Eine der Kinderstimmen Die Frau ohne Schatten, Echo Ariadne auf Naxos, Fiordiligi Così fan tutte, Contessa Ceprano and Gilda Rigoletto, Giannetta and Adina L’elisir d’amore, Soeur Constance Les Dialogues des Carmélites, Juliette Roméo et Juliette, Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro, Mimi La bohème, Nannetta Falstaff, Ilia Idomeneo and Pamina Die Zauberflöte. After graduating from the programme in July 2015, Kiandra was awarded the ‘Culturarte Prize’ in the 23rd Edition of Plácido Domingo’s Operalia.

Recent engagements include debuts at the Teatro Real Madrid (The Novice Billy Budd), Vlaanderen Opera (Vitek The Makropulos Case) and Real Filharmonía de Galicia (Britten’s Les Illuminations); role debut as Števa Jenůfa (Scottish Opera) and Baron Lummer Intermezzo (Garsington Opera); title role Les contes d’Hoffmann (English Touring Opera); Tamino Die Zauberflöte (Turku Music Festival); Quint and the Prologue The Turn of the Screw (Northern Ireland Opera); title role Albert Herring (Opera di Firenze, Opera Holland Park and Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse); the Novice Billy Budd (Teatro Municipal, Santiago); Vašek The Bartered Bride (British Youth Opera); Lensky Eugene Onegin (Ryedale Festival and Royal Academy Opera); and a recital at the Wigmore Hall.

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Recent and future engagements include Fiordiligi Così fan tutte for West Green Opera, Donna Anna Don Giovanni at Theater Basel, the Opéra de Nancy and Opera de Luxembourg, 2nd flower maiden Parsifal in Baden Baden and Berlin with the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle, Lauretta Gianni Schicchi for Western Australian Opera, Konstanze Die Entführung aus dem Serail for The Grange Festival and Pamina at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome as well as her Wigmore Hall début for the Samling Artist Programme’s 20th Anniversary Concert, Mozart Requiem with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, and her house and role debut as Mimi La bohème for Stadttheater Klagenfurt.

HEATHER LOWE

KEV MCCURDY

Dorabella

Fight Director

Heather studied at the Royal Northern College of Music (under Barbara Robotham and Ann Taylor) and the National Opera Studio (under Susan Waters)‚ supported by Scottish Opera. She was a finalist in the Maureen Lehane Competition‚ is a Samling Scholar‚ and a trained ballet and ballroom dancer.

Recent and future engagements include Rosina The Barber of Seville (Opera North and Welsh National Opera)‚ Hansel Hansel und Gretel, Lel Snowmaiden and Page Salome (Opera North)‚ Tisbe La Cenerentola (Opera Holland Park and WNO)‚ Idamante Idomeneo (Buxton Festival), Mrs Noye Noye’s Fludde (Nevill Holt)‚ Isolier Le Comte Ory (Chelsea Opera Group and Dorset Opera)‚ Apprentice Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Glyndebourne Festival)‚ Orfeo Orfeo ed Euridice‚ Penelope Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria (RNCM) and Fidalma The Secret Marriage (British Youth Opera).

Roles and Scenes performed at the National Opera Studio include Hermia A Midsummer Night’s Dream‚ Sesto Giulio Cesare‚ 2nd Lady The Magic Flute and Zerlina Don Giovanni.

Kev is ‘Fight Instructor’ at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, where he trains students in stage combat techniques.

He is also the CoFounder, Chairman, Fight Examiner and Senior Stage Combat Tutor of the Academy of Performance Combat.

Theatre: Miss Saigon (Prince Edward), The Heart of Robin Hood and Antony and Cleopatra for the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Theatre, StratfordUpon-Avon and International Tour), Batman Live (O2 Arena), King Lear and Hamlet (Manchester Royal Exchange), The Mother F***er With The Hat, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Mosquitoes and Barbershop Chronicles (National Theatre), Macbeth, Othello and The Taming Of The Shrew (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Odyssey: Missing Presumed Dead, Romeo and Juliet, The Conquest Of The South Pole and Fiddler On The Roof (Everyman Liverpool), Don Juan In Soho (Wyndhams Theatre), Silver Lining (English Touring Theatre – UK Tour), As You Like It (Theatre By The Lake), An Octoroon (Orange Tree Theatre), Hamlet (Almeida) Television: Doctor Who Christmas Special 2005, The Story of Tracy Beaker and Hetty Feather (BBC), Hollyoaks (Channel 4) Pobol Y Cwm (S4C) Film: Season Of The Witch, John Carter Of Mars, Journey’s End, Kenya (Loraine Ffrench Productions), Canaries (Maple Dragon Films) Radio includes: The Jeremy Vine Show (BBC Radio 2)

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Biographies AOIFE MISKELLY

JOHN MOLLOY

Despina

Don Alfonso

Belfast soprano Aoife Miskelly studied on the Opera course at the Royal Academy of Music in London, graduating in 2012.

Aoife was a Kathleen Ferrier Awards finalist, winner of the Hampshire National Singing Competition, the Bernadette Greevy Bursary, and finalist in both the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition and the 2015 Wigmore Hall Song Competition.

During the 2012-16 seasons Aoife was a soloist at Cologne Opera where she sang a whole host of roles including Gilda Rigoletto, Gretel, Musetta, Zerlina, Eliza Doolittle, Frasquita, Despina, Valencienne, Servilia, and the lead role of Harey in the German premiere of Detlev Glanert’s Solaris.

Elsewhere Aoife has sung Pamina and Cecily Cardew in Gerald Barry’s The Importance of Being Earnest for Northern Ireland Opera, Thérèse in Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias at La Monnaie and the Festival d’Aix-enProvence, The Woman in The Last Hotel at the Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House, and Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Japan. Last season Aoife made an acclaimed debut for Opera North in the title role of Snowmaiden by Rimsky-Korsakov; sang Zerlina and Polissena for Northern Ireland Opera, and covered the role of Sophie Der Rosenkavalier for Welsh National Opera.

Upcoming engagements include Aoife’s debut at Welsh National Opera, Cherubino Irish National Opera, and Susanna Nevill Holt Opera, together with recital and oratorio performances throughout the UK, Vienna and Bratislava.

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John Molloy, from Birr in Ireland, studied at the DIT Conservatory of Music & Drama, Dublin and the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester.

Notable roles include Arthur The Lighthouse and the title role Le Nozze Di Figaro with Nationale Reisopera, Leporello Don Giovanni with Opera Theatre Company and Northern Ireland Opera, Alidoro La Cenerentola for Scottish Opera and Opéra de Rouen, Masetto Don Giovanni with English National Opera, Le Commandeur de Beaupré La Cour De Celimene for Wexford Festival, Swallow Peter Grimes with the Teatro Comunale, Bologna, and Budd Albert Herring with the Buxton Festival. Upcoming roles include Truffaldino Ariadne Auf Naxos for Scottish Opera and Opera Holland Park.

Other recent engagements include Guccio Gianni Schicchi for Covent Garden, Dulcamara L’elisir D’amore for Northern Ireland Opera, Dorset Opera, Nevill Holt Opera and Opera Theatre Company, Trinity Moses Der Dreigroschenoper for Rough Magic Theatre Company & Opera Theatre Company, Angelotti Tosca for Northern Ireland Opera and Zuniga Carmen for Cork Opera House and Lyric Opera Productions (Dublin).

Recent concert appearances include the Australian premiere of Van Gogh – The Opera with Crash Ensemble at the Canberra International Festival of Music, Haydn’s Creation in The Hague with Continuo Rotterdam and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Macau Orchestra.

ADELE THOMAS

KEVIN TREACY

Director

Lighting Designer

Recent Credits Include: The Weir (ETT); A Warring Absence (National Theatre); Unusual Unions (Royal Court); Macbeth: The Complete Walk, Thomas Tallis, The Oresteia, The Knight of the Burning Pestle (Globe); The Passion (as Project Associate – National Theatre Wales); Under Milk Wood (Royal & Derngate); Birdland (LAMDA); Three Sisters, All that I am, Madness in Valencia, A Vampire Story (Royal Welsh).

Adele was a recipient of the ITV Theatre Director Scheme (now RTYDS Theatre Director Scheme) and was based at the Royal & Derngate Theatres in Northampton. Other training includes the National Theatre Studio Young Directors course.

Alongside directing projects Adele has developed many new pieces by emerging and established writers for companies such as Traverse, Replay, Pentabus and Sherman Theatre.

Kevin is an award winning international lighting designer working in theatre, opera and dance.

For Northern Ireland Opera: Radamisto, The Bear, The Flying Dutchman, Tosca, L’Elisir d’Amore (Northern Ireland Opera / Opera Theatre Company); Agrippina (Northern Ireland Opera / IYO); 5 I Act Operas, part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad (MAC Belfast); The Turn Of The Screw, (Northern Ireland Opera & Buxton Festival 2012; Kolobov Novaya Theatre, Moscow 2014); Orpheus in the Underworld (Northern Ireland Opera / Scottish Opera), Macbeth (Northern Ireland Opera / WNO).

Other: Die Fledermaus (Wermland Opera), Iolanta (Operosa, Montenegro), Albert Herring (The Grange Festival), Faramondo (RCM / London Handel Festival), Stravinsky Tales: Les Noces, Mavra, Renard, L’Enfant et Les Sortlieges, Orango (Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Festival Hall, Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen); Agrippina (Irish Youth Opera); Die Fledermaus (RCM, Dir. Sir John Copley); Faramondo (Handel Festspiele, Göttingen); Carmen, La bohème, The Turn Of The Screw and The Magic Flute (Nevill Holt); Imeneo and Rodelinda (RCM); Flavio, The Fairy Queen, Xerxes (ETO); Certain Circles by Harrison Birtwistle (Dartington); The Nose (The Performance Corporation); Il barbiere di Siviglia, Don Giovanni, Rigoletto, Hänsel und Gretel, Les contes d’Hoffmann, Il viaggio a Reims, Pagliacci, The Medium, Suor Angelica (Wexford Festival Opera); La tragédie de Carmen (WFO, ETO); The Little Magic Flute (ETO, OTC, Ireland); The Kiss, Hansel and Gretel, The Barber of Seville, Xerxes (OTC).

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Biographies DANIELLE URBAS

EMMA WOODS

Assistant Director

Movement Director

Danielle trained as an actor at the Drama Centre London. Her acting credits include productions for stage, TV and film. In 2012 She made her critically acclaimed directorial debut with the opera - Zatopek!, a short opera preformed as part of the New Music Festival 20x12 (Epstein theatre, Liverpool and The South Bank Centre, London). Her most recent directorial credit was Awa’s Journey at the Arcola theatre London.

She has previously assisted at Northern Ireland Opera on many occasions; with Oliver Mears on - The Medium (2010), Orpheus in the Underworld (Scottish Opera and Northern Ireland Opera 2011), The Turn of the Screw (2012) and also revived this opera for Novaya Opera in Moscow, The Flying Dutchman (2013), Macbeth (2014), Salome (2015), Turandot (2015), Don Giovanni (2016), and most recently to Antony McDonald on Powder Her Face (2017).

With director/designer Antony McDonald - Tristan and Isolde for Opéra national du Rhin (2015), Fiddler on the Roof for Grange Park Opera, staring Bryn Terfel (2015) and The Importance of Being Earnest (Northern Ireland Opera and Wide Open Opera). She also assisted chorographer Ashley Page, former artistic director of Scottish Ballet on his directorial debut of La Bohème for Nevill Holt Opera (2014) and Daniel Slater on Fortunio for Grange Park Opera (2013).

Her last engagement was assisting Movement Director Sarah Fahie on Richard Jones La Bohème at the Royal Opera house, Covent Garden, and will be revival movement director for the upcoming revival at Theatro Real Madrid.

Danielle is currently editing the documentary on the story of the Market council estate in Caledonian Road, London.

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Theatre credits include Oklahoma (Royal Albert Hall); Annie Get Your Gun (Sheffield Crucible Theatre) Dance Captain; Seven Brides for Seven Brothers ( Regents Park Open Air Theatre, London) Dance Captain; Kiss Me Kate (Royal Albert Hall); Sister Act (London Palladium) original cast Dance Captain; Dirty Dancing (Aldwych Theatre, London) original cast; Sinatra (London Palladium) original cast Dance Captain; Mary Poppins (Prince Edward Theatre, London) original cast; We Will Rock You (Dominion Theatre, London); Copacabana (Scandinavian Tour and Premiere); Cats (New London Theatre); Hot Stuff (UK Tour) Dance Captain; Oliver! and Singin’ in the Rain (Leicester Haymarket Theatre).

Television and Film credits include ITV’s Endeavour, ITV’s Victoria, Disney’s Cinderella and the televised production of Oklahoma and Kiss Me Kate, both with the John Wilson Orchestra as part of the BBC’s Proms Season.

Choreography credits include; Assistant Choreographer for Oklahoma (Royal Albert Hall); Assistant Choreographer for The Addams Family (UK Tour); and Assistant Choreographer for Annie Get Your Gun (Sheffield Crucible Theatre); Associate choreographer for Only The Brave (WMC); Assistant Choreographer for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at Regents Park Open Air Theatre; Choreographer for Beauty and the Beast (Chatham Central), Cinderella (Basildon Towngate Theatre) and Spring Awakening (Catford Broadway Theatre).

Photo: Ben McKee

Sestina Music presents

Theodora / G. F. Handel

with the Irish Baroque Orchestra 6th - 8th April 2018 Belfast | Derry-Londonderry | Dublin Tickets available at sestinamusic.com

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Northern Ireland Opera Studio

The Northern Ireland Opera Studio programme supports five emerging opera singers and prepares them for their future operatic careers.

It focuses on offering the singers regular and meaningful performance opportunities, coupled with the support of a professional opera company at a formative stage in their careers.

The members of the Northern Ireland Opera Studio for 2017/18 are: soprano Maria Hughes from County Wexford, soprano Lauren Scully from Dublin, mezzo-soprano Dawn Burns from Belfast, bass-baritone Cormac Lawlor from County Kerry, and bass-baritone Kevin Neville from County Limerick.

As well as a performance programme that includes studio productions, recitals, concerts and open masterclasses with leading international artists, the studio members play an active role in Northern Ireland Opera’s outreach work, acting as ambassadors for the company.

For more information on the Northern Ireland Opera Studio, please visit our website at www.niopera.com.

During the course of their year with the Studio, the five singers will nurture a long termprofessional relationship with Northern Ireland Opera, a relationship which will continue long after their completion of their year on the programme.

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MIDNIGHT VANITIES An evening with songs from the Jazz Era and The Threepenny Opera

Monday 11 December Lyric Theatre, Belfast Thursday 14 December The Supper Club, Newry Friday 15 December Nerve Centre, Derry-Londonderry

www.niopera.com ww

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BOARD

There’s a real buzz and sense of purpose about what this company is doing” – The Guardian Northern Ireland Opera was formed in 2010, with a mission to provide the highest quality opera to the widest possible audience, and to promote young Northern Irish talent.

Generously supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Opera has a philosophy of excellence and risk-taking underpinned by an imaginative programming policy and first-rate casting. Northern Ireland Opera is committed to broadening the audience for this incredible art form that famously combines exciting stories, big spectacle, and great music.

Roy Bailie OBE, Chairman Fionnuala Jay-O’Boyle CBE, Vice-Chair James Hunt Stephen Kingon CBE Ken Lindsay Professor Dolores O’Reilly Jane Wells

PATRON AND AMBASSADORS Sean Rafferty, Patron The Countess of Caledon The Viscountess Dunluce William Montgomery OBE

MANAGEMENT TEAM Artistic Director Walter Sutcliffe General Manager Clíona Donnelly Company and Outreach Manager Mark Irwin-Watson Marketing Manager Andrew Forsythe Dramaturg Judith Wiemers

Handel's Radamisto - photo by Patrick Redmond

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Arts Council of Northern Ireland

artscouncil-ni.org

ArtsCouncilNI

@ArtsCouncilNI

Northern Ireland Opera’s ‘Little Lullabies’, as part of Culture Night Belfast 2017, introducing babies and toddlers to their first live musical experience, at the Grand Opera House. Photo: Brian Morrison

The National Lottery Bringing Great Art to Everyone

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NORTHERN IRELAND OPERA & LYRIC THEATRE

BOOK & LYRICS BY BERTOLT BRECHT MUSIC BY KURT WEILL ENGLISH ADAPTATION BY MARC BLITZSTEIN PRESENTED BY ARRANGEMENT WITH R&H THEATRICALS EUROPE

27 JAN – 10 FEB 2018

a r e p o y

N n e p E e hr

The

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DIRECTED BY WALTER SUTCLIFFE